Letter 105 — CV
Original French
Tilsitt, 7 juillet 1807.
Mon amie, la reine de Prusse a dîné hier avec moi. J’ai eu à me défendre de ce qu’elle voulait m’obliger à faire encore quelques concessions à son mari; mais j’ai été galant, et je me suis tenu à ma politique. Elle est fort aimable. J’irai te donner des détails qu’il me serait impossible de te donner sans être bien long. Quand tu liras cette lettre, la paix avec la Prusse et la Russie sera conclue, et Jérôme reconnu roi de Westphalie avec trois millions de population. Ces nouvelles pour toi seule. Adieu, mon amie; je t’aime et veux te savoir contente et gaie.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean English translated from the French of the 172 Napoleon letters selected from Tancrède Martel, ed., Œuvres littéraires de Napoléon Bonaparte, tome 1 (Albert Savine, Paris, 1888). French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The transcription is CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/; this adapted text and translations are shared under the same license. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes; selected transcription repairs were checked against print images.
Tilsit, July 7, 1807.
My dear friend, the Queen of Prussia dined with me yesterday. I had to defend myself against her attempts to make me grant her husband a few more concessions; but I was gallant, and held to my policy. She is very charming. I shall come and give you details that I could not give you without writing at great length. When you read this letter, peace with Prussia and Russia will have been concluded, and Jérôme recognized as King of Westphalia, with a population of three million. This news is for you alone. Farewell, my dear friend; I love you and want to know you are contented and cheerful.
Plain English translation
Independent machine-assisted Plain English translation from the 1888 Martel French edition, not a historical English translation. French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The adapted transcription and translation are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes and makes documented transcription repairs. French-source model review is not human specialist certification or a complete scan collation.
Tilsit, July 7, 1807.
My friend, yesterday I dined with the Queen of Prussia. She tried to oblige me to make further concessions to her husband, and I had to defend myself against her efforts; but I behaved gallantly while remaining firm in my policy. She is most delightful. I will come and tell you the details; it would take me far too long to put them in a letter. When this letter reaches you, peace with Prussia and Russia will be concluded, and Jérôme will be recognized as king of Westphalia, with three million inhabitants. Keep this news to yourself. Goodbye, my friend. I love you and want to hear that you are happy and cheerful.
About this section
Letter 105 — CV is part of Letters to Josephine by Napoléon Bonaparte. This page sets the French original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is part 105 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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