Signed letter from Napoleon to his stepson, Prince Eugène de Beauharnais Napoleon (1781-1824) (pen &...

1 page, 4to,. Napoleon chastises his stepson for prematurely disclosing important diplomatic information and for withholding important military and financial reports: "I have received your letter of January 29th with the two proposals for decrees that were included," he writes. "You must never speak of the union of the Venice region with the kingdom of Italy because I have not yet revealed my intentions about it. It is for this reason that I do not approve of the thrust of one of your decrees; however I do approve of its contents. I imagine that the two million in funds from Milan are only on account. You don't speak of the war levies. It is now a week since you arrived in the Venice region, and I have not yet received either the details of your arrival or the accounting of the war tax that the Venetian region has paid, nor an evaluation of the means that exist for communicating with Istria and Dalmatia. All intelligence [renseignements] is useful to me; don't delay in sending it to me." Napoleon became King of Italy in 1805, installing Eugène as his viceroy. But as this letter shows, he maintained close control over his actions.