Letter 120 — CXX
Original French
Le 31 décembre 1808.
Mon amie, je suis à la poursuite des Anglais depuis quelques jours; mais ils fuient épouvantés. Ils ont lâchement abandonné les débris de l’armée de la Romana, pour ne pas retarder leur retraite d’une demi-journée. Plus de cent chariots de bagages sont déjà pris. Le temps est bien mauvais. Lefèvre a été pris; il m’a fait une échauffourée avec 300 chasseurs: ces crânes ont passé une rivière à la nage, et ont été se jeter au milieu de la cavalerie anglaise; ils ont beaucoup tué; mais, au retour, Lefèvre a eu son cheval blessé; il se noyait; le courant l’a conduit sur la rive où étaient les Anglais; il a été pris. Console sa femme. Adieu, mon amie. Bessières, avec dix mille chevaux, est sur Astorga. Bonne année à tout le monde.
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.
December 31, 1808.
My dear friend, I have been pursuing the English for some days; but they are fleeing in terror. They have cowardly abandoned the remnants of La Romana's army, so as not to delay their retreat by half a day. More than a hundred baggage wagons have already been taken. The weather is very bad. Lefèvre has been captured; he got into a skirmish with 300 chasseurs: those bold fellows swam across a river and threw themselves into the midst of the English cavalry; they killed many; but on the way back Lefèvre's horse was wounded; he was drowning; the current carried him to the bank where the English were; he was captured. Console his wife. Farewell, my dear friend. Bessières, with ten thousand horsemen, is advancing on Astorga. A happy new year to everyone.
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.
December 31, 1808.
My friend, I have been chasing the English for several days, but they are fleeing in terror. Rather than hold up their retreat for half a day, they have cowardly abandoned the remnants of La Romana's army. More than a hundred baggage wagons have already been captured. The weather is very bad. Lefèvre has been taken prisoner. He got into a skirmish with 300 chasseurs: those daredevils swam across a river and charged into the middle of the English cavalry, killing many. But on the way back Lefèvre's horse was wounded, and he was drowning; the current swept him ashore on the English side, where he was taken prisoner. Comfort his wife. Goodbye, my friend. Bessières is moving on Astorga with ten thousand horsemen. Happy New Year to everyone.
About this section
Letter 120 — CXX 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 120 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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