Army of Italy, with headquarters at Nice. With his general's pay of
r s,ooo livres a year - a twelvefold increase in income since joining the La
Fere regiment seven years earlier - he was able to instal Letizia at the
Chateau Salle, a pretty country house near Antibes set in groves of palm,
eucalyptus, mimosa and orange trees. Always down-to-earth and
practical, Letizia impressed the locals by doing her own laundry in a
stream that ran through the garden, even though funds were plentiful
enough.
Napoleon now took stock of his family. Of the younger brothers, so far
his favourite was Louis, a bookish fifteen-year-old. 'Louis has just the
qualities I like,' Napoleon wrote, 'warmth, good health , talent, precision
in his dealings, and kindness.' Lucien was mainly antagonistic. He was
annoyed that Napoleon had secured Joseph a sinecure with Saliceti but
had left him (Lucien) to rot as a commissariat storekeeper in the village of
St-Maximin (where he was also president of the Revolutionary
Committee) on a pittance of r,zoo francs a year. Partly out of pique, and
to show his independence, Lucien married an illiterate and penniless inn
keeper's daughter without even consulting Letizia: so much, he seemed to
say, for the Bonaparte pretensions to nobility. Another looming cloud on
the family horizon was Napoleon's favourite sister, Pauline, rising
fourteen. Already a stunning creature, who combined beauty with
magnetic sex-appeal (not actually all that common a combination), she
was already turning heads and inviting unwelcome attention. Androche
Junot, promoted to lieutenant for his feats at Toulon, was one of those
bowled over when he accompanied his general on a visit to Chateau Salle.
The one success in the family, Napoleon apart, seemed to be Joseph.
In Marseilles lived a rich merchant in the silk, soap and textiles trade
named Franc,;ois Clary, a man with royalist sympathies. In the troubles of
1793 Clary backed the wrong horse and, when Marseilles fell to
government troops, had the Jacobin firebrand Stanislas Freron on his
neck. One of Clary's sons was thrown into jail and the other committed
suicide to avoid a firing squad. Broken by grief and anxiety, Franc,;ois
Clary pined away and died. His widow came to Saliceti to petition for her
son Etienne's release and to lift the anathema of 'counter-revolutionary
running dogs' that had fallen on the family. At Saliceti's she met Joseph,
charmed him and invited him to dine. There he met the elder daughter
Julie Cla ry, aged twenty-two, and, learning that she was to inherit 8o,ooo
francs once her father's will was settled, promptly issued a certificate,
exonerating the family of all royalist sympathies. Out of gratitude, Julie
agreed to be his wife, and a wedding date was fixed for August 1794.
After a short spell as inspector of coastal fortifications between
marcin
(Marcin)
#1