divided his army and left the flanks unprotected, so that with three
different corps it was vulnerable to six different flank attacks; moreover,
he had lef t the two great fortresses of Phillipps burg and Mannheim in his
rear without blockading them. Bonaparte did not intend to make the same
mistake with Mantua. But his position was potentially troublesome. He
had to keep the pressure on Mantua while guarding the northern passes
against a surprise Austrian attack, and at the same time had to have one
eye open for possible internal revolts in Italy - very likely as the
Directory's demand for official exactions was compounded by the private
looting and pillaging by the troops. And all this at a time when Moreau's
retreat meant the Austrians were certain to make a massive effort on the
Italian front.
Mid-September saw Napoleon back in Milan and again enjoying
Josephine's embraces. Antoine Hamelin, the financier who had accompa
nied Josephine to Italy, reported that Napoleon could scarcely keep his
hands off his wife. He would often caress her passionately and coarsely in
the presence of others, embarrassing Hamelin to the point where he
would pretend to look out of the window. In her letters to friends in Paris
Josephine rarely mentioned her husband except to disparage him or claim
that she was bored. In her letters to Barras she used the name of
Bonaparte as power play. She missed her children, she hankered for the
pleasures of Paris and the power-broking with Barras, and found the
limelight in Italy poor consolation.
Napoleon meanwhile played the role of imperial proconsul impres
sively. His family came to visit him in Mombello- all but Lucien, who
still remained aloof. Caroline and Jerome came to Milan for their school
holidays, while the most prominent man from the clan was Fesch,
wheeling and dealing in army supplies. Napoleon was mightily displeased
with Lucien and actually complained about him to Carnot in August,
suggesting he be sent to the front with the Army of the North to end
his 'troublemaking'. But the favoured Louis he recommended to Carnot,
and the Minister of War was so impressed that he promoted him to
captain.
On the political front Napoleon compelled Genoa to accept a French
garrison, occupied pro-Austrian Modena and tried to browbeat Venice. A
treaty signed with Naples on ro October nipped in the bud a papal
intrigue to put 30,000 Neapolitans into the field against the French.
Meanwhile, in the teeth of determined vested interests, he tried to
advance his project for a northern Italian republic. He set up three
interim 'republics': the Cisalpine, incorporating Milan; the Cispadane
linking Modena and Reggio; and the Transpadane, uniting Bologna and
marcin
(Marcin)
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