Napoleon, Emperor of the French

Letter signed ("Napoleon"), 1 1/2 pages (8 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 222 x 184 mm), Trianon, 28 August 1811, to the Duc de Feltre, regarding fortifying the coast of the Netherlands; light toning.

Letter signed ("Napoleon"), 1 1/2 pages (8 3/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 222 x 184 mm), Trianon, 28 August 1811, to the Duc de Feltre, regarding fortifying the coast of the Netherlands; light toning.
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Napoleon instructs his Minister of War, Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke,  the Duc de Feltre, to fortify the coast of the Netherlands at a point between Goeree and Schouwen. "J'approuve le projet ... pour le fort pentagonal ... ce fort portera le nom de Tromp [from tromper, to fool, deceive or mislead]."  This fort would render the battery at Goëderest-diep useless but Napoleon wants to know if enemy ships can enter at Springersdiep, in which case he believes a battery of howitzers could be useful at Tromp to protect his ships.

Napoleon's fortification of the Dutch coast was probably two-fold. His conquest of the Low Countries in 1806 handed the French control of the Dutch and Belgian fleets which he needed to challenge the British navy. It also provided him with a staging area from which he could launch an invasion of Great Britain, whence the importance of defending the coastline from marauding enemy ships. Also in November 1806, having recently conquered or allied with every major power on the European continent, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree forbidding his allies and conquests from trading with the British. In 1807 he tightened his grip in an effort to destroy the commerce of the United Kingdom. The British retaliated by issuing Orders in Council by blockading the European coast from the Elbe in Germany to Brest in France, a distance of almost 800 miles. In addition, the British banned neutrals from trading in ports from which British ships were prohibited.  

Clarke was born in France and was of Irish descent. He served as Napoleon's Minister of War from 1807 until the end of Napoleon's reign in 1814.