NAPOLÉON 1ER (1769-1821). Lot n° 23

Letter signed "Napole" to Prince Eugene. 1 p. ½ in-4, gilt edges. Paris, March 24, 1806. He sent him a military decree on the organization of Istria, and another on Dalmatia. "I wrote it on rather bad information; but I thought that however defective my organization was, it was better to do it than to leave things longer in the state they are". He awaits the memoirs of the various officers sent to the scene. "I need to have detailed information, to know the width and length of the islands, the elevation of the mountains, the width of the channels, their distance from the continent, the nature of the strongholds, place by place, the nature of the roads and among others those of Austria in Dalmatia and of Dalmatia in Turkey, etc. All this interests me to the last point, one should not wait until the last moment. From Ancona to Zara, there are not more than twenty leagues of navigation; write to my commissioner of commercial relations in this port and to the commander of the place to have bleds for Zara pass from there; write also to Cardinal Fesch. You have gunboats belonging to the Kingdom of Italy, in various ports of the Adriatic and at the mouth of the Po; they are not useful there; send some to Dalmatia, they will be useful in these islands [...]".