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MURAT, JOACHIM (1767—1815)
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See also:MURAT, See also:JOACHIM (1767—1815) , See also: On the 13th Vendemiaire, when Bonaparte, commissioned by See also:Barras, See also:beat down with See also:cannon the armed insurrection of the Paris sections against the See also:Convention, Murat was his most active and courageous lieutenant, and was rewarded by the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 2 ist Chasseurs and the See also:appointment of first aide de See also:camp to See also:General Bonaparte in See also:Italy. In the first battles of the famous campaign of 1796 Murat so distinguished himself that he was chosen to carry the captured flags to Paris. He was promoted to be general of See also:brigade, and returned to Italy in See also:time to be of essential service to Bonaparte at See also:Bassano, See also:Corona and Fort St Giorgio, where he was wounded. He was then sent on a See also:diplomatic See also:mission to See also:Genoa, but returned in time to be See also:present at Rivoli. In the advance into See also:Tirol in the summer of 1797 he commanded the vanguard, and by his passage of the Tagliamento hurried on the preliminaries of See also:Leoben. In 1798 he was for a See also:short time commandant at See also:Rome, and then accompanied Bonaparte to See also:Egypt. At the See also:battle of the Pyramids he led his first famous cavalry See also:charge, and so distinguished himself in See also:Syria that he was made general of See also:division (See also:October, 1799). He returned to France with Bonaparte, and on the 18th See also:Brumaire led into the orangery of See also:Saint See also:Cloud the sixty grenadiers whcse See also:appearance See also:broke up the See also:Council of Five See also:Hundred. After the success of the coup d'etat he was made commandant of the consular guard, and on the 20th of See also:January 1800 he married See also:Caroline Bonaparte, youngest See also:sister of the first See also:consul. He commanded the See also:French cavalry at the battle of See also:Marengo, and was afterwards made See also:governor in the Cisalpine See also:Republic. As See also:commander of the See also:army of observation in See also:Tuscany he forced the Neapolitans to evacuate the Papal States and to accept the treaty of See also:Florence (March 28, 18o1). In January 1804 he was given the See also:post of governor of Paris, and in this capacity appointed the military See also:commission by which the duc d'See also:Enghien was tried and shot (March 20); in May he was made See also:marshal of the See also:empire; in See also:February 1805 he was made See also:grand See also:admiral, with the See also:title of See also:prince, and invested with the grand See also:eagle of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour. He commanded the cavalry of the Grand Army in the See also:German campaign of 18o5, and was so conspicuous at See also:Austerlitz that Napoleon made him grand See also:duke of See also:Berg and See also:Cleves (March 15, 18o6). He commanded the cavalry at See also:Jena, See also:Eylau, and See also:Friedland, and in 18o8 was made general-in-See also:chief of the French armies in See also:Spain. He entered See also:Madrid on the 25th of March, and on the 2nd of May suppressed an insurrection in the See also:city. He did much to prepare the events which ended in the See also:abdication of See also: Napoleon, of course, met this demand with a curt refusal. A See also:breach between the See also:brothers-in-law was only averted by the See also:Russian campaign of 1812 and Napoleon's invitation to Murat to take command of the cavalry in the Grand Army. This was a See also:call which appealed to all his strongest military instincts, and he obeyed it. During the disastrous See also:retreat he showed his usual headstrong courage; but in the See also:middle of See also:December he suddenly threw up his command and returned to Naples. The See also:reason of this was the suspicion, which had been growing on him for two years past, that Napoleon was preparing for him the See also:fate of the king of See also: He was offended by Napoleon's See also:bitter letters and by tales of his slighting comments on himself; he was alarmed by the emperor's scarcely veiled threats; but after all he was a See also:child of the Revolution and a born soldier, with all the soldier's See also:instinct of See also:loyalty to a See also:great See also:leader, and he grasped eagerly at any excuse for believing that Napoleon, in the event of victory, would maintain him on his throne. Then came the emperor's advance into See also:Germany, supported as yet by his See also:allies of the Rhenish See also:Confederation. On the fatal See also: It was clear that Great Britain had no intention of ultimately recognizing Murat's right to reign. As for Austria, she would be certain that Murat's own folly would, sooner or later, give her an opportunity for repudiating her engagements. For the present the Neapolitan alliance would be invaluable to the Allies for the purpose of putting an end to the French dominion in Italy. The See also:plot was all but spoilt by the prince royal of Sicily, who in an See also:order of the day announced to his soldiers that their legitimate See also:sovereign had not renounced his rights to the throne of Naples (Feb. 20); from the Austrian point of view it was compromised by a See also:proclamation issued by Bentinck at See also:Leghorn on the 14th of March, in which he called on the Italians to rise in support of the " great cause of their fatherland." From See also:Dijon Castlereagh promptly wrote to Bentinck (See also:April 3) to say that the proclamation of the prince of Sicily must be disavowed, and that if King Ferdinand did not behave properly Great Britain would recognize" Murat's title. A See also:letter from Metternich to Marshal See also:Bellegarde, of the same place and date, insisted that Bentinck's operations must be altered; the last thing that Austria desired was an Italian national rising. It was, indeed, by this time clear to the allied powers that Murat's ambition had o'erleaped the See also:bounds set for them. " Murat, a true son of the Revolution," wrote Metternich, in the same letter, " did not hesitate to See also:form projects of See also:con-quest when all his care should have been limited to simple calculations as to how to preserve his throne. . . . He dreamed of a See also:partition of Italy between him and us. . . . When we refused to annex all Italy See also:north of the Po, he saw that his calculations were wrong, but refused to abandon his ambitions. His attitude is most suspicious." " See also:Press the restoration of the grand-duke in Tuscany," wrote Castlereagh to Bentinck; " this is the true touchstone of Murat's intentions. We must not suffer him to carry out his See also:plan of extended dominion; but neither must we break with him and so abandon Austria to his augmented intrigues."
Meanwhile, Murat had formally broken with Napoleon, and on the 16th of January the French envoy quitted Naples. But the See also:treason by which he hoped to See also:save his throne was to make its loss inevitable. He had betrayed Napoleon, only to be made the See also:cat's-paw of the Allies. Great Britain, even when con-descending to negotiate with him, had never recognized his title; she could afford to See also:humour Austria by holding out hopes of ultimate recognition, in order to detach him from Napoleon; for Austria alone of the Allies was committed to him, and Castlereagh well knew that, when occasion should arise, her obligations would not be suffered to hamper her interests. With the downfall of Napoleon Murat's defection had served its turn; moreover, his equivocal conduct during the campaign in Italy' had blunted the edge of , whatever gratitude the powers may have been disposed to feel; his ambition to unite all Italy See also:south of the Po under his crown was See also:manifest, and the statesmen responsible for the re-See also:establishment of See also:European order were little likely to do violence to their legitimist principles in order to maintain on his throne a revolutionary sovereign who was proving himself so potent a centre of national unrest.
At the very opening of the congress of Vienna Talley-See also:rand, with astounding effrontery, affected not to know " the See also:man "
1 He had contributed to the defeats of the viceroy Prince See also:Eugene in January and February 1814, but did not show any eagerness to press his victories to the See also:advantage of the Allies, contenting himself with occupying the principality of See also:Benevento.
who had been casually referred to as " the king of Naples "; and he made it the See also:prime See also:object of his policy in the See also:weeks that followed to secure the repudiation by the powers of Murat's title, and the restoration of the See also:Bourbon king. The powers, indeed, were very ready to accept at least the principle of this policy. " Great Britain," wrote Castlereagh to See also:Lord See also:Liverpool or. the 3rd of September from See also:Geneva, " has no objection, but the See also:reverse, to the restoration of the Bourbons in Naples." l See also:Prussia saw in Murat the See also:protector of the malcontents in Italy.2 See also: He proposed boldly that, since Austria, in view of the treaty of Jan. If, 1814, was naturally reluctant to undertake the task, the restored Bourbon king of France should be empowered to restore the Bourbon king of Naples by French arms, thus reviving once more the ancient See also:Habsburg-Bourbon rivalry for dominion in Italy.4 Mettemich, with characteristic skill, took advantage of this situation at once to checkmate France and to disembarrass Austria of its obligations to Murat. While secretly assuring Louis XVIII., through his confidant Blacas, that Austria was in favour of a Bourbon restoration in Naples, he formally intimated to Talleyrand that a French invasion of Italian See also:soil would mean See also:war with Austria.5 To Murat, who had appealed to the treaty of 1814, and demanded a passage northward for the troops destined to oppose those of Louis XVIII., he explained that Austria, by her See also:ultimatum to France, had already done all that was necessary, that any See also:movement of the Neapolitan troops outside Naples would be a useless breach of the peace of Italy, and that it would be regarded as an attack on Austria and a rupture of the alliance. Murat's suspicions of Austrian sincerity were now confirmed;s he realized that there was no question now of his obtaining any See also:extension of territory at the expense of the states of the Church, and that in the Italy as reconstructed at Vienna his own position would be intolerable. Thus the very motives which had led him to betray Napoleon now led him to break with Austria. He would secure his throne by prodaiming the cause of See also:united Italy, See also:chasing the Austrians 1 F.O. Vienna Congress, vii. 2 Mem. of See also:Hardenberg, F.O. Cong. Pruss. See also:Arch. 20. Aug: 14-See also:June 15. Metternich to See also:Bombelles. Jan. 13, 1815, enclosed in Castlereagh to Liverpool of Jan. 25. I.O. Congr. Vienna, xi. See also:Sorel, viii. 411 seq. 6 Cf. a " most secret " communication to be made to M. de Blacas (in Metternich to Bombelles, Vienna, Jan. 13, 1815). Murat's aggressive attitude, and the unrest in Italy, are largely due to the threatening attitude of France. . . . H.I.M. is not prepared to See also:risk a rising of Italy under " the national See also:flag." How will France coerce Naples? By sending an army into Italy across our states, which would thus become infected with revolutionary views? ..'. The emperor could not allow such an expedition. When Italy is settled—and we will not allow Murat to keep the See also:Marches . . he will lose See also:prestige, and then ... will be the time for Austria to give effect to the views which, all the time, she shares with His Most Christian Majesty." (In Castlereagh to Liverpool, " private," Jan. 25, 1815. F.O. Vienna Congr. xi.) 6 That they were fully justified is clear from the following ex-See also:tract from a letter of Metternich to Bombelles at Paris (dated Vienna, Jan. 13, 1815). " Whether Joachim or a Bourbon reigns at Naples is for us a very subordinate question. . . . When Europe is established on solid See also:foundations the fate of Joachim will no longer be problematical, but do not let us risk destroying Austria and France and Europe, in order to solve this question at the worst moment it would be put on the Lapis.... This is no business of the Congress, but let the Bourbon Powers declare that they maintain their claims." (In Castlereagh's private letter to Lord Liverpool, Jan. 15, 1815, F.O. Vienna Congr. xi.)from the See also:peninsula, and establishing himself as a national king.
To contemporary observers in the best position to See also:judge the enterprise seemed by no means hopeless. Lord See also: He should have made the most of the chastened See also:temper of the Allies, either to secure favourable terms from them, or to hold them in play until Napoleon was ready to take the field. But his See also:head had been turned by the flatteries of the " patriots"; he believed that all Italy would rally to his cause, and that alone he would be able to drive the " Germans " over the See also:Alps, and thus, as king of united Italy, be in a position to treat on equal terms with Napoleon, should he prove victorious; and he determined to strike without delay. On the 23rd the news reached Metternich at Vienna that the Neapolitan troops were on the march to the frontier. The Allies at once decided to commission Austria to See also:deal with Murat; in the event of whose defeat, Ferdinand IV. was to be restored to Naples, on promising a general See also:amnesty and giving guarantees for a " reasonable" system of government.lo Meanwhile, in Naples itself there were signs enough that Murat's popularity had disappeared. In See also:Calabria the indiscriminate severity of General Manhes in suppressing brigandage had made the government hated; in the See also:capital the general disaffection had led to rigorous policing, while conscripts had to be dragged in chains to join their regiments." In these circumstances an outburst of national See also:enthusiasm for King Joachim was hardly to be expected; and the campaign in effect proved a complete fiasco. Rome and See also:Bologna were, indeed, occupied with-out serious opposition; but on the 12th of April Murat's forces received a check from the advancing Austrians at See also:Ferrara and on the 2nd of May were completely routed at See also:Tolentino. The 7 Letter dated Florence, Jan. 7, 1815. F.O. Vienna Congr. xi. 9 F.O. Vienna Congr. xii., Draft to Wellington dated March 12. 9 F.O. Vienna Congr. xii. 10 Ibid. Wellington to Castlereagh, Vienna, March 25. u F.O. Cong. xi.; See also:Munster to Castlereagh, Naples, Jan. 22. Austrians advanced on Naples, when Ferdinand IV. was duly restored, while Queen Caroline and her See also:children were deported to See also:Trieste. Murat himself escaped to France, where his offer of service was contemptuously refused by Napoleon. He hid for a while near See also:Toulon, with a See also:price upon his head; then, after See also:Waterloo, refusing an See also:asylum in See also:England, he set out for See also:Corsica (August). Here he was joined by a few rash See also:spirits who urged him to See also:attempt to recover his kingdom. Though Metternich offered to allow him to join his wife at Trieste and to secure him a dignified position and a pension, he preferred to risk all on a final throw for See also:power. On the 28th of September he sailed for Calabria with a flotilla of six vessels carrying some 250 armed men. Four of his See also:ships were scattered by a See also:storm; one deserted him at the last moment, and on the 8th of October he landed at See also:Pizzo with only 30 companions. Of the popular enthusiasm for his cause which he had been led to expect there was less than no sign, and after a short and unequal contest he was taken prisoner by a See also:captain named Trenta-Capilli, whose See also:brother had been executed by General Manhes. He was imprisoned in the fort of Pizzo, and on the 13th of October 1815 was tried by court-See also:martial, under a law of his own, for disturbing the public peace, and was sentenced to be shot in See also:half an See also:hour. After See also:writing a touching letter of farewell to his wife and children, he bravely met his fate, and was buried at Pizzo. Though much good may be said of Murat as a king sincerely anxious for the welfare of his adopted See also:country, his most abiding title to fame is that of the most dashing cavalry leader of the See also:age. As a man he was rash, hot-tempered and impetuously brave; he was adored by his troopers who followed their idol, the " See also:golden eagle," into the most terrible See also:fire and against the most terrible odds. Napoleon lived to regret his refusal to accept his services during the Hundred Days, declaring that Mtirat's presence at Waterloo would have given more concentrated power to the cavalry charges and might possibly have changed defeat into victory. By his wife Maria Annunciata Carolina Murat had two sons. The See also:elder, NAPOLEON ACHILLE MURAT (1801-1847), during his See also:father's reign prince royal of the Two Sicilies, emigrated about 182' to See also:America, and settled near See also:Tallahassee, See also:Florida, where in 1826—1838 he was postmaster. In 1826 he married a great-niece of See also:Washington. He published Lettres d'un citoyen des Mats-Unis a un de ses antis d'Europe (Paris, '830); Esquisse morale et politique des Etats-Unis (ibid. 1832); and Exposition des principes du gouvernement republicain tel qu'il a ete perfectionne en Amerique (ibid. 1833). He died in Florida on the '5th of April 1847. The second son, NAPOLEON LUCIEN CHARLES MURAT (1803—'878), who was created prince of See also:Ponte Corvo in 18'3, lived with his See also:mother in Austria after 1815, and in 1824 started to join his brother in America, but was shipwrecked on the See also:coast of Spain and held for a_ while a prisoner. Arriving in 1825, two years later he married in See also:Baltimore a See also:rich See also:American, Georgina Frazer (d. 1879); but her See also:fortune was lost, and for some years his wife supported herself and him by keeping a girls' school. After several abortive attempts to return to France, the revolution of 1848 at last gave him his opportunity. He was elected a member of the Constituent See also:Assembly and of the Legislative Assembly (1849), was minister plenipotentiary at See also:Turin from October 1849 to March '85o, and after the coup d'etat of the 2nd of December 1851 was made a member of the consultative commission. On the proclamation of the Empire, he was recognized by Napoleon III. as a prince of the blood royal, with the title of Prince Murat, and, in addition to the See also:payment of 2,000,000 fr. of debts, was given an income of 150,000 fr. As a member of the See also:Senate he distinguished himself in 1861 by supporting the temporal power of the See also:pope, but otherwise he played no conspicuous part. The fall of the Empire in September 187o involved his retirement into private See also:life. He died on the loth of April 1878, leaving three sons and two daughters. (I) Joachim, Prince Murat (1834—1901), in 1854 married Maley See also:Berthier, daughter of the Prince de See also:Wagram, who See also:bore him ason, Joachim (b. 1856), who succeeded him as head of the See also:family, and two daughters, of whom the younger, See also:Anna (b. 1863), became the wife of the Austrian minister Count See also:Goluchowski.
(2) Achille (1847—1895), married Princess Dadian of See also:Mingrelia.
(3) Louis (b. 1851), married in 1873 to the widowed Princess Eudoxia Orbeliani (nee Somov), was for a time orderly officer to Charles XV.. of See also:Sweden. (4) Caroline (b. 1832), married in 185o See also:Baron Charles de Chassiron and in 1872 Mr See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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