On the path of Napoleon
Massive maps that were smuggled out of France and likely used by the British to help defeat Napoleon are on display at McMaster for the first time
IF YOU’RE IN THE MOOD
for a little Napoleonic history or want to cast your eyes on some remarkable artifacts from the era, go to Google Maps on your smartphone to find your way to the McMaster Museum of Art.
Go through the entrance at the back of the Mills Library, walk up a couple of flights of stairs, and you will find yourself transported back to a time when it was not so easy to find your way around. Welcome to the Gentleman, Soldier, Scholar and Spy, a remarkable display of Napoleonic era maps collected by English nobleman — and sometimes spy — Robert Clifford (1767-1817).
The first thing you notice in the dimly lit room is size of some of them — one is four metres by three metres and covers a wall from floor to ceiling.
The 20 colourful and artful maps, which date from early 1700s until the early 1800s, were smuggled out of France more than two centuries ago by Clifford and used by the British to help defeat Napoleon.
They were acquired by McMaster in 1969, and many are being shown publicly for the first time.
“Clifford’s very detailed maps of fortified cities could have been used to look for weaknesses and determine the best location and approach for attacking these defences,” said Gord Beck, Mills Library map specialist, who put together the exhibit at the McMaster museum in collaboration with Jason Brodeur. In other words, maps made by the French — or continental Europeans at least — suddenly became major tools to be used against Napoleon and his forces by the British.
Clifford was educated in France prior to the French Revolution and served in an Irish Brigade in the army of the French King Louis XVI, where he was trained in cartography and military science. After returning to England, he was asked by British army General John Graves Simcoe to lay plans to defend against a potential invasion of the south coast of Britain.
“When there was a temporary peace in 1802, Robert Clifford went to France, posing as an English gentleman who was just enjoying the summer in Paris and studying ancient obscure alphabets at the library,” said Beck. “But he was really seeking out and acquiring as many maps of a military nature that he could over the course of the year. He managed to fill a trunk five feet long, by two feet wide, by one feet deep with maps weighing over 200 pounds (90 kilograms).”
War resumed while he was still in France, and Clifford quickly fled the country, smuggling out the maps and narrowly avoiding the guillotine, as was the fate of many others.
Also interesting is how McMaster University librarian William Ready acquired the Clifford maps in 1969. They were part of a much larger collection of maps, and only later did the full story emerge about the smuggling and use by the British.
James Greenlee, author of the book, “McMaster University, 19571987: A Chance for Greatness,” says Ready’s acquisitions through that period of time did much to bolster the image of McMaster as an important centre of study.
“Ready is the father of McMaster as a world-class research collection centre,” he said. “It meant that McMaster was several notches above a very good library in terms of the quality of its collection.
“The thing about Ready is, he went out to intentionally build a centre of research excellence in the arts, and he went about it in a swashbuckling, systematic way.” Another major acquisition by Ready was a collection from British philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Asked what he is hoping that people will get from the collection, Beck said, “a realization that maps are simultaneously works of art, tools of science and records of history.
“Many of these maps are artistic pieces. A lot of them are handpainted with water colours. Every little tree is painted with the shade under each one. All the fields are painted different colours depending on the crops. You can see the ripples in every stream.”
Interestingly, some historians believe that a map — although one that is not part of the McMaster collection — was a major factor in the downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo.
It seems his map-maker messed up, and a printing error left Napoleon aiming his artillery well short of the British, Prussian and Dutch lines. According to a 2014 French documentary, that was one of the factors that led to his defeat.