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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2)
+
+Author: John Holland Rose
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2004 [EBook #14290]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED,
+  PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
+  NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
+  BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO.
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+
+
+  INCLUDING NEW MATERIALS FROM THE BRITISH OFFICIAL RECORDS
+
+
+
+
+  BY
+
+  JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, LITT.D. LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+
+
+    "Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only
+    true philosophy."--_Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of
+    Rome_.
+
+
+
+
+
+  VOL. II
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD 1910
+  POST 8VO EDITION,
+  ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+  First Published, December 1901.
+  Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
+  Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
+  Fourth Edition, revised,September 1907.
+  Reprinted, January 1910.
+
+
+  CROWN 8VO EDITION
+  First Published, September 1904.
+  Reprinted, October 1907;
+  July 1910.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER
+     XXII. ULM AND TRAFALGAR
+    XXIII. AUSTERLITZ
+     XXIV. PRUSSIA AND THE NEW CHARLEMAGNE
+      XXV. THE FALL OF PRUSSIA
+     XXVI. THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM: FRIEDLAND
+    XXVII. TILSIT
+   XXVIII. THE SPANISH RISING
+     XXIX. ERFURT
+      XXX. NAPOLEON AND AUSTRIA
+     XXXI. THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT
+    XXXII. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
+   XXXIII. THE FIRST SAXON CAMPAIGN
+    XXXIV. VITTORIA AND THE ARMISTICE
+     XXXV. DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG
+    XXXVI. FROM THE RHINE TO THE SEINE
+   XXXVII. THE FIRST ABDICATION
+  XXXVIII. ELBA AND PARIS
+    XXXIX. LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS
+       XL. WATERLOO
+      XLI. FROM THE ELYSÉE TO ST. HELENA
+     XLII. CLOSING YEARS
+
+           APPENDIX I: LIST OF THE CHIEF APPOINTMENTS
+             AND DIGNITIES BESTOWED BY NAPOLEON
+
+           APPENDIX II: THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
+
+           INDEX
+
+
+MAPS AND PLANS
+
+  BATTLE OF ULM
+  BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ
+  BATTLE OF JENA
+  BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND
+  BATTLE OF WAGRAM
+  CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER 1810
+  CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA
+  BATTLE OF VITTORIA
+  THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813
+  BATTLE OF DRESDEN
+  BATTLE OF LEIPZIG
+  THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814                              _to face_
+  PLAN OF THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
+  BATTLE OF LIGNY
+  BATTLE OF WATERLOO, about 11 o'clock a.m.    _to face_
+  ST. HELENA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+ULM AND TRAFALGAR
+
+
+"Napoleon is the only man in Europe that knows the value of
+time."--Czartoryski.
+
+
+Before describing the Continental campaign which shattered the old
+European system to its base, it will be well to take a brief glance at
+the events which precipitated the war of the Third Coalition. Even at
+the time of Napoleon's rupture with England, his highhanded conduct
+towards the Italian Republic, Holland, Switzerland, and in regard to
+the Secularizations in Germany, had exposed him to the hostility of
+Russia, Sweden, and Austria; but as yet it took the form of secret
+resentment. The last-named Power, under the Ministry of Count Cobenzl,
+had relapsed into a tame and undignified policy, which the Swedish
+Ambassador at Vienna described as "one of fear and hope--fear of the
+power of France, and hope to obtain favours from her."[1] At Berlin,
+Frederick William clung nervously to neutrality, even though the
+French occupation of Hanover was a threat to Prussia's influence in
+North Germany. The Czar Alexander was, at present, wrapt up in home
+affairs; and the only monarch who as yet ventured to show his dislike
+of the First Consul was the King of Sweden. In the autumn of 1803
+Gustavus IV. defiantly refused Napoleon's proposals for a
+Franco-Swedish alliance, baited though they were with the offer of
+Norway as an eventual prize for Sweden, and a subsidy for every
+Swedish warship serving against England. And it was not the dislike of
+a proud nature to receive money which prompted his refusal; for
+Gustavus, while in Germany, hinted to Drake that he desired to have
+pecuniary help from England for the defence of his province of
+Pomerania.[2]
+
+But a doughtier champion of European independence was soon to enter
+the field. The earlier feelings of respect and admiration which the
+young Czar had cherished towards Napoleon were already overclouded,
+when the news of the execution of the Duc d'Enghien at once roused a
+storm of passion in his breast. The chivalrous protection which he
+loved to extend to smaller States, the guarantee of the Germanic
+system which the Treaty of Teschen had vested in him, above all, his
+horror at the crime, led him to offer an emphatic protest. The Russian
+Court at once went into mourning, and Alexander expressed both to the
+German Diet and to the French Government his indignation at the
+outrage. It was ever Napoleon's habit to return blow with blow; and he
+now instructed Talleyrand to reply that in the D'Enghien affair he had
+acted solely on the defensive, and that Russia's complaint "led him to
+ask if, at the time when England was compassing the assassination of
+Paul I., the authors of the plot had been known to be one league
+beyond the [Russian] frontiers, every effort would not have been made
+to have them seized?" Never has a poisoned dart been more deftly sped
+at the weak spot of an enemy's armour. The Czar, ever haunted by the
+thought of his complicity in a parricidal plot, was deeply wounded by
+this malicious taunt, and all the more so because, as the death of
+Paul had been officially ascribed to a fit, the insult could not be
+flung back.[3] The only reply was to break off all diplomatic
+relations with Napoleon; and this took place in the summer of 1804.[4]
+
+Yet war was not to break out for more than a year. This delay was due
+to several causes. Austria could not be moved from her posture of
+timid neutrality. In fact, Francis II. and Cobenzl saw in Napoleon's
+need of a recognition of his new imperial title a means of assuring a
+corresponding change of title for the Hapsburg Dominions. Francis had
+long been weary of the hollow dignity of Elective Emperor of the Holy
+Roman Empire. The faded pageantry of Ratisbon and Frankfurt was all
+that remained of the glories of the realm of Charlemagne: the medley
+of States which owned him as elected lord cared not for the decrees of
+this ghostly realm; and Goethe might well place in the mouth of his
+jovial toper, in the cellar scene of "Faust," the words:
+
+                    "Dankt Gott mit jedem Morgen
+  Dass Ihr nicht braucht für's Röm'sche Reich zu sorgen!"
+
+In that bargaining and burglarious age, was it not better to build a
+more lasting habitation than this venerable ruin? Would not the
+hereditary dominions form a more lasting shelter from the storm? Such
+were doubtless the thoughts that prompted the assumption of the title
+of Hereditary Emperor of Austria (August 11th, 1804). The
+letter-patent, in which this change was announced, cited as parallels
+"the example of the Imperial Court of Russia in the last century and
+of the new sovereign of France." Both references gave umbrage to
+Alexander, who saw no parallel between the assumption of the title of
+Emperor by Peter the Great and the game of follow-the-leader played by
+Francis to Napoleon.[5]
+
+Prussian complaisance to the French Emperor was at this time to be
+expected. Frederick William III. reigned over 10,000,000 subjects; he
+could marshal 248,000 of the best trained troops in Europe, and his
+revenue was more fruitful than that of the great Frederick. Yet the
+effective power of Prussia had sadly waned; for her policy was now
+marked by an enervating indecision. In the autumn of 1804, however,
+the Prussian King was for a time spurred into action by the news that
+Sir George Rumbold, British envoy at Hamburg, had been seized on the
+night of October 24th, by French troops, and carried off to Paris.
+This aggression upon the Circle of Lower Saxony, of which Frederick
+William was Director, aroused lively indignation at Berlin; and the
+King at once wrote to Napoleon a request for the envoy's liberation as
+a proof of his "friendship and high consideration ...a seal on the past
+and a pledge for the future."
+
+To this appeal Napoleon returned a soothing answer that Sir George
+would at once be released, though England was ever violating the
+rights of neutrals, and her agents were conspiring against his life.
+The Emperor, in fact, saw that he had taken a false step, which might
+throw Prussia into the arms of England and Russia. For this latter
+Power had already (May, 1804) offered her armed help to the Court of
+Berlin in case the French should violate any other German
+territory.[6] But the King was easily soothed; and when, in the
+following spring, Napoleon sent seven Golden Eagles of the Legion of
+Honour to the Court of Berlin, seven Black Eagles of the renowned
+Prussian Order were sent in return--an occurrence which led Gustavus
+IV. to return his Order of the Black Eagle with the remark that he
+could not recognize "Napoleon and his like" as comrades in an Order of
+Chivalry and Religion.[7] Napoleon's aim was achieved: Prussia was
+sundered from any league in which Gustavus IV. was a prominent member.
+
+Thus, the chief steps in the formation of the Third Coalition were
+taken by Sweden, England, and Russia. Early in 1804 Gustavus proposed
+a League of the Powers; and, on the advent of the Pitt Ministry to
+office, overtures began to pass between St. Petersburg and London for
+an alliance. Important proposals were made by Pitt and our Foreign
+Minister, the Earl of Harrowby, in a note of June 26th, 1804, in which
+hopes were expressed that Russia, England, Austria, Sweden, and if
+possible Prussia, might be drawn together.[8] Alexander and
+Czartoryski were already debating the advantages of an alliance with
+England. Their aims were certainly noble. International law and the
+rights of the weak States bordering on France were to be championed,
+and it was suggested by Czartoryski that disputes should be settled,
+not by force, but by arbitration.[9]
+
+The statement of these exalted ideas was intrusted to a special envoy
+to London, M. Novossiltzoff, who propounded to Pitt the scheme of a
+European polity where the States should be independent and enjoy
+institutions "founded on the sacred rights of humanity." With this aim
+in view, the Czar desired to curb the power of Napoleon, bring back
+France to her old limits, and assure the peace of Europe on a firm
+basis, namely on the principle of the _balance of power_. Pitt and
+Lord Harrowby having agreed to these proposals, details were discussed
+at the close of 1804. None of the allies were, in any case, to make a
+separate peace; and England (said M. Novossiltzoff) must not only use
+her own troops, but grant subsidies to enable the Powers to set on
+foot effective forces.
+
+This last sentence claims special notice, as it disposes of the
+well-worn phrase, that the Third Coalition was _built up_ by Pitt's
+gold. On the contrary, Russia was the first to set forth the need of
+English subsidies, which Pitt was by no means eager to supply. The
+phrase used by French historians is doubtless correct in so far as
+English gold enabled our allies to arm efficiently; but it is wholly
+false if it implies that the Third Coalition was merely trumped up by
+our money, and that the Russian, Austrian, and Swedish Governments
+were so many automatic machines which, if jogged with coins, would
+instantly supply armies to the ready money purchaser. This is
+practically the notion still prevalent on the Continent; and it is
+clearly traceable to the endless diatribes against Pitt's gold with
+which Napoleon seasoned his bulletins, and to the caricatures which he
+_ordered to be drawn_. The following was his direction to his Minister
+of Police, Fouché: "Have caricatures made--an Englishman purse in
+hand, _entreating the various Powers to take his money. This is the
+real direction to give the whole business._" How well he knew mankind:
+he rightly counted on its gullibility where pictures were concerned;
+and the direction which he thus gave to public opinion bids fair to
+persist, in spite of every exposure of the trickery.[10]
+
+But, to return to the plans of the allies, Holland, Switzerland, and
+Italy were to be liberated from their "enslavement to France," and
+strengthened so as to provide barriers to future aggressions: the King
+of Sardinia was to be restored to his mainland possessions, and
+receive in addition the Ligurian, or Genoese, Republic.[11]
+
+On all essential topics the British Government was in full accord with
+the views of the Czar, and Pitt insisted on the need of a system of
+international law which should guarantee the Continent against further
+rapacious acts. But Europe was not destined to find peace on these
+principles until after ten years of desolating war.
+
+Various causes hindered the formation of this league. On January 2nd,
+1805, Napoleon sent to George III. an offer of peace; and those
+persons who did not see that this was a device for discovering the
+course of negotiations believed that he ardently desired it. We now
+know that the offer was despatched a week after he had ordered
+Missiessy to ravage the British West Indies.[12] And, doubtless, his
+object was attained when George III. replied in the speech from the
+throne (January 15th) that he could not entertain the proposal without
+reference to the Powers with whom he was then engaged in confidential
+intercourse, and especially the Emperor of Russia. Yet the British
+Government discussed with the Czar the basis for a future pacification
+of Europe; and the mission of Novossiltzoff at midsummer to Berlin, on
+his way to Paris, was the answer, albeit a belated one, to Napoleon's
+New Year's pacific appeal. We shall now see why this delay occurred,
+and what acts of the French Emperor finally dispelled all hopes of
+peace.
+
+The delay was due to differences between Russia and England respecting
+Malta and our maritime code. The Czar insisted on our relinquishing
+Malta and relaxing the rigours of the right of search for deserters
+from our navy. To this the Pitt Ministry demurred, seeing that Malta
+was our only means of protecting the Mediterranean States, and our
+only security against French aggressions in the Levant, while the
+right of searching neutral vessels was necessary to prevent the
+enfeebling of our navy.[13] Negotiations were nearly broken off even
+after a treaty between the two Powers had been brought to the final
+stage on April 11th, 1805; but in July (after the Czar had recorded
+his solemn protest against our keeping Malta) it was ratified, and
+formed the basis for the Third Coalition. The aims of the allies were
+to bring about the expulsion of French troops from North Germany; to
+assure the independence of the Republics of Holland and Switzerland;
+and to reinstate the King of Sardinia in Piedmont. Half a million of
+men were to be set in motion, besides the forces of Great Britain; and
+the latter Power, as a set-off to her lack of troops, agreed to
+subsidize her allies to the extent of; £1,250,000 a year for every
+100,000 men actually employed in the war. It was further stipulated
+that a European Congress at the close of the war should endeavour to
+fix more surely the principles of the Law of Nations and establish a
+federative system. Above all, the allies bound themselves not to
+hinder the popular wish in France respecting the form of government--a
+clause which deprived the war of the Third Coalition of that
+monarchical character which had pervaded the league of 1793 and, to a
+less extent, that of 1799.[14]
+
+What was the attitude of Napoleon towards this league? He certainly
+took little pains to conciliate the Czar. In fact, his actions towards
+Russia were almost openly provocative. Thus, while fully aware of the
+interest which Alexander felt in the restoration of the King of
+Sardinia, he sent the proposal that that unlucky King should receive
+the Ionian Isles and Malta as indemnities for his losses, and that too
+when Russia looked upon Corfu as her own. To this offer the Czar
+deigned not a word in reply. Napoleon also sent an envoy to the Shah
+of Persia with an offer of alliance, so as to check the advances of
+Russia on the shores of the Caspian.[15]
+
+On the other hand, he used every effort to allure Prussia, by secretly
+offering her Hanover, and that too as early as the close of July.[16]
+For a brief space, also, he took some pains to conciliate Austria.
+This indeed was necessary: for the Court of Vienna had already
+(November 6th, 1804) framed a secret agreement with Russia to make war
+on Napoleon if he committed any new aggression in Italy or menaced any
+part of the Turkish Empire.[17] Yet this act was really defensive.
+Francis desired only to protect himself against Napoleon's ambition,
+and, had he been treated with consideration, would doubtless have
+clung to peace.
+
+For a time Napoleon humoured that Court, even as regards the changes
+now mooted in Italy. On January 1st, 1805, he wrote to Francis,
+stating that he was about to proclaim Joseph Bonaparte King of Italy,
+if the latter would renounce his claim to the crown of France, and so
+keep the governments of France and Italy separate, as the Treaty of
+Lunéville required; that this action would enfeeble his (Napoleon's)
+power, but would carry its own recompense if it proved agreeable to
+the Emperor Francis.
+
+But it soon appeared that Joseph was by no means inclined to accept
+the crown of Lombardy if it entailed the sacrifice of all hope of
+succeeding to the French Empire. He had already demurred to _le vilain
+titre de roi_, and on January 27th announced his final rejection of
+the offer. Napoleon then proposed to Louis that he should hold that
+crown in trust for his son; but the suggestion at once rekindled the
+flames of jealousy which ever haunted Louis; and, after a violent
+scene, the Emperor thrust his brother from the room.
+
+Perhaps this anger was simulated. He once admitted that his rage only
+mounted this high--pointing to his chin; and the refusals of his
+brothers were certainly to be expected. However that may be, he now
+resolved to assume that crown himself, appointing as Viceroy his
+step-son, Eugène Beauharnais. True, he announced to the French Senate
+that the realms of France and Italy would be kept separate: but
+neither the Italian deputies, who had been summoned to Paris to vote
+this dignity to their master, nor the servile Senate, nor the rulers
+of Europe, were deceived. Thus, when in the early summer Napoleon
+reviewed a large force that fought over again in mimic war the battle
+of Marengo; when, amidst all the pomp and pageantry that art could
+devise, he crowned himself in the cathedral of Milan with the iron
+circlet of the old Lombard Kings, using the traditional formula: "God
+gave it me, woe to him who touches it"; when, finally, he incorporated
+the Ligurian Republic in the French Empire, Francis of Austria
+reluctantly accepted the challenges thus threateningly cast down, and
+began to arm.[18] The records of our Foreign Office show conclusively
+that the Hapsburg ruler felt himself girt with difficulties: the
+Austrian army was as yet ill organized: the reforms after which the
+Archduke Charles had been striving were ill received by the military
+clique; and the sole result had been to unsettle rather than
+strengthen the army, and to break down the health of the Archduke.[19]
+Yet the intention of Napoleon to treat Italy as a French province was
+so insultingly paraded that Francis felt war to be inevitable, and
+resolved to strike a blow while the French were still entangled in
+their naval schemes. He knew well the dangers of war; he would have
+eagerly welcomed any sign of really peaceful intentions at Paris; but
+no signs were given; in fact, French agents were sent into Switzerland
+to intrigue for a union of that land with France. Here again the pride
+of the Hapsburgs was cut to the quick, and they disdained to submit to
+humiliations such as were eating the heart out of the Prussian
+monarchy.
+
+The Czar, too, was far from eager for war. He had sent Novossiltzoff
+to Berlin _en route_ for Paris, in the hope of coming to terms with
+Napoleon, when the news of the annexation of Genoa ended the last
+hopes of a compromise. "This man is insatiable," exclaimed Alexander;
+"his ambition knows no bounds; he is a scourge of the world; he wants
+war; well, he shall have it, and the sooner the better," The Czar at
+once ordered all negotiations to be broken off. Novossiltzoff, on July
+10th, declared to Baron Hardenberg, the successor of Haugwitz at the
+Prussian Foreign Office, that Napoleon had now passed the utmost
+limits of the Czar's patience; and he at once returned his French
+passports. In forwarding them to the French ambassador at Berlin,
+Hardenberg expressed the deep regret of the Prussian monarch at the
+breakdown of this most salutary negotiation--a phrase which showed
+that the patience of Berlin was nearly exhausted.[20]
+
+Clearly, then, the Third Coalition was not cemented by English gold,
+but by Napoleon's provocations. While England and Russia found great
+difficulty in coming to an accord, and Austria was arming only from
+fear, the least act of complaisance on his part would have unravelled
+this ill-knit confederacy. But no such action was forthcoming. All his
+letters written in North Italy after his coronation are puffed up with
+incredible insolence. Along with hints to Eugène to base politics on
+dissimulation and to seek only to be feared, we find letters to
+Ministers at Paris scorning the idea that England and Russia can come
+to terms, and asserting that the annexation of Genoa concerns England
+alone; but if Austria wants to find a pretext for war, she may now
+find it.
+
+Then he hurries back to Fontainebleau, covering the distance from
+Turin in eighty-five hours; and, after a brief sojourn at St. Cloud,
+he reaches Boulogne. There, on August the 22nd, he hears that Austria
+is continuing to arm: a few hours later comes the news that Villeneuve
+has turned back to Cadiz. Fiercely and trenchantly he resolves this
+fateful problem. He then sketches to Talleyrand the outlines of his
+new policy. He will again press, and this time most earnestly, his
+offer of Hanover to Prussia as the price of her effective alliance
+against the new coalition. Perhaps this new alliance will strangle the
+coalition at its birth; at any rate it will paralyze Austria.
+Accordingly, he despatches to Berlin his favourite aide-de-camp,
+General Duroc, to persuade the King that his alliance will save the
+Continent from war.[21]
+
+Meanwhile the Hapsburgs were completely deceived. They imagined
+Napoleon to be wholly immersed in his naval enterprise, and
+accordingly formed a plan of campaign, which, though admirable against
+a weak and guileless foe, was fraught with danger if the python's
+coils were ready for a spring. As a matter of fact, he was far better
+prepared than Austria. As late as July 7th, the Court of Vienna had
+informed the allies that its army would not be ready for four months;
+yet the nervous anxiety of the Hapsburgs to be beforehand with
+Napoleon led them to hurry on war: and on August 9th they secretly
+gave their adhesion to the Russo-British alliance.
+
+Then, too, by a strange fatuity, their move into Bavaria was to be
+made with a force of only 59,000 men, while their chief masses, some
+92,000 strong, were launched into Italy against the strongholds on the
+Mincio. To guard the flanks of these armies, Austria had 34,000 men in
+Tyrol; but, apart from raw recruits, there were fewer than 20,000
+soldiers in the rest of that vast empire. In fact, the success of the
+autumn campaign was known to depend on the help of the Russians, who
+were expected to reach the banks of the Inn before the 20th of
+October, while it was thought that the French could not possibly reach
+the Danube till twenty days later.[22] It was intended, however, to
+act most vigorously in Italy, and to wage a defensive campaign on the
+Danube.
+
+Such was the plan concocted at Vienna, mainly under the influence of
+the Archduke Charles, who took the command of the army in Italy, while
+that of the Danube was assigned to the Archduke Ferdinand and Mack,
+the new Quarter-Master-General. This soldier had hitherto enjoyed a
+great reputation in Austria, probably because he was the only general
+who had suffered no great defeat. Amidst the disasters of 1797 he
+seemed the only man able to retrieve the past, and to be shut out from
+command by Thugut's insane jealousy of his "transcendent
+abilities."[23] Brave he certainly was: but his mind was always swayed
+by preconceived notions; he belonged to the school of "manoeuvre
+strategists," of whom the Duke of Brunswick was the leader; and he now
+began the campaign of 1805 with the fixed purpose of holding a
+commanding military position. Such a position the Emperor Francis and
+Mack had discovered in the weak fortress of Ulm and the line of the
+River Iller. Towards these points of vantage the Austrians now began
+to move.
+
+The first thing was to gain over the Elector of Bavaria. The Court of
+Vienna, seeking to persuade or compel that prince to join the
+Coalition, made overtures (September 3rd to 6th) with which he dallied
+for a day or two until an opportunity came of escaping to the fortress
+of Würzburg. Mack thereupon crossed the River Inn and sought, but in
+vain, to cut off the Bavarian troops from that stronghold.
+Accordingly, the Austrian leader marched on to Ulm, where he arrived
+in the middle of September; and, not satisfied with holding this
+advanced position, he pushed on his outposts to the chief defiles of
+the Black Forest, while other regiments held the valley of the River
+Iller and strengthened the fortress of Memmingen. Doubtless this would
+have been good strategy, had his forces been equal in numbers to those
+of Napoleon. At that time the Black Forest was the only  physical barrier
+between France and Southern Germany; the Rhine was then practically a
+French river; and, only by holding the passes of that range could the
+Austrians hope to screen Swabia from invasion on the side of Alsace.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF ULM]
+
+But Mack forgot two essential facts. Until the Russians arrived, he
+was too weak to hold so advanced a position in what was hostile
+ground, now that Bavaria and the other South German States obeyed
+Napoleon's summons to range themselves on his side. Further, he was
+dangerously exposed on the north, as a glance at the map will show.
+Ulm and the line of the Iller formed a strong defence against the
+south-west: but on the north that position is singularly open: it can
+be turned from the valleys of the Main, the Neckar, and the Altmühl,
+all of which conduct an invader to the regions east of Ulm. Indeed, it
+passes belief how even the Aulic Council could have ignored the
+dangers of that position. Possibly the fact that Ulm had been stoutly
+held by Kray in 1796 now induced them to overrate its present
+importance; but at that time the fortified camp of Ulm was the central
+knot of vast operations, whereas now it was but an advanced
+outpost.[24] If Francis and his advisers were swayed by historical
+reminiscences it is strange that they forgot the fate of Melas in
+Piedmont. The real parallel had been provided, not by Kray, but by the
+general who was cut off at Marengo. Indeed, in its broad outlines, the
+campaign of Ulm resembles that of Marengo. Against foes who had thrust
+their columns far from their base, Napoleon now, as in 1800,
+determined to deal a crushing blow. On the part of the Austrians we
+notice the same misplaced confidence, the same lack of timely news,
+and the same inability to understand Napoleon's plan until his
+dispositions are complete; while his strategy and tactics in 1805
+recall to one's mind the masterly simplicity of design, the subtlety
+and energy of execution, which led up to his triumph in the plains of
+Piedmont.
+
+Meanwhile the allies were dissipating their strength. A Russian corps,
+acting from Corfu as a base, and an English expedition from Malta,
+were jointly to attack St. Cyr in the south of Italy, raise the
+country at his rear and compel him to surrender. This plan was left
+helplessly flapping in the air by a convention which Napoleon imposed
+on the Neapolitan ambassador. On September 21st Talleyrand induced
+that envoy to guarantee the neutrality of the kingdom of Naples, all
+belligerents being excluded from its domains. Consequently St. Cyr's
+corps evacuated that land and brought a welcome reinforcement to
+Masséna on the Mincio. Equally skilful was Napoleon's action as
+regards Hanover. On that side also the allies planned a formidable
+expedition. From the fortress of Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania, a
+force of Russians and Swedes, which Gustavus burned to command, was to
+march into Hanover, and, when strengthened by an Anglo-Hanoverian
+corps, drive the French from the Low Countries. It is curious to
+contrast the cumbrous negotiations concerning this expedition--the
+quarrels about the command, the anxiety at the outset lest Villeneuve
+should perhaps sail into the Baltic, the delays of the British War
+Office, the remonstrances of the Czar, and the efforts to avert the
+jealousy of Prussia--with the serene indifference of Napoleon as to
+the whole affair. He knew full well that the war would not be decided
+by diversions at the heel of Italy or on the banks of the Ems, but by
+the shock of great masses of men on the Danube. He denuded Hanover of
+French troops, except at its southern fortress of Hameln, so that he
+could overwhelm the levies of Austria before the Russians came up. In
+brief, while the Coalition sought, like a Briareus, to envelop him on
+all sides, he prepared to deal a blow at its heart.
+
+As the first part of the campaign depended almost entirely on problems
+of time and space, it will be well to follow the chief movements of
+the hostile forces somewhat closely. The Austrian plan aimed at
+forestalling the French in the occupation of Swabia; and its apparent
+success puffed up Mack with boundless confidence. At Ulm he threw up
+extensive outworks to strengthen that obsolete fortress, extended his
+lines to Memmingen far on the south, and trusted that the Muscovites
+would come up long before the French eagles hovered above the sources
+of the Danube. But at that time the Russian vanguard had not reached
+Linz in Upper Austria, and not before October 10th did it appear on
+the banks of the River Inn.[25]
+
+Far from being the last to move, the French Emperor outstripped his
+enemies in the speed of his preparations. Whereas the Austrians
+believed he would not be able to reach the Danube in force before
+November 10th, he intended to have 200,000 men in Germany by September
+18th. But he knew not at first the full extent of his good fortune: it
+did not occur to him that the Austrians would cross the Inn: all he
+asks Talleyrand, on August 23rd, is that such news may appear in the
+"Moniteur" as will gain him twenty days and give General Bertrand time
+to win over Bavaria, while "I make my 200,000 men pirouette into
+Germany." On August 29th the _Army of England_ became the _Grand
+Army_, composed of seven corps, led by Bernadotte, Marmont, Davoust,
+Soult, Lannes, Ney and Augereau. The cavalry was assigned to Murat;
+while Bessières was in command of the Imperial Guard, now numbering
+some 10,000 men.
+
+Already the greater part of this vast array was beginning to move
+inland; Davoust and Soult left some regiments, 30,000 strong, to guard
+the flotilla, and Marmont detached 14,000 men to defend the coasts of
+Holland; but the other corps on September 2nd began their march
+Rhine-wards in almost their full strength. On that day Bernadotte
+broke up his cantonments in Hanover, and began his march towards the
+Main, on which so much was to turn. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel now
+espoused Napoleon's cause. Thus, without meeting any opposition,
+Bernadotte's columns reached Würzburg at the close of September; there
+the Elector of Bavaria welcomed the Marshal and gave him the support
+of his 20,000 troops; and at that stronghold he was also joined by
+Marmont.
+
+In order to mislead the Austrians, Napoleon remained up to September
+23rd at St. Cloud or Paris; and during his stay appeared a _Senatus
+Consultum_ ordering that, after January 1st, 1806, France should give
+up its revolutionary calendar and revert to the Gregorian. He then set
+out for Strassburg, as though the chief blows were to be dealt through
+the passes of the Black Forest at the front of Mack's line of defence;
+and, to encourage that general in this belief, Murat received orders
+to show his horsemen in the passes held by Mack's outposts, but to
+avoid any serious engagements. This would give time for the other
+corps to creep up to the enemy's rear. Mack, meanwhile, had heard of
+the forthcoming junction of the French and Bavarians at Würzburg, but
+opined that it threatened Bohemia.[26]
+
+Accordingly, he still clung to his lines, contenting himself with
+sending a cavalry regiment to observe Bernadotte's movements; but
+neither he nor his nominal chief, the Archduke Ferdinand, divined the
+truth. Indeed, so far did they rely on the aid of the Russians as to
+order back some regiments sent from Italy by the more sagacious
+Archduke Charles; but 11,000 troops from Tyrol reached the Swabian
+army. That force was now spread out so as to hold the bridges of the
+Danube between Ingolstadt and Ulm; and on October 7th the Austrians
+were disposed as follows: 18,000 men under Kienmayer were guarding
+Ingolstadt, Neuburg, Donauwörth, Günzburg, and lesser points, while
+Mack had about 35,000 men at Ulm and along the line of the Iller; the
+arrival of other detachments brought the Austrian total to upwards of
+70,000 men. Against this long scattered line Napoleon led greatly
+superior forces.[27] The development of his plans proceeded apace.
+Though Prussia had proclaimed her strict neutrality, he did not
+scruple to violate it by sending Bernadotte's corps through her
+principality of Ansbach, which lay in their path. He charged
+Bernadotte to "offer many assurances favourable to Prussia, and
+testify all possible affection and respect for her--and then rapidly
+cross her land, asserting the impossibility of doing anything else."
+Accordingly, that Marshal was lavish in his regrets and apologies, but
+ordered his columns to defile past the battalions and squadrons of
+Prussia, that were powerless to resent the outrage.[28]
+
+The news of this trespass on Prussian territory reached the ears of
+Frederick William at a critical time, when the Czar sent to Berlin a
+kind of ultimatum, intimating that, even if Prussia deserted the cause
+of European independence, Russian troops must nevertheless pass
+through part of Prussian Poland. Stung by this note from his usually
+passive demeanour, the King sent off an answer that such a step would
+entail a Franco-Prussian alliance against the violators of his
+territory, when the news came that Napoleon had actually done at
+Ansbach what Alexander had announced his intention of doing in the
+east. The revulsion of feeling was violent: for a short space the King
+declared he would dismiss Duroc and make war on Napoleon for this
+insult, but in the end he called a cabinet council and invited the
+Czar to come to Berlin.[29]
+
+While the Gallophil counsellors, Haugwitz and Lombard, were using all
+their arts to hinder the Prusso-Russian understanding, the meshes were
+being woven fast around Mack and the Archduke Ferdinand. Bernadotte's
+corps, after making history in its march, was detached to the
+south-east so as to hold in check the Russian vanguard, and to give
+plenty of room to the troops that were to cut off Mack from Austria, a
+move which may be compared with the march of Bonaparte to Milan before
+he essayed the capture of Melas. Both steps bespeak his desire to have
+ample space at his back before circling round his prey.
+
+On October 6th the corps of Soult and Lannes, helped by Murat's
+powerful cavalry, cut the Austrian lines on the Danube at Donauwörth,
+and gained a firm footing on the right bank. Over the crossing thus
+secured far in Mack's rear, the French poured in dense array, and
+marched south and south-west towards the back of the Austrian
+positions, while Ney's corps marched to seize the chief bridges over
+the Danube.
+
+A study of the processes of Mack's brain at this time is not without
+interest. It shows the danger of intrusting the fate of an army to a
+man who cannot weigh evidence. Mack was not ignorant of the course of
+events, though his news generally came late. The mischief was that his
+brain warped the news. On October 6th he wrote to Vienna that the
+enemy seemed about to aim a blow at his communications: on October
+7th, when he heard of the loss of Donauwörth, he described it as an
+unfortunate event, which no one thought to be possible. The Archduke
+now urged the need of an immediate retreat towards Munich, and marched
+in an easterly direction on Günzburg: another Austrian division of
+8,000 men moved on Wertingen, where, on October 8th, it was furiously
+attacked by the troops of Murat and Lannes. At first the Imperialists
+firmly kept their ranks; but the unequal contest closed with a hasty
+flight, which left 2,000 men in the hands of the French Then Murat,
+pressing on through the woods, cut off Mack's retreat to Augsburg. Yet
+that general still took a cheerful view of his position. On that same
+day he wrote from Günzburg that, as soon as the enemy had passed over
+the Lech, he would cross the Danube and cut their communications at
+Nördlingen. He wrote thus when Ney's corps was striving to seize the
+Danube bridges below Ulm. If Mack were to march north-east against the
+French communications it was of the utmost importance for him to hold
+the chief of these bridges: but Ney speedily seized three of them, and
+on the 9th was able to draw closer the toils around Ulm.
+
+From his position at Augsburg the French Emperor now directed the
+final operations; and, as before Marengo, he gave most heed to that
+side by which he judged his enemy would strive to break through, in
+this case towards Kempten and Tyrol. This would doubtless have been
+Mack's safest course; for he was strong enough to brush aside Soult,
+gain Tyrol, seal up its valleys against Napoleon, and carry
+reinforcements to the Archduke Charles. But he was still intent on his
+Nördlingen scheme, even after the loss of the Danube bridges exposed
+his march thither to flank attacks from the four French corps now
+south of the river. Nevertheless, Napoleon's miscalculation of Mack's
+plans, or, as Thiers has striven to prove, a misunderstanding of his
+orders by Murat, gave the Austrians a chance such as fortune rarely
+bestows.[30]
+
+In spite of Ney's protests, one of his divisions, that led by Dupont,
+had been left alone to guard the northern bank of the Danube, a
+position where it might have been overwhelmed by an enterprising foe.
+What is more extraordinary, Dupont, with only 6,000 men, was charged
+to advance on Ulm, and carry it by storm. On the 11th he accordingly
+advanced against Mack's fortified camp north of that city. The
+Austrians met him in force, and, despite the utmost heroism of his
+troops, finally wrested the village of Hasslach from his grasp; later
+in the day a cloud of their horsemen, swooping round his right wing,
+cut up his tired troops, took 1,000 prisoners, and left 1,500 dead and
+wounded on the field. Among the booty was found a despatch of Napoleon
+ordering Dupont to carry Ulm by storm--which might have shown them
+that the French Emperor believed that city to be all but deserted.[31]
+In truth, Napoleon's miscalculation opened for Mack a path of safety;
+and had he at once marched away to the north, the whole aspect of
+affairs might have changed. The Russian vanguard was on the banks of
+the Inn: all the French, except the relics of Dupont's division, were
+south of the Danube, and a few vigorous blows at their communications
+might have greatly embarrassed troops that had little artillery, light
+stores of ammunition, and lived almost entirely on the produce of the
+country. We may picture to ourselves the fierce blows that, in such a
+case, Frederick the Great would have rained on his assailants as he
+wheeled round on their rear and turned their turning movements. With
+Frederick matched against Napoleon, the Lech and the Danube would have
+witnessed a very cyclone of war.
+
+But Mack was not Frederick: and he had to do with a foe who speedily
+made good an error. On October 13th, when Mack seemed about to cut off
+the French from the Main, he received news through Napoleon's spies
+that the English had effected a landing at Boulogne, and a revolution
+had broken out in France. The tidings found easy entrance into a brain
+that had a strange bias towards pleasing falsities and rejected
+disagreeable facts. At once he leaped to the conclusion that the moves
+of Soult, Murat, Lannes, Marmont, and Ney round his rear were merely
+desperate efforts to cut back a way to Alsace. He therefore held fast
+to his lines, made only feeble efforts to clear the northern road, and
+despatched reinforcements to Memmingen. The next day brought other
+news; that Memmingen had been invested by Soult; that Ney by a
+brilliant dash across the Danube at Elchingen had routed an Austrian
+division there, and was threatening Ulm from the north-east; and that
+the other French columns were advancing from the south-east. Yet Mack,
+still viewing these facts in the twilight of his own fancies, pictured
+them as the efforts of despair, not as the drawing in of the hunter's
+toils.
+
+He was now almost alone in his reading of events. The Archduke
+Ferdinand, though nominally in supreme command, had hitherto deferred
+to Mack's age and experience, as the Emperor Francis enjoined. But he
+now urged the need of instantly marching away to the north with all
+available forces. Still Mack clung to his notion that it was the
+French who were in sore straits; and he forbade the evacuation of Ulm;
+whereupon the Archduke, with Schwarzenberg, Kollowrath, Gyulai, and
+all whose instincts or rank prompted and enabled them to defy the
+madman's authority, assembled 1,500 horsemen and rode off by the
+northern road. It was high time; for Ney, firmly established at
+Elchingen, was pushing on his vanguard towards the doomed city: Murat
+and Lannes were charged to support him on the north bank, while across
+the river Marmont, and further south Soult, cut off the retreat on
+Tyrol.
+
+At last the scales fell from Mack's eyes. Even now he protested
+against the mere mention of surrender. But again he was disappointed.
+Ney stormed the Michaelsberg north of Ulm, a position on which the
+Austrians had counted; and on October 17th the hapless commander
+agreed to terms of capitulation, whereby his troops were to march out
+and lay down their arms in six days' time, if an Austro-Russian army
+able to raise the siege did not come on the scene. These conditions
+were afterwards altered by the captor, who, wheedling his captive with
+a few bland words, persuaded him to surrender on the 20th on condition
+that Ney and his corps remained before Ulm until the 25th. This was
+Mack's last offence against his country and his profession; his assent
+to this wily compromise at once set free the other French corps for
+offensive operations; and that too when every day was precious to
+Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
+
+On October 20th the French Emperor, with a brilliant staff, backed by
+the solid wall of his Guard and flanked by eight columns of his
+troops, received the homage of the vanquished. First came their
+commander, who, bowed down by grief, handed his sword to the victor
+with the words, "Here is the unfortunate Mack." Then there filed out
+to the foot of the Michaelsberg 20,000 foot and 3,000 horse, who laid
+down their arms before the Emperor, some with defiant rage, the most
+part in stolid dejection, while others flung them away with every sign
+of indecent joy.[32] As if the elements themselves conspired to
+enhance the brilliance of Napoleon's triumph, the sun, which had been
+obscured for days by storm-clouds and torrents of rain, now shone
+brightly forth, bathing the scene in the mild radiance of autumn,
+lighting up the French forces disposed on the slopes of that natural
+amphitheatre, while it cast deep shadows from the long trail of the
+vanquished beneath. The French were electrified by the sight: the
+fatigues of their forced marches through the dusty heats of September,
+and the slush, swamps, and torrents of the last few days were all
+forgotten, and they hailed with jubilant shouts the chief whose
+sagacity had planned and achieved a triumph hitherto unequalled in the
+annals of war. "Our Emperor," said they, "has found out a new way of
+making war: he no longer makes it with our arms, but with our
+legs."[33]
+
+Meanwhile the other Austrian detachments were being hunted down. Only
+a few men escaped from Memmingen into Tyrol: the division, which, if
+properly supported, might have cut a way through to Nördlingen three
+days earlier, was now overwhelmed by the troops of Murat and Lannes;
+out of 13,000 foot-soldiers very few escaped. Most of the horsemen
+succeeded in joining the Archduke Ferdinand, on whose track Murat now
+flung himself with untiring energy. The _beau sabreur_ swept through
+part of Ansbach in pursuit, came up with Ferdinand near Nuremberg, and
+defeated his squadrons, their chief, with about 1,700 horse and some
+500 mounted artillerymen, finally reaching the shelter of the Bohemian
+Mountains. All the rest of Mack's great array had been engulfed.
+
+Thus closed the first scene of the War of the Third Coalition. Hasty
+preparations, rash plans, and, above all, Mack's fatal ingenuity in
+reading his notions into facts--these were the causes of a disaster
+which ruined the chances of the allies. The Archduke Charles, who had
+been foiled by Masséna's stubborn defence, was at once recalled from
+Italy in order to cover Vienna; and, worst of all, the Court of Berlin
+now delayed drawing the sword.
+
+Yet, even amidst the unstinted boons that she showered on Napoleon by
+land, Fortune rudely baffled him at sea. When he was hurrying from Ulm
+towards the River Inn, to carry the war into Austria, he heard that
+the French navy had been shattered. Trafalgar was fought the day after
+Mack's army filed out of Ulm. The greatest sea-fight of the century
+was the outcome of Napoleon's desire that his ships should carry
+succour to his troops in Italy. For this voyage the Emperor was about
+to substitute Admiral Rosily for Villeneuve: and the unfortunate
+admiral, divining that resolve, sought by a bold stroke to retrieve
+his fortunes. He put to sea, and Trafalgar was the result. It would be
+superfluous to describe this last and most splendid of Nelson's
+exploits; but a few words as to the bearing of this great victory on
+the events of that time may not be out of place. It is certain that
+Villeneuve at Trafalgar fought under more favourable conditions than
+in the conflict of July 22nd. He had landed his very numerous sick,
+his crews had been refreshed and reinforced, and, above all, the worst
+of the Spanish ships had been replaced by seaworthy and serviceable
+craft. Yet out of the thirty-three sail of the line, he lost eighteen
+to an enemy that numbered only twenty-seven sail; and that fact alone
+absolves him from the charge of cowardice in declining to face
+Cornwallis and Calder in July with ships that were cumbered with sick
+and badly needed refitting.
+
+Then again: it is often stated that Trafalgar saved England from
+invasion. To refute this error it is merely needful to remind the
+reader that all immediate fear of invasion was over, when, at the
+close of August, Napoleon wheeled the Grand Army against Austria. Not
+until the Continent was conquered could the landing in Kent become
+practicable. That opportunity occurred two years later, after Tilsit;
+then, in truth, the United Kingdom was free from panic because
+Trafalgar had practically destroyed the French navy. For these
+islands, then, the benefits of Trafalgar were prospective. But, for
+the British Empire, they were immediate. Every French, Dutch, and
+Spanish colony that now fell into our hands was in great measure the
+fruit of Nelson's victory, which heralded the second and vaster stage
+of imperial growth.
+
+Finally, the decisive advantage which Britain now gained over Napoleon
+at sea compelled him, if he would realize the world-wide schemes ever
+closest to his heart, to adopt the method of warfare against us which
+he had all along contemplated as an effective alternative. As far back
+as February, 1798, he pointed out that there were three ways of
+attacking and ruining England, either a direct invasion, or a French
+control of North Germany which would ruin British commerce, or an
+expedition to the Indies. After Trafalgar the first of these
+alternatives was impossible, and the last receded for a time into the
+background. The second now took the first place in his thoughts; he
+could only bring England to his feet and gain a world-empire by
+shutting out her goods from the whole of the Continent, and thus
+condemning her to industrial strangulation. In a word, Trafalgar
+necessitated the adoption of the Continental System, which was built
+up by the events now to be described.
+
+    Note to the Third Edition.--An American critic has charged me with
+    inconsistency in saying that the Third Coalition was not built up
+    by English gold, because I state (p. 5) that the first advances
+    were made by England to Russia. I ought to have used the phrase
+    "the first _written_ proposals that I have found were made," etc.
+    Czartoryski's "Memoirs" (vol. ii., chs. ii.-iii.), to which I
+    referred my readers for details, show clearly that Alexander and
+    his advisers looked on a rupture with France as inevitable, but
+    wished to temporize for some three months or so, until certain
+    matters were cleared up; they therefore cautiously sounded the
+    position at Vienna and London. This passage from Czartoryski (vol.
+    ii., ch. iii.) proves that Russia wanted the English alliance:
+
+    "After the diplomatic rupture consequent upon the execution of the
+    Duc d'Enghien, it became indispensable to come to an understanding
+    with the only Power, except Russia, which thought herself strong
+    enough to contend with France--to ascertain as thoroughly as
+    possible what were her inclinations and designs, the principles of
+    her policy, and those which she could be led to adopt in certain
+    contingencies. It would have been a great advantage to obtain the
+    concurrence in our views of so powerful a State as England, and to
+    strive with her for the same objects; but for this it was
+    necessary, not only to make sure of her present inclinations, but
+    to weigh well the possibilities of the future after the death of
+    George III. and the fall of the Pitt Ministry. We had to make
+    England understand that the wish to fight Napoleon was not in
+    itself sufficient to establish an indissoluble bond between her
+    Government and that of St. Petersburg...."
+
+    In "F.O.," Russia, No. 55, is a despatch of our ambassador at St.
+    Petersburg, Admiral Warren, of June 30, 1804, in which he reports
+    Czartoryski's concern at rumours of negotiations between England
+    and France: "The prince [Czartoryski] remarked that he could not
+    suppose, after what had passed between the two Courts, and the
+    manner in which the Emperor [Alexander] had explained himself to
+    England, and after the measures which Russia had since proposed,
+    that Great Britain would make a peace at once by herself."
+
+    Of these earlier negotiations I have found no trace; but obviously
+    the first proposals for an alliance must have come from Russia.
+    Sweden was the first to propose a monarchical league against
+    Napoleon. (See my article in the "Revue Napoléonienne" for June,
+    1902.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+AUSTERLITZ
+
+
+After the capitulation of Ulm, the French Emperor marched against the
+Russian army, which, as he told his troops, _English gold had brought
+from the ends of the earth._ As is generally the case with coalitions,
+neither of the allies was ready in time or sent its full quota. In
+place of the 54,000 which Alexander had covenanted to send to
+Austria's support, he sent as yet only 46,000; and of these 8,000 were
+detached into Podolia in order to watch the warlike moves of the
+Turks, whom the French had stirred up against the Muscovite.
+
+But Alexander had another and weightier excuse for not denuding his
+realm of troops, namely, the ambiguous policy of Prussia. Up to the
+middle of October this great military Power clung to her somewhat
+threatening neutrality, an attitude not unlike that of the
+Scandinavian States, which, in 1691, remained deaf to the entreaties
+of William of Orange to take up the cause of European freedom against
+Louis XIV., and were dubbed the Third Party. It would seem, however,
+that the Prussian King had some grounds for his conduct: he feared the
+Polish influence which Czartoryski wielded over the Czar, and saw in
+the Russian request for a right of way through Prussian Poland a
+deep-laid scheme for the seizure of that territory. Indeed, the
+letters of Czartoryski prove that such a plan was pressed forward, and
+found much favour with the Czar, though at the last moment he
+prudently shelved it.[34]
+
+For a time the hesitations of Prussia were ended by Napoleon's
+violation of Ansbach, and by Alexander's frank explanations at
+Potsdam; but meanwhile the delays caused by Prussia's suspicions had
+marred the Austrian plans. A week's grace granted by Napoleon, or a
+week gained by the Russians on their actual marching time, would have
+altered the whole situation in Bavaria--and Prussia would have drawn
+the sword against France to avenge the insult at Ansbach.
+
+On October 10th Hardenberg informed the Austrian ambassador,
+Metternich, that Frederick William was on the point of declaring for
+the allies. Nothing, however, was done until Alexander reached
+Potsdam, and the first news that he received on his arrival (October
+25th) was of the surrender of Ulm. Nevertheless, the influence of the
+Czar checkmated the efforts of Haugwitz and the French party, and kept
+that Government to its resolve, which on November 3rd took the form of
+the Treaty of Potsdam between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Frederick
+William pledged himself to offer the armed mediation of Prussia, and,
+if it were refused by Napoleon, to join the allies. The Prussian
+demands were as follows: indemnities for the King of Sardinia in
+Lombardy, Liguria, and Parma; the independence of Naples, Holland,
+Germany, and Switzerland; and the Mincio as Austria's boundary in
+Italy.[35]
+
+An envoy was to offer these terms to Napoleon, and to bring back a
+definite answer within one month from the time of his departure, and
+in the meantime 180,000 Prussians prepared to threaten his flank and
+rear. Alexander also secretly pledged himself to use his influence
+with George III. to gain Hanover for Frederick William at the close of
+the war, England meanwhile subsidizing Prussia and her Saxon allies on
+the usual scale. The Czar afterwards accompanied the King and Queen to
+the crypt of the Great Frederick, kissed the tomb, and, as he took his
+leave of their majesties, cast a significant look at the altar.[36]
+
+Did he fear the peace-loving tendencies of the King, or the treachery
+of Haugwitz? It is difficult to see good faith in every detail of the
+treaty. Apart from the strange assumption that England would subsidize
+Prussia and also give up Hanover, the manner in which the armed
+mediation was to be offered left several loopholes for escape. After
+the surrender of Ulm, speedy and vigorous action was needed to restore
+the balance; yet a month's delay was bargained for. Then, too,
+Haugwitz, who was charged with this most important mission, deferred
+his departure for ten days on the plea that Prussia's forces could not
+be ready before the middle of December. Such was the statement of the
+leisurely Duke of Brunswick; but it can scarcely be reconciled with
+Frederick William's threat, a month earlier, of immediate war against
+the Russians if they entered his lands. Yet now that monarch approved
+of the delay. Haugwitz therefore did not set out till November 14th,
+and by that time Napoleon was master of Vienna, and the allies were
+falling back into Moravia.
+
+We now turn to the scene of war. For the first time in modern history
+the Hapsburg capital had fallen into the hands of a foreign foe.
+Napoleon now installed himself at the stately palace of Schönbrunn,
+while Francis was fleeing to Olmütz and the Archdukes Charles and John
+were struggling in the defiles of the Alps to disengage themselves
+from the vanguard of Masséna. The march of the French on Vienna, and
+thence northwards to Brünn, led to only one incident of general
+interest, namely, the filching away from the Austrians of the bridge
+over the Danube to the north of Vienna. As it nears the city, that
+great river spreads out into several channels, the largest being on
+the north. The wooden bridge further up the river having been burnt by
+the Russian rearguard, there remained only the bridge or bridges,
+opposite the city, on the possession of which Napoleon set much store.
+He therefore charged Murat and Lannes to secure them if possible.
+
+Murat was smarting under the Emperor's displeasure for a rash advance
+on Vienna which had wellnigh cost the existence of Mortier's corps on
+the other bank. Indeed, only by the most resolute bravery did the
+remnant of that corps hew its way through overwhelming numbers. Murat,
+who should have kept closely in touch with Mortier by a flotilla of
+boats, was eager to retrieve his fault, and, with Lannes, Bertrand,
+and an officer of engineers, he now approached the first part of the
+bridge as if for a parley during an informal armistice which had just
+been discussed but not concluded. The French Marshals had disposed the
+grenadiers of General Oudinot, a body of men as renowned as their
+leader for fighting qualities, behind some thickets that spread along
+the southern bank and partly screened the approach. The plank
+barricade at the southern end was now thrown down, and the four
+Frenchmen advanced. An Austrian mounted sentinel fired his carbine and
+galloped away to the main bridge; thereupon the four men advanced,
+called to the officer there in command as if for a parley, and stopped
+him in the act of firing the gunpowder stored beneath the bridge, with
+the assurance that an armistice was, or was about to be, concluded.
+
+Reaching the northern end they repeated their tale, and claimed to see
+the commander. While the defenders were hesitating, Oudinot's
+grenadiers were rapidly marching forward. As soon as they were seen,
+the Austrians prepared once more to fire the bridge. Again they were
+implored to desist, as peace was as good as signed. But when the
+grenadiers had reached the northern bank, the mask was dropped: fresh
+troops were hurrying up and the chance of saving the bridge from their
+grasp was now lost. By these means did Murat and Lannes secure an
+undisputed passage to the northern bank, for which four years later
+the French had desperately to fight. Napoleon was delighted at Murat's
+exploit, which greatly furthered his pursuit of the allies, and he at
+once restored that Marshal to high favour. But those who placed
+gentlemanly conduct above the glamour of a trickster's success were
+not slow, even then, to express their disapproval of this act of
+perfidy.[37]
+
+The prolonged retreat into Moravia, the unexpected feebleness of the
+Hapsburg arms, and the lack of supplies weighed heavily on Alexander's
+spirits, as is shown in his letter from Olmütz to the King of Prussia
+on November 19th: "Our position is more than critical: we stand almost
+alone against the French, who are close on our heels. As for the
+Austrian army, it does not exist.... If your armies advance, the whole
+position will alter at once."[38] A few days later, however, when
+27,000 more Russians were at hand, including his Imperial Guard, the
+Czar passed from the depths of depression to the heights of
+confidence. The caution of his wary commander, Kutusoff, who urged a
+Fabian policy of delay and retreat, now began to weary him. To retire
+into northern Hungary seemed ignominious. And though Frederick William
+held to his resolve of not drawing the sword before December 15th, and
+by that time the Archduke Charles with a large army was expected below
+Vienna, yet the susceptible young autocrat spurned the behests of
+irksome prudence. In vain did Kutusoff and Schwarzenberg urge the need
+of delay and retreat: Alexander gave more heed to the rash counsels of
+his younger officers. An advance was ordered on Brünn, and a
+successful cavalry skirmish at Wischau confirmed the Czar in his
+change from the strategy of Fabius to that of Varro.
+
+Napoleon, who was now at Brünn, had already divined this change in the
+temper of his foe, and called back his men with the express purpose of
+humouring Alexander's latest mood and tempting him on to a decisive
+battle. He saw clearly the advantage of fighting at once. The renewed
+offers of an armistice, which he received from the prudent Francis,
+might alone have convinced him of this; and they came in time to give
+him an argument, telling enough to daunt the Prussian envoy, who was
+now drawing near to his headquarters.
+
+After proceeding towards Vienna and being sent back to Brünn, Haugwitz
+arrived there on November 29th.[39] Of the four hours' private
+conference that ensued with Napoleon we have but scanty records, and
+those by Haugwitz himself, who had every reason for warping the truth.
+He states that he was received with icy coldness, and at once saw that
+the least threat of hostile pressure by Prussia would drive Napoleon
+to make a separate peace with Austria. But after the first hour the
+Emperor appeared to thaw: he discussed the question of a Continental
+peace and laid aside all resentment at Prussia's conduct: finally, he
+gave a general assent to her proposals, on two conditions, namely,
+that the allied force then in Hanover should not be allowed by Prussia
+to invade Holland, and that the French garrison in the fortress of
+Hameln, now compassed about by Prussians, should be provisioned. To
+both of these requests Haugwitz assented, and pledged the word of his
+King, an act of presumption which that monarch was to repudiate.
+
+While exceeding his instructions on this side, Haugwitz did
+practically nothing to advance the chief business of his mission.
+Either his own fears, or the crafty mixture of threats and flattery
+that cajoled so many envoys, led him to neglect the interests of
+Prussia, and to play into the hands of the very man whose ambition he
+was sent to check. After the interview, when the envoy had retired to
+his lodging, Caulaincourt came up in haste to warn him that a battle
+was imminent, that his personal safety might be endangered, and that
+Napoleon requested him to repair to Vienna, where he might consult
+with Talleyrand on affairs of State. Horses and an escort were ready,
+and Haugwitz set out for that city, where he arrived on November 30th,
+only to find that Talleyrand was strictly forbidden to do more than
+entertain him with commonplaces. Thus, the all-important question as
+to the action of Prussia's legions was again postponed, even when
+150,000 Prussians and Saxons were ready to march against the French
+communications.
+
+Napoleon's letter of November 30th to Talleyrand reveals his secret
+anxiety at this time. In truth, the crisis was terrible. With a
+superior force in front, with the Archdukes Ferdinand and Charles
+threatening to raise Bohemia and Hungary on his flanks, while two
+Prussian armies were about to throw themselves on his rear, his
+position was fully as serious as that of Hannibal before Cannæ, from
+which the Carthaginian freed himself only by that staggering blow. Did
+that example inspire the French Emperor, or did he take counsel from
+his own boundless resources of brain and will? Certain it is that,
+after a passing fit of discouragement, he braced himself for a final
+effort, and staked all on the effect of one mighty stroke. In order to
+hurry on the battle he feigned discouragement and withdrew his lines
+from Austerlitz to the Goldbach. Already he had sent General Savary to
+the Czar with proposals for a short truce.[40] The word truce now
+spelt guile; its offer through Savary, whose hands were stained with
+the blood of the Duc d'Enghien, was in itself an insult, and Alexander
+gave that envoy the coolest reception. In return he sent Prince
+Dolgoruki, the leader of the bellicose youths now high in favour, who
+proudly declared to the French Emperor the wishes of his master for
+the independence of Europe--adding among other things that Holland
+must be free and have Belgium added to it.
+
+This suggestion greatly amused Napoleon, who replied that Russia ought
+now to think of her own advantages on the side of Turkey. The answer
+convinced the Czar that Napoleon dreaded a conflict in his dangerously
+advanced position. He knew not his antagonist's resources. Napoleon
+had hurried up every available regiment. Bernadotte's corps was
+recalled from the frontier of Bohemia; Friant's division of 4,000 men
+was ordered up from Pressburg; and by forced marches it also was nigh
+at hand on the night of December 1st, worn with fatigue after covering
+an immense space in two days, but ready to do excellent service on the
+morrow.[41] By this timely concentration Napoleon raised his forces to
+a total of at least 73,000 men, while the enemy founded their plan on
+the assumption that Napoleon had less than 50,000, and would scarcely
+resist the onset of superior forces.
+
+Their plan was rash, even for an army which numbered about 80,000 men.
+The Austrian General Weyrother had convinced the Czar that an
+energetic advance of his left wing, which rested on the southern spurs
+of the Pratzenberg, would force back Napoleon's right, which was
+ranged between the villages of Kobelnitz and Sokelnitz, and so roll up
+his long line that stretched beyond Schlapanitz. This move, if
+successful, would not only win the day, but decide the campaign, by
+cutting off the French from their supplies coming from the south and
+driving them into the exhausted lands around Olmütz. Such was
+Weyrother's scheme, which enchanted the Czar and moved the fears of
+the veteran Kutusoff: it was expounded to the Russian and Austrian
+generals after midnight on December the 2nd. Strong in the great
+central hill, the Pratzenberg, and the cover of its village at the
+foot, the Czar had no fear for his centre: to his right or northern
+wing he gave still less heed, as it rested firmly on villages and was
+powerful in cavalry and artillery; but his left wing, comprising fully
+two-fifths of the allied army, was expected easily to defeat
+Napoleon's weak and scattered right, and so decide the day. Kutusoff
+saw the peril of massing so great a force there and weakening the
+centre, but sadly held his peace.
+
+Napoleon had already divined their secret. In his order of battle he
+took his troops into his confidence, telling them that, while the
+enemy marched to turn his right, they would expose their flank to his
+blows. To announce this beforehand was strangely bold, and it has been
+thought that he had the plan from some traitor on the enemy's staff.
+No proof of this has been given; and such an explanation seems
+superfluous to those who have observed Napoleon's uncanny power of
+fathoming his adversary's designs. The idea of withdrawing one wing in
+order to tempt the foe unduly to prolong his line on that side, and
+then to crush it at the centre, or sever it from the centre, is common
+both to Castiglione and Austerlitz. It is true, the peculiarities of
+the ground, the ardour of the Russian attack, and the vastness of the
+operations lent to the present conflict a splendour and a horror which
+Castiglione lacked. But the tactics which won both battles were
+fundamentally the same.
+
+He had studied the ground in front of Austerlitz; and the priceless
+gift of strategic imagination revealed to him what a rash and showy
+leader would be certain to do on that ground;[42] he tempted him to
+it, and the announcement of the enemy's plan to the French soldiery
+supplied the touch of good comradeship which insured their utmost
+devotion on the morrow. At midnight, as he returned from visiting the
+outposts, the soldiers greeted him with a weird illumination: by a
+common impulse they tore down the straw from their rude shelters and
+held aloft the burning wisps on long poles, dancing the while in
+honour of the short gray-coated figure, and shouting, "It is the
+anniversary of the coronation. Long live the Emperor." Thus was the
+great day ushered in. The welkin glowed with this tribute of an army's
+heroworship: the frost-laden clouds echoed back the multitudinous
+acclaim; and the Russians, as they swung forward their left, surmised
+that, after all, the French would stand their ground and fight, whilst
+others saw in the flare a signal that Napoleon was once more about to
+retreat.
+
+December the 2nd may well be the most famous day of the Napoleonic
+calendar: it was the day of his coronation, it was the day of
+Austerlitz, and, a generation later, another Napoleon chose it for his
+_coup d'état_. The "sun of Austerlitz," which the nephew then hailed,
+looked down on a spectacle far different from that which he wished to
+gild with borrowed splendour. Struggling dimly through dense banks of
+mist, it shone on the faces of 73,000 Frenchmen resolved to conquer or
+to die: it cast weird shadows before the gray columns of Russia and
+the white-coats of Austria as they pressed in serried ranks towards
+the frozen swamps of the Goldbach. At first the allies found little
+opposition; and Kienmayer's horse cleared the French from Tellnitz and
+the level ground beyond. But Friant's division, hurrying up from the
+west, restored the fight and drove the first assailants from the
+village. Others, however, were pressing on, twenty-nine battalions
+strong, and not all the tenacious bravery of Davoust's soldiery
+availed to hold that spot. Nor was it necessary. Napoleon's plan was
+to let the allied left compromise itself on this side, while he rained
+the decisive blows at its joint with the centre on the southern spur
+of the Pratzenberg.
+
+For this reason he reduced Davoust to defensive tactics, for which his
+stubborn methodical genius eminently fitted him, until the French
+centre had forced the Russians from the plateau. Opposite or near that
+height he had posted the corps of Soult and Bernadotte, supporting
+them with the grenadiers of Oudinot and the Imperial Guard.
+Confronting these imposing forces was the Russian centre, weakened by
+the heavy drafts sent towards Tellnitz, but strong in its position and
+in the experience of its leader Kutusoff. Caution urged him to hold
+back his men to the last moment, until the need of giving cohesion to
+the turning movement led the Czar impatiently to order his advance.
+Scarcely had the Russians descended beyond Pratzen when they were
+exposed to a furious attack. Vandamme, noted even then as one of the
+hardest hitters in the army, was leading his division of Soult's corps
+up the northern slopes of the plateau; by a sidelong slant his men cut
+off a detachment of Russians in the village, and, aided by the brigade
+of Thiébault, swarmed up the hill at a speed which surprised and
+unsteadied its defenders. Oudinot's grenadiers and the Imperial Guard
+were ready to sustain Soult: but the men of his corps had the glory of
+seizing the plateau and driving back the Russians. Yet these returned
+to the charge. Alexander and Kutusoff saw the importance of the
+heights, and brought up a great part of their reserves. Soon the
+divisions of  Vandamme and St. Hilaire were borne back;
+and it needed all the grand fighting powers of their troops to hold up
+against the masses of howling Russians. For two hours the battle there
+swayed to and fro; and Thiébault has censured Napoleon for the lack of
+support, and Soult for his apathy, during this soldiers' battle.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ]
+
+But the Emperor was awaiting the development of events on the wings. A
+sharp fight of all arms was raging on the plain further to the north.
+There the allies at first gained ground, the Austrian horse well
+maintaining its old fame: but the infantry of Lannes' corps, supported
+by powerful artillery ranged on a small conical hill, speedily checked
+their charges; the French horse, marshalled by Murat and Kellermann
+somewhat after the fashion of the British cavalry at Waterloo, so as
+to support the squares and dash through the intervals in pursuit, soon
+made most effective charges upon the dense squadrons of the allies,
+and finally a general advance of Lannes and Murat overthrew the
+wavering lines opposite and chased them back towards the small town of
+Austerlitz.
+
+Thus by noon the lines of fighting swerved till they ranged along the
+course of the Littawa stream, save where the allies had thrust forward
+a long and apparently successful wedge beyond Tellnitz. The Czar saw
+the danger of this almost isolated wing, and sought to keep touch with
+it; but the defects of the allied plan were now painfully apparent.
+Napoleon, having the interior lines, while his foes were scattered
+over an irregular arc, could reinforce his hard-pressed right. There
+Davoust was being slowly borne back, when the march of Duroc with part
+of the Imperial Guard restored the balance on that side. The French
+centre also was strengthened by the timely arrival of part of
+Bernadotte's corps. That Marshal detached a division towards the
+northern slopes of the plateau; for he divined that there his master
+would need every man to deal the final blows.[43]
+
+In truth, Alexander and Kutusoff were struggling hard to regain the
+Pratzenberg. Four times did the Muscovites fling themselves on the
+French centre, and not without some passing gleams of success. Here
+occurred the most famous cavalry fight of the war. The Russian Guards,
+mounted on superb horses, had cut up two of Vandamme's battalions,
+when Rapp rode to their rescue with the chasseurs of the French
+Imperial Guard. These choice bodies of horsemen met with a terrible
+shock, which threw the Russians into disorder. Rallied by other
+squadrons, these now overthrew their assailants and seemed about to
+overpower them, when Bessières with the heavy cavalry of the Guard
+fell on the flank of the Muscovite horse and drove their lines, horse
+and foot, into the valley beyond.
+
+Assured of his centre, Napoleon now launched Soult's corps down the
+south-western spurs of the plateau upon the flank and rear of the
+allied left: this unexpected onset was decisive: the French, sweeping
+down the slopes with triumphant shouts, cut off several battalions on
+the banks of the Goldbach, scattered others in headlong flight towards
+Brünn, and drove the greater part down to the Lake of Tellnitz. Here
+the troubles of the allies culminated. A few gained the narrow marshy
+gap between the two lakes; but dense bodies found no means of escape
+save the frozen surface of the upper lake. In some parts the ice bore
+the weight of the fugitives; but where they thronged pell-mell, or
+where it was cut up by the plunging fire of the French cannon on the
+heights, crowds of men sank to destruction. The victors themselves
+stood aghast at this spectacle; and, for the credit of human nature be
+it said, many sought to save their drowning foes. Among others, the
+youthful Marbot swam to a floe to help bring a Russian officer to
+land, a chivalrous exploit which called forth the praise of Napoleon.
+The Emperor brought this glorious day to a fitting close by visiting
+the ground most thickly strewn with his wounded, and giving directions
+for their treatment or removal. As if satisfied with the victory, he
+gave little heed to the pursuit. In truth, never since Marlborough cut
+the Franco-Bavarian army in twain at Blenheim, had there been a battle
+so terrible in its finale, and so decisive in its results as this of
+the three Emperors, which cost the allies 33,000 men and 186 cannon.
+
+The Emperors Alexander and Francis fled eastwards into the night.
+Between them there was now a tacit understanding that the campaign was
+at an end. On that night Francis sent proposals for a truce; and in
+two days' time Napoleon agreed to an armistice (signed on December
+6th) on condition that Francis would send away the Russian army and
+entirely exclude that of Prussia from his territories. A contribution
+of 100,000,000 francs was also laid upon the Hapsburg dominions. On
+the next day Alexander pledged himself to withdraw his army at once;
+and Francis proceeded to treat for peace with Napoleon. This was an
+infraction of the treaties of the Third Coalition, which prescribed
+that no separate peace should be made.
+
+Under the circumstances, the conduct of the Hapsburgs was pardonable:
+but the seeming break-up of the coalition furnished the Court of
+Berlin with a good reason for declining to bear the burden alone. It
+was not Austerlitz that daunted Frederick William; for, after hearing
+of that disaster, he wrote that he would be true to his pledge given
+on November 3rd. But then, on the decisive day (December 15th), came
+the news of the defection of Austria, the withdrawal of Alexander's
+army, and the closing of the Hapsburg lands to a Prussian force. These
+facts absolved Frederick William from his obligations to those Powers,
+and allowed him with perfect good faith to keep his sword in the
+scabbard. The change, it is true, sadly dulled the warlike ardour of
+his army; but it could not be called desertion of Russia and
+Austria.[44] The disgrace came later, when, on Christmas Day, Haugwitz
+reached Berlin, and described to the King and Ministers his interview
+with Napoleon in the palace of Schönbrunn, and the treaty which the
+victor then and there offered to Prussia at the sword's point.
+
+For most men a great victory such as Austerlitz would have brought a
+brief spell of rest, especially after the ceaseless toils and
+anxieties of the previous fortnight. Yet now, after ridding himself of
+all fear of Austria, Napoleon at once used every device of his subtle
+statecraft to dissolve the nascent coalition. And Fortune had willed
+that, when flushed with triumph, he should have to deal with a
+timorous time-server.
+
+It is the curse of a policy of keeping up a dainty balance in a
+hurricane that it unmans the balancer, until at last the peacemaker
+resembles a juggler. A decade of compromise and evasion of
+difficulties had enfeebled the spirit of Prussia, until the hardest
+trial for her King was to take any step that could not be retraced. He
+had often spoken "feelingly, if not energetically," of the
+predicaments of his position between France, England, and Russia.[45]
+And, as in the case of that other _bon père de famille_, Louis XVI.,
+whom Nature framed for a farmhouse and Fate tossed into a revolution,
+his lack of foresight and resolution took the heart out of his
+advisers and turned statesmen into trimmers. Even before the news of
+Austerlitz reached the ears of Talleyrand and Haugwitz at Vienna, the
+bearer of Prussia's ultimatum was posing as the friend of France. On
+all occasions he wore the cordon of the Legion of Honour; and while
+the hosts of East and West were in the death-grapple on the
+Pratzenberg, he strove to convince the French Foreign Minister that
+the Prussians had entered Hanover only in order to keep the peace in
+North Germany; that, as Russians had traversed Prussian territory, the
+French would, of course, be equally free to do so; that Frederick
+William objected to the descent of any English force in Hanover, which
+belonged _de facto_ to France; and finally that the Treaty of Potsdam
+was not a treaty at all, but merely a declaration with the "offer of
+Prussia's good offices and of mediation, but without any mingling of
+hostile intentions." Well might Talleyrand write to Napoleon: "I am
+very satisfied with M. Haugwitz."[46]
+
+Napoleon's victory over Prussian diplomacy was therefore won, even
+before the lightning-stroke of Austerlitz blasted the Third Coalition.
+Haugwitz began his conference with the victor at Schönbrunn on
+December 13th, by offering Frederick William's congratulations on his
+triumph at Austerlitz, to which the Emperor replied by a sarcastic
+query whether, if the result of that battle had been different, he
+would have spoken at all about the friendship of his master.[47] After
+thus disconcerting the envoy and upbraiding him with the Treaty of
+Potsdam, Napoleon unmasked his battery by offering Prussia the
+Electorate of Hanover in return for the comparatively petty sacrifices
+of Ansbach to Bavaria, and Cleves and Neufchâtel to France. For the
+loss of these outlying districts Prussia could buy that long-coveted
+land.[48] The envoy was dazzled by this glittering offer, and by
+others that followed. The conqueror proposed an offensive and
+defensive alliance, whereby France and Prussia mutually guaranteed
+their lands along with prospective additions in Germany and Italy; and
+the Court of Berlin was also to uphold the independence of Turkey.
+
+Such were the terms that Napoleon peremptorily required Haugwitz to
+sign within a few hours: and the bearer of Prussia's ultimatum on
+December 15th signed this Treaty of Schönbrunn, which degraded the
+would-be arbitress of Europe to her former position of well-fed
+follower of France. This was the news which Haugwitz brought back to
+his astonished King. His reception was of the coolest; for Frederick
+William was an honest man, who sought peace, prosperity, and the
+welfare of his people, and now saw himself confronted by the
+alternative of war or national humiliation. In truth, every turn and
+double of his course was now leading him deeper into the discredit and
+ruin which will be described in the next chapter.
+
+Leaving for the present that unhappy King amidst his increasing
+perplexities, we return to the affairs of Austria. Mack's disaster
+alone had cast that Government into the depths of despair, and we
+learn from Lord Gower, our ambassador at St. Petersburg, that he had
+seen copies of letters written by the Emperor Francis to Napoleon
+"couched in terms of humility and submission unworthy of a great
+monarch," to which the latter replied in a tone of superiority and
+affected commiseration, and with a demand for the Hapsburg lands in
+Venetia and Swabia.[49]
+
+The same tone of whining dejection was kept up by Cobenzl and other
+Austrian Ministers, even before Austerlitz, when Prussia was on the
+point of drawing the sword; and they sent offers of peace, when it was
+rather for their foe to sue for it. After that battle, and, still more
+so, after signing the armistice of December 6th, they were at the
+conqueror's mercy; and Napoleon knew it. After probing the inner
+weakness of the Berlin Court, he now pressed with merciless severity
+on the Hapsburgs. He proposed to tear away their Swabian and Tyrolese
+lands and their share of the spoils of Venice. In vain did the
+Austrian plenipotentiaries struggle against these harsh terms,
+pleading for Tyrol and Dalmatia, and pointing out the impossibility of
+raising 100,000,000 francs from territories ravaged by war. In vain
+did they proffer a claim to Hanover for one of their Archdukes: though
+Talleyrand urged the advantage of this step as dissolving the
+Anglo-Austrian alliance, yet Napoleon refused to hear of it; for at
+that time he was offering that Electorate to Haugwitz.[50] Still less
+would he hear a word in favour of the Court of Naples, whose conduct
+had aroused his resentment. The utmost that the Austrian envoys could
+wring from him was the reduction of the war contribution to 40,000,000
+francs.
+
+The terms finally arranged in the Treaty of Pressburg (December 26th,
+1805) may be thus summarized: Austria recognized the recent
+acquisitions and changes of title made by Napoleon in Italy, and ceded
+to him her parts of Venetia, Istria, and Dalmatia. She recognized the
+title of King now bestowed by Napoleon on the Electors of Bavaria and
+Würtemberg, a change which was not to invalidate their membership of
+the "Germanic Confederation." To those potentates and to the Elector
+(now Grand Duke) of Baden, the Hapsburgs ceded all their scattered
+Swabian domains, while Bavaria also gained Tyrol and Vorarlberg. As a
+slight compensation for these grievous losses, Austria gained
+Salzburg, whose Elector was to receive from Bavaria the former
+principality of Würzburg. The domains and revenues of the Teutonic and
+Maltese Orders were secularized, so as to furnish appanages to some
+other princes of the Hapsburg House; and another blow was dealt at the
+Germanic system by the declaration that Napoleon guaranteed the full
+and entire sovereignty of the rulers of Bavaria, Würtemberg, and
+Baden. In fact, as will appear in the next chapter, Napoleon now
+usurped the place in Germany previously held by the Hapsburgs, and
+extended his influence as far east as the River Inn, and, on the
+south, down to the remote city of Ragusa on the Adriatic.
+
+But it is one thing to win a brilliant diplomatic triumph, and quite
+another thing to secure a firm and lasting peace. The Peace of
+Pressburg raised Napoleon to heights of power never dreamt of by Louis
+XIV.: but his pre-eminence was at best precarious. When by moderate
+terms he might have secured the alliance of Austria and severed her
+friendship with England, he chose to place his heel on her neck and
+drive her to secret but irreconcilable hatred.
+
+And his choice was deliberate. Two months earlier, Talleyrand had sent
+him a memorandum on the subject of a Franco-Austrian alliance, which
+is instinct with statesmanlike foresight. He stated that there were
+four Great Powers--France, Great Britain, Russia, and Austria: he
+excluded Prussia, whose rise to greatness under Frederick the Great
+was but temporary. Austria, he claimed, must remain a Great Power. She
+had opposed revolutionary France; but with Imperial France she had no
+lasting quarrel. Rather did her manifest destiny clash with that of
+Russia on the lower Danube, where the approaching break-up of the
+Ottoman Power must bring those States into conflict. It was good
+policy, then, to give a decided but friendly turn of Hapsburg policy
+towards the east. Let Napoleon frankly approach the Emperor Francis
+and say in effect: "I never sought this war with you, but I have
+conquered: I wish to restore complete harmony between us: and, in
+order to remove all causes of dispute, you must give up your Swabian,
+Tyrolese, and Venetian lands: of these Tyrol shall fall to a prince of
+your choice, and Venice (along with Trieste and Istria) shall form an
+aristocratic Republic under a magistrate nominated in the first
+instance by me. As a set-off to these losses, you shall receive
+Moldavia, Wallachia, and northern Bulgaria. If the Russians object to
+this and attack you, I will be your ally." Such was Talleyrand's
+proposal.[51]
+
+It is easy to criticise it in many details; but there can be little
+doubt that its adoption by Napoleon would have laid a firmer
+foundation for French supremacy than was afforded by the Treaties of
+Pressburg and Tilsit. Austria would not have been deeply wounded, as
+she now was by the transfer of her faithful Tyrolese to the detested
+rule of Bavaria, and by the undisguised triumph of Napoleon in Italy
+and along the Adriatic. Moreover, the erection of Tyrol and Venetia
+into separate States would have been a wise concession to those
+clannish societies; and Austria could not have taken up the
+championship of outraged Tyrolese sentiment, which she assumed four
+years later. Instead of figuring as the leader of German nationality,
+she would have been on the worst of terms with the Czar over the
+Eastern Question; and their discord would have enabled France to
+dictate her own terms as to the partition of the Sultan's dominions.
+Talleyrand had no specific for dissolving the traditional friendship
+of England and Austria, and we may imagine the joy with which he heard
+from the Hapsburg envoys the demand for Hanover, at a time when
+English gold was pouring into the empty coffers at Vienna. Here was
+the sure means of embroiling England and Austria for a generation at
+least. But this further chance of preventing future coalitions was
+likewise rejected by Napoleon, who deliberately chose to make Austria
+a deadly foe, and to aggrandize her rival Prussia.[52]
+
+Why did Napoleon reject Talleyrand's plan? Unquestionably, I think,
+because he had resolved to build up a Continental System, which should
+"hermetically seal" the coasts of Europe against English commerce. If
+he was to realize those golden visions of his youth, ships, colonies,
+and an Eastern empire, which, even amidst the glories of Austerlitz,
+he placed far above any European triumph, he must extend his coast
+system and subject or conciliate the maritime States. Of these the
+most important were Prussia and Russia. The seaborne commerce of
+Austria was insignificant, and could easily be controlled from his
+vassal lands of Venetia and Dalmatia. To the would-be conqueror of
+England the friendship or hatred of Austria seemed unimportant: he
+preferred to depress this now almost land-locked Power, and to draw
+tight the bonds of union with Prussia, always provided that she
+excluded British goods.[53]
+
+The same reason led him to hope for a Russian alliance. Only by the
+help of Russia and Prussia could he shut England out from the Baltic;
+and, to win that help, he destined Hanover for Prussia and the
+Danubian States for the Czar. For the founder of the Continental
+System such a choice was natural; but, viewed from the standpoint of
+Continental politics, his treatment of Austria was a serious blunder.
+His frightful pressure on her motley lands endowed them with a
+solidity which they had never known before; and in less than four
+years, the conqueror had cause to regret having driven the Hapsburgs
+to desperation. It may even be questioned whether Austerlitz itself
+was not a misfortune to him. Just before that battle he thought of
+treating Austria leniently, taking only Verona and Legnago, and
+exchanging Venetia against Salzburg. This would have detached her from
+the Coalition, and made a friend of a Power that is naturally inclined
+to be conservative.
+
+After Austerlitz, he rushed to the other extreme and forced the
+Hapsburgs to a hostility in which the Marie Louise marriage was only a
+forced and uneasy truce. His motives are not, in my judgment, to be
+assigned to mere lust of domination, but rather to a reasoned though
+exaggerated conviction of the need of Prussia and Russia to his
+Continental System. Above all things, he now sought to humble England,
+so that finally he might be free for his long-deferred Oriental
+enterprise. This is the irony of his career, that, though he preferred
+the career of Alexander the Great to that of Cæsar; though he placed
+his victory at Austerlitz far below the triumph of the great
+Macedonian at Issus which assured the conquest of the Orient, yet he
+felt himself driven to the very measures which tethered him to _cette
+vieille Europe_ and which finally roused the Continent against him.
+
+Among his errors of judgment, assuredly his behaviour to Austria in
+1805 was not the least. The recent history of Europe supplies a
+suggestive contrast. Two generations after Austerlitz, the Hapsburg
+Power was shattered by the disaster of Königgrätz, and once more lost
+all influence in Germany and Italy. But the victor then showed
+consideration for the vanquished. Bismarck had pondered over the
+lessons of history, because, as he said, _history teaches one how far
+one may safely go_. He therefore persuaded King William to forego
+claims that would have embittered the rivalry of Prussia and Austria.
+Nay! he recurred to Talleyrand's policy of encouraging the Hapsburgs
+to seek in the Balkan Peninsula compensation for their losses in the
+west: and within fifteen years the basis of the Triple Alliance was
+firmly laid. Napoleon, on the other hand, for lack of that
+statesmanlike moderation which consecrates victory and cements the
+fabric of an enduring Empire, soon saw the political results of
+Austerlitz swept away by the rising tide of the nations' wrath. In
+less than nine years the Austrians and their allies were masters of
+Paris.
+
+    NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--The account given on p. 41 of the
+    drowning of numbers of Russians at the close of the Battle of
+    Austerlitz was founded upon the testimony of Napoleon and many
+    French generals; the facts, as related by Lejeune, seemed quite
+    convincing; the Czar Alexander also asserted at Vienna in 1815
+    that 20,000 Russians had been drowned there. But the local
+    evidence (kindly furnished to me by Professor Fournier of Vienna)
+    seems to prove that the story is a myth. Both lakes were drained
+    only a few days after the battle, _at Napoleon's orders_; in the
+    lower lake not a single corpse was found; in the upper lake 150
+    corpses of horses, but only two, some say three, of men, were
+    found. Probably Napoleon invented the catastrophe for the sake of
+    dramatic effect, and others followed the lead given in his
+    bulletin. The Czar may have adopted the story because it helped to
+    excuse his defeat. (See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." for
+    July, 1902.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+PRUSSIA AND THE NEW CHARLEMAGNE
+
+
+An eminent German historian, who has striven to say some kind words
+about Frederick William's Government before the collapse at Jena,
+prefaces his apology by the axiom that from a Prussian monarch one
+ought to expect, not French, English, or Russian policy, but only
+Prussian policy. The claim may well be challenged. Doubtless, there
+are some States concerning which it would be true. Countries such as
+Great Britain and Spain, whose areas are clearly defined by nature,
+may with advantage be self-contained until their peoples overflow into
+new lands: before they become world Powers, they may gain in strength
+by being narrowly national. But there are other States whose fortunes
+are widely different. They represent some principle of life or energy,
+in the midst of mere political wreckage. If the binding power, which
+built up an older organism, should decline, as happened to the Holy
+Roman Empire after the religious wars, fragments will fall away and
+join bodies to which they are now more akin.
+
+Of the States that throve among the crumbling masses of the old Empire
+the chief was Brandenburg-Prussia. She had a twofold energy which the
+older organism lacked: she was Protestant and she was national; she
+championed the new creed cherished by the North Germans, and she felt,
+though dimly as yet, the strength that came from an almost single kin.
+Until she seized on part of the spoils of Poland, her Slavonic
+subjects were for the most part germanized Slavs; and even after
+acquiring Posen and Warsaw at the close of the eighteenth century, she
+could still claim to be the chief Germanic State. A generation
+earlier, Frederick the Great had seen this to be the source of her
+strength. His policy was not merely Prussian: in effect, if not in
+aim, it was German. His victory at Rossbach over a great polyglot
+force of French and Imperialists first awakened German nationality to
+a thrill of conscious life; and the last success of his career was the
+championship of the lesser German princes against the encroachments of
+the Hapsburgs. In fact, it seems now a mere commonplace to assert that
+Prussia has prospered most when, as under Frederick the Great and
+William the Great, her policy has been truly German, and that she has
+fallen back most in the years 1795-1806 and 1848-1852, when the
+subservience of her Frederick Williams to France and Austria has lost
+them the respect and support of the rest of the Fatherland. A State
+that would attract other fragments of the same nation must be
+attractive, and it must be broadly national if it is to attract. If
+Stein and Bismarck had been merely Prussians, if Cavour's policy had
+been narrowly Sardinian, would their States ever have served as the
+rallying centres for the Germany and Italy of to-day?
+
+The difficulties which beset Frederick William III. in 1805 were not
+entirely of his own making. His predecessor of the same ill-omened
+name, when nearing the close of his inglorious reign, made the Peace
+of Basel (1795), which began to place the policy of Berlin at the beck
+and call of the French revolutionists. But the present ruler had
+assured Prussia's subservience to France at the time of the
+Secularizations, when he gained Erfurt, Eichsfeld, Hildesheim,
+Paderborn, and a great part of the straggling bishopric of Münster.
+Even at that time of shameless rapacity, there were those who saw that
+the gain of half a million of subjects to Prussia was a poor return
+for the loss of self-respect that befell all who shared in the
+sacrilegious plunder bartered away by Bonaparte and Talleyrand.
+Frederick William III. was even suspected of a leaning towards French
+methods of Government; and a Prussian statesman said to the French
+ambassador:
+
+    "You have only the nobles against you: the King and the people are
+    openly for France. The revolution which you have made from below
+    upwards will be slowly effected in Prussia from above downwards:
+    the King is a democrat after his fashion: he is always striving to
+    curtail the privileges of the nobles, but by slow means. In a few
+    years feudal rights will cease to exist in Prussia."[54]
+
+Could the King have carried out these much-needed reforms, he might
+perhaps have opposed a solid society to the renewed might of France.
+But he failed to set his house in order before the storm burst; and in
+1803 he so far gave up his championship of North German affairs as to
+allow the French to occupy Hanover, a land that he and his Ministers
+had long coveted.
+
+We saw in the last chapter that Hanover was the bait whereby Napoleon
+hooked the Prussian envoy, Haugwitz, at Schönbrunn; and that the very
+man who had been sent to impose Prussia's will upon the French Emperor
+returned to Berlin bringing peace and dishonour. The surprise and
+annoyance of Frederick William may be imagined. On all sides
+difficulties were thickening around him. Shortly before the return of
+Haugwitz to Berlin, the Russian troops campaigning in Hanover had been
+placed under the protection of Prussia; and the King himself had
+offered to our Minister, Lord Harrowby, to protect Cathcart's
+Anglo-Hanoverian corps which, _with the aid of Prussian troops_, was
+restoring the authority of George III. in that Electorate.
+
+Moreover, Frederick William could not complain of any shabby treatment
+from our Government. Knowing that he was set on the acquisition of
+Hanover and could only be drawn into the Coalition by an equally
+attractive offer, the Pitt Ministry had proposed through Lord Harrowby
+the cession to Prussia at the general peace of the lands south-west of
+the Duchy of Cleves, "bounded by a frontier line drawn from Antwerp to
+Luxemburg," and connected with the rest of her territories.[55] This
+plan, which would have planted Prussia firmly at Antwerp, Liège,
+Luxemburg, and Cologne, also aimed at installing the Elector of
+Salzburg in the rest of the new Rhenish acquisitions of France; while
+the equipoise of the Powers was to be adjusted by the cession of
+Salzburg, the Papal Legations, and the line of the Mincio to Austria,
+she in her turn giving up part of her Dalmatian lands to Russia.
+Prussia was to be the protectress of North Germany and regard any
+incursion of the French, "north of the Maine or at least of the Lahn,"
+as an act of war. Great Britain, after subsidizing Prussia for 100,000
+troops on the usual scale, pledged herself to restore all her
+conquests made, or to be made, during the war, with the exception of
+the Cape of Good Hope: but no questions were to be raised about that
+desirable colony, or Malta, or the British maritime code.[56]
+
+At the close of 1805, then, Frederick William was face to face with
+the offers of England and those brought by Haugwitz from Napoleon.
+That is, he had to choose between the half of Belgium and the
+Rhineland as offered by England, or Hanover as a gift from Napoleon.
+The former gain was the richer, but apparently the more risky, for it
+entailed the hatred of France: the latter seemed to secure the
+friendship of the conqueror, though at the expense of the claims of
+honour and a naval war with England. His confidential advisers,
+Lombard, Beyme, and Haugwitz, were determined to gain the Electorate,
+preferably at Napoleon's hands; while his Foreign Minister,
+Hardenberg, a Hanoverian by birth, desired to assure the union of his
+native land with Prussia by more honourable means, and probably by
+means of an exchange with George III., which will be noticed
+presently. In his opposition to French influence, Hardenberg had the
+support of the more patriotic Prussians, who sought to safeguard
+Prussia's honour, and to avert war with England. The difficulty in
+accepting the Electorate at the point of Napoleon's sword was not
+merely on the score of morality: it was due to the presence of a large
+force of English, Hanoverians, and Russians on the banks of the Weser,
+and to the protection which the Prussian Government had offered to
+those troops against any French attack, always provided that they did
+not move against Holland and retired behind the Prussian
+battalions.[57] The indignation of British officers at this last order
+is expressed by Christian Ompteda, of the King's German Legion, in a
+letter to his brother at Berlin: "My dear fellow, if this sort of
+thing goes on, the Continent will soon be irrecoverably lost. The
+Russian and English armies will not long creep for refuge under the
+contemptible Prussian cloak. We are here, 40,000 of the best and
+bravest troops. A swift move on Holland only would have opened the
+road to certain success.... And this is Lombard's and Haugwitz's
+work!"[58]
+
+What meanwhile were George III.'s Ministers doing? At this crisis
+English policy suffered a terrible blow. Death struck down the
+"stately column" that held up the swaying fortunes of our race.
+William Pitt, long failing in health, was sore-stricken by the news of
+Austerlitz and the defection of Austria. But the popular version as to
+the cause of his death--that _Austerlitz killed Pitt_--is more
+melodramatic than correct. Among the many causes that broke that
+unbending spirit, the news of the miserable result of the Hanoverian
+Expedition was the last and severest. The files of our Foreign Office
+papers yield touching proof of the hopes which the Cabinet cherished,
+even after Vienna was in Napoleon's hands. Harrowby was urged to do
+everything in his power--short of conceding Hanover--to bring Prussia
+into the field, in which case "nearly 300,000 men will be available in
+North Germany at the beginning of the next campaign, which will
+include 70,000 British and Hanoverian troops employed there or in
+maritime enterprises."[59] To this hope Pitt clung, even after hearing
+the news of Austerlitz, and it was doubtless this which enabled him to
+bear that last journey from Bath to Putney Heath, with less fatigue
+and far more quickly than had been expected. He arrived home on
+Saturday night, January 11th. On the following Wednesday his friend,
+George Rose, called on him and found that a serious change for the
+worse had set in.
+
+    "On the Sunday he was better, and continued improving till Monday
+    in the afternoon, when Lord Castlereagh insisted on seeing him,
+    and, having obtained access to him, entered (Lord Hawkesbury being
+    also present) on points of public business of the most serious
+    importance (principally respecting the bringing home the British
+    troops from the Continent), which affected him visibly that
+    evening and the next day, and this morning the effect was more
+    plainly observed: ... his countenance is extremely changed, his
+    voice weak, and his body almost wasted."
+
+It is clear also from the medical evidence which the diarist gives
+that the news from Hanover was the cause of this sudden change. On the
+previous Sunday, that is, just after the fatigue of the three days'
+journey, the physicians "thought there was a reasonable prospect of
+Mr. Pitt's recovery, that the probability was in favour of it, and
+that, if his complaint should not take an unfavourable turn, he might
+be able to attend to business in about a month."[60] That unfavourable
+turn took place when the heroic spirit lost all hope under the
+distressing news from Berlin and Hanover. Austerlitz, it is true, had
+depressed him. Yet that, after all, did not concern British honour and
+the dearest interests of his master.
+
+But, that Frederick William, from whom he had hoped so much, to whom
+he was on the point of advancing a great subsidy, should now fall
+away, should talk of peace with Napoleon and claim Hanover, should
+forbid an invasion of Holland and request the British forces to
+evacuate North Germany--this was a blow to George III., to our
+military prestige, and to the now tottering Ministry. How could he
+face the Opposition, already wellnigh triumphant in the sad Melville
+business, with a King's Speech in which this was the chief news?
+Losing hope, he lost all hold on life: he sank rapidly: in the last
+hours his thoughts wandered away to Berlin and Lord Harrowby. "What is
+the wind?" he asked. "East; that will do; that will bring him fast,"
+he murmured. And, on January 23rd, about half an hour before he
+breathed his last, the servant heard him say: "My country: oh my
+country."[61]
+
+Thus sank to rest, amidst a horror of great darkness, the statesman
+whose noon had been calm and glorious. Only a superficial reading of
+his career can represent him as eager for war and a foe to popular
+progress. His best friends knew full well his pride in the great
+financial achievements of 1784-6, his resolute clinging to peace in
+1792, and his longing for a pacification in 1796, 1797, and 1800,
+provided it could be gained without detriment to our allies and to the
+vital interests of Britain. His defence lies buried amidst the
+documents of our Record Office, and has not yet fully seen the light.
+For he was a reserved man, the warmth of whose nature blossomed forth
+only to a few friends, or on such occasions as his inspired speech on
+the emancipation of slaves. To outsiders he had more than the usual
+fund of English coldness: he wrote no memoirs, he left few letters, he
+had scant means of influencing public opinion; and he viewed with
+lofty disdain the French clamour that it was he who made and kept up
+the war. "I know it," he said; "the Jacobins cry louder than we can,
+and make themselves heard."[62] He was, in fact, a typical champion of
+our rather dumb and stolid race, that plods along to the end of the
+appointed stage, scarcely heeding the cloud of stinging flies. Both
+the people and its champion were ill fitted to cope with Napoleon.
+None of our statesmen had the Latin tact and the histrionic gifts
+needful to fathom his guile, to arouse the public opinion of Europe
+against him, or to expose his double-dealing.
+
+But Pitt was unfortunate above all of them. It was his fate to begin
+his career in an age of mediocrities and to finish it in an almost
+single combat with the giant. He was no match for Napoleon. The
+Coalition, which the Czar and he did so much to form, was a house of
+cards that fell at the conqueror's first touch; and the Prussian
+alliance now proved to be a broken reed. His notions of strategy were
+puerile. The French Emperor was not to be beaten by small forces
+tapping at his outworks; and Austria might reasonably complain that
+our neglect to attack the rear of the Grand Army in Flanders exposed
+her to the full force of its onset on the Danube. But though his
+genius pales before the fiery comet of Napoleon, it shines with a
+clear and steady radiance when viewed beside that of the Continental
+statesmen of his age. They flickered for a brief space and set. His
+was the rare virtue of dauntless courage and unswerving constancy. By
+the side of their wavering groups he stands forth like an Abdiel:
+
+  "Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
+  His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal:
+  Nor number nor example with him wrought
+  To swerve from truth or change his constant mind,
+  Though single."
+
+While English statesmanship was essaying the task of forming a
+Coalition Ministry under Fox and Grenville, Napoleon with untiring
+activity was consolidating his position in Germany, Italy, and France.
+In Germany he allied his family by marriage with the now royal Houses
+of Bavaria and Würtemberg. He chased the Bourbons of Naples from their
+Continental domains. In France he found means to mitigate a severe
+financial crisis, and to strengthen his throne by a new order of
+hereditary nobility. In a word, he became the new Charlemagne.
+
+The exaltation of the South German dynasties had long been a favourite
+project with Napoleon, who saw in the hatred of the House of Bavaria
+for Austria a sure basis for spreading French influence into the heart
+of Germany. Not long after the battle of Austerlitz, the Elector of
+Bavaria, while out shooting, received from a French courier a letter
+directed to "Sa Majesté _le Roi_ de Bavière et de Suabe."[63] This
+letter was despatched six days after a formal request was sent through
+Duroc, that the Elector would give his daughter Augusta in marriage to
+Eugène Beauharnais. The affair had been mooted in October: it was
+clinched by the victory of Austerlitz; and after Napoleon's arrival at
+Munich on the last day of the year, the final details were arranged.
+The bridegroom was informed of it in the following laconic style: "I
+have arrived at Munich. I have arranged your marriage with the
+Princess Augusta. It has been announced. This morning the princess
+visited me, and I spoke with her for a long time. She is very pretty.
+You will find herewith her portrait on a cup; but she is much better
+looking." The wedding took place at Munich as soon as the bridegroom
+could cross the Alps; and Napoleon delayed his departure for France in
+order to witness the ceremony which linked him with an old reigning
+family. At the same time he arranged a match between Jerome Bonaparte
+and Princess Catherine of Würtemberg. This was less expeditious,
+partly because, in the case of a Bonaparte, Napoleon judged it needful
+to sound the measure of his obedience. But Jerome had been broken in:
+he had thrown over Miss Paterson, and, after a delay of a year and a
+half, obeyed his brother's behests, and strengthened the ties
+connecting Swabia with France. A third alliance was cemented by the
+marriage of the heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden with Stéphanie de
+Beauharnais, niece of Josephine.
+
+In the early part of 1806 Napoleon might flatter himself with his
+brilliant success as a match-maker. Yet, after all, he was less
+concerned with the affairs of Hymen than with those of Mars and
+Mercury. He longed to be at Paris for the settlement of finances; and
+he burned to hear of the expulsion of the Bourbons from Naples. For
+this last he had already sent forth his imperious mandates from
+Vienna; and, after a brief sojourn at the Swabian capitals, he set out
+for Paris, where he arrived incognito at midnight of January 26th.
+During his absence of one hundred and twenty-five days he had captured
+or destroyed two armies, stricken a mighty coalition to the heart,
+shattered the Hapsburg Power, and revolutionized the Germanic system
+by establishing two Napoleonic kingdoms in its midst.
+
+Yet, as if nothing had been done, and all his hopes and thoughts lay
+in the future, he summoned his financial advisers to a council for
+eight o'clock in the morning. Scarcely did he deign to notice their
+congratulations on his triumphs. "We have," he said, "to deal with
+more serious questions: it seems that the greatest dangers of the
+State were not in Austria: let us hear the report of the Minister of
+the Treasury." It then appeared that Barbé-Marbois had been concerned
+in risky financial concerns with the Court of Spain, through a man
+named Ouvrard. The Minister therefore was promptly dismissed, and
+Mollien then and there received his post. The new Minister states in
+his memoirs that the money, which had sufficed to carry the French
+armies from the English Channel to the Rhine, had been raised on
+extravagant terms, largely on loans on the national domains. In fact,
+it had been an open question whether victory would come promptly
+enough to avert a wholesale crash at Paris.
+
+So bad were the finances that, though 40,000,000 francs were poured
+every year into France as subsidies from Italy and Spain, yet loans of
+120,000,000 francs had been incurred in order to meet current
+expenses.[64] It would exceed the limits of our space to describe by
+what forceful means Napoleon restored the financial equilibrium and
+assuaged the commercial crisis resulting from the war with England.
+Mollien soon had reason to know that, so far from avoiding Continental
+wars, the Emperor thenceforth seemed almost to provoke them, and that
+the motto--_War must support war_--fell far short of the truth.
+Napoleon's wars, always excepting his war with England, supported the
+burdens of an armed peace. In this respect his easy and gainful
+triumph over Austria was a disaster for France and Europe. It beckoned
+him on to Jena and Tilsit.
+
+While reducing his finances to order and newspaper editors to
+servility, the conqueror received news of the triumph of his arms in
+Southern Italy. There the Bourbons of Naples had mortally offended
+him. After concluding a convention for the peaceable withdrawal of St.
+Cyr's corps and the strict observance of neutrality by the kingdom of
+Naples, Ferdinand IV. and his Queen Caroline welcomed the arrival at
+their capital of an Anglo-Russian force of 20,000 men, and intrusted
+the command of these and of the Neapolitan troops to General Lacy.[65]
+This force, it is true, did little except weaken the northward march
+of Masséna; but the violation of neutrality by the Bourbons galled
+Napoleon. At Vienna he refused to listen to the timid pleading of the
+Hapsburgs on their behalf, and as soon as peace was signed at
+Pressburg he put forth a bulletin stating that St. Cyr was marching on
+Naples to hurl from the throne that guilty woman who had so flagrantly
+violated all that is sacred among men. France would fight for thirty
+years rather than pardon her atrocious act of perfidy: the Queen of
+Naples had ceased to reign: let her go to London and form a committee
+of sympathetic ink with Drake, Spencer-Smith, Taylor, and Wickham.
+
+This diatribe was not the first occasion on which the conqueror had
+proved that he was no gentleman. In his brutal letter of January 2nd,
+1805, to Queen Caroline, he told her that, if she was the cause of
+another war, she and her children would beg their bread all through
+Europe. That and similar outbursts afford some excuse for the conduct
+of the Bourbons in the autumn of 1805. They infringed the neutrality
+which their ambassador had engaged to observe: but it is to be
+remembered that Napoleon's invasion of the Neapolitan States in 1803
+was a gross violation of international law, which the French Foreign
+Office sought to cloak by fabricating two secret articles of the
+Treaty of Amiens.[66] And though troth should doubtless be kept, even
+with a law-breaker, yet its violation becomes venial when the latter
+adopts the tone of a bully. For the present he triumphed. Joseph
+Bonaparte invaded Naples in force, and on January 13th the King,
+Queen, and Court set sail for Palermo. The Anglo-Russian divisions
+re-embarked and sailed away for Malta and Corfu. One of the Neapolitan
+strongholds, Gaëta, held out till the middle of July. Elsewhere the
+Bourbon troops gave little trouble.
+
+The conquest of Naples enabled Napoleon to extend his experiment of a
+federation of Bonapartist Kings. He announced to Miot de Melito, now
+appointed one of Joseph's administrators, his intentions in an
+interview at the Tuileries on January 28th. Joseph was to be King of
+Naples, if he accepted the honour quickly. If not, the Emperor would
+adopt a son, as in the case of Eugène, and make him King.--"I don't
+need a wife to have an heir. It is by my pen that I get
+children."--But Joseph must also show himself worthy of the honour.
+Let him despise fatigue, get wounded, break a leg.
+
+    "Look at me. The recent campaign, agitation, and movement have
+    made me fat. I believe that if all the kings coalesced against me,
+    I should get a quite ridiculous stomach.... You have heard my
+    words. I can no longer have relatives in obscurity. Those who will
+    not rise with me, shall no longer be of my family. I am making a
+    family of kings attached to my federative system."[67]
+
+The threat having had its effect, Joseph was proclaimed King of Naples
+by a decree of Napoleon. "Keep a firm hand: I only ask one thing of
+you: be entirely the master there."[68] Such was the advice given to
+his amiable brother, who after enjoying a military promenade
+southwards was charged to undertake the conquest of Sicily. It
+mattered little that the overthrow of the Neapolitan Bourbons offended
+the Czar, who had undertaken the protection of that House.
+
+As though intent on browbeating Alexander by an exhibition of his
+power, Napoleon lavished Italian titles on his Marshals and statesmen.
+Talleyrand became Prince of Benevento; and Bernadotte, Prince of
+Ponte-Corvo (two Papal enclaves in Neapolitan soil). To these and
+other titles were attached large domains (not divisible at death),
+which enabled his paladins and their successors to support their new
+dignities with pomp and splendour; especially was this so with the two
+titles which his bargains with Prussia and Bavaria enabled him to
+bestow. Thanks to the complaisance of their Kings, the Grand Duchy of
+Berg and Cleves was granted to Murat, while the energetic and trusty
+Berthier was rewarded with the Principality of Neufchâtel and a truly
+princely fortune.[69]
+
+Thus was founded the Napoleonic nobility; and thus was fulfilled Mme.
+de Staël's prophecy that the priests and nobles would be the
+_caryatides_ of the future throne. The change was brought about
+skilfully. It took place when pride in Napoleon's exploits was at its
+height, and when the "Gazette de France" asserted:
+
+    "France is henceforth the arbitress of Europe.... Civilization
+    would have perished in Europe, if forth from the ruins there had
+    not arisen one of these men before whom the world keeps silence,
+    and to whom Providence seems to intrust its destinies."[70]
+
+This adulation, which recalls that of the Court of Augustus or
+Tiberius, gives the measure of French thought. In truth, Napoleon
+showed profound insight into human nature when he judged the hatred of
+an order of nobility to be a mere passing spasm of revolutionary
+fever; and he evinced equal good sense in restoring that order through
+the chiefs of the one truly popular institution in France, the army.
+Besides, the new titles were not taken from French domains, which
+would have revived the idea of feudal dependence in France: they were
+the fruit of Napoleon's great victory; and the sound of distant names
+like Benevento, Berg, and Dalmatia skilfully flattered the pride of
+_la grande nation_.
+
+It is now time to return to the affairs of Prussia and to point out
+the chief stages in her downward course. On January 3rd, 1806, an
+important State Council was held at Berlin in order to decide on
+certain modifications to the Schönbrunn Treaty with Napoleon. The
+chief change resolved on was as follows: Instead of the cessions of
+territory being immediate and absolute, as proposed by Napoleon, they
+were not to take effect before the general peace. Until that took
+place, Frederick William resolved to occupy Hanover provisionally,
+meanwhile answering to France for the tranquillity of the north of
+Germany.[71] The Prussian Government therefore gave strong hints that
+the presence of a British force there was objectionable, and the
+troops were withdrawn.[72]
+
+Napoleon was to be less pliable. And yet Haugwitz assured the Prussian
+King and council that he had looked Napoleon through and through, and
+had discerned an unexpressed wish to deal easily with Prussia. As to
+his acceptance of these changes in the Schönbrunn Treaty, Haugwitz
+felt no doubt whatever, at least so his foe, Hardenberg, states. But
+the Prussian Ministers were now proposing, not the offensive and
+defensive treaty of alliance that Napoleon required, but rather a
+mediation for peace between France and England. They were, in fact,
+striving to steer halfway between Napoleon and George III.--and gain
+Hanover. Verily, here was a belief in half measures passing that of
+women.
+
+The envoy despatched to assure Napoleon's assent to these new
+conditions was the very man who had quailed before the Emperor at
+Schönbrunn. Count Haugwitz set out on January 14th for Munich and
+thence for Paris; but long before any definite news was received from
+him, the Court of Berlin decided, on the strength of a few oily
+compliments from the French ambassador, Laforest, to regard the
+acceptance of Napoleon as fully assured. Accordingly, on January 24th,
+the Government resolved to place the Prussian army on a peace-footing
+and recall the troops from Franconia, as a daily saving of 100,000
+thalers might thereby be effected. Never was there a greater act of
+extravagance. As soon as the retreat and demobilizing of the Prussian
+forces was announced, the French troops in Bavaria and Franconia began
+to press forward, while others poured across the Rhine. Affecting to
+ignore these threatening moves, the Prussian Court strove peaceably to
+acquire Hanover by secretly offering George III. a re-arrangement of
+territories, whereby the Hanoverian lands east of the Weser, along
+with a few districts west of Hameln and Nienburg, should pass to
+Prussia. Frederick William proposed to keep Minden and Ravensburg, but
+to cede East Frisia and all the rest of his Westphalian possessions to
+King George, who would retain the electoral dignity for these new
+lands.[73] The only reply that our ruler deigned to this offer was
+that he trusted:
+
+    "His Prussian Majesty will follow the honourable dictates of his
+    own heart, and will demonstrate to the world that he will not set
+    the dreadful example of indemnifying himself at the expense of a
+    third party, whose sentiments and conduct towards him and his
+    subjects have been uniformly friendly and pacifick."[74]
+
+But by the close of February this appeal fell on deaf ears. Frederick
+William had decided to comply with Napoleon's terms and was about to
+take formal possession of Hanover.
+
+The conqueror was far from taking that easy view of the changes made
+in the Schönbrunn Treaty which the discerning Haugwitz had trustfully
+expected. At first, every effort was made by Talleyrand to delay his
+interview with the Emperor, evidently in the hope that the subtle
+flattery of Laforest at Berlin would lead to the demobilization of the
+Prussian forces. This fatal step was known at Paris before February
+6th, when Haugwitz was received by the Emperor; and the knowledge that
+Prussia was at his mercy decided the conqueror's tone. He began by
+some wheedling words as to the ability shown by Haugwitz in the
+Schönbrunn negotiation:
+
+    "If anyone but myself had treated with you I should have thought
+    him bought over by you; but, let me confess to you, the treaty was
+    due to your talents and merit. You were in my eyes the first
+    statesman in Europe, and covered yourself with immortal glory."
+
+Before that interview, forsooth, he had decided to make war on
+Prussia; and only Haugwitz had induced him to offer her peace and the
+gift of Hanover. Why, then, had that treaty been so criticised at
+Berlin? Why had the French ambassador been slighted? Why was
+Hardenberg high in favour? Why had not the King dismissed that tool of
+England? Here the envoy strove to stem the rising torrent of the
+Emperor's wrath; his words were at once swept aside; and the deluge
+flowed on. As Prussia had not ratified the treaty pure and simple, she
+was in a state of war with France; for she still had Russian and
+English troops on her soil. Here again Haugwitz observed that those
+forces were withdrawing, and that the Prussians were entering Hanover
+in force. The storm burst forth anew. What right had Prussia thus to
+carry into effect a treaty which she had not ratified? If her forces
+entered Hanover, his troops should forthwith occupy Ansbach, Cleves,
+and Neufchâtel: if Frederick William meant to have Hanover, he should
+pay dearly for it. But he would allow Haugwitz to see Talleyrand, so
+as to prevent an immediate war.[75]
+
+The calm of the Foreign Minister was as dangerous as the bluster of
+the Emperor. Talleyrand was no friend to Prussia. He had long known
+Napoleon's determination to press on a war between England and
+Prussia, and he lent himself to the plan of undermining the
+Hohenzollerns. The scales now fell from the envoy's eyes. He saw that
+his country stood friendless before an exacting creditor, who now
+claimed further sacrifices--or Prussia's life-blood. The Emperor's
+threats were partly fictitious; and when Haugwitz was thoroughly
+frightened and ready to concede almost anything, Napoleon came to the
+real point at issue, and demanded that the whole of the German
+coast-line on the North Sea should be closed to English commerce. With
+this stringent clause superadded, Hanover was now handed over to
+Prussia. Never was a Greek gift more skilfully offered. The present of
+Hanover on those terms implied for the recipient Russia's disapproval
+and the hostility of England.[76]
+
+This was the news brought by Haugwitz to Berlin. Frederick William was
+now on the horns of the very dilemma which he had sought to avoid.
+Either he must accept Napoleon's terms, or defy the conqueror to
+almost single combat. The irony of his position was now painfully
+apparent. In his longing for peace and retrenchment he had dismissed
+his would-be allies, and had sent his own soldiers grumbling to their
+homes. Moreover, he was tied by his previous action. If he accepted
+peace from Napoleon at Christmas, when 300,000 men could have disputed
+the victor's laurels, how much more must he accept it now! He not only
+gave way on this point: he even complied with Napoleon's wishes by
+keeping Hardenberg at a distance. He did not dismiss him--the
+friendship of the spirited Queen Louisa forbade that: but Hardenberg
+yielded up to Haugwitz the guidance of foreign affairs, and was
+granted unlimited leave of absence.
+
+Popular feeling was deeply moved by this craven compliance with French
+behests. The officers of the Berlin garrison serenaded the patriotic
+statesman, while Haugwitz twice had his windows smashed. Public
+opinion, it is true, counted for little in Prussia. The rigorous
+separation of classes, the absence of popular education, the complete
+subjection of the journals to Government, and the mutual jealousy of
+soldiers and civilians, prevented any general expression of opinion in
+that almost feudal society.
+
+But when the people of Ansbach piteously begged not to be handed over
+to Bavaria, and forthwith saw their land occupied by the French before
+Prussia had ratified the cession of that principality; when the North
+Germans found that the gain of Hanover by Prussia was at the price of
+war with England and the ruin of their commerce; when it was seen that
+Frederick William and Haugwitz had clipped the wings of the Prussian
+eagle till it shunned a fight with the Gallic cock, a feeling of shame
+and indignation arose which proved that the limits of endurance had
+been reached. Observers saw that, after all, the old German feeling
+was not dead; it was only torpid; and forces were beginning to work
+which threatened ruin to the Hohenzollerns if they again tarnished the
+national honour.[77]
+
+Meanwhile the first overtures for peace were exchanged between Paris,
+London, and St. Petersburg. In the spring of 1806 there seemed some
+ground for hope that Europe might find repose, at least on land, after
+fourteen years of almost constant war. France was no longer
+Jacobinical. Under Napoleon she had quickly fallen into line with the
+monarchical States, and the questions now at stake merely related to
+boundaries and the balance of power. The bellicose ardour of the Czar
+had melted away at Austerlitz. The seizure of Hanover by Prussia moved
+him but little, and he sought to compose the resulting strife. As for
+the other Powers, they were either helpless or torpid. The King of
+Sweden was venting his spleen upon Prussia. Italy, South Germany,
+Holland, and Spain were at Napoleon's beck; and the policy of England
+under the new Grenville-Fox Ministry inclined strongly towards peace.
+There seemed, then, every chance of founding the supremacy of France
+upon lasting foundations, if the claims of Britain and Austria
+received reasonable satisfaction. Napoleon also seems to have wanted
+peace for the consolidation of his power in Europe and the extension
+of his colonies and commerce. As at the close of all his land
+campaigns, his thoughts turned to the East, and on January 31st, 1806,
+he issued orders to Decrès which, far from showing any despair as to
+the French navy, foreshadowed a vigorous naval and colonial policy;
+while his moves on the Dalmatian coast, and the despatch of Sebastiani
+on a mission to the Porte, revealed the magnetic attraction which the
+Levant still had for him.
+
+A peculiar interest therefore attaches to the negotiations for peace
+in 1806, especially as they were pushed on by that generous orator,
+Fox, who had so long pleaded for a good understanding with France. On
+February 20th, 1806, he disclosed to Talleyrand the details of a
+supposed plot for the murder of the French Emperor, which some person
+had proposed to him, an offer which he rejected with horror, at the
+same time ordering the man to be expelled from the kingdom. It is more
+than probable that the whole thing was got up by the French police as
+a test of the esteem which Fox had always expressed for Bonaparte.
+
+The experiment having turned out well, Talleyrand assured Fox of the
+pacific desires of the French Emperor as recently stated to the Corps
+Législatif, namely, that peace could be had on the terms of the Treaty
+of Amiens. Fox at once clasped the outstretched hand, but stated that
+the negotiations must be in concert with Russia, and the treaty such
+as our allies could honourably accept. To this Talleyrand, on April
+1st, gave a partial assent, adding that Napoleon was convinced that
+the rupture of the Peace of Amiens was due solely to the refusal of
+France to grant a treaty of commerce. France and England could now
+come to satisfactory terms, if England would be content with the
+sovereignty of the seas, and not interfere with Continental
+affairs.[78] France desired, not a truce, but a durable peace.
+
+To this Fox assented, but traversed the French claim that Russia's
+participation would imply her mediation. Peace could only come from an
+honourable understanding between all the Powers actually at war.
+Talleyrand denied that Russia was at war with France, as the Third
+Coalition had lapsed; but Fox held his ground, and declared there must
+be peace with England _and Russia_, or not at all: otherwise France
+would be seen to aim at "excluding us from any connection with the
+Continental Powers of Europe."[79]
+
+Such a beginning was disappointing: it showed that Napoleon and
+Talleyrand were intent on sowing distrust between England and Russia,
+who were mutually pledged not to make peace separately; and for a time
+all overtures ceased between London and Paris, until it was known that
+a Russian envoy was going to Paris. Hitherto the French Foreign Office
+had won brilliant successes by skilfully separating and embittering
+allies. But now it seemed that their tactics were foiled. Two firm and
+trusty allies yet remained, Britain and Russia. To Czartoryski our
+Foreign Minister had expressed his desire that the former offensive
+alliance should now take a solely defensive character: "If we cannot
+reduce the enormous power of France, it will always be something to
+stop its progress." To these opinions the Russian Minister gave a
+cordial assent, and despatched a special envoy to London to concert
+terms of peace along with the British Ministry, while Oubril, "a safe
+man on whose prudence and principles the two allied Courts may safely
+rely," was despatched to Vienna and Paris.[80]
+
+Oubril proceeded to Vienna, where he had long discussions with the
+British and French ambassadors: Fox also requested that Lord Yarmouth,
+one of the many hundreds of Englishmen still kept under restraint in
+France, might have his freedom and repair at once to Paris for a
+preliminary discussion with Talleyrand. The request being granted, the
+prisoner left the depot at Verdun, and, early in June, saw that
+Minister in his first flush of pride at the new title of Prince of
+Benevento. At that time Paris was intoxicated with Napoleon's glory.
+The French were lords of Franconia, whence they levied heavy
+exactions: in Italy they defied the Pope's authority.[81] They were
+firmly installed at Ancona, despite repeated protests of Pius VII.
+King Joseph with an army of 45,000 men was planning the expulsion of
+the Bourbons from Sicily. And in these early days of June, Louis
+Bonaparte was declared King of Holland.
+
+Yet Talleyrand was not so dazzled by this splendour as to slight the
+idea of peace with England; and when Lord Yarmouth stated that George
+III. would above all things require the restoration of Hanover, the
+Minister, after a delay in which he consulted his master, stated that
+that would make no difficulty. As to the other questions, namely,
+Sicily and the maintenance of the Turkish Empire, he replied: "You
+hold Sicily, we do not ask it of you: if we possessed it, it might
+much increase our difficulties"; and as regards Turkey he advised
+that England should speedily gain the guarantee of its integrity from
+France--"for much is being prepared, but nothing is yet done." After
+reporting these views at Downing Street, Lord Yarmouth returned to
+Paris for further discussions, with the general understanding that the
+principle of _uti possidetis_ should form their basis--except as
+regards Hanover. He now was informed by Talleyrand that the
+negotiations with Russia were to be kept separate, and that Napoleon
+had other views about Sicily, as he looked on its conquest as
+necessary for Joseph's security on the mainland.
+
+Surprised at this change, our envoy stated that he could not discuss
+any terms of peace in which Sicily was not kept for the Bourbons;
+whereupon Talleyrand replied that things were altered, and that we
+ought to be content with regaining Hanover from Prussia and keeping
+Malta and the Cape of Good Hope. On Lord Yarmouth declining to proceed
+further until the French claims to Sicily were renounced, the offer of
+the Hanse Towns (Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen) was made for his
+Sicilian Majesty; and on the refusal of that bait, Dalmatia, Ragusa,
+and Albania were proposed.
+
+As Napoleon had offered to guarantee the integrity of the Turkish
+Empire, Lord Yarmouth showed some indignation at a proposal which
+would have begun its partition; and, but for the expected arrival of
+Oubril, would have broken off the negotiation. On July 8th he saw the
+Russian envoy and found him a man of straw. Oubril approved
+everything. He was glad that France would give back Hanover to
+England, because that would sever the Franco-Prussian union and make
+the Court of Berlin dependent on Russia. He even thought it might be
+well for the Hanse Towns to go to the Neapolitan Bourbons, provided
+those towns were placed under the Czar's protection. But even better
+was the proposal that those Bourbons should have Dalmatia and
+neighbouring lands; for that would drive a wedge between Napoleon and
+Turkey. Such was the gist of this curious interview. Desirous of
+testing the accuracy of his account of it, Lord Yarmouth read it over
+to Oubril at their next interview, when the Russian envoy added the
+following written corrections:
+
+    "N.B.M. d'Oubril believes, though he has no directions on this
+    subject, that it would be suitable to Russia, and even
+    advantageous for the assuring their own independence, that Hamburg
+    and Lübeck should pass under the suzerainty of Russia.--N.B.
+    Although M. d'Oubril has a positive order to insist on the
+    preservation of Sicily for the King of Naples, yet he is of
+    opinion that the acquisition of Venetia, Istria, Dalmatia, and
+    Albania" [should be an establishment for his Sicilian
+    Majesty].[82]
+
+That a reed shaken by every breeze should bow before Napoleon's will
+was not surprising; and late at night on July 20th Lord Yarmouth heard
+that the Russian envoy had just signed a separate peace with France,
+whereby the independence of the Ionian Isles was recognized (Russia
+keeping only 4,000 troops in Corfu), and Germany was to be evacuated
+by the French. But the sting was in the tail: for a secret article
+stipulated that Ferdinand IV. should cede Sicily to Joseph Bonaparte
+and receive the Balearic Isles from Napoleon's ally, Spain.
+
+Such was the news which our envoy heard, after forcing his way to
+Oubril's presence, just as the latter was hurrying off to St.
+Petersburg. At that city an important change had taken place;
+Czartoryski had retired in favour of Baron Budberg, who was less
+favourable to a close alliance with England; and it appears certain
+that Oubril would not have broken through his instructions had he not
+known of this change. What other motives led him to break faith with
+England, Sicily, and Spain are not clearly known. He claimed that the
+new order of things in Germany rendered it highly important to get the
+French troops out of that land. Doubtless this was so; but even that
+benefit would have been dearly bought at the price of disgrace to the
+Czar.[83]
+
+Leaving for the present Oubril to face his indignant master, we turn
+to notice an epoch-making change, the details of which were settled at
+Paris in the midst of the negotiations with England and Russia. On
+July 17th was quietly signed the Act of the Confederation of the
+Rhine, that destroyed the old Germanic Empire.
+
+Some such event had long been expected. The Holy Roman Empire, after a
+thousand years of life, had been stricken unto death at Austerlitz.
+The seizure of Hanover by Prussia had led the King of Sweden to
+declare that he, for his Pomeranian lands, would take no more share in
+the deliberations of the senile Diet at Ratisbon which took no notice
+of that outrage. Moreover, Ratisbon was now merely the second city of
+Bavaria, whose King might easily deny to that body its local
+habitation; and the use of the term Germanic Confederation in the
+Treaty of Pressburg sounded the death-knell of an Empire which
+Voltaire with equal wit and truth had described as neither holy, nor
+Roman, nor an Empire. In the new age of trenchant realities how could
+that venerable figment survive--where the election of the Emperor was
+a sham, his coronation a mere parade of tattered robes before a crowd
+of landless Serenities, and where the Diet was largely concerned with
+regulating the claims of the envoys of princes to sit on seats of red
+cloth or on the less honourable green cloth, or with apportioning the
+traditional thirty-seven dishes of the imperial banquet so that the
+last should be borne by a Westphalian envoy?[84]
+
+Among these spectral survivals of an outworn life the incursion of
+Napoleon across the Rhine had aroused a panic not unlike that which
+the sturdy form of Æneas cast on the gibbering shades of the Greeks in
+the mourning fields of Hades. And when, on August 1st, 1806, the heir
+to the Revolution notified to the Diet at Ratisbon that neither he nor
+the States of South and Central Germany any longer recognized the
+existence of the old Empire, feebler protests arose than came from the
+straining throats of the scared comrades of Agamemnon. The Diet itself
+uttered no audible sound. The Emperor, Francis II., forthwith declared
+that he laid down his crown, absolved all the electors and princes
+from their allegiance, and retired within the bounds of the Austrian
+Empire.
+
+Thus feebly flickered out the light which had shed splendour on
+mediæval Christendom. Kindled in the basilica of St. Peter's on
+Christmas Day of the year 800 in an almost mystical union of spiritual
+and earthly power, by the blessing of Pope Leo on Karl the Great, it
+was now trodden under foot by the chief of a more than Frankish State,
+who aspired to unquestioned sway over a dominion as great as that of
+the mediæval hero. For Napoleon, as Protector of the Rhenish
+Confederation, now controlled most of the German lands that
+acknowledged Charlemagne, while his hold on Italy was immeasurably
+stronger. Further parallels between two ages and systems so unlike as
+those of Charlemagne and his imitator are of course superficial; and
+Napoleon's attempt at impressing the imagination of the Germans seems
+to us to smack of unreality. Yet we must remember that they were then
+the most impressionable and docile of nations, that his attempt was
+made with much skill, and that none of the appointed guardians of the
+old Empire raised a voice in protest while he imposed a constitution
+on the fifteen Princes of the new Confederation.
+
+They included the rulers of South Germany, as well as Dalberg the
+Arch-Chancellor, who now took the title of Prince Primate, the
+Grand-Duke of Berg, the Landgrave, now Grand-Duke, of Hesse-Darmstadt,
+two Princes of the House of Nassau, and seven lesser potentates. In
+some cases German laws were abolished in favour of the _Code
+Napoléon_. A close offensive and defensive alliance was framed between
+France and these States, that were to furnish in all 63,000 troops at
+the bidding of the Protector. Napoleon also gained some control over
+their fiscal and commercial codes--an important advantage, in view of
+the Continental System, that was soon to take definite form.[85]
+
+As a set-off to this surrender of all questions of foreign policy and
+many internal rights, what did these rulers receive? As happened
+almost uniformly in Napoleon's aggrandizements, he struck a bargain
+extremely serviceable to himself, less so to those whose support he
+sought, and in which the losses fell crushingly on the weak. His
+statecraft in this respect was more cynical than that of the crowned
+robbers who had degraded eighteenth-century politics into a game of
+grab. Their robberies were at least direct and straightforward. It was
+reserved for Napoleon at the Treaty of Campo Formio to win huge gains
+mostly at the expense of a weak third party, namely, Venice. He
+pursued the same profitable tactics in the Secularizations, when
+France and the greater German Powers gained enormously at the final
+cost of the Church lands and the little States; and now he ground up
+the German domains that were to cement his new Rhenish system.
+
+There were still numbers of Imperial Counts and Knights, as well as
+free cities, that had not been absorbed in 1803. The survivors were
+now wiped out by Napoleon for the benefit of his Rhenish underlings,
+the spoliation being veiled under the term _Mediatization_. The
+euphemism claims a brief explanation. In old German law the nobles and
+cities that gained local independence by shaking off the control of
+the local potentate were termed _immediate_, because they owed
+allegiance directly to the Emperor, without any feudal intermediary:
+if by mischance they fell under that hated control they were said to
+be _mediatized_. This term was now applied to acts that subjected the
+knight, or city, not to feudal control, but to complete absorption by
+the king or prince of Napoleon's creation. Six Imperial or Free Cities
+survived the Secularizations, namely, the three Hanse towns, and
+Augsburg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg. The northern towns still held
+their ancient rights; but Augsburg and Nuremberg now fell to the King
+of Bavaria, and Frankfurt was bestowed by Napoleon on Dalberg, the
+Prince Primate of the Confederation.
+
+German life began to lose much of the quaint diversity beloved of
+artists and poets; but it also gained much. No longer did the Count of
+Limburg-Styrum parade his army of one colonel, six officers, and two
+privates in the valley of the Roehr: he and his passed under the sway
+of Murat, and the lapse of these pigmy forces made a national army
+possible in the dim future. No more did the Imperial lawyers at
+Wetzlar browse on evergreen lawsuits: justice was administered after
+the concise methods of Napoleon. The crops of the Swabian peasant were
+now comparatively safe from the deer of His Translucency of the castle
+hard by; for the spirit of the French Revolution breathed upon the old
+game laws and robbed them of their terrors. And the German patriot of
+to-day must still confess that the first impulse for reform, however
+questionable its motives and brutal its application, came from the new
+Charlemagne.
+
+    NOTE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.--In a volume of Essays entitled
+    "Napoleonic Studies" (George Bell and Sons, 1904) I have treated
+    somewhat fully the questions of Pitt's Continental policy, and of
+    Napoleon's relations to the new thought of the age, in two Essays,
+    entitled "Pitt's Plans for the Settlement of Europe" and
+    "Wordsworth, Schiller, Fichte, and the Idealist Revolt against
+    Napoleon."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE FALL OF PRUSSIA
+
+
+We now turn to consider the influence which the founding of the
+Rhenish Confederation exerted on the international problems which were
+being discussed at Paris. Having gained this diplomatic victory,
+Napoleon, it seems, might well afford to be lenient to Prussia, to the
+Czar, even to England. Would he seize this opportunity, and soothe the
+fears of these Powers by a few timely concessions, or would he press
+them all the harder because the third of Germany was now under his
+control? Here again he was at the parting of the ways.
+
+As the only obstacles to the conclusion of a durable peace with
+England were Sicily and Hanover, it may be well to examine here the
+bearing of these questions on the peace of Europe and Napoleon's
+future.
+
+It is clear from his letters to Joseph that he had firmly resolved to
+conquer Sicily. Before his brother had reached Naples he warned him to
+prepare for the expulsion of the Bourbons from that island. For that
+purpose the French pushed on into Calabria and began to make extensive
+preparations--at the very time when Talleyrand stated to Lord Yarmouth
+that the French did not want Sicily. But the English forces defending
+that island prepared to deal a blow that would prevent a French
+descent. A force of about 5,000 men under Sir John Stuart landed in
+the Bay of St. Euphemia: and when, on the 4th of July, 1806, Reynier
+led 7,000 troops against them in full assurance of victory, his
+choicest battalions sank before the fierce bayonet charge of the
+British: in half an hour the French were in full retreat, leaving half
+their numbers on the field.
+
+The moral effect of this victory was very great. Hitherto our troops,
+except in Egypt, had had no opportunity of showing their splendid
+qualities. More than half a century had passed since at Minden a
+British force had triumphed over a French force in Europe; and
+Napoleon expressed the current opinion when he declared to Joseph his
+joy that at last the _slow and clumsy English_ had ventured on the
+mainland.[86] Moreover, the success at Maida, the general rising of
+the Calabrias that speedily followed, and Stuart's capture of Reggio,
+Cortone, and other towns, with large stores and forty cannon destined
+for the conquest of Sicily, scattered to the winds the French hope of
+carrying Sicily by a _coup de main_.
+
+If there was any chance of the Russian and British Governments
+deserting the cause of the Bourbons, it was ended by the news from the
+Mediterranean; and Napoleon now realized that the mastery of that
+sea--"_the principal and constant aim of my policy_"--had once more
+slipped from his grasp! On their side the Bourbons were unduly elated
+by a further success which was more brilliant than solid. Queen
+Caroline, excited at the capture of Capri by Sir Sidney Smith, sought
+to rouse all her lost provinces: she intrigued behind the back of the
+King and of General Acton, while the knight-errant succeeded in
+paralyzing the plans of Sir John Stuart.[87] Meanwhile Masséna, after
+reducing the fortress of Gaëta to surrender, marched southward with a
+large force, and the British and Bourbon forces re-embarked for
+Sicily, leaving the fierce peasants and bandits of Calabria to the
+mercies of the conquerors. But Maida was not fought in vain. Sicily
+thenceforth was safe, the British army regained something of its
+ancient fame, and the hope of resisting Napoleon was strengthened both
+at St. Petersburg and London.
+
+Peace can rarely be attained unless one of the combatants is overcome
+or both are exhausted. But neither Great Britain nor France was in
+this position. By sea our successes had been as continuous as those of
+Napoleon over our allies on land. In January we captured the Cape from
+the Dutch: in February the French force at St. Domingo surrendered to
+Sir James Duckworth: Admiral Warren in March closed the career of the
+adventurous Linois; and early in July a British force seized great
+treasure at Buenos Ayres, whence, however, it was soon obliged to
+retire. After these successes Fox could not but be firm. He refused to
+budge from the standpoint of _uti possidetis_ which our envoy had
+stated as the basis of negotiations: and the Earl of Lauderdale, who
+was sent to support and finally to supersede the Earl of Yarmouth, at
+once took a firm tone which drew forth a truculent rejoinder. If that
+was to be the basis, wrote Clarke, the French plenipotentiary, then
+France would require Moravia, Styria, the whole of Austria (Proper),
+and Hanover, and in that case leave England her few colonial
+conquests.
+
+This reply of August 8th nearly severed the negotiations on the spot:
+but Talleyrand persistently refused to grant the passports which
+Lauderdale demanded--evidently in the hope that the Czar's
+ratification of Oubril's treaty would cause us to give up Sicily.[88]
+He was in error. On September 3rd the news reached Paris that
+Alexander scornfully rejected his envoy's handiwork. Nevertheless,
+Napoleon refused to forego his claims to Sicily; and the closing days
+of Fox were embittered by the thought that this negotiation, the last
+hope of a career fruitful in disappointments, was doomed to failure.
+After using his splendid eloquence for fifteen years in defence of the
+Revolution and its "heir," he came to the bitter conclusion that
+liberty had miscarried in France, and that that land had bent beneath
+the yoke in order the more completely to subjugate the Continent. He
+died on September 13th.
+
+French historians, following an article in the "Moniteur" of November
+26th, have often asserted that the death of Fox and the accession to
+power of the warlike faction changed the character of the
+negotiations.[89] Nothing can be further from the truth. Not long
+before his end, Fox thus expressed to his nephew his despair of peace:
+
+    "We can in honour do nothing without the full and _bona fide_
+    consent of the Queen and Court of Naples; but, even exclusive of
+    that consideration and of the great importance of Sicily, it is
+    not so much the value of the point in dispute as the manner in
+    which the French fly from their word that disheartens me. It is
+    not Sicily, but the shuffling, insincere way in which they act,
+    that shows me that they are playing a false game; and in that case
+    it would be very imprudent to make any concessions, which by any
+    possibility could be thought inconsistent with our honour, or
+    could furnish our allies with a plausible pretence for suspecting,
+    reproaching, or deserting us."
+
+It is further to be noted that Lauderdale stayed on at Paris three
+weeks after the death of Fox; that he put forward no new demand, but
+required that Talleyrand should revert to his first promise of
+renouncing all claim to Sicily, and should treat conjointly with
+England and Russia. It was in vain. Napoleon's final concessions were
+that the Bourbons, after losing Sicily, should have the Balearic Isles
+and be pensioned _by Spain_; that Russia should hold Corfu (as she
+already did); and that we should recover Hanover from Prussia, and
+keep Malta, the Cape, Tobago, and the three French towns in India;
+but, except Hanover, all of these were in our power. On Sicily he
+would not bate one jot of his pretensions. The negotiations were
+therefore broken off on October 6th, twelve days after Napoleon left
+Paris to marshal his troops against Prussia.[90] The whole affair
+revealed Napoleon's determination to trick the allies into signing
+separate and disadvantageous treaties, and thus to regain by craft the
+ground which he had lost in fair fight at Maida.
+
+If Sicily was the rock of stumbling between us and Napoleon, Hanover
+was the chief cause of the war between France and Prussia. During the
+negotiations at Paris, Lord Yarmouth privately informed Lucchesini,
+the Prussian ambassador, that Talleyrand made no difficulty about the
+restitution of Hanover to George III. The news, when forwarded to
+Berlin at the close of July, caused a nervous flutter in ministerial
+circles, where every effort was being made to keep on good terms with
+France.
+
+Even before this news arrived, the task was far from easy. Murat, when
+occupying his new Duchy of Berg, pushed on his troops into the old
+Church lands of Essen and Werden. Prussia looked on these districts as
+her own, and the sturdy patriot Blücher at once marched in his
+soldiers, tore down Murat's proclamations, and restored the Prussian
+eagle with blare of trumpet and beat of drum.[91] A collision was with
+difficulty averted by the complaisance of Frederick William, who
+called back his troops and referred the question to lawyers; but even
+the King was piqued when the Grand-Duke of Berg sent him a letter of
+remonstrance on Blücher's conduct, commencing with the familiar
+address, _Mon frère_.
+
+Blücher meanwhile and the soldiery were eating out their hearts with
+rage, as they saw the French pouring across the Rhine, and
+constructing a bridge of boats at Wesel; and had they known that that
+important stronghold, the key of North Germany, was quietly declared
+to be a French garrison town, they would probably have forced the
+hands of the King.[92] For at this time Frederick William and Haugwitz
+were alarmed by the formation of the Rhenish Confederation, and were
+not wholly reassured by Napoleon's suggestion that the abolition of
+the old Empire must be an advantage to Prussia. They clutched eagerly,
+however, at his proposal that Prussia should form a league of the
+North German States, and made overtures to the two most important
+States, Saxony and Hesse-Cassel. During a few halcyon days the King
+even proposed to assume the title _Emperor of Prussia_, from which,
+however, the Elector of Saxony ironically dissuaded him. This castle
+in the air faded away when news reached Berlin at the beginning of
+August that Napoleon was seeking to bring the Elector of Hesse-Cassel
+into the Rhenish Confederation, and was offering as a bait the domains
+of some Imperial Knights and the principality of Fulda, now held by
+the Prince of Orange, a relative of Frederick William. Moreover, the
+moves of the French troops in Thuringia were so threatening to Saxony
+that the Court of Dresden began to scout the project of a North German
+Confederation.
+
+Still, the King and Haugwitz tried to persuade themselves that
+Napoleon meant well for Prussia, that England had been doing her
+utmost to make bad blood between the two allies, and that "great
+results could not be attained without some friction." In this hope
+they were encouraged by the French ambassador, the man who had enticed
+Prussia to her demobilization. He was charged by Talleyrand to report
+at Berlin that "peace with England would be made, as well as with
+Russia, if France had consented to the restitution of Hanover.--I have
+renewed," added Laforest, "the assurance that the Emperor [Napoleon]
+would never yield on this point."
+
+And yet at that very time the French Foreign Office was at work upon a
+Project of a Treaty in which the restitution of Hanover to George III.
+was expressly named and received the assent of Napoleon.[93] The
+Prussian ambassador, Lucchesini, had some inkling of this from French
+sources,[94] as well as from Lord Yarmouth, and on July 28th penned a
+despatch which fell like a thunderbolt on the optimists of Berlin. It
+crossed on the way--such is the irony of diplomacy--a despatch from
+Berlin that required him to show unlimited confidence in Napoleon.
+From confidence the King now rushed to the opposite extreme, and saw
+Napoleon's hand in all the friction of the last few weeks.
+
+Here again he was wrong; for the French Emperor had held back Murat
+and the other hot-bloods of the army who were longing to measure
+swords with Prussia.[95] His correspondence proves that his first
+thoughts were always in the Mediterranean. For one page that he wrote
+about German affairs he wrote twenty to Joseph or Eugène on the need
+of keeping a firm hand and punishing Calabrian rebels--"shoot three
+men in every village"--above all, on the plans for conquering Sicily.
+It was therefore with real surprise that on August 16th-18th he learnt
+from a purloined despatch of Lucchesini that the latter suspected him
+of planning with the Czar the partition of Prussian Poland. He treated
+the matter with contempt, and seems to have thought that Prussia would
+meekly accept the morsels which he proposed to throw to her in place
+of Hanover. But he misread the character of Frederick William, if he
+thought so grievous an insult would be passed over, and he knew not
+the power of the Prussian Queen to kindle the fire of patriotism.
+
+Queen Louisa was at this time thirty years of age and in the flower of
+that noble matronly beauty which bespoke a pure and exalted being. As
+daughter of a poverty-stricken prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, her
+youth had been spent in the homeliest fashion, until her charms won
+the heart of the Crown Prince of Prussia. Her first entry into Berlin
+was graced by an act that proclaimed a loving nature. When a group of
+children dressed in white greeted her with verses of welcome, she
+lifted up and kissed their little leader, to the scandal of stiff
+dowagers, and the joy of the citizens. The incident recalls the easy
+grace and disregard of etiquette shown by Marie Antoinette at
+Versailles in her young bridal days; and, in truth, these queens have
+something in common, besides their loveliness and their misfortunes.
+Both were mated with cold and uninspiring consorts. Destiny had
+refused both to Frederick William and to Louis XVI. the power of
+exciting feelings warmer than the esteem and respect due to a worthy
+man; and all the fervour of loyalty was aroused by their queens.
+
+Louisa was a North German Marie Antoinette, but more staid and homely
+than the vivacious daughter of Maria Theresa. Neither did she
+interfere much in politics, until the great crash came: even when the
+blow was impending, and the patriotic statesmen, with whom she
+sympathized, begged the King to remove Haugwitz, she disappointed them
+by withholding the entreaties which her instincts urged but her wifely
+obedience restrained. Her influence as yet was that of a noble,
+fascinating woman, who softened the jars occasioned by the King's
+narrow and pedantic nature, and purified the Court from the grossness
+of the past. But in the dark days that were to come, her faith and
+enthusiasm breathed new force into a down-trodden people; and where
+all else was shattered, the King and Queen still held forth the ideal
+of that first and strongest of Teutonic institutions, a pure family
+life.
+
+The "Memoirs" of Hardenberg show that the Queen quietly upheld the
+patriotic cause;[96] and in the tone of the letter that Frederick
+William wrote to the Czar (August 8th) there is something of feminine
+resentment against the French Emperor: after recounting his grievances
+at Napoleon's hands, he continued:
+
+    "If the news be true, if he be capable of perfidy so black, be
+    convinced, Sire, that it is not merely a question about Hanover
+    between him and me, but that he has decided to make war against me
+    at all costs. He wants no other Power beside his own.... Tell me,
+    Sire, I conjure you, if I may hope that your troops will be within
+    reach of succour for me, and if I may count on them in case of
+    aggression."
+
+Alexander wrote a cheering response, advising him to settle his
+differences with England and Sweden, and assuring him of help.
+Whereupon the King replied (September 6th) that he had reopened the
+North Sea rivers to British ships and hoped for peace and pecuniary
+help from London. He concluded thus:
+
+    "Meanwhile, Bonaparte has left me at my ease: for not only does he
+    not enter into any explanation about my armaments, but he has even
+    forbidden his Ministers to give and receive any explanations
+    whatever. It appears, then, that it is I who am to take the
+    initiative. My troops are marching on all sides to hasten that
+    moment."[97]
+
+These last sentences are the handwriting on the wall for the _ancien
+régime_ in Prussia. Taking the bland assurances of Talleyrand and the
+studied indifference of Laforest as signs that Napoleon might be
+caught off his guard, Prussia continued her warlike preparations; and
+in order to gain time Lucchesini was recalled and replaced by an envoy
+who was to enter into lengthy explanations. The trick did not deceive
+Napoleon, who on September 3rd had heard with much surprise that
+Russia meant to continue the war. At once he saw the germ of a new
+Coalition, and bent his energies to the task of conciliating Austria,
+and of fomenting the disputes between Russia and Turkey. Towards
+Frederick William his tone was that of a friend who grieves at an
+unexpected quarrel. How--he exclaimed to Lucchesini on the
+ambassador's departure--how could the King credit him with encouraging
+the intrigues of a fussy ambassador at Cassel or the bluster of Murat?
+
+As for Hanover, he had intended sending some one to Berlin to propose
+an equivalent for it in case England still made its restitution a
+_sine qua non_ of peace. "But," he added, "if your young officers and
+your women at Berlin want war, I am preparing to satisfy them. Yet my
+ambition turns wholly to Italy. She is a mistress whose favours I will
+share with no one. I will have all the Adriatic. The Pope shall be my
+vassal, and I will conquer Sicily. On North Germany I have no claims:
+I do not object to the Hanse towns entering your confederation. As to
+the inclusion of Saxony in it, my mind is not yet made up."[98]
+
+Indeed, the tenor of his private correspondence proves that before the
+first week of September he did not expect a new Coalition. He believed
+that England and Russia would give way before him, and that Prussia
+would never dare to stir. For the Court of Berlin he had a sovereign
+contempt, as for the "old coalition machines" in general. His conduct
+of affairs at this time betokens, not so much desire for war as lack
+of imagination where other persons' susceptibilities are concerned. It
+is probable that he then wanted peace with England and peace on the
+Continent; for his diplomacy won conquests fully as valuable as the
+booty of his sword, and only in a naval peace could he lay the
+foundations of that oriental empire which, he assured O'Meara at St.
+Helena, held the first place in his thoughts after the overthrow of
+Austria. But it was not in his nature to make the needful concessions.
+"_I must follow my policy in a geometrical line_" he said to
+Lucchesini. England might have Hanover and a few colonies if she would
+let Sicily go to a Bonaparte: as for Prussia, she might absorb
+half-a-dozen neighbouring princelings.
+
+That is the gist of Napoleon's European policy in the summer of 1806;
+and the surprise which he expressed to Mollien at the rejection of his
+offers is probably genuine. Sensitive to the least insult himself, his
+bluntness of perception respecting the honour of others might almost
+qualify him to rank with Aristotle's man devoid of feeling. It is
+perfectly true that he did not make war on Prussia in 1806 any more
+than on England in 1803. He only made peace impossible.[99]
+
+The condition on which Prussia now urgently insisted was the entire
+evacuation of Germany by French troops. This Napoleon refused to
+concede until Frederick William demobilized his army, a step that
+would have once more humbled him in the eyes of this people. It might
+even have led to his dethronement. For an incident had just occurred
+in Bavaria that fanned German sentiment to a flame. A bookseller of
+Nuremberg, named Palm, was proved by French officers to have sold an
+anonymous pamphlet entitled "Germany in her deep Humiliation." It was
+by no means of a revolutionary type, and the worthy man believed it to
+be a mistake when he was arrested by the military authorities. He was
+wrong. Napoleon had sent orders that a terrible example must be made
+in order to stop the sale of patriotic German pamphlets. Palm was
+therefore haled away to Braunau, an Austrian town then held by French
+troops, was tried by martial law and shot (August 25th). Never did the
+Emperor commit a greater blunder. The outrage sent a thrill of
+indignation through the length and breadth of Germany. Instead of
+quenching, it inflamed the national sentiment, and thus rendered
+doubly difficult any peaceful compromise between Frederick William and
+Napoleon. The latter was now looked upon as a tyrant by the citizen
+class which his reforms were designed to conciliate: and Frederick
+William became almost the champion of Germany when he demanded the
+withdrawal of the French troops.
+
+Unfortunately, the King refused to appoint Ministers who inspired
+confidence. With Hardenberg in place of Haugwitz, men would have felt
+sure that the sword would not again be tamely sheathed; great efforts
+were made to effect this change, but met with a chilling repulse from
+the King.[100] It is true that Haugwitz and Beyme now expressed the
+bitterest hatred of Napoleon, as well they might for a man who had
+betrayed their confidence. But, none the less, the King's refusal to
+change his men along with his policy was fatal. Both at St. Petersburg
+and London no trust was felt in Prussia as long as Haugwitz was at the
+helm. The man who had twice steered the ship of state under Napoleon's
+guns might do it again; and both England and Russia waited to see some
+irrevocable step taken before they again risked an army for that
+prince of waverers.
+
+Grenville rather tardily sent Lord Morpeth to arrange an alliance, but
+only after he should receive a solemn pledge that Hanover would be
+restored. That envoy approached the Prussian headquarters just in time
+to be swept away in the torrent of fugitives from Jena. As for Russia,
+she had awaited the arrival of a Prussian officer at St. Petersburg to
+concert a plan of campaign. When he arrived he had no plan; and the
+Czar, perplexed by the fatuity of his ally, and the hostility of the
+Turks, refused to march his troops forthwith into Prussia.[101]
+Equally disappointing was the conduct of Austria. This Power, bleeding
+from the wounds of last year and smarting under the jealousy of
+Russia, refused to move until the allies had won a victory. And so,
+thanks to the jealousies of the old monarchies, Frederick William had
+no Russian or Austrian troops at his side, no sinews of war from
+London to invigorate his preparations, when he staked his all in the
+high places of Thuringia. He gained, it is true, the support of Saxony
+and Weimar; but this brought less than 21,000 men to his side.
+
+On the other hand, Napoleon, as Protector of the Rhenish
+Confederation, secured the aid of 25,000 South Germans, as well as an
+excellent fortified base at Würzburg. His troops, holding the citadels
+of Passau and Braunau on the Austrian frontier, kept the Hapsburgs
+quiet; and 60,000 French and Dutch troops at Wesel menaced the
+Prussians in Hanover. Above all, his forces already in Germany were
+strengthened until, in the early days of October, some 200,000 men
+were marching from the Main towards the Duchy of Weimar. Soult and Ney
+led 60,000 men from Amberg towards Baireuth and Hof: Bernadotte and
+Davoust, with 90,000, marched towards Schleitz, while Lannes and
+Augereau, with 46,000, moved by a road further to the left towards
+Saalfeld.
+
+The progress of these dense columns near together and through a hilly
+country presented great difficulties, which only the experience of the
+officers, the energy and patience of the men, and the genius of their
+great leader could overcome. Meanwhile Napoleon had quietly left Paris
+on September 25th. Travelling at his usual rapid rate, he reached
+Mainz on the 28th: he was at Würzburg on October 2nd; there he
+directed the operations, confident that the impact of his immense
+force would speedily break the Prussians, drive them down the valley
+of the Saale and thus detach the Elector of Saxony from an alliance
+that already was irksome.
+
+The French, therefore, had a vast mass of seasoned fighters, a good
+base of operations, and a clear plan of attack. The Prussians, on the
+contrary, could muster barely 128,000 men, including the Saxons, for
+service in the field; and of these 27,000 with Rüchel were on the
+frontier of Hesse-Cassel seeking to assure the alliance of the
+Elector. The commander-in-chief was the septuagenarian Duke of
+Brunswick, well known for his failure at Valmy in 1792 and his recent
+support to the policy of complaisance to France. His appointment
+aroused anger and consternation; and General Kalckreuth expressed to
+Gentz the general opinion when he said that the Duke was quite
+incompetent for such a command: "His character is not strong enough,
+his mediocrity, irresolution, and untrustworthiness would ruin the
+best undertaking." The Duke himself was aware of his incompetence. Why
+then, we ask, did he accept the command? The answer is startling; but
+it rests on the evidence of General von Müffling:
+
+    "The Duke of Brunswick had accepted the command _in order to avert
+    war_. I can affirm this with perfect certainty, since I have heard
+    it from his own lips more than once. He was fully aware of the
+    weaknesses of the Prussian army and the incompetence of its
+    officers."[102]
+
+Thus there was seen the strange sight of a diffident, peace-loving
+King accompanying the army and sharing in all the deliberations; while
+these were nominally presided over by a despondent old man who still
+intrigued to preserve peace, and shifted on to the King the
+responsibility of every important act. And yet there were able
+generals who could have acted with effect, even if they fell short of
+the opinion hopefully bruited by General Rüchel, that "several were
+equal to M. de Bonaparte." Events were to prove that Gneisenau,
+Scharnhorst, and Blücher rivalled the best of the French Marshals; but
+in this war their lights were placed under bushels and only shone
+forth when the official covers had been shattered. Scharnhorst,
+already renowned for his strategic and administrative genius, took
+part in some of the many councils of war where everything was
+discussed and little was decided; but his opinion had no weight, for
+on October 7th he wrote: "What we ought to do I know right well, what
+we _shall_ do only the gods know."[103] He evidently referred to the
+need of concentration. At that time the thin Prussian lines were
+spread out over a front of eighty-five miles, the Saxons being near
+Gera, the chief army, under Brunswick, at Erfurth, while Rüchel was so
+far distant on the west that he could only come up at Jena just one
+hour too late to avert disaster.
+
+And yet with these weak and scattered forces, Prince Hohenlohe
+proposed a bold move forward to the Main. Brunswick, on the other
+hand, counselled a prudent defensive; but he could not, or would not,
+enforce his plan; and the result was an oscillation between the two
+extremes. Had he massed all his forces so as to command the valleys of
+the Saale and Elster near Jena and Gera, the campaign might possibly
+have been prolonged until the Russians came up. As it was, the allies
+dulled the ardour of their troops by marches, counter-marches, and
+interminable councils-of-war, while Napoleon's columns were threading
+their way along those valleys at the average rate of fifteen miles a
+day, in order to turn the allied left and cut the connection between
+Prussia and Saxony.[104]
+
+The first serious fighting was on October the 10th at Saalfeld, where
+Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia with a small force sought to protect
+Hohenlohe's flank march westwards on Jena. The task was beyond the
+strength even of this flower of Prussian chivalry. He was overpowered
+by the weight and vigour of Lannes' attack, and when already wounded
+in a cavalry _mêlée_ was pierced through the body by an officer to
+whom he proudly refused to surrender. The death of this hero, the
+"Alcibiades" of Prussia, cast a gloom over the whole army, and
+mournful faces at headquarters seemed to presage yet worse disasters.
+Perhaps it was some inkling of this discouragement, or a laudable
+desire to stop "an impolitic war," that urged Napoleon two days later
+to pen a letter to the King of Prussia urging him to make peace before
+he was crushed, as he assuredly would be. In itself the letter seems
+admirable--until one remembers the circumstances of the case. The King
+had pledged his word to the Czar to make war; if, therefore, he now
+made peace and sent the Russians back, he would once more stand
+condemned of preferring dishonourable ease to the noble hazards of an
+affair of honour. As Napoleon was aware of the union of the King and
+Czar, this letter must be regarded as an attempt to dissolve the
+alliance and tarnish Frederick William's reputation. It was viewed in
+that light by that monarch; and there is not a hint in Napoleon's
+other letters that he really expected peace.
+
+He was then at Gera, pushing forward his corps towards Naumburg so as
+to cut off the Prussians from Saxony and the Elbe. Great as was his
+superiority, these movements occasioned such a dispersion of his
+forces as to invite attack from enterprising foes; but he despised the
+Prussian generals as imbeciles, and endeavoured to unsteady their rank
+and file by seizing and burning their military stores at the latter
+town. He certainly believed that they were all in retreat northwards,
+and great was his surprise when he heard from Lannes early on October
+13th that his scouts, after scaling the hills behind Jena in a dense
+mist, had come upon the Prussian army. The news was only partly
+correct. It was only Hohenlohe's corps: for the bulk of that army,
+under Brunswick, was retreating northwards, and nearly stumbled upon
+the corps of Davoust and Bernadotte behind Naumburg.
+
+Lannes also was in danger on the Landgrafenberg. This is a lofty hill
+which towers above the town of Jena and the narrow winding vale of the
+Saale; while its other slopes, to the north and west, rise above and
+dominate the broken and irregular plateau on which Hohenlohe's force
+was encamped. Had the Prussians attacked his weary regiments in force,
+they might easily have hurled them into the Saale. But Hohenlohe had
+received orders to retire northwards in the rear of Brunswick, as soon
+as he had rallied the detachment of Rüchel near Weimar, and was
+therefore indisposed to venture on the bold offensive which now was
+his only means of safety. The respite thus granted was used by the
+French to hurry every available regiment up the slopes north and west
+of Jena. Late in the afternoon, Napoleon himself ascended the
+Landgrafenberg to survey the plateau; while a pastor of the town was
+compelled to show a path further north which leads to the same plateau
+through a gulley called the Rau-thal.[105]
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF JENA]
+
+On the south the heights sink away into a wider valley, the Mühl-thal,
+along which runs the road to Weimar; and on this side too their wooded
+brows are broken by gulleys, up one of which runs a winding track
+known as the Schnecke or Snail. Villages and woods diversified the
+plateau and hindered the free use of that extended line formation on
+which the Prussians relied, while favouring the operations of dense
+columns preceded by clouds of skirmishers by which Napoleon so often
+hewed his way to victory. His greatest advantage, however, lay in the
+ignorance of his foes. Hohenlohe, believing that he was confronted
+only by Lannes' corps, took little thought about what was going on in
+his front, and judging the Mühl-thal approach alone to be accessible,
+posted his chief force on this side. So insufficient a guard was
+therefore kept on the side of the Landgrafenberg that the French,
+under cover of the darkness, not only crowned the summit densely with
+troops, but dragged up whole batteries of cannon.
+
+The toil was stupendous: in one of the steep hollow tracks a number of
+cannon and wagons stuck fast; but the Emperor, making his rounds at
+midnight, brought the magic of his presence to aid the weary troops
+and rebuke the officers whose negligence had caused this block.
+Lantern in hand, he went up and down the line to direct the work; and
+Savary, who saw this scene, noted the wonder of the men, as they
+caught sight of the Emperor, the renewed energy of their blows at the
+rocks, and their whispers of surprise that _he_ should come in person
+when their officers were asleep. The night was far spent when, after
+seeing the first wagon right through the narrow steep, he repaired to
+his bivouac amidst his Guards on the summit, and issued further orders
+before snatching a brief repose. By such untiring energy did he assure
+victory. Apart from its immense effect on the spirits of his troops,
+his vigilance reaped a rich reward. Jena was won by a rapid
+concentration of troops, and the prompt seizure of a commanding
+position almost under the eyes of an unenterprising enemy. The corps
+of Soult and Ney spent most of the night and early morning in marching
+towards Jena and taking up their positions on the right or north wing,
+while Lannes and the Guard held the central height, and Augereau's
+corps in the Mühl-thal threatened the Saxons and Prussians guarding
+the Schnecke.[106]
+
+A dense fog screened the moves of the assailants early on the morrow,
+and, after some confused but obstinate fighting, the French secured
+their hold on the plateau not only above the town of Jena, where their
+onset took the Prussians by surprise, but also above the Mühl-thal,
+where the enemy were in force.
+
+By ten o'clock the fog lifted, and the warm rays of the autumn sun
+showed the dense masses of the French advancing towards the middle of
+the plateau. Hohenlohe now saw the full extent of his error and
+despatched an urgent message to Rüchel for aid. It was too late. The
+French centre, led by Lannes, began to push back the Prussian lines on
+the village named Vierzehn Heiligen. It was in vain that Hohenlohe's
+choice squadrons flung themselves on the serried masses in front: the
+artillery and musketry fire disordered them, while French dragoons
+were ready to profit by their confusion. The village was lost, then
+retaken by a rally of the Prussians, then lost again when Ney was
+reinforced; and when the full vigour of the French attack was
+developed by the advance of Soult and Augereau on either wing,
+Napoleon launched his reserves, his Guard, and Murat's squadrons on
+the disordered lines. The impact was irresistible, and Hohenlohe's
+force was swept away. Then it was that Rüchel's force drew near, and
+strove to stem the rout. Advancing steadily, as if on parade, his
+troops for a brief space held up the French onset; but neither the
+dash of the Prussian horse nor the bravery of the foot-soldiers could
+dam that mighty tide, which laid low the gallant leader and swept his
+lines away into the general wreck.[107]
+
+In the headlong flight before Murat's horsemen, the fugitives fell in
+with another beaten array, that of Brunswick. At Jena the Prussians,
+if defeated, were not disgraced: before the first shot was fired their
+defeat was a mathematical certainty. At the crisis of the battle they
+had but 47,400 men at hand, while Napoleon then disposed of 83,600
+combatants.[108] But at Auerstädt they were driven back and disgraced.
+There they had a decided superiority in numbers, having more than
+35,000 of their choicest troops, while opposite to them stood only the
+27,000 men of Davoust's corps.
+
+Hitherto Davoust had been remarkable rather for his dog-like devotion
+to Napoleon than for any martial genius; and the brilliant Marmont had
+openly scoffed at his receiving the title of Marshal. But, under his
+quiet exterior and plodding habits, there lay concealed a variety of
+gifts which only needed a great occasion to shine forth and astonish
+the world.[109] The time was now at hand. Frederick William and
+Brunswick were marching from Auerstädt to make good their retreat on
+the Elbe, when their foremost horsemen, led by the gallant Blücher,
+saw a solid wall of French infantry loom through the morning fog. It
+was part of Davoust's corps, strongly posted in and around the village
+of Hassenhausen.
+
+At once Blücher charged, only to be driven back with severe loss.
+Again he came on, this time supported by infantry and cannon: again he
+was repulsed; for Davoust, aided by the fog, had seized the
+neighbouring heights which commanded the high road, and held them with
+firm grip. Determined to brush aside or crush this stubborn foe, the
+Duke of Brunswick now led heavy masses along the narrow defile; but
+the steady fire of the French laid him low, with most of the officers;
+and as the Prussians fell back, Davoust swung forward his men to
+threaten their flanks. The King was dismayed at these repeated checks,
+and though the Prussian reserves under Kalckreuth could have been
+called up to overwhelm the hard-pressed French by the weight of
+numbers, yet he judged it better to draw off his men and fall back on
+Hohenlohe for support.
+
+But what a support! Instead of an army, it was a terrified mob flying
+before Murat's sabres, that met them halfway between Auerstädt and
+Weimar. Threatened also by Bernadotte's corps on their left flank, the
+two Prussian armies now melted away in one indistinguishable torrent,
+that was stemmed only by the sheltering walls of Erfurt, Magdeburg,
+and of fortresses yet more remote.
+
+Of the twin battles of Jena and Auerstädt, the latter was
+unquestionably the more glorious for the French arms. That Napoleon
+should have beaten an army of little more than half his numbers is in
+no way remarkable. What is strange is that so consummate a leader
+should have been entirely ignorant of the distribution of the enemy's
+forces, and should have left Davoust with only 27,000 men exposed to
+the attack of Brunswick with nearly 40,000.[110] In his bulletins, as
+in the "Relation Officielle," the Emperor sought to gloze over his
+error by magnifying Hohenlohe's corps into a great army and
+attenuating Davoust's splendid exploit, which in his private letters
+he warmly praised. The fact is, he had made all his dispositions in
+the belief that he had the main body of the Prussians before him at
+Jena.
+
+That is why, on the afternoon of the 13th, he hastily sent to recall
+Murat's horse and Bernadotte's corps from Naumburg and its vicinity;
+and in consequence Bernadotte took no very active part in the
+fighting. For this he has been bitterly blamed, on the strength of an
+assertion that Napoleon during the night of the 13th-14th sent him an
+order to support Davoust. This order has never been produced, and it
+finds no place in the latest and fullest collection of French official
+despatches, which, however, contains some that fully exonerate
+Bernadotte.[111] Unfortunately for Bernadotte's fame, the tattle of
+memoir writers is more attractive and gains more currency than the
+prosaic facts of despatches.
+
+Fortune plays an immense part in warfare; and never did she favour the
+Emperor more than on October the 14th, 1806. Fortune and the skill and
+bravery of Davoust and his corps turned what might have been an almost
+doubtful conflict into an overwhelming victory. Though Napoleon was as
+ignorant of the movements of Brunswick as he was of the flank march of
+Blücher at Waterloo, yet the enterprise and tenacity of Davoust and
+Lannes yielded him, on the Thuringian heights, a triumph scarcely
+paralleled in the annals of war. It is difficult to overpraise those
+Marshals for the energy with which they clung to the foe and brought
+on a battle under conditions highly favourable to the French: without
+their efforts, the Prussian army could never have been shattered on a
+single day.
+
+The flood of invasion now roared down the Thuringian valleys and
+deluged the plains of Saxony and Brandenburg. Rivers and ramparts were
+alike helpless to stay that all-devouring tide. On October the 16th,
+16,000 men surrendered at Erfurt to Murat: then, spurring eastward,
+_le beau sabreur_ rushed on the wreck of Hohenlohe's force, and with
+the aid of Lannes' untiring corps compelled it to surrender at
+Prenzlau.[112] Blücher meanwhile stubbornly retreated to the north;
+but, with Murat, Soult, and Bernadotte dogging his steps, he finally
+threw himself into Lübeck, where, after a last desperate effort, he
+surrendered to overpowering numbers (November 7th).
+
+Here the gloom of defeat was relieved by gleams of heroism; but before
+the walls of other Prussian strongholds disaster was blackened by
+disgrace. Held by timid old men or nerveless pedants, they scarcely
+waited for a vigorous attack. A few cannon-shots, or even a
+demonstration of cavalry, generally brought out the white flag. In
+quick succession, Spandau, Stettin, Küstrin, Magdeburg, and Hameln
+opened their gates, the governor of the last-named being mainly
+concerned about securing his future retiring pension from the French
+as soon as Hanover passed into their keeping.
+
+Amidst these shameful surrenders the capital fell into the hands of
+Davoust (October 25th). Varnhagen von Ense had described his mingled
+surprise and admiration at seeing those "lively, impudent,
+mean-looking little fellows," who had beaten the splendid soldiers
+trained in the school of Frederick the Great. His wonder was natural;
+but all who looked beneath the surface well knew that Prussia was
+overthrown before the first shot was fired. She was the victim of a
+deadening barrack routine, of official apathy or corruption, and of a
+degrading policy which dulled the enthusiasm of her sons.
+
+Thirteen days after the great battle, Napoleon himself entered Berlin
+in triumph. It was the first time that he allowed himself a victor's
+privilege, and no pains were spared to impress the imagination of
+mankind by a parade of his choicest troops. First came the foot
+grenadiers and chasseurs of the Imperial Guard: behind the central
+group marched other squadrons and battalions of these veterans,
+already famed as the doughtiest fighters of their age. In their midst
+came the mind of this military machine--Napoleon, accompanied by three
+Marshals and a brilliant staff. Among them men noted the plain,
+soldierlike Berthier, the ever trusty and methodical chief of the
+staff. At his side rode Davoust, whose round and placid face gave
+little promise of his rapid rush to the front rank among the French
+paladins. There too was the tall, handsome, threatening form of
+Augereau, whose services at Jena, meritorious as they were, scarcely
+maintained his fame at the high level to which it soared at
+Castiglione. Then came Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp, Duroc, a
+short, stern, war-hardened man, well known in Berlin, where twice he
+had sought to rivet close the bonds of the French alliance.
+
+Above all, the gaze of the awe-struck crowd was fixed on the figure of
+the chief, now grown to the roundness of robust health amidst toils
+that would have worn most men to a shadow; and on the face, no longer
+thin with the unsatisfied longings of youth, but square and full with
+toil requited and ambition wellnigh sated--a visage redeemed from the
+coarseness of the epicure's only by the knitted brows that bespoke
+ceaseless thought, and by the keen, melancholy, unfathomable eyes.
+
+
+NOTE ADDED TO THE FOURTH EDITION
+
+    Several facts of considerable interest and importance respecting
+    the Anglo-French negotiations of 1806 have been brought to light
+    by M. Coquelle in his recently published work "Napoleon and
+    England, 1803-1813," chapters xi.-xvii. (George Bell and Sons,
+    1904).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM: FRIEDLAND
+
+    "I know full well that London is a corner of the world, and that
+    Paris is its centre."--_Letter of Napoleon_, August 18th, 1806.
+
+On the 21st of November, 1806, Napoleon issued at Berlin the decree
+which proclaimed open and unrelenting war on English industry and
+commerce, a war that was to embroil the whole civilized world and
+cease only with his overthrow. After reciting his complaints against
+the English maritime code, he declared the British Isles to be in a
+state of blockade, interdicted all commerce with them, threatened
+seizure and imprisonment to English goods and subjects wherever found
+by French or allied troops, forbade all trade in English and colonial
+wares, and excluded from French and allied ports any ship that had
+touched at those of Great Britain; while any ship that connived at the
+infraction of the present decree was to be held a good prize of
+war.[113] This ukase, which was binding for France, Italy,
+Switzerland, Holland, and the Rhenish Confederation, formed the
+foundation of the Continental System, a term applicable to the sum
+total of the measures that aimed at ruining England by excluding her
+goods from the Continent.
+
+The plan of strangling Britain by her own wealth was not peculiar to
+Napoleon. In common with much of his political stock-in-trade he had
+it from the Jacobins, who stoutly maintained that England's wealth was
+fictitious and would collapse as soon as her commerce was attacked in
+the Indies and excluded from the Rhine and Elbe. At first the
+fulminations of Parisian legislators fell idly on the stately pile of
+British industry; but when the young Bonaparte appeared on the scene,
+the commercial warfare became serious. As soon as his victories in
+Italy widened the sphere of French influence, the Directory banned the
+entry of all our products, counting all cotton and woollen goods as
+English unless the contrary could be proved by certificates of
+origin.[114] Public opinion in France, which, unless held in by an
+intelligent monarch, has always swung towards protection or
+prohibition, welcomed that vigorous measure; and great was the outcry
+of manufacturers when it was rumoured in 1802 that Napoleon was about
+to make a commercial treaty with the national enemy. Tradition and
+custom, therefore, were all on his side, when, after Trafalgar, he
+concentrated all his energy on his "coast-system."[115]
+
+Ostensibly the Berlin Decree was a retort to our Order in Council of
+May 16th, 1806, which declared all the coast between Brest and the
+Elbe in a state of blockade; and French historians have defended it on
+this ground, asserting that it was a necessary reply to England's
+aggressive action.[116] But this plea can scarcely be maintained. The
+aggressor, surely, was the man who forced Prussia to close the neutral
+North German coast to British goods (February, 1806). Besides, there
+is indirect proof that Napoleon looked on our blockade of the northern
+coasts as not unreasonable. In his subsequent negotiations with us, he
+raised no protest against it, and made no difficulty about our
+maritime code: if we would let him seize Sicily, we might, it seems,
+have re-enacted that code in all its earlier stringency. Far from
+doing so, Fox and his successors relaxed the blockade of North
+Germany; and by an order dated September 25th, the coast between the
+Elbe and the Ems was declared free.
+
+Napoleon's grievance against us was thereby materially lessened, and
+his protest against fictitious blockades in the preamble of the Berlin
+Decree really applied only to our action on the coast between the
+Helder and Brest, where our cruisers were watching the naval
+preparations still going on. His retort in the interests of outraged
+law was certainly curious; he declared our 3,000 miles of coast in a
+state of blockade--a mere _brutum fulmen_ in point of fact, but
+designed to give a show of legality to his Continental System. Yet,
+apart from this thin pretext, he troubled very little about law.
+Indeed, blockade is an act of war; and its application to this or that
+part or coast depends on the will and power of the belligerents.
+Napoleon frankly recognized that fact; and, however much his preambles
+appealed to law, his conduct was decided solely by expediency. When he
+wanted peace (along with Sicily) he said nothing about our maritime
+claims: when the war went on, he used them as a pretext for an action
+that was ten times as stringent.
+
+The gauntlet thrown down by him at Berlin was promptly taken up by
+Great Britain. An Order in Council of January 7th, 1807, forbade
+neutrals to trade between the ports of France and her allies, or
+between ports that observed the Berlin Decree, under pain of seizure
+and confiscation of the ship and cargo. In return Napoleon issued from
+Warsaw (January 27th) a decree, ordering the seizure in the Hanse
+Towns of all English goods and colonial produce. By way of reprisal
+England reimposed a strict blockade on the North German coast (March
+11th); and after the Peace of Tilsit laid the Continent at the feet of
+Napoleon, he frankly told the diplomatic circle at Fontainebleau that
+he would no longer allow any commercial or political relations between
+the Continent and England. "The sea must be subdued by the land." In
+these words Napoleon pithily summed up his enterprise; and whatever
+may be thought of the means which he adopted, the design is not
+without grandeur. Granted that Britannia ruled the waves, yet he ruled
+the land; and the land, as the active fruitful element, must overpower
+the barren sea. Such was the notion: it was fallacious, as will appear
+later on; but it appealed strongly to the French imagination as
+providing an infallible means of humbling the traditional foe.
+Furthermore, it placed in Napoleon's hands a potent engine of
+government, not only for assuring his position in France, but for
+extending his sway over North Germany and all coasts that seemed
+needful to the success of the experiment.
+
+Indirectly also it seems to have fed, without satisfying, his
+ever-growing love of power. Here we touch on the difficult question of
+motive; and it is perhaps impossible, except for dogmatists, to
+determine whether the enterprises that led to his ruin--the partition
+of Portugal, which slid easily into the occupation of Spain, together
+with his Moscow adventure--were prompted by ambition or by a
+semi-fatalistic feeling that they were necessary to the complete
+triumph of his Continental System. He himself, with a flash of almost
+uncanny insight, once remarked to Roederer that his ambition was
+different from that of other men: for they were slaves to it, whereas
+it was so interwoven with the whole texture of his being as to
+interfere with no single process of thought and will. Whether that is
+possible is a question for psychologists and casuists; but every
+open-minded student of Napoleon's career must at times pause in utter
+doubt, whether this or that act was prompted by mad ambition, or
+followed naturally, perhaps inevitably, from that world-embracing
+postulate, the Continental System.
+
+England also derived some secondary advantages from this war of the
+elements. In order to stalemate her mighty foe, she pushed on her
+colonial conquests so as to control the resources of the tropics, and
+thus prevent that deadly tilting of the balance landwards which
+Napoleon strove to effect. And fate decreed that the conquests of
+English seamen and settlers were to be more enduring than those of
+Napoleon's legions. While the French were gaining barren victories
+beyond the Vistula and Ebro, our seamen seized French and Dutch
+colonies and our pioneers opened up the interior of Australia and
+South Africa.
+
+We also used our maritime monopoly to depress neutral commerce. We
+have not space to discuss the complex question of the rights of
+neutrals in time of war, which would involve an examination of the
+"rule of 1756" and the compromises arrived at after the two Armed
+Neutrality Leagues. Suffice it to say that our merchants had recently
+been indignant at the comparative immunity enjoyed by neutral ships,
+and had pressed for more vigorous action against such as traded to
+French ports.[117] Yet the statement that our Orders in Council were
+determined by the clamour of the mercantile class is an exaggeration:
+they were reprisals against Napoleon's acts, following them in almost
+geometrical gradations. To his domination over the industrial
+resources of the Continent we had nothing to oppose but our
+manufacturing skill, our supremacy in the tropics, and our control of
+the sea. The methods used on both sides were alike brutal, and, when
+carried to their logical conclusion at the close of the year, crushed
+the neutrals between the upper and the nether millstone. But it is
+difficult to see what other alternative was open to an insular State
+that was all-powerful at sea and weak on land. Our very existence was
+bound up with maritime commerce; and an abandonment of the carrying
+trade to neutrals would have been the tamest of surrenders, at a time
+when surrender meant political extinction.
+
+We turn now to follow the chief steps in Napoleon's onward march,
+which enabled him to impose his system on nearly the whole of the
+Continent. While encamped in the Prussian capital he decreed the
+deposition of the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, and French and Dutch troops
+forthwith occupied that Electorate. Towards Saxony he acted with
+politic clemency; and on December 11th, 1806, the Elector accepted the
+French alliance, entered the Confederation of the Rhine, and received
+the title of King.[118]
+
+Meanwhile Frederick William, accompanied by his grief-stricken
+consort, was striving to draw together an army in his eastern
+provinces. Some overtures with a view to peace had been made after
+Jena; but Napoleon finally refused to relax his pursuit unless the
+Prussians retired beyond the Vistula, and yielded up to him all the
+western parts of the kingdom, with their fortresses. Besides, he let
+it be known that Prussia must join him in a close alliance against
+Russia, with a view to checking her ambitious projects against Turkey;
+for the Czar, resenting the Sultan's deposition of the hospodars of
+the Danubian Principalities, an act suggested by the French, had sent
+an army across the River Pruth, even when the Porte timidly revoked
+its objectionable firman.[119] The Eastern Question having been thus
+reopened, Napoleon suggested a Franco-Prussian alliance so as to avert
+a Russian conquest of the Balkan Peninsula. But now, as ever, his
+terms to Prussia were too exacting. The King deigned not to stoop to
+such humiliation, but resolved to stake his all on the courage of his
+troops and the fidelity of the Czar.
+
+The Russians, though delayed by their distrust of Haugwitz, and by
+their insensate war with Turkey, were now marching, 73,000 strong,
+into Prussian Poland, but were too late to save the Silesian
+fortresses, most of which surrendered to the French. The fighting in
+the open also went against the allies, though at Pultusk, a town north
+of Warsaw, the Russians claimed that the contest had been drawn in
+their favour.
+
+At the close of the year the armies went into winter-quarters. It was
+high time. The French were ill supplied for a winter campaign amid the
+desolate wastes of Poland. Snow and rain, frosts and thaws had turned
+the wretched tracks into muddy swamps, where men sank to their knees,
+horses to their bellies, and carriages beyond their axles. The
+carriage conveying Talleyrand was a whole night stuck fast, in spite
+of the efforts of ten horses to drag it out. The opinion of the
+soldiery on Poland and the Poles is well expressed by that prince of
+_raconteurs_, Marbot: "Weather frightful, victuals very scarce, no
+wine, beer detestable, water muddy, no bread, lodgings shared with
+cows and pigs. 'And they call this their country,' said our soldiers."
+
+Yet Polish patriotism had been a mighty power in the world; and
+Napoleon, ever on the watch for the weak places of his foes, saw how
+effective a lever it might be. This had been his constant practice: he
+had pitted Italians against Austrians, Copts against Mamelukes, Druses
+against Turks, Irish against English, South Germans against the
+Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns, and for the most part with success. But,
+except in the case of the Italian people and the South German princes,
+he rarely, if ever, bestowed boons proportionate to the services
+rendered. It is very questionable whether he felt more warmly for
+Irish nationalists than for Copts and Druses.[120] Except in regard to
+his Italian kindred, none of the nationalist aspirations that were to
+mould the history of the century touched a responsive chord in his
+nature. In this, as in other affairs of state, he held "true policy"
+to be "nothing else than the calculation of combinations and chances."
+
+It was in this spirit that he surveyed the Polish Question. Arising
+out of the partitions of that unhappy land by Russia, Austria, and
+Prussia, it had distracted the repose of Europe scarcely less than the
+French Revolution; and now the heir to the Revolution, after hewing
+his way through the weak monarchies of Central Europe, was about to
+probe this ulcer of Christendom. As usual, nothing had been done to
+forestall him. Czartoryski had begged Alexander to declare Russian
+Poland an autonomous kingdom united with Russia only by the golden
+link of the crown, but this timely proposal was rejected;[121] and the
+Czar displayed the weakness of his judgment and the strength of his
+vanity by plunging into war with Turkey and Persia, at a time when
+Poland was opening her arms to the victor of a hundred fights. It was,
+therefore, easy for Napoleon to surround Russia with foes; and, as
+will shortly appear, he took steps to invigorate even the remote
+Persian Empire.
+
+But, above all, he spurred on the Poles to take up arms. His
+encouragements were discreetly vague. True, he countenanced Polish
+proclamations, which spoke grandiloquently of national liberty; but
+proclamations he ever viewed as the _ballons d'essai_ of politics. He
+also warned Murat not to promise the Poles too much: "My greatness
+does not depend on the aid of a few thousand Poles. Let them show a
+firm resolve to be independent: let them pledge themselves to support
+the King that will be given to them, and then I will see what is to be
+done."
+
+There were two reasons for this caution. His Marshals found no very
+general disposition among the Poles to take up arms for France; and he
+desired not to offend Austria by revolutionizing Galicia and her
+districts south and east of Warsaw. Already the Hapsburgs were
+nervously mustering their troops, and Napoleon had no wish to tempt
+fortune by warring against three Powers a thousand miles away from his
+own frontiers. He therefore calmed the Court of Vienna by promising
+that he would discourage any rising in Austrian Poland, and he held
+forth the prospect of regaining Silesia. This tempting offer was made
+secretly and conditionally; and evoked no expression of thanks, but
+rather a redoubling of precautions. Yet, despite the efforts of
+England and Russia, the Hapsburg ruler refused to join the allies: he
+preferred to play the waiting game which had ruined Prussia.[122]
+
+The campaign was reopened amidst terrible weather by a daring move of
+Bennigsen's Russians westwards, in the hope of saving Danzig and
+Graudenz from the French. At first a screen of forests well concealed
+his advance. But, falling in with Bernadotte near the River Passarge,
+his progress was checked and his design revealed. At once Napoleon
+prepared to march northwards and throw the Russians into the sea, a
+plan which in its turn was foiled by the seizure of a French despatch
+by Cossacks. Bennigsen, now aware of his danger, at once retreated
+towards Königsberg, but at Eylau turned on his pursuers and fought the
+bloodiest battle fought in Europe since Malplaquet. The numbers on
+both sides were probably about equal, numbering some 75,000 men, the
+Russians having a slight superiority in men and still more in
+artillery. Driven from Eylau on the night of February 7th after
+confused fighting, the Muscovite withdrew to a strong position formed
+by an irregular line of hills, which he crowned with cannon.
+
+As the dawn peered through the snow-laden clouds, guns began to deal
+death amongst the hostile masses, and heavy columns moved forward.
+Davoust, on the French right, began to push back the Russians on that
+side, whereupon Napoleon ordered Augereau's corps to complete the
+advantage by driving in the enemy's centre. Gallantly the French
+advanced. Their leading regiment, the 14th, had seized a hillock which
+commanded the enemy's lines,[123] when, amidst a whirlwind of snow
+that beat in their faces, a deadly storm of grape and canister almost
+annihilated the corps. Its shattered lines fell back, leaving the 14th
+to its fate. But a cloud of Cossacks now swept on the retiring
+companies, stabbing with their long spears; and it was a scanty band
+that found safety in their former position. Russian cannon and cavalry
+also stopped the advance of Davoust, and the fighting for a time
+resolved itself into confused but murderous charges at close quarters.
+As if to increase the horrors of the scene, snowstorms again swept
+over the field, dazing the French and shrouding with friendly wings
+the fierce charges of Cossacks. Yet the Grand Army fought on with
+devoted heroism; and the chief, determined to snatch at victory,
+launched eighty squadrons of horse against the Russian centre.
+Sweeping aside the Cossacks, and defying the cannon that riddled their
+files, they poured upon the first line of Russian infantry: for a time
+they were stemmed, but, finding some weaker places, the cuirassiers
+burst through, only to be thrown back by the second line; and, when
+furiously charged by Cossacks, they fell back in disorder. "These
+Russians fight like bulls," said the French. The simile was just. Even
+while Murat was hacking at their centre a column of 4,000 Russian
+grenadiers, detaching itself from their mangled line, marched straight
+forward on the village of Eylau. With the same blind courage that
+nerved Solmes' division at Steinkirk, they beat aside the French light
+horse and foot, and were now threatening the cemetery where Napoleon
+and his staff were standing.
+
+    "I never was so much struck with anything in my life," said
+    General Bertrand at St. Helena, "as by the Emperor at Eylau when
+    he was almost trodden under foot by the Russian column. He kept
+    his ground as the Russians advanced, saying frequently, 'What
+    boldness.'"
+
+But, when all around him trembled, and Berthier ordered up the horses
+as if for retreat, he himself quietly signalled for his Guards. These
+sturdy troops, long fuming at their inaction, marched forward with a
+stern joy. As at Steinkirk the French Household Brigade disdained to
+fire on the bull-dogs, so now the Guards rushed on the Muscovites with
+the cold steel. The shock was terrible; but the pent-up fury of the
+French carried all before it, and the grenadiers were wellnigh
+destroyed. The battle might still have ended in a French victory; for
+Davoust was obstinately holding the village which he had seized in the
+morning, and even threatened the rear of Bennigsen's centre. But when
+both sides were wellnigh exhausted, the Prussian General Lestocq with
+8,000 men, urged on by the counsels of Scharnhorst, hurried up from
+the side of Königsberg, marched straight on Davoust, and checked his
+forward movements. Ney followed Lestocq, but at so great a distance
+that his arrival at nightfall served only to secure the French left.
+
+Thus darkness closed over some 100,000 men, who wearily clung to their
+posts, and over snowy wastes where half that number lay dead, dying,
+or disabled. Well might Ney exclaim: "What a massacre, and without any
+issue!" Each side claimed the victory, and, as is usual in such cases,
+began industriously to minimize its own and to magnify the enemy's
+losses. The truth seems to be that both sides had about 25,000 men
+_hors de combat_; but, as Bennigsen lacked tents, supplies, and above
+all, the dauntless courage of Napoleon, he speedily fell back, and
+this enabled the Emperor to claim a decisive victory.[124]
+
+Exhausted by this terrific strife, the combatants now relaxed their
+efforts for a brief space; but while Napoleon used the time of respite
+in hurrying up troops from all parts of his vast dominions, the allies
+did little to improve their advantage. This inertness is all the more
+strange as Prussia and Russia came to closer accord in the Treaty of
+Bartenstein (April 26th, 1807).[125]
+
+The two monarchs now recur to the generous scheme of a European peace,
+for which the Czar and William Pitt had vainly struggled two years
+before. The present war is to be fought out to the end, not so as to
+humble France and interfere in her internal concerns, but in order to
+assure to Europe the blessings of a solid peace based on the claims of
+justice and of national independence. France must be satisfied with
+reasonable boundaries, and Prussia be restored to the limits of 1805
+or their equivalent. Germany is to be freed from the dictation of the
+French, and become a "constitutional federation," with a boundary
+"parallel to the Rhine." Austria is to be asked to join the present
+league, regaining Tyrol and the Mincio frontier. England and Sweden
+must be rallied to the common cause. The allies will also take steps
+to cause Denmark to join the league. For the rest, the integrity of
+Turkey is to be maintained, and the future of Italy decided in concert
+with Austria and England, the Kings of Sardinia and Naples being
+restored. Even should Austria, England, and Sweden not join them, yet
+Russia and Prussia will continue the struggle and not lay down their
+arms save by mutual consent.
+
+Had all the Powers threatened by Napoleon at once come forward and
+acted with vigour, these ends might, even now, have been attained. But
+Austria merely renewed her offers of mediation, a well-meaning but
+hopeless proposal. England, a prey to official incapacity, joined the
+league, promised help in men and money, and did little or nothing
+except send fruitless expeditions to Alexandria and the Dardanelles
+with the aim of forcing the Turks to a peace with Russia. In Sicily we
+held our own against Joseph's generals, but had no men to spare for a
+diversion against Marmont's forces in Dalmatia, which Alexander urged.
+Still less could we send from our own shores any force for the
+effective aid of Prussia. Though we had made peace with that Power,
+and ordinary prudence might have dictated the taking of steps to save
+the coast fortresses, Danzig and Colberg, from the French besiegers,
+yet our efforts were limited to the despatch of a few cruisers to the
+former stronghold. Even more urgent was the need of rescuing
+Stralsund, the chief fortress of Swedish Pomerania. Such an expedition
+clearly offered great possibilities with the minimum of risk. From the
+Isle of Rügen Mortier's corps could be attacked; and when Stralsund
+was freed, a dash on Stettin, then weakly held by the French, promised
+an easy success that would raise the whole of North Germany in
+Napoleon's rear.[126]
+
+But arguments were thrown away upon the Grenville Ministry, which
+clung to its old plan of doing nothing and of doing it expensively.
+The Foreign Secretary, Lord Howick, replied that the allies must not
+expect any considerable aid from our land forces. Considering that the
+Income or War Tax of 2s. in the £ had yielded close on £20,000,000,
+and that the army numbered 192,000 men (exclusive of those in India),
+this declaration did not shed lustre on the Ministry of all the
+Talents. That bankrupt Cabinet, however, was dismissed by George III.
+in March, 1807, because it declined to waive the question of Catholic
+Emancipation, and its place was filled by the Duke of Portland, with
+Canning as Foreign Minister. Soon it was seen that Pitt's cloak had
+fallen on worthy shoulders, and a new vigour began to inspirit our
+foreign policy. Yet the bad results of frittering away our forces on
+distant expeditions could not be wiped out at once. In fact, our
+military expert, Lord Cathcart, reported that only some 12,000 men
+could at present be spared for service in the Baltic; and, as it would
+be beneath our dignity to send so small a force, it would be better to
+keep it at home ready to menace any part of the French coast. As to
+Stralsund, he thought that plan was more feasible, but that, even
+there, the allies would not make head against Mortier's corps.[127]
+
+This is a specimen of the reasoning that was fast rendering Britain
+contemptible alike to friends and foes. It is not surprising that such
+timorous selfishness should have at last moved the Czar to say to our
+envoy: "Act where you please, provided that you act at all."[128] In
+the end the new Ministry did venture to act: it engaged to send 20,000
+men to the succour of Stralsund; but, with the fatality that then
+dogged our steps, that decision was formed on June the 17th, three
+days after the Coalition was shattered by the mighty blow of
+Friedland.
+
+In striking contrast to the faint-hearted measures of the allies was
+the timely energy of Napoleon in bringing up reinforcements. These
+were drawn partly from Mortier's corps in Pomerania, now engaged in
+watching the Swedes, who made a truce; partly from the Bavarians and
+Saxons; but mostly from French troops already in Central Germany,
+their places being taken by Italians, Spaniards, Swiss, and Dutch. In
+France a new levy of conscripts was ordered--the third since the
+outbreak of war with Prussia. The Turks were encouraged to press on
+the war against Russia and England; and a mission was sent to the Shah
+of Persia to strengthen his arms against the Czar. To this last we
+will now advert.
+
+For some time past Napoleon had been coquetting with Persia, and an
+embassy from the Shah now came to the castle of Finkenstein, a
+beautiful seat not far from the Vistula, where the Emperor spent the
+months of spring. A treaty was drawn up, and General Gardane was
+deputed to draw closer the bonds of friendship with the Court of
+Teheran. The instructions secretly issued to this officer are of great
+interest. He is ordered to proceed to Persia by way of Constantinople,
+to concert an alliance between Sultan and Shah, to redouble Persia's
+efforts against her "natural enemy," Russia, and to examine the means
+of invading India. For this purpose a number of officers are sent with
+him to examine the routes from Egypt or Syria to Delhi, as also to
+report on the harbours in Persia with a view to a maritime expedition,
+either by way of Suez or the Cape of Good Hope. The Shah is to be
+induced to form a corps of 12,000 men, drilled on the European model
+and armed with weapons sold by France. This force will attack the
+Russians in Georgia and serve later in an expedition to India. With a
+view to the sending of 20,000 French troops to India, Gardane is to
+communicate with the Mahratta princes and prepare for this enterprise
+by every possible means.
+
+We may note here that Gardane proceeded to Persia and was urging on
+the Shah to more active measures against Russia when the news of the
+Treaty of Tilsit diverted his efforts towards the east. At the close
+of the year, he reported to Napoleon that, for the march overland from
+Syria to the Ganges, Cyprus was an indispensable base of supplies: he
+recommended the route Bir, Mardin, Teheran, Herat, Cabul, and
+Peshawur: forty to fifty thousand French troops would be needed, and
+thirty or forty thousand Persians should also be taken up. Nothing
+came of these plans; but it is clear that, even when Napoleon was face
+to face with formidable foes on the Vistula, his thoughts still turned
+longingly to the banks of the Ganges.[129]
+
+The result of Napoleon's activity and the supineness of his foes were
+soon apparent. Danzig surrendered to the French on May the 24th, and
+Neisse in Silesia a little later; and it was not till the besiegers of
+these fortresses came up to swell the French host that Bennigsen
+opened the campaign. He was soon to rue the delay. His efforts to
+drive the foe from the River Passarge were promptly foiled, and he
+retired in haste to his intrenched camp at Heilsberg. There, on June
+the 10th, he turned fiercely at bay and dealt heavy losses to the
+French vanguard. In vain did Soult's corps struggle up towards the
+intrenchments; his men were mown down by grapeshot and musketry: in
+vain did Napoleon, who hurried up in the afternoon, launch the
+fusiliers of the Guard and a division of Lannes' corps. The Muscovites
+held firm, and the day closed ominously for the French. It was Eylau
+over again on a small scale.
+
+But Bennigsen was one of those commanders who, after fighting with
+great spirit, suffer a relapse. Despite the entreaties of his
+generals, he had retreated after Eylau; and now, after a day of
+inaction, his columns filed off towards Königsberg under cover of the
+darkness. In excuse for this action it has been urged that he had but
+two days' supply of bread in the camp, and that a forward move of
+Davoust's corps round his right flank threatened to cut him off from
+his base of supplies, Königsberg.[130]
+
+The first excuse only exposes him to greater censure. The Russian
+habit at that time usually was to live almost from hand to mouth; but
+that a carefully-prepared position like that of Heilsberg should be
+left without adequate supplies is unpardonable. On the two next days
+the rival hosts marched northward, the one to seize, the other to
+save, Königsberg. They were separated by the winding vale of the Alle.
+But the course of this river favoured Napoleon as much as it hindered
+Bennigsen. The Alle below Heilsberg makes a deep bend towards the
+north-east, then northwards again towards Friedland, where it comes
+within forty miles of Königsberg, but in its lower course flows
+north-east until it joins the Pregel.
+
+An army marching from Heilsberg to the old Prussian capital by the
+right bank would therefore easily be outstripped by one that could
+follow the chord of the arc instead of the irregular arc itself.
+Napoleon was in this fortunate position, while the Russians plodded
+amid heavy rains over the semicircular route further to the east.
+Their mistake in abandoning Heilsberg was now obvious. The Emperor
+halted at Eylau on the 13th for news of the Prussians in front and of
+Bennigsen on his right flank. Against the former he hurled his chief
+masses under the lead of Murat in the hope of seizing Königsberg at
+one blow.[131] But, foreseeing that the Russians would probably pass
+over the Alle at Friedland he despatched Lannes to Domnau to see
+whether they had already crossed in force. Clearly, then, Napoleon did
+not foresee what the morrow had in store for him: his aim was to drive
+a solid wedge between Bennigsen and the defenders of Königsberg, to
+storm that city first, and then to turn on Bennigsen. The claim of
+some of Napoleon's admirers that he laid a trap for the Russians at
+Friedland, as he had done at Austerlitz, is therefore refuted by the
+Emperor's own orders.
+
+None the less did Bennigsen walk into a trap, and one of his own
+choosing. Anxious to thrust himself between Napoleon and the old
+Prussian capital, he crossed the river at Friedland and sought to
+strengthen his position on the left bank by driving Lannes' vanguard
+back on Domnau, by throwing three bridges over the stream, and by
+crowning the hills on the right bank with a formidable artillery. But
+he had to deal with a tough and daring opponent. Throughout the winter
+Lannes had been a prey to ill-health and resentment at his chief's
+real or fancied injustice: but the heats of summer re-awakened his
+thirst for glory and restored him to his wonted vigour. Calling up the
+Saxon horse, Grouchy's dragoons, and Oudinot's grenadiers, he held his
+ground through the brief hours of darkness. Before dawn he posted his
+10,000 troops among the woods and on the plateau of Posthenen that
+lies to the west of Friedland and strove to stop the march of 40,000
+Russians. After four hours of fighting, his men were about to be
+thrust back, when the divisions of Verdier and Dupas--the latter from
+Mortier's corps--shared the burden of the fight until the sun was at
+its zenith. When once more the fight was doubtful, the dense columns
+of Ney and Victor were to be seen, and by desperate efforts the French
+vanguard held its ground until this welcome aid arrived.
+
+Napoleon, having received Lannes' urgent appeals for help, now rode up
+in hot haste, and in response to the cheers of his weary troops
+repeatedly exclaimed: "Today is a lucky day, the anniversary of
+Marengo." Their ardour was excited to the highest pitch, Oudinot
+saluting his chief with the words: "Quick, sire! my grenadiers can
+hold no longer: but give me reinforcements and I'll pitch the Russians
+into the river."[132] The Emperor cautiously gave them pause: the
+fresh troops marched to the front and formed the first line, those who
+had fought for nine hours now forming the supports. Ney held the post
+of honour in the woods on the right flank, nearly above Friedland;
+behind him was the corps of Bernadotte, which, since the disabling of
+that Marshal by a wound had been led by General Victor: there too were
+the dragoons of Latour-Maubourg, and the imposing masses of the Guard.
+In the centre, but bending in towards the rear, stood the remnant of
+Lannes' indomitable corps, now condemned for a time to comparative
+inactivity; and defensive tactics were also enjoined on
+Mortier and Grouchy on the left wing, until Ney and Victor should
+decide the fortunes of the second fight. The Russians, as if bent on
+favouring Napoleon's design, continued to deploy in front of
+Friedland, keeping up the while a desultory fight; and Bennigsen,
+anxious now about his communications with Königsberg, detached 6,000
+men down the right bank of the river towards Wehlau. Only 46,000 men
+were thus left to defend Friedland against a force that now numbered
+80,000: yet no works were thrown up to guard the bridges--and this
+after the arrival of Napoleon with strong reinforcements was known by
+the excitement along the enemy's front.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND]
+
+Nevertheless, as late as 3 p.m., Napoleon was in doubt whether he
+should not await the arrival of Murat. At his instructions, Berthier
+ordered that Marshal to leave Soult at Königsberg and hurry back with
+Davoust and the cavalry towards Friedland: "If I perceive at the
+beginning of this fight that the enemy is in too great force, I might
+be content with cannonading to-day and awaiting your arrival." But a
+little later the Emperor decides for instant attack. The omens are all
+favourable. If driven back the Russians will fight with their backs to
+a deep river. Besides, their position is cut in twain by a mill-stream
+which flows in a gulley, and near the town is dammed up so as to form
+a small lake. Below this lies Friedland in a deep bend of the river
+itself. Into this _cul-de-sac_ he will drive the Russian left, and
+fling their broken lines into the lake and river.
+
+At five o'clock a salvo of twenty guns opened the second and greater
+battle of Friedland. To rush on the Muscovite van and clear it from
+the wood of Sortlack was for Ney's leading division the work of a
+moment; but on reaching the open ground their ranks were ploughed by
+the shot of the Russian guns ranged on the hills beyond the river.
+Staggered by this fire, the division was wavering, when the Russian
+Guards and their choicest squadrons of horse charged home with deadly
+effect. But Ney's second division, led by the gallant Dupont, hurried
+up to restore the balance, while Latour-Maubourg's dragoons fell on
+the enemy's horsemen and drove them pell-mell towards Friedland.
+
+The Russian artillery fared little better: Napoleon directed Sénarmont
+with thirty-six guns to take it in flank and it was soon overpowered.
+Freed now from the Russian grapeshot and sabres, Ney held on his
+course like a torrent that masters a dam, reached the upper part of
+the lake, and threw the bewildered foe into its waters or into the
+town. Friedland was now a death-trap: huddled together, plied by
+shell, shot and bayonet, the Russians fought from street to street
+with the energy of despair, but little by little were driven back on
+the bridges. No help was to be found there; for Sénarmont, bringing up
+his guns, swept the bridges with a terrific fire: when part of the
+Russian left and centre had fled across, they burst into flames, a
+signal that warned their comrades further north of their coming doom.
+On that side, too, a general advance of the French drove the enemy
+back towards the steep banks of the river. But on those open plains
+the devotion and prowess of the Muscovite cavalry bore ampler fruit:
+charging the foe while in the full swing of victory, these gallant
+riders gave time for the infantry to attempt the dangers of a deep
+ford: hundreds were drowned, but others, along with most of the guns,
+stole away in the darkness down the left bank of the river.
+
+On the morrow Bennigsen's army was a mass of fugitives straggling
+towards the Pregel and fighting with one another for a chance to cross
+its long narrow bridge. Even on the other side they halted not, but
+wandered on towards the Niemen, no longer an army but an armed mob. On
+its banks they were joined by the defenders of Königsberg, who after a
+stout stand cut their way through Soult's lines and made for Tilsit.
+There, behind the broad stream of the Niemen, the fugitives found
+rest.
+
+It will always be a mystery why Bennigsen held on to Friedland after
+French reinforcements arrived; and the feeling of wonder and
+exasperation finds expression in the report of our envoy, Lord
+Hutchinson, founded on the information of two British officers who
+were at the Russian headquarters:
+
+    "Many of the circumstances attending the Battle of Friedland are
+    unexampled in the annals of war. We crossed the River Alle, not
+    knowing whether we had to contend with a corps or the whole French
+    army. From the commencement of the battle it was manifest that we
+    had a great deal to lose and probably little to gain: ... General
+    Bennigsen would, I believe, have retired early in the day from
+    ground which he ought never to have occupied; but the corps in our
+    front made so vigorous a resistance that, though occasionally we
+    gained a little ground, yet we were never able to drive them from
+    the woods or the village of Heinrichsdorf."[133]
+
+This evidence shows the transcendent services of Lannes, Oudinot, and
+Grouchy in the early part of the day; and it is clear that, as at
+Jena, no great battle would have been fought at all but for the valour
+and tenacity with which Lannes clung to the foe until Napoleon came
+up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+TILSIT
+
+
+Even now matters were not hopeless for the allies. Crowds of
+stragglers rejoined the colours at Tilsit, and Tartar reinforcements
+were near at hand. The gallant Gneisenau was still holding out bravely
+at Kolberg against Brune's divisions; and two of the Silesian
+fortresses had not yet surrendered. Moreover, Austria seemed about to
+declare against Napoleon, and there were hopes that before long
+England would do something. But, above all, since the war was for
+Prussia solely an affair of honour,[134] it deeply concerned
+Alexander's good name not to desert an ally to whom he was now pledged
+by all the claims of chivalry until satisfactory terms could be
+gained.
+
+But Alexander's nature had not as yet been strengthened by misfortune
+and religious convictions: it was a sunny background of flickering
+enthusiasms, flecked now and again by shadows of eastern cunning or
+darkened by warlike ambitions--a nature in which the sentimentalism of
+Rousseau and the passions of a Boyar alternately gained the mastery.
+No realism is more crude than that of the disillusionized idealist;
+and for months the young Czar had seen his dream of a free and happy
+Europe fade away amidst the smoke of Napoleon's guns and the mists of
+English muddling. At first he blenched not even at the news of
+Friedland. In an interview with our ambassador, Lord Gower, on June
+the 17th, he bitterly upbraided him with our inactivity in the Baltic
+and the Mediterranean, and the non-fulfilment of our promise of a
+loan; as for himself, "he would never stoop to Bonaparte: he would
+rather retire to Kazan or even to Tobolsk." But five days later,
+acting under pressure from his despairing generals, some of whom
+reminded him of his father's fate, he arranged an armistice with the
+conqueror.[135] Five days only were allowed in which Prussia might
+decide to follow his example or proceed with the war alone. She
+accepted the inevitable on the following day.
+
+The international situation was now strangely like that which followed
+immediately upon the battle of Austerlitz. Then it was Prussia, now it
+was Austria, that played the part of the cautious friend at the very
+time when the beaten allies were meditating surrender. For some time
+past the Court of Vienna had been offering its services for mediation:
+they were well received at London, with open disappointment by
+Prussia, and with ill-concealed annoyance by Napoleon. As at the time
+when Haugwitz came to him to dictate Prussia's terms, so now the
+Emperor kept the Austrian envoy waiting without an answer, until the
+blow of Friedland was dealt.[136] Even then Austria seemed about to
+enter the lists, when news arrived of the conclusion of the armistice
+at Tilsit. This enabled her to sheathe her sword with no loss of
+honour; but, as was the case with Prussia at the close of 1805, her
+conduct was seen to be timid and time-serving; and it merited the
+secret rebuke of Canning that she "was (as usual) just ten days too
+late in her determination, or the world might have been saved."[137]
+
+Whether Austria had been beguiled by the recent diplomatic caresses of
+Napoleon may well be doubted; for they were obviously aimed at keeping
+her quiet until he had settled scores with Prussia and Russia. His
+advances only began on the eve of the last war, and the sharpness of
+the transition from threats to endearments could not be smoothed over
+even by Talleyrand's finesse.[138] When the slaughter at Eylau placed
+him in peril, he again bade Talleyrand soothe the Austrian envoy with
+assurances that, if his master was anxious to maintain the integrity
+of Turkey, France would maintain it; or if he desired to share in an
+eventual partition, France would also arrange that to his liking.[139]
+But as the prospects for the campaign improved, Napoleon's tone
+hardened. On March the 14th he states that he has enough men to keep
+Austria quiet and to "get rid of the Russians in a month." And now he
+looks on an alliance with the Hapsburgs merely as giving a short time
+of quiet, whereas an alliance with Russia would be "very
+advantageous."[140] He had also felt the value of alliance with
+Prussia, as his repeated overtures during the campaign testify; but
+when Frederick William persistently rejected all accommodation with
+the man who had so deeply outraged his kingly honour, he turned
+finally to Alexander.
+
+The Czar was made of more pliable stuff. Moreover, he now cherished
+one sentiment that brought him into sympathy with Napoleon, namely,
+hatred of England. He certainly had grave cause for complaint. We had
+done nothing to help the allies in the Polish campaign except to send
+a few cruisers and 60,000 muskets, which last did not reach the
+Swedish and Russian ports until the war was over. True, we had gone
+out of our way to attack Constantinople at his request; but that
+attack had failed; and our attitude towards his Turkish policy was one
+of veiled suspicion, varied with moral lectures.[141] As for the loan
+of five millions sterling which the Czar had asked us to guarantee, we
+had put him off, our envoy finally reminding him that it had been of
+the first importance to help Austria to move. Worst of all, our
+cruisers had seized some Russian merchantmen coming out of French
+ports, and despite protests from St. Petersburg the legality of that
+seizure was maintained. Thus, in a war which concerned our very
+existence we had not rendered him a single practical service, and yet
+strained the principles of maritime law at the expense of Russian
+commerce.[142]
+
+Over against our policy of blundering delay there was that of
+Napoleon, prompt, keen, and ever victorious. The whole war had arisen
+out of the conflict of these two Powers; and Napoleon had never ceased
+to declare that it was essentially a struggle between England and the
+Continent. After Eylau Alexander was proof against these arguments;
+but now the triumphant energy of Napoleon and the stolid apathy of
+England brought about a quite bewildering change in Russian policy.
+Delicate advances having been made by the two Emperors, an interview
+was arranged to take place on a raft moored in the middle of the River
+Niemen (June 25th).
+
+"I hate the English as much as you do, and I will second you in all
+your actions against them." Such are said to have been the words with
+which Alexander greeted Napoleon as they stepped on to the raft.
+Whereupon the conqueror replied: "In that case all can be arranged and
+peace is made."[143] As the two Emperors were unaccompanied at that
+first interview, it is difficult to see on what evidence this story
+rests. It is most unlikely that either Emperor would divulge the
+remarks of the other on that occasion; and the words attributed to
+Alexander seem highly impolitic. For what was his position at this
+time? He was striving to make the best of a bad case against an
+opponent whose genius he secretly feared. Besides, we know for certain
+that he was most anxious to postpone his rupture with England for some
+months.[144] All desire for an immediate break was on Napoleon's side.
+
+We can therefore only guess at what transpired, from the vague
+descriptions of the two men themselves. They are characteristic
+enough: "I never had more prejudices against anyone than against
+_him_," said Alexander afterwards; "but, after three-quarters of an
+hour of conversation, they all disappeared like a dream"; and later he
+exclaimed: "Would that I had seen him sooner: the veil is torn aside
+and the time of error is past." As for Napoleon, he wrote to
+Josephine: "I have just seen the Emperor Alexander: I have been very
+pleased with him: he is a very handsome, good, and young Emperor: he
+has an intellect above what is commonly attributed to him."[145] The
+tone of these remarks strikes the keynote of all the conversations
+that followed. At the next day's conference, also held in the
+sumptuous pavilion erected on the raft, the King of Prussia was
+present; but towards him Napoleon's demeanour was cold and
+threatening. He upbraided him with the war, lectured him on the duty
+of a king to his people, and bade him dismiss Hardenberg. Frederick
+William listened for the most part in silence; his nature was too
+stiff and straightforward to practise any Byzantine arts; but when his
+trusty Minister was attacked, he protested that he should not know how
+to replace him. Napoleon had foreseen the plea and at once named three
+men who would give better advice. Among them was the staunch patriot
+Stein!
+
+From the ensuing conferences the King was almost wholly excluded. They
+were held in a part of the town of Tilsit which was neutralized for
+that purpose, as also for the guards and diplomatists of the three
+sovereigns. There, too, lived the two Emperors in closest intercourse,
+while on most days the Prussian King rode over from a neighbouring
+village to figure as a sad, reproachful guest at the rides, parades,
+and dinners that cemented the new Franco-Russian alliance. Yet, amid
+all the melodious raptures of Alexander over Napoleon's newly
+discovered virtues, it is easy to detect the clinging ground-tone of
+Muscovite ambition. An event had occurred which excited the hopes of
+both Emperors. At the close of May, the Sultan Selim was violently
+deposed by the Janissaries who clamoured for more vigorous measures
+against the Russians. Never did news come more opportunely for
+Napoleon than this, which reached him at Tilsit on, or before, June
+the 24th. He is said to have exclaimed to the Czar with a flash of
+dramatic fatalism: "It is a decree of Providence which tells me that
+the Turkish Empire can no longer exist."[146]
+
+Certain it is that the most potent spell exerted by the great
+conqueror over his rival was a guarded invitation to share in some
+future partition of the Turkish Empire. That scheme had fascinated
+Napoleon ever since the year 1797, when he gazed on the Adriatic.
+Though laid aside for a time in 1806, when he roused the Turks against
+Russia, it was never lost sight of; and now, on the basis of a common
+hatred of England and a common desire to secure the spoils of the
+Ottoman Power, the stately fabric of the Franco-Russian alliance was
+reared.
+
+On his side, Alexander required some assurance that Poland should not
+be reconstituted in its integrity--a change that would tear from
+Russia the huge districts stretching almost up to Riga, Smolensk, and
+Kiev, which were still Polish in sympathy. Here Napoleon reassured
+him, at least in part. He would not re-create the great kingdom of
+Poland: he would merely carve out from Prussia the greater part of her
+Polish possessions.
+
+These two important questions being settled, it only remained for the
+Czar to plead for the King of Prussia, to acknowledge Napoleon's
+domination as Emperor of the West, while he himself, as autocrat of
+the East, secured a better western boundary for Russia. At first he
+strove to gain for Frederick William the restoration of several of his
+lands west of the Elbe. This championship was not wholly
+disinterested; for it is now known that the Czar had set his heart on
+a great part of Prussian Poland.
+
+In truth, he was a sufficiently good disciple of the French
+revolutionists to plead very cogently his claims to a "natural
+frontier." He disliked a "dry frontier": he must have a riverine
+boundary: in fact, he claimed the banks of the Lower Niemen, and,
+further south, the course of the rivers Wavre, Narew and Bug. To this
+claim he had perhaps been encouraged by some alluring words of
+Napoleon that thenceforth the Vistula must be the boundary of their
+empires. But his ally was now determined to keep Russia away from the
+old Polish capital; and in strangely prophetic words he pointed out
+that the Czar's claims would bring the Russian eagles within sight of
+Warsaw, which would be too clear a sign that that city was destined to
+pass under the Russian rule.[147] Divining also that Alexander's plea
+for the restoration by France of some of Prussia's western lands was
+linked with a plan which would give Russia some of her eastern
+districts,[148] Napoleon resolved to press hard on Prussia from the
+west. While handing over to the Czar only the small district around
+Bialystock, he remorselessly thrust Prussia to the east of the Elbe.
+
+From this neither the arguments of the Czar nor the entreaties of
+Queen Louisa availed to move him. And yet, in the fond hope that her
+tears might win back Magdeburg, that noble bulwark of North German
+independence, the forlorn Queen came to Tilsit to crave this boon
+(July 6th). It was a terrible ordeal to do this from the man who had
+repeatedly insulted her in his official journals, figuring her, first
+as a mailed Amazon galloping at the head of her regiment, and finally
+breathing forth scandals on her spotless reputation.
+
+Yet, for the sake of her husband and her people, she braced herself up
+to the effort of treating him as a gentleman and appealing to his
+generosity. If she was able to conceal her loathing, this was scarcely
+so with her devoted lady in waiting, the Countess von Voss, who has
+left us an acrid account of Napoleon's visit to the Queen at the
+miller's house at Tilsit.[149]
+
+    "He is excessively ugly, with a fat swollen sallow face, very
+    corpulent, besides short and entirely without figure. His great
+    eyes roll gloomily around; the expression of his features is
+    severe; he looks like the incarnation of fate: only his mouth is
+    well shaped, and his teeth are good. He was extremely polite,
+    talked to the Queen a long time alone.... Again, after dinner, he
+    had a long conversation with the Queen, who also seemed pretty
+    well satisfied with the result."[150]
+
+
+Queen Louisa's verdict about his appearance was more favourable; she
+admired his head "as that of a Cæsar." With winsome boldness inspired
+by patriotism, she begged for Magdeburg. Taken aback by her beauty and
+frankness, Napoleon had recourse to compliments about her dress. "Are
+we to talk about fashion, at such a time?" was her reply. Again she
+pleaded, and again he fell back on vapidities. Nevertheless, her
+appeals to his generosity seemed to be thawing his statecraft, when
+the entrance of that unlucky man, her husband, gave the conversation a
+colder tone. The dinner, however, passed cheerfully enough; and,
+according to French accounts, Napoleon graced the conclusion of
+dessert by offering her a rose. Her woman's wit flew to the utterance:
+"May I consider it a token of friendship, and that you grant my
+request for Magdeburg?" But he was on his guard, parried her onset
+with a general remark as to the way in which such civilities should be
+taken, and turned the conversation. Then, as if he feared the result
+of a second interview, he hastened to end matters with the Prussian
+negotiators.[151]
+
+He thus described the interview in a letter to Josephine:
+
+    "I have had to be on my guard against her efforts to oblige me to
+    some concessions for her husband; but I have been gallant, and
+    have held to my policy."
+
+This was only too clear on the following day, when the Queen again
+dined with the sovereigns.
+
+    "Napoleon," says the Countess von Voss, "seemed malicious and
+    spiteful, and the conversation was brief and constrained. After
+    dinner the Queen again conversed apart with him. On taking leave
+    she said to him that she went away feeling it deeply that he
+    should have deceived her. My poor Queen: she is quite in despair."
+
+
+When conducted to her carriage by Talleyrand and Duroc, she sank down
+overcome by emotion. Yet, amid her tears and humiliation, the old
+Prussian pride had flashed forth in one of her replies as the rainbow
+amidst the rain-storm. When Napoleon expressed his surprise that she
+should have dared to make war on him with means so utterly inadequate,
+she at once retorted: "Sire, I must confess to Your Majesty, the glory
+of Frederick the Great had misled us as to our real strength"--a
+retort which justly won the praise of that fastidious connoisseur,
+Talleyrand, for its reminder of Prussia's former greatness and the
+transitoriness of all human grandeur.[152]
+
+On that same day (July 7th) the Treaty of Tilsit was signed. Its terms
+may be thus summarized. Out of regard for the Emperor of Russia,
+Napoleon consented to restore to the King of Prussia the province of
+Silesia, and the old Prussian lands between the Elbe and Niemen. But
+the Polish lands seized by Prussia in the second and third partitions
+were (with the exception of the Bialystock district, now gained by
+Russia) to form a new State called the Duchy of Warsaw. Of this duchy
+the King of Saxony was constituted ruler. Danzig, once a Polish city,
+was now declared a free city under the protection of the Kings of
+Prussia and Saxony, but the retention there of a French garrison until
+the peace made it practically a French fortress. Saxe-Coburg,
+Oldenburg, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin were restored to their dukes, but
+the two last were to be held by French troops until England made peace
+with France. With this aim in view, Napoleon accepted Alexander's
+mediation for the conclusion of a treaty of peace with England,
+provided that she accepted that mediation within one month of the
+ratification of the present treaty.
+
+On his side, the Czar now recognized the recent changes in Naples,
+Holland, and Germany; among the last of these was the creation of the
+Kingdom of Westphalia for Jerome Bonaparte out of the Prussian lands
+west of the Elbe, the Duchy of Brunswick, and the Electorate of
+Hesse-Cassel. Holland gained East Frisia at the expense of Prussia. As
+regards Turkey, the Czar pledged himself to cease hostilities at once,
+to accept the mediation of Napoleon in the present dispute, and to
+withdraw Russian troops from the Danubian Provinces as soon as peace
+was concluded with the Sublime Porte. Finally, the two Emperors
+mutually guaranteed the integrity of their possessions and placed
+their ceremonial and diplomatic relations on a footing of complete
+equality.
+
+Such were the published articles of the Treaty of Tilsit. Even if this
+had been all, the European system would have sustained the severest
+blow since the Thirty Years' War. The Prussian monarchy was suddenly
+bereft of half its population, and now figured on the map as a
+disjointed land, scarcely larger than the possessions of the King of
+Saxony, and less defensible than Jerome Bonaparte's Kingdom of
+Westphalia; while the Confederation of the Rhine, soon to be
+aggrandized by the accession of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg, seemed to
+doom the House of Hohenzollern to lasting insignificance.[153]
+
+But the published treaty was by no means all. There were also secret
+articles, the chief of which were that the Cattaro district--to the
+west of Montenegro--and the Ionian Islands should go to France, and
+that the Czar would recognize Joseph Bonaparte as King of Sicily when
+Ferdinand of Naples should have received "an indemnity such as the
+Balearic Isles, or Crete, or their equivalent." Also, if Hanover
+should eventually be annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia, a
+Westphalian district with a population of from three to four hundred
+thousand souls would be retroceded to Prussia. Finally, the chiefs of
+the Houses of Orange-Nassau, Hesse-Cassel, and Brunswick were to
+receive pensions from Murat and Jerome Bonaparte, who dispossessed
+them.
+
+Most important of all was the secret treaty of alliance with Russia,
+also signed on July 7th, whereby the two Emperors bound themselves to
+make common cause in any war that either of them might undertake
+against any European Power, employing, if need be, the whole of their
+respective forces. Again, if England did not accept the Czar's
+mediation, or if she did not, by the 1st of December, 1807, recognize
+the perfect equality of all flags at sea, and restore her conquests
+made from France and her allies since 1805, then Russia would make war
+on her. In that case, the present allies will "summon the three Courts
+of Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Lisbon to close their ports against the
+English and declare war against England. If any one of the three
+Courts refuse, it shall be treated as an enemy by the high contracting
+parties, and if Sweden refuse, _Denmark shall be compelled to declare
+war on her_." Pressure would also be put on Austria to follow the same
+course. But if England made peace betimes, she might recover Hanover,
+on restoring her conquests in the French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies.
+Similarly, if Turkey refused the mediation of Napoleon, he would in
+that case help Russia to drive the Turks from Europe--"the city of
+Constantinople and the province of Roumelia alone excepted."[154]
+
+The naming of the city of Constantinople, which is in Roumelia,
+betokens a superfluity of prudence. But it helps to confirm the
+statement of Napoleon's secretary, M. Méneval, that the future of that
+city led to a decided difference of opinion between the Emperors.
+After one of their discussions, Napoleon stayed poring over a map, and
+finally exclaimed, "Constantinople! Never! It is the empire of the
+world." Doubtless it was on this subject that Alexander cherished some
+secret annoyance. Certain it is that, despite all his professions of
+devotion to Napoleon, he went back to St. Petersburg ill at ease and
+possessed with a certain awe of the conqueror. For what had he gained?
+He received a small slice of Prussian Poland, and the prospect of
+aggrandizement on the side of Turkey and Sweden, Finland being pointed
+out as an easy prey. For these future gains he was to close his ports
+to England and see his commerce, his navy, and his seaboard suffer. It
+is not surprising that before leaving Tilsit he remarked to Frederick
+William that "the most onerous condition imposed by Napoleon was
+common to Russia and Prussia."[155]
+
+This refers to the compulsion put upon them to join Napoleon's
+Continental System. In the treaty signed with Prussia on July 9th,
+Napoleon not only wrested away half her lands, but required the
+immediate closing of all her ports to British vessels. We may also
+note here that, by the extraordinary negligence of the Prussian
+negotiator, Marshal Kalckreuth, the subsequent convention as to the
+evacuation of Prussia by the French troops left open a loophole for
+its indefinite occupation. Each province or district was to be
+evacuated when the French requisitions had been satisfied.[156] The
+exaction of impossible sums would therefore enable the conquerors,
+quite legally, to keep their locust swarms in that miserable land. And
+that was the policy pursued for sixteen months.
+
+Why this refinement of cruelty to his former ally? Why not have
+annexed Prussia outright? Probably there were two reasons against
+annexation: first, that his army could live on her in a way that would
+not be possible with his own subjects or allies; second, that the army
+of occupation would serve as a guarantee both for Russia's good faith
+and for the absolute exclusion of British goods from Prussia.[157]
+This had long been his aim. He now attained it, but only by war that
+bequeathed a legacy of war, and a peace that was no peace.
+
+Napoleon's behaviour at Tilsit has generally been regarded, at least
+in England, as prompted by an insane lust of power; and the treaty has
+been judged as if its aim was the domination of the Continent. But
+another explanation, though less sweeping and attractive, seems more
+consonant with the facts of the case.
+
+He hoped that, before so mighty a confederacy as was framed at Tilsit,
+England would bend the knee, give up not only her maritime claims but
+her colonial conquests, and humbly take rank with Powers that had
+lived their day. The conqueror who had thrice crumpled up the Hapsburg
+States, and shattered Prussia in a day, might well believe that the
+men of Downing Street, expert only in missing opportunities and
+exasperating their friends, would not dare to defy the forces of
+united Europe, but would bow before his prowess and grant peace to a
+weary world. In his letter of July 6th, 1807, to the Czar, he advised
+the postponement of the final summons to the British Government,
+because it would "give five months in which the first exasperation
+will die down in England, and she will have time to understand the
+immense consequences that would result from so imprudent a struggle."
+Neither Napoleon nor Alexander was deaf to generous aspirations. They
+both desired peace, so that their empires might expand and
+consolidate. Above all, France was weary of war; and by peace the
+average Frenchman meant, not respite from Continental strifes that
+yielded a surfeit of barren glories, but peace with England. The words
+of Lucchesini, the former Prussian ambassador in Paris, on this
+subject are worth quoting:
+
+    "The war with England was at bottom the only one in which the
+    French public took much interest, since the evils it inflicted on
+    France were felt every moment: nothing was spoken of so decidedly
+    among all classes of the people as the wish to have done with that
+    war; and when one spoke of peace at Paris, one always meant peace
+    with England: peace with the others was as indifferent to the
+    public as the victories or the conquests of Bonaparte."[158]
+
+If the French middle classes longed for a maritime peace so that
+coffee and sugar might become reasonably cheap, how much more would
+their ruler, whose heart was set on colonies and a realm in the
+Orient? In Poland he had cheered his troops with the thought that they
+were winning back the French colonial empire; and, as we have seen, he
+was even then preparing the ground in Persia for a future invasion of
+India. These plans could only be carried out after a time of peace
+that should rehabilitate the French navy. Humanitarian sentiment,
+patriotism, and even the promptings of a wider ambition, therefore
+bade him strive for a general pacification, such as he seemed to have
+assured at Tilsit.
+
+But the means which he adopted were just those that were destined to
+defeat this aim. Where he sought to intimidate, he only aroused a more
+stubborn resistance: where he should have allayed national fears, he
+redoubled them. He did not understand our people: he saw not that,
+behind our official sluggishness and muddling, there was a quenchless
+national vitality, which, if directed by a genius, could defy a
+world-wide combination. If, instead of making secret compacts with the
+Czar and trampling on Prussia; if, instead of intriguing with the
+Sultan and the Shah, and thus reawakening our fears respecting Egypt
+and India, he had called a Congress and submitted all the present
+disputes to general discussion, there is reason to think that Great
+Britain would have received his overtures. George III.'s Ministers had
+favoured the proposal of a Congress when put forward by Austria in the
+spring;[159] and they would doubtless have welcomed it from Napoleon
+after Friedland, had they not known of far-reaching plans which
+rendered peace more risky than open war. This great genius had, in
+fact, one fatal defect; he had little faith except in outward
+compulsion; and his superabundant energy of menace against England
+blighted the hopes of peace which he undoubtedly cherished.
+
+Long before Alexander's offer of mediation was forwarded to London,
+our Ministers had taken a sudden and desperate resolution. They
+determined to compel Denmark to join England and Sweden, and to hold
+the fleet at Copenhagen as a gauge of Danish fidelity.
+
+That momentous resolve was formed on or just before July the 16th, in
+consequence of news that had arrived from Memel and Tilsit. The exact
+purport of that news, and the manner of its acquisition, have been one
+of the puzzles of modern history. But the following facts seem to
+furnish a solution. Our Foreign Office Records show that our agent at
+Tilsit, Mr. Mackenzie, who was on confidential terms with General
+Bennigsen, left post haste for England immediately after the first
+imperial interview; and the news which he brought, together with
+reports of the threatening moves of the French on Holstein, clinched
+the determination of our Government to checkmate the Franco-Russian
+aims by bringing strong pressure to bear on Denmark. To keep open the
+mouth of the Baltic was an urgent necessity, otherwise we should lose
+touch with the Anglo-Swedish forces campaigning against the French
+near Stralsund.[160] Furthermore, it should be noted that Denmark held
+the balance in naval affairs. France and her allies now had fifty-nine
+sail of the line ready for sea: the compact with the Czar would give
+her twenty-four more; and if Napoleon seized the eighteen Danish and
+nine Portuguese battleships, his fighting strength would be nearly
+equal to our own.[161] Canning therefore determined, on July 16th, to
+compel Denmark to side with us, or at least to observe a neutrality
+favourable to the British cause; and, to save her honour, he proposed
+to send an irresistible naval force.
+
+    "Denmark's safety," he wrote on July 16th, "is to be found, under
+    the present circumstances of the world, only in a balance of
+    opposite dangers. For it is not to be disguised that the influence
+    which France has acquired from recent events over the North of
+    Europe, might, unless balanced by the naval power of Great
+    Britain, leave to Denmark no other option than that of compliance
+    with the demands of Bonaparte."[162]
+
+_A balance of opposite dangers!_ In this phrase Canning summed up his
+policy towards Denmark. Threatened by Napoleon on the land, she was to
+be threatened by us from the sea; and Canning hoped that these
+opposite forces would, at least, secure Danish neutrality, without
+which Sweden must succumb in her struggle against France. That some
+compulsion would be needed had long been clear. In fact, the use of
+compulsion had first been recommended by the Russian and Prussian
+Governments, which had gone so far as to include in the Treaty of
+Bartenstein a proposal of common action, along with England, Austria
+and Sweden, _to compel Denmark to side with the allies against
+Napoleon_.[163] To this resolve England still clung, despite the
+defection of the Czar. In truth, his present conduct made the case for
+the coercion of Denmark infinitely more urgent.
+
+As to the reality of Napoleon's designs on Denmark, there can be no
+doubt. After his return to France, he wrote from St. Cloud, directing
+Talleyrand to express his displeasure that Denmark had not fulfilled
+her _promises_: "Whatever my desire to treat Denmark well, I cannot
+hinder her suffering from having allowed the Baltic to be violated [by
+the English expedition to Stralsund]; and, if England refuses Russia's
+mediation, Denmark must choose either to make war against England, or
+against me."[164] Whence it is clear that Denmark had given Napoleon
+grounds for hoping that she would declare the Baltic a _mare clausum_.
+
+The British Government had so far fathomed these designs as to see the
+urgency of the danger. Accordingly it proposed to Denmark a secret
+defensive alliance, the chief terms of which were the handing over of
+the Danish fleet, to be kept as a "sacred pledge" by us till the
+peace, a subsidy of £100,000 paid to Denmark for that fleet, and the
+offer of armed assistance in case she should be attacked by France.
+This offer of defensive alliance was repulsed, and the Danish Prince
+Royal determined to resist even the mighty armada which was now
+nearing his shores. Towards the close of August, eighty-eight British
+ships were in the Sound and the Belt; and when the transports from
+Rügen and Stralsund joined those from Yarmouth, as many as 15,400
+troops were at hand, under the command of Lord Cathcart. A landing was
+effected near Copenhagen, and offers of alliance were again made,
+including the deposit of the Danish fleet; "but if this offer is
+rejected now, it cannot be repeated. The captured property, public and
+private, must then belong to the captors: and the city, when taken,
+must share the fate of conquered places." The Danes stoutly repelled
+offers and threats alike: the English batteries thereupon bombarded
+the city until the gallant defenders capitulated (September 7th). The
+conditions hastily concluded by our commanders were that the British
+forces should occupy the citadel and dockyard for six weeks, should
+take possession of the ships and naval stores, and thereupon evacuate
+Zealand.
+
+These terms were scrupulously carried out; and at the close of six
+weeks our forces sailed away with the Danish fleet, including fifteen
+sail of the line, fifteen frigates, and thirty-one small vessels. This
+end to the expedition was keenly regretted by Canning. In a lengthy
+Memorandum he left it on record that he desired, not merely Denmark's
+fleet, but her alliance. In his view nothing could save Europe but a
+firm Anglo-Scandinavian league, which would keep open the Baltic and
+set bounds to the designs of the two Emperors. Only by such an
+alliance could Sweden be saved from Russia and France. Indeed,
+foreseeing the danger to Sweden from a French army acting from Zealand
+as a base, Canning proposed to Gustavus that he should occupy that
+island, or, failing that, receive succour from a British force on his
+own shore of the Sound. But both offers were declined. The final
+efforts made to draw Denmark into our alliance were equally futile,
+and she kept up hostilities against us for nearly seven years. Thus
+Canning's scheme of alliance with the Scandinavian States failed.
+Britain gained, it is true, a further safeguard against invasion; but
+our statesman, while blaming the precipitate action of our commanders
+in insisting solely upon the surrender of the fleet, declared that
+that action, apart from an Anglo-Danish alliance, was "an act of great
+injustice."[165]
+
+And as such it has been generally regarded, that is, by those who did
+not, and could not, know the real state of the case. In one respect
+our action was unpardonable: it was not the last desperate effort of a
+long period of struggle: it came after a time of selfish torpor fatal
+alike to our reputation and the interests of our allies. After
+protesting their inability to help them, Ministers belied their own
+words by the energy with which they acted against a small State. And
+the prevalent opinion found expression in the protests uttered in
+Parliament that it would have been better to face the whole might of
+the French, Russian, and Danish navies than to emulate the conduct of
+those who had overrun and despoiled Switzerland.
+
+Moreover, our action did not benefit Sweden, but just the reverse.
+Cathcart's force, that had been helping the Swedes in the defence of
+their Pomeranian province, was withdrawn in order to strengthen our
+hands against Copenhagen. Thereupon the gallant Gustavus, overborne by
+the weight of Marshal Brune's corps, sued for an armistice. It was
+granted only on the condition that Stralsund should pass into Brune's
+hands (August 20th); and the Swedes, unable even to hold Rügen, were
+forced to give up that island also. Sick in health and weary of a
+world that his chivalrous instincts scorned, Gustavus withdrew his
+forces into Sweden. Even there he was menaced. The hostilities which
+Denmark forthwith commenced against England and Sweden exposed his
+southern coasts; but he now chose to lean on the valour of his own
+subjects rather than on the broken reed of British assistance, and
+awaited the attacks of the Danes on the west and of the Russians on
+his province of Finland.
+
+The news from Copenhagen also furnished the Czar with a good excuse
+for hostilities with England. For such an event he had hitherto been
+by no means desirous. On his return from Tilsit to St. Petersburg he
+found the nobility and merchants wholly opposed to a rupture with the
+Sea Power, the former disdaining to clasp the hand of the conqueror of
+Friedland, the latter foreseeing ruin from the adoption of the
+Continental System; and when Napoleon sent Savary on a special mission
+to the Czar's Court, the Empress-Mother and nobles alike showed their
+abhorrence of "the executioner of the Duc d'Enghien." In vain were
+imperial favours lavished on this envoy. He confessed to Napoleon that
+only the Czar and the new Foreign Minister, Romantzoff, were
+favourable to France; and it was soon obvious that their ardour for a
+partition of Turkey must disturb the warily balancing policy which
+Napoleon adopted as soon as the Czar's friendship seemed assured.
+
+The dissolution of this artificial alliance was a task far beyond the
+powers of British statesmanship. To Alexander's offer of mediation
+between France and England Canning replied that we desired first to
+know what were "the just and equitable terms on which France intended
+to negotiate," and secondly what were the secret articles of the
+Treaty of Tilsit. That there were such was obvious; for the published
+treaty made no mention of the Kings of Sardinia and of the two
+Sicilies, in whom Alexander had taken so deep an interest. But the
+second request annoyed the Czar; and this feeling was intensified by
+our action at Copenhagen. Yet, though he pronounced it an act of
+"unheard-of violence," the Russian official notes to our Government
+were so far reassuring that Lord Castlereagh was able to write to Lord
+Cathcart (September 22nd): "Russia does not show any disposition to
+resent or to complain of what we have done at Copenhagen.... The tone
+of the Russian cabinet has become much more conciliatory to us since
+they heard of your operations at Copenhagen."[166] It would seem,
+however, that this double-dealing was prompted by naval
+considerations. The Czar desired to temporize until his Mediterranean
+squadron should gain a place of safety and his Baltic ports be encased
+in ice; but on 27th October (8th November, N.S.) he broke off all
+communications with us, and adopted the Continental System.
+
+Meanwhile, at the other extremity of Europe, events were transpiring
+that served as the best excuse for our harshness towards Denmark. Even
+before our fleet sailed for the Sound, Napoleon was weaving his plans
+for the destruction of Portugal. It is clear that he designed to
+strike her first before taking any action against Denmark. During his
+return journey from Tilsit to Paris, he directed Talleyrand to send
+orders to Lisbon for the closing of all Portuguese ports against
+British goods by September the 1st--"in default of which I declare war
+on Portugal." He also ordered the massing of 20,000 French troops at
+Bayonne in readiness to join the Spanish forces that were to threaten
+the little kingdom.[167]
+
+What crime had Portugal committed? She had of late been singularly
+passive: anxiously she looked on at the gigantic strifes that were
+engulfing the smaller States one by one. Her conduct towards Napoleon
+had been far less provocative than that of Denmark towards England.
+Threatened with partition by him and Spain in 1801, she had eagerly
+snatched at peace, and on the rupture of the Peace of Amiens was fain
+to purchase her neutrality at the cost of a heavy subsidy to France,
+which she still paid in the hope of prolonging her "existence on
+sufferance."[168] That hope now faded away.
+
+As far back as February, 1806, Napoleon had lent a ready ear to the
+plans which Godoy, the all-powerful Minister at Madrid, had proposed
+for the partition of Portugal; and, in the month of July following,
+Talleyrand held out to our plenipotentiary at Paris the threat that,
+unless England speedily made peace with France, Napoleon would annex
+Switzerland--"but still less can we alter, for any other
+consideration, our intention of invading Portugal. The army destined
+for that purpose is already assembling at Bayonne." A year's respite
+was gained for the House of Braganza by the campaigns of Jena and
+Friedland. But now, with the tenacity of his nature, the Emperor
+returned to the plan, actually tried in 1801 and prepared for in 1806,
+of crushing our faithful ally in order to compel us to make peace. On
+this occasion he counted on certain success, as may be seen by the
+following extract from the despatch of the Portuguese ambassador at
+Paris to his Government:
+
+    "On Sunday afternoon [August 2nd] there was a diplomatic Levée.
+    The Emperor came up to me as I stood in the circle, and in a low
+    voice said: 'Have you written to your Court? Have you despatched a
+    courier with my final determination?'--I replied in the
+    affirmative.--'Very well,' said the Emperor, 'then by this time
+    your Court knows that she must break with England before the 1st
+    of September. It is the only way to accelerate peace.'--As the
+    place did not permit discussion on my part, I answered: 'I should
+    think, Sire, that England must now be sincerely anxious to make
+    peace.'--'Oh,' replied the Emperor, 'we are very certain of that:
+    however, in all cases, you must break either with England or
+    France before the 1st of September.'--He then turned about and
+    addressed himself to the Danish Minister, as far as I could judge
+    to the same purport."[169]
+
+Equally confident is Napoleon's tone in the lately published letter of
+September 7th:
+
+    "As soon as I received news of the English expedition against
+    Copenhagen,[170] I caused Portugal to be informed that all her
+    ports must be closed to England, and I massed an army of 40,000
+    men at Bayonne to join the Spaniards in enforcing this action, if
+    necessary. But a letter I have just received from the Prince
+    Regent [of Portugal] leads me to presume that this last measure
+    will not be necessary, that the Portuguese ports will be closed to
+    the English by the time this is read, and that Portugal will have
+    declared war against England. On the other hand, my flotilla will
+    be ready for action on 1st October, and I shall have a large army
+    at Boulogne, ready to attempt a _coup de main_ on England."
+
+The letter concludes by ordering that all British diplomatists are to
+be driven _out of Europe_, and that Sweden must make common cause with
+France and Russia. Such were the means to be used for forcing
+affrighted Peace again to visit this distracted earth.
+
+In truth, the fate of the British race seemed for the time to hang
+upon the events at Copenhagen and Lisbon. Very much depended on the
+action of the Prince Regent of Portugal. Had he tamely submitted to
+Napoleon's ukase and placed his fleet and his vast colonial empire at
+the service of France, it is doubtful whether even the high-souled
+Canning would not have stooped to surrender in face of odds so
+overwhelming. The young statesman's anxiety as to the action of
+Portugal is attested by many a long and minutely corrected despatch to
+Viscount Strangford, our envoy at Lisbon. But, fortunately for us,
+Napoleon committed the blunder which so often marred his plans: he
+pushed them too far: he required the Prince Regent to adopt a course
+of conduct repellent to an honourable man, namely, to confiscate the
+merchandise and property of British merchants who had long trusted the
+good faith of the House of Braganza. To this last demand the prince
+opposed a dignified resistance, though on all other points he gave
+way. This will appear from Lord Strangford's despatch of August 13th:
+
+    " ... The Portuguese Ministers place all their hopes of being able
+    to ward off this terrible blow in the certainty which they
+    entertain of England being obliged to enter into negotiations for
+    a general peace.... The very existence of the Portuguese Monarchy
+    depends on the celerity with which England shall meet the pacific
+    interference of the Emperor of Russia. The Prince Regent gives the
+    most solemn promise that he will not on any account consent to the
+    measure of confiscating the property of British subjects residing
+    under his protection. But I think that if France could be induced
+    to give up this point, and limit her demands to the exclusion of
+    British commerce from Portugal, the Government of this country
+    would accede to them...."
+
+A week later he states that Portugal begged England to put up with a
+temporary rupture, and reports that a quantity of diamonds had been
+taken out of the Treasury and sent to Paris to be distributed in
+presents to persons supposed to possess influence over the minds of
+Bonaparte and Talleyrand. It would be interesting to trace the history
+of these diamonds. But, as Napoleon had recently awarded sums
+amounting in all to 26,582,000 francs from out of the estates
+confiscated in Poland,[171] signs of sudden affluence were widespread
+in Paris and rendered it difficult to detect the receivers of the
+gems. Talleyrand was the usual recipient of such _douceurs_. But on
+August the 14th he had retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
+gaining the title of Vice Grand-Elector; and, if we are to be guided,
+not by the statements of his personal foes, Hauterive and Pasquier,
+but by the determination which he is known to have formed at Tilsit,
+that he would not be "the executioner of Europe," we may judge that he
+disapproved of the barbarous treatment meted out to Prussia and now
+planned against Portugal.[172]
+
+As has been stated above, the partition of this kingdom had been
+planned by Godoy in concert with Napoleon early in 1806. That pampered
+minion of the Spanish Court, angry at the shelving of plans which
+promised to yield him a third of Portugal, called Spain to arms while
+Napoleon was marching to Jena, an affront which the conqueror seemed
+to overlook but never really forgave. Now, however, he appeared wholly
+to enter into Godoy's scheme; and, while the Prince Regent of Portugal
+was appealing to his pity, the Emperor (September 25th, 1807) charged
+Duroc to confer with Godoy's confidential agent at Paris, Don
+Izquierdo. " ...As for Portugal, I make no difficulty about granting to
+the King of Spain a suzerainty over Portugal, and even taking part of
+it away for the Queen of Etruria and the Prince of the Peace [Godoy]."
+Duroc was also to point out the difficulty, now that "all Italy"
+belonged to Napoleon, of allowing "that deformity," the kingdom of
+Etruria, to disfigure the peninsula. The change would in fact, doubly
+benefit the French Emperor. It would enable him completely to exclude
+British commerce from the port of Leghorn, where it was trickling in
+alarmingly, and also to place the mouths of the Tagus and Douro in the
+hands of obedient vassals.
+
+Such was the scheme in outline. Despite the offer of the Prince Regent
+to obey all Napoleon's behests except that relating to the seizure of
+British subjects and their property, war was irrevocably resolved on
+by October the 12th.[173] And on October the 27th a secret convention
+was signed at the Palace of Fontainebleau for arranging "the future
+lot of Portugal by a healthy policy and conformably to the interests
+of France and Spain." Portugal was now to be divided into three very
+unequal parts: the largest portion, comprising Estremadura, Beira, and
+Tras-os Montes, was reserved for a future arrangement at the general
+peace, but meanwhile was to be held by France: Algarve and Alemtejo
+were handed over to Godoy; while the diminutive province of Entre
+Minho e Douro was flung as a sop to the young King of Etruria and his
+mother, a princess of the House of Spain, to console them for the loss
+of Etruria. A vague promise was made that the House of Braganza might
+be reinstated in the first of these three portions, in case England
+restored Gibraltar, Trinidad, and other colonies taken by her from
+Spain or her allies; and Napoleon guaranteed to the King of Spain his
+possessions in Europe, exclusive of the Balearic Isles, offering also
+to recognize him as Emperor of the Two Americas.
+
+Meanwhile Junot was leading his army corps from Bayonne towards
+Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, to give effect to this healthful
+arrangement. This general, whom it was desirable to remove from Paris
+on account of his rather too open _liaison_ with one of the Bonaparte
+princesses, was urged to the utmost speed and address by the Emperor.
+He must cover the whole 200 leagues in thirty-five days; lack of
+provisions must not hinder the march, for "20,000 men can live
+anywhere, even in a desert"; and, above all, as the Prince Regent had
+again offered to declare war on England, he (Junot) could represent
+that he came as an ally: "I have already informed you that my
+intention in authorizing you to enter that land as an ally was to
+enable you to seize its fleet, but that my mind was fully made up to
+take possession of Portugal."[174] Lisbon, in fact, was to be served
+as Venice was ten years before, the lion donning the skin of the fox
+so as to effect a peaceful seizure. But that ruse could hardly succeed
+twice. The Prince Regent had his ships ready for flight. The bluff and
+headstrong Junot, nicknamed "the tempest" by the army, was too artless
+to catch the prince by guile; but he hurried his soldiers over
+mountains and through flooded gorges until, on November 30th, 1,500
+tattered, shoeless, famished grenadiers straggled into Lisbon--to find
+that the royal quarry had flown.
+
+The Prince Regent took this momentous resolve with the utmost
+reluctance. For many weeks he had clung to the hope that Napoleon
+would spare him; and though he accepted a convention with England,
+whereby he gained the convoy of our men-of-war across the Atlantic and
+the promise of aggrandizement in South America, he still continued to
+temporize, and that too, when a British fleet was at hand in the Tagus
+strong enough to thwart the designs of the Russian squadron there
+present to prevent his departure. When the French were within two
+days' march of Lisbon, Lord Strangford feared that the Portuguese
+fleet would be delivered into their hands; and only after a trenchant
+declaration that further vacillation would be taken as a sign of
+hostility to Great Britain, did the Prince Regent resolve to seek
+beyond the seas the independence which was denied to him in his own
+realm.[175]
+
+Few scenes are more pathetic than the departure of the House of
+Braganza from the cradle of its birth. Love for the Prince Regent as a
+man, mingled with pity for the demented Queen, held the populace of
+Lisbon in tearful silence as the royal family and courtiers filed
+along the quays, followed by agonized groups of those who had decided
+to share their trials. But silence gave way to wails of despair as the
+exiles embarked on the heaving estuary and severed the last links with
+Europe. Slowly the fleet began to beat down the river in the teeth of
+an Atlantic gale. Near the mouth the refugees were received with a
+royal salute by the British fleet, and under its convoy they breasted
+the waves of the ocean and the perils of the future.
+
+The conduct of England towards Denmark and that of Napoleon towards
+Portugal call for a brief comparison. Those small kingdoms were the
+victims of two powerful States whose real or fancied interests
+prompted them to the domination of the land and of the sea. But when
+we compare the actions of the two Great Powers, important differences
+begin to reveal themselves. England had far more cause for complaint
+against Denmark than Napoleon had against Portugal. The hostility of
+the Danes to the recent coalition was notorious. To compel them to
+change their policy without loss of national honour, we sent the most
+powerful armada that had ever left our shores, with offers of alliance
+and a demand that their fleet, the main object of Napoleon's designs,
+should be delivered up to be held in deposit. The offer was refused,
+and we seized the fleet. The act was brutal, but it was at least open
+and above board, and the capitulation of September 7th was
+scrupulously observed, even when the Danes prepared to renew
+hostilities.
+
+On the other hand, the demands of Napoleon on the Court of Lisbon were
+such as no honourable prince could accept; they were relentlessly
+pressed on in spite of the offer of the Prince Regent to meet him in
+every particular save one; the appeals of the victim were deliberately
+used by the aggressor to further his own rapacious designs; and the
+enterprise fell short of ending in a massacre only because the glamour
+of the French arms so dazzled the susceptible people of the south
+that, for the present, they sank helplessly away at the sight of two
+battalions of spectres. Finally, Portugal was partitioned--or rather
+it was kept entirely by Napoleon; for, after the promises of partition
+had done their work, the sleeping partners in the transaction were
+quietly shelved, and it was then seen that Portugal had finally served
+as the bait for ensnaring Spain. To this subject we shall return in
+the next chapter.
+
+In Italy also, the Juggernaut car of the Continental System rolled
+over the small States. The Kingdom of Etruria, which in 1802 had
+served as an easy means of buying the whole of Louisiana from the
+Spanish Bourbons, was now wrested from that complaisant House, and in
+December was annexed to the French Empire.
+
+The Pope also passed under the yoke. For a long time the relations
+between Pius VII. and Napoleon had been strained. Gentle as the
+Pontiff was by nature, he had declined to exclude all British
+merchandise from his States, or to accept an alliance with Eugène and
+Joseph. He also angered Napoleon by persistently refusing to dissolve
+the marriage of Jerome Buonaparte with Miss Paterson; and an
+interesting correspondence ensued, culminating in a long diatribe
+which Eugène was charged to forward to the Vatican as an extract from
+a private letter of Napoleon to himself.[176] Pius VII. was to be
+privately warned that Napoleon had done more good to religion than the
+Pope had done harm. Christ had said that His Kingdom was not of this
+world. Why then did the Pope set himself above Christ? Why did he
+refuse to render to Cæsar that which was Cæsar's?--A fortnight later
+the Emperor advised Eugène to despatch troops in the direction of
+Bologna--"and if the Pope commits an imprudence, it will be a fine
+opportunity for depriving him of the Roman States."
+
+No imprudence was committed. Yet, in the following January, Napoleon
+ordered his troops to occupy Rome, alleging that the Eternal City was
+a hotbed of intrigues fomented by England and the ex-Queen of Naples,
+that Neapolitan rebels had sought an asylum in the Papal States, and
+that, though he had no wish to deprive the Pope of his territories,
+yet he must include him in his "system." When Pius VII. refused to
+commit himself to a policy which would involve war with England,
+Napoleon ordered that his lands east of the Apennines should be
+annexed to the Kingdom of Italy (April 2nd, 1808). Napoleon thus
+gained complete control over the Adriatic coasts, which, along with
+the island of Corfu, had long engaged his most earnest attention.[177]
+
+True to his aim of forcing or enticing all maritime States into a
+mighty confederacy for the humiliation of England, Napoleon had given
+most heed to lands possessing extensive seaboards. Northern Italy,
+Holland, Naples, North Germany, Prussia, Russia, Portugal, Spain,
+Denmark, and Central Italy had, in turn, adopted his system. On
+Austria he exerted a less imperious pressure; for her coast-line of
+Trieste and Croatia was so easily controlled by his Italian and
+Dalmatian territories that English merchandise with difficulty found
+admittance. Yet, in order to carry out there also his policy of
+"Thorough," he brought the arguments of Paris and St. Petersburg to
+bear on the Court of Vienna; and on February 18th, 1808, Austria was
+enrolled in a league that might well be called continental; for in the
+spring of that year it embraced every land save Sweden and Turkey.
+
+His activity at this time almost passes belief. While he fastened his
+grip on the Continent, gallicized the institutions of Italy and
+Germany, and almost daily instructed his brothers in the essentials of
+successful statecraft, he found time to turn his thoughts once more to
+the East, and to mark every device of England for lengthening her
+lease of life. Noticing that we had annulled our blockade of the Elbe
+and Weser, with the aim of getting our goods introduced there by
+neutral ships, Napoleon charged his Finance Minister, Gaudin, to
+prepare a decree for pressing hard on neutrals who had touched at any
+of our ports or carried wares that could be proved to be of British
+origin.[178]
+
+He was perfectly correct in his surmise that English goods were about
+to be sent into the Continent extensively on neutral vessels. After
+the consequences of the Treaty of Tilsit had been fully developed,
+that was almost their only means of entry. "In August, September and
+October, British commerce lay prostrate and motionless until a
+protecting and self-defensive system was interposed by our Orders in
+Council."[179] The first of these ordered reprisals against the new
+Napoleonic States (November 4th): a week later came a second which
+declared that, as the Orders of January had not induced the enemy to
+relax his commercial hostilities, but these were now enforced with
+increased rigour, any port whence the British flag was excluded would
+be treated as if it were actually blockaded; that is, the principle of
+the legality of a nominal blockade, abandoned in 1801, was now
+reaffirmed. The carriage of hostile colonial products was likewise
+prohibited to neutrals, though certain exceptions were allowed. Also
+any neutral vessel carrying "certificates of origin"--a device for
+distinguishing between British and neutral goods--was to be considered
+a lawful prize of war. A third Order in Council of the same date
+allowed goods to be imported into the United Kingdom from a hostile
+port in neutral ships, subject to the ordinary duties, and bonding
+facilities were granted for the re-exportation of such goods to any
+friendly or neutral port.[180] These orders were designed to draw
+neutral commerce through our ports, and to give secret facilities for
+the carriage of our goods by neutrals, while pressing upon those that
+obeyed Napoleon's system.
+
+The harshest of them was that which encouraged the searching of
+neutral vessels for certificates of origin--a measure as severe as the
+confiscation of British property by Napoleon, which it was designed to
+defeat. And we may note here that the friction resulting from our
+Orders in Council and our enforcement of the right of search led to
+the United States passing a Non-Intercourse Act (December 23rd, 1807)
+that preluded active hostilities against us. It also led Napoleon to
+confiscate all American ships in his harbours after April 17th, 1808.
+
+The November Orders in Council soon drew a reply from Napoleon. He
+heard of them during a progress through the north of Italy, and from
+Milan he flung back his retort, the famous Milan Decrees of November
+23rd and December 17th. He thereby declared every neutral ship, which
+submitted to those orders, to be denationalized and good prize of war;
+and the same doom was pronounced against every vessel sailing to or
+from any port in the United Kingdom or its colonies or possessions.
+But these measures were not to affect ships of those States that
+compelled Great Britain to respect their flag. The islanders might
+well be dismayed at the prospect of a seclusion which promised to
+recall the Virgilian line:
+
+  "penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos."
+
+Yet they resolved to pit the resources of the outer world against the
+militarism of Napoleon; and, drawing the resources of the tropics to
+the new power-looms of Lancashire and Yorkshire, they might well hope
+to pour their unequalled goods into Europe from points of vantage such
+as Sicily, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and Heligoland. There were
+many Englishmen who believed that the November Orders in Council
+brought nothing but harm to our cause. They argued that our
+manufactured goods must find their way into the Continent in spite of
+the Berlin Decrees; and they could point to the curious fact that
+Bourrienne, Napoleon's agent at Hamburg, when charged to procure
+50,000 overcoats for the French army during the Eylau campaign, was
+obliged to buy them from England.[181]
+
+The incident certainly proves the folly of the Continental System. And
+if we had had to consult our manufacturing interests alone, a policy
+of _laisser faire_ would doubtless have been the best. England,
+however, prided herself on her merchant service: to that she looked as
+the nursery for the royal navy: and the abandonment of the world's
+carrying trade to neutrals would have seemed an act of high treason.
+Her acts of retaliation against the Berlin Decrees and the policy of
+Tilsit were harsh and high-handed. But they were adopted during a
+pitiless commercial strife; and, in warfare of so novel and desperate
+a kind, acts must unfortunately be judged by their efficacy to harm
+the foe rather than by the standards of morality that hold good during
+peace. Outwardly, it seemed as if England were doomed. She had lost
+her allies and alienated the sympathies of neutrals. But from the sea
+she was able to exert on the Napoleonic States a pressure that was
+gradual, cumulative, and resistless; and the future was to prove the
+wisdom of the words of Mollien: "England waged a warfare of modern
+times; Napoleon, that of ancient times. There are times and cases when
+an anachronism is fatal."
+
+Moreover, at the very time when the Emperor was about to complete his
+great experiment by subduing Sweden and preparing for the partition of
+Turkey, it sustained a fatal shock by the fierce rising of the Spanish
+people against his usurped authority.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE SPANISH RISING
+
+
+The relations of Spain to France during the twelve years that preceded
+the rising of 1808 are marked by acts of folly and unmanly
+complaisance that promised utterly to degrade a once proud and
+sensitive people. They were the work of the senile and spiritless
+King, Charles IV., of his intriguing consort, and, above all, of her
+paramour, the all-powerful Minister Godoy. Of an ancient and
+honourable family, endowed with a fine figure, courtly address, and
+unscrupulous arts, this man had wormed himself into the royal
+confidence; and after bringing about a favourable peace with France in
+1795, he was styled The Prince of the Peace.
+
+In the next year the meaning of the French alliance was revealed in
+the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, which required Spain to furnish troops,
+ships, and subsidies for the war against England, a state of vassalage
+which was made harder by Napoleon. The results are well known. After
+being forced by him to cede Trinidad to us at the Peace of Amiens, she
+sacrificed her navy at Trafalgar, saw her colonies and commerce decay
+and her finances shrivel for lack of the golden streams formerly
+poured in by Mexico and Peru.
+
+In the summer of 1806, while sinking into debt and disgrace, the Court
+of Madrid heard with indignation of Napoleon's design to hand over the
+Balearic Isles to the Spanish Bourbons whom he had driven from Naples
+and proposed to drive from Sicily. At once Spanish pride caught fire
+and clutched at means of revenge.[182] Godoy was further incensed by
+the sudden abandonment of the plans which he had long discussed with
+Napoleon for the partition of Portugal, plans which gave him the
+prospect of reigning as King over the southern portion of that
+realm.[183] Accordingly, when the Emperor was entering upon the Jena
+campaign, he summoned the Spanish people to arms in a most threatening
+manner. The news of the collapse of Prussia ended his bravado.
+Complaisance again reigned at Madrid, and 15,000 Spaniards were sent,
+at Napoleon's demand, to serve on the borders of Denmark, while the
+autocrat of the West perfected his plans against the Iberian
+Peninsula. As was noted in the previous chapter, the Emperor renewed
+his offers of a partition of Portugal in the early autumn of 1807; and
+in pursuance of the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, Junot's corps
+marched through Spain into Portugal, where they were helped by a
+Spanish corps.
+
+It is significant that, as early as October 17th, 1807, Napoleon
+ordered his general to send a detailed description of the country and
+of his line of march, the engineer officers being specially charged to
+send sketches, "_which it is important to have_." Other French
+divisions then crossed the Pyrenees, under plea of keeping open
+Junot's communications with France; and spies were sent to observe the
+state of the chief Spanish strongholds. Others were charged to report
+on the condition of the Spanish army and the state of public opinion;
+while Junot was cautioned to keep a sharp watch on the Spanish troops
+in Portugal, to allow no fortress to be in their hands, and to send
+all the Portuguese troops away to France. Thus, in the early days of
+1808, Napoleon had some 20,000 troops in Portugal, about 40,000 in the
+north of Spain, and 12,000 in Catalonia. By various artifices they
+gained admission into the strongholds of Pamplona, Monjuik, Barcelona,
+St. Sebastian, and Figueras, so that by the month of March the north
+and west of the peninsula had passed quietly into his hands, while the
+greater part of the Spanish army was doing his work in Portugal or on
+the shores of the Baltic.[184]
+
+These proceedings began to arouse alarm and discontent among the
+Spanish people; but on its Government their influence was as benumbing
+as that which the boa-constrictor exerts on its prey. In vain did
+Charles IV. and Godoy strive to set a limit to the numbers of the
+auxiliaries that poured across the Pyrenees to help them against
+fabled English expeditions. In vain did they beg that the partition of
+Portugal might now proceed in accordance with the terms of the secret
+Treaty of Fontainebleau. The King was curtly told that affairs were
+not yet ripe for the publication of that treaty.[185] And the growing
+conviction that he had been duped poured gall into the cup of family
+bitterness that had long been full to overflowing.
+
+The scandalous relations of the Queen with Godoy had deeply incensed
+the heir to the throne, Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias. His attitude of
+covert opposition to his parents and their minion was strengthened by
+the influence of his bride, a daughter of the ex-Queen of Naples, and
+their palace was the headquarters of all who hoped to end the
+degradation of the kingdom. As later events were to prove, Ferdinand
+had not the qualities of courage and magnanimity that command general
+homage; but it was enough for his countrymen that he opposed the
+Court. In 1806 his consort died; and on October 11th, 1807, without
+consulting his father, he secretly wrote to Napoleon, requesting the
+hand of a Bonaparte princess in marriage, and stating that such an
+alliance was the ardent wish of all Spaniards, while they would abhor
+his union with a sister of the Princess of the Peace. To this letter
+Napoleon sent no reply. But Charles IV. had some inkling of the fact
+that the prince had been treating direct with Napoleon; and this,
+along with another unfilial action of the prince, furnished an excuse
+for a charge of high treason. It was spitefully pressed home and was
+revoked only on his humble request for the King's pardon.
+
+Now, this "School for Scandal" was being played at Madrid at the time
+when Napoleon was arranging the partition of Portugal; and the schism
+in the Spanish royal House may well have strengthened his
+determination to end its miserable existence and give a good
+government to Spain. At the close of the so-called palace plot,
+Charles IV. informed his august ally of _that frightful attempt_, and
+begged him to _give the aid of his lights and his counsels_.[186] The
+craven-hearted King thus himself opened the door for that intervention
+which Napoleon had already meditated. His resolve now rapidly
+hardened. At the close of January, 1808, he wrote to Junot asking him:
+"If unexpected events occurred in Spain, what would you fear from the
+Spanish troops? Could you easily rid yourself of them?"[187] On
+February the 20th he appointed Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, to be his
+Lieutenant in Spain and commander of the French Forces. The choice of
+this bluff, headstrong cavalier, who had done so much to provoke
+Prussia in 1806, certainly betokened a forward policy. Yet the Emperor
+continued to smile on the Spanish Court, and gave a sort of half
+sanction to the union of Ferdinand with a daughter of Lucien
+Bonaparte.[188] In fact, the hope of this alliance was now used to
+keep quiet the numerous partisans of Ferdinand, while Murat advanced
+rapidly towards Madrid. To his Lieutenant the Emperor wrote (March
+16th): "Continue your kindly talk. Reassure the King, the Prince of
+the Peace, the Prince of Asturias, the Queen. The chief thing is to
+reach Madrid, to rest your troops and replenish your provisions. Say
+that I am about to come so as to arrange matters."
+
+As to Napoleon's real aims, Murat was in complete ignorance; and he
+repeatedly complained of the lack of confidence which a brother-in-law
+had a right to expect.[189] But while the Grand Duke of Berg beamed on
+the Spaniards with meaningless affability, Izquierdo, Godoy's secret
+agent at Paris, troubled his master with gloomy reports of the
+deepening reserve and lowering threats of Ministers at Paris. There
+was talk of requiring from Spain the cession of her lands between the
+Pyrenees and the Ebro: there were even dark suggestions as to the need
+of dethroning the Spanish Bourbons once for all. Interpreting these
+hints in the light of their own consciences, the King, Queen, and
+favourite saw themselves in imagination flung forth into the Atlantic,
+a butt to the scorn of mankind; and they prepared to flee to the New
+World betimes, with the needful treasure.
+
+But there, too, Napoleon forestalled them. On February 21st a secret
+order was sent to a French squadron to anchor off Cadiz and stop the
+King and Queen of Spain if they sought to "repeat the scene of
+Lisbon."[190] Their escape to America would be even more favourable to
+England than the flight of the Court of Lisbon had been; and Napoleon
+took good care that the King, to whom he had awarded the title of
+Emperor of the two Americas, should remain a prisoner in Europe.
+Scared, however, by the approach of Murat and the news from Paris,
+Charles still prepared for flight; and the Queen's anxiety to save her
+favourite from the growing fury of the populace also bent her desires
+seawards.
+
+The Court was at the palace of Aranjuez, not far from Madrid, and it
+seemed easy to escape into Andalusia, and to carry away, by guile or
+by force, the heir to the throne. But Ferdinand, who hoped for
+deliverance at the hands of the French, thwarted the scheme by a
+timely hint to his faithful guards. At once his partisans gathered
+round him; and the people, rushing to Godoy's residence, madly
+ransacked it in the hope of tearing to pieces the author of the
+nation's ruin. After thirty-six hours' concealment, Godoy ventured to
+steal forth; at once he was discovered, was kicked and beaten; and
+only the intervention of Ferdinand, prompted by the agonized
+entreaties of his mother, availed to save the dregs of that wretched
+life. The roars of the crowd around the palace, and the smashing of
+the royal carriage, now decided the King to abdicate; and he declared
+that his declining years and failing health now led him to yield the
+crown to Ferdinand (March 19th, 1808).
+
+Loud was the acclaim that greeted the young King when he entered
+Madrid; but the rejoicings were soon damped by the ambiguous behaviour
+of Murat, who, on entering Madrid at the head of his troops, skilfully
+evaded any recognition of Ferdinand as King. In fact, Murat had
+received (March 21st) a letter from Charles IV.'s daughter begging for
+his help to her parents at Aranjuez; and it soon transpired that the
+ex-King and Queen now repented of their abdication, which they
+represented as brought about by force and therefore null and void. The
+Grand Duke of Berg saw the advantage which this dispute might give to
+Napoleon; and he begged the Emperor to come immediately to Madrid for
+the settlement of matters on which he alone could decide. To this
+Napoleon replied (March 30th) commending his Lieutenant's prudence,
+and urging him to escort Charles IV. to the Escurial as King, while
+Godoy was also to be protected and sent to Bayonne.
+
+To this town the Emperor set out on April the 2nd, as though he would
+thence proceed to Madrid. Ferdinand, meanwhile, was treated with
+guarded courtesy that kept alive his hope of an alliance with a French
+princess. To favour this notion, Napoleon despatched the wariest of
+his agents, Savary, who artfully persuaded him to meet the Emperor at
+Burgos. He succeeded, and even induced him to continue his journey to
+Vittoria. At that place the citizens sought to cut the traces of the
+royal carriage, so much did they fear treachery if he proceeded
+further. Yet the young King, beguiled by the Emperor's letter of April
+16th, which offered the hand of a French princess, prolonged his
+journey, crossed the frontier, and was received by Napoleon at Bayonne
+(April 20th). His arguments, proving that his father's abdication had
+been voluntary, fell on deaf ears. The Emperor invited him to dinner,
+and afterwards sent Savary to inform him that he must hand back the
+crown to his father. To this Ferdinand returned a firm refusal; and
+his advisers, Escoiquiz and Labrador, ventured to warn the Emperor
+that the Spaniards would swear eternal hatred to France if he tampered
+with the crown of Spain. Napoleon listened good-humouredly, pulled
+Escoiquiz by the ear as a sign of his personal regard, and added: "You
+are a deep fellow; but, I tell you, the Bourbons will never let me
+alone." On the next day he offered Ferdinand the throne of Etruria. It
+was coldly declined.[191]
+
+Charles IV., his Queen, and Godoy, arrived at Bayonne at the close of
+April. The ex-King had offered to put himself and his claim in
+Napoleon's hands, which was exactly what the Emperor desired. The
+feeble creature now poured forth his bile on his disobedient son, and
+peevishly bade him restore the crown. Ferdinand assented, provided his
+father would really reign, and would dismiss those advisers who were
+hated by the nation; but the attempt to impose conditions called forth
+a flash of senile wrath, along with the remark that "one ought to do
+everything _for_ the people and nothing _by_ the people."
+
+Meanwhile the men of Madrid were not acting with the passivity desired
+by their philosophizing monarch. At first they had welcomed Murat as
+delivering them from the detested yoke of Godoy; but the conduct of
+the French in their capital, and the detention of Ferdinand at
+Bayonne, aroused angry feelings, which burst forth on May the 2nd, and
+long defied the grapeshot of Murat's guns and the sabres of his
+troopers. The news of this so-called revolt gave Napoleon another
+handle against his guests. He hurried to Charles and cowed him by
+well-simulated signs of anger, which that _roi fainéant_ thereupon
+vented on his son, with a passion that was outdone only by the shrill
+gibes of the Queen. At the close of this strange scene, the Emperor
+interposed with a few stern words, threatening to treat the prince as
+a rebel if he did not that very evening restore the crown to his
+father. Ferdinand braved the parental taunts in stolid silence, but
+before the trenchant threats of Napoleon he quailed, and broke down.
+
+Resistance was now at an end. On that same night (May 5th) the Emperor
+concluded with Godoy a convention whereby Charles IV. agreed to hand
+over to Napoleon the crowns of Spain and the Indies, on consideration
+that those dominions should remain intact, should keep the Roman
+Catholic faith to the exclusion of all others, and that he himself
+should be pensioned off with the estates of Compiègne and Chambord,
+receiving a yearly income of seven and a half million francs, payable
+by the French treasury. The Spanish princes were similarly treated,
+Ferdinand signing away his rights for a castle and a pension. To crown
+the farce, Napoleon ordered Talleyrand to receive them at his estate
+of Valençay, and amuse them with actors and the charms of female
+society. Thus the choicest humorist of the age was told off to
+entertain three uninteresting exiles; and the ex-Minister of Foreign
+Affairs, who disapproved of the treachery of Bayonne, was made to
+appear the Emperor's accomplice.
+
+Such were the means whereby Napoleon gained the crowns of Spain and
+the Indies, without striking a blow.
+
+His excuse for the treachery as expressed at the time was as follows:
+"My action is not good from a certain point of view, I know. But my
+policy demands that I shall not leave in my rear, so near to Paris, a
+dynasty hostile to mine." From this and from other similar remarks, it
+would seem that his resolve to dethrone the Bourbons was taken while
+on his march to Jena, but was thrust down into the abyss of his
+inscrutable will for a whole year, until Junot's march to Lisbon
+furnished a safe means for effecting the subjugation of Spain. This
+end he thenceforth pursued unswervingly with no sign of remorse, or
+even of hesitation--unless we accept as genuine the almost certainly
+spurious letter of March 29th, 1808. That letter represents him as
+blaming Murat for entering Madrid, when he had repeatedly urged him to
+do so; as asking his advice after he had all along kept him in
+ignorance as to his aims; and as writing a philosophical homily on the
+unused energies of the Spanish people, for whom in his genuine letters
+he expressed a lofty contempt.[192]
+
+The whole enterprise is, indeed, a masterpiece of skill, but a
+masterpiece marred by ineffaceable stains of treachery. And at the
+close of his life, he himself said: "I embarked very badly on the
+Spanish affair, I confess: the immorality of it was too patent, the
+injustice too cynical, and the whole thing wears an ugly look since I
+have fallen; for the attempt is only seen in its hideous nakedness
+deprived of all majesty and of the many benefits which completed my
+intention."
+
+That he hoped to reform Spain is certain. Political and social reforms
+had hitherto consolidated the work of conquest; and those which he
+soon offered to the Spaniards might possibly have renovated that
+nation, had they not been handed in at the sword's point; but the
+motive was too obvious, the intervention too insulting, to render
+success possible with the most sensitive people in Europe. On May 2nd
+he wrote to Murat that he intended King Joseph of Naples to reign at
+Madrid, and offered to Murat either Portugal or Naples.[193] He chose
+the latter. Joseph was allowed no choice in the matter. He was
+summoned from Naples to Bayonne, and, on arriving at Pau, heard with
+great surprise that he was King of Spain.
+
+Napoleon's selection was tactful. At Naples, the eldest of the
+Bonapartes had effected many reforms and was generally popular; but
+the treachery of Bayonne blasted all hopes of his succeeding at
+Madrid. Though the grandees of Spain welcomed the new monarch with
+courtly grace, though Charles IV. gave him his blessing, though
+Ferdinand demeaned himself by advising his former subjects quietly to
+submit, the populace willed otherwise.
+
+Every instinct of the Spanish nature was aflame with resentment.
+Loathing for Charles IV., his Queen, and their favourite, whom
+Napoleon richly dowered, love of the young King whom he falsely
+filched away, detestation of the French troops who outraged the rights
+of hospitality, and zeal for the Roman Catholic Church, whose chief
+had just been robbed of half his States, goaded the Spaniards to
+madness. Their indignation rumbled hoarsely for a time, like a volcano
+in labour, and then burst forth in an explosion of fury. The
+constitution which Napoleon presented to the Spanish Notables at
+Bayonne was accepted by them, only to be flung back with scorn by the
+people. The men of enlightenment who counselled prudence and patience
+were slain by raging mobs or sought safety in flight. The rising was
+at once national in its grand spontaneity and local in its intensity.
+Province after province rose in arms, except the north and centre,
+where 80,000 French troops held the patriots in check. In the van of
+the movement was the rugged little province of Asturias, long ago the
+forlorn hope of the Christians in their desperate conflicts with the
+Moors. Intrenched behind their mountains and proud of their ancient
+fame, the Asturians ventured on the sublime folly of declaring war
+against the ruler of the West and the lord of 900,000 warriors.
+Swiftly Galicia and Leon in the north repeated the challenge; while in
+the south, the fertile lands of Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia
+flashed back from their mountains the beacon lights of a national war.
+The former dislike of England was forgotten. The Juntas of Asturias,
+Galicia, and Andalusia sent appeals to us for help, to which Canning
+generously responded; and, on July 4th, we passed at a single bound
+from war with the Spanish Bourbons to an informal alliance with the
+people of Spain.
+
+Napoleon now began to see the magnitude of his error. Instead of
+gaining control over Spain and the Indies, he had changed
+long-suffering allies into irreconcilable foes. He prepared to conquer
+Spain. While Joseph was escorted to his new capital by a small army,
+Napoleon from Bayonne directed the operations of his generals. Holding
+the northern road from Bayonne to Burgos and Madrid, they were to send
+out cautious feelers against the bands of insurgents; for, as Napoleon
+wrote to Savary (July 13th): "In civil wars it is the important posts
+that must be held: one ought not to go everywhere." Weighty words,
+which his lieutenants in Spain were often to disregard! Bessières in
+the north gained a success at Medina de Rio Seco; but a signal
+disaster in the south ruined the whole campaign. Dupont, after beating
+the levies of Andalusia, penetrated into the heart of that great
+province, and, when cumbered with plunder, his divided forces were
+surrounded, cut off from their supplies, and forced to surrender at
+Baylen--in all about 20,000 men (July 19th). The news that a French
+army had laid down its arms caused an immense sensation in an age when
+Napoleon's troops were held to be invincible. Baylen was hailed
+everywhere by despairing patriots as the dawn of a new era. And such
+it was to be. If Valmy proclaimed the advent of militant democracy,
+the victory of Spaniards over one of the bravest of Napoleon's
+generals was felt to be an even greater portent. It ushered in the
+epoch of national resistance to the overweening claims of the Emperor
+of the West.
+
+That truth he seems dimly to have surmised. His rage on hearing of the
+capitulation was at first too deep for words. Then he burst out:
+"Could I have expected that from Dupont, a man whom I loved, and was
+rearing up to become a Marshal? They say he had no other way to save
+the lives of his soldiers. Better, far better, to have died with arms
+in their hands. Their death would have been glorious: we should have
+avenged them. You can always supply the place of soldiers. Honour
+alone, when once lost, can never be regained."
+
+Moreover, the material consequences were considerable. The Spaniards
+speedily threatened Madrid; and, on the advice of Savary, Joseph
+withdrew from his capital after a week's sojourn, and fell back
+hurriedly on the line of the Upper Ebro, where the French rallied for
+a second advance.
+
+Their misfortunes did not end here. In the north-east the hardy
+Catalans had risen against the invaders, and by sheer pluck and
+audacity cooped them up in their ill-gotten strongholds of Barcelona
+and Figueras. The men of Arragon, too, never backward in upholding
+their ancient liberties, rallied to defend their capital Saragossa.
+Their rage was increased by the arrival of Palafox, who had escaped in
+disguise from the suite of Ferdinand at Bayonne, and brought news of
+the treachery there perpetrated. Beaten outside their ancient city,
+and unable to hold its crumbling walls against the French cannon and
+columns of assault, the defenders yet fiercely turned to bay amidst
+its narrow lanes and massive monasteries. There a novel warfare was
+waged. From street to street and house to house the fight eddied for
+days, the Arragonese opposing to French valour the stubborn devotion
+ever shown by the peoples of the peninsula in defence of their walled
+cities, and an enthusiasm kindled by the zeal of their monks and the
+heroism of the Maid of Saragossa. Finally, on August 10th, the noble
+city shook off the grip of the 15,000 assailants, who fell back to
+join Joseph's forces higher up the Ebro.
+
+Even now the Emperor did not fully realize the serious nature of the
+war that was beginning. Despite Savary's warnings of the dangers to be
+faced in Spain, he persisted in thinking of it as an ordinary war that
+could be ended by good strategy and a few victories. He censured
+Joseph and Savary for giving up the line of the Upper Douro: he blamed
+them next for the evacuation of Tudela, and summed up the situation by
+stating that "all the Spanish forces are not able to overthrow 25,000
+French in a reasonable position"--adding, with stinging satire: "In
+war _men_ are nothing: it is _a man_ who is everything."
+
+When, at the close of August, Napoleon penned these memorable words in
+his palace of St. Cloud, he knew not that a _man_ had arrived on the
+scene of action. At the beginning of that month, Sir Arthur Wellesley
+with a British force of 12,300 men landed at the mouth of the River
+Mondego, and, aided by Portuguese irregulars, began his march on
+Lisbon. This is not the place for a review of the character and career
+of our great warrior: in truth, a volume would be too short for the
+task. With fine poetic insight, Lord Tennyson has noted in his funeral
+Ode the qualities that enabled him to overcome the unexampled
+difficulties caused by our own incompetent Government and by jealous,
+exacting, and slipshod allies:
+
+  "Mourn for the man of long-enduring blood,
+  The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute,
+  Whole in himself, a common good."
+
+
+Glory and vexation were soon to be his. On the 17th he drove the
+French vanguard from Roliça; and when, four days later, Junot hurried
+up with all his force, the British inflicted on that presumptuous
+leader a signal defeat at Vimiero. So bad were Junot's tactics that
+his whole force would have been cut off from Torres Vedras, had not
+Wellesley's senior officer, Sir Harry Burrard, arrived just in time to
+take over the command and stop the pursuit. Thereupon Wellesley
+sarcastically exclaimed to his staff: "Gentlemen, nothing now remains
+to us but to go and shoot red-legged partridges." The peculiarities of
+our war administration were further seen in the supersession of
+Burrard by Sir Hew Dalrymple, whose chief title to fame is his signing
+of the Convention of Cintra.
+
+By this strange compact the whole of Junot's force was to be conveyed
+from Portugal to France on British ships, while the Russian squadron
+blockaded in the Tagus was to be held by us in pledge till the peace,
+the crews being sent on to Russia. The convention itself was violently
+attacked by the English public; but it has found a defender in Napier,
+who dwells on the advantages of getting the French at once out of
+Portugal, and thus providing a sure base for the operations in Spain.
+Seeing, however, that Junot's men were demoralized by defeat, and that
+the nearest succouring force was in Navarre, these excuses seem
+scarcely tenable, except on the ground that, with such commanders as
+Burrard and Dalrymple, it was certainly desirable to get the French
+speedily away.
+
+On his side, Napoleon showed much annoyance at Junot's acceptance of
+this convention, and remarked: "I was about to send Junot to a council
+of war: but happily the English got the start of me by sending their
+generals to one, and thus saved me from the pain of punishing an old
+friend." With his customary severity to those who had failed, he
+frowned on all the officers of the Army of Portugal, and, on landing
+in France, they were strictly forbidden to come to Paris. The fate of
+Dupont and of his chief lieutenants, who were released by the
+Spaniards, was even harder: on their return they were condemned to
+imprisonment. By such means did Napoleon exact the uttermost from his
+troops, even in a service so detested as that in Spain ever was.[194]
+
+Despite the blunderings of our War Office, the silly vapourings of the
+Spaniards, and the insane quarrels of their provincial juntas about
+precedence and the sharing of English subsidies, the summer of 1808
+saw Napoleon's power stagger under terrible blows. Not only did he
+lose Spain and Portugal and the subsidies which they had meekly paid,
+but most of the 15,000 Spanish troops which had served him on the
+shores of the Baltic found means to slip away on British ships and put
+a backbone into the patriotic movements in the north of Spain. But
+worst of all was the loss of that moral strength, which he himself
+reckoned as three-fourths of the whole force in war. Hitherto he had
+always been able to marshal the popular impulse on his side. As the
+heir to the Revolution he had appealed, and not in vain, to the
+democratic forces which he had hypnotized in France but sought to stir
+up in his favour abroad. Despite the efforts of Czartoryski and Stein
+to tear the democratic mask from his face, it imposed on mankind until
+the Spanish Revolution laid bare the truth; and at St. Helena the
+exile gave his own verdict on the policy of Bayonne: "It was the
+Spanish ulcer which ruined me."
+
+
+    NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--For a careful account of the
+    Convention of Cintra in its military and political aspects, see
+    Mr. Oman's recently published "History of the Peninsular War,"
+    vol. i., pp. 268-278, 291-300. I cannot, however, agree with the
+    learned author that that Convention was justifiable on military
+    grounds, after so decisive a victory as Vimiero.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+ERFURT
+
+    "At bottom the great question is--who shall have
+    Constantinople?"--NAPOLEON, May 31st, 1808.
+
+
+The Spanish Rising made an immense rent in Napoleon's plans. It opened
+valuable markets for British goods both in the Peninsula and in South
+and Central America, and that too at the very time when the
+Continental System was about to enfold us in its deadly grip.[195] And
+finally it disarranged schemes that reached far beyond Europe. To
+these we must now briefly recur.
+
+Even amidst his greatest military triumphs Napoleon's gaze turned
+longingly towards the East; and no sooner did he force peace on the
+conquered than his thoughts centred once more on his navy and
+colonies, on Egypt and India. The Treaty of Tilsit gave him leisure to
+renew these designs. The publication in 1807 of his official Atlas of
+Australia, in which he claimed nearly half that continent for France,
+proves that he never accepted Trafalgar as a death-blow to his
+maritime and colonial aspirations. And the ardour of his desire for
+the conquest of India is seen in the letter which he wrote to the Czar
+on February 2nd, 1808. After expressing his desire for the glory and
+expansion of Russia, and advising the Czar to conquer Finland, he
+proceeds:
+
+    "An army of 50,000 men, Russians, French, and perhaps a few
+    Austrians, that penetrated by way of Constantinople into Asia,
+    would not reach the Euphrates before England would tremble and bow
+    the knee before the Continent. I am ready in Dalmatia. Your
+    Majesty is ready on the Danube. A month after we came to an
+    agreement the army could be on the Bosphorus.... By the 1st of May
+    our troops can be in Asia, and at the same time those of Your
+    Majesty, at Stockholm. Then the English, threatened in the Indies,
+    and chased from the Levant, will be crushed under the weight of
+    events with which the atmosphere will be charged."[196]
+
+There were several reasons why Napoleon should urge on this scheme. He
+was irritated by the continued resistance of Great Britain, and
+thought to terrify us into surrender by means of those oriental
+enterprises which convinced our statesmen that we must fight on for
+dear life. He also desired to restore the harmony of his relations
+with Alexander. For, in truth, the rapturous harmonies of Tilsit had
+soon been marred by discord. Alexander did not withdraw his troops
+from the Danubian provinces; whereupon Napoleon declined to evacuate
+Silesia; and the friction resulting from this wary balancing of
+interests was increased, when, at the close of 1807, a formal proposal
+was sent from Paris that, if Russia retained those provinces, Silesia
+should be at the disposal of France.[197] The dazzling vistas opened
+up to Alexander's gaze at Tilsit were thus shrouded by a sordid and
+distasteful bargain, which he hotly repelled. To repair this false
+step, Napoleon now wrote the alluring letter quoted above; and the
+Czar exclaimed on perusing it: "Ah, this is the language of Tilsit."
+
+Yet, it may be questioned whether Napoleon desired to press on an
+immediate partition of the Ottoman Power. His letter invited the Czar
+to two great enterprises, the conquest of Finland and the invasion of
+Persia and India. The former by itself was destined to tax Russia's
+strength. Despite Alexander's offer of a perpetual guarantee for the
+Finnish constitution and customs, that interesting people opposed a
+stubborn resistance. Napoleon must also have known that Russia's
+forces were then wholly unequal to the invasion of India; and his
+invitation to Alexander to engage in two serious enterprises certainly
+had the effect of postponing the partition of Turkey. Delay was all in
+his favour, if he was to gain the lion's share of the spoils. Russian
+troops were ready on the banks of the Danube; but he was not as yet
+fully prepared. His hold on Dalmatia, Ragusa, and Corfu was not wholly
+assured. Sicily and Malta still defied him; and not until he seized
+Sicily could he gain the control of the Mediterranean--"the constant
+aim of my policy." Only when that great sea had become a French lake
+could he hope to plant himself firmly in Albania, Thessaly, Greece,
+Crete, Egypt, and Syria.
+
+For the present, then, the Czar was beguiled with the prospect of an
+eastern expedition; and, while Russian troops were overrunning
+Finland, Napoleon sought to conquer Sicily and reduce Spain to the
+rank of a feudatory State. From this wider point of view, he looked on
+the Iberian Peninsula merely as a serviceable base for a greater
+enterprise, the conquest of the East. This is proved by a letter that
+he wrote to Decrès, Minister of Marine and of the Colonies, from
+Bayonne on May 17th, 1808, when the Spanish affair seemed settled:
+"There is not much news from India. England is in great penury there,
+and the arrival of an expedition [from France] would ruin that colony
+from top to bottom. The more I reflect on this step, the less
+inconvenience I see in taking it." Two days later he wrote to Murat
+that money must be found for naval preparations at the Spanish ports:
+"I must have ships, for I intend striking a heavy blow towards the end
+of the season." But at the close of June he warned Decrès that as
+Spanish affairs were going badly, he must postpone his design of
+despatching a fleet far from European waters.[198]
+
+Spain having proved to be, not a meek purveyor of fleets, but a
+devourer of French armies, there was the more need of a close accord
+with the Czar. Napoleon desired, not only to assure a further
+postponement of the Turkish enterprise, but also to hold Austria and
+Germany in check. The former Power, seeing Napoleon in difficulties,
+pushed on apace her military organization; and Germany heaved with
+suppressed excitement at the news of the Spanish Rising. The dormant
+instinct of German nationality had already shown signs of awakening.
+In the early days of 1808 the once cosmopolitan philosopher, Fichte,
+delivered at Berlin within sound of the French drums his "Addresses to
+the German Nation," in which he dwelt on the unquenchable strength of
+a people that determined at all costs to live free.
+
+On the philosopher's theme the Spaniards now furnished a commentary
+written with their life-blood. Thinkers and soldiers were alike moved
+by the stories of Baylen and Saragossa. Varnhagen von Ense relates how
+deep was the excitement of the quaint sage, Jean Paul Richter, who
+"doubted not that the Germans would one day rise against the French as
+the Spaniards had done, and that Prussia would revenge its insults and
+give freedom to Germany.... I proved to him how hollow and weak was
+Napoleon's power: how deeply rooted was the opposition to it. The
+Spaniards were the refrain to everything, and we always returned to
+them."
+
+The beginnings of a new civic life were then being laid in Prussia by
+Stein. Called by the King to be virtually a civic dictator, this great
+statesman carried out the most drastic reforms. In October, 1807,
+there appeared at Memel the decrees of emancipation which declared the
+abolition of serfdom with all its compulsory and menial services. The
+old feudal society was further invigorated by the admission of all
+classes to the holding of land or to any employment, while trade
+monopolies were similarly swept away. Municipal self-government gave
+new zest and energy to civic life; and the principle that the army
+"ought to be the union of all the moral and physical energies of the
+nation" was carried out by the military organizer Scharnhorst, who
+conceived and partly realized the idea that all able-bodied men should
+serve their time with the colours and then be drafted into a reserve.
+This military reform excited Napoleon's distrust, and he forced the
+King to agree by treaty (September, 1808) that the Prussian army
+should never exceed 42,000 men, a measure which did not hinder the
+formation of an effective reserve, and was therefore complied with to
+the letter, if not in spirit.
+
+In fact, in the previous month a plan of a popular insurrection had
+been secretly discussed by Stein, Scharnhorst, and other patriotic
+Ministers. The example of the Spaniards was everywhere to be followed,
+and, if Austria sent forth her legions on the Danube and England
+helped in Hanover, there seemed some prospect of shaking off the
+Napoleonic yoke. The scheme miscarried, and largely owing to the
+interception of a letter in which Stein imprudently referred to the
+exasperation of public feeling in Germany and the lively hope excited
+by the events in Spain and the preparations of Austria. Napoleon
+caused the letter to be printed in the "Moniteur" of September 8th,
+and sequestered Stein's property in Westphalia. He also kept his grip
+on Prussia; for while withdrawing most of his troops from that
+exhausted land, he retained French garrisons in Stettin, Glogau, and
+Küstrin. Holding these fortresses on the strong defensive line of the
+Oder, he might smile at the puny efforts of Prussian patriots and hope
+speedily to crush the Spanish rebels, provided he could count on the
+loyal support of Alexander in holding Austria in check.
+
+To gain this support and to clear away the clouds that bulked on their
+oriental horizon, Napoleon urgently desired an interview with his
+ally. For some months it had been proposed; but the Spanish Rising and
+the armaments of Austria made it essential.
+
+The meeting took place at Erfurt (September 27th). The Thuringian city
+was ablaze with uniforms, and the cannon thundered salvoes of welcome
+as the two potentates and their suites entered the ancient walls and
+filed through narrow streets redolent of old German calm, an abode
+more suited to the speculations of a Luther than to the
+world-embracing schemes of the Emperors of the West and East. With
+them were their chief warriors and Ministers, personages who now threw
+into the shade the new German kings. There, too, were the lesser
+German princes, some of them to grace the Court of the man who had
+showered lands and titles on them, others to hint a wish for more
+lands and higher titles. In truth, the title of king was tantalizingly
+common; and if we may credit a story of the time, the French soldiery
+had learnt to despise it. For, on one occasion, when the guard of
+honour, deceived by the splendour of the King of Würtemberg's chariot,
+was about to deliver the triple salute accorded only to the two
+Emperors, the officer in command angrily exclaimed: "Be quiet: it's
+only a king."
+
+The Emperors at Erfurt devoted the mornings to personal interviews,
+the afternoons to politics, the evenings to receptions and the
+theatre. The actors of the Comédie Française had been brought from
+Paris, and played to the Emperors and a parterre of princes the
+masterpieces of the French stage, especially those which contained
+suitable allusions. A notable incident occurred on the recital of the
+line in the "Oedipe" of Voltaire:
+
+  "L'amitié d'un grand homme est un bienfait des dieux."
+
+As if moved by a sudden inspiration, Alexander arose and warmly
+pressed the hand of Napoleon, who was then half-dozing at his
+side.[199] On the surface, indeed, everything was friendship and
+harmony. With urbane facility, the Czar accompanied his ally to the
+battlefield of Jena, listened to the animated description of the
+victor, and then joined in the chase in a forest hard by.
+
+But beneath these brilliant shows there lurked suspicions and fears.
+Alexander was annoyed that Napoleon retained French garrisons in the
+fortresses on the Oder and claimed an impossible sum as indemnity from
+Prussia. This was not the restoration of Prussia's independence, for
+which he, Alexander, had pleaded; and while the French eagles were at
+Küstrin, the Russian frontier could not be deemed wholly safe.[200]
+Then again the Czar had been secretly warned by Talleyrand against
+complaisance to the French Emperor. "Sire, what are you coming here
+for? It is for you to save Europe, and you will only succeed in that
+by resisting Napoleon. The French are civilized, their sovereign is
+not. The sovereign of Russia is civilized, her people are not.
+Therefore the sovereign of Russia must be the ally of the French
+people."[201] We may doubt whether this symmetrical proposition would
+have had much effect, if Alexander had not received similar warnings
+from his own ambassador at Paris; and it would seem that too much
+importance has been assigned to what is termed Talleyrand's
+_treachery_ at Erfurt.[202] Affairs of high policy are determined, not
+so much by the logic of words as by the sterner logic of facts. Ever
+since Tilsit, Napoleon had been prodigal of promises to his ally, but
+of little else. The alluring visions set forth in his letter of
+February 2nd were as visionary as ever; and Romantzoff expressed the
+wish of his countrymen in his remark to Champagny: "We have come to
+Erfurt to set a limit to this conduct." It was evident that if
+Napoleon had his way completely, the partition of Turkey would take
+place at the time and in the manner desired by him; this the Czar was
+determined to prevent, and therefore turned a deaf ear to his ally's
+proposal that they should summon Austria to explain her present
+ambiguous behaviour and frankly to recognize Joseph Bonaparte as King
+of Spain. If Austria put a stop to her present armaments, the
+supremacy of Napoleon in Central Europe would be alarmingly great.
+Clearly it was not to Russia's interest to weaken the only
+buffer-state that remained between her and the Empire of the West.
+
+These fears were quietly fed by a special envoy of the Court of
+Vienna, Baron Vincent, who brought complimentary notes to the two
+Emperors and remained to feel the pulse of European policy. It boded
+peace for Austria for the present. Despite Napoleon's eager arguments
+that England would never make peace until Austria accepted the present
+situation in Spain, Alexander quietly but firmly refused to take any
+steps to depress the Hapsburg Power. The discussions waxed warm; for
+Napoleon saw that, unless the Court of Vienna were coerced, England
+would persist in aiding the Spanish patriots; and Alexander showed an
+unexpected obstinacy. Napoleon's plea, that peace could only be
+assured by the entire discouragement of England, Austria, and the
+Spanish "rebels," had no effect on him: in fact, he began to question
+the sincerity of a peacemaker whose methods were war and intimidation.
+Finding arguments useless, Napoleon had recourse to anger. At the end
+of a lively discussion, he threw his cap on the ground and stamped on
+it. Alexander stopped, looked at him with a meaning smile, and said
+quietly: "You are violent: as for me, I am obstinate: anger gains
+nothing from me: let us talk, let us reason, or I go." He moved
+towards the door, whereupon Napoleon called him back--and they
+reasoned.
+
+It was of no avail. Though Alexander left his ally a free hand in
+Spain, he refused to join him in a diplomatic menace to Austria; and
+Napoleon saw that "those devilish Spanish affairs" were at the root of
+this important failure, which was to cost him the war on the Danube in
+the following year.
+
+As a set-off to this check, he disappointed Alexander respecting
+Prussia and Turkey. He refused to withdraw his troops from the
+fortresses on the Oder, and grudgingly consented to lower his
+pecuniary claims on Prussia from 140,000,000 francs to 120,000,000.
+Towards the Czar's Turkish schemes he showed little more complaisance.
+After sharp discussions it was finally settled that Russia should gain
+the Danubian provinces, but not until the following year. France
+renounced all mediation between Alexander and the Porte, but required
+him to maintain the integrity of all the other Turkish possessions,
+which meant that the partition of Turkey was to be postponed until it
+suited Napoleon to take up his oriental schemes in earnest. The golden
+visions of Tilsit were thus once more relegated to a distant future,
+and the keenness of the Czar's disappointment may be measured by his
+striking statement quoted by Caulaincourt in one of his earlier
+reports from St. Petersburg: "Let the world be turned upside down
+provided that Russia gains Constantinople and the Dardanelles."[203]
+
+The Erfurt interview left another hidden sore. It was there that the
+divorce from Josephine was officially discussed, with a view to a more
+ambitious alliance. Persistent as the rumours of a divorce had been
+for seven years past, they seem to have emanated, not from the
+husband, but from jealous sisters-in-law, intriguing relatives, and
+officious Ministers. To the most meddlesome of these satellites,
+Fouché, who had ventured to suggest to Josephine the propriety of
+sacrificing herself for the good of the State, Napoleon had lately
+administered a severe rebuke. But now he caused Talleyrand and
+Caulaincourt to sound the Czar as to the feasibility of an alliance
+with one of his sisters. The response was equally vague and discreet.
+Alexander expressed his gratification at the friendship which
+proffered such a request and his desire for the founding of a
+Napoleonic House. Further than this he did not go: and eight days
+after his return to St. Petersburg his only marriageable sister,
+Catherine, was affianced to the heir to the Duchy of Oldenburg. This
+event, it is true, was decided by the Dowager Empress; but no one,
+least of all Napoleon, could harbour any doubts as to its
+significance.
+
+In truth, Napoleon's chief triumphs at Erfurt were social and
+literary. His efforts to dazzle German princes and denationalize two
+of her leading thinkers were partly successful. Goethe and Wieland
+bowed before his greatness. To the former Napoleon granted a lengthy
+interview. He flattered the aged poet at the outset by the words, "You
+are a man": he then talked about several works in a way that Goethe
+thought very just; and he criticised one passage of the poet's
+youthful work, "Werther," as untrue to nature, with which Goethe
+agreed. On Voltaire's "Mahomet" he heaped censure, for its unworthy
+portraiture of the conqueror of the East and its ineffective fatalism.
+"These pieces belong to an obscure age. Besides, what do they mean
+with their fatalism? Politics is fatalism." The significance of this
+saying was soon to be emphasized, so that misapprehension was
+impossible. After witnessing Voltaire's "La Mort de César," Napoleon
+suggested that the poet ought to write a tragedy in a grander style
+than Voltaire's, so as to show how the world would have benefited if
+the great Roman had had time to carry out his vast plans.
+
+Finally, Goethe was invited to come to Paris, where he would find
+abundant materials for his poetic creations. Fortunately, Goethe was
+able to plead his age in excuse; and the world was therefore spared
+the sight of a great genius saddled with an imperial commission and
+writing a Napoleonized version of Cæsar's exploits and policy. But the
+pressing character of the invitation reveals the Emperor's
+dissatisfaction with his French poetasters and his intention to
+denationalize German literature. He had a dim perception that Teutonic
+idealism was a dangerous foe, inasmuch as it kept alive the sense of
+nationality which he was determined to obliterate. He was right. The
+last and most patriotic of Schiller's works, "Wilhelm Tell," the
+impassioned discourses of Fichte, the efforts of the new patriotic
+league, the Tugendbund, and last, but not least, the memory of the
+murdered Palm, all these were influences that baffled bayonets and
+diplomacy. Conquer and bargain as he might, he could not grapple with
+the impalpable forces of the era that was now dawning. The younger
+generation throbbed responsive to the teachings of Fichte, the appeals
+of Stein, and the exploits of the Spaniards; it was blind to the
+splendours of Erfurt: and it heard with grief, but with no change of
+conviction, that Goethe and Wieland had accepted from Napoleon the
+cross of the Legion of Honour, and that too on the anniversary of the
+Battle of Jena.
+
+After thus finally belittling the two poets, he shot a parting shaft
+at German idealism in his farewell to the academicians. He bade them
+beware of idealogues as dangerous dreamers and disguised materialists.
+Then, raising his voice, he exclaimed: "Philosophers plague themselves
+with weaving systems: they will never find a better one than
+Christianity, which, reconciling man with himself, also assures public
+order and repose. Your idealogues destroy every illusion; and the time
+of illusions is for peoples and individuals alike the time of
+happiness. I carry one away, that you will think kindly of me." He
+then mounted his carriage and drove away to Paris to resume his
+conquest of Spain.[204]
+
+The last diplomatic proceeding at Erfurt was the drawing up of a
+secret convention which assigned Finland and the Danubian Provinces to
+Russia, and promised Russia's help to Napoleon in case Austria should
+attack him. The Czar also recognized Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain
+and joined Napoleon in a joint note to George III. summoning him to
+make peace. On the same day (October 12th) that note was drawn up and
+despatched to London. In reply, Canning stated our willingness to
+treat for peace, provided that it should include all parties: that,
+although bound by no formal treaty to Ferdinand VII. and the Spanish
+people, yet we felt ourselves none the less pledged to them, and
+presumed that they, as well as our other allies, would be admitted to
+the negotiations. Long before this reply reached Paris, Napoleon had
+left for Spain. But on November 19th, he charged Champagny to state
+that the Spanish rebels could no more be admitted than the Irish
+insurgents: as for the other parties to the dispute he would not
+refuse to admit "either the King reigning in Sweden, or the King
+reigning in Sicily, or the King reigning in Brazil." This insulting
+reply sufficiently shows the insincerity of his overtures and the
+peculiarity of his views of monarchy. The Spaniards were rebels
+because they refused to recognize the forced abdication of their young
+King; and the rulers of Sweden, Naples and Portugal, were Kings as
+long as it suited Napoleon to tolerate them, and no longer. It is
+needless to add that our Government refused to desert the Spaniards;
+and in his reply to St. Petersburg, Canning expressed George III.'s
+deep regret that Alexander should sanction
+
+    "An usurpation unparalleled in the history of the world.... If
+    these be the principles to which the Emperor of Russia has
+    inviolably attached himself ... deeply does His Majesty [George
+    III.] lament a determination by which the sufferings of Europe
+    must be aggravated and prolonged. But not to His Majesty is to be
+    attributed the continuance of the calamities of war, by the
+    disappointment of all hope of such a peace as would be compatible
+    with justice and honour."[205]
+
+No open-minded person can peruse the correspondence on this subject
+without concluding that British policy, if lacking the breadth, grip
+and _finesse_ that marked that of France and Russia, yet possessed the
+sterling merits of manly truthfulness and staunch fidelity. The words
+quoted above were the words of Canning, but the spirit that animated
+them was that of George III. His storm-tossed life was now verging
+towards the dread bourne of insanity; but it was given to him to make
+this stern yet half-pleading appeal to the Czar's better nature. And
+who shall say that the example of constancy which the aged King
+displayed amidst the gathering gloom of his public and private life
+did not ultimately bear fruit in the later and grander phase of
+Alexander's character and career?
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon was bursting through the Spanish defence. The
+patriots, puffed up with their first successes, had been indulging in
+dreams of an invasion of France; and their provincial juntas
+quarrelled over the sharing of the future spoils as over the
+apportionment of English arms and money. Their awakening was terrible.
+With less than 90,000 raw troops they were attacked by 250,000 men led
+by the greatest warrior of the age. Everywhere they were routed, and
+at a last fight at the pass over the Somosierra mountain, the
+superiority of the French was strikingly shown. While the Spaniards
+were pouring down grapeshot on the struggling masses of the
+assailants, the Emperor resolved to hurl his light Polish horse uphill
+at the death-dealing guns. Dashingly was the order obeyed. Some forty
+or fifty riders bit the dust, but the rest swept on, sabred the
+gunners, and decided the day. The Spaniards, amazed at these
+unheard-of tactics, took to their heels, and nothing now stayed
+Napoleon's entry into Madrid (December 4th). There he strove to
+popularize Joseph's rule by offering several desirable reforms, such
+as the abolition of feudal laws and of the Inquisition. It was of no
+avail. The Spaniards would have none of them at his hands.
+
+After a brief stay in Madrid, he turned to crush Sir John Moore. That
+brave soldier, relying on the empty promises of the patriots, had
+ventured into the heart of Leon with a British force of 26,000 men. If
+he could not save Madrid, he could at least postpone a French conquest
+of the south. In this he succeeded; his chivalrous daring drew on him
+the chief strength of the invaders; and when hopelessly outnumbered he
+beat a lion-like retreat to Corunna. There he turned and dealt the
+French a blow that closed his own career with glory and gained time
+for his men to embark in safety.
+
+While the red-coats saw the snowy heights of Galicia fade into the
+sky, Napoleon was spurring back to the Pyrenees. He had received news
+that portended war with Austria; and, cherishing the strange belief
+that Spain was conquered, he rushed back to Paris to confront the
+Hapsburg Power. But Spain was not conquered. Scattered her armies were
+in the open, and even brave Saragossa fell in glorious ruins under
+Lannes' persistent attacks. But the patriots fiercely rallied in the
+mountains, and Napoleon was to find out the truth of the Roman
+historian's saying: "In no land does the character of the people and
+the nature of the country help to repair disasters more readily than
+in Spain."
+
+There was another reason for Napoleon's sudden return. Rumours had
+reached him as to the _rapprochement_ of those usually envious rivals,
+Talleyrand and Fouché, who now walked arm in arm, held secret
+conclaves, and seemed to have some understanding with Murat. Were they
+plotting to bring this ambitious man and his still more ambitious and
+vindictive consort from the despised throne at Naples to seize on
+power at Paris while the Emperor was engulfed in the Spanish quagmire?
+A story ran that Fouché had relays of horses ready between Naples and
+Paris for this enterprise.[206] But where Fouché and Talleyrand are
+concerned, truth lurks at the bottom of an unfathomable well.
+
+All that we know for certain is that Napoleon flew back to Paris in a
+towering rage, and that, after sharply rebuking Fouché, he subjected
+the Prince of Benevento to a violent tirade: just as he (Talleyrand)
+had first advised the death of the Duc d'Enghien and then turned that
+event to his sovereign's discredit, so now, after counselling the
+overthrow of the Spanish dynasty, he was making the same underhand use
+of the miscarriage of that enterprise. The Grand Chamberlain stood as
+if unmoved until the storm swept by, and then coldly remarked to the
+astonished circle: "What a pity that so great a man has been so badly
+brought up." Nevertheless, the insult rankled deep in his being, there
+to be nursed for five years, and then in the fullness of time to dart
+forth with a snake-like revenge. In 1814 and 1815 men saw that not the
+least serious result of Napoleon's Spanish policy was the envenoming
+of his relations with the two cleverest of living Frenchmen.
+
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--In the foregoing narrative, describing the
+battle of the Somosierra, I followed the usually accepted account,
+which assigns the victory solely to the credit of the Polish horsemen.
+But Mr. Oman has shown ("History of the Peninsular War," vol. i., pp.
+459-461) that their first charge failed, and that only when a brigade
+of French infantry skirmished right up to the crest, did a second
+effort of the Poles, supported by cavalry of the Guard, secure the
+pass. Napier's description (vol. i., p. 267), based on the French
+bulletin, is incorrect.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+NAPOLEON AND AUSTRIA
+
+
+"Never maltreat an enemy by halves": such was the sage advice of
+Prussia's warrior King Frederick the Great, who instinctively saw the
+folly of half measures in dealing with a formidable foe. The only
+statesmanlike alternatives were, to win his friendship by generous
+treatment, or to crush him to the earth so that he could not rise to
+deal another blow.
+
+As we have seen, Napoleon deliberately took the perilous middle course
+with the Hapsburgs after Austerlitz. He tore away from them their
+faithful Tyrolese along with all their Swabian lands, and he half
+crippled them in Italy by leaving them the line of the Adige instead
+of the Mincio. Later on, he compelled Austria to join the Continental
+System, to the detriment of her commerce and revenue; and his thinly
+veiled threats at Erfurt nerved her to strike home as soon as she saw
+him embarked on the Spanish enterprise. She had some grounds for
+confidence. The blows showered on the Hapsburg States had served to
+weld them more closely together; reforms effected in the
+administration under the guidance of the able and high-spirited
+minister, Stadion, promised to reinvigorate the whole Empire; and army
+reforms, championed by the Archduke Charles, had shelved the petted
+incapables of the Court and opened up undreamt-of vistas of hope even
+to the common soldier. Moreover, it was certain that the Tyrolese
+would revolt against the cast-iron Liberalism now imposed on them from
+Munich, which interfered with their cherished customs and church
+festivals.
+
+Throughout Germany, too, there were widespread movements for casting
+off the yoke of Napoleon. The benefits gained by the adoption of his
+laws were already balanced by the deepening hardships entailed by the
+Continental System; and the national German sentiment, which Napoleon
+ever sought to root out, persistently clung to Berlin and Vienna. A
+new thrill of resentment ran through Germany when Napoleon launched a
+decree of proscription against Stein, who had resigned office on
+November 24th. It was dated from Madrid (December 16th, 1808), and
+ordered that "the man named Stein," for seeking to excite troubles in
+Germany, should be held an enemy of France and the Confederation of
+the Rhine, and suffer confiscation of his property and seizure of his
+person, wherever he might be. The great statesman thereupon fled into
+Austria, where all the hopes of German nationalists now centred.[207]
+
+On April the 6th the Archduke Charles issued a proclamation in which
+the new hopes of reformed Austria found eloquent expression: "The
+freedom of Europe has sought refuge beneath your banners. Soldiers,
+your victories will break her chains: your German brothers who are now
+in the ranks of the enemy wait for their deliverance." These hopes
+were premature. Austria was too late or too soon: she was too late to
+overpower the Bavarians, or to catch the French forces leaderless, and
+too soon to gain the full benefit from her recent army reforms and
+from the diversion promised by England on the North Sea.[208] But our
+limits of space render it impossible adequately to describe the course
+of the struggle on the Danube or of the Tyrolese rising.
+
+Napoleon, hurrying from Paris, found his forces spread out over a
+front of sixty miles from Ratisbon to positions south of Augsburg, and
+it needed all his skill to mass them before the Archduke's blows fell.
+Thanks to Austrian slowness the danger was averted, and a difficult
+retrograde movement was speedily changed into a triumphant offensive.
+Five successive days saw as many French victories, the chief of which,
+at Eckmühl (April 22nd), forced the Archduke with the Austrian right
+wing northwards towards Ratisbon, which was stormed on the following
+day, Charles now made for the Böhmer Wald, while his left wing on the
+south of the Danube fell back towards the Inn. Pushing his advantage
+to the utmost, the victor invaded Austria and forced Vienna to
+surrender (May 13th).
+
+At that city Napoleon issued (May 17th) a decree which reveals the
+excess of his confidence. It struck down the temporal power of the
+Pope, and annexed to the French Empire the part of the Papal States
+which he had spared the year before. The form of the decree was as
+remarkable as its substance. With an effrontery only equalled by its
+historical falsity, it cited the example of "Charlemagne, my august
+predecessor, Emperor of the French"; and, after exalting the Imperial
+dignity, it proceeded to lower the Popes to the position of Bishops of
+Rome. The subordination of the spiritual to the civil power was also
+assured by the assigning of a yearly stipend of 2,000,000 francs to
+the Pope.
+
+When Pius VII. protested against the seizure of his States, and hurled
+a bull of excommunication at the spoliator, Napoleon issued orders
+which led to his arrest; and shortly after midsummer the unfortunate
+pontiff was hurried away from Rome to Florence.
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had experienced an unlooked-for reverse. Though so
+far cowed by his defeats in Bavaria as to send Napoleon a cringing
+request for peace, to which the victor deigned no reply, the Archduke
+Charles obstinately clung to the northern bank of the Danube opposite
+the capital, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Emperor when the
+latter sought to drive him from Aspern-Essling (May 21st-22nd). Had
+the Austrian commander had that remorseless resolve which ever
+prompted Napoleon to wrest from Fortune her utmost favours, the
+white-coats might have driven their foes into the river; for at the
+close of both of those days of carnage they had a clear advantage. A
+French disaster was in fact averted only by the combined efforts of
+Napoleon, Masséna, Lannes, and General Mouton; and even they were for
+a time dismayed by the frightful losses, and by the news that the
+bridges, over which alone they could retire, had been swept away by
+trees and barges sent down the flooded stream. But, as at Eylau,
+Napoleon's iron will imposed on his foes, and, under cover of
+darkness, the French were withdrawn into the island of Lobau, after
+losing some 25,000 men.[209]
+
+Among them was that prince of vanguard leaders, Lannes. On hearing
+that his old friend was mortally wounded, the Emperor hurried to him,
+and tenderly embraced him. The interview, says Marbot, who was
+supporting the Marshal's shoulders, was most affecting, both these
+stern warriors displaying genuine emotion. And yet, it is reported
+that, after Lannes was removed to Ebersdorf, his last words were those
+of reproach to the Emperor for his ambition. At that time, however,
+the patient was delirious, and the words, if really uttered, were
+meaningless; but the inventor of the anecdote might plead that it was
+consonant with the recent tenor of the Marshal's thoughts. Like all
+thoughtful soldiers, who placed France before Napoleon, Lannes was
+weary of these endless wars. After Jena his heart was not in the work;
+and he wrote thus about Napoleon during the siege of Danzig: "I have
+always been the victim of my attachment to him. He only loves you by
+fits and starts, that is, when he has need of you." His presentiment
+was true. He was a victim to a war that was the outcome solely of
+Napoleon's Continental System, and not of the needs of France. He
+passed away, leaving a brilliant military fame and a reputation for
+soldierly republican frankness which was fast vanishing from the camps
+and _salons_ of the Empire.[210]
+
+As yet, however, Napoleon's genius and the martial ardour of his
+soldiers sufficed to overbear the halting efforts of Austria and her
+well-wishers. On retiring into Lobau Island he put forth to the utmost
+his extraordinary powers of organization. Boats brought vast supplies
+of stores and ammunition from Vienna, which the French still held. The
+menacing front of Masséna and Davoust imposed on the enemy.
+Reinforcements were hurried up from Bavaria. Tyrol was denuded of
+Franco-Bavarian troops, so that the peasants, under the lead of the
+brave innkeeper, Hofer, were able to organize a systematic defence.
+And a French army which had finally beaten the Austrians in Venetia,
+now began to drive them back into Hungary. In Poland the white-coats
+were held in check, and the Franco-Russian compact deterred Frederick
+William from making any move against France such as Prussian patriots
+ardently counselled.
+
+To have done so would have been madness, unless England sent powerful
+aid on the side of Hanover; and that aid was not forthcoming. Yet the
+patriotic ardour of the Germans led to two daring efforts against the
+French. Schill, with a Prussian cavalry regiment, sought to seize
+Magdeburg, and failing there moved north in hopes of British help. His
+adventurous ride was ended by Napoleon's Dutch and North German
+troops, who closed in on him at Stralsund, and, on May 31st, cut to
+pieces his brave troop. Schill met a warrior's death: most of the
+survivors were sent to the galleys in France. Undeterred by this
+failure, the young Duke of Brunswick sought to rouse Saxony and
+Westphalia by a dashing cavalry raid (June); but, beyond showing the
+weakness of Jerome Bonaparte's rule and the general hatred of the
+French, he effected little: with his 2,000 followers he was finally
+saved by British cruisers (August). Had the British expedition, which
+in the ensuing autumn rotted away on Walcheren, been landed at
+Stralsund, or in Hanover during the spring, it is certain that Germany
+would have risen in Napoleon's rear; and in that case, the doubtful
+struggle which closed at Wagram might have ended very
+differently.[211]
+
+All hopes for European independence centred in Wellesley and the
+Archduke Charles. Although there was no formal compact between England
+and Austria, yet the Hapsburgs rested their hopes largely on the
+diversions made by our troops. In the early part of the Peninsular
+campaign of 1809, these hopes were brilliantly fulfilled. Wellesley
+moved against Soult at Oporto, and, by a dextrous crossing of that
+river in his rear, compelled him to beat a calamitous retreat on
+Spain, with the loss of all his cannon and stores. The French reached
+Lugo an armed rabble, and were greeted there with jeers and
+execrations by the men of Ney's corps. The two Marshals themselves
+took up the quarrel, and so fierce were the taunts of Ney that Soult
+drew his sword and a duel was barely averted.[212] An appearance of
+concord was restored during their operations in Galicia and Asturias:
+but no opportunity was missed of secretly thwarting the hated rival;
+and here, as all through the Peninsular War, the private jealousies of
+the French leaders fatally compromised the success of their arms.
+Wellesley, seeing that the operations in Galicia would never decide
+the war, began to prepare a deadly blow at the centre of French
+authority, Madrid.
+
+While Wellesley thrust a thin wedge into the heart of Spain, the
+Archduke Charles was overthrown on the banks of the Danube. After
+drawing in reinforcements from France, the Rhenish Confederation, and
+Eugène's army of Italy, the French Emperor disposed of 180,000
+highly-trained troops, whom he massed in the Lobau Island, or on the
+right shore of the Danube. Every preparation was made for deceiving
+the Austrians as to the point of crossing and with complete success.
+With great labour the defenders threw up intrenchments facing the
+north side of the island. But, on a thick stormy night (July 4th), six
+bridges of boats were quickly swung across the stream lower down, that
+is, on the east side of Lobau, while a furious cannonade on the north
+side misled their foes. The crossing was effected without loss by
+Oudinot and Masséna; and sunrise saw the whole French army advancing
+rapidly northwards, thereby outflanking the Austrian earthworks, which
+were now evacuated.
+
+Charles was outmanoeuvred and outnumbered. His brother, the Archduke
+John, was at Pressburg with 20,000 men, watched hitherto by Davoust.
+But the French Marshal cleverly withdrew his corps, leaving only
+enough men to impose on that unenterprising leader. Other Austrian
+detachments were also far away at the critical time, and thus Napoleon
+had a superiority of force of about 50,000 men. Nevertheless, the
+defence at Wagram was most obstinate (July 6th). Holding his own on
+the hills behind the Russbach, the Archduke swung forward his right in
+such strength as to drive back Masséna on Aspern; but his weakened
+centre was now pushed back and endangered by the persistent vigour of
+Macdonald's onset. This success at the centre gave time for Davoust to
+wrest Neusiedel from the white-coats, a movement which would have been
+stopped or crushed, had the Archduke John obeyed his brother's orders
+and marched from the side of Pressburg on Napoleon's unguarded right
+flank. Finally, after an obstinate stand, the Austrians fell back in
+good order, effectively covering their retreat by a murderous
+artillery fire. A total loss of some 50,000 men, apportioned nearly
+equally on either side, was the chief result of this terrible day. It
+was not remarkable for brilliant tactics; and, as at Aspern, the
+Austrians fully equalled their foes in courage.
+
+[Illustration: WAGRAM]
+
+Such was the battle of Wagram, one of the greatest of all time, if the
+number of combatants be counted, but one of the least decisive in its
+strictly military results. If we may compare Austerlitz with Blenheim,
+Wagram may with equal fitness be matched with the vast slaughter of
+Malplaquet exactly a century before. The French now felt the hardening
+of the national defence of Austria and the falling off in their own
+fighting powers. Marmont tells how, at the close of the day, the
+approach of the Archduke John's scouts struck panic into the
+conquerors, so that for a time the plain on the east was covered with
+runaway conscripts and disconcerted plunderers. The incident proved
+the deterioration of the Grand Army from the times of Ulm and Jena.
+Raw conscripts raised before their time and hurriedly drafted into the
+line had impaired its steadiness, and men noted as another ominous
+fact that few unwounded prisoners were taken from the Austrians, and
+only nine guns and one colour. In fact, the only reputation enhanced
+was that of Macdonald, who for his great services at the centre
+enjoyed the unique honour of receiving a Marshal's bâton from Napoleon
+on the field of battle.
+
+Had the Archduke Charles been made of the same stuff as Wellington,
+the campaign might still have been retrieved. But softness and
+irresolution were the characteristics of Austria's generals no less
+than of her rulers.[213] The Hapsburg armies were still led with the
+old leisurely _insouciance_; and their counsels swayed to and fro
+under the wavering impulses of a seemingly decrepit dynasty. Francis
+had many good qualities: he was a good husband and father, and his
+kindly manners endeared him to the Viennese even in the midst of
+defeat. But he was capricious and shortsighted; anything outside of
+the well-worn ruts of routine vexed and alarmed him; and it is a
+supreme proof of the greatness and courage of his reforming Minister,
+Stadion, that his innovations should have been tolerated for so long.
+Now that disasters were shaking his throne he began to suspect the
+reformer; and Stadion confessed to the publicist, Gentz, that it was
+impossible to reckon on the Emperor for a quarter of an hour together,
+unless one stayed by him all the twenty-four hours.--"After a great
+defeat, he will take himself off at once and will calmly commend us to
+God."--This was what now happened. Another failure at Znaim so daunted
+the Archduke that he sued for an armistice (July 12th). For this there
+was some excuse. The latest news both from Spain and Prussia inspired
+the hope that, if time were gained, important diversions might be made
+in both quarters.
+
+As we have seen, Sir Arthur Wellesley opened the campaign with a
+brilliant success, and then prepared to strike at the heart of the
+French power. The memorable campaign of Talavera was the result.
+Relying on promises of aid from the Spanish Junta and from their
+cross-grained commander, Cuesta, he led a small British force up the
+valley of the Tagus to seize Madrid, while the chief French armies
+were engaged in distant provinces. In one sense he achieved his aim.
+He compelled the enemy to loose their hold on those provinces and
+concentrate to save the capital. And before they fully effected their
+concentration, he gave battle to King Joseph and Marshals Jourdan and
+Victor at Talavera (July 28th). Skilfully posting the Spaniards behind
+intrenchments and in gardens where their raw levies could fight with
+every advantage, he extended his thin red lines--he had only 17,000
+British troops--along a ridge stretching up to a plateau that
+dominated the broken ground north of the town. On that hill Wellesley
+planted his left: and all the efforts of Victor to turn that wing or
+to break it by charges across the intervening ravine were bloodily
+beaten off.
+
+The fierce heat served but to kindle French and British to greater
+fury. Finally, the dashing charge of our 23rd dragoons and the
+irresistible advance of the 48th regiment of foot overthrew the
+enemy's centre; and as the day waned, the 30,000 French retired, with
+a loss of 17 cannon and of 7,000 men in killed, wounded, and
+prisoners. Had the other Spanish armies now offered the support which
+Wellesley expected, he would doubtless have seized Madrid. He had
+written three days before Talavera: "With or without a battle we shall
+be at Madrid soon." But his allies now failed him utterly: they did
+not hold the mountain passes which confronted Soult in his march from
+Salamanca into the valley of the Tagus; and they left the British
+forces half starving.--"We are here worse off than in a hostile
+country," wrote our commander; "never was an army so ill used: we had
+no assistance from the Spanish army: we were obliged to unload our
+ammunition and our treasure in order to employ the cars in the removal
+of our sick and wounded." Meanwhile Soult, with 50,000 men, was
+threading his way easily through the mountains and threatened to cut
+us off from Portugal: but by a rapid retreat Wellesley saved his army,
+vowing that he would never again trust Spanish offers of help.[214]
+
+Far more dispiriting was the news that reached the Austrian
+negotiators from the North Sea. There the British Government succeeded
+in eclipsing all its former achievements in forewarning foes and
+disgusting its friends. Very early in the year, the men of Downing
+Street knew that Austria was preparing to fight Napoleon and built her
+hopes of success, partly on the Peninsular War, partly on a British
+descent in Hanover, where everything was ripe for revolution.
+Unfortunately, we were still, formally, at war with her: and the
+conclusion of the treaty of peace was so long delayed at Vienna that
+July was almost gone before the Austrian ratification reached London,
+and our armada set sail from Dover.[215] The result is well known.
+Official favouritism handed over the command of 40,000 troops to the
+Earl of Chatham, who wasted precious days in battering down the walls
+of Flushing when he should have struck straight at the goal now aimed
+at, Antwerp. That fortress was therefore ready to beat him off; and he
+finally withdrew his army into the Isle of Walcheren, into whose
+fever-laden swamps Napoleon had refused to send a single French
+soldier. A tottering remnant was all that survived by the close of the
+year: and the climax of our national disgrace was reached when a
+court-martial acquitted the commanders. Napoleon would have had them
+shot.
+
+Helpless as the old monarchies were to cope with Napoleon, a wild
+longing for vengeance was beginning to throb among the peoples. It
+showed itself in a remarkable attempt on his life during a review at
+Schönbrunn. A delicate youth named Staps, son of a Thuringian pastor,
+made his way to the palace, armed with a long knife, intending to stab
+him while he read a petition (October 12th). Berthier and Rapp, noting
+the lad's importunity, had him searched and brought before Napoleon.
+"What did you mean to do with that knife?" asked the Emperor. "Kill
+you," was the reply. "You are an idiot or an Illuminat." "I am not an
+idiot and do not know what an Illuminat is." "Then you are diseased."
+"No, I am quite well." "Why do you wish to kill me?" "Because you are
+the curse of my Fatherland." "You are a fanatic; I will forgive you
+and spare your life." "I want no forgiveness." "Would you thank me if
+I pardoned you?" "I would seek to kill you again." The quiet firmness
+with which Staps gave these replies and then went to his doom made a
+deep impression on Napoleon; and he sought to hurry on the conclusion
+of peace with these odd Germans whom he could conquer but not
+convince.
+
+The Emperor Francis was now resigned to his fate, but he refused to
+hear of giving up his remaining sea-coast in Istria. On this point
+Metternich strove hard to bend Napoleon's will, but received as a
+final answer: "Then war is unavoidable."[216] In fact, the victor knew
+that Austria was in his power. The Archduke Charles had thrown up his
+command, the soldiery were depressed, and a great part of the Empire
+was in the hands of the French. England's efforts had failed; and of
+all the isolated patriotic movements in Germany only that of the
+Tyrolese mountaineers still struggled on. Napoleon could therefore
+dictate his own terms in the Treaty of Schönbrunn (October 14th),
+which he announced as complete, when as yet Francis had not signed
+it.[217] Austria thereby recognized Joseph as King of Spain, and ceded
+Salzburg and the Inn-viertel to Napoleon, to be transferred by him to
+Bavaria. To the French Empire she yielded up parts of Austrian Friuli
+and Carinthia, besides Carniola, the city and district of Trieste, and
+portions of Croatia and Dalmatia to the south of the River Save. Her
+spoils of the old Polish lands now went to aggrandize the Duchy of
+Warsaw, a small strip of Austrian Gallicia also going to Russia.
+Besides losing 3,500,000 subjects, Austria was mulcted in an indemnity
+of £3,400,000, and again bound herself to exclude all British
+products. By a secret clause she agreed to limit her army to 150,000
+men.
+
+Perhaps the severest loss was the abandonment of the faithful
+Tyrolese. After Aspern, the Emperor Francis promised that he would
+never lay down his arms until they were re-united with his Empire.
+This promise now went the way of the many fond hopes of reform and
+championship of German nationality which her ablest men had lately
+cherished, and the Empire settled down in torpor and bankruptcy. In
+dumb wrath and despair Austrian patriots looked on, while the Tyrolese
+were beaten down by French, Bavarian, and Italian forces. Hofer
+finally took to the hills, was betrayed by a friend, and was taken to
+Mantua. Some of the officers who there tried him desired to spare his
+life, but a special despatch of Napoleon[218] ordered his execution,
+and the brave mountaineer fell, with the words on his lips: "Long live
+the Emperor Francis." Tyrol, meanwhile, was parcelled out between
+Bavaria, Illyria, and the Kingdom of Italy; but bullets and partitions
+were of no avail against the staunch patriotism of her people, and the
+Tyrolese campaign boded ill for Napoleon if monarchs, generals, and
+statesmen should ever be inspired by the sturdy faith and hardihood of
+that noble peasantry.
+
+As yet, however, prudence and timidity reigned supreme. Though the
+Czar uttered some snappish words at the threatening increase to the
+Duchy of Warsaw, he still posed as Napoleon's ally. The Swedes, weary
+of their hopeless strifes with France, Russia, and Denmark, deposed
+the still bellicose Gustavus IV.; and his successor, Charles XIII.,
+made peace with those Powers, retaining Swedish Pomerania, but only at
+the cost of submitting to the Continental System. Prussia seemed, to
+official eyes, utterly cowed. The Hapsburgs, having failed in their
+bold championship of the cause of reform and of German nationality,
+now fell back into a policy marked by timid opportunism and decorously
+dull routine.
+
+The change was marked by the retirement of Stadion, a man whose
+enterprising character, no less than his enthusiasm for reform, ill
+fitted him for the time of compromise and subservience now at hand. He
+it was who had urged Austria forward in the paths of progress and had
+sought safety in the people: he was the Stein of Austria. But now, on
+the eve of peace, he earnestly begged to be allowed to resign the
+Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Emperor Francis thereupon
+summoned to that seemingly thankless office a young diplomatist, who
+was destined to play a foremost part in the mighty drama of Napoleon's
+overthrow, and thereafter to wield by his astute policy almost as
+great an influence in Central and Southern Europe as the autocrat
+himself.
+
+Metternich was born at Coblentz in 1773, and was therefore four years
+the junior of Napoleon. He came of an old family of the Rhineland, and
+his father's position in the service of the old Empire secured him
+early entrance into the diplomatic circle. After acting as secretary
+to the Imperial delegates at the Congress of Rastatt, he occupied the
+post of Austrian ambassador successively at the Courts of Dresden and
+Berlin; and in 1806 he was suddenly called to take up the embassy in
+Paris. There he displayed charms of courtly tact, and lively and
+eloquent conversation, which won Napoleon's admiration and esteem. He
+was looked on as a Gallophil; and, like Bismarck at a later crisis, he
+used his social gifts and powers of cajolery so as to gain a correct
+estimate of the characters of his future opponents.
+
+Yet, besides these faculties of finesse and intrigue--and the Miltonic
+Belial never told lies with more winsome grace--Metternich showed at
+times a manly composure and firmness, even when Napoleon unmasked a
+searching fire of diplomatic questions and taunts. Of this he had
+given proof shortly before the outbreak of the late war, and his
+conduct had earned the thanks of the other ambassadors for giving the
+French Emperor a lesson in manners, while the autocrat liked him none
+the less, but rather the more, for standing up to him. But now, after
+the war, all was changed; craft was more serviceable than fortitude;
+and the gay Rhinelander brought to the irksome task of subservience to
+the conqueror a courtly _insouciance_ under which he nursed the hope
+of ultimate revenge.--"From the day when peace is signed," he wrote to
+the Emperor Francis on August 10th, 1809, "we must confine our system
+to tacking and turning, and flattering. Thus alone may we possibly
+preserve our existence, till the day of general deliverance."[219]
+This was to be the general drift of Austrian policy for the next four
+years; and it may be granted that only by bending before the blast
+could that sore-stricken monarchy be saved from destruction. An
+opportunity soon occurred of carrying the new system into effect.
+Metternich offered the conqueror an Austrian Archduchess as a bride.
+
+After the humiliation of the Hapsburgs and of the Spanish patriots,
+nothing seemed wanting to Napoleon's triumph but an heir who should
+found a durable dynasty. This aim was now to be reached. As soon as
+the Emperor returned to Paris, his behaviour towards Josephine showed
+a marked reserve. The passage communicating between their private
+apartments was closed, and the gleams of triumphant jealousy that
+flashed from her sisters-in-law warned Josephine of her approaching
+doom. The divorce so long bruited by news-mongers was at hand. The
+Emperor broke the tidings to his consort in the private drawing-room
+of the Tuileries on November 30th, and strove to tone down the
+harshness of his decision by basing it on the imperative needs of the
+State. But she spurned the dictates of statecraft. With all her
+faults, she was affectionate and tender; she was a woman first and an
+Empress afterwards; she now clung to Napoleon, not merely for the
+splendour of the destiny which he had opened to her, but also from
+genuine love.
+
+Their relations had curiously changed. At the outset she had slighted
+his mad devotion by her shallow coldness and occasional infidelities,
+until his lava-like passion petrified. Thenceforth it was for her to
+woo, and woo in vain. For years past she had to bemoan the waning of
+his affection and his many conjugal sins. And now the chasm, which she
+thought to have spanned by the religious ceremony on the eve of the
+coronation, yawned at her feet. The woman and the Empress in her
+shrank back from the black void of the future; and with piteous
+reproaches she flung back the orders of the Emperor and the soothings
+of the husband. Napoleon, it would seem, had nerved himself against
+such an outbreak. In vain did Josephine sink down at his feet with
+heart-rending cries that she would never survive the disgrace: failing
+to calm her himself, he opened the door and summoned the prefect of
+the palace, Bausset, and bade him bear her away to her private
+apartments. Down the narrow stairs she was borne, the Emperor lifting
+her feet and Bausset supporting her shoulders, until, half fainting,
+she was left to the sympathies of her women and the attentions of
+Corvisart. But hers was a wound that no sympathy or skill could
+cure.[220]
+
+On his side, Napoleon felt the wrench. Not only the ghost of his early
+love, but his dislike of new associates and novel ways cried out
+against the change. "In separating myself from my wife," Napoleon once
+said to Talleyrand, "I renounce much. I should have to study the
+tastes and habits of a young woman. Josephine accommodates herself to
+everything: she understands me perfectly."[221] But his boundless
+triumphs, his alliance with the Czar and total overthrow of the
+Bourbons and the Pope, had fed the fires of his ambition. He aspired
+to give the _mot d'ordre_ to the universe; and he scrupled not to put
+aside a consort who could not help him to found a dynasty. Yet it was
+not without pangs of sorrow and remorse. His laboured, panting breath
+and almost gasping words left on Bausset the impression that he was
+genuinely affected; and, consummate actor though he was, we may well
+believe that he felt the parting from his early associations.
+Underneath his generally cold exterior he hid a nervous nature,
+dominated by an inflexible will, but which now and again broke through
+all restraint, bathing the beloved object with sudden tenderness or
+blasting a foe with fiery passion. And it would seem that Josephine's
+pangs had power to reawaken the feelings of his more generous youth.
+The ceremony of divorce took place on December 15th Josephine
+declaring with agonized pride that she gave her assent for the welfare
+of France.
+
+Already the new marriage negotiations had begun. They are unique even
+amidst the frigid annals of royal betrothals. The French ambassador,
+Caulaincourt, was charged to make definite overtures at St. Petersburg
+for the hand of the Czar's younger sister; the conditions could easily
+be arranged; religion need be no difficulty; but time was pressing;
+the Emperor had need of an heir; "we are counting the minutes here,"
+ran the despatch; and an answer was expected from St. Petersburg after
+an interval of _two days_.[222] The request caused Alexander the
+greatest perplexity. He parried it with the reply, correct enough in
+form as in fact, that the disposal of his sister rested with the
+Dowager Empress. But her hostility to Napoleon was well known. After
+the half overtures of Erfurt she had at once betrothed her elder
+daughter to the Duke of Oldenburg. No similar escape was now possible
+for the younger one: but, after leaving Napoleon's request unanswered
+until February 4th, the reply was then despatched that the tender age
+of the princess, she being only twenty years old, formed an
+insuperable obstacle.
+
+Some such answer had long been expected at Paris. Metternich asserts
+in his "Memoirs" that Napoleon had caused Laborde, one of his
+diplomatic agents at Vienna, tentatively to sound that Court as to his
+betrothal with the Archduchess Marie Louise. But the French archives
+show that the first hint came from Metternich, who saw in it a means
+of weakening the Franco-Russian alliance and saving Austria from
+further disasters.[223] A little later the Countess Metternich was at
+Paris; and great was her surprise when, on January 2nd, 1810,
+Josephine informed her that she favoured a marriage between Napoleon
+and Marie Louise. "I spoke to him of it yesterday," she said; "his
+choice is not yet fixed; but he thinks that this would be his choice
+if he were sure of its being accepted." Thereafter the Countess
+received the most flattering attentions at Court, a proof that the
+Hapsburg match was now favoured, even though the coyness of the Czar
+was as yet unknown.
+
+At the close of January a Privy Council was held at the Tuileries to
+decide on the imperial bride. The votes were nearly equal: four voted
+for Austria, four for Saxony, and three for Russia. After listening
+quietly to the arguments, Napoleon summed up the discussion by
+pronouncing firmly and warmly in favour of Austria. The marriage
+contract was therefore drawn up on February 7th; and Berthier was
+despatched to Vienna to claim the hand of Marie Louise. He entered
+that city over the ruins of the old ramparts, which were now being
+dismantled in accordance with the French demands.
+
+The marriage took place at Vienna by proxy; the bride was conducted to
+Paris; and the final ceremony took place at Notre Dame on April 2nd,
+but not until the union had been consummated. Such were Napoleon's
+second wooing and wedding. Nevertheless, he showed himself an
+attentive and even indulgent spouse, and he remarked at St. Helena
+that if Josephine was all grace and charm, Marie Louise was innocence
+and nature herself.
+
+The Austrian marriage was an event of the first importance. It gained
+a few years' respite for the despairing Hapsburgs, and gave tardy
+satisfaction to Talleyrand's statesmanlike scheme of a Franco-Austrian
+alliance which should be in the best sense conservative. Had Napoleon
+taken this step after Austerlitz in the way that his counsellor
+advised, possibly Europe might have reached a condition of stable
+equilibrium, always provided that he gave up his favourite scheme of
+partitioning Turkey. But that was not to be; and when Austria finally
+yielded up Marie Louise as an unpicturesque Iphigenia on the marriage
+altar, she did so only as a desperate device for appeasing an
+inexorable destiny. And, strange to say, she succeeded. For Alexander
+took offence at the marriage negotiations; and thus was opened a
+breach in the Franco-Russian alliance which other events were rapidly
+to widen, until Western and Central Europe hurled themselves against
+the East, and reached Moscow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT
+
+
+Napoleon's star had now risen to its zenith. After his marriage with a
+daughter of the most ancient of continental dynasties, nothing seemed
+lacking to his splendour. He had humbled Pope and Emperor alike:
+Germany crouched at his feet: France, Italy, and the Confederation of
+the Rhine gratefully acknowledged the benefits of his vigorous sway:
+the Czar was still following the lead given at Erfurt: Sweden had
+succumbed to the pressure of the two Emperors: and Turkey survived
+only because it did not yet suit Napoleon to shear her asunder: he
+must first complete the commercial ruin of England and drive
+Wellington into the sea. Then events would at last be ripe for the
+oriental schemes which the Spanish Rising had postponed.
+
+He might well hope that England's strength was running out: near the
+close of 1810 the three per cent consols sank to sixty-five, and the
+declared bankruptcies averaged 250 a month. The failure of the
+Walcheren expedition had led to terrible loss of men and treasure, and
+had clouded over the reputation of her leaders. After mutual
+recriminations Canning and Castlereagh resigned office and fought a
+duel. Shortly afterwards the Premier, the Duke of Portland, fell ill
+and resigned: his place was taken by Mr. Perceval, a man whose sole
+recommendation for the post was his conscientious Toryism and powers
+of dull plodding. Ruled by an ill-assorted Ministry and a King whose
+reason was now hopelessly overclouded, weakened by the strangling grip
+of the Continental System, England seemed on the verge of ruin; and,
+encouraged alike by the factious conduct of our parliamentary
+Opposition and by Soult's recent conquest of Andalusia, Napoleon bent
+himself to the final grapple by extending his coast system, and by
+sending Masséna and his choicest troops into Spain to drive the
+leopards into the sea.
+
+The limits of our space prevent any description of the ensuing
+campaign of Torres Vedras; and we must refer our readers to the ample
+canvas of Napier if they would realize the sagacity of Wellington in
+constructing to the north of Lisbon that mighty _tête de pont_ for the
+Sea Power against Masséna's veteran army. After dealing the staggering
+blow of Busaco at that presumptuous Marshal, our great leader fell
+back, through a tract which he swept bare of supplies, on this sure
+bulwark, and there watched the French host of some 65,000 men waste
+away amidst the miseries of hunger and the rains and diseases of
+autumn. At length, in November, Masséna drew off to positions near
+Santarem, where he awaited the succour which Napoleon ordered Soult to
+bring. It was in vain: Soult, puffed up by his triumphs in Andalusia,
+was resolved to play his own game and reduce Badajoz; he won his point
+but marred the campaign; and, at last, foiled by Wellington's skilful
+tactics, Masséna beat a retreat northwards out of Portugal after
+losing some 35,000 men (March, 1811). Wellington's success bore an
+immeasurable harvest of results. The unmanly whinings of the English
+Opposition were stilled; the replies of the Czar to Napoleon's demands
+grew firmer; and the patriots of the Peninsula stiffened their backs
+in a resistance so stubborn, albeit unskilful, that 370,000 French
+troops utterly failed to keep Wellington in check, and to stamp out
+the national defence in the summer of 1811.
+
+In truth, Napoleon had exasperated the Spaniards no less than their
+_soi disant_ king, by a series of provocations extending over the year
+1810. On the plea that Spain must herself meet the expenses of the
+war, he erected the four northern provinces into commands for French
+generals, who were independent of his brother's authority and levied
+all the taxes over that vast area (February). On May 29th he withdrew
+Burgos and Valladolid from Joseph's control, and divided the greater
+part of Spain for military and administrative purposes into districts
+that were French satrapies in all but name. The decree was doubly
+disastrous: it gave free play to the feuds of the French chiefs; and
+it seemed to the Spaniards to foreshadow a speedy partition of Spain.
+The surmise was correct. Napoleon intended to unite to France the
+lands between the Pyrenees and the Ebro. Indeed, in his conception,
+the conquest of Portugal was mainly desirable because it would provide
+his brother with an indemnity in the west for the loss of his northern
+provinces. Joseph's protests against such a partition of the land,
+which Napoleon had sworn at Bayonne to keep intact, were disregarded;
+but letters on this subject fell into the hands of the Spanish
+guerillas and were published by order of the Regency at Cadiz.
+Despised by the Spaniards, flouted by Napoleon, set at defiance by the
+French satraps, and reduced wellnigh to bankruptcy, the puppet King
+felt his position insupportable, and, hurrying to Paris, tendered his
+resignation of the crown (May, 1811). In his anxiety to huddle up the
+scandal, Napoleon appeased his brother, promised him one-fourth of the
+taxes levied by the French commanders, and coaxed or drove him to
+resume his thankless task at Madrid. But the doggedness of the
+Emperor's resolve may be measured by the fact that, even when on the
+brink of war with Russia, he defied Spanish national sentiment by
+annexing Catalonia to France (March, 1812).
+
+It seems strange that Napoleon did not himself proceed to Spain in
+order to direct the operations in person and thus still the jealousies
+of the Marshals which so hampered his armies. Wellington certainly
+feared his coming. At a later date he told Earl Stanhope that Napoleon
+was vastly superior to any of his Marshals: "There was nothing like
+him. He suited a French army so exactly.... His presence on the field
+made a difference of 40,000 men."[224] That estimate is certainly
+modest if one looks not merely at tactics but at the strategy of the
+whole Peninsular War. But the Emperor did not again come into Spain.
+At the outset of 1810 he prepared to do so; but, as soon as the
+Austrian marriage was arranged, he abandoned this salutary project.
+
+There were thenceforth several reasons why he should remain in or near
+Paris. His attentions to his young wife, and his desire to increase
+the splendour of the Court, counted for much. Yet more important was
+it to curb the clericals (now incensed at the imprisonment of the
+Pope), and sharply to watch the intrigues of the royalists and other
+malcontents. Public opinion, also, still needed to be educated; the
+constant drain of men for the wars and the increase in the price of
+necessaries led to grumblings in the Press, which claimed the presence
+of his Argus eye and the adoption of a very stringent censorship.[225]
+But, above all, there was the commercial war with England. This could
+be directed best from Paris, where he could speedily hear of British
+endeavours to force goods into Germany, Holland, or Italy, and of any
+change in our maritime code.
+
+Important as was the war in Spain, it was only one phase of his
+world-wide struggle with the mistress of the seas; and he judged that
+if she bled to death under his Continental System, the Peninsular War
+must subside into a guerilla strife, Spain thereafter figuring merely
+as a greater Vendée. Accordingly, the year 1810 sees the climax of his
+great commercial experiment.
+
+The first land to be sacrificed to this venture was Holland. For many
+months the Emperor had been discontented with his brother Louis, who
+had taken into his head the strange notion that he reigned there by
+divine right. As Napoleon pathetically said at St. Helena, when
+reviewing the conduct of his brothers, "If I made one a king, he
+imagined that he was _King by the grace of God_. He was no longer my
+lieutenant: he was one enemy more for me to watch." A singular fate
+for this king-maker, that he should be forgotten and the holy oil
+alone remembered! Yet Louis probably used that mediæval notion as a
+shield against his brother's dictation. The tough Bonaparte nature
+brooked not the idea of mere lieutenancy. He declined to obey orders
+from the brother whom he secretly detested. He flatly refused to be
+transferred from the Hague to Madrid, or to put in force the
+burdensome decrees of the Continental System.
+
+On his side, Napoleon upbraided him with governing too softly, and
+with seeking popularity where he should seek control. After the
+Walcheren expedition, he chid him severely for allowing the English
+fleet ever to show its face in the Scheldt; for "the fleets of that
+Power ought to find nothing but rocks of iron" in that river, "which
+was as important to France as the Thames to England."[226] But the
+head and front of his offending was that British goods still found
+their way into Holland. In vain did the Emperor forbid that American
+ships which had touched at English ports should be debarred from those
+of Holland. In vain did he threaten to close the Scheldt and Rhine to
+Dutch barges. Louis held on his way, with kindly patience towards his
+merchants, and with a Bonapartist obstinacy proof against fraternal
+advice or threats. At last, early in 1810, Napoleon sent troops to
+occupy Walcheren and neighbouring Dutch lands. It seemed for a time as
+though this was but a device to extort favourable terms of peace from
+England in return for an offer that France would not annex Holland.
+Negotiations to this effect were set on foot through the medium of
+Ouvrard and Labouchere, son-in-law of the banker Baring: Fouché also,
+without the knowledge of his master, ventured to put forth a
+diplomatic feeler as to a possible Anglo-French alliance against the
+United States, an action for which he was soon very properly
+disgraced.[227]
+
+The negotiation failed, as it deserved to do. Our objections were, not
+merely to the absurd proposal that we should give up our maritime code
+if Napoleon would abstain from annexing Holland and the Hanseatic
+towns, but still more against the man himself and his whole policy. We
+had every reason to distrust the good faith of the man who had
+betrayed the Turks at Tilsit, Portugal at Fontainebleau, and the
+Spaniards at Bayonne. To pause in the strife, to relax our hold on our
+new colonies, and to desert the Spaniards, in order to preserve the
+merely titular independence of Holland and the Hanse Towns, would have
+been an act of singular simplicity. Nor does Napoleon seem to have
+expected it. He wrote to his Foreign Minister, Champagny, on March
+20th, 1810: "From not having made peace sooner, England has lost
+Naples, Spain, Portugal, and the market of Trieste. If she delays much
+longer, she will lose Holland, the Hanse Towns, and Sicily." And
+surely this Sibylline conduct of his required that he should annex
+these lands and all Europe in order to exact a suitable price from the
+exhausted islanders. Such was the corollary of the Continental System.
+
+Meanwhile Louis, nettled by the inquisitions of the French
+_douaniers_, and by the order of his brother to seize all American
+ships in Dutch ports, was drawing on himself further reproaches and
+threats: "Louis, you are incorrigible ... you do not want to reign for
+any length of time. States are governed by reason and policy, and not
+by acrimony and weakness." Twenty thousand French troops were
+approaching Amsterdam to bring him to reason, when the young ruler
+decided to be rid of this royal mummery. On the night of July 1st he
+fled from Haarlem, and travelled swiftly and secretly eastwards until
+he reached Teplitz, in Bohemia. The ignominy of this flight rested on
+the brother who had made kingship a mockery. The refugee left behind
+him the reputation of a man who, lovable by nature but soured by
+domestic discords, sought to shield his subjects from the ruin into
+which the rigid application of the Continental System was certain to
+plunge them. That fate now befell the unhappy little land. On July 9th
+it was annexed to the French Empire, and all the commercial decrees
+were carried out as rigidly at Rotterdam as at Havre.
+
+At the close of the year, Napoleon's coast system was extended to the
+borders of Holstein by the annexation of Oldenburg, the northern parts
+of Berg, Westphalia, and Hanover, along with Lauenburg and the Hanse
+Towns, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck. The little Swiss Republic of
+Valais was also absorbed in the Empire.
+
+This change in North Germany, which carried the French flag to the
+shores of the Baltic, was his final expedient for assuring England's
+commercial ruin. As far back as February, 1798, he had recommended the
+extension of French influence over the Hanse Towns as a means of
+reducing his most redoubtable foe to surrender, and now there were two
+special reasons for this annexation. First, the ships of Oldenburg had
+been largely used for conveying British produce into North
+Germany;[228] and secondly, the French commercial code was so rigorous
+that no officials with even the semblance of independence could be
+trusted with its execution. On August 5th a decree had been
+promulgated at the Trianon, near Versailles, which imposed enormous
+duties on every important colonial product. Cotton--especially that
+from America--sugar, tea, coffee, cocoa, and other articles were
+subjected to dues, generally of half their value and irrespective of
+their place of production.
+
+[Illustration: CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER 1810]
+
+Traders were ordered to declare their possession of all colonial wares
+and to pay the duty, under pain of confiscation. Depôts of such goods
+within four days' distance from the frontiers of the Empire were held
+to be clandestine; and troops were sent forthwith into Germany,
+Switzerland, and Spain to seize such stores, a proceeding which
+aroused the men of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Berne to almost open
+resistance. It is difficult to see the reason for this decree, except
+on the supposition that the Continental System did not stop British
+imports, and that all tropical products were British.
+
+Napoleon's own correspondence shows that he believed this to be so. At
+that same time he issued orders that all colonial produce found at
+Stettin should be confiscated because it was evidently English
+property brought on American ships. He further recommended Murat and
+Eugène to press hard on such wares in order to replenish their
+exchequers and raise funds for restoring their commerce. Eugène must,
+however, be careful to tax American and colonial cotton most heavily,
+while letting in that of the Levant on favourable terms.
+
+Jerome, too, was bidden rigorously to enforce the Trianon tariff in
+Westphalia; and the hint was to be passed on to Prussia and the
+Rhenish Confederation that, by subjecting colonial goods to these
+enormous imposts, those States would gain several millions of francs
+"and the loss would fall partly on English commerce and partly on the
+smugglers."[229] In fact, all his acts and words at this time reveal
+the densest ignorance, not only of political economy, but of the
+elementary facts of commerce, as when he imagined that officials, who
+were sufficiently hard worked with watching a nimble host of some
+100,000 smugglers along an immense frontier, would also be able to
+distinguish between Syrian and American cottons, and to exact 800
+francs from 100 kilogrammes of the latter, as against 400 francs from
+the former, or that six times as much could ever be levied on Chinese
+teas as on other teas! Such a tariff called for a highly drilled army
+of those sufficiently rare individuals, honest _douaniers_, endowed
+also with Napoleonic activity and omniscience. But, as Chaptal
+remarked, the Emperor had never thought much about the needs of
+commerce, and he despised merchants as persons who had "neither a
+faith nor a country, whose sole object was gain." His own notion about
+commerce was that he could "make it manoeuvre like a regiment"; and
+this military conception of trade led him to entertain the fond hope
+that exchequers benefited by confiscation and prohibitive tariffs,
+that a "national commerce" could be speedily built up by cutting off
+imports, and that the burden of loss in the present commercial war
+fell on England and not on the continental consumer.
+
+Such was the penalty which the great man paid for scorning all new
+knowledge as _idéalogie_. The principles set forth by Quesnay, Turgot,
+and Adam Smith were to him mere sophistical juggling. He once said to
+Mollien: "I seek the good that is practical, not the ideal best: the
+world is very old: we must profit by its experience: it teaches that
+old practices are worth more than new theories: you are not the only
+one who knows trade secrets."[230] This was his general attitude
+towards the exponents of new financial or commercial views. Indeed, we
+can hardly think of this great champion of external control and state
+intervention favouring the open-handed methods of _laisser faire_.
+Unhappy France, that gave this motto to the world but let her greatest
+ruler emphasize her recent reaction towards commercial mediævalism!
+Luckless Emperor, who aspired to found the United States of Europe,
+but outraged the principle which most surely and lastingly works for
+international harmony, that of Free Trade!
+
+While the Trianon tariff sought to hinder the import of England's
+colonial products, or, failing that, to reap a golden harvest from
+them, Napoleon further endeavoured to terrify continental dealers from
+accepting any of her manufactures. His Fontainebleau decree of October
+18th, 1810, ordered that all such goods should be seized and publicly
+burnt; and five weeks later special tribunals were instituted for
+enforcing these ukases and for trying all persons, whether smugglers
+caught red-handed or shopkeepers who inadvertently offered for sale
+the cottons of Lancashire or the silks of Bengal.
+
+The canon was now complete. It only remained to convert the world to
+the new gospel of pacific war. The results were soon clearly visible
+in a sudden rise of prices throughout France, Germany, and Italy. Raw
+cotton now fetched 10 to 11 francs, sugar 6 to 7 francs, coffee 8
+francs, and indigo 21 francs, per pound, or on the average about ten
+times the prices then ruling at London.[231] The reason for this
+advantage to the English consumer and manufacturer is clear. England
+swayed the tropics and held the seas; and, having a monopoly of
+colonial produce, she could import it easily and abundantly, while the
+continental purchaser had ultimately to pay for the risks incurred by
+his shopkeeper, by British merchants, and by their smugglers, who "ran
+in" from Heligoland, Jersey, or Sicily. These classes vied in their
+efforts to prick holes in the continental decrees. Bargees and women,
+dogs and hearses, were pressed into service against Napoleon. The
+last-named device was for a time tried with much success near Hamburg,
+until the French authorities, wondering at the strange increase of
+funerals in a river-side suburb, peered into the hearses, and found
+them stuffed full with bales of British merchandise. This gruesome
+plan failing, others were tried. Large quantities of sand were brought
+from the seashore, until, unfortunately for the housewives, some
+inquisitive official found that it hailed from the West Indies.
+
+Or again, devious routes were resorted to. Sugar was smuggled from
+London into Germany by way of Salonica, that being now almost the only
+neutral port open to British commerce. Thence it was borne in panniers
+on the backs of mules over the Balkans to Belgrade, where it was
+transferred to barges and carried up the Danube. Another illicit trade
+route was from the desolate shores of Dalmatia through Hungary. The
+writer of a pamphlet, "England, Ireland, and America," states that his
+firm then employed 500 horses on and near that coast in carrying
+British goods into Central Europe, and that the cost of getting them
+into France was "about £28 per cwt., or more than fifty times the
+present freight to Calcutta." In fact, the result of the Emperor's
+economic experiments may be summed up in the statement of Chaptal that
+the general run of prices in France was higher by one-third than it
+was before 1789.
+
+Now the merest tyro might see that the difference in price above the
+normal level was paid by the consumer. The colonial producer, the
+British merchant and shipper were certainly harassed, and trade was
+dislocated; but, as Mollien observed, commerce soon adapted itself to
+altered conditions; and merchants never parted with their wares
+without getting hard cash or resorting to the primitive method of
+barter. Money was also frequently melted down in France and Germany so
+as to effect bargains with England in bars of metal. And so, in one
+way or another, trade was carried on, with infinite discomfort and
+friction, it is true; but it never wholly ceased even between England
+and France direct.
+
+In fact, Napoleon so clung to the old mercantilist craze of
+stimulating exports in order that they might greatly exceed the
+imports, as to favour the sending of agricultural produce to England,
+provided that such cargoes comprised manufactured goods. He allowed
+this privilege not only to his Empire but also to the Kingdom of
+Italy.[232] The difficulty was that England would not receive the
+manufactured goods of her enemies; and, as corn and cheese could not
+be exported to England, unless a certain proportion of silk and cloths
+went with them, the latter were got up so as to satisfy the French
+customs officers and then cast into the sea. It is needless to add
+that this export of manufactures to England, on which Napoleon prided
+himself, was limited to showy but worthless articles, which were made
+solely _ad usum delphinorum_.
+
+It was fortunate for us that Napoleon entertained these crude ideas on
+political economy; for his action opened for us a loophole of escape
+from a very serious difficulty. At that time our fast growing
+population was barely fed by our own wheat even after good seasons;
+and Providence afflicted us in 1809 and 1810 with very poor harvests.
+In 1810 the average price was 103 shillings the quarter, the highest
+ever known except in 1800 and 1801; and as commerce was dislocated by
+the Continental System and hand-labour was being largely replaced by
+the new power-looms and improved spinning machinery, the outlook would
+have been hopeless, had not our great enemy allowed us to import
+continental corn. This device, which he imagined would impoverish us
+to enrich his own States, was the greatest aid that he could have
+rendered to our hard-pressed social system; and readers of Charlotte
+Brontë's realistic sketches of the Luddite rioting in Yorkshire may
+imagine what would have befallen England if, besides lack of work and
+low wages, there had been the added horrors of a bread famine. But
+fortunately the curious commercial notions harboured by our foe
+enabled us in the winter of 1810-11 to get supplies of corn not only
+from Prussia and Poland but even from Italy and France.
+
+In one sense this incident has been misunderstood. It has been
+referred to by Porter[233] and other hopeful persons as proof positive
+that as long as we can buy corn we shall get it, even from our
+enemies. It proves nothing of the sort. Napoleon's correspondence and
+his whole policy with regard to licences, which we shall presently
+examine, shows clearly that he believed he would greatly benefit his
+own States and impoverish our people by selling us large stores of
+corn at a very high price. There is no hint in any of his letters that
+he ever framed the notion of _starving_ us into surrender. All that he
+looked to was the draining away of our wealth by cutting off our
+exports, and by allowing imports to enter our harbours much as usual.
+As long as he prevented us selling our produce, he heeded little how
+much we bought from his States: in fact, the more we bought, the
+sooner we should be bankrupt--such was his notion.
+
+It is strange that he never sought to cut off our corn-supplies. They
+were then drawn almost entirely from the Baltic ports. The United
+States and Canada had as yet only sent us a few driblets of corn. La
+Plata and the Cape of Good Hope were quite undeveloped; and our
+settlements in New South Wales were at that time often troubled by
+dearth. The plan of sealing up the cornfields of Europe from Riga to
+Trieste would have been feasible, at least for a few weeks; French
+troops held Danzig and Stettin; Russia, Prussia, and Denmark were at
+his beck and call; and an imperial decree forbidding the export of
+corn from France and her allied States to the United Kingdom could
+hardly have failed to reduce us to starvation and surrender in the
+very critical winter of 1810-11. But that strange mental defect of
+clinging with ever increasing tenacity to preconceived notions led
+Napoleon to allow and even to favour exports of corn to us in the time
+of our utmost need; and Britain survived the strain.[234]
+
+What folly, however, to refer to the action of this man of one
+economic idea as being likely to determine the conduct of continental
+statesmen in some future naval war with England. In truth, the urgency
+of the problem of our national food-supply in time of a great war can
+only be fully understood by those who have studied the Napoleonic era.
+England then grew nearly enough corn for her needs; her fleets swept
+the seas; and Napoleon's economic hobby left her foreign food-supply
+unhampered at the severest crisis. Yet, even so, the price of the
+quartern loaf rose to more than fifteenpence, and we were brought to
+the verge of civil war. A comparison of that time with the conditions
+that now prevail must yield food for reflection to all but the
+case-hardened optimists.
+
+But already Napoleon was convinced that the Continental System must be
+secretly relaxed in special cases. Despite the fulsome addresses which
+some Chambers of Commerce sent up, he knew that his seaports were in
+the depths of distress, and that French cotton manufacturers could not
+hope to compete with those of Lancashire now that his own tariff had
+doubled the price of raw cotton and dyes in France. He therefore hit
+upon the curious device of allowing continental merchants to buy
+licences for the privilege of secretly evading his own decrees. The
+English Government seems to have been the first to issue similar
+secret permits; but Napoleon had scarcely signed his Berlin Decree for
+the blockade of England before he connived at its infraction. When
+sugar, coffee, and other comforts became scarce, they were secretly
+imported from perfidious Albion for the imperial table. The final
+stage was reached in July, 1810, when licences to import forbidden
+goods were secretly sold to favoured merchants, and many
+officials--among them Bourrienne--reaped a rich harvest from the sale
+of these imperial indulgences. Merchants were so eager to evade the
+hated laws that they offered high prices to the treasury and
+_douceurs_ to officials for the coveted boon; and as much as £40,000
+is said to have been paid for a single licence.
+
+On both sides of the Channel this device was abhorred, but its results
+were specially odious in Napoleon's States, where the burdens to be
+evaded were far heavier than those entailed by the Orders in Council.
+In fact, the Continental System was now seen to be an organized
+hypocrisy, which, in order to ruin the mistress of the seas, exposed
+the peoples to burdens more grievous than those borne by England, and
+left all but the wealthiest merchants a prey to a grinding fiscal
+tyranny. And the sting of it all was its social injustice; for while
+the poor were severely punished, sometimes with death, for smuggling
+sugar or tobacco, Napoleon and the favoured few who could buy licences
+often imported these articles in large quantities. What wonder, then,
+that Russia and Sweden should decline long to endure these gratuitous
+hardships, and should seek to evade the behests of the imperial
+smuggler of the Tuileries!
+
+Nevertheless, as no inventive people can ever be thrown wholly on its
+own resources without deriving some benefit, we find that France met
+the crisis with the cheery patience and unflagging ingenuity which she
+has ever evinced. In a great Empire which embraced all the lands
+between Hamburg, Bayonne, and Rome, not to mention Illyria and
+Dalmatia, a great variety of products might readily reward the
+inventor and the husbandman. Tobacco, rice, and cotton could be reared
+in the southern portions. Valiant efforts were also made to get
+Asiatic produce overland, so as to disappoint the English cruisers;
+and the coffee of Arabia was taxed very lightly, so as to ruin the
+American producer. When the fragrant berry became more and more
+scarce, chicory was discovered by good patriots to be a palatable
+substitute, and scientific men sought to induce French manufacturers
+to use the isatis plant instead of indigo. Prizes were offered by the
+State and by local Chambers of Commerce to those who should make up
+for the lack of tropical goods and dyes.
+
+A notable discovery was made by Chaptal and Delessert, who improved on
+Markgraf's process of procuring sugar from beetroot and made it a
+practical success. Napoleon also hoped that a chemical substitute for
+indigo had been found, and exclaimed to a doleful deputation of
+merchants, who came to the Tuileries in the early summer of 1811, that
+chemistry would soon revolutionize commerce as completely as the
+discovery of the compass had done. Besides, the French Empire was the
+richest country in the world, and could almost do without foreign
+commerce, at least until England had given way; and that would soon
+come to pass; for the pressure of events would soon compel London
+merchants to throw their sugar and indigo into the Thames.[235]
+
+In reality, he placed commerce far behind agriculture, which he
+considered to be the basis of a nation's wealth and a nation's health.
+But he also took a keen interest in manufactures. The silk industry at
+Lyons found in him a generous patron. He ordered that the best
+scientific training should there be given, so as to improve the
+processes of manufacture; and, as silk of nearly all kinds could be
+produced in France and Italy, Lyons was comparatively prosperous.
+When, however, it suffered from the general rise of prices and from
+the impaired buying power of the community, he adopted heroic
+remedies. He ordered that all ships leaving France should carry silk
+fabrics equal in value to one-fourth of the whole freight; but whether
+these stuffs went to adorn women or mermaids seems an open question.
+Or again, on the advice of Chaptal, the Emperor made large purchases
+of surplus stocks of Lyons silk, Rouen cottons, and Ste. Antoine
+furniture, so as to prevent an imminent collapse of credit and a
+recrudescence of Jacobinism in those industrial centres; for as he
+said: "I fear a rising brought about by want of bread: I had rather
+fight an army of 200,000 men than that."[236]
+
+In the main, this policy of giving _panem et circenses_ was successful
+in France; at least, it kept her quiet. The national feeling ran
+strongly in favour of commercial prohibition. In 1787 Arthur Young
+found the cotton-workers of the north furious at the recent inroads of
+Lancashire cottons, while the wine-growers of the Garonne were equally
+favourable to the enlightened Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1786.
+It was Napoleon's lot to win the favour of the rigid protectionists,
+while not alienating that of the men of the Gironde, who saw in him
+the champion of agrarian liberty against the feudal nobles. Moreover,
+the nation still cherished the pathetic belief that the war was due to
+Albion's perfidy respecting Malta, and burned with a desire to
+chastise the recreant islanders. For these reasons, Frenchmen endured
+the drain of men and money with but little show of grumbling.
+
+They were tired of the wars. _We have had enough glory_, they said,
+even in the capital itself, and an acute German observer describes the
+feeling there as curiously mixed. Parisian gaiety often found vent in
+lampoons against the Emperor; and much satire at his expense might
+with safety be indulged in among a crowd, provided it were seasoned
+with wit. The people seemed not to fear Napoleon, as he was feared in
+Germany: the old revolutionary party was still active and might easily
+become far more dangerous than the royalist coteries of the Boulevard
+St. Germain. For the rest, they were all so accustomed to political
+change that they looked on his government as provisional, and put up
+with him only as long as the army triumphed abroad and he could make
+his power felt at home. Such was the impression of Paris gained by
+Varnhagen von Ense. Public opinion in the provinces seems to have been
+more favourable to Napoleon; and, on the whole, pride in the army and
+in the vigorous administration which that nation loves, above all,
+hatred of England and the hope of wresting from her the world's
+empire, led the French silently to endure rigorous press laws,
+increased taxes, war prices, licences, and chicory.
+
+For Germans the hardships were much greater and the alleviations far
+less. They had no deep interest in Malta or in the dominion of the
+seas; and political economy was then only beginning to dawn on the
+Teutonic mind. The general trend of German thought had inclined
+towards the _Everlasting Nay_, until Napoleon flashed across its ken.
+For a time he won the admiration of the chief thinkers of Germany by
+brushing away the feudal cobwebs from her fair face. He seemed about
+to call her sons to a life of public activity; and in the famous
+soliloquy of Faust, in which he feels his way from word to thought,
+from thought to might, and from might to action, we may discern the
+literary projection of the influence exerted by the new Charlemagne on
+that nation of dreamers.[237] But the promise was fulfilled only in
+the most harshly practical way, namely, by cutting off all supplies of
+tobacco and coffee; and when Teufelsdröckh himself, admirer though he
+was of the French Revolution, found that the summons for his favourite
+beverage--the "dear melancholy coffee, that begets fancies," of
+Lessing--produced only a muddy decoction of acorns, there was the risk
+of his tendencies earthwards taking a very practically revolutionary
+turn.
+
+In truth, the German universities were the leaders of the national
+reaction against the Emperor of the West. Fichte's pleading for a
+truly national education had taken effect. Elementary instruction was
+now being organized in Prussia; and the divorce of thought from
+action, which had so long sterilized German life, was ended by the
+foundation of the University of Berlin by Humboldt. Thus, in 1810, the
+year of Prussia's deepest woe, when her brave Queen died of a stricken
+heart, when French soldiers and _douaniers_ were seizing and burning
+colonial wares, her thinkers came into closer touch with her men of
+action, with mutually helpful results. Thinkers ceased to be mere
+dreamers, and Prussian officials gained a wider outlook on life. The
+life of beneficent activity, to which Napoleon might have summoned the
+great majority of Germans, dawned on them from Berlin, not from Paris.
+
+His influence was more and more oppressive. The final results of his
+commercial decrees on the trade of Hamburg were thus described by
+Perthes, a well-known writer and bookseller of that town: "Of the 422
+sugar-boiling houses, few now stood open: the printing of cottons had
+ceased entirely: the tobacco-dressers were driven away by the
+Government. The imposition of innumerable taxes, door and window,
+capitation and land taxes, drove the inhabitants to despair." But the
+same sagacious thinker was able to point the moral of it all, and
+prove to his friends that their present trials were due to the selfish
+particularism of the German States: "It was a necessity that some
+great power should arise in the midst of the degenerate selfishness of
+the times and also prove victorious, for there was nothing vigorous to
+oppose it. Napoleon is an historical necessity."[238]
+
+Thus, both in the abodes of learning and in the centres of industry
+men were groping after a higher unity and a firmer political
+organization, which, after the Napoleonic deluge had swept by, was to
+lay the foundation of a New Germany.
+
+To all appearances, however, Napoleon's power seemed to be more firmly
+established than ever in the ensuing year. On March 20th, 1811, a son
+was born to him. At the crisis of this event, he revealed the warmth
+of his family instincts. On hearing that the life of mother or infant
+might have to be sacrificed, he exclaimed at once, "Save the
+mother."[239] When the danger was past, he very considerately informed
+Josephine, stating, "he has my chest, my mouth and my eyes. I trust
+that he will fulfil his destiny." That destiny was mapped out in the
+title conferred on the child, "King of Rome," which was designed to
+recall the title "King of the Romans," used in the Holy Roman Empire.
+
+Napoleon resolved that the old elective dignity should now be renewed
+in a strictly hereditary Empire, vaster than that of Charlemagne.
+Paris was to be its capital, Rome its second city, and the future
+Emperors were always to be crowned a second time at Rome. Furthermore,
+lest the mediæval dispute as to the supremacy of Emperor or Pope in
+Rome should again vex mankind, the Papacy was virtually annexed: the
+status of the pontiff was defined in the most Erastian sense, imperial
+funds were assigned for his support, and he was bidden to maintain two
+palaces, "the one necessarily at Paris, the other at Rome."
+
+It is impossible briefly to describe the various conflicts between
+Pius VII. and Napoleon. Though now kept in captivity by Napoleon, the
+Pope refused to ratify these and other ukases of his captor; and the
+credit which Napoleon had won by his wordly-wise Concordat was now lost
+by his infraction of many of its clauses and by his harsh treatment of
+a defenceless old man. It is true that Pius had excommunicated
+Napoleon; but that was for the crime of annexing the Papal States, and
+public opinion revolted at the spectacle of an all-powerful Emperor now
+consigning to captivity the man who in former years had done so much to
+consolidate his authority. After the disasters of the Russian campaign,
+he sought to come to terms with the pontiff; but even then the bargain
+struck at Fontainebleau was so hard that his prisoner, though unnerved
+by ill-health, retracted the unholy compromise. Whereupon Napoleon
+ordered that the cardinals who advised this step should be seized and
+carried away from Fontainebleau. Few of Napoleon's actions were more
+harmful than this series of petty persecutions; and among the
+influences that brought about his fall, we may reckon the dignified
+resistance of the pontiff, whose meekness threw up in sharp relief the
+pride and arrogance of his captor. The Papacy stooped, but only to
+conquer.
+
+For the present, everything seemed to favour the new Charlemagne.
+Never had the world seen embodied might like that of Napoleon's
+Empire; and well might he exclaim at the birth of the King of Rome,
+"Now begins the finest epoch of my reign." All the auguries seemed
+favourable. In France, the voice of opposition was all but hushed.
+Italians, Swiss, and even some Spaniards, helped to keep down Prussia.
+Dutchmen and Danes had hunted down Schill for him at Stralsund. Polish
+horsemen had charged up the Somosierra Pass against the Spanish guns,
+and did valiant service on the bloody field of Albuera. The
+Confederation of the Rhine could send forth 150,000 men to fight his
+battles. The Hapsburgs were his vassals, and only faint shadows of
+discord as yet clouded his relations with Alexander. One of his
+Marshals, Bernadotte, had been chosen to succeed to the crown of
+Sweden; and at the other end of Europe, it seemed that Wellington and
+the Spanish patriots must ultimately succumb to superior numbers.
+
+Surely now was the time for the fulfilment of those glowing oriental
+designs beside which his European triumphs seemed pale. In the autumn
+of 1810 he sent agents carefully to inspect the strongholds of Egypt
+and Syria, and his consuls in the Levant were ordered to send a report
+every six months on the condition of the Turkish Empire.[240] Above
+all, he urged on the completion of dockyards and ships of war. Vast
+works were pushed on at Antwerp and Cherbourg: ships and gunboats were
+to be built at every suitable port from the Texel to Naples and
+Trieste; and as the result of these labours, the Emperor counted on
+having 104 ships of the line, which would cover the transports from
+the Mediterranean, Cherbourg, Boulogne and the Scheldt, and threaten
+England with an array of 200,000 fighting men.[241]
+
+In March, 1811, this plan was modified, possibly because, as in 1804,
+he found the difficulties of a descent on our coasts greater than he
+first imagined. He now seeks merely to weary out the English in the
+present year. But in the next year, or in 1813, he will send an
+expedition of 40,000 men from the Scheldt, as if to menace Ireland;
+and, having thrown us off our guard, he will divide that force into
+four parts for the recovery of the French and Dutch colonies in the
+West Indies. He counts also on having a part of his army in Spain free
+for service elsewhere: it must be sent to seize Sicily or Egypt.
+
+But this was not all. His thoughts also turn to the Cape of Good Hope.
+Eight thousand men are to sail from Brest to seize that point of
+vantage at which he had gazed so longingly in 1803. Of these plans,
+the recovery of Egypt evidently lay nearest to his heart. He orders
+the storage at Toulon of everything needful for an Egyptian
+expedition, along with sixty gun-vessels of light draught suitable for
+the navigation of the Nile or of the lakes near the coast.[242] Decrès
+is charged to send models of these craft; and we may picture the eager
+scrutiny which they received. For the Orient was still the pole to
+which Napoleon's whole being responded. Turned away perforce by wars
+with Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Spain, it swung round towards Egypt
+and India on the first chance of European peace, only to be driven
+back by some untoward shock nearer home. In 1803 he counted on the
+speedy opening of a campaign on the Ganges. In 1811 he proposes that
+the tricolour shall once more wave on the citadel of Cairo, and
+threaten India from the shores of the Red Sea. But a higher will than
+his disposed of these events, and ordained that he should then be
+flung back from Russia and fight for his Empire in the plains of
+Saxony.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
+
+
+Two mighty and ambitious potentates never fully trust one another.
+Under all the shows of diplomatic affection, there remains a thick
+rind of reserve or fear. Especially must that be so with men who
+spring from a fierce untamed stock. Despite the training of Laharpe,
+Alexander at times showed the passions and finesse of a Boyar. And who
+shall say that the early Jacobinism and later culture of Napoleon was
+more than a veneer spread all too thinly over an Italian _condottiere_
+of the Renaissance age? These men were too expert at wiles really to
+trust to the pompous assurances of Tilsit and Erfurt. De Maistre tells
+us that Napoleon never partook of Alexander's repasts on the banks of
+the Niemen. For him Muscovite cookery was suspect.
+
+Amidst the glories of Erfurt, Oudinot saw an incident that revealed
+the Czar's hidden feelings. During one of their rides, the Emperors
+were stopped by a dyke, which Napoleon's steed refused to take;
+accordingly the Marshal had to help it across; but the Czar, proud of
+his horsemanship, finally cleared the obstacle with a splendid bound,
+though at the cost of a shock which broke his sword-belt. The sword
+fell to the ground, and Oudinot was about to hand it to Alexander,
+when Napoleon quickly said: "Keep that sword and bring it to me
+later": then, turning to the Czar, he added: "You have no objection,
+Sire?" A look of surprise and distrust flashed across the Czar's
+features; but, resuming his easy bearing, he gave his assent. Later in
+the day, Napoleon sent his own sword to Alexander, and thus came off
+easily best from an incident which threatened at first to throw him
+into the shade. The affair shows the ready wit and mental superiority
+of the one man no less than the veiled reserve and uneasiness of the
+other.
+
+At the close of 1809, Alexander confessed his inner feeling to
+Czartoryski. Napoleon, he said, was a man who would not scruple to use
+any means so long as he gained his end: his mental strength was
+unquestioned: in the worst troubles he was cool and collected: his
+fits of passion were only meant to intimidate: his every act was the
+result of calculation: it was absurd to say that his prodigious
+exertions would drive him mad: his health was splendid and was equal
+to any effort provided that he had eight hours' sleep every day. The
+impression left on the ex-Minister was that Alexander understood his
+ally thoroughly and _feared him greatly_.[243]
+
+A few days later came Napoleon's request for the hand of the Czar's
+sister, a request which Alexander declined with many expressions of
+goodwill and regret. What, then, was his surprise to find that, before
+the final answer had been returned, Napoleon was in treaty for the
+hand of an Austrian Archduchess.[244] This time it was for him to feel
+affronted. And so this breathless search for a bride left sore
+feelings at both capitals, at Paris because the Czar declined
+Napoleon's request, at St. Petersburg because the imperial wooer was
+off on another scent before the first had given out.
+
+Alexander's annoyance was increased by his ally's doubtful behaviour
+about Poland. After the recent increase of the Duchy of Warsaw he had
+urged Napoleon to make a declaration that "the Kingdom of Poland shall
+never be re-established." This matter was being discussed side by side
+with the matrimonial overtures; and, after their collapse, Napoleon
+finally declined to give this assurance which Alexander felt needful
+for checking the rising hopes of Poles and Lithuanians. The utmost the
+French Emperor would do was to promise, _in a secret clause_, that he
+would never aid any other Power or any popular movement that aimed at
+the re-establishment of that kingdom.[245] In fact, as the Muscovite
+alliance was on the wane, he judged it bad policy to discourage the
+Poles, who might do so much for him in case of a Franco-Russian war.
+He soon begins to face seriously the prospect of such an event. At the
+close of 1810 he writes that the Russians are intrenching themselves
+on the Dwina and Dniester, which "shows a bad spirit."
+
+But the great difficulty is Russia's imperfect observation of the
+Continental System. He begs the Czar to close his ports against
+English ships: 600 of them are wandering about the Baltic, after being
+repulsed from its southern shores, in the hope of getting into Russian
+harbours. Let Alexander seize their cargoes, and England, now at her
+last gasp, must give in. Five weeks later he returns to the charge. It
+is not enough to seize British ships; the hated wares get in under
+American, Swedish, Spanish, and Portuguese, _even under French flags_.
+Of the 2,000 ships that entered the Baltic in 1810, not one was really
+a neutral: they were all charged with English goods, with false papers
+and _forged certificates of origin manufactured in London_.[246] Any
+other unit among earth's millions would have been convinced of the
+futility of the whole enterprise, now that his own special devices
+were being turned against him. It was not enough to conquer and
+enchain the Continent. Every customs officer must be an expert in
+manufactures, groceries, documents, and the water-marks of paper, if
+he was to detect the new "frauds of the neutral flags."
+
+But Napoleon knew not the word impossible--"a word that exists only in
+the dictionary of fools." In fact, his mind, naturally unbending, was
+now working more and more in self-made grooves. Of these the deepest
+was his commercial warfare; and he pushed on, reckless of Europe and
+reckless of the Czar. In the middle of December he annexed the North
+Sea coast of Germany, including Oldenburg. The heir to this duchy had
+married Alexander's sister, whose hand Napoleon had claimed at Erfurt.
+The duke, it is true, was offered the district of Erfurt as an
+indemnity; but that proposal only stung the Czar the more. The
+deposition of the duke was not merely a personal affront; it was an
+infraction of the Treaty of Tilsit which had restored him to his
+duchy.
+
+A fortnight later, when as yet he knew not of the Oldenburg incident,
+Alexander himself broke that treaty.[247] At the close of 1810 he
+declined to admit land-borne goods on the easy terms arranged at
+Tilsit, but levied heavy dues on them, especially on the _articles de
+luxe_ that mostly hailed from France. Some such step was inevitable.
+Unable to export freely to England, Russia had not money enough to buy
+costly French goods without disordering the exchange and ruining her
+credit. While seeking to raise revenue on French manufactures, the
+Czar resolved to admit on easy terms all colonial goods, especially
+American. English goods he would shut out as heretofore; and he
+claimed that this new departure was well within the limits of the
+Treaty of Tilsit. Far different was Napoleon's view: "Here is a great
+planet taking a wrong direction. I do not understand its course at
+all."[248] Such were his first words on reading the text of the new
+ukase. A fatalistic tone now haunts his references to Russia's policy.
+On April 2nd he writes: "If Alexander does not quickly stop the
+impetus which has been given, he will be carried away by it next year;
+and thus war will take place in spite of him, _in spite of me_, in
+spite of the interests of France and Russia.... It is an operatic
+scene, of which the English are the shifters." What madness! As if
+Russia's craving for colonial wares and solvency were a device of the
+diabolical islanders.[249] As if his planetary simile were anything
+more than a claim that he was the centre of the universe and his will
+its guiding and controlling power.
+
+Nevertheless, Russia held on her way. In vain did Alexander explain to
+his ally the economic needs of his realm, protest his fidelity to the
+Continental System, and beg some consideration for the Duke of
+Oldenburg. It was evident that the Emperor of the West would make no
+real concession. In fact, the need of domination was the quintessence
+of his being. And Maret, Duc de Bassano, who was now his Foreign
+Minister, or rather, we should say, the man who wrote and signed his
+despatches, revealed the psychological cause of the war which cost the
+lives of nearly a million of men, in a note to Lauriston, the French
+ambassador at St. Petersburg. Napoleon, he wrote, cared little about
+interviews or negotiations unless the movements of his 450,000 men
+caused serious concern in Russia, recalled her to the Continental
+System as settled at Tilsit, and "brought her back to the state of
+inferiority in which she was then."[250]
+
+This was, indeed, the gist of the whole question. Napoleon saw that
+Alexander was slipping out of the leading strings of Tilsit, and that
+he was likely to come off best from that bargain, which was intended
+to confirm the supremacy of the Western Empire. For both potentates
+that treaty had been, at bottom, nothing more than a truce. Napoleon
+saw in it a means of subjecting the Continent to his commercial code,
+and of preparing for a Franco-Russian partition of Turkey. The Czar
+hailed it as a breathing space wherein he could reorganize his army,
+conquer Finland, and stride towards the Balkans. The Erfurt interview
+prolonged the truce; for Napoleon felt the supreme need of stamping
+out the Spanish Rising and of postponing the partition of Turkey which
+his ally was eager to begin. By the close of 1811 both potentates had
+exhausted all the benefits likely to accrue from their alliance.[251]
+Napoleon flattered himself that the conquest of Spain was wellnigh
+assured, and that England was in her last agonies. On the other hand,
+Russia had recovered her military strength, had gained Finland and
+planted her foot on the Lower Danube, and now sought to shuffle off
+Napoleon's commercial decrees. In fine, the monarch, who at Tilsit had
+figured as mere clay in the hands of the Corsican potter, had proved
+himself to be his equal both in cunning and tenacity. The seeming dupe
+of 1807 now promised to be the victor in statecraft.
+
+Then there was the open sore of Poland. The challenge, on this
+subject, was flung down by Napoleon at a diplomatic reception on his
+birthday, August 15th, 1811. Addressing the Russian envoy, he
+exclaimed: "I am not so stupid as to think that it is Oldenburg which
+troubles you. I see that Poland is the question: you attribute to me
+designs in favour of Poland. I begin to think that you wish to seize
+it. No: if your army were encamped on Montmartre, I would not cede an
+inch of the Warsaw territory, not a village, not a windmill." His
+fears as to Russia's designs were far-fetched. Alexander's sounding of
+the Poles was a defensive measure, seriously undertaken only after
+Napoleon's refusal to discourage the Polish nationalists. But it
+suited the French Emperor to aver that the quarrel was about Poland
+rather than the Continental System, and the scene just described is a
+good specimen of his habit of cool calculation even in seemingly
+chance outbursts of temper. His rhapsody gained him the ardent support
+of the Poles, and was vague enough to cause no great alarm to Austria
+and Prussia.[252]
+
+On the next day Napoleon sketched to his Ministers the general plan of
+campaign against Russia. The whole of the Continent was to be
+embattled against her. On the Hapsburg alliance he might well rely.
+But the conduct of Prussia gave him some concern. For a time she
+seemed about to risk a war _à outrance_, such as Stein, Fichte, and
+the staunch patriots of the Tugendbund ardently craved. Indeed,
+Napoleon's threats to this hapless realm seemed for a time to portend
+its annihilation. The King, therefore, sent Scharnhorst first to St.
+Petersburg and then to Vienna with secret overtures for an alliance.
+They were virtually refused. Prudence was in the ascendant at both
+capitals; and, as will presently appear, the more sagacious Prussians
+soon came to see that a war, in which Napoleon could be enticed into
+the heart of Russia, might deal a mortal blow at his overgrown Empire.
+Certainly it was quite impossible for Prussia to stay the French
+advance. A guerilla warfare, such as throve in Spain, must surely be
+crushed in her open plains; and the diffident King returned
+Gneisenau's plan of a rising of the Prussian people against Napoleon
+with the chilling comment, "Very good as poetry."
+
+Thus, when Napoleon wound up his diplomatic threats by an imperious
+summons to side with him or against him, Frederick William was fain to
+abide by his terms, sending 20,000 troops against Russia, granting
+free passage to Napoleon's army, and furnishing immense supplies of
+food and forage, the payment of which was to be settled by some future
+arrangement (February, 1812). These conditions seemed to thrust
+Prussia down to the lowest circle of the Napoleonic Inferno; and great
+was the indignation of her patriots. They saw not that only by
+stooping before the western blast could Prussia be saved. To this
+topic we shall recur presently, when we treat of the Russian plan of
+campaign.
+
+Sweden was less tractable than Napoleon expected. He had hoped that
+the deposition of his personal enemy, Gustavus IV., the enthronement
+of a feeble old man, Charles XIII., and the choice of Bernadotte as
+heir to the Swedish crown, would bring that land back to its
+traditional alliance with France. But, on accepting his new dignity,
+Bernadotte showed his customary independence of thought by refusing to
+promise that he would never bear arms against France--a refusal that
+cost him his principality of Ponte Corvo. He at once adopted a forward
+Scandinavian policy; and, as the Franco-Russian alliance waned, he
+offered Swedish succour to Napoleon if he would favour the acquisition
+of Norway by the Court of Stockholm.
+
+The Emperor had himself mooted this project in 1802, but he now
+returned a stern refusal (February 25th, 1811), and bade Sweden
+enforce the Continental System under pain of the occupation of Swedish
+Pomerania by French troops. Even this threat failed to bend the will
+of Bernadotte, and the Swedes preferred to forego their troublesome
+German province rather than lose their foreign commerce. In the
+following January, Napoleon carried out his threat, thereby throwing
+Sweden into the arms of Russia. By the treaty of March-April, 1812,
+Bernadotte gained from Alexander the prospect of acquiring Norway, in
+return for the aid of Sweden in the forthcoming war against Napoleon.
+This was the chief diplomatic success gained by Alexander; for though
+he came to terms with Turkey two months later (retaining Bessarabia),
+the treaty was ratified too late to enable him to concentrate all his
+forces against the Napoleonic host that was now flooding the plains of
+Prussia.[253]
+
+The results of this understanding with the Court of Stockholm were
+seen in the Czar's note presented at Paris at the close of April. He
+required of Napoleon the evacuation of Swedish Pomerania by French
+troops and a friendly adjustment of Franco-Swedish disputes, the
+evacuation of Prussia by the French, the reduction of their large
+garrison at Danzig, and the recognition of Russia's right to trade
+with neutrals. If these terms were accorded by France, Alexander was
+ready to negotiate for an indemnity for the Duke of Oldenburg and a
+mitigation of the Russian customs dues on French goods.[254] The
+reception given by Napoleon to these reasonable terms was unpromising.
+"You are a gentleman," he exclaimed to Prince Kurakin, "--and yet you
+dare to present to me such proposals?--You are acting as Prussia did
+before Jena." Alexander had already given up all hope of peace. A week
+before that scene, he had left St. Petersburg for the army, knowing
+full well that Napoleon's cast-iron will might be shivered by a mighty
+blow, but could never be bent by diplomacy.
+
+On his side, Napoleon sought to overawe his eastern rival by a display
+of imposing force. Lord of a dominion that far excelled that of the
+Czar in material resources, suzerain of seven kingdoms and thirty
+principalities, he called his allies and vassals about him at Dresden,
+and gave to the world the last vision of that imperial splendour which
+dazzled the imagination of men.
+
+It was an idle display. In return for secret assurances that he might
+eventually regain his Illyrian provinces, the Emperor Francis had
+pledged himself by treaty to send 30,000 men to guard Napoleon's flank
+in Volhynia. But everyone at St. Petersburg knew that this aid, along
+with that of Prussia, was forced and hollow.[255] The example of Spain
+and the cautious strategy of Wellington had dissolved the spell of
+French invincibility; and the Czar was resolved to trust to the
+toughness of his people and the defensive strength of his boundless
+plains. The time of the Macks, the Brunswicks, the Bennigsens was
+past: the day of Wellington and of truly national methods of warfare
+had dawned.
+
+Yet the hosts now moving against Alexander bade fair to overwhelm the
+devotion of his myriad subjects and the awful solitudes of his
+steppes. It was as if Peter the Hermit had arisen to impel the peoples
+of Western and Central Europe once more against the immobile East.
+Frenchmen to the number of 200,000 formed the kernel of this vast
+body: 147,000 Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine followed the
+new Charlemagne: nearly 80,000 Italians under Eugène formed an Army of
+Observation: 60,000 Poles stepped eagerly forth to wrest their
+nation's liberty from the Muscovite grasp; and Illyrians, Swiss, and
+Dutch, along with a few Spaniards and Portuguese, swelled the Grand
+Army to a total of 600,000 men. Nor was this all. Austria and Prussia
+sent their contingents, amounting in all to 50,000 men, to guard
+Napoleon's flanks on the side of Volhynia and Courland. And this
+mighty mass, driven on by Napoleon's will, gained a momentum which was
+to carry its main army to Moscow.
+
+After reviewing his vassals at Dresden, and hurrying on the
+arrangements for the transport of stores, Napoleon journeyed to the
+banks of the Niemen. On all sides were to be seen signs of the passage
+of a mighty host, broken-down carts, dead horses, wrecked villages,
+and dense columns of troops that stripped Prussia wellnigh bare. Yet,
+despite these immense preparations, no hint of discouragement came
+from the Czar's headquarters. On arriving at the Niemen, Napoleon
+issued to the Grand Army a proclamation which was virtually a
+declaration of war. In it there occurred the fatalistic remark:
+"Russia is drawn on by fate: her destinies must be fulfilled."
+Alexander's words to his troops breathed a different spirit: "God
+fights against the aggressor."
+
+Much that is highly conjectural has been written about the plans of
+campaign of the two Emperors. That of Napoleon may be briefly stated:
+it was to find out the enemy's chief forces, divide them, or cut them
+from their communications, and beat them in detail. In other words, he
+never started with any set plan of campaign, other than the
+destruction of the chief opposing force. But, in the present instance,
+it may be questioned whether he had not sought by his exasperating
+provocations to drive Prussia into alliance with the Czar. In that
+case, Alexander would have been bound in honour to come to the aid of
+his ally. And if the Russians ventured across the Niemen, or the
+Vistula, as Napoleon at first believed they would,[256] his task would
+doubtless have been as easy as it proved at Friedland. Many Prussian
+officers, so Müffling asserts, believed that this was the aim of
+French diplomacy in the early autumn of 1811, and that the best reply
+was an unconditional surrender. On the other hand, there is the fact
+that St. Marsan, Napoleon's ambassador at Berlin, assured that
+Government, on October 29th, that his master did not wish to destroy
+Prussia, but laid much stress on the supplies which she could furnish
+him--a support that would enable the Grand Army to advance on the
+Niemen _like a rushing stream_.
+
+The metaphor was strangely imprudent. It almost invited Prussia to
+open wide her sluices and let the flood foam away on to the sandy
+wastes of Lithuania; and we may fancy that the more discerning minds
+at Berlin now saw the advantage of a policy which would entice the
+French into the wastes of Muscovy. It is strange that Napoleon's
+Syrian adage, "Never make war against a desert," did not now recur to
+his mind. But he gradually steeled himself to the conviction that war
+with Alexander was inevitable, and that the help of Austria and
+Prussia would enable him to beat back the Muscovite hordes into their
+eastern steppes. For a time he had unquestionably thought of
+destroying Prussia before he attacked the Czar; but he finally decided
+to postpone her fate until he had used her for the overthrow of
+Russia.[257]
+
+After the experiences of Austerlitz and Friedland, the advantages of a
+defensive campaign could not escape the notice of the Czar. As early
+as October, 1811, when Scharnhorst was at St. Petersburg, he discussed
+these questions with him; and not all that officer's pleading for the
+cause of Prussian independence induced Alexander to offer armed help
+unless the French committed a wanton aggression on Königsberg. Seeing
+that there was no hope of bringing the Russians far to the west,
+Scharnhorst seems finally to have counselled a Fabian strategy for the
+ensuing war; and, when at Vienna, he drew up a memoir in this sense
+for the guidance of the Czar.[258]
+
+Alexander was certainly much in need of sound guidance. Though
+Scharnhorst had pointed out the way of salvation, a strategic tempter
+was soon at hand in the person of General von Phull, an uncompromising
+theorist who planned campaigns with an unquestioning devotion to
+abstract principles. Untaught by the catastrophes of the past,
+Alexander once more let his enthusiasm for theories and principles
+lead him to the brink of the abyss. Phull captivated him by setting
+forth the true plan of a defensive campaign which he had evolved from
+patient study of the Seven Years' War. Everything depended on the
+proper selection of defensive positions and the due disposition of the
+defending armies. There must be two armies of defence, and at least
+one great intrenched camp. One army must oppose the invader on a line
+near, or leading up to, the camp; while the other army must manoeuvre
+on his rear or flanks. And the camp must be so placed as to stretch
+its protecting influence over one, or more, important roads. It need
+not be on any one of them: in fact, it was better that it should be
+some distance away; for it thus fulfilled better the all-important
+function of a "flanking position."
+
+Such a position Phull had discovered at Drissa in a curve of the River
+Dwina. It was sufficiently far from the roads leading from the Niemen
+to St. Petersburg and to Moscow efficiently to protect them both.
+There, accordingly, he suggested that vast earthworks should be
+prepared; for there, at that artificial Torres Vedras, Russia's chief
+force might await the Grand Army, while the other force harassed its
+flank or rear.[259]
+
+Napoleon had not probed this absurdity to its inmost depths: but he
+early found out that the Russians were in two widely separated armies;
+and this sufficed to decide his movements and the early part of the
+campaign. Having learnt that one army was near Vilna, and the other in
+front of the marshes of the Pripet, he sought to hold them apart by a
+rapid irruption into the intervening space, and thereafter to destroy
+them piecemeal. Never was a visionary theory threatened by a more
+terrible realism. For Napoleon at midsummer was mustering a third of a
+million of men on the banks of the Niemen, while the Russians, with
+little more than half those numbers as yet available for the
+fighting-line, had them spread out over an immense space, so as to
+facilitate those flanking operations on which Phull set such
+store.[260]
+
+On the morn of June 23rd, three immense French columns wound their way
+to the pontoon bridges hastily thrown over the Niemen near Kovno; and
+loud shouts of triumph greeted the great leader as the vanguard set
+foot on Lithuanian soil. No Russians were seen except a few light
+horsemen, who galloped up, inquired of the engineers why they were
+building the bridges, and then rode hastily away. During three days
+the Grand Army filed over the river and melted away into the sandy
+wastes. No foe at first contested their march, but neither were they
+met by the crowds of downtrodden natives whom their fancy pictured as
+thronging to welcome the liberators. In truth, the peasants of
+Lithuania had no very close racial affinity to the Poles, whose
+offshoots were found chiefly among the nobles and the wealthier
+townsfolk. Solitude, the sultry heat of a Russian mid-summer, and
+drenching thunderstorms depressed the spirits of the invaders. The
+miserable cart tracks were at once cut up by the passage of the host,
+and 10,000 horses perished of fatigue or of disease caused by the rank
+grass, in the fifty miles' march from the Niemen to Vilna.
+
+The difficulties of the transport service began at once, and they were
+to increase with every day's march. With his usual foresight, Napoleon
+had ordered the collection of immense stores of all kinds at Danzig,
+his chief base of supplies. Two million pairs of boots were required
+for the wear and tear of a long campaign, and all preparations were on
+the same colossal scale. In this connection it is noteworthy that no
+small proportion of the cloaks and boots came from England, as the
+industrial resources of the Continent were wholly unequal to supplying
+the crusaders of the Continental System.
+
+A great part of those stores never reached the troops in Russia. The
+wherries sent from Danzig to the Niemen were often snapped up by
+British cruisers, and the carriage of stores from the Niemen entailed
+so frightful a waste of horseflesh that only the most absolute
+necessaries could keep pace with the army in its rapid advance. The
+men were thus left without food except such as marauding could extort.
+In this art Napoleon's troops were experts. Many miles of country were
+scoured on either side of the line of march, and the Emperor, on
+reaching Vilna, had to order Ney to send out cavalry patrols to gather
+in the stragglers, who were committing "horrible devastations" and
+would "fall into the hands of the Cossacks."
+
+At Vilna the Grand Army met with a more cheering reception than
+heretofore. Deftly placing his Polish regiments in front and chasing
+the retiring Russians beyond the town, Napoleon then returned to find
+a welcome in the old Lithuanian capital. The old men came forth clad
+in the national garb, and it seemed that that province, once a part of
+the great Polish monarchy, would break away from the empire of the
+Czars and extend Napoleon's influence to within a few miles of
+Smolensk.[261] The newly-formed Diet at Warsaw also favoured this
+project: it constituted itself into a general confederation, declared
+the Kingdom of Poland to be restored, and sent a deputation to
+Napoleon at Vilna begging him to utter the creative words: "Let the
+Kingdom of Poland exist." The Emperor gave a guarded answer. He
+declared that he loved the Poles, he commended them for their
+patriotism, which was "the first duty of civilized man," but added
+that only by a unanimous effort could they now compel their enemies to
+recognize their rights; and that, having guaranteed the integrity of
+the Austrian Empire, he could not sanction any movement which would
+disturb its remaining Polish provinces. This diplomatic reply chilled
+his auditors. But what would have been their feelings had they known
+that the calling of the Diet at Warsaw, and the tone of its address
+to Napoleon; had all been sketched out five weeks before by the
+imperial stage manager himself? Yet such was the case.
+
+The scene-shifter was the Abbé de Pradt, Archbishop of Malines, whom
+Napoleon sent as ambassador to Warsaw, with elaborate instructions as
+to the summoning of the Diet, the whipping-up of Polish enthusiasm,
+the revolutionizing of Russian Poland, and the style of the address to
+him. Nay, his passion for the regulation of details even led him to
+inform the ambassador that the imperial reply would be one of praise
+of Polish patriotism and of warning that Polish liberty could only be
+won by their "zeal and their efforts." The trickery was like that
+which he had played upon the Poles shortly before Eylau. In effect, he
+said now, as then: "Pour out your blood for me first, and I will do
+something for you." But on this occasion the scenic setting was more
+impressive, the rush of the Poles to arms more ardent, the diplomatic
+reply more astutely postponed, and the finale more awful.[262]
+
+Still, the Poles marched on; but their devotion became more
+questioning. The feelings of the Lithuanians were also ruffled by
+Napoleon's reply to the Polish deputies: nor were they consoled by his
+appointment of seven magnates to regulate the affairs of the districts
+of Lithuania, under the ægis of French commissioners, who proved to be
+the real governors. Worst of all was the marauding of Napoleon's
+troops, who, after their long habituation to the imperial maxim that
+"war must support war," could not now see the need of enduring the
+pangs of hunger in order that Lithuanian enthusiasm might not cool.
+
+[Illustration: COMPAIGN IN RUSSIA]
+
+Meanwhile the war had not progressed altogether as he desired. His aim
+had been to conceal his advance across the Niemen, to surprise the two
+chief Russian armies while far separated, and thus to end the war on
+Lithuanian soil by a blow such as he had dealt at Friedland. The
+Russian arrangements seemed to favour his plan. Their two chief
+arrays, that led by the Czar and by General Barclay de Tolly, some
+125,000 strong north of Vilna, and that of Prince Bagration mustering
+now about 45,000 effectives, in the province of Volhynia, were
+labouring to carry out the strategy devised by Phull. The former was
+directly to oppose the march of Napoleon's main army, while the
+smaller Russian force was to operate on its flanks and rear. Such a
+plan could only have succeeded in the good old times when war was
+conducted according to ceremonious etiquette; it courted destruction
+from Napoleon. At Vilna the Emperor directed the movements that were
+to ensnare Bagration. Already he had urged on the march of Davoust,
+who was to circle round from the north, and the advance of Jerome
+Bonaparte's Westphalians, who were bidden to hurry on eastwards from
+the town of Grodno on the Upper Niemen. Their convergence would drive
+Bagration into the almost trackless marshes of the Pripet, whence his
+force would emerge, if at all, as helpless units.
+
+Such was Napoleon's plan, and it would have succeeded but for a
+miscalculation in the time needed for Jerome's march. Napoleon
+underrated the difficulties of his advance or else overrated his
+brother's military capacity. The King of Westphalia was delayed a few
+days at Grodno by bad weather and other difficulties; thus Bagration,
+who had been ordered by the Czar to retire, was able to escape the
+meshes closing around him by a speedy retreat to Bobruisk, whence he
+moved northwards. Napoleon was enraged at this loss of a priceless
+opportunity, and addressed vehement reproaches to Jerome for his
+slowness and "small-mindedness." The youngest of the Bonapartes
+resented this rebuke which ignored the difficulties besetting a rapid
+advance. The prospect of being subjected to that prince of martinets,
+Davoust, chafed his pride; and, throwing up his command, he forthwith
+returned to the pleasures of Cassel.
+
+By great good fortune, Bagration's force had escaped from the snares
+strewn in its path by the strategy of Phull and the counter-moves of
+Napoleon. The fickle goddess also favoured the rescue of the chief
+Russian army from imminent peril at Drissa. In pursuance of Phull's
+scheme, the Czar and Barclay de Tolly fell back with that army towards
+the intrenched camp on the Dwina. But doubts had already begun to
+haunt their minds as to the wisdom of Phull's plans. In fact, the bias
+of Barclay's nature was towards the proven and the practical. He came
+of a Scottish family which long ago had settled in Livonia, and had
+won prosperity and esteem in the trade of Riga. His ancestry and his
+early surroundings therefore disposed him to the careful weighing of
+evidence and distrust of vague theories. His thoroughness in military
+organization during the war in Finland and his unquestioned probity
+and open-mindedness, had recently brought him high into favour with
+the Czar, who made him War Minister. He had no wide acquaintance with
+the science of warfare, and has been judged altogether deficient in a
+wide outlook on events and in those masterly conceptions which mark
+the great warrior.[263] But nations are sometimes ruined by lofty
+genius, while at times they may be saved by humdrum prudence; and
+Barclay's common sense had no small share in saving Russia.
+
+Two months before the Grand Army passed the Niemen, he had expressed
+the hope that God would send retreat to the Russian armies; and we may
+safely attribute to his influence with the Czar the timely order to
+Bagration to desist from flanking tactics and beat a retreat while yet
+there was time. That portion of Phull's strategy having signally
+failed, Alexander naturally became more suspicious about the Drissa
+plan; and during the retirement from Vilna, he ordered a survey of the
+works to be made by Phull's adjutant, a young German named Clausewitz,
+who was destined to win a name as an authority in strategy. This
+officer was unable conscientiously to present a cheering report. He
+found the camp deficient in many respects. Nevertheless, Alexander
+still clung to the hope of checking the French advance before these
+great intrenchments.
+
+On his arrival there, on July 8th, this hope also was dashed. Michaud,
+a young Sardinian engineer, pointed out several serious defects in
+their construction. Barclay also protested against shutting up a large
+part of the defending army in a camp which could easily be blockaded
+by Napoleon's vast forces. Finally, as the Russian reserves stationed
+there proved to be disappointingly weak both in numbers and
+efficiency, the Czar determined to evacuate the camp, intrust the sole
+command to Barclay, and retire to his northern capital. It is said
+that, before he left the army, the Grand Duke Constantine, a friend of
+the French cause, made a last effort to induce him to come to terms
+with Napoleon, now that the plan of campaign had failed. If so,
+Alexander repelled the attempt. Pride as a ruler and a just resentment
+against Napoleon prevented any compromise; and probably he now saw
+that safety for himself and ruin for his foe lay in the firm adoption
+of that Fabian policy of retreat and delay, which Scharnhorst had
+advocated and Barclay was now determined to carry out.
+
+Though still hampered by the intrigues of Constantine, Bennigsen, and
+other generals, who hated him as a foreigner and feigned to despise
+him as a coward, Barclay at once took the step which he had long felt
+to be necessary; he ordered a retreat which would bring him into touch
+with Bagration. Accordingly, leaving Wittgenstein with 25,000 men to
+hold Oudinot's corps in check on the middle Dwina, he marched
+eastwards towards Vitepsk. True, he left St. Petersburg open to
+attack; but it was not likely that Napoleon, when the summer was far
+spent, would press so far north and forego his usual plan of striking
+at the enemy's chief forces. He would certainly seek to hinder the
+junction of the two Russian armies, as soon as he saw that this was
+Barclay's aim. Such proved to be the case. Napoleon soon penetrated
+his design, and strove to frustrate it by a rapid move from Vilna
+towards Polotsk on Barclay's flank, but he failed to cut into his line
+of march, and once more had to pursue.
+
+Despite the heavy shrinkage in the Grand Army caused by a remorseless
+rush through a country wellnigh stripped of supplies, the Emperor
+sought to force on a general engagement. He hoped to catch Barclay at
+Vitepsk. "The whole Russian army is at Vitepsk--we are on the eve of
+great events," he writes on July 25th. But the Russians skilfully
+withdrew by night from their position in front of that town, which he
+entered on July 28th. Chagrined and perplexed, the chief stays a
+fortnight to organize supplies and stores, while his vanguard presses
+on to envelop the Russians at Smolensk. Again his hopes revive when he
+hears that Barclay and Bagration are about to join near that city. In
+fact, those leaders there concluded that strategic movement to the
+rear which was absolutely necessary if they were not to be overwhelmed
+singly. They viewed the retreat in a very different light. To the
+cautious Barclay it portended a triumph long deferred, but sure: while
+the more impulsive Muscovite looked upon the constant falling back as
+a national disgrace.
+
+The feelings of the soldiery also forbade a spiritless abandonment of
+the holy city of the Upper Dnieper that stands as sentinel to Russia
+Proper. On these feelings Napoleon counted, and rightly. He was now in
+no haste to strike: the blow must be crushing and final. At last he
+hears that Davoust, the leader whose devotion and methodical
+persistence merit his complete trust, has bridged the River Dnieper
+below the city, and has built ovens for supplying the host with bread.
+And having now drawn up troops and supplies from the rear, he pushes
+on to end the campaign.
+
+Barclay was still for retreat; but religious sentiment and patriotism
+bade the defenders stand firm behind those crumbling walls, while
+Bagration secured the line of retreat. The French, ranged
+around on the low hills which ring it on the south, looked for an easy
+triumph, and Napoleon seems to have felt an excess of confidence. At
+any rate, his dispositions were far from masterly. He made no serious
+effort to threaten the Russian communications with Moscow, nor did he
+wait for his artillery to overwhelm the ramparts and their defenders.
+The corps of Ney, Davoust, and Poniatowski, with Murat's cavalry and
+the Imperial Guard posted in reserve, promised an easy victory, and
+the dense columns of foot moved eagerly to the assault. They were
+received with a terrific fire. Only after three hours' desperate
+fighting did they master the southern suburbs, and at nightfall the
+walls still defied their assaults. Yet in the meantime Napoleon's
+cannon had done their work. The wooden houses were everywhere on fire;
+a speedy retreat alone could save the garrison from ruin; and amidst a
+whirlwind of flame and smoke Barclay drew off his men to join
+Bagration on the road to Moscow (August 17th).
+
+Once more, then, the Russian army had slipped from Napoleon's grasp,
+though this time it dealt him a loss of 12,000 in killed or wounded.
+And the momentous question faced him whether he should halt, now that
+summer was on the wane, or snatch under the walls of Moscow the
+triumph which Vilna, Vitepsk, and Smolensk had promised and denied. It
+is stated by that melodramatic narrator, Count Philip Ségur, that on
+entering Vitepsk, the Emperor exclaimed: "The campaign of 1812 is
+ended, that of 1813 will do the rest." But the whole of Napoleon's
+"Correspondence" refutes the anecdote. Besides, it was not Napoleon's
+habit to go into winter quarters in July, or to rest before he had
+defeated the enemy's main army.[264]
+
+At Smolensk the question wore another aspect. Napoleon told Metternich
+at Dresden that he would not in the present year advance beyond
+Smolensk, but would organize Lithuania during winter and advance again
+in the spring of 1813, adding: "My enterprise is one of those of which
+the solution is to be found in patience." A policy of masterly
+inactivity certainly commended itself to his Marshals. But the desire
+to crush the enemy's rear drew Ney and Murat into a sharp affair at
+Valutino or Lubino: the French lost heavily, but finally gained the
+position: and the hope that the foe were determined to fight the
+decisive battle at Dorogobuzh lured Napoleon on, despite his earlier
+decision.[265] Besides, his position seemed less hazardous than it was
+before Austerlitz. The Grand Army was decidedly superior to the united
+forces of Barclay and Bagration. On the Dwina, Oudinot held the
+Russians at bay; and when he was wounded, his successor, Gouvion St.
+Cyr, displayed a tactical skill which enabled him easily to foil a
+mere fighter like Wittgenstein. On the French right flank, affairs
+were less promising; for the ending of the Russo-Turkish war now left
+the Russian army of the Pruth free to march into Volhynia. But, for
+the present, Napoleon was able to summon up strong reserves under
+Victor, and assure his rear.
+
+With full confidence, then, he pressed onwards to wrest from Fortune
+one last favour. It was granted to him at Borodino. There the Russians
+made a determined stand. National jealousy of Barclay, inflamed by his
+protracted retreat, had at last led to his being superseded by
+Kutusoff; and, having about 110,000 troops, the old fighting general
+now turned fiercely to bay. His position on the low convex curve of
+hills that rise behind the village of Borodino was of great strength.
+On his right was the winding valley of the Kolotza, an affluent of the
+Moskwa, and before his centre and left the ground sloped down to a
+stream. On this more exposed side the Russians had hastily thrown up
+earthworks, that at the centre being known as the Great Redoubt,
+though it had no rear defences.
+
+Napoleon halted for two days, until his gathering forces mustered some
+125,000 men, and he now prepared to end the war at a blow. After
+surveying the Russian position, he saw Kutusoff's error in widely
+extending his lines to the north; and while making feints on that
+side, so as to prevent any concentration of the Muscovite array, he
+planned to overwhelm the more exposed centre and left, by the assaults
+of Davoust and Poniatowski on the south, and of Ney's corps and
+Eugène's Italians on the redoubts at the centre. Davoust begged to be
+allowed to outflank the Russian left; but Napoleon refused, perhaps
+owing to a fear that the Russians might retreat early in the day, and
+decided on dealing direct blows at the left and centre. As the 7th of
+September dawned with all the splendour of a protracted summer, cannon
+began to thunder against the serried arrays ranged along the opposing
+slopes, and Napoleon's columns moved against the redoubts and woods
+that sheltered the Muscovite lines. The defence was most obstinate.
+Time after time the smaller redoubts were taken and retaken; and
+while, on the French right centre, the tide of battle surged up and
+down the slope, the Great Redoubt dealt havoc among Eugène's Italians,
+who bravely but, as it seemed, hopelessly struggled up that fatal
+rise.
+
+Then was seen a soul-stirring sight. Of a sudden, a mass of
+Cuirassiers rushed forth from the invaders' ranks, flung itself
+uphill, and girdled the grim earthwork with a stream of flashing steel
+There, for a brief space, it was stayed by the tough Muscovite lines,
+until another billow of horsemen, marshalled by Grouchy and Chastel,
+swept all before it, took the redoubt on its weak reverse, and
+overwhelmed its devoted defenders.[266] In vain did the Russian
+cavalry seek to save the day: Murat's horsemen were not to be denied,
+and Kutusoff was at last fain to draw back his mangled lines, but
+slowly and defiantly, under cover of a crushing artillery fire.
+
+Thus ended the bloodiest fight of the century. For several hours 800
+cannon had dealt death among the opposing masses; the Russians lost
+about 40,000 men, and, whatever Napoleon said in his bulletins, the
+rents in his array were probably nearly as great. He has been censured
+for not launching his Guard at the wavering foe at the climax of the
+fight; and the soldiery loudly blamed its commander, Bessières, for
+dissuading his master from this step. But to have sacrificed those
+veterans to Russian cannon would have been a perilous act.[267] His
+Guard was the solid kernel of his army: on it he could always rely,
+even when French regulars dissolved, as often happened after long
+marches, into bands of unruly marauders; and its value was to be found
+out during the retreat. More fitly may Napoleon be blamed for not
+seeking earlier in the day to turn the Russian left, and roll that
+long line up on the river. Here, as at Smolensk, he resorted to a
+frontal attack, which could only yield success at a frightful cost.
+The day brought little glory to the generals, except to Ney, Murat,
+and Grouchy. For his valour in the _mêlée_, Ney received the title of
+Prince de la Moskwa.
+
+A week before this Pyrrhic triumph, Napoleon had heard of a terrible
+reverse to French arms in Spain. His old friend, Marmont, who had won
+the Marshal's baton after Wagram, measured his strength with
+Wellington in the plains of Leon with brilliant success until a false
+move near Salamanca exposed him to a crushing rejoinder, and sent his
+army flying back towards Burgos. Madrid was now uncovered and was
+occupied for a time by the English army (August 13th). Thus while
+Napoleon was gasping at Moscow, his brother was expelled from Madrid,
+until the recall of Soult from Andalusia gave the French a superiority
+in the centre of Spain which forced Wellington to retire to Ciudad
+Rodrigo. He lost the fruits of his victory, save that Andalusia was
+freed: but he saved his army for the triumphant campaign of 1813. Had
+Napoleon shown the like prudence by beating a timely retreat from
+Moscow, who can say that the next hard-fought fights in Silesia and
+Saxony would not have once more crowned his veterans with decisive
+triumph?
+
+As it was, the Grand Army toiled on through heat, dust, and the smoke
+of burning villages, to gain peace and plenty at Moscow. But when, on
+September the 14th, the conqueror entered that city with his vanguard,
+solitude reigned almost unbroken. A few fanatics, clinging to the
+tradition that the Kremlin was impregnable, idly sought to defend it;
+but troops, officials, nobles, merchants, and the great mass of the
+people were gone, and the military stores had been burnt or removed.
+Rostopchin, the governor, had released the prisoners and broken the
+fire engines. Flames speedily burst forth, and Bausset, the Prefect of
+Napoleon's Palace, affirms that while looking forth from the Kremlin
+he saw the flames burst forth in several districts in quick
+succession; and that a careful examination of cellars often proved
+them to be stored with combustibles, vitriol in one case being
+swallowed by a French soldier who took it for brandy! If all this be
+true, it proves that the Muscovites were determined to fire their
+capital. But their writers have as stoutly affirmed that the fires
+were caused by French and Polish plunderers.[268] Three days later,
+the powers of the air and the demons of drink and frenzy raged
+uncontrolled; and Napoleon himself barely escaped from the whirlwinds
+of flame that enveloped the Kremlin and nearly scorched to death the
+last members of his staff. For several hours the conflagration was
+fanned by an equinoctial gale, and when, on the 20th, it died down,
+convicts or plunderers kindled it anew.
+
+Yet the army did not want for shelter, and, as Sergeant Bourgogne
+remarks, if every house had been gutted there were still the caves and
+cellars that promised protection from the cold of winter. The real
+problem was now, as ever, the food-supply. The Russians had swept the
+district wellnigh bare; and though the Grand Army feasted for a
+fortnight on dainties and drink, yet bread, flour, and meat were soon
+very scarce. In vain did the Emperor seek to entice the inhabitants
+back; they knew the habits of the invaders only too well; and despite
+several distant raids, which sometimes cost the French dear, the
+soldiery began to suffer.
+
+October wore on with delusive radiance, but brought no peace. Soon
+after the great conflagration at Moscow, Napoleon sent secret and
+alluring overtures to Alexander, offering to leave Russia a free hand
+in regard to Turkey, inclusive of Constantinople, which he had
+hitherto strictly reserved, and hinting that Polish affairs might also
+be arranged to the Czar's liking.[269] But Alexander refused tamely to
+accept the fruits of victory from the man who, he believed, had burnt
+holy Moscow, and clung to his vow never to treat with his rival as
+long as a single French soldier stood on Russian soil. His resolve
+saved Europe. Yet it cost him much to defy the great conqueror to the
+death: he had so far feared the capture of St. Petersburg as to
+request that the Cronstadt fleet might be kept in safety in
+England.[270] But gradually he came to see that the sacrifice of
+Moscow had saved his empire and lured Napoleon to his doom. Kutusoff
+also played a waiting game. Affecting a wish for peace, he was about
+secretly to meet Napoleon's envoy, Lauriston, when the Russian
+generals and our commissioner, Sir R. Wilson, intervened, and required
+that it should be a public step. It seems likely, however, that
+Kutusoff was only seeking to entrap the French into barren
+negotiations; he knew that an answer could not come from the banks of
+the Neva until winter began to steal over the northern steppes.
+
+Slowly the truth begins to dawn on Napoleon that Moscow is not _the
+heart of Russia_, as he had asserted to De Pradt that it was.
+Gradually he sees that that primitive organism had no heart, that its
+almost amorphous life was widespread through myriads of village
+communes, vegetating apart from Moscow or Petersburg, and that his
+march to the old capital was little more than a sword-slash through a
+pond.[271] Had he set himself to study with his former care the real
+nature of the hostile organism, he would certainly never have ventured
+beyond Smolensk in the present year. But he had now merged the thinker
+in the conqueror, and--sure sign of coming disaster--his mind no
+longer accurately gauged facts, it recast them in its own mould.
+
+By long manipulation of men and events, it had framed a dogma of
+personal infallibility. This vice had of late been growing on him
+apace. It was apparent even in trifles. The Countess Metternich
+describes how, early in 1810, he persisted in saying that Kaunitz was
+her brother, in spite of her frequent disclaimers of that honour; and,
+somewhat earlier, Marmont noticed with half-amused dismay that when
+the Emperor gave a wrong estimate of the numbers of a certain corps,
+no correction had the slightest effect on him; his mind always
+reverted to the first figure. In weightier matters this peculiarity
+was equally noticeable. His clinging to preconceived notions, however
+unfair or burdensome they were to Britain, Prussia, or Austria, had
+been the underlying cause of his wars with those Powers. And now this
+same defect, burnt into his being by the blaze of a hundred victories,
+held him to Moscow for five weeks, in the belief that Russia was
+stricken unto death, and that the facile Czar whom he had known at
+Tilsit would once more bend the knee. An idle hope. "I have learnt to
+know him now," said the Czar, "Napoleon or I; I or Napoleon; we cannot
+reign side by side." Buoyed up by religious faith and by his people's
+heroism, Alexander silently defied the victor of Moscow and rebuked
+Kutusoff for receiving the French envoy.
+
+At last, on October 18th, the Russians threw away the scabbard and
+surprised Murat's force some forty miles south of Moscow, inflicting a
+loss of 3,000 men. But already, a day or two earlier, Napoleon had
+realized the futility of his hope of peace and had resolved to
+retreat. The only alternative was to winter at Moscow, and he judged
+that the state of French and Spanish affairs rendered such a course
+perilous. He therefore informed Maret that the Grand Army would go
+into winter quarters between the Dnieper and the Dwina.[272]
+
+There is no hint in his letters that he anticipated a disastrous
+retreat. The weather hitherto had been "as fine as that at
+Fontainebleau in September," and he purposed retiring by a more
+southerly route which had not been exhausted by war. Full of
+confidence, then, he set out on the 19th, with 115,000 men, persuaded
+that he would easily reach friendly Lithuania and his winter quarters
+"before severe cold set in." The veil was rudely torn from his eyes
+when, south of Malo-Jaroslavitz, his Marshals found the Russians so
+strongly posted that any further attack seemed to be an act of folly.
+Eugène's corps had suffered cruelly in an obstinate fight in and
+around that town, and the advice of Berthier, Murat, and Bessières was
+against its renewal. For an hour or more the Emperor sat silently
+gazing at a map. The only prudent course now left was to retreat north
+and then west by way of Borodino, _over his devastated line of
+advance_.[273] Back, then, towards Borodino the army mournfully
+trudged (October 26th):
+
+    "Everywhere (says Labaume) we saw wagons abandoned for want of
+    horses to draw them. Those who bore along with them the spoils of
+    Moscow trembled for their riches; but we were disquieted most of
+    all at seeing the deplorable state of our cavalry. The villages
+    which had but lately given us shelter were level with the ground:
+    under their ashes were the bodies of hundreds of soldiers and
+    peasants.... But most horrible was the field of Borodino, where we
+    saw the forty thousand men, who had perished there, yet lying
+    unburied."
+
+For a time, Kutusoff forbore to attack the sore-stricken host; but,
+early in November, the Russian horse began to infest the line of
+march, and at Viasma their gathering forces were barely held off: had
+Kutusoff aided his lieutenants, he might have decimated his famished
+foes.
+
+Hitherto the weather had been singularly mild and open, so much so
+that the superstitious peasants looked on it as a sign that God was
+favouring Napoleon. But, at last, on November the 6th, the first storm
+of winter fell on the straggling array, and completed its miseries.
+The icy blasts struck death to the hearts of the feeble; and the puny
+fighting of man against man was now merged in the awful struggle
+against the powers of the air. Drifts of snow blotted out the
+landscape; the wandering columns often lost the road and thousands
+forthwith ended their miseries. Except among the Old Guard all
+semblance of military order was now lost, and battalions melted away
+into groups of marauders.
+
+The search for food and fuel became furious, even when the rigour of
+the cold abated. The behaviour of Bourgogne, a sergeant in the
+Imperial Guard, may serve to show by what shifts a hardy masterful
+nature fought its way through the wreckage of humanity around: "If I
+could meet anybody in the world with a loaf, I would make him give me
+half--nay, I would kill him so as to get the whole." These were his
+feelings: he acted on them by foraging in the forest and seizing a pot
+in which an orderly was secretly cooking potatoes for his general.
+Bourgogne made off with the potatoes, devoured most of them
+half-boiled, returned to his comrades and told them he had found
+nothing. Taking his place near their fire, he scooped out his bed in
+the snow, lay under his bearskin, and clasped his now precious
+knapsack, while the others moaned with hunger. Yet, as his narrative
+shows, he was not naturally a heartless man: in such a situation man
+is apt to sink to the level of the wolf. The best food obtainable was
+horseflesh, and hungry throngs rushed at every horse that fell,
+disputing its carcass with the packs of dogs or wolves that hung about
+the line of march.[274]
+
+Smolensk was now the thought dearest to every heart; and, buoyed with
+the hope of rest and food, the army tottered westwards as it had
+panted eastwards through the fierce summer heats with Moscow as its
+cynosure. The hope that clung about Smolensk was but a cruel mirage.
+The wreck of that city offered poor shelter; the stores were exhausted
+by the vanguard; and, to the horror of Eugène's Italians, men swarmed
+out of that fancied abode of plenty and pounced on every horse that
+stumbled to its doom on the slippery banks of the Dnieper. With
+inconceivable folly, Napoleon, or his staff, had provided no means for
+roughing the horses' shoes. The Cossacks, when they knew this,
+exclaimed to Wilson: "God has made Napoleon forget that there was a
+winter here."
+
+Disasters now thickened about the Grand Army. During his halt at
+Smolensk (November 9th-14th), Napoleon heard that Victor's force on
+the Dwina had been worsted by the Russians, and there was ground for
+fearing that the Muscovite army of the Ukraine would cut into the line
+of retreat. The halt at Smolensk also gave time for Kutusoff to come
+up parallel with the main force, and had he pressed on with ordinary
+speed and showed a tithe of his wonted pugnacity, he might have
+captured the Grand Army and its leader. As it was, his feeble attack
+on the rearguard at Krasnoe only gave Ney an opportunity of showing
+his dauntless courage. The "bravest of the brave" fought his way
+through clouds of Cossacks, crossed the Dnieper, though with the loss
+of all his guns, and rejoined the main body. Napoleon was greatly
+relieved on hearing of the escape of this Launcelot of the Imperial
+chivalry. He ordered cannon to be fired at suitable intervals so as to
+forward the news if it were propitious; and on hearing their distant
+boomings, he exclaimed to his officers: "I have more than 400,000,000
+francs in the cellars of the Tuileries, and would gladly have given
+the whole for the ransom of my faithful companion in arms."[275]
+
+Far greater was the danger at the River Beresina. The Russian army of
+the south had seized the bridge at Borisoff on which Napoleon's safety
+depended, and Oudinot vainly struggled to wrest it back. The
+Muscovites burnt it under his eyes. Such was the news which Napoleon
+heard at Bobr on November 24th. It staggered him; for, with his usual
+excess of confidence, he had destroyed his pontoons on the banks of
+the Dnieper; and now there was no means of crossing a river, usually
+insignificant, but swollen by floods and bridged only by half-thawed
+ice. Yet French resource was far from vanquished. General Corbineau,
+finding from some peasants that the river was fordable three leagues
+above Borisoff, brought the news to Oudinot, who forthwith prepared to
+cross there. Napoleon, coming up on the 26th, approved the plan, and
+cheeringly said to his Marshal, "Well, you shall be my locksmith and
+open that passage for me."[276]
+
+To deceive the foe, the Emperor told off a regiment or two southwards
+with a long tail of camp-followers that were taken to be an army. And
+this wily move, harmonizing with recent demonstrations of the
+Austrians on the side of Minsk, convinced the Muscovite leader that
+Napoleon was minded to clasp hands with them.[277] While the Russians
+patrolled the river on the south, French sappers were working, often
+neck deep in the water, to throw two light bridges across the stream
+higher up. By heroic toil, which to most of them brought death, the
+bridges were speedily finished, and, as the light of November 26th was
+waning Oudinot's corps of 7,000 men gained a firm footing on the
+homeward side. But they were observed by Russian scouts, and when on
+the next day Napoleon and other corps had struggled across, the enemy
+came up, captured a whole division, and on the morrow strove to hurl
+the invaders into the river. Victor and the rearguard staunchly kept
+them at bay; but at one point the Russian army of the Dwina
+temporarily gained ground and swept the bridges and their approaches
+with artillery fire.
+
+Then the panic-stricken throngs of wounded and stragglers, women and
+camp-followers, writhed and fought their way until the frail planks
+were piled high with living and dead. To add to the horrors, one
+bridge gave way under the weight of the cannon. The rush for the one
+remaining bridge became yet more frantic and the day closed amidst
+scenes of unspeakable woe. Stout swimmers threw themselves into the
+stream, only to fall victims to the ice floes and the numbing cold. At
+dawn of the 29th, the French rearguard fired the bridge to cover the
+retreat. Then a last, loud wail of horror arose from the farther bank,
+and despair or a loathing of life drove many to end their miseries in
+the river or in the flames.
+
+Such was the crossing of the Beresina. The ghastly tale was told once
+more with renewed horrors when the floods of winter abated and laid
+bare some 12,000 corpses along the course of that fatal stream. It
+would seem that if Napoleon, or his staff, had hurried on the
+camp-followers to cross on the night of the 27th to the 28th, those
+awful scenes would not have happened, for on that night the bridges
+_were not used at all_. Grosser carelessness than this cannot be
+conceived; and yet, even after this shocking blunder, the devotion of
+the soldiers to their chief found touching expression. When he was
+suffering from cold in the wretched bivouac west of the river,
+officers went round calling for dry wood for his fire; and shivering
+men were seen to offer precious sticks, with the words, "Take it for
+the Emperor."[278]
+
+On that day Napoleon wrote to Maret that possibly he would leave the
+army and hurry on to Paris. His presence there was certainly needed,
+if his crown was to be saved. On November 6th, the day of the first
+snowstorm, he heard of the Quixotic attempt of a French republican,
+General Malet, to overthrow the Government at Paris. With a handful of
+followers, but armed with a false report of Napoleon's capture in
+Russia, this man had apprehended several officials, until the scheme
+collapsed of sheer inanity.[279] "How now, if we were at Moscow,"
+exclaimed the Emperor, on hearing this curious news; and he saw with
+chagrin that some of his generals merely shrugged their shoulders.
+After crossing the Beresina, he might hope that the worst was over and
+that the stores at Vilna and Kovno would suffice for the remnant of
+his army. The cold for a time had been less rigorous. The behaviour of
+Prussia and Austria was, in truth, more important than the conduct of
+the retreat. Unless those Powers were kept to their troth, not a
+Frenchman would cross the Elbe.
+
+At Smorgoni, then, on December the 5th, he informed his Marshals that
+he left them in order to raise 300,000 men; and, intrusting the
+command to Murat, he hurried away. His great care was to prevent the
+extent of the disaster being speedily known. "Remove all strangers
+from Vilna," he wrote to Maret: "the army is not fine to look upon
+just now." The precaution was much needed. Frost set in once more, and
+now with unending grip. Vilna offered a poor haven of refuge. The
+stores were soon plundered, and, as the Cossacks drew near, Murat and
+the remnant of the Grand Army decamped in pitiable panic. Amidst ever
+deepening misery they struggled on, until, of the 600,000 men who had
+proudly crossed the Niemen for the conquest of Russia, only 20,000
+famished, frost-bitten, unarmed spectres staggered across the bridge
+of Kovno in the middle of December. The auxiliary corps furnished by
+Austria and Prussia fell back almost unscathed. But the remainder of
+that mighty host rotted away in Russian prisons or lay at rest under
+Nature's winding-sheet of snow.[280]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE FIRST SAXON CAMPAIGN
+
+
+Despite the loss of the most splendid army ever marshalled by man,
+Napoleon abated no whit of his resolve to dominate Germany and dictate
+terms to Russia. At Warsaw, in his retreat, he informed De Pradt that
+there was but one step from the sublime _to the ridiculous_, that is,
+from the advance on Moscow to the retreat. At Dresden he called on his
+allies, Austria and Prussia, to repel the Russians; and at Paris he
+strained every nerve to call the youth of the Empire to arms. The
+summons met with a ready response: he had but to stamp his foot when
+the news from East Prussia looked ominous, and an array of 350,000
+conscripts was promised by the Senate (January 10th).
+
+In truth, his genius had enthralled the mind of France. The
+magnificence of his aims, his hitherto triumphant energy, and the
+glamour of his European supremacy had called forth all the faculties
+of the French and Italian peoples, and set them pulsating with
+ecstatic activity. He knew by instinct all the intricacies of their
+being, which his genius controlled with the easy decisiveness of a
+master-key. The rude shock of the Russian disaster served but to
+emphasize the thoroughness of his domination, and the dumb
+trustfulness of his forty-three millions of subjects.
+
+And yet their patience might well have been exhausted. His military
+needs had long ago drawn in levies the year before they were legally
+liable; but the mighty swirl of the Moscow campaign now sucked 150,000
+lads of under twenty years of age into the devouring vortex. In the
+Dutch and German provinces of his Empire the number of those who
+evaded the clutches of the conscription was very large. In fact, the
+number of "refractory conscripts" in the whole realm amounted to
+40,000. Large bands of them ranged the woods of Brittany and La
+Vendée, until mobile columns were sent to sweep them into the
+barracks.
+
+But in nearly the whole of France (Proper), Napoleon's name was still
+an unfailing talisman, appealing as it did to the two strongest
+instincts of the Celt, the clinging to the soil and the passion for
+heroic enterprise. Thus it came about that the peasantry gave up their
+sons to be "food for cannon" with the same docility that was shown by
+soldiers who sank death-stricken into a snowy bed with no word of
+reproach to the author of their miseries. A like obsequiousness was
+shown by the officials and legislators of France, who meekly listened
+to the Emperor's reproaches for their weakness in the Malet affair,
+and heard with mild surprise his denunciation against republican
+idealogy--_the cloudy metaphysics to which all the misfortunes of our
+fair France may be attributed_. No tongue dared to utter the retort
+which must have fermented in every brain.[281]
+
+But his explanations and appeals did not satisfy every Frenchman. Many
+were appalled at the frightful drain on the nation's strength. They
+asked in private how the deficit of 1812 and the further expenses of
+1813 were to be met, even if he allotted the communal domains to the
+service of the State. They pointed to allies ruined or lost; to Spain,
+where Joseph's throne still tottered from the shock of Salamanca; to
+Poland, lying mangled at the feet of the Muscovites; to Italy,
+desolated by the loss of her bravest sons; to the Confederation of the
+Rhine, equally afflicted and less resigned; to Austria and Prussia,
+where timid sovereigns and calculating Courts alone kept the peoples
+true to the hated French alliance. Only by a change of system, they
+averred, could the hatred of Europe be appeased, and the formation of
+a new and vaster Coalition avoided. Let Napoleon cease to force his
+methods of commercial warfare on the Continent: let him make peace on
+honourable terms with Russia, where the chief Minister, Romantzoff,
+was ready to meet him halfway: let him withdraw his garrisons from
+Prussian fortresses, soothe the susceptibilities of Austria--and
+events would tend to a solid and honourable peace.
+
+To all promptings of prudence Napoleon was deaf. His instincts and his
+experience of the Kings prevented him yielding on any important point.
+He determined to carry on the war from the Tagus to the Vistula, to
+bolster up Joseph in Spain, to keep his garrisons fast rooted in every
+fortress as far east as Danzig. Russia and Prussia, he said, had more
+need of peace than France. If he began by giving up towns, they would
+demand kingdoms, whereas by yielding nothing he would intimidate them.
+And if they did form a league, their forces would be thinly spread out
+over an immense space; he would easily dispose of their armies when
+they were not aided by the climate; and a single victory would undo
+the clumsy knot (_ce noeud mal assorti_).[282]
+
+In truth, if he left Spain out of his count, the survey of the
+military position was in many ways reassuring. England's power was
+enfeebled by the declaration of war by the United States. In Central
+Europe his position was still commanding. He held nearly all the
+fortresses of Prussia, and though he had lost a great army, that loss
+was spread out very largely over Poles, Germans, Italians, and smaller
+peoples. Many of the best French troops and all his ablest generals
+had survived. His Guard could therefore be formed again, and the
+brains of his army were also intact. The war had brought to light no
+military genius among the Russians; and all his past experience of the
+"old coalition machines" warranted the belief that their rusty
+cogwheels, even if oiled by English subsidies, would clank slowly
+along and break down at the first exceptional strain. Such had been
+the case at Marengo, at Austerlitz, at Friedland. Why should not
+history repeat itself?
+
+While he was guiding his steps solely by the light of past experience,
+events were occurring that heralded the dawn of a new era for Central
+Europe. On the 30th of December, the Prussian General Yorck, who led
+the Prussian corps serving previously under Macdonald in Courland,
+concluded the Convention of Tauroggen with the Russians, stipulating
+that this corps should hold the district around Memel and Tilsit as
+neutral territory, until Frederick William's decision should be known.
+Strictly considered, this convention was a grave breach of
+international law and an act of treachery towards Napoleon. The King
+at first viewed it in that light; but to all his subjects it seemed a
+noble and patriotic action. To continue the war with Russia for the
+benefit of Napoleon would have been an act of political suicide.
+
+Yet, for some weeks, Frederick William waited on events; and these
+events decided for war, not against Russia, but against France. The
+Prussian Chancellor, Hardenberg, did his best to hoodwink the French
+at Berlin, and quietly to play into the hands of the ardent German
+patriots. After publishing an official rebuke to Yorck, he secretly
+sent Major Thile to reassure him. He did more: in order to rescue the
+King from French influence, still paramount at Berlin, he persuaded
+him to set out for Breslau, on the pretext of raising there another
+contingent for service under Napoleon. The ruse completely succeeded:
+it deceived the French ambassador, St. Marsan: it fooled even Napoleon
+himself. With his now invariable habit of taking for granted that
+events would march according to his word of command, the Emperor
+assumed that this was for the raising of the corps of 30,000 men which
+he had requested Frederick William to provide, and said to Prince
+Hatzfeld (January 29th): "Your King is going to Breslau: I think it a
+timely step." Such was Napoleon's frame of mind, even after he heard
+of Yorck's convention with the Russians. That event he considered "the
+worst occurrence that could happen." Yet neither that nor the
+patriotic ferment in Prussia reft the veil from his eyes. He still
+believed that the Prussians would follow their King, and that the King
+would obey him. On February the 3rd he wrote to Maret, complaining
+that 2,000 Prussian horsemen were shutting themselves up in Silesian
+towns, "as if they were afraid of us, instead of helping us and
+covering their country."
+
+Once away from Berlin, Frederick William found himself launched on a
+resistless stream of national enthusiasm. At heart he was no less a
+patriot than the most ardent of the university students; but he knew
+far better than they the awful risks of war with the French Empire.
+His little kingdom of 4,700,000 souls, with but half-a-dozen
+strongholds it could call its own, a realm ravaged by Napoleon's
+troops alike in war and peace until commerce and credit were but a dim
+memory--such a land could ill afford to defy an empire ten times as
+populous and more than ten times as powerful. True, the Russians were
+pouring in under the guise of friendship; but the bitter memories of
+Tilsit forbade any implicit trust in Alexander. And, if the dross had
+been burnt out of his nature by a year of fiery trial, could his army,
+exhausted by that frightful winter campaign and decimated by the
+diseases which Napoleon's ghastly array scattered broadcast in its
+flight, ever hope, even with the help of Prussia's young levies, to
+cope with the united forces of Napoleon and Austria?
+
+For at present it seemed that the Court of Vienna would hold fast to
+the French alliance. There Metternich was all-powerful, and the
+keystone of his system was a guarded but profit-seeking subservience
+to Napoleon. Not that the Emperor Francis and he loved the French
+potentate; but they looked on him now as a pillar of order, as a
+barrier against Jacobinism in France, against the ominous
+pan-Germanism preached by Prussian enthusiasts, and against Muscovite
+aggandizement in Turkey and Poland. Great was their concern, first at
+the Russo-Turkish peace which installed the Muscovites at the northern
+mouth of the Danube, and still more at the conquering swoops of the
+Russian eagle on Warsaw and Posen. How could they now hope to gain
+from Turkey the set-off to the loss of Tyrol and Illyria on which they
+had recently been counting, and how save any of the Polish lands from
+the grip of Russia? For the present Russia was more to be feared than
+Napoleon. Her influence seemed the more threatening to the policy of
+balance on which the fortunes of the Hapsburgs were delicately poised.
+
+Only by degrees were these fears and jealousies laid to rest. It
+needed all the address of a British envoy, Lord Walpole, who repaired
+secretly to Vienna and held out the promise of tempting gains, to
+assuage these alarms, and turn Austria's gaze once more on her lost
+provinces, Tyrol, Illyria, and Venetia. For the present, however,
+nothing came of these overtures; and when the French discovered
+Walpole's presence at Vienna, Metternich begged him to leave.[283]
+
+For the present, then, Austria assumed a neutral attitude. A truce was
+concluded with Russia, and a special envoy was sent to Paris to
+explain the desire of the Emperor Francis to act as mediator, with a
+view to the conclusion of a general peace. The latest researches into
+Austrian policy show that the Kaiser desired an honourable peace for
+all parties concerned, and that Metternich may have shared his views.
+But, early in the negotiations, Napoleon showed flashes of distrust as
+to the sincerity of his father-in-law, and Austria gradually changed
+her attitude. The change was to be fatal to Napoleon. But the question
+whether it was brought about by Napoleon's obstinacy, or Metternich's
+perfidy, or the force of circumstances, must be postponed for the
+present, while we consider events of equal importance and of greater
+interest.
+
+While Austria balanced and Frederick William negotiated, the sterner
+minds of North Germany rushed in on the once sacred ground of
+diplomacy and statecraft. The struggle against Napoleon was prepared
+for by the exile Stein, and war was first proclaimed by a professor.
+
+Among the many influences that urged on the Czar to a war for the
+liberation of Prussia and Europe, not the least was that wielded at
+his Court in the latter half of 1812 by the staunch German patriot,
+Stein. His heroic spirit never quailed, even in the darkest hour of
+Prussia's humiliation; and he now pointed out convincingly that the
+only sure means of overthrowing Napoleon was to raise Germany against
+him. To remain on a tame defensive at Warsaw would be to court another
+French invasion in 1813. The safety of Russia called for a pursuit of
+the French beyond the Elbe and a rally of the Germans against the man
+they detested. The appeal struck home. It revived Alexander's longings
+for the liberation of Europe, which he had buried at Tilsit; and it
+agreed with the promptings of an ambitious statecraft. Only by
+overthrowing Napoleon's supremacy in Germany could the Czar gain a
+free hand for a lasting settlement of the Polish Question. The eastern
+turn given to his policy in 1807 was at an end--but not before Russia
+had taken another step towards the Bosphorus. With one leg planted at
+the mouth of the Danube, the Colossus now prepared to stride over
+Central Europe. The aims of Catherine II. in 1792 were at last to be
+realized. While Europe was wrestling with Revolutionary France, the
+Muscovite grasp was to tighten on Poland. It is not surprising that
+Alexander, on January 13th, commented on the "brilliance of the
+present situation," or that he decided to press onward. He gave little
+heed to the Gallophil counsels of Romantzoff or the dolorous warnings
+of the German-hating Kutusoff; and, on January 18th, he empowered
+Stein provisionally to administer in his name the districts of Prussia
+(Proper) when occupied by Russian troops.
+
+So irregular a proceeding could only be excused by dire necessity and
+by success. It was more than excused; it was triumphantly justified.
+Four days later Stein arrived at Königsberg, in company with the
+patriotic poet, Arndt. The Estates, or Provincial Assemblies, of East
+and West Prussia were summoned, and they heartily voted supplies for
+forming a Landwehr or militia, as well as a last line of defence
+called the Landsturm. This step, unique in the history of Prussia, was
+taken apart from, almost in defiance of, the royal sanction: it was,
+in fact, due to the masterful will of Stein, who saw that a great
+popular impulse, and it alone, could overcome the inertia of King and
+officials. That impulse he himself originated, and by virtue of powers
+conferred on him by the Emperor Alexander. And the ball thus set
+rolling at Königsberg was to gather mass and momentum until, thanks to
+the powerful aid of Wellington in the South, it overthrew Napoleon at
+Paris.
+
+The action of the exile was furthered by the word of a thinker and
+seer. A worthy professor at the University of Breslau, named Steffens,
+had long been meditating on some means of helping his country. The
+arrival of Frederick William had kindled a flame of devotion which
+perplexed that modest and rather pedantic ruler. But he so far
+responded to it as to allow Hardenberg to issue (February 3rd) an
+appeal for volunteers to "reinforce the ranks of the old defenders of
+the country." The appeal was entirely vague: it did not specify
+whether they would serve against the nominal enemy, Russia, or the
+real enemy, Napoleon. Pondering this weighty question, as did all good
+patriots, Steffens heard, in the watches of the night, the voice of
+conscience declare: "Thou must declare war against Napoleon." At his
+early morning lecture on Physics, which was very thinly attended, he
+told the students that he would address them at eleven on the call for
+volunteers. That lecture was thronged; and to the sea of eager faces
+Steffens spoke forth the thought that simmered in every brain, the
+burning desire for _war with Napoleon_. He offered himself as a
+recruit: 200 students from Breslau and 258 from the University of
+Berlin soon flocked to the colours, and that, too, chiefly from the
+classes which of yore had detested the army. Thanks to the teachings
+of Fichte and the still deeper lessons of adversity, the mind of
+Germany was now ranged on the side of national independence and
+against an omnivorous imperialism.
+
+Where the mind led the body followed, yet still somewhat haltingly. In
+truth, the King and his officials were in a difficult position. They
+distrusted the Russians, who seemed chiefly eager to force Frederick
+William into war with France and to arrange the question of a frontier
+afterwards. But the eastern frontier was a question of life and death
+for Prussia. If Alexander kept the whole of the great Duchy of Warsaw,
+the Hohenzollern States would be threatened from the east as
+grievously as ever they were on the west by the French at Magdeburg.
+And the Czar seemed resolved to keep the whole of Poland. He told the
+Prussian envoy, Knesebeck, that, while handing over to Frederick
+William the whole of Saxony, Russia must retain all the Polish lands,
+a resolve which would have planted the Russian standards almost on the
+banks of the Oder. Nay, more: Knesebeck detected among the Russian
+officials a strong, though as yet but half expressed, longing for the
+whole of Prussia east of the lower Vistula.
+
+For his part, Frederick William cherished lofty hopes. He knew that
+the Russian troops had suffered horribly from privations and disease,
+that as yet they mustered only 40,000 effectives on the Polish
+borders, and that they urgently needed the help of Prussia. He
+therefore claimed that, if he joined Russia in a war against Napoleon,
+he must recover the whole of what had been Prussian Poland, with the
+exception of the district of Bialystock ceded at Tilsit.[284] It
+seemed, then, that the Polish Question would once more exert on the
+European concert that dissolving influence which had weakened the
+Central Powers ever since the days of Valmy. Had Napoleon now sent to
+Breslau a subtle schemer like Savary, the apple of discord might have
+been thrown in with fatal results. But the fortunes of his Empire then
+rested on a Piedmontese nobleman, St. Marsan, who showed a singular
+credulity as to Prussia's subservience. He accepted all Hardenberg's
+explanations (including a thin official reproof to Steffens), and did
+little or nothing to countermine the diplomatic approaches of Russia.
+The ground being thus left clear, it was possible for the Czar to
+speak straight to the heart of Frederick William. This he now did.
+Knesebeck was set aside; and Alexander, meeting the Prussian demands
+halfway, promised in a treaty, signed at Kalisch on February 27th, to
+leave Prussia all her present territories, and to secure for her the
+equivalent, in a "statistical, financial, and geographical sense," of
+the lands which she had lost since 1806, along with a territory
+adapted to connect Prussia Proper with the province of Silesia.[285]
+
+It seems certain that Stein's influence weighed much with Alexander in
+this final compromise, which postponed the irritating question of the
+eastern frontier and bent all the energies of two great States to the
+War of Liberation. Stein was sent to Frederick William at Breslau; but
+the King hardly deigned to see him, and the greatest of German
+patriots was suffered to remain in a garret of that city during a
+wearisome attack of fever. But he lived through disease and official
+neglect as he triumphed over Slavonic intrigues; and he had at hand
+that salve of many an able man--the knowledge that, even while he
+himself was slighted, his plans were adopted with beneficent and
+far-reaching results.
+
+The Russo-Prussian alliance was firmly upheld by Lord Cathcart, the
+British ambassador to Russia, who reached headquarters on March the
+2nd. For the present, Great Britain did not definitely join the
+allies; but the discussions on the Hanoverian Question, which had
+previously sundered us from Prussia, soon proved that wisdom had been
+learnt in the school of adversity. The Hohenzollerns now renounced all
+claims to Hanover, though they showed some repugnance to our
+Prince-Regent's demand that the Electorate should receive some
+territorial gain.
+
+Thus the two questions on which Napoleon had counted as certain to
+clog the wheels of the Coalition, as they had done in the past, were
+removed, and the way was cleared for a compact firmer than any which
+Europe had hitherto known. On March 17th a Russo-Prussian Convention
+was concluded at Breslau whereby those Powers agreed to deliver
+Germany from France, to dissolve the Confederation of the Rhine, and
+to summon the German princes and people to help them; every prince
+that refused would suffer the loss of his States; and arrangements
+were made for the provisional administration of the lands which the
+allies should occupy. Frederick William also appealed to his people
+and to his army, and instituted that coveted order of merit, the Iron
+Cross.
+
+But there was small need of appeals and decorations. The people rushed
+to arms with an ardour that rivalled the _levée en masse_ of France in
+1793. Nobles and students, professors and peasants, poets and
+merchants, shouldered their muskets. Housewives and maidens brought
+their scanty savings or their treasured trinkets as offerings for the
+altar of the Fatherland. One incident deserves special notice. A girl,
+Nanny by name, whose ringlets were her only wealth, shore them off,
+sold them, and brought the price of them, two thalers, for the sacred
+cause. A noble impulse thrilled through Germany. Volunteers came from
+far, many of whom were to ride with Lützow's irregular horse in his
+wild ventures. Most noteworthy of these was the gifted young poet,
+Korner, a Saxon by birth, who now forsook a life of ease, radiant with
+poetic promise, at the careless city of Vienna, to follow the Prussian
+eagle. "A great time calls for great hearts," he wrote to his father:
+"am I to write vaudevilles when I feel within me the courage and
+strength for joining the actors on the stage of real life?" Alas! for
+him the end was to be swift and tragic. Not long after inditing an ode
+to his sword, he fell in a skirmish near Hamburg.
+
+Germany mourned his loss; but she mourned still more that her greatest
+poet, Goethe, felt no throb of national enthusiasm. The great Olympian
+was too much wrapped up in his lofty speculations to spare much
+sympathy for struggling mortals below: "Shake your chains, if you
+will: the man (Napoleon) is too strong for you: you will not break
+them." Such was his unprophetic utterance at Dresden to the elder
+Korner. Men who touched the people's pulse had no such doubts. "Ah!
+those were noble times," wrote Arndt: "the fresh young hope of life
+and honour sang in all hearts; it echoed along every street; it rolled
+majestically down every chancel." The sight of Germans thronging from
+all parts into Silesia to fight for their Prussian champions awakened
+in him the vision of a United Germany, which took form in the song,
+"What is the German's Fatherland?"[286]
+
+Against this ever-rising tide of national enthusiasm Napoleon pitted
+the resources which Gallic devotion still yielded up to his demands.
+They were surprisingly great. In less than half a year, after the loss
+of half a million of men, a new army nearly as numerous was marshalled
+under the imperial eagles. Thirty thousand tried troops were brought
+from Spain, thereby greatly relieving the pressure on Wellington.
+Italy and the garrison towns of the Empire sent forth a vast number.
+But the majority were young, untrained troops; and it was remarked
+that the conscripts born in the years of the Terror, 1793-4, had not
+the stamina of the earlier levies. Brave they were, superbly brave;
+and the Emperor sought by every means to breathe into them his own
+indomitable spirit. One of them has described how, on handing them
+their colours, he made a brief speech; and, at the close, rising in
+his stirrups and stretching forth his hand, he shot at them the
+question: "'You swear to guard them?' I felt, as we all felt, that he
+snatched from our very navel the cry, 'Yes, we swear.'" Truly, the
+Emperor could make boys heroes, but he could never repair the losses
+of 1812. Guns he possessed to the number of a thousand in his
+arsenals; but he lacked the thousands of skilled artillerymen: youths
+he could find and horses he could buy: but not for many a month had he
+the resistless streams of horsemen that poured over Prussia after
+Jena, or swept into the Great Redoubt at Borodino. Nevertheless, the
+energy which embattled a new host within five months of a seemingly
+overwhelming disaster, must be considered the most extraordinary event
+of an age fertile in marvels. "The imagination sinks back confounded,"
+says Pasquier, "when one thinks of all the work to be done and the
+resources of all kinds to be found, in order to raise, clothe, and
+equip such an army in so short a time."
+
+While immersed in this prodigious task, the Emperor heard, with some
+surprise but with no dismay, the news of Prussia's armaments and
+disaffection. At first he treats it as a passing freak which will
+vanish with firm treatment. "Remain at Berlin as long as you can," he
+writes to Eugène, March 5th. "Make examples for the sake of
+discipline. At the least insult, whether from a village or a town,
+were it from Berlin itself, burn it down." The chief thing that still
+concerns him is the vagueness of Eugène's reports, which leave him no
+option but to get news about his troops in Germany from _the English
+newspapers_. "Do not forget," he writes again on March 14th, "that
+Prussia has only four millions of people. She never in her most
+prosperous times had more than 150,000 troops. She will not have more
+than 40,000 now." That, indeed, was the number to which he had limited
+her after Tilsit; and he was unable to conceive that Scharnhorst's
+plan of passing men into a reserve would send triple that force into
+the field.[287] As for the Russians, he writes, they are thinned by
+disease, and must spread out widely in order to besiege the many
+fortresses between the Vistula and the Elbe. Indeed, he assures his
+ally, the King of Bavaria, that it will be good policy to let them
+advance: "The farther they advance, the more certain is their ruin."
+Sixty thousand troops were being led by Bertrand from Italy into
+Bavaria.[288] These, along with the corps of Eugène and Davoust, would
+crush the Russian columns. And, while the allies were busy in Saxony,
+Napoleon proposed to mass a great force under the shelter of the Harz
+Mountains, cross the Elbe near Havelberg, make a rush for the relief
+of Stettin, and stretch a hand to the large French force beleaguered
+at Danzig.
+
+Such was his first plan. It was upset by the rapidity of the Cossacks
+and the general uprising of Prussia. Augereau's corps was driven from
+Berlin by a force of Cossacks led by Tettenborn; and this daring free
+lance, a native of Hamburg, thereupon made a dash for the liberation
+of his city. For the time he was completely successful: the fury of
+the citizens against the French _douaniers_ gave the Cossacks and
+patriots an easy triumph there and throughout Hanover. This news
+caused Napoleon grave concern. The loss of the great Hanse Town opened
+a wide door for English goods, English money, and English troops into
+Germany. It must be closed at all costs: and, with severe rebukes to
+Eugène and Lauriston, who were now holding the line of the middle
+Elbe, he charged Davoust (March 18th) to hold the long winding course
+of that river between Magdeburg and Hamburg. The advance of this
+determined leader was soon to change the face of affairs in North
+Germany.
+
+Shortly before Napoleon left Paris for the seat of war, he received
+the new Austrian ambassador, Prince Schwarzenberg (April 9th). With a
+jocular courtesy that veiled the deepest irony, he complimented him on
+having waged _a fine campaign in_ 1812. Austria's present requests
+were not reassuring. While professing the utmost regard for the
+welfare of Napoleon, she renewed her offer of mediation in a more
+pressing way. In fact, Metternich's aim now was to free Austria from
+the threatening pressure of Napoleon on the west and of Russia on the
+east. She must now assure to Europe a lasting peace--"not a mere truce
+in disguise, like all former treaties with Napoleon"--but a peace that
+would restrict the power of France and "establish a balance of power
+among the chief States."[289] Such was the secret aim of Austria's
+mediation. Obviously, it gave her many advantages. While posing as
+mediator, she could claim her share in the territorial redistribution
+which must accompany the peace. The blessing awarded to the peacemaker
+must be tangible and immediate.
+
+Napoleon's reply to the ambassador was carefully guarded. War was not
+to his interest. It would cost more blood than the Moscow campaign.
+The great hindrance to any settlement would be England. Russia also
+seemed disposed to a fight _à outrance_; but if the Czar wanted peace,
+it was for him, not for France, to take the initiative: "I cannot take
+the initiative: that would be like capitulating as if I were in a
+fort: it is for the others to send me their proposals." And he
+expressed his resolve to accept no disadvantageous terms in these
+notable words: "If I concluded a dishonourable peace, it would be my
+overthrow. I am a new man; I must pay the more heed to public opinion,
+because I stand in need of it. The French have lively imaginations:
+they love fame and excitement, and are nervous. Do you know the prime
+cause of the fall of the Bourbons? It dates from Rossbach." Benevolent
+assurances as to Napoleon's desire for peace and for the assembly of a
+Congress were all that Schwarzenberg could gain; and his mission was
+barren of result, except to increase suspicions on both sides.
+
+In fact, Napoleon was playing his cards at Vienna. He had sent Count
+Narbonne thither on a special mission, the purport of which stands
+revealed in the envoy's "verbal note" of April 7th. In that note
+Austria was pressed to help France with 100,000 men, against Russia
+and Prussia, in case they should open hostilities; her reward was to
+be the rich province of Silesia. As for the rest of Prussia, two
+millions of that people were to be assigned to Saxony, Frederick
+William being thrust to the east of the lower Vistula, and left with
+one million subjects.[290] Such was the glittering prize dangled
+before Metternich. But even the prospect of regaining the province
+torn away by the great Frederick moved him not. He judged the
+establishment of equilibrium in Europe to be preferable to a mean
+triumph over Prussia. To her and to the Czar he had secretly held out
+hopes of succour in case Napoleon should prove intractable: and to
+this course of action he still clung. True, he trampled on _la petite
+morale_ in neglecting to aid his nominal ally, Napoleon. But to
+abandon him, if he remained obdurate, was, after all, but an act of
+treachery to an individual who had slight claims on Austria, and whose
+present offer was alike immoral and insulting. Four days later
+Metternich notified to Russia and Prussia that the Emperor Francis
+would now proceed with his task of armed mediation.[291]
+
+Austria's overtures for a general peace met with no encouragement at
+London. Her envoy, Count Wessenberg, was now treated with the same
+cold reserve that had been accorded to Lord Walpole at Vienna early in
+the year. On April 9th Castlereagh informed him that all hope of peace
+had failed since the "Ruler of France" had declared to the Legislative
+Body that _the French Dynasty reigned and would continue to reign in
+Spain, and that he had already stated all the sacrifices that he could
+consent to make for peace_.
+
+    "Whilst he [Napoleon] shall continue to declare that none of the
+    territories arbitrarily incorporated into the French Empire shall
+    become matter of negotiation, it is in vain to hope that His
+    Imperial Majesty's beneficent intentions can by negotiation be
+    accomplished. It is for His Imperial Majesty to consider, after a
+    declaration in the nature of a defiance from the Ruler of France,
+    a declaration highly insulting to His Imperial Majesty when his
+    intervention for peace had been previously accepted, whether the
+    moment is not arrived for all the Great Powers of Europe to act in
+    concert for their common interests and honour. To obtain for their
+    States what may deserve the name of peace they must look again to
+    establish an Equilibrium in Europe."
+
+Finally, the British Government refused to lend itself to a
+negotiation which must weaken and distract the efforts of Russia and
+Prussia.[292]
+
+For the present Napoleon indulged the hope that the bribe of Silesia
+would range Austria's legions side by side with his own, and with
+Poniatowski's Poles. Animated with this hope, he left Paris before the
+dawn of April 15th; and, travelling at furious speed, his carriage
+rolled within the portals of Mainz in less than forty hours. There he
+stayed for a week, feeling every throb of the chief arteries of his
+advance. They beat full and fast; the only bad symptom was the refusal
+of Saxony to place her cavalry at his disposal. But, at the close of
+the week, Austria's attitude gave him concern. It was clear that she
+had not swallowed the bait of Silesia, and that her troops could not
+be counted on.
+
+At once he takes precautions. His troops in Italy are to be made
+ready, the strongholds of the Upper Danube strengthened, and his
+German vassals are closely to watch the policy of Vienna.[293] He then
+proceeds to Weimar. There, on April 29th, he mounts his war-horse and
+gazes with searching eyes into the columns that are winding through
+the Thuringian vales towards Leipzig. The auguries seem favourable.
+The men are full of ardour: the line of march is itself an
+inspiration; and the veterans cheer the young conscripts with tales of
+the great day of Jena and Auerstadt.
+
+At the close of April the military situation was as follows. Eugène
+Beauharnais, who commanded the relics of the Grand Army, after
+suffering a reverse at Mockern, had retired to the line of the Elbe;
+and French garrisons were thus left isolated in Danzig, Modlin,
+Zamosc, Glogau, Küstrin, and Stettin.[294] Napoleon's first plan of an
+advance direct to Stettin and Danzig having miscarried, he now sought
+to gather an immense force as secretly as possible near the Main,
+speedily to reinforce Eugène, crush the heads of the enemy's columns,
+and, rolling them up in disorder, carry the war to the banks of the
+Oder, and relieve his beleaguered garrisons by way of Leipzig and
+Torgau. The plan would have the further advantage of bringing a
+formidable force near to the Austrian frontier, and holding fast the
+Hapsburgs and Saxons to the French alliance.
+
+Meanwhile the allied army was pressing westwards with no less
+determination. The Czar and King had addressed a menacing summons to
+the King of Saxony to join them, but, receiving no response, invaded
+his States. Thereupon Frederick Augustus fled into Bohemia, relying on
+an offer from Vienna which guaranteed him his German lands if he would
+join the Hapsburgs in their armed mediation.[295] For the present,
+however, Saxony was to be the battlefield of the two contending
+principles of nationality and Napoleonic Imperialism.
+
+They clashed together on the historic ground of Lützen. Not only the
+associations of the place, but the reputation of the leaders helped to
+kindle the enthusiasm of the rank and file. On the one side was the
+great conqueror himself, with faculties and prestige undimmed even by
+the greatest disaster recorded in the annals of civilized nations. He
+was opposed by men no less determined than himself. The illness and
+finally the death of the obstinate old Kutusoff had stopped the
+intrigues of the Slav peace party, hitherto strong in the Russian
+camp: and the command now devolved on Wittgenstein, a more energetic
+man, whose heart was in his work.
+
+But the most inspiring influence was that of Blücher. The staunch
+patriot seemed to embody the best qualities of the old _régime_ and of
+the new era. The rigour learnt in the school of Frederick the Great
+was vivified by the fresh young enthusiasm of the dawning age of
+nationality. Not that the old soldier could appreciate the lofty
+teachings of Fichte the philosopher and Schleiermacher the preacher.
+But his lack of learning--he could never write a despatch without
+strange torturings of his mother-tongue--was more than made up by a
+quenchless love of the Fatherland, by a robust common sense, which hit
+straight at the mark where subtler minds strayed off into side issues,
+by a comradeship that endeared him to every private, and by a courage
+that never quailed. And all these gifts, homely but invaluable in a
+people's war, were wrought to utmost tension by an all-absorbing
+passion, hatred of Napoleon. In the dark days after Jena, when,
+pressed back to the Baltic, his brave followers succumbed to the
+weight of numbers, he began to store up vials of fury against the
+insolent conqueror. Often he beguiled the weary hours with lunging at
+an imaginary foe, calling out--_Napoleon_. And this almost Satanic
+hatred bore the old man through seven years of humiliation; it gave
+him at seventy-two years of age the energy of youth; far from being
+sated by triumphs in Saxony and Champagne, it nerved him with new
+strength after the shocks to mind and body which he sustained at
+Ligny; it carried him and his army through the miry lanes of Wavre on
+to the sunset radiance of Waterloo.
+
+What he lacked in skill and science was made up by his able
+coadjutors, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the former pre-eminent in
+organization, the latter in strategy. After organizing Prussia's
+citizen army, it was Scharnhorst's fate to be mortally wounded in the
+first battle; but his place, as chief of staff, was soon filled by
+Gneisenau, in whose nature the sternness of the warrior was happily
+blended with the coolness of the scientific thinker. The accord
+between him and Blücher was close and cordial; and the latter, on
+receiving the degree of doctor of laws from the University of Oxford,
+wittily acknowledged his debt to the strategist. "Well," said he, "if
+I am to be a doctor, they must make Gneisenau an apothecary; for he
+makes up the pills and I then administer them."
+
+On these resolute chiefs and their 33,000 Prussians fell the brunt of
+the fighting near Lützen. Wittgenstein, with his 35,000 Russians,
+showed less energy; but if a fourth Russian corps under Miloradovitch,
+then on the Elster, had arrived in time, the day might have closed
+with victory for the allies. Their plan was to cross a stream, called
+the Floss Graben, some five miles to the south of Lützen, storm the
+villages of Gross Görschen, Rahna, and Starsiedel, held by the French
+vanguard, and, cutting into Napoleon's line of march towards Lützen
+and Leipzig, throw it into disorder and rout. But their great enemy
+had recently joined his array to that of Eugène: he was in force, and
+was then planning a turning movement on the north, similar to that
+which threatened his south flank. Ney, on whom fell Blücher's first
+blows, had observed the preparations, and one of his divisions, that
+of Souham, had strengthened the village of Gross Görschen for an
+obstinate defence. The French position is thus described by Lord
+Cathcart, who was then present at the allied headquarters:
+
+    "The country is uncovered and open, but with much variety of hill
+    and valley, and much intersected by hollow ways and millstreams,
+    the former not discernible till closely approached. The enemy,
+    placed behind a long ridge and in a string of villages, with a
+    hollow way in front, and a stream sufficient to float timber on
+    the left, waited the near approach of the allies. He had an
+    immense quantity of ordnance: the batteries in the open country
+    were supported by masses of infantry in solid squares. The plan of
+    our operations was to attack Gross Görschen with artillery and
+    infantry, and meanwhile to pierce the line, to the enemy's right
+    of the villages, with a strong column of cavalry in order to cut
+    off the troops in the villages from support.... The cavalry of the
+    Prussian Reserve, to whose lot this attack fell, made it with
+    great gallantry; but the showers of grapeshot and musketry to
+    which they were exposed in reaching the hollow way made it
+    impracticable for them to penetrate; and, the enemy appearing
+    determined to hold the villages at any expense, the affair assumed
+    the most expensive character of attack and defence of a post
+    repeatedly taken, lost, and retaken. The cavalry made several
+    attempts to break the enemy's line, and in some of their attacks
+    succeeded in breaking into the squares and cutting down the
+    infantry. Late in the evening, Bonaparte, having called in the
+    troops from [the side of] Leipzig and collected all his reserves,
+    made an attack on the right of the allies, supported by the fire
+    of several batteries advancing. The vivacity of this movement made
+    it expedient to change the front of our nearest brigades on our
+    right; and, as the whole cavalry from our left was ordered to the
+    right to turn this attack, I was not without hopes of witnessing
+    the destruction of Bonaparte and of all his army; but before the
+    cavalry could arrive, it became so dark that nothing could be seen
+    but the flashes of the guns."[296]
+
+The desperate fight thus closed with a slight advantage to the French,
+due to the timely advance of Eugène with Macdonald's corps against the
+right flank of the wearied allies, when it was too late for them to
+make any counter-move. These had lost severely, and among the fallen
+was Scharnhorst, whose wound proved to be mortal. But Blücher, far
+from being daunted by defeat or by a wound, led seven squadrons of
+horse against the victors after nightfall, threw them for a brief
+space into a panic, and nearly charged up to the square which
+sheltered Napoleon. The Saxon Captain von Odeleben, who was at the
+French headquarters, states that the Emperor was for a few minutes
+quite dazed by the daring of this stroke; and he now had too few
+squadrons to venture on any retaliation. Both sides were, in fact,
+exhausted. The allies had lost 10,000 men killed and wounded, but no
+prisoners or guns: the French losses were nearly as heavy, and five
+guns and 800 prisoners fell into Blücher's hands. Both armies camped
+on the field of battle; but, as the supplies of ammunition of the
+allies had run low, and news came to hand that Lauriston had dislodged
+Kleist from Leipzig, it was decided to retreat towards Dresden.
+
+Napoleon cautiously followed them, leaving behind Ney's corps, which
+had suffered frightfully at Gross Görschen; and he strove to inspirit
+the conscripts, many of whom had shown unsteadiness, by proclaiming to
+the army that the victory of Lützen would rank above Austerlitz, Jena,
+Friedland, and Borodino.
+
+Far from showing dejection, Alexander renewed to Cathcart his
+assurance of persevering in the war. At Dresden our envoy was again
+assured (May 7th) that the allies would not give in, but that "Austria
+will wear the cloak of mediation till the time her immense force is
+ready to act, the 24th instant. Count Stadion is hourly expected here:
+he will bring proposals of terms of peace and similar ones will be
+sent to the French headquarters. Receiving and refusing these
+proposals will occupy most of the time." In fact, Metternich was on
+the point of despatching from Vienna two envoys, Stadion to the
+allies, Count Bubna to Napoleon, with the offer of Austria's armed
+mediation.
+
+It found him in no complaisant mood. He had entered Dresden as a
+conqueror: he had bitterly chidden the citizens for their support of
+the Prussian volunteers, and ordered them to beg their own King to
+return from Bohemia. To that hapless monarch he had sent an imperious
+mandate to come back and order the Saxon troops, who obstinately held
+Torgau, forthwith to hand it over to the French. On all sides his
+behests were obeyed, the Saxon troops grudgingly ranging themselves
+under the French eagles. And while he was tearing Saxony away from the
+national cause, he was summoned by Austria to halt. The victor met the
+request with a flash of defiance. After a reproachful talk with Bubna,
+on May 17th, he wrote two letters to the Emperor Francis. In the more
+official note he assured him that he desired peace, and that he
+assented to the opening of a Congress with that aim in view, in which
+England, Russia, Prussia, and even the Spanish insurgents might take
+part. He therefore proposed that an armistice should be concluded for
+the needful preparations. But in the other letter he assured his
+father-in-law that he was ready to die at the head of all the generous
+men of France rather than become the sport of England. His resentment
+against Austria finds utterance in his despatch of the same day, in
+which he bids Caulaincourt seek an interview at once with the Czar:
+"The essential thing is to have a talk with him.... My intention is to
+build him a golden bridge so as to deliver him from the intrigues of
+Metternich. If I must make sacrifices, I prefer to make them to a
+straightforward enemy, rather than to the profit of Austria, which
+Power has betrayed my alliance, and, under the guise of mediator,
+means to claim the right of arranging everything." Caulaincourt is to
+remind Alexander how badly Austria behaved to him in 1812, and to
+suggest that if he treats at once before losing another battle, he can
+retire with honour and _with good terms for Prussia, without any
+intervention from Austria_.
+
+His other letters of this time show that it is on the Hapsburgs that
+his resentment will most heavily fall. Eugène, who had recently
+departed to organize the forces in Italy, is urged to threaten Austria
+with not fewer than 80,000 men, and to give out that he will soon have
+150,000 men under arms. And, while straining every nerve in Germany,
+France, and Italy, Napoleon asserts that there will be an armistice
+for the conclusion of a general peace.[297] But the allies were not to
+be duped into a peace that was no peace. They had good grounds for
+expecting the eventual aid of Austria; and when Caulaincourt craved an
+interview, the Czar refused his request, thus bringing affairs once
+more to the arbitrament of the sword. The only effect of
+Caulaincourt's mission, and of Napoleon's bitter words to Bubna, was
+to alarm Austria.
+
+On their side, the allies desired to risk no further check; and they
+had therefore taken up a strong position near Bautzen, where they
+could receive reinforcements and effectually cover Silesia. Their
+extreme left rested on the spurs of the Lusatian mountains, while
+their long front of some four miles in extent stretched northwards
+along a ridge that rose between the River Spree and an affluent, and
+bent a convex threatening brow against that river and town. There they
+were joined by Barclay, whose arrival brought their total strength to
+82,000 men. But again Napoleon had the advantage in numbers. Suddenly
+calling in Ney's and Lauriston's force of 60,000 men, which had been
+sent north so as to threaten Berlin, he confronted the allies with at
+least 130,000 men.[298]
+
+On the first day of fighting (May 20th) the French seized the town of
+Bautzen, but failed to drive the allies from the hilly, wooded ground
+on the south. The fighting on the next day was far more serious. At
+dawn of a beautiful spring morning, in a country radiant with verdure
+and diversified by trim villages, the thunder of cannon and the
+sputter of skirmishers' lines presaged a stubborn conflict. The allied
+sovereigns from the commanding ridge at their centre could survey all
+the enemy's movements on the hills opposite; and our commissary,
+Colonel (afterwards Sir Hudson) Lowe, has thus described his view of
+Napoleon, who was near the French centre:
+
+    "He was about fifty paces in front of the others, accompanied by
+    one of his marshals, with whom he walked backwards and forwards
+    for nearly an hour. He was dressed in a plain uniform coat and a
+    star [_sic_], with a plain hat, different from that of his
+    marshals and generals, which was feathered. In the rear, and to
+    the left of the ridge on which he stood, were his reserves. They
+    were formed in lines of squadrons and battalions, appearing like a
+    large column of battalions: their number must have been between
+    15,000 and 20,000.
+
+    After he had retired from the eminence, several of the battalions
+    were observed to be drawn off to his left, and to be replaced by
+    others from the rear: the masses of his reserves appeared to
+    suffer scarcely any diminution.... Those troops which were to act
+    against our right continued their march: the others, opposite our
+    centre, planted themselves about midway on the slope, which
+    descended from the ridge towards our position; and, under the
+    protection of the guns that crowned the ridge, they appeared to
+    set our cavalry at defiance.... Yet there was no forward movement
+    in that part. To turn and overthrow our flanks, particularly the
+    right one, appeared now to be their main object."
+
+This was the case. Napoleon was employing his usual tactics of
+assailing the allies everywhere by artillery and musketry fire, so as
+to keep them in their already very extended position until he could
+deliver a decisive blow. This was dealt, though somewhat tardily, by
+Ney with his huge corps at the allied right, where Barclay's 5,000
+Russians were outmatched and driven back. The village of Preititz was
+lost, and with it the allies' communications were laid bare. It was of
+the utmost importance to recover the village; and Blücher, at the
+right centre, hard pressed though he was, sent down Kleist's brigade,
+which helped to wrench the prize from that Marshal's grasp. But Ney
+was too strong to be kept off, even by the streams of cannon-shot
+poured upon his dense columns. With the help of Lauriston's corps, he
+again slowly pressed on, began to envelop the allies' right, and
+threatened to cut off their retreat. Blücher was also furiously
+assailed by Marmont and Bertrand. On the left, it is true, the
+Russians had beaten back Oudinot with heavy loss; but, as Napoleon had
+not yet seriously drawn on his reserves, the allied chiefs decided to
+draw off their hard-pressed troops from this unequal contest, where
+victory was impossible and delay might place everything in jeopardy.
+
+The retirement began late in the afternoon. Covered by the fire of a
+powerful artillery from successive crests, and by the charges of their
+dauntless cavalry, the allies beat off every effort of the French to
+turn the retreat into a rout. In vain did Napoleon press the pursuit.
+As at Lützen, he had cause to mourn the loss in the plains of Russia
+of those living waves that had swept his enemies from many a
+battlefield. But now their columns refused to melt away. They filed
+off, unbroken and defiant, under the covering wings of Uhlans and
+Cossacks.[299]
+
+The next day witnessed the same sight, the allies drawing steadily
+back, showering shot from every post of vantage, and leaving not a
+prisoner or a caisson in the conquerors' hands. "What!" said Napoleon,
+"after such a butchery, no results? no prisoners?" Scarcely had he
+spoken these words, when a cannon-ball tore through his staff, killing
+one general outright, wounding another, and shattering the frame of
+Duroc, Duc de Friuli. Napoleon was deeply affected by this occurrence.
+He dismounted, went into the cottage where Duroc was taken, and for
+some time pressed his hand in silence. Then he uttered the words:
+"Duroc, there is another world where we shall meet again." To which
+the Grand Marshal made reply: "Yes, sire; but it will be in thirty
+years, when you have triumphed over your enemies and realized all the
+hopes of your country." After a long pause of painful silence, the
+Emperor mournfully left the man for whom he felt, perhaps, the
+liveliest sympathy and affection he ever bestowed. Under Duroc's cold,
+reserved exterior the Emperor knew that there beat a true heart,
+devoted and loyal ever since they had first met at Toulon. He received
+no one else for the rest of that night, and a hush of awe fell on the
+camp at the unwonted signs of grief of their great leader.
+
+Possibly this loss strengthened the Emperor's desire for a truce, a
+feeling not lessened by a mishap befalling one of his divisions, which
+fell into an ambush laid by the Prussians at Hainau, and lost 1,500
+men and 18 guns.
+
+For their part, the allies equally desired a suspension of arms. Their
+forces were in much confusion. Alexander had superseded Wittgenstein
+by Barclay, who now insisted on withdrawing the Russians into Poland.
+To this the Prussian staff offered the most strenuous resistance. Such
+a confession of weakness, urged Müffling, would dishearten the troops
+and intimidate the Austrian statesmen who had promised speedy succour.
+Let the allies cling to the sheltering rampart of the Riesengebirge,
+where they might defy Napoleon's attacks and await the white-coats.
+The fortress of Schweidnitz would screen their retreat, and the
+Landwehr of Silesia would make good the gaps in their ranks. Towards
+Schweidnitz, then, the Czar ordered Barclay to retreat.
+
+There two disappointments awaited them. The fortifications, dismantled
+by the French in 1807, were still in disrepair, and the 20,000 muskets
+bought in Austria for the Silesian levies were without touch-holes!
+Again Barclay declared that he must retreat into Poland, and only the
+offer of a truce by Napoleon deterred him from that step, which must
+have compromised the whole military and political situation. What
+would not Napoleon have given to know the actual state of things at
+the allied headquarters?[300] But no spy warned him of the truth; and
+as his own instincts prompted him to turn aside, so as to prepare
+condign chastisement for Austria, he continued to treat for an
+armistice.
+
+"Nothing," he wrote to Eugène on June 2nd, "can be more perfidious
+than that Court. If I granted her present demands, she would
+afterwards ask for Italy and Germany. Certainly she shall have nothing
+from me." Events served to strengthen his resolve. The French entered
+Breslau in triumph, and raised the siege of Glogau. The coalition
+seemed to be tottering. That the punishment dealt to the allies and
+Austria might be severe and final, he only needed a few weeks for the
+reorganization of his once formidable cavalry. Then he could vent his
+rage upon Austria. Then he could overthrow the Hungarian horse, and
+crumple up the ill-trained Austrian foot. A short truce, he believed,
+was useless: it would favour the allies more than the French. And,
+under the specious plea that the discussion of a satisfactory peace
+must take up at least forty days, he ordered his envoy, Caulaincourt,
+to insist on a space of time which would admit of the French forces
+being fully equipped in Saxony, Bavaria, and Illyria. "If," he wrote
+to Caulaincourt on June 4th, "we did not wish to treat with a view to
+peace, we should not be so stupid as to treat for an armistice at the
+present time." And he urged him to insist on the limit of July 20th,
+"always on the same reasoning, namely, that we must have forty full
+days to see if we can come to an understanding." Far different was his
+secret warning to General Clarke, the Minister of War. To him he wrote
+on June 2nd:
+
+    "If I can, I will wait for the month of September to deal great
+    blows. I wish then to be in a position to crush my enemies, though
+    it is possible that, when Austria sees me about to do so, she may
+    make use of her pathetic and sentimental style, in order to
+    recognize the chimerical and ridiculous nature of her pretensions.
+    I have wished to write you this letter so that you may thoroughly
+    know my thoughts once for all."
+
+And to Maret, his Minister for Foreign Affairs, he wrote on the same
+day:
+
+    "We must gain time, and to gain time without displeasing Austria,
+    we must use the same language we have used for the last six
+    months--that we can do everything if Austria is our ally.... Work
+    on this, beat about the bush, and gain time.... You can embroider
+    on this canvas for the next two months, and find matter for
+    sending twenty couriers."[301]
+
+In such cases, where Napoleon's diplomatic assurances are belied by
+his secret military instructions, no one who has carefully studied his
+career can doubt which course would be adopted. The armistice was
+merely the pause that would be followed by a fiercer onset, unless the
+allies and Austria bent before his will. Of this they gave no sign
+even after the blow of Bautzen. In the negotiations concerning the
+armistice they showed no timidity; and when, on June 4th, it was
+signed at Poischwitz up to July 20th, Napoleon felt some doubts
+whether he had not shown too much complaisance.
+
+It was so: in granting a suspension of arms he had signed his own
+death warrant.
+
+The news that reached him at Dresden in the month of June helped to
+stiffen his resolve once more. Davoust and Vandamme had succeeded in
+dispersing the raw levies of North Germany and in restoring Napoleon's
+authority at the mouths of the Elbe and Weser; and in this they now
+had the help of the Danes.
+
+For some time the allies had been seeking to win over Denmark. But
+there was one insurmountable barrier in the way, the ambition of
+Bernadotte. As we have seen, he was desirous of signalizing his
+prospective succession to the Swedish throne by bringing to his
+adopted country a land that would amply recompense it for the loss of
+Finland.[302] This could only be found in Norway, then united with
+Denmark; and this was the price of Swedish succour, to which the Czar
+had assented during the war of 1812. For reasons which need not be
+detailed here, Swedish help was not then forthcoming. But early in
+1813 it was seen that a diversion caused by the landing of 30,000
+Swedes in North Germany might be most valuable, and it was especially
+desired by the British Government. Still, England was loth to gain the
+alliance of Bernadotte at the price of Norway, which must drive
+Denmark into the arms of France. Castlereagh, therefore, sought to
+tempt him by the offer of our recent conquest of Guadeloupe. Or, if he
+must have Norway, would not Denmark give her assent if she received
+Swedish Pomerania and Lübeck? Bernadotte himself once suggested that
+he would be satisfied with the Bishopric of Trondjem, the northern
+part of Norway, if he could gain no compensation for Denmark in
+Germany.[303]
+
+This offer was tentatively made. It was all one. Denmark would not
+hear of the cession of Norway or any part of it; and in the course of
+the negotiations with England she even put in a claim to the Hanse
+Towns, which was at once rejected. As Denmark was obdurate, Bernadotte
+insisted that Sweden should gain the whole of Norway as the price of
+her help to the allies. By the treaty of Stockholm (March 3rd, 1813)
+we acceded to the Russo-Swedish compact of the previous year, which
+assigned Norway to Sweden: we also promised to cede Guadeloupe to
+Bernadotte, and to pay £1,000,000 towards the support of the Swedish
+troops serving against Napoleon.[304] In the middle of May it was
+known at Copenhagen that nothing was to be hoped for from Russia and
+England. The Danes, therefore, ranged themselves on the French side,
+with results that were to prove fatal to the welfare of their kingdom.
+
+Thus the bargain which Bernadotte drove with the allies leagued
+Denmark against them, and thereby hindered the liberation of North
+Germany. But, such is the irony of fate, the transfer of Norway from
+Denmark to Sweden has had a permanence in which Napoleon's territorial
+arrangements have been signally lacking.
+
+Bernadotte landed at Stralsund with 24,000 men, on May 18th. But the
+organization of his troops for the campaign was so slow that he could
+send no effective help to the Cossacks and patriots at Hamburg. His
+seeming lethargy at once aroused the Czar's suspicions. This the
+Swedish Prince Royal speedily detected; and, on hearing of the
+armistice, he feared that another Tilsit would be the result. In a
+passionate letter, of June 10th, he begged Alexander not to accept
+peace: "To accept a peace dictated by Napoleon is to rear a sepulchre
+for Europe: and if this misfortune happens, only England and Sweden
+can remain intact."
+
+This was the real Bernadotte. Those who called him a disguised friend
+of Napoleon little knew the depth of his hatred for the Emperor, a
+hatred which was even then compassing the earth for means of
+overthrowing him, and saw in the person of a lonely French exile
+beyond the Atlantic an instrument of vengeance. Already he had bidden
+his old comrade in arms, Moreau, to come over and direct the people's
+war against the tyrant who had exiled him; and the victor of
+Hohenlinden was soon to land at Stralsund and spend his last days in
+serving against the tricolour.
+
+For the present the prospects of the allies seemed gloomy indeed. In
+the south-east they had lost all the land up to Breslau and Glogau;
+and in North Germany Davoust began to turn Hamburg into a great
+fortress. This was in obedience to Napoleon's orders. "I shall never
+feel assured," the Emperor wrote to his Marshal, "until Hamburg can be
+looked on as a stronghold provisioned for several months and prepared
+in every way for a long defence."--The ruin of commercial interests
+was nought to him; and when Savary ventured to hint at the discontent
+caused in French mercantile circles by these steps, he received a
+sharp rebuke: " ... The cackling of the Paris bankers matters very
+little to me. I am having Hamburg fortified. I am having a naval
+arsenal formed there. Within a few months it will be one of my
+strongest fortresses. I intend to keep a standing army of 15,000 men
+there."[305] His plan was ruthlessly carried out. The wealth of
+Hamburg was systematically extorted in order to furnish means for a
+completer subjection. Boundless exactions, robbery of the bank, odious
+oppression of all classes, these were the first steps. Twenty thousand
+persons were thereafter driven out, first the young and strong as
+being dangerous, then the old and weak as being useless; and a once
+prosperous emporium of trade became Napoleon's chief northern
+stronghold, a centre of hope for French and Danes, and a stimulus to
+revenge for every patriotic Teuton.[306]
+
+Yet the patriots were not cast down by recent events. Their one desire
+was for the renewal of war: their one fear was that the diplomatists
+would once more barter away German independence. "Our people," cried
+Karl Müller, "is still too lazy because it is too wealthy. Let us
+learn, as the Russians did, to go round and burn, and then find
+ourselves dagger and poison, as the Spaniards did. Against those two
+peoples Napoleon's troops could effect nothing." And while gloom and
+doubt hung over Germany, a cheering ray shot forth once more from the
+south-west. At the close of June came the news that Wellington had
+utterly routed the French at Vittoria.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+VITTORIA AND THE ARMISTICE
+
+
+It would be beyond the scope of this work to describe in detail the
+campaign that culminated at Vittoria. Our task must be limited to
+showing what was the position of affairs at the close of 1812, what
+were the Emperor's plans for holding part, at least, of Spain, and why
+they ended in utter failure.
+
+The causes, which had all along weakened the French operations in
+Spain, operated in full force during the campaign of 1812. The
+jealousy of the Marshals, and, still more, their insubordination to
+King Joseph, prevented that timely concentration of force by which the
+Emperor won his greatest triumphs. Discordant aims and grudging
+co-operation marked their operations. Military writers have often been
+puzzled to account for the rash moves of Marmont, which brought on him
+the crushing blow of Salamanca. Had he waited but a few days before
+pressing Wellington hard, he would have been reinforced by King Joseph
+with 14,000 men.[307] But he preferred to risk all on a last dashing
+move rather than to wait for the King and contribute, as second in
+command, to securing a substantial success.
+
+The correspondence of Joseph before and after Salamanca is
+instructive. We see him unable to move quickly to the support of
+Marmont, because the French Army of the North neglects to send him the
+detachment needed for the defence of Madrid; and when, on hearing the
+news of Salamanca, he orders Soult to evacuate Andalusia so as to
+concentrate forces for the recovery of the capital, his command is for
+some time disobeyed. When, at last, Joseph, Soult, and Suchet
+concentrate their forces for a march on Madrid, Wellington is
+compelled to retire. Pushing on his rear with superior forces, Joseph
+then seeks to press on a battle; but again Soult moves so slowly that
+Wellington is able to draw off his men and make good his retreat to
+Ciudad Rodrigo.[308]
+
+Apparently Joseph came off victor from the campaign of 1812; but the
+withdrawal of French troops towards Madrid and the valley of the Douro
+had fatal consequences. The south was at once lost to the French; and
+the sturdy mountaineers of Biscay, Navarre, and Arragon formed large
+bands whose persistent daring showed that the north was far from
+conquered. Encouraged by the presence of a small British force, they
+seized on most of the northern ports; and their chief, Mina, was able
+to meet the French northern army on almost equal terms. In the east,
+Suchet held his own against the Spaniards and an Anglo-Sicilian
+expedition. But in regard to the rest of Spain, Soult's gloomy
+prophecy was fulfilled: "The loss of Andalusia and the raising of the
+siege of Cadiz are events whose results will be felt throughout the
+whole of Europe."
+
+The Spanish Cortes, or Parliament, long cooped up in Cadiz, now sought
+to put in force the recently devised democratic constitution. It was
+hailed with joy by advanced thinkers in the cities, and with loathing
+by the clergy, the nobles, the wealthy, and the peasants. But, though
+the Cortes sowed the seeds of political discord, they took one very
+commendable step. They appointed Wellington generalissimo of all the
+Spanish armies; and, in a visit which he paid to the Cortes at
+Christmastide, he prepared for a real co-operation of Spanish forces
+in the next campaign.
+
+At that time Napoleon was uneasily looking into the state of Spanish
+affairs. As soon as he mastered the contents of the despatches from
+Madrid he counselled a course of action that promised, at any rate, to
+postpone the overthrow of his power. The advice is set forth in
+letters written on January 4th and February 12th by the Minister of
+War, General Clarke; for Napoleon had practically ceased to correspond
+with his brother. In the latter of these despatches Clarke explained
+in some detail the urgent need of acting at once, while the English
+were inactive, so as to stamp out the ever-spreading flame of revolt
+in the northern provinces. Two French armies, that of the North and
+the so-called "Army of Portugal," were to be told off for this duty;
+and Joseph was informed that his armies of the south and of the centre
+would for the present suffice to hold the British in check. As to
+Joseph's general course of action, it was thus prescribed:
+
+    "The Emperor commands me to reiterate to your Majesty that the use
+    of Valladolid as a residence and as headquarters is an
+    indispensable preliminary. From that place must be sent out on the
+    Burgos road, and on other fit points, the troops which are to
+    strengthen or to second the army of the north. Madrid, and even
+    Valencia, form parts of this system only as posts to be held by
+    your extreme left, not as places to be kept by a concentration of
+    forces.... To occupy Valladolid and Salamanca, to use the utmost
+    exertion to pacify Navarre and Arragon to keep the communication
+    with France rapid and safe, to be always ready to take the
+    offensive--these are the Emperor's instructions for the campaign,
+    and the principles on which all its operations ought to be
+    founded...."[309]
+
+A fortnight later, Clarke bade the King threaten Ciudad Rodrigo so as
+to make Wellington believe that the French would invade Portugal. He
+was also to lay heavy contributions on Madrid and Toledo. In fact, the
+capital was to be held only as long as it could be squeezed.
+
+Such were the plans. They show clearly that the Emperor was impressed
+with the need of crushing the rising in the north of Spain; for he
+ordered as great a force against Mina and his troublesome bands as he
+deemed necessary to watch the Portuguese frontier. Clausel was charged
+to stamp out the northern rising, and Napoleon seems to have judged
+that this hardy fighter would end this tedious task before Wellington
+dealt any serious blows. The miscalculation was to be fatal. Mina was
+not speedily to be beaten, nor was the British general the slow
+unenterprising leader that the Emperor took him to be. And then again,
+in spite of all the experiences of the past, Napoleon failed to allow
+for the delays caused by the capture of his couriers, or by their long
+detours. Yet, never were these more serious. Clarke's first urgent
+despatch, that of January 4th, did not reach the King until February
+16th.[310] When its directions were being doubtfully obeyed, those
+quoted above arrived on March 12th, and led to changes in the
+disposition of the troops. Thus the forces opposed to Wellington were
+weakened in order to crush the northern revolt, and yet these
+detachments were only sent north at the close of March for a difficult
+enterprise which was not to be completed before the British leader
+threw his sword decisively into the scales of war.
+
+Joseph has been severely blamed for his tardy action: but, in truth,
+he was in a hopeless _impasse_: on all sides he saw the walls of his
+royal prison house closing in. The rebels in the north cut off the
+French despatches, thus forestalling his movements and delaying by
+some weeks his execution of Napoleon's plans. Worst of all, the
+Emperor withdrew the pith and marrow of his forces: 1,200 officers,
+6,000 non-commissioned officers, and some 24,000 of the most seasoned
+soldiers filed away towards France to put strength and firmness into
+the new levies of the line, or to fill out again the skeleton
+battalions and squadrons of the Imperial Guard.[311]
+
+It is strange that Napoleon did not withdraw all his troops from
+Spain. They still exceeded 150,000 men; and yet, after he had flung
+away army after army, the Spaniards were everywhere in arms, except in
+Valencia. The north defied all the efforts of Clausel for several
+weeks, until he declared that it would take 50,000 men three months to
+crush the mountaineers.[312] Above all, Wellington was known to be
+mustering a formidable force on the Portuguese borders. In truth,
+Napoleon seems long to have been afflicted with political colour
+blindness in Spanish affairs. Even now he only dimly saw the
+ridiculous falsity of his brother's position--a parvenu among the
+proudest nobility in the world, a bankrupt King called upon to keep up
+regal pomp before a ceremonious race, a benevolent ruler forced to
+levy heavy loans and contributions on a sensitive populace whose
+goodwill he earnestly strove to gain, an easy-going epicure spurred on
+to impetuous action by orders from Paris which he dared not disregard
+and could not execute, a peace-loving valetudinarian upon whom was
+thrust the task of controlling testy French Marshals, and of holding a
+nation in check and Wellington at bay.
+
+The concentration on which Napoleon laid such stress would doubtless
+have proved a most effective step had the French forces on the Douro
+been marshalled by an able leader. But here, again, the situation had
+been fatally compromised by the recall of the ablest of the French
+commanders in Spain. Wellington afterwards said that Soult was second
+only to Masséna among the French Marshals pitted against him. He had
+some defects. "He did not quite understand a field of battle: he was
+an excellent tactician, knew very well how to bring his troops up to
+the field, but not so well how to use them when he had brought them
+up."[313] But the fact remains that, with the exception of his Oporto
+failure, Soult came with credit, if not glory, out of every campaign
+waged against Wellington. Yet he was now recalled.
+
+Indeed, this vain and ambitious man had mortally offended King Joseph.
+After Salamanca he had treated him with gross disrespect. Not only did
+he, at first, refuse to move from Andalusia, but he secretly revealed
+to six French generals his fears that Joseph was betraying the French
+cause by treating with the Spanish national government at Cadiz. He
+even warned Clarke of the King's supposed intentions, in a letter
+which by chance fell into Joseph's hands.[314] The hot blood of the
+Bonapartes boiled at this underhand dealing, and he at once despatched
+Colonel Desprez to Napoleon to demand Soult's instant recall. The
+Emperor, who was then at Moscow, temporized. Perhaps he was not sorry
+to have in Spain so vigilant an informer; and he made the guarded
+reply that Soult's suspicions did not much surprise him, that they
+were shared by many other French generals, who thought King Joseph
+preferred Spain to France, and that he could not recall Soult, as he
+had "the only military head in Spain." The threatening war-cloud in
+Central Europe led Napoleon to change his resolve. Soult was recalled,
+but not disgraced, and, after the death of Bessières, he received the
+command of the Imperial Guard.
+
+The commander who now bore the brunt of responsibility was Jourdan,
+who acted as major-general at the King's side, a post which he had
+held once before, but had forfeited owing to his blunders in the
+summer of 1809. The victor of Fleurus was now fifty-one years of age,
+and his failing health quite unfitted him for the Herculean tasks of
+guiding refractory generals, and of propping up a tottering monarchy.
+For Jourdan's talents Napoleon had expressed but scanty esteem,
+whereas on many occasions he extolled the abilities of Suchet, who was
+now holding down Valencia and Catalonia. Certainly Suchet's tenacity
+and administrative skill rendered his stay in those rich provinces
+highly desirable. But the best talent was surely needed on
+Wellington's line of advance, namely, at Valladolid. To the
+shortcomings and mishaps of Joseph and Jourdan in that quarter may be
+chiefly ascribed the collapse of the French power.
+
+In fact, the only part of Spain that now really interested Napoleon
+was the north and north-east. So long as he firmly held the provinces
+north of the Ebro, he seems to have cared little whether Joseph
+reigned, or did not reign, at Madrid. All that concerned him was to
+hold the British at bay from the line of the Douro, while French
+authority was established in the north and north-east. This he was
+determined to keep; and probably he had already formed the design,
+later on to be mooted to Ferdinand VII. at Valençay, of restoring him
+to the throne of Spain and of indemnifying him with Portugal for the
+loss of the north-eastern provinces. This scheme may even have formed
+part of a plan of general pacification; for at Dresden, on May 17th,
+he proposed to Austria the admission of representatives of the Spanish
+_insurgents_ to the European Congress. But it is time to turn from the
+haze of conjecture to the sharp outlines of Wellington's
+campaign.[315]
+
+While the French cause in Spain was crumbling to pieces, that of the
+patriots was being firmly welded together by the organizing genius of
+Wellington. By patient efforts, he soon had the Spanish and Portuguese
+contingents in an efficient condition: and, as large reinforcements
+had come from England, he was able early in May to muster 70,000
+British and Portuguese troops and 30,000 Spaniards for a move
+eastwards. Murray's force tied Suchet fast to the province of
+Valencia; Clausel was fully employed in Navarre, and thus Joseph's
+army on the Douro was left far too weak to stem Wellington's tide of
+war. Only some 45,000 French were ready in the districts between
+Salamanca and Valladolid. Others remained in the basin of the Tagus in
+case the allies should burst in by that route.
+
+Wellington kept up their illusions by feints at several points, while
+he prepared to thrust a mighty force over the fords of the Tormes and
+Esla. He completely succeeded. While Joseph and Jourdan were haltingly
+mustering their forces in Leon, the allies began that series of rapid
+flanking movements on the north which decided the campaign. Swinging
+forward his powerful left wing he manoeuvred the French out of one
+strong position after another. The Tormes, the Esla, the Douro, the
+Carrion, the Pisuerga, none of these streams stopped his advance.
+Joseph nowhere showed fight; he abandoned even the castle of Burgos,
+and, fearing to be cut off from France, retired behind the upper Ebro.
+
+The official excuse given for this rapid retreat was the lack of
+provisions: but the diaries of two British officers, Tomkinson and
+Simmons, show that they found the country between the Esla and the
+Ebro for the most part well stocked and fertile. Simmons, who was with
+the famous Light Division, notes that the Rifles did not fire a shot
+after breaking up their winter quarters, until they skirmished with
+the French in the hills near the source of the Ebro. The French
+retreat was really necessary in order to bring the King's forces into
+touch with the corps of Generals Clausel and Foy, in Navarre and
+Biscay respectively. Joseph had already sent urgent orders to call in
+these corps; for, as he explained to Clarke, the supreme need now was
+to beat Wellington; that done, the partisan warfare would collapse.
+
+But Clausel and Foy took their orders, not from the King, but from
+Paris; and up to June 5th, Joseph heard not a word from Clausel. At
+last, on June 15th, that general wrote from Pamplona that he had
+received Joseph's commands of May 30th and June 7th, and would march
+to join him. Had he at once called in his mobile columns and covered
+with all haste the fifty miles that separated him from the King, the
+French army would have been the stronger by at least 14,000 men. But
+his concentration was a work of some difficulty, and he finally drew
+near to Vittoria on June 22nd, when the French cause was irrecoverably
+lost.[316]
+
+Wellington, meanwhile, had foreseen the supreme need of despatch.
+Early in the year he had urged our naval authorities to strengthen our
+squadron on the north of Spain, so that he might in due course make
+Santander his base of supplies. Naval support was not forthcoming to
+the extent that he expected;[317] but after leaving Burgos he was able
+to make some use of the northern ports, thereby shortening his line of
+communications. In fact, the Vittoria campaign illustrates the immense
+advantages gained by a leader, who is sure of his rear and of one
+flank, over an enemy who is ever nervous about his communications. The
+British squadron acted like a covering force on the north to
+Wellington: it fed the guerilla warfare in Biscay, and menaced Joseph
+with real though invisible dangers. This explains, in large measure,
+why our commander moved forward so rapidly, and pushed forward his
+left wing with such persistent daring. Mountain fastnesses and roaring
+torrents stayed not the advance of his light troops on that side. Near
+the sources of the Ebro, the French again felt their communications
+with France threatened, and falling back from the main stream, up the
+defile carved out by a tributary, the Zadora, they halted wearily in
+the basin of Vittoria.
+
+There Joseph and Jourdan determined to fight. As usual, there had been
+recriminations at headquarters. "Jourdan, ill and angry, kept his
+room; and the King was equally invisible."[318] Few orders were given.
+The town was packed with convoys and vehicles of all kinds, and it was
+not till dawn of that fatal midsummer's day that the last convoy set
+out for France, under the escort of 3,000 troops. Nevertheless, Joseph
+might hope to hold his own. True, he had but 70,000 troops at hand, or
+perhaps even fewer; yet on the evening of the 19th he heard that
+Clausel had set out from Pamplona.
+
+At once he bade him press on his march, but that message fell into the
+enemy's hands.[319] Relying, then, on help which was not to arrive,
+Joseph confronted the allied army. It numbered, in all, 83,000 men,
+though Napier asserts that not more than 60,000 took part in the
+fighting. The French left wing rested on steep hills near Puebla,
+which tower above the River Zadora, and leave but a narrow defile.
+Their centre held a less precipitous ridge, which trends away to the
+north parallel to the middle reaches of that stream. Higher up its
+course, the Zadora describes a sharp curve that protects the ridge on
+its northern flank; and if a daring foe drove the defenders away from
+these heights, they could still fall back on two lower ridges nearer
+Vittoria. But these natural advantages were not utilized to the full.
+The bridges opposite the French front were not broken, and the
+defenders were far too widely spread out. Their right wing, consisting
+of the "Army of Portugal" under General Reille, guarded the bridge
+north of Vittoria, and was thus quite out of touch with the main force
+that held the hills five miles away to the west.
+
+The dawn broke heavily; the air was thick with rain and driving mists,
+under cover of which Hill's command moved up against the steeps of
+Puebla. A Spanish brigade, under General Morillo, nimbly scaled those
+slopes on the south-west, gained a footing near the summit, and, when
+reinforced, firmly held their ground. Meanwhile the rest of Hill's
+troops threaded their way beneath through the pass of Puebla, and,
+after a tough fight, wrested the village of Subijana from the foe. In
+vain did Joseph and Jourdan bring up troops from the centre; the
+British and Spaniards were not to be driven either from the village or
+from the heights. Wellington's main array was also advancing to attack
+the French centre occupying the ridge behind the Zadora; and Graham,
+after making a long détour to the north through very broken country,
+sought to surprise Reille and drive him from the bridge north of
+Vittoria. In this advance the guidance of the Spanish irregulars,
+under Colonel Longa, was of priceless value. So well was Graham
+covered by their bands, that, up to the moment of attack, Reille knew
+not that a British division was also at hand. At the centre, too, a
+Spanish peasant informed Wellington that the chief bridge of Tres
+Puentes was unguarded, and guided Kempt's brigade through rocky
+ground to within easy charging distance.
+
+ [Illustration: BATTLE OF VITTORIA]
+
+The bridge was seized, Joseph's outposts were completely turned, and
+time was given for the muster of Picton's men. Stoutly they breasted
+the slopes, and unsteadied the weakened French centre, which was also
+assailed on its northern flank. At the same time Joseph's left wing
+began to waver under Hill's repeated onslaughts; and, distracted by
+the distant cannonade, which told of a stubborn fight between Graham
+and Reille, the King now began to draw in his lines towards Vittoria.
+For a time the French firmly held the village of Arinez, but Picton's
+men were not to be denied. They burst through the rearguard, and the
+battle now became a running fight, extending over some five miles of
+broken country. At the last slopes, close to Vittoria, the defenders
+made a last heroic stand, and their artillery dealt havoc among the
+assailants; but our fourth division, rushing forward into the smoke,
+carried a hill that commanded their left, and the day was won. Nothing
+now remained for the French but a speedy retreat, while the gallant
+Reille could still hold Graham's superior force at bay.
+
+There, too, the fight at last swirled back, albeit with many a
+rallying eddy, into Vittoria. That town was no place of refuge, but a
+death-trap; for Graham had pushed on a detachment to Durana, on the
+high-road leading direct to France, and thus blocked the main line of
+retreat. Joseph's army was now in pitiable plight. Pent up in the
+choked streets of Vittoria, torn by cannon-shot from the English
+lines, the wreckage of its three armies for a time surged helplessly
+to and fro, and then broke away eastwards towards Pamplona. On that
+side only was safety to be found, for British hussars scoured the
+plain to the north-east, lending wings to the flight. The narrow
+causeway, leading through marshes, was soon blocked, and panic seized
+on all: artillerymen cut their traces and fled; carriages crowded with
+women, once called gay, but now frantic with terror, wagons laden with
+ammunition, stores, treasure-chests, and the booty amassed by generals
+and favourites during five years of warfare and extortion, all were
+left pell-mell. Jourdan's Marshal's baton was taken, and was sent by
+Wellington to the Prince Regent, who acknowledged it by conferring on
+the victor the title of Field-Marshal.
+
+Richly was the title deserved. After four years of battling with
+superior numbers, the British leader at last revealed the full majesty
+of his powers now that the omens were favourable. In six weeks he
+marched more than five hundred miles, crossed six rivers, and, using
+the Navarrese revolt as the anvil, dealt the hammer-stroke of
+Vittoria. It cost Napoleon 151 pieces of cannon, nearly all the stores
+piled up for his Peninsular campaigns--and Spain itself.[320]
+
+As for Joseph, he left his carriage and fled on horseback towards
+France, reaching St. Jean de Luz "with only a napoleon left." He there
+also assured his queen that he had always preferred a private station
+to the grandeur and agitations of public life.[321] This, indeed, was
+one of the many weak points of his brother's Spanish policy. It rested
+on the shoulders of an amiable man who was better suited to the ease
+of Naples than to the Herculean toils of Madrid. Napoleon now saw the
+magnitude of his error. On July 1st he bade Soult leave Dresden at
+once for Paris. There he was to call on Clarke, with him repair to
+Cambacérès; and, as Lieutenant-General, take steps to re-establish the
+Emperor's affairs in Spain. A Regency was to govern in place of
+Joseph, who was ordered to remain, according to the state of affairs,
+either at Burgos(!) or St. Sebastian or Bayonne.
+
+    "All the follies in Spain" (he wrote to Cambacérès on that day)
+    "are due to the mistaken consideration I have shown the King, who
+    not only does not know how to command, but does not even know his
+    own value enough to leave the military command alone."
+
+And to Savary he wrote two days later:
+
+    "It is hard to imagine anything so inconceivable as what is now
+    going on in Spain. The King could have collected 100,000 picked
+    men: _they might have beaten the whole of England_."
+
+Reflection, however, showed him that the fault was his own; that if,
+as had occurred to him when he left Paris, he had intrusted the
+supreme command in Spain to Soult, the disaster would never have
+happened.[322] His belief in Soult's capacity was justified by the
+last events of the Peninsular War. But neither his splendid rally of
+the scattered French forces, nor the skilful movements of Clausel and
+Suchet, nor the stubborn defence of Pamplona and San Sebastian, could
+now save the French cause. The sole result of these last operations
+was to restore the lustre of the French arms and to keep 150,000 men
+in Spain when the scales of war were wavering in the plains of Saxony.
+
+Napoleon's letters betray the agitation which he felt even at the
+first vague rumours of the disaster of Vittoria. On the first three
+days of July he penned at Dresden seven despatches on that topic in a
+style so vehement that the compilers of the "Correspondance de
+Napoléon" have thought it best to omit them. He further enjoined the
+utmost reserve, and ordered the official journals merely to state
+that, after a brisk engagement at Vittoria, the French army was
+concentrating in Arragon, and that the British had captured about a
+hundred guns and wagons left behind in the town for lack of horses.
+
+There was every reason for hiding the truth. He saw how seriously it
+must weaken his chances of browbeating the Eastern Powers, and of
+punishing Austria for her armed mediation. Hitherto there seemed every
+chance of his succeeding. The French standards flew on all the
+fortresses of the Elbe and Oder. Hamburg was fast becoming a great
+French camp, and Denmark was ranged on the side of France.
+
+Indeed, on reviewing the situation on June 4th, the German publicist,
+Gentz, came to the conclusion that the Emperor Francis would probably
+end his vacillations by some inglorious compromise. The Kaiser desired
+peace; but he also wished to shake off the irksome tutelage of his
+son-in-law, and regain Illyria. For the present he wavered. Before the
+news of Lützen reached him, he undoubtedly encouraged the allies: but
+that reverse brought about a half left turn towards Napoleon. "Boney's
+success at Lützen," wrote Sir G. Jackson in his Diary, "has made
+Francis reconsider his half-formed resolutions." Here was the chief
+difficulty for the allies. Their fortunes, and the future of Europe,
+rested largely on the decision of a man whose natural irresolution of
+character had been increased by adversity. Fortunately, the news from
+Spain finally helped to incline him towards war; but for some weeks
+his decision remained the unknown quantity in European politics.
+Fortunately, too, he was amenable to the gentle but determining
+pressure of the kind which Metternich could so skilfully exert. That
+statesman, as usual, schemed and balanced. He saw that Austria had
+much to gain by playing the waiting game. Her forces were improving
+both in numbers and efficiency, and under cover of her offer of armed
+mediation were holding strong positions in Bohemia. In fact, she was
+regaining her prestige, and might hope to impose her will on the
+combatants at the forthcoming European Congress at Prague. Metternich,
+therefore, continued to pose as the well-wisher of both parties and
+the champion of a reasonable and therefore durable compromise.
+
+He had acted thus, not only in his choice of measures, but in his
+selection of men. He had sent to Napoleon's headquarters at Dresden
+Count Bubna, whose sincere and resolute striving for peace served to
+lull animosity and suspicions in that place. But to the allied
+headquarters, now at Reichenbach, he had despatched Count Stadion, who
+worked no less earnestly for war. While therefore the Courts of St.
+Petersburg, Berlin, and London hoped, from Stadion's language, that
+Austria meant to draw the sword, Napoleon inclined to the belief that
+she would never do more than rattle her scabbard, and would finally
+yield to his demands.
+
+Stadion's letters to Metternich show that he feared this result. He
+pressed him to end the seesaw policy of the last six months. "These
+people are beaten owing to our faults, our half wishes, our half
+measures, and presently they will get out of the scrape and leave us
+to pay the price." As for Austria's forthcoming demand of Illyria, who
+would guarantee that the French Emperor would let her keep it six
+months, if he remained master of Germany and Italy? Only by a close
+union with the allies could she be screened from Napoleon's vengeance,
+which must otherwise lead to her utter destruction. Let, then, all
+timid counsellors be removed from the side of the Emperor Francis. "I
+cling to my oft-expressed conviction that we are no longer masters of
+our own affairs, and that the tide of events will carry us
+along."[323] If we may judge from Metternich's statements in his
+"Memoirs," written many years later, he was all along in secret
+sympathy with these views. But his actions and his official despatches
+during the first six weeks of the armistice bore another complexion;
+they were almost colourless, or rather, they were chameleonic. At
+Dresden they seemed, on the whole, to be favourable to France: at
+Reichenbach, when coloured by Stadion, they were thought to hold out
+the prospect of another European coalition.
+
+A new and important development was given to Austrian policy when, on
+June 7th, Metternich drew up the conditions on which Austria would
+insist as the basis of her armed mediation. They were as follows: (1)
+Dissolution of the Duchy of Warsaw; (2) A consequent reconstruction of
+Prussia, with the certainty of recovering Danzig; (3) Restitution of
+the Illyrian provinces, including Dalmatia, to Austria; (4)
+Re-establishment of the Hanse Towns, and an eventual arrangement as to
+the cession of the other parts of the 32nd military division [the part
+of North Germany annexed by Napoleon in 1810]. To these were added two
+other conditions on which Austria would lay great stress, namely: (5)
+Dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine; (6) Reconstruction of
+Prussia conformably with her territorial extent previous to 1805.
+
+At first sight these terms seem favourable to the allied cause; but
+they were much less extensive than the proposals submitted by
+Alexander in the middle of May. Therefore, when they were set forth to
+the allies at Reichenbach, they were unfavourably received, and for
+some days suspicion of Austria overclouded the previous goodwill. It
+was removed only by the labours of Stadion and by the tact which
+Metternich displayed during an interview with the Czar at Opotschna
+(June 17th).
+
+Alexander came there prejudiced against Metternich as a past master in
+the arts of double-dealing: he went away convinced that he meant well
+for the allies. "What will become of us," asked the Czar, "if Napoleon
+accepts your mediation?" To which the statesman replied: "If he
+refuses it, the truce will be at an end, and you will find us in the
+ranks of your allies. If he accepts it, the negotiations will prove to
+a certainty that Napoleon is neither wise nor just; and the issue will
+be the same." Alexander knew enough of his great enemy's character to
+discern the sagacity of Metternich's forecast; and both Frederick
+William and he agreed to the Austrian terms.[324] Accordingly, on June
+27th, a treaty was secretly signed at Reichenbach, wherein Austria
+pledged herself to an active alliance with Russia and Prussia in case
+Napoleon should not, by the end of the armistice, have acceded to her
+four _conditiones sine quibus non._ To these was now added a demand
+for the evacuation of all Polish and Prussian fortresses by French
+troops, a stipulation which it was practically certain that Napoleon
+would refuse.[325]
+
+The allies meanwhile were gaining the sinews of war from England. The
+Czar had informed Cathcart at Kalisch that, though he did not press
+our Government for subsidies, yet he would not be able to wage a long
+campaign without such aid. On June 14th and 15th, our ambassador
+signed treaties with Russia and Prussia, whereby we agreed to aid the
+former by a yearly subsidy of £1,133,334, and the latter by a sum of
+half that amount, and to meet all the expenses of the Russian fleet
+then in our harbours. The Czar and the King of Prussia bound
+themselves to maintain in the field (exclusive of garrisons) 160,000
+and 80,000 men respectively.[326]
+
+There was every reason for these preparations. Everything showed that
+Napoleon was bent on browbeating the allies. On June 17th Napoleon's
+troops destroyed or captured Lützow's volunteers at Kitzen near
+Leipzig. The excuse for this act was that Lützow had violated the
+armistice; but he had satisfied Nisas, the French officer there in
+command, that he was loyally observing it. Nevertheless, his brigade
+was cut to pieces. The protests of the allies received no response
+except that Lützow's men might be exchanged--as if they had been
+captured in fair fight. Finally, Napoleon refused to hear the
+statement of Nisas in his own justification, reproached him for
+casting a slur on the conduct of French troops, and deprived him of
+his command.[327]
+
+But it was Napoleon's bearing towards Metternich, in an interview held
+on June 26th at the Marcolini Palace at Dresden, that most clearly
+revealed the inflexibility of his policy. Ostensibly, the interview
+was fixed in order to arrange the forms of the forthcoming Congress
+that was to insure the world's peace. In reality, however, Napoleon
+hoped to intimidate the Austrian statesman, and to gather from him the
+results of his recent interview with the Czar. Carrying his sword at
+his side and his hat under his arm, he received Metternich in state.
+After a few studied phrases about the health of the Emperor Francis,
+his brow clouded and he plunged _in medias res_: "So you too want war:
+well, you shall have it. I have beaten the Russians at Bautzen: now
+you wish your turn to come. Be it so, the rendezvous shall be in
+Vienna. Men are incorrigible: experience is lost upon you. Three times
+I have replaced the Emperor Francis on his throne. I have promised
+always to live at peace with him: I have married his daughter. At the
+time I said to myself--you are perpetrating a folly; but it was done,
+and now I repent of it."
+
+Metternich saw his advantage: his adversary had lost his temper and
+forgotten his dignity. He calmly reminded Napoleon that peace depended
+on him; that his power must be reduced within reasonable limits, or he
+would fall in the ensuing struggle. No matador fluttered the cloak
+more dextrously. Napoleon rushed on. No coalition should daunt him: he
+could overpower any number of men--everything except the cold of
+Russia--and the losses of that campaign had been made good. He then
+diverged into stories about that war, varied by digressions as to his
+exact knowledge of Austria's armaments, details of which were sent to
+him daily. To end this wandering talk, Metternich reminded him that
+his troops now were not men but boys. Whereupon the Emperor
+passionately replied: "You do not know what goes on in the mind of a
+soldier; a man such as I does not take much heed of the lives of a
+million of men,"--and he threw aside his hat. Metternich did not pick
+it up.
+
+Napoleon noticed the unspoken defiance, and wound up by saying: "When
+I married an Archduchess I tried to weld the new with the old, Gothic
+prejudices with the institutions of my century: I deceived myself, and
+this day I see the whole extent of my error. It may cost me my throne,
+but I will bury the world beneath its ruins." In dismissing
+Metternich, the Emperor used the device which, shortly before the
+rupture with England in 1803, he had recommended Talleyrand to employ
+upon Whitworth, namely, after trying intimidation to resort to
+cajolery. Touching the Minister on the shoulder, he said quietly:
+"Well, now, do you know what will happen? You will not make war on
+me?" To which came the quick reply: "You are lost, Sire; I had the
+presentiment of it when I came: now, in going, I have the certainty."
+In the anteroom the generals crowded around the illustrious visitor.
+Berthier had previously begged him to remember that Europe, and
+France, urgently needed peace; and now, on conducting him to his
+carriage, he asked him whether he was satisfied with Napoleon. "Yes,"
+was the answer, "he has explained everything to me: it is all over
+with the man."[328]
+
+Substantially, this was the case. Napoleon's resentment against
+Austria, not unnatural under the circumstances, had hurried him into
+outbursts that revealed the inner fires of his passion. In a second
+interview, on June 30th, he was far more gracious, and allowed Austria
+to hope that she would gain Illyria. He also accepted Austria's
+mediation; and it was stipulated that a Congress should meet at Prague
+for the discussion of a general pacification. Metternich appeared
+highly pleased with this condescension, but he knew by experience that
+Napoleon's caresses were as dangerous as his wrath; and he remained on
+his guard. The Emperor soon disclosed his real aim. In gracious tones
+he added: "But this is not all: I must have a prolongation of the
+armistice. How can we between July 5th and 20th end a negotiation
+which ought to embrace the whole world?" He proposed August 20th as
+the date of its expiration. To this Metternich demurred because the
+allies already thought the armistice too long for their interests.
+August 10th was finally agreed on, but not without much opposition on
+the part of the allied generals, who insisted that such a prolongation
+would greatly embarrass them.
+
+Outwardly, this new arrangement seemed to portend peace: but it is
+significant that on June 28th Napoleon wrote to Eugène that all the
+probabilities appeared for war; and on June 30th he wrote his
+father-in-law a cold and almost threatening letter.[329]
+
+Late on that very evening came to hand the first report of the
+disaster of Vittoria. Despite all Napoleon's precautions, the news
+leaked out at Dresden. Bubna's despatches of July 5th, 6th, and 7th
+soon made it known to the Emperor Francis, then at Brandeis in
+Bohemia. Thence it reached the allied monarchs and Bernadotte on July
+12th at Trachenberg in the midst of negotiations which will be
+described presently. The effect of the news was very great. The Czar
+at once ordered a Te Deum to be sung: "It is the first instance,"
+wrote Cathcart, "of a Te Deum having been sung at this Court for a
+victory in which the forces of the Russian Empire were not
+engaged."[330] But its results were more than ceremonial: they were
+practical. Our envoy, Thornton, who followed Bernadotte to
+Trachenberg, states that Bubna had learnt that Wellington had
+completely routed three French corps with a _débandade_ like that of
+the retreat from Moscow. Thornton adds: "The Prince Royal [Bernadotte]
+thinks that the French army will be very soon withdrawn from Silesia
+and that Buonaparte must soon commence his retreat nearer the Rhine. I
+have no doubt of its effect upon Austria. This is visible in the
+answer of the Emperor [Francis] to the Prince, which came to-day from
+the Austrian head-quarters." That letter, dated July 9th, was indeed
+of the most cordial character. It expressed great pleasure at hearing
+that "the obstacles which seemed to hinder the co-operation of the
+forces under your Royal Highness are now removed. I regard this
+co-operation as one of the surest supports of the cause which the
+Powers may once more be called on to defend by a war which can only
+offer chances of success unless sustained by the greatest and most
+unanimous measures."[331] Further than this Francis could scarcely go
+without pledging himself unconditionally to an alliance; and doubtless
+it was the news of Vittoria that evoked these encouraging assurances.
+
+It is even more certain that the compact of Trachenberg also helped to
+end the hesitations of Austria. This compact arose out of the urgent
+need of adopting a general plan of campaign, and, above all, of ending
+the disputes between the allied sovereigns and Bernadotte. The Prince
+Royal of Sweden had lost their confidence through his failure to save
+Hamburg from the French and Danes. Yet, on his side, he had some cause
+for complaint. In the previous summer, Alexander led him to expect the
+active aid of 35,000 Russian troops for a campaign in Norway: but,
+mainly at the instance of England, he now landed in Pomerania and left
+Sweden exposed to a Danish attack on the side of Norway. He therefore
+suggested an interview with the allied sovereigns, a request which was
+warmly seconded by Castlereagh.[332] Accordingly it took place at
+Trachenberg, a castle north of Breslau, with the happiest results. The
+warmth of the great Gascon's manner cleared away all clouds, and won
+the approval of Frederick William.
+
+There was signed the famous compact, or plan, of Trachenberg (July
+12th). It bound the allies to turn their main forces against
+Napoleon's chief army, wherever it was: those allied corps that
+threatened his flanks or communications were to act on the line that
+most directly cut into them: and the salient bastion of Bohemia was
+expressly named as offering the greatest advantages for attacking
+Napoleon's main force. The first and third of these axioms were
+directly framed so as to encourage Austria: the second aimed at
+concentrating Bernadotte's force on the main struggle and preventing
+his waging war merely against Denmark.
+
+The plan went even further: 100,000 allied troops were to be sent into
+Bohemia, as soon as the armistice should cease, so as to form in all
+an army of 200,000 men. On the north, Bernadotte, after detaching a
+corps towards Hamburg, was to advance with a Russo-Prusso-Swedish army
+of 70,000 men towards the middle course of the Elbe, his objective
+being Leipzig; and the rest of the allied forces, those remaining in
+Silesia, were to march towards Torgau, and thus threaten Napoleon's
+positions in Saxony from the East. This plan of campaign was an
+immense advance on those of the earlier coalitions. There was no
+reliance here on lines and camps: the days of Mack and Phull were
+past: the allies had at last learnt from Napoleon the need of seeking
+out the enemy's chief army, and of flinging at it all the available
+forces. Politically, also, the compact deserves notice. In concerting
+a plan of offensive operations from Bohemia, the allies were going far
+to determine the conduct of Austria.
+
+On that same day the peace Congress was opened at Prague. Its
+proceedings were farcical from the outset. Only Anstett and Humboldt,
+the Russian and Prussian envoys, were at hand; and at the appointment
+of the former, an Alsatian by birth, Napoleon expressed great
+annoyance. The difficulties about the armistice also gave him the
+opportunity, which he undoubtedly sought, of further delaying
+negotiations. In vain did Metternich point out to the French envoy,
+Narbonne, at Prague, that these frivolous delays must lead to war if
+matters were not amicably settled by August 10th, at midnight.[333] In
+vain did Narbonne and Caulaincourt beg their master to seize this
+opportunity for concluding a safe and honourable peace. It was not
+till the middle of July that he appointed them his plenipotentiaries
+at the Congress; and, even then, he retained the latter at Dresden,
+while the former fretted in forced inaction at Prague. "I send you
+more _powers_ than _power_," wrote Maret to Narbonne with cynical
+jauntiness: "you will have your hands tied, but your legs and mouth
+free so that you may walk about and dine."[334] At last, on the 26th,
+Caulaincourt received his instructions; but what must have been the
+anguish of this loyal son of France to see that Napoleon was courting
+war with a united Europe. Austria, said his master, was acting as
+mediator: and the mediator ought not to look for gains: she had made
+no sacrifice and deserved to gain nothing at all: her claims were
+limitless; and every concession granted by France would encourage her
+to ask for more: he was disposed to make peace with Russia on
+satisfactory terms so as to punish Austria for her bad faith in
+breaking the alliance of 1812.[335]
+
+Such trifling with the world's peace seems to belong, not to the
+sphere of history, but to the sombre domain of Greek tragedy, where
+mortals full blown with pride rush blindly on the embossed bucklers of
+fate. For what did Austria demand of him? She proposed to leave him
+master of all the lands from the swamps of the Ems down to the Roman
+Campagna: Italy was to be his, along with as much of the Iberian
+Peninsula as he could hold. His control of Illyria, North Germany, and
+the Rhenish Confederation he must give up. But France, Belgium,
+Holland, and Italy would surely form a noble realm for a man who had
+lost half a million of men, and was even now losing Spain. Yet his
+correspondence proves that, even so, he thought little of his foes,
+and, least of all, of the Congress at Prague.
+
+Leaving his plenipotentiaries tied down to the discussion of matters
+of form, he set out from Dresden on July 24th for a visit to Mainz,
+where he met the Empress and reviewed his reserves. Every item of news
+fed his warlike resolve. Soult, with nearly 100,000 men, was about to
+relieve Pamplona (so he wrote to Caulaincourt): the English were
+retiring in confusion: 12,000 veteran horsemen from his armies in
+Spain would soon be on the Rhine; but they could not be on the Elbe
+before September. If the allies wanted a longer armistice, he
+(Napoleon) would agree to it: if they wished to fight, he was equally
+ready, even against the Austrians as well.[336]
+
+To Davoust, at Hamburg, he expressed himself as if war was certain;
+and he ordered Clarke, at Paris, to have 110,000 muskets made by the
+end of the year, so that, in all, 400,000 would be ready. Letters
+about the Congress are conspicuous by their absence; and everything
+proves that, as he wrote to Clarke at the beginning of the armistice,
+he purposed striking his great blows in September. Little by little we
+see the emergence of his final plan--_to overthrow Russia and Prussia,
+while, for a week or two, he amused Austria with separate overtures at
+Prague_.
+
+But, during eight years of adversity, European statesmen had learnt
+that disunion spelt disaster; and it was evident that Napoleon's
+delays were prompted solely by the need of equipping and training his
+new cavalry brigades. As for the Congress, no one took it seriously.
+Gentz, who was then in close contact with Metternich, saw how this
+tragi-comedy would end. "We believe that on his return to Dresden,
+Napoleon will address to this Court a solemn Note in which he will
+accuse everybody of the delays which he himself has caused, and will
+end up by proclaiming a sort of ultimatum. Our reply will be a
+declaration of war."[337]
+
+This was what happened. As July wore on and brought no peaceful
+overtures, but rather a tightening of Napoleon's coils in Saxony,
+Bavaria, and Illyria, the Emperor Francis inclined towards war. As
+late as July 18th he wrote to Metternich that he was still for peace,
+provided that Illyria could be gained.[338]
+
+But the French military preparations decided him, a few days later, to
+make war, unless every one of the Austrian demands should be conceded
+by August 10th. His counsellors had already come to that conclusion,
+as our records prove. On July 20th Stadion wrote to Cathcart urging
+him to give pecuniary aid to General Nugent, who would wait on him to
+concert means for rousing a revolt against Napoleon in Tyrol and North
+Italy; and our envoy agreed to give £5,000 a month for the "support of
+5,000 Austrians acting in communication with our squadron in the
+Adriatic." This step met with Metternich's approval; and, when writing
+to Stadion from Prague (July 25th), he counselled Cathcart to send a
+despatch to Wellington and urge him to make a vigorous move against
+the south of France. He (Metternich) would have the letter sent safely
+through Switzerland and the south of France direct to our
+general.[339]
+
+With the solemn triflings of the Congress we need not concern
+ourselves. The French plenipotentiaries saw clearly that their master
+"would allow of no peace but that which he should himself dictate with
+his foot on the enemy's neck." Yet they persevered in their thankless
+task, for "who could tell whether the Emperor, when he found himself
+placed between highly favourable conditions and the fear of having
+200,000 additional troops against him, might not hesitate; whether
+just one grain of common sense, one spark of wisdom, might not enter
+his head?" Alas! That brain was now impervious to advice; and the
+young De Broglie, from whom we quote this extract, sums up the opinion
+of the French plenipotentiaries in the trenchant phrase, "the devil
+was in him."[340]
+
+But there was method in his madness. In the Dresden interview he had
+warned Metternich that not till the eleventh hour would he disclose
+his real demands. And now was the opportunity of trying the effect of
+a final act of intimidation. On August 4th he was back again in
+Dresden: on the next day he dictated the secret conditions on which he
+would accept Austria's mediation; and, on August 6th, Caulaincourt
+paid Metternich a private visit to find out what Austria's terms
+really were. After a flying visit to the Emperor Francis at Brandeis,
+the Minister brought back as an ultimatum the six terms drawn up on
+June 7th (see p. 316); and to these he now added another which
+guaranteed the existing possessions of every State, great or small.
+
+Napoleon was taken aback by this boldness, which he attributed to the
+influence of Spanish affairs and to English intrigues.[341] On August
+9th he summoned Bubna and offered to give up the Duchy of
+Warsaw--provided that the King of Saxony gained an indemnity--also the
+Illyrian Provinces (but without Istria), as well as Danzig, if its
+fortifications were destroyed. As for the Hanse Towns and North
+Germany, he would not hear of letting them go. Bubna thought that
+Austria would acquiesce. But she had said her last word: she saw that
+Napoleon was trifling with her until he had disposed of Russia and
+Prussia. And, at midnight of August 10th, beacon fires on the heights
+of the Riesengebirge flashed the glad news to the allies in Silesia
+that they might begin to march their columns into Bohemia. The second
+and vaster Act in the drama of liberation had begun.
+
+Did Napoleon remember, in that crisis of his destiny, that it was
+exactly twenty-one years since the downfall of the old French
+monarchy, when he looked forth on the collapse of the royalist defence
+at the Tuileries and the fruitless bravery of the Swiss Guards?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG
+
+
+The militant Revolution had now attained its majority. It had to
+confront an embattled Europe. Hitherto the jealousies or fears of the
+Eastern Powers had prevented any effective union. The Austro-Prussian
+league of 1792 was of the loosest description owing to the astute
+neutrality of the Czarina Catherine. In 1798 and 1805 Prussia seemed
+to imitate her policy, and only after Austria had been crushed did the
+army of Frederick the Great try conclusions with Napoleon. In the Jena
+and Friedland campaigns, the Hapsburgs played the part of the sulking
+Achilles, and met their natural reward in 1809. The war of 1812
+marshalled both Austria and Prussia as vassal States in Napoleon's
+crusade against Russia. But it also brought salvation, and Napoleon's
+fateful obstinacy during the negotiations at Prague virtually
+compelled his own father-in-law to draw the sword against him.
+Ostensibly, the points at issue were finally narrowed down to the
+control of the Confederation of the Rhine, the ownership of North
+Germany, and a few smaller points. But really there was a deeper
+cause, the character of Napoleon.
+
+The vindictiveness with which he had trampled on his foes, his almost
+superhuman lust of domination, and the halting way in which he met all
+overtures for a compromise--this it was that drove the Hapsburgs into
+an alliance with their traditional foes. His conduct may be explained
+on diverse grounds, as springing from the vendetta instincts of his
+race, or from his still viewing events through the distorting medium
+of the Continental System, or from his ingrained conviction that, at
+bottom, rulers are influenced only by intimidation.
+
+In any case, he had now succeeded in bringing about the very thing
+which Charles James Fox had declared to be impossible. In opening the
+negotiations for peace with France in April, 1806, our Foreign
+Minister had declared to Talleyrand that "the project of combining the
+whole of Europe against France is to the last degree chimerical." Yet
+Great Britain and the Spanish patriots, after struggling alone against
+the conqueror from 1808 to 1812, saw Russia, Sweden, Prussia, and
+Austria, successively range themselves on their side. It is true, the
+Germans of the Rhenish Confederation, the Italians, Swiss, and Danes
+were still enrolled under the banners of the new Charlemagne; but,
+with the exception of the last, they fought wearily or questioningly,
+as for a cause that promised naught but barren triumphs and unending
+strife.
+
+Truly, the years that witnessed Napoleon's fall were fruitful in
+paradox. The greatest political genius of the age, for lack of the
+saving grace of moderation, had banded Europe against him: and the
+most calculating of commanders had also given his enemies time to
+frame an effective military combination. The Prussian General von
+Boyen has told us in his Memoirs how dismayed ardent patriots were at
+the conclusion of the armistice in June, and how slow even the wiser
+heads were to see that it would benefit their cause. If Napoleon
+needed it in order to train his raw conscripts and organize new
+brigades of cavalry, the need of the allies was even greater. Their
+resources were far less developed than his own. At Bautzen, their army
+was much smaller; and Boyen states that had the Emperor pushed them
+hard, driven the Russians back into Poland and called the Poles once
+more to arms, the allies must have been in the most serious
+straits.[342]
+
+Napoleon, it is true, gained much by the armistice. His conscripts
+profited immensely by the training of those nine weeks: his forces now
+threatened Austria on the side of Bavaria and Illyria, as well as from
+the newly intrenched camp south of Dresden: his cavalry was
+re-recovering its old efficiency: Murat, in answer to his imperious
+summons, ended his long vacillations and joined the army at Dresden on
+August 14th.
+
+Above all, the French now firmly held that great military barrier, the
+River Elbe. Napoleon's obstinacy during the armistice was undoubtedly
+fed by his boundless confidence in the strength of his military
+position. In vain did his Marshals remind him that he was dangerously
+far from France; that, if Austria drew the sword, she could cut him
+off from the Rhine, and that the Saale, or even the Rhine itself,
+would be a safer line of defence.--Ten battles lost, he retorted,
+would scarcely force him to that last step. True, he now exposed his
+line of communications with France; but if the art of war consisted in
+never running any risk, glory would be the prize of mediocre minds. He
+must have a complete triumph. The question was not of abandoning this
+or that province: his political superiority was at stake. At Marengo,
+Austerlitz, and Wagram, he was in greater danger. His forces now were
+not _in the air_; they rested on the Elbe, on its fortresses, and on
+Erfurt. Dresden was the pivot on which all his movements turned. His
+enemies were spread out on a circumference stretching from Prague to
+Berlin, while he was at the centre; and, operating on interior and
+therefore shorter lines, he could outmarch and outmanoeuvre them.
+"_But_," he concluded, "_where I am not my lieutenants must wait for
+me without trusting anything to chance_. The allies cannot long act
+together on lines so extended, and can I not reasonably hope sooner or
+later to catch them in some false move? If they venture between my
+fortified lines of the Elbe and the Rhine, I will enter Bohemia and
+thus take them in the rear."[343]
+
+The plan promised much. The central intrenched camps of Dresden and
+Pirna, together with the fortresses of Königstein above, and of Torgau
+below, the Saxon capital, gave great strategic advantages. The corps
+of St. Cyr at Königstein and those of Vandamme, Poniatowski, and
+Victor further to the east, watched the defiles leading from Bohemia.
+The corps of Macdonald, Lauriston, Ney, and Marmont held in check
+Blücher's army of Silesia. On Napoleon's left, and resting on the
+fortresses of Wittenberg and Magdeburg, the corps of Oudinot,
+Bertrand, and Reynier threatened Berlin and Bernadotte's army of the
+north cantonned in its neighbourhood; while Davoust at Hamburg faced
+Bernadotte's northern detachments and menaced his communications with
+Stralsund. Davoust certainly was far away, and the loss of this ablest
+of Napoleon's lieutenants was severely to be felt in the subsequent
+complicated moves; with this exception, however, Napoleon's troops
+were well in hand and had the advantage of the central position, while
+the allies were, as yet, spread out on an extended arc.
+
+But Napoleon once more made the mistake of underrating both the
+numbers and the abilities of his foes. By great exertions they now had
+close on half a million of men under arms, near the banks of the Oder
+and the Elbe, or advancing from Poland and Hungary. True, many of
+these were reserves or raw recruits, and Colonel Cathcart doubted
+whether the Austrian reserves were then in existence.[344] But the
+best authorities place the total at 496,000 men and 1,443 cannon.
+Moreover, as was agreed on at Trachenberg, 77,000 Russians and 49,000
+Prussians now marched from Glatz and Schweidnitz into Bohemia, and
+speedily came into touch with the 110,000 Austrians now ranged behind
+the River Eger. The formation of this allied Grand Army was a masterly
+step. Napoleon did not hear of it before August 16th, and it was not
+until a week later that he realized how vast were the forces that
+would threaten his rear. For the present his plan was to hold the
+Bohemian passes south of Bautzen and Pirna, so as to hinder any
+invasion of Saxony, while he threw himself in great force on the Army
+of Silesia, now 95,000 strong, though he believed it to number only
+50,000.[345] While he was crushing Blücher, his lieutenants, Oudinot,
+Reynier, and Bertrand, were charged to drive Bernadotte's scattered
+corps from Berlin; whereupon Davoust was to cut him off from the sea
+and relieve the French garrisons at Stettin and Küstrin. Thus Napoleon
+proposed to act on the offensive in the open country towards Berlin
+and in Silesia, remaining at first on the defensive at Dresden and in
+the Lusatian mountains. This was against the advice of Marmont, who
+urged him to strike first at Prague, and not to intrust his
+lieutenants with great undertakings far away from Dresden. The advice
+proved to be sound; but it seems certain that Napoleon intended to
+open the campaign by a mighty blow dealt at Blücher, and then to lead
+a great force through the Lusatian defiles into Bohemia and drive the
+allies before him towards Vienna.
+
+But what did he presume that the allied forces in Bohemia would be
+doing while he overwhelmed Blücher in Silesia? Would not Dresden and
+his communications with France be left open to their blows? He decided
+to run this risk. He had 100,000 men among the Lusatian hills between
+Bautzen and Zittau. St. Cyr's corps was strongly posted at Pirna and
+the small fortress of Königstein, while his light troops watched the
+passes north of Teplitz and Karlsbad. If the allies sought to invade
+Saxony, they would, so Napoleon thought, try to force the Zittau road,
+which presented few natural difficulties. If they threatened Dresden
+by the passages further west, Vandamme would march from near Zittau to
+reinforce St. Cyr, or, if need be, the Emperor himself would hurry
+back from Silesia with his Guards. If the enemy invaded Bavaria,
+Napoleon wished them _bon voyage_: they would soon come back faster
+than they went; for, in that case, he would pour his columns down from
+Zittau towards Prague and Vienna. The thought that he might for a time
+be cut off from France troubled him not: "400,000 men," he said,
+"resting on a system of strongholds, on a river like the Elbe, are not
+to be turned." In truth, he thought little about the Bohemian army. If
+40,000 Russians had entered Bohemia, they would not reach Prague till
+the 25th; so he wrote to St. Cyr On the 17th, the day when hostilities
+could first begin; and he evidently believed that Dresden would be
+safe till September. Its defence seemed assured by the skill of that
+master of defensive warfare, St. Cyr, by the barrier of the Erz
+Mountains, and still more by Austrian slowness.
+
+Of this characteristic of theirs he cherished great hopes. Their
+finances were in dire disorder; and Fouché, who had just returned from
+a tour in the Hapsburg States, reported that the best way of striking
+at that Power would be "to affect its paper currency, on which all its
+armaments depend."[346] And truly if the transport of a great army
+over a mountain range had depended solely on the almost bankrupt
+exchequer at Vienna, Dresden would have been safe until Michaelmas;
+but, beside the material aid brought by the Russians and Prussians
+into Bohemia, England also gave her financial support. In pursuance of
+the secret article agreed on at Reichenbach, Cathcart now advanced
+£250,000 at once; and the knowledge that our financial support was
+given to the federative paper notes issued by the allies enabled the
+Court of Vienna privately to raise loans and to wage war with a vigour
+wholly unexpected by Napoleon.[347]
+
+Certainly the allied Grand Army suffered from no lack of advisers. The
+Czar, the Emperor Francis, and the King of Prussia were there; as a
+compliment to Austria, the command was intrusted to Field-Marshal
+Schwarzenberg, a man of diplomatic ability rather than of military
+genius. By his side were the Russians, Wittgenstein, Barclay, and
+Toll, the Prussian Knesebeck, the Swiss Jomini, and, above all,
+Moreau.
+
+The last-named, as we have seen, came over on the inducement of
+Bernadotte, and was received with great honour by the allied
+sovereigns. Jomini also was welcomed for his knowledge of the art of
+war. This great writer had long served as a French general; but the
+ill-treatment that he had lately suffered at Berthier's hands led him,
+on August 14th, to quit the French service and pass over to the
+allies. His account of his desertion, however, makes it clear that he
+had not penetrated Napoleon's designs, for the best of all reasons,
+because the Emperor kept them to himself to the very last moment.[348]
+
+The second part of the campaign opens with the curious sight of
+immense forces, commanded by experienced leaders, acting in complete
+ignorance of the moves of the enemy only some fifty miles away.
+Leaving Bautzen on August 17th, Napoleon proceeded eastwards to
+Görlitz, turned off thence to Zittau, and hearing a false rumour that
+the Russo-Prussian force in Bohemia was only 40,000 strong, returned
+to Görlitz with the aim of crushing Blücher. Disputes about the
+armistice had given that enterprising leader the excuse for entering
+the neutral zone before its expiration; and he had had sharp affairs
+with Macdonald and Ney near Löwenberg on the River Bober. Napoleon
+hurried up with his Guards, eager to catch Blücher;[349] the French
+were now 140,000 strong, while the allies had barely 95,000 at hand.
+But the Prussian veteran, usually as daring as a lion, was now wily as
+a fox. Under cover of stiff outpost affairs, he skilfully withdrew to
+the south-east, hoping to lure the French into the depths of Silesia
+and so give time to Schwarzenberg to seize Dresden.
+
+[Illustration: CAMPAIGN OF 1813]
+
+But Napoleon was not to be drawn further afield. Seeing that his foes
+could not be forced to a pitched battle, he intrusted the command to
+Macdonald, and rapidly withdrew with Ney and his Guard towards
+Görlitz; for he now saw the possible danger to Dresden if
+Schwarzenberg struck home. If, however, that leader remained on the
+defensive, the Emperor determined to fall back on what had all along
+been his second plan, and make a rush through the Lusatian defiles on
+Prague.[350] But a despatch from St. Cyr, which reached him at Görlitz
+late at night on the 23rd, showed that Dresden was in serious danger
+from the gathering masses of the allies. This news consigned his
+second plan to the limbo of vain hopes. Yet, as will appear a little
+later, his determination to defend by taking the offensive soon took
+form in yet a third design for the destruction of the allies.
+
+It is a proof of the quenchless pugnacity of his mind that he framed
+this plan during the fatigues of the long forced march back towards
+Dresden, amidst pouring rain and the discouragement of knowing that
+his raid into Silesia had ended merely in the fruitless wearying of
+his choicest troops. Accompanied by the Old Guard, the Young Guard, a
+division of infantry, and Latour-Maubourg's cavalry, he arrived at
+Stolpen, south-east of Dresden, before dawn of the 25th. Most of the
+battalions had traversed forty miles in little more than forty-eight
+hours, and that, too, after a partial engagement at Löwenberg, and
+despite lack of regular rations. Leaving him for a time, we turn to
+glance at the fortunes of the war in Brandenburg and Silesia.
+
+Napoleon had bidden Oudinot, with his own corps and those of Reynier
+and Bertrand, in all about 70,000 men, to fight his way to Berlin,
+disperse the Landwehr and the "mad rabble" there, and, if the city
+resisted, set it in flames by the fire of fifty howitzers. That
+Marshal found that a tough resistance awaited him, although the allied
+commander-in-chief, Bernadotte, moved with the utmost caution, as if
+he were bent on justifying Napoleon's recent sneer that he would "only
+make a show" (_piaffer_). It is true that the position of the Swedish
+Prince, with Davoust threatening his rear, was far from safe; but he
+earned the dislike of the Prussians by playing the _grand
+seigneur_.[351] Meanwhile most of the defence was carried out by the
+Prussians, who flooded the flat marshy land, thus delaying Oudinot's
+advance and compelling him to divide his corps. Nevertheless, it
+seemed that Bernadotte was about to evacuate Berlin.
+
+At this there was general indignation, which found vent in the retort
+of the Prussian General, von Bülow: "Our bones shall bleach in front
+of Berlin, not behind it." Seeing an opportune moment while Oudinot's
+other corps were as yet far off, Bülow sharply attacked Reynier's
+corps of Saxons at Grossbeeren, and gained a brilliant success, taking
+1,700 prisoners with 26 guns, and thus compelling Oudinot's scattered
+array to fall back in confusion on Wittenberg (August 23rd).[352]
+Thither the Crown Prince cautiously followed him. Four days later, a
+Prussian column of Landwehr fought a desperate fight at Hagelberg with
+Girard's conscripts, finally rushing on them with wolf-like fury,
+stabbing and clubbing them, till the foss and the lanes of the town
+were piled high with dead and wounded. Scarce 1,700 out of Girard's
+9,000 made good their flight to Magdeburg. The failures at Grossbeeren
+and Hagelberg reacted unfavourably on Davoust. That leader, advancing
+into Mecklenburg, had skirmished with Walmoden's corps of Hanoverians,
+British, and Hanseatics; but, hearing of the failure of the other
+attempts on Berlin, he fell back and confined himself mainly to a
+defensive which had never entered into the Emperor's designs on that
+side, or indeed on any side.
+
+Even when Napoleon left Macdonald facing Blücher in Silesia, his
+orders were, not merely to keep the allies in check: if possible
+Macdonald was to attack him and drive him beyond the town of
+Jauer.[353] This was what the French Marshal attempted to do on the
+26th of August. The conditions seemed favourable to a surprise.
+Blücher's army was stationed amidst hilly country deeply furrowed by
+the valleys of the Katzbach and the "raging Neisse."[354] Less than
+half of the allied army of 95,000 men was composed of Prussians: the
+Russians naturally obeyed his orders with some reluctance, and even
+his own countryman, Yorck, grudgingly followed the behests of the
+"hussar general."
+
+Macdonald also hoped to catch the allies while they were sundered by
+the deep valley of the Neisse. The Prussians with the Russian corps
+led by Sacken were to the east of the Neisse near the village of
+Eichholz, the central point of the plateau north of Jauer, which was
+the objective of the French right wing; while Langeron's Russian corps
+was at Hennersdorf, some three miles away and on the west of that
+torrent. On his side, Blücher was planning an attack on Macdonald,
+when he heard that the French had crossed the Neisse near its
+confluence with the Katzbach, and were struggling up the streaming
+gullies that led to Eichholz.
+
+Driving rain-storms hid the movements on both sides, and as Souham,
+who led the French right, had neglected to throw out flanking scouts,
+the Prussian staff-officer, Muffling, was able to ride within a short
+distance of the enemy's columns and report to his chief that they
+could be assailed before their masses were fully deployed on the
+plateau. While Souham's force was still toiling up, Sacken's artillery
+began to ply it with shot, and had Yorck charged quickly with his
+corps of Prussians, the day might have been won forthwith. But that
+opinionated general insisted on leisurely deploying his men. Souham
+was therefore able to gain a foothold on the plateau: Sebastiani's men
+dragged up twenty-four light cannon: and at times the devoted bravery
+of the French endangered the defence. But the defects in their
+position slowly but surely told against them, and the vigour of their
+attack spent itself. Their cavalry was exhausted by the mud: their
+muskets were rendered wellnigh useless by the ceaseless rain; and when
+Blücher late in the afternoon headed a dashing charge of Prussian and
+Russian horsemen, the wearied conscripts gave way, fled pell-mell down
+the slopes, and made for the fords of the Neisse and the Katzbach,
+where many were engulfed by the swollen waters. Meanwhile the Russians
+on the allied left barely kept off Lauriston's onsets, and on that
+side the day ended in a drawn fight. Macdonald, however, seeing
+Lauriston's rear threatened by the advance of the Prussians over the
+Katzbach, retreated during the night with all his forces. On the next
+few days, the allies, pressing on his wearied and demoralized troops,
+completed their discomfiture, so that Blücher, on the 1st of
+September, was able thus to sum up the results of the battle and the
+pursuit--two eagles, 103 cannon, 18,000 men, and a vast quantity of
+ammunition and stores captured, and Silesia entirely freed from the
+foe.[355]
+
+We now return to the events that centred at Dresden. When, on August
+21st and 22nd, the allies wound their way through the passes of the
+Erz, they were wholly ignorant of Napoleon's whereabouts. The
+generals, Jomini and Toll, who were acquainted with the plan of
+operations agree in stating that the aim of the allies was to seize
+Leipzig. The latter asserts that they believed Napoleon to be there,
+while the Swiss strategist saw in this movement merely a means of
+effecting a junction with Bernadotte's army, so as to cut off Napoleon
+from the Rhine.[356] Unaware that the rich prize of Dresden was left
+almost within their grasp by Napoleon's eastward move, the allies
+plodded on towards Freiberg and Chemnitz, when, on the 23rd, the
+capture of one of St. Cyr's despatches flashed the truth upon them.
+
+At once they turned eastwards towards Dresden; but so slow was their
+progress over the wretched cross-roads now cut up by the rains, that
+not till the early morning of the 25th did the heads of their columns
+appear on the heights south-west of the Saxon capital. Yet, even so,
+the omens were all in their favour. On their right, Wittgenstein had
+already carried the French lines at Pirna, and was now driving in St.
+Cyr's outposts towards Dresden. The daring spirits at Schwarzenberg's
+headquarters therefore begged him to push on the advantage already
+gained, while Napoleon was still far away. Everything, they asserted,
+proved that the French were surprised; Dresden could not long hold out
+against an attack by superior numbers: its position in a river valley
+dominated by the southern and western slopes, which the allies
+strongly held, was fatal to a prolonged defence: the thirteen redoubts
+hastily thrown up by the French could not long keep an army at bay,
+and of these only five were on the left side of the Elbe on which the
+allies were now encamped.
+
+Against these manly counsels the voice of prudence pleaded for delay.
+It was not known how strong were St. Cyr's forces in Dresden and in
+the intrenched camp south of the city. Would it not therefore be
+better to await the development of events? Such was the advice of Toll
+and Moreau, the latter warning the Czar, with an earnestness which we
+may deem fraught with destiny for himself--"Sire, if we attack, we
+shall lose 20,000 men and break our nose."[357] The multitude of
+counsellors did not tend to safety. Distracted by the strife of
+tongues, Schwarzenberg finally took refuge in that last resort of weak
+minds, a tame compromise. He decided to wait until further corps
+reached the front, and at four o'clock of the following afternoon _to
+push forward five columns for a general reconnaissance in force_. As
+Jomini has pointed out, this plan rested on sheer confusion of
+thought. If the commander meant merely to find out the strength of the
+defenders, that could be ascertained at once by sending forward light
+troops, screened by skirmishers, at the important points. If he wished
+to attack in force, his movement was timed too late in the day safely
+to effect a lodgment in a large city held by a resolute foe. Moreover,
+the postponement of the attack for thirty hours gave time for the
+French Emperor to appear on the scene with his Guards.
+
+As we have seen, Napoleon reached Stolpen, a town distant some sixteen
+miles from Dresden, very early on the morning of the 25th. His plans
+present a telling contrast to the slow and clumsy arrangements of the
+allies. He proposed to hurl his Guards at their rear and cut them off
+from Bohemia. Crossing the Elbe at Königstein, he would recover the
+camp of Pirna, hold the plateau further west and intercept
+Schwarzenberg's retreat.[358] For the success of this plan he needed a
+day's rest for his wearied Guards and the knowledge that Dresden could
+hold out for a short time. His veterans could perhaps dispense with
+rest; where their Emperor went they would follow; but Dresden was the
+unknown quantity. Shortly after midnight of the 25th and 26th, he
+heard from St. Cyr that Dresden would soon be attacked in such force
+that a successful defence was doubtful.
+
+At once he changed his plan and at 1 a.m. sent off four despatches
+ordering his Guards and all available troops to succour St. Cyr.
+Vandamme's corps alone was now charged with the task of creeping round
+the enemy's rear, while the Guards long before dawn resumed their
+march through the rain and mud. The Emperor followed and passed them
+at a gallop, reaching the capital at 9 a.m. with Latour-Maubourg's
+cuirassiers; and, early in the afternoon, the bearskins of the Guards
+were seen on the heights east of Dresden, while the dark masses of the
+allies were gathering on the south and west for their reconnaissance
+in force.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF DRESDEN]
+
+Lowering clouds and pitiless rain robbed the scene of all brilliance,
+but wreathed it with a certain sombre majesty. On the one side was the
+fair city, the centre of German art and culture, hastily girdled with
+redoubts and intrenchments manned now by some 120,000 defenders. Fears
+and murmurings had vanished as soon as the Emperor appeared; and
+though in many homes men still longed for the triumph of the allies,
+yet loyalty to their King and awe of Napoleon held the great mass of
+the citizens true to his alliance. As for the French soldiery, their
+enthusiasm was unbounded. As regiment after regiment tramped in
+wearily from the east over the Elbe bridge and the men saw that
+well-known figure in the gray overcoat, fatigues and discomforts were
+forgotten; thunderous shouts of "Vive l'Empereur" rent the air and
+rolled along the stream, carrying inspiration to the defenders, doubt
+and dismay to the hostile lines. Yet these too were being
+strengthened, until they finally mustered close on 200,000 men, who
+crowned the slopes south of Dresden with a war-cloud that promised to
+sweep away its hasty defences--had not Napoleon been there.
+
+The news of his arrival shook the nerves of the Russian Emperor, and
+it was reserved for the usually diffident King of Prussia to combat
+all notion of retreat. Schwarzenberg's reconnaissance in force
+therefore took place punctually at four o'clock, when the French,
+after a brief rest, were well prepared to meet them. The Prussians had
+already seized the "Great Garden" which lines the Pirna road; and from
+this point of vantage they now sought to drive St. Cyr from the works
+thrown up on its flank and rear. But their masses were torn by a
+deadly fire and finally fell back shattered. The Russians, on their
+right, fared no better. At the allied centre and left, the attack at
+one time promised success. Under cover of a heavy cannonade from their
+slopes, the Austrians carried two redoubts: but, with a desperate
+charge, the Old Guard drove in through the gorges of these works and
+bayoneted the victors of an hour. As night fell, the assailants drew
+off baffled, after sustaining serious losses.
+
+Nevertheless, the miseries of the night, the heavy rains of the
+dawning day and the knowledge of the strength of the enemy's position
+in front and of Vandamme's movement in their rear, failed to daunt
+their spirits. If they were determined, Napoleon was radiant with
+hope. His force, though smaller, held the inner line and spread over
+some three miles; while the concave front of the allies extended over
+double that space, and their left wing was separated from the centre
+by the stream and defile of Plauen. From his inner position he could
+therefore readily throw an overpowering mass on any part of their
+attenuated array. He prepared to do so against their wings. At those
+points everything promised success to his methods of attack.
+
+Never, perhaps, in all modern warfare has the musket been so useless
+as amidst the drenching rains which beat upon the fighters at the
+Katzbach and before Dresden. So defective was its firing arrangement
+then that after a heavy storm only a feeble sputter came from whole
+battalions of foot: and on those two eventful days the honours lay
+with the artillery and _l'arme blanche_. As for the infantrymen, they
+could effect little except in some wild snatches of bayonet work at
+close quarters. This explains the course of events both at the
+Katzbach on the 26th, and at Dresden on the following day. The allied
+centre was too strongly posted on the slopes south of Dresden to be
+assailed with much hope of success. But, against the Russian vanguard
+on the allied right, Napoleon launched Mortier's corps and Nansouty's
+cavalry with complete success, until Wittgenstein's masses on the
+heights stayed the French onset. Along the centre, some thousand
+cannon thundered against one another, but with no very noteworthy
+result, save that Moreau had his legs carried away by a shot from a
+field battery that suddenly opened upon the Czar's suite. It was the
+first shot that dealt him this fatal wound, but several other balls
+fell among the group until Alexander and his staff moved away.
+
+Meanwhile the great blow was struck by Napoleon at the allied left.
+There the Austrian wing was sundered from the main force by the
+difficult defile of Plauen; and it was crushed by one of the Emperor's
+most brilliant combinations. Directing Victor with 20,000 men of all
+arms to engage the white-coats in front, he bade Murat, with 10,000
+horsemen, steal round near the bank of the Elbe and charge their flank
+and rear. The division of Count Metzko bore the brunt of this terrible
+onset. Nobly it resisted. Though not one musket in fifty would fire,
+the footmen in one place beat off two charges of Latour-Maubourg's
+cuirassiers, until he headed his line with lancers, who mangled their
+ranks and opened a way for the sword.[359] Then all was slaughter; and
+as Murat's squadrons raged along their broken lines, 10,000 footmen,
+cut off from the main body, laid down their arms. News of this
+disaster on the left and the sound of Vandamme's cannon thundering
+among the hills west of Pirna decided the allied sovereigns and
+Schwarzenberg to prepare for a timely retreat into Bohemia. Yet so
+bold a front did they keep at the centre and right that the waning
+light showed the combatants facing each other there on even terms.
+
+During the night, the rumbling of wagons warned Marmont's scouts that
+the enemy were retreating;[360] and the Emperor, coming up at break of
+day, ordered that Marshal and St. Cyr to press directly on their rear,
+while Murat pursued the fugitives along the Freiburg road further to
+the west. The outcome of these two days of fighting was most serious
+for the allies. They lost 35,000 men in killed, wounded and
+prisoners--a natural result of their neglect to seize Fortune's
+bounteous favours on the 25th; a result, too, of Napoleon's rapid
+movements and unerring sagacity in profiting by the tactical blunders
+of his foes.
+
+It was the last of his great victories. And even here the golden fruit
+which he hoped to cull crumbled to bitter dust in his grasp. As has
+been pointed out, he had charged General Vandamme, one of the sternest
+fighters in the French army, to undertake with 38,000 men a task which
+he himself had previously hoped to achieve with more than double that
+number. This was to seize Pirna and the plateau to the west, which
+commands the three roads leading towards Teplitz in Bohemia. The best
+of these roads crosses the Erzgebirge by way of Nollendorf and the
+gorge leading down to Kulm, the other by the Zinnwald pass, while
+between them is a third and yet more difficult track. Vandamme was to
+take up a position west or south-west of Pirna so as to cut off the
+retreat of the foe.
+
+Accordingly, he set out from Stolpen at dawn of the 26th, and on the
+next two days fought his way far round the rear of the allied Grand
+Army. A Russian force of 14,000 men, led by the young Prince Eugène of
+Würtemberg and Count Ostermann, sought in vain to stop his progress:
+though roughly handled on the 28th by the French, the Muscovites
+disengaged themselves, fell back ever fighting to the Nollendorf pass,
+and took up a strong position behind the village of Kulm. There they
+received timely support from the forces of the Czar and Frederick
+William, who, after crossing by the Zinnwald pass, heard the firing on
+the east and divined the gravity of the crisis. Unless they kept
+Vandamme at bay, the Grand Army could with difficulty struggle through
+into Bohemia. But now, with the supports hastily sent him, Ostermann
+finally beat back Vandamme's utmost efforts. The defenders little knew
+what favours Fortune had in store.
+
+A Prussian corps under Kleist was slowly plodding up the middle of the
+three defiles, when, at noonday of the 29th, an order came from the
+King to hurry over the ridge and turn east to the support of
+Ostermann. This was impossible: the defile was choked with wagons and
+artillery: but one of Kleist's staff-officers proposed the daring plan
+of plunging at once into cross tracks and cutting into Vandamme's
+rear. This novel and romantic design was carried out. While, then, the
+French general was showering his blows against the allies below Kulm,
+the Prussians swarmed down from the heights of Nollendorf on his rear.
+Even so, the French struggled stoutly for liberty. Their leader,
+scorning death or surrender, flung himself with his braves on the
+Russians in front, but was borne down and caught, fighting to the
+last. Several squadrons rushed up the steeps against the Prussians and
+in part hewed their way through. Four thousand footmen held their own
+on a natural stronghold until their bullets failed, and the survivors
+surrendered. Many more plunged into the woods and met various fates,
+some escaping through to their comrades, others falling before
+Kleist's rearguard. Such was the disaster of Kulm. Apart from the
+unbending heroism shown by the conquered, it may be called the Caudine
+Forks of modern war. A force of close on 40,000 men was nearly
+destroyed: it lost all its cannon and survived only in bands of
+exhausted stragglers.[361]
+
+Who is to be blamed for this disaster? Obviously, it could not have
+occurred had Vandamme kept in touch with the nearest French divisions:
+otherwise, these could have closed in on Kleist's rear and captured
+him. Napoleon clearly intended to support Vandamme by the corps of St.
+Cyr, who, early on the 28th, was charged to co-operate with that
+general, while Mortier covered Pirna. But on that same morning the
+Emperor rode to Pirna, found that St. Cyr, Marmont, and Murat were
+sweeping in crowds of prisoners, and directed Berthier to order
+Vandamme to "penetrate into Bohemia and overwhelm the Prince of
+Würtemberg."[362] Then, without waiting to organize the pursuit, he
+forthwith returned to Dresden, either because, as some say, the rains
+of the previous days had struck a chill to his system, or as Marmont,
+with more reason, asserts, because of his concern at the news of
+Macdonald's disaster on the Katzbach. Certain it is that he recalled
+his Old Guard to Dresden, busied himself with plans for a march on
+Berlin, and at 5.30 next morning directed Berthier to order St. Cyr to
+"pursue the foe to Maxen and in all directions that he has taken."
+This order led St. Cyr westwards, in pursuit of Barclay's Russians,
+who had diverged sharply in that direction in order to escape
+Vandamme.
+
+The eastern road to Teplitz was thus left comparatively clear, while
+the middle road was thronged with pursuers and pursued.[363] No
+directions were given by Napoleon to warn Vandamme of the gap thus
+left in his rear: neither was Mortier at Pirna told to press on and
+keep in touch with Vandamme now that St. Cyr was some eight miles away
+to the west. Doubtless St. Cyr and Mortier ought to have concerted
+measures for keeping in touch with Vandamme, and they deserve censure
+for their lack of foresight; but it was not usual, even for the
+Marshals, to take the initiative when the Emperor was near at hand. To
+sum up: the causes of Vandamme's disaster were, firstly, his rapid
+rush into Bohemia in quest of the Marshal's baton which was to be his
+guerdon of victory: secondly, the divergence of St. Cyr westward in
+pursuance of Napoleon's order of the 29th to pursue the enemy towards
+Maxen: thirdly, the neglect of St. Cyr and Mortier to concert measures
+for the support of Vandamme along the Nollendorf road: but, above all,
+the return of Napoleon to Dresden, and his neglect to secure a timely
+co-operation of his forces along the eastern line of pursuit.[364]
+
+The disaster at Kulm ruined Napoleon's campaign. While Vandamme was
+making his last stand, his master at Dresden was drawing up a long
+Note as to the respective advantages of a march on Berlin or on
+Prague. He decided on the former course, which would crush the
+national movement in Prussia, and bring him into touch with Davoust
+and the French garrisons at Küstrin and Stettin. "Then, if Austria
+begins her follies again, I shall be at Dresden with a united army."
+
+He looked on Austria as cowed by the blows dealt her south of Dresden,
+which would probably bring her to sue for peace, and he hoped that one
+more great battle would end the war. The mishaps to Macdonald and
+Vandamme dispelled these dreams. Still, with indomitable energy, he
+charged Ney to take command of Oudinot's army (a post of which this
+unfortunate leader begged to be relieved) and to strike at Berlin. He
+ordered Friant with a column of the Old Guard to march to Bautzen and
+drive in Macdonald's stragglers with the butt ends of muskets.[365]
+Then, hearing how pressing was the danger of this Marshal, he himself
+set out secretly with the cavalry of the Guard in hope of crushing
+Blücher. But again that leader retreated (September 4th and 5th), and
+once more the allied Grand Army thrust its columns through the Erz and
+threatened Dresden. Hurrying back in the worst of humours to defend
+that city, Napoleon heard bad news from the north. On September 6th
+Ney had been badly beaten at Dennewitz. In truth, that brave fighter
+was no tactician: his dispositions were worse than those of Oudinot,
+and the obstinate bravery of the Prussians, led by Bülow and
+Tauenzien, wrested a victory from superior numbers. Night alone saved
+Ney's army from complete dissolution: as it was, he lost some 9,000
+killed and wounded, 15,000 prisoners along with eighty cannon, and
+frankly summed up the situation thus to his master: "I have been
+totally beaten, and still do not know whether my army has
+reassembled."[366] Ultimately his army assembled and fell back behind
+the Elbe at Torgau.
+
+Thus, in a fortnight (August 23rd-September 6th), Napoleon had gained
+a great success at Dresden, while, on the circumference of operations,
+his lieutenants had lost five battles--Grossbeeren, Hagelberg,
+Katzbach, Kulm, and Dennewitz. The allies could therefore contract
+that circumference, come into closer touch, and threaten his central
+intrenched camps at Pirna and Dresden. Yet still, in pursuance of a
+preconcerted plan, they drew back where he advanced in person. Thus,
+when he sought to drive back Schwarzenberg's columns into Bohemia,
+that leader warily retired to the now impregnable passes; and the
+Emperor fell back on Dresden, wearied and perplexed. As he said to
+Marmont: "The chess-board is very confused: it is only I who can know
+where I am." Yet once more he plunged into the Erzgebirge, engaged in
+a fruitless skirmish in the defile above Kulm, and again had to lead
+his troops back to Pirna and Dresden. A third move against Blücher led
+to the same wearisome result.
+
+The allies, having worn down the foe, planned a daring move. Blücher
+persuaded the allied sovereigns to strike from Bohemia at Leipzig,
+thus turning the flank of the defensive works that the French had
+thrown up south of Dresden, and cutting their communications with
+France. He himself would march north-west, join the northern army, and
+thereafter meet them at Leipzig. This rendezvous he kept, as later he
+staunchly kept troth with Wellington at Waterloo; and we may detect
+here, as in 1815, the strategic genius of Gneisenau as the prime
+motive force.
+
+Leaving a small force to screen his former positions at Bautzen, the
+veteran, with 65,000 men, stealthily set out on his flank march
+towards Wittenberg, threw two pontoon bridges over the Elbe at
+Wartenburg, about ten miles above that fortress, drove away Bertrand's
+battalions who hindered the crossing, and threw up earthworks to
+protect the bridges (October 3rd). This done, he began to feel about
+for Bernadotte, and came into touch with him south of Dessau. By this
+daring march he placed two armies, amounting to 160,000 men, on the
+north of Napoleon's lines; and his personal influence checked, even if
+it did not wholly stop, the diplomatic loiterings of the Swedish Crown
+Prince.[368] Bernadotte's hesitations were finally overcome by the
+news that Blücher was marching south towards Leipzig. Finally he gave
+orders to follow him; but we may judge how easy would have been the
+task of overthrowing Bernadotte's discordant array if Napoleon could
+have carried out his project of September 30th.
+
+As it was, the disaster of Kulm kept the Emperor tethered for some
+days within a few leagues of Dresden, while Bülow and Blücher saved
+the campaign for the allies in the north, thereby exciting a patriotic
+ferment which drove Jerome Bonaparte from Cassel and kept Davoust to
+the defensive around Hamburg. There the skilful moves of Walmoden with
+a force of Russians, British, Swedes, and North Germans kept in check
+the ablest of the French Marshals, and prevented his junction with the
+Emperor, for which the latter never ceased to struggle.
+
+Meanwhile the Grand Army of the allies, strengthened by the approach
+from Poland of 50,000 Russians of the Army of Reserve, was creeping
+through the western passes of the Erz into the plains south of
+Leipzig. This move was not unexpected by Napoleon. The importance of
+that city was obvious. Situated in the midst of the fertile Saxon
+plain, the centre of a great system ofroads, its position and its
+wealth alike marked it out as the place likely to be seized by a
+daring foe who should seek to cut Napoleon off from France.
+
+As fortune turned against him, he became ever more nervous about
+Leipzig. Yet, for the present, the northward march of Blücher rivetted
+his attention. It puzzled him. Even as late as October 2nd he had not
+fathomed Blücher's real aim[369]. But four days later he heard that
+the Prussian leader had crossed the Elbe. At once he hurried
+north-west with the Guard to crush him, and to resume the favourite
+project of threatening Berllin and join hands with Davoust. Charging
+St-Cyr with the defence of Dresden, and Murat with the defence of
+Leipzig, he took his stand at Düben, a small town on the Mulde, nearly
+midway between Leipzig and Wittenberg. Thence he reinforced Ney's
+army, and ordered that Marshal northwards to fall on the rear of
+Bernadotte and Blücher; while he himself waited in a moated castle at
+Düben to learn the issue of events.
+
+The saxon Colonel, von Odeleben, has left us a vivid picture of the
+great man's restlessness during those four days. Surrounded by maps
+and despatches, and waited on by watchful geographer and apprehensive
+secretary, he spent much of the time scrawling large letters on a
+sheet of paper, uneasily listening for the tramp of a courier. In
+truth, few days of his life were more critical that those spent amidst
+the rains, swamps, and fogs of Düben. Could he have caught Bernadotte
+and Blücher far apart, he might have overwhelmed them singly, and then
+have carried the war into the heart of Prussia. But he knows that
+Dresden and Leipzig are far from safe. The news from that side begins
+to alarm him: and though, on the north, Ney, Bertrand, and Reynier cut
+up the rearguard of the allies, he learns with some disquiet that
+Blücher is withdrawing westwards behind the River Saale, a move which
+betokens a wish to come into touch with Schwarzenberg near Leipzig.
+
+Yet this disconcerting thought spurs him on to one of his most daring
+designs. "As a means of upsetting all their plans, I will march to the
+Elbe. There I have the advantage, since I have Hamburg, Magdeburg,
+Wittenberg, Torgau, and Dresden."[370] What faith he had in the
+defensive capacities of a great river line dotted with fortresses! His
+lieutenants did not share it. Caulaincourt tells us that his plan of
+dashing at Berlin roused general consternation at headquarters, and
+that the staff came in a body to beg him to give it up, and march back
+to protect Leipzig. Reluctantly he abandons it, and then only to
+change it for one equally venturesome. He will crush Bernadotte and
+Blücher, or throw them beyond the Elbe, and then, himself crossing the
+Elbe, ascend its right bank, recross it at Torgau, and strike at
+Schwarzenberg's rear near Leipzig.
+
+The plan promised well, provided that his men were walking machines,
+and that Schwarzenberg did nothing in the interval. But gradually the
+truth dawns on him that, while he sits weaving plans and dictating
+despatches--he sent off six in the small hours of October
+12th--Blücher and Schwarzenberg are drawing near to Leipzig. On that
+day he prepared to fall back on that city, a resolve strengthened on
+the morrow by the capture of one of the enemy's envoys, who reported
+that they had great hopes of detaching Bavaria from the French cause.
+
+The news was correct. Five days earlier, the King of Bavaria had come
+to terms with Austria, offering to place 36,000 troops at her
+disposal, while she, in return, guaranteed his complete sovereignty
+and a full territorial indemnity for any districts that he might be
+called on to restore to the Hapsburgs.[371] Napoleon knew not as yet
+the full import of the news, and it is quite incorrect to allege, as
+some heedless admirers have done, that this was the only thing that
+stayed his conquering march northwards.[372] His retreat to Leipzig
+was arranged before he heard the first rumour as to Bavaria's
+defection. But the tidings saddened his men on their miry march
+southwards; and, strange to say, the Emperor published it to all his
+troops at Leipzig on the 15th, giving it as the cause why they were
+about to fall back on the Rhine.
+
+There was much to depress the Emperor when, on the 14th, he drew near
+to Leipzig. With him came the King and Queen of Saxony, who during the
+last days had resignedly moved along in the tail of this comet, which
+had blasted their once smiling realm. Outside the city they parted,
+the royal pair seeking shelter under its roofs, while the Emperor
+pressed on to Murat's headquarters near Wachau. There, too the news
+was doubtful. The King of Naples had not, on that day, shown his old
+prowess. Though he disposed of larger masses of horsemen than those
+which the allies sent out to reconnoitre, he chose his ground of
+attack badly, and led his brigades in so loose an array that, after
+long swayings to and fro, the fight closed with advantage to the
+allies.[373] It was not without reason that Napoleon on that night
+received his Marshals rather coolly at his modest quarters in the
+village of Reudnitz. Leaning against the stove, he ran over several
+names of those who were now slack in their duty; and when Augereau was
+announced, he remarked that he was not the Augereau of Castiglione.
+"Ah! give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you that
+I am," retorted the testy veteran.
+
+As a matter of fact, Napoleon was not the old Napoleon, not even the
+Napoleon of Dresden. There he had overwhelmed the foe by a rapid
+concentration. Now nothing decisive was done on the 15th, and time was
+thereby given the allies to mature their plans. Early on that day
+Blücher heard that on the morrow Schwarzenberg would attack Leipzig
+from the south-east, but would send a corps westwards to threaten it
+on the side of Lindenau. The Prussian leader therefore hurried on from
+the banks of the Saale, and at night the glare of his watch-fires
+warned Marmont that Leipzig would be assailed also from the
+north-west. Yet, despite the warnings which Napoleon received from his
+Marshal, he refused to believe that the north side was seriously
+threatened; and, as late as the dawn of the 16th, he bade his troops
+there to be ready to march through Leipzig and throw themselves on the
+masses of Schwarzenberg.[374] Had Napoleon given those orders on the
+15th, all might have gone well; for all his available forces, except
+Ney's and Reynier's corps, were near at hand, making a total of nearly
+150,000 men, while Schwarzenberg had as yet not many more. But those
+orders on the 16th were not only belated: they contributed to the
+defeat on the north side.
+
+The Emperor's thoughts were concentrated on the south. There his lines
+stretched in convex front along undulating ground near Wachau and
+Liebertwolkwitz, about a league to the south and south-east of the
+town. His right was protected by the marshy ground of the small river
+Pleisse; his centre stretched across the roads leading towards
+Dresden, while his left rested on a small stream, the Parthe, which
+curves round towards the north-west and forms a natural defence to the
+town on the north. Yet to cautious minds his position seemed unsafe;
+he had in his rear a town whose old walls were of no military value, a
+town on which several roads converged from the north, east, and south,
+but from which, in case of defeat, he could retire westward only by
+one road, that leading over the now flooded streams of the Pleisse and
+the Elster. But the great captain himself thought only of victory. He
+had charged Macdonald and Ney to march from Taucha to his support:
+Marmont was to do the same; and, with these concentrated forces acting
+against the far more extended array of Schwarzenberg, he counted on
+overthrowing him on the morrow, and then crushing the disunited forces
+of Blücher and Bernadotte.[375]
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF LEIPZIG]
+
+The Emperor and Murat were riding along the ridge near
+Liebertwolkwitz, when, at nine o'clock, three shots fired in quick
+succession from the allies on the opposite heights, opened the series
+of battles fitly termed the Battle of the Nations. For six hours a
+furious cannonade shook the earth, and the conflict surged to and fro
+with little decisive result; but when Macdonald's corps struck in from
+the north-east, the allies began to give ground. Thereupon Napoleon
+launched two cavalry corps, those of Latour-Maubourg and Pajol,
+against the allied centre.
+
+Then was seen one of the most superb sights of war. Rising quickly
+from behind the ridge, 12,000 horsemen rode in two vast masses against
+a weak point in the opposing lines. They were led by the King of
+Naples with all his wonted dash. Panting up the muddy slopes opposite,
+they sabred the gunners, enveloped the Russian squares, and the three
+allied sovereigns themselves had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid
+capture. But the horses were soon spent by the furious pace at which
+Murat careered along; and a timely charge by Pahlen's Cossacks and the
+Silesian cuirassiers, brought up from the allied reserves beyond the
+Pleisse, drove the French brigades back in great disorder, with the
+loss of their able corps leaders. The allies by a final effort
+regained all the lost ground, and the day here ended in a drawn fight,
+with the loss of about 20,000 men to either side.
+
+Meanwhile, on the west side of Leipzig, Bertrand had beaten off the
+attack of Giulay's Austrian corps on the village of Lindenau. But,
+further north, Marmont sustained a serious reverse. In obedience to
+Napoleon's order, he was falling back towards Leipzig, when he was
+sharply attacked by Yorck's corps at Möckern. Between that village and
+Eutritzsch further east the French Marshal offered a most obstinate
+resistance. Blücher, hoping to capture his whole corps, begged Sir
+Charles Stewart to ride back to Bernadotte and request his succour.
+The British envoy found the Swedish Prince at Halle and conjured him
+to make every exertion not to be the only leader left out of the
+battle.[376] It was in vain: his army was too far away; and only after
+the village of Möckern had been repeatedly taken and re-taken, was
+Marmont finally driven out by Yorck's Prussians.[377]
+
+In truth, Marmont lacked the support of Ney's corps, which Berthier
+had led him to expect if he were attacked in force. But the orders
+were vague or contradictory. Ney had been charged to follow Macdonald
+and impart irresistible momentum to the onset which was to have
+crushed Schwarzenberg's right wing. He therefore only detached one
+weak division to cover Marmont's right flank, and with the other
+divisions marched away south, when an urgent message from Möckern
+recalled him to that side of Leipzig, with the result that his 15,000
+men spent the whole day in useless marches and counter-marches.[378]
+The mishap was most serious. Had he strengthened Macdonald's
+outflanking move, the right wing of the allied Grand Army might have
+been shattered. Had he reinforced Marmont effectively, the position on
+the north might have been held. As it was, the French fell back from
+Möckern in confusion, losing 53 cannon; but they had inflicted on
+Yorck's corps a loss of 8,000 men out of 21,000. Relatively to the
+forces engaged, Albuera and Möckern are the bloodiest battles of the
+Napoleonic wars.
+
+On the whole, Napoleon had dealt the allies heavier losses than he had
+sustained. But they could replace them. On the morrow Bennigsen was
+near at hand on the east with 41,000 Russians of the Army of Reserve;
+Colloredo's Austrian corps had also come up; and, in the north,
+Bernadotte's Army of the North, 60,000 strong, was known to be
+marching from Halle to reinforce Blücher. Napoleon, however, could
+only count on Reynier's corps of 15,000 men, mostly Saxons, who
+marched in from Düben. St. Cyr's corps of 27,000 men was too far away,
+at Dresden; and Napoleon must have bitterly rued his rashness in
+leaving that Marshal isolated on the south-east, while Davoust was
+also cut off at Hamburg. He now had scarcely 150,000 effectives left
+after the slaughter of the 16th; and of these, the German divisions
+were murmuring at the endless marches and privations. Everything
+helped to depress men's minds. On that Sabbath morning all was sombre
+desolation around Leipzig, while within that city naught was heard but
+the groans of the wounded and the lamentations of the citizens. Still
+Napoleon's spirit was unquenched. Amidst the steady rain he paced
+restlessly with Murat along the dykes of the Pleisse. The King assured
+him that the enemy had suffered enormous losses. Then, the dreary walk
+ended, the Emperor shut himself in his tent. His resolve was taken. He
+would try fortune once more.[379]
+
+Among the prisoners was the Austrian General Merveldt, over whom
+Napoleon had gained his first diplomatic triumph, that at Leoben. He
+it was, too, who had brought the first offers of an armistice after
+Austerlitz. These recollections touched the superstitious chords in
+the great Corsican's being; for in times of stress the strongest
+nature harks back to early instincts. This harbinger of good fortune
+the Emperor now summoned and talked long and earnestly with him.[380]
+First, he complimented him on his efforts of the previous day to turn
+the French left at Dölitz; next, he offered to free him on parole in
+order to return to the allied headquarters with proposals for an
+armistice. Then, after giving out that he had more than 200,000 men
+round Leipzig, he turned to the European situation. Why had Austria
+deserted him? At Prague she might have dictated terms to Europe. But
+the English did not want peace. To this Merveldt answered that they
+needed it sorely, but it must be not a truce, but a peace founded on
+the equilibrium of Europe.--"Well," replied Napoleon, "let them give
+me back my isles and I will give them back Hanover; I will also
+re-establish the Hanse Towns and the annexed departments [of North
+Germany].... But how treat with England, who wishes to bind me not to
+build more than thirty ships of the line in my ports?"[381]
+
+As for the Confederation of the Rhine, those States might secede that
+chose to do so: but never would he cease to protect those that wanted
+his protection. As to giving Holland its independence, he saw a great
+difficulty: that land would then fall under the control of England.
+Italy ought to be under one sovereign; that would suit the European
+system. As he had abandoned Spain, that question was thereby decided.
+Why then should not peace be the result of an armistice?--The allied
+sovereigns thought differently, and at once waved aside the proposal.
+No answer was sent.
+
+In fact, they had Napoleon in their power, as he surmised. Late on
+that Sunday, he withdrew his drenched and half-starved troops nearer
+to Leipzig; for Blücher had gained ground on the north and threatened
+the French line of retreat. Why the Emperor did not retreat during the
+night must remain a mystery. All the peoples of Europe were now
+closing in on him. On the north were Prussians, Russians, Swedes, and
+a few British troops. To the south-east were the dense masses of the
+allied Grand Army drawn from all the lands between the Alps and the
+Urals; and among Bennigsen's array on the east of Leipzig were to be
+seen the Bashkirs of Siberia, whose bows and arrows gained them from
+the French soldiery the sobriquet of _les Amours_.
+
+To this ring of 300,000 fighters Napoleon could oppose scarcely half
+as many. Yet the French fought on, if not for victory, yet for honour;
+and, under the lead of Prince Poniatowski, whose valour on the 16th
+had gained him the coveted rank of a Marshal of France, the Poles once
+more clutched desperately at the wraith of their national
+independence. Napoleon took his stand with his staff on a hill behind
+Probstheyde near a half-ruined windmill, fit emblem of his fortunes;
+while, further south, the three allied monarchs watched from a higher
+eminence the vast horse-shoe of smoke slowly draw in towards the city.
+In truth, this immense conflict baffles all description. On the
+north-east, the Crown Prince of Sweden gradually drove his columns
+across the Parthe, while Blücher hammered at the suburbs.
+
+Near the village of Paunsdorf, the allies found a weak place in the
+defence, where Reynier's Saxons showed signs of disaffection. Some few
+went over to the Russians in the forenoon, and about 3 p.m. others
+marched over with loud hurrahs. They did not exceed 3,000 men, with 19
+cannon, but these pieces were at once effectively used against the
+French. Napoleon hurried towards the spot with part of his Guards, who
+restored the fight on that side. But it was only for a time. The
+defence was everywhere overmatched.
+
+Even the inspiration of his presence and the desperate efforts of
+Murat, Poniatowski, Victor, Macdonald, and thousands of nameless
+heroes, barely held off the masses of the allied Grand Army. On the
+north and north-east, Marmont and Ney were equally overborne.[382]
+Worst of all, the supply of cannon balls was running low. With
+pardonable exaggeration the Emperor afterwards wrote to Clarke: "If I
+had then had 30,000 rounds, I should to-day be the master of the
+world."
+
+At nightfall, the chief returned weary and depressed to the windmill,
+and instructed Berthier to order the retreat. Then, beside a
+watch-fire, he sank down on a bench into a deep slumber, while his
+generals looked on in mournful silence. All around them there surged
+in the darkness the last cries of battle, the groans of the wounded,
+and the dull rumble of a retreating host. After a quarter of an hour
+he awoke with a start and threw an astonished look on his staff; then,
+recollecting himself, he bade an officer repair to the King of Saxony
+and tell him the state of affairs.
+
+Early next morning, he withdrew into Leipzig, and, after paying a
+brief visit to the King, rode away towards the western gate. It was
+none too soon. The conflux of his still mighty forces streaming in by
+three high roads, produced in all the streets of the town a crush
+which thickened every hour. The Prussians and Swedes were breaking
+into the northern suburbs, while the white-coats drove in the
+defenders on the south. Slowly and painfully the throng of fugitives
+struggled through the town towards the western gate. On that side the
+confusion became ever worse, as the shots of the allies began to whiz
+across the arches and causeway that led over the Pleisse and the
+Elster, while the hurrahs of the Russians drew near on the north.
+Ammunition wagons, gendarmes, women, grenadiers and artillery, cavalry
+and cattle, the wounded, the dying, Marshals and sutlers, all were
+wedged into an indistinguishable throng that fought for a foothold on
+that narrow road of safety; and high above the din came the clash of
+merry bells from the liberated suburbs, bells that three days before
+had rung forced peals of triumph at Napoleon's orders, but now bade
+farewell for ever to French domination. To increase the rout, a
+temporary bridge thrown over the Elster broke down under the crush;
+and the rush for the roadway became more furious. In despair of
+reaching it, hundreds threw themselves into the flooded stream, but
+few reached the further shore: among the drowned was that flower of
+Polish chivalry, Prince Poniatowski.
+
+But this mishap was soon to be outdone. A corporal of engineers, in
+the absence of his chief, had received orders to blow up the bridge
+outside the western gate, as soon as the pursuers were at hand; but,
+alarmed by the volleys of Sacken's Russians, whom Blücher had sent to
+work round by the river courses north-west of the town, the bewildered
+subaltern fired the mine while the rearguard and a great crowd of
+stragglers were still on the eastern side.[383] This was the climax of
+this day of disaster, which left in the hands of the allies as many as
+thirty generals, including Lauriston and Reynier, and 33,000 of the
+rank and file, along with 260 cannon and 870 ammunition wagons. From
+the village of Lindenau Napoleon gazed back at times over the awesome
+scene, but in general he busied himself with reducing to order the
+masses that had struggled across. The Old Guard survived, staunch as
+ever, and had saved its 120 cannon, but the Young Guard was reduced to
+a mere wreck. Amidst all the horrors of that day, the Emperor
+maintained a stolid composure, but observers saw that he was bathed in
+sweat. Towards evening, he turned and rode away westwards; and from
+the weary famished files, many a fierce glance and muttered curse shot
+forth as he passed by. Men remembered that it was exactly a year since
+the Grand Army broke up from Moscow.
+
+Yet, despite the ravages of typhus, the falling away of the German
+States and the assaults of the allied horse, the retreating host
+struggled stoutly on towards the Rhine. At Hanau it swept aside an
+army of Bavarians and Austrians that sought to bar the road to France;
+and, early in November, 40,000 armed men, with a larger number of
+unarmed stragglers, filed across the bridge at Mainz. Napoleon had not
+only lost Germany; he left behind in its fortresses as many as 190,000
+troops, of whom nearly all were French; and of the 1,300 cannon with
+which he began the second part of the campaign, scarce 200 were now at
+hand for the defence of his Empire.
+
+The causes of this immense disaster are not far to seek. They were
+both political and military. In staking all on the possession of the
+line of the Elbe, Napoleon was engulfing himself in a hostile land. At
+the first signs of his overthrow, the national spirit of Germany was
+certain to inflame the Franconians and Westphalians in his rear, and
+imperil his communications. In regard to strategy, he committed the
+same blunder as that perpetrated by Mack in 1805. He trusted to a
+river line that could easily be turned by his foes. As soon as Austria
+declared against him, his position on the Elbe was fully as perilous
+as Mack's lines of the Iller at Ulm.
+
+And yet, in spite of the obvious danger from the great mountain
+bastion of Bohemia that stretched far away in his rear, the Emperor
+kept his troops spread out from Königstein to Hamburg, and ventured on
+long and wearying marches into Silesia, and north to Düben, which left
+his positions in Saxony almost at the mercy of the allied Grand
+Army.[384] By emerging from the mighty barrier of the Erzgebirge, that
+army compelled him three times to give up his offensive moves and
+hastily to fall back into the heart of Saxony.
+
+The plain truth is that he was out-generalled by the allies. The
+assertion may seem to savour of profanity. Yet, if words have any
+meaning, the phrase is literally correct. His aim was primarily to
+maintain himself on the line of the Elbe, but also, though in the
+second place, to keep up his communication with France. Their aim was
+to leave him the Elbe line, but to cut him off from France. Even at
+the outset they planned to strike at Leipzig: their attack on Dresden
+was an afterthought, timidly and slowly carried out. As long, however,
+as their Grand Army clung to the Erz mountains, they paralyzed his
+movements to the east and north, which merely played into their hands.
+
+As regards the execution of the allied plans, the honours must
+unquestionably rest with Blücher and Gneisenau. Their tactful retreats
+before Napoleon in Silesia, their crushing blow at Macdonald, above
+all, their daring flank march to Wartenburg and thence to Halle, are
+exploits of a very high order; and doubtless it was the emergence of
+this unsuspected volcanic force from the unbroken flats of continental
+mediocrity that nonplussed Napoleon and led to the results described
+above. Truly heroic was Blücher's determination to push on to Leipzig,
+even when the enemy was seizing the Elbe bridges in his rear. The
+veteran saw clearly that a junction with Schwarzenberg near Leipzig
+was the all-important step, and that it must bring back the French to
+that point. His judgment was as sound as his strokes were trenchant;
+and, owing to the illusions which Napoleon still cherished as to the
+saving strength of the Elbe line, the French arrived on that mighty
+battlefield half-famished and wearied by fruitless marches and
+countermarches. Of all Napoleon's campaigns, that of the second part
+of 1813 must rank as by far the weakest in conception, the most
+fertile in blunders, and the most disastrous in its results for
+France.
+
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--In order not to overcrowd these chapters
+with diplomatic details, I have made only the briefest reference to
+the Treaties signed at Teplitz on Sept. 9th, 1813, with Russia and
+Prussia, which cemented the fourth great Coalition; but it will be
+well to describe them here.
+
+A way having been paved for a closer union by the Treaty of Kalisch
+(see p. 276) and by that of Reichenbach (see p. 317), it was now
+agreed (1) that Austria and Prussia should be restored as nearly as
+possible to the position which they held in 1805; (2) that the
+Confederation of the Rhine should be dissolved; (3) and that "full and
+unconditional independence" should be accorded to the princes of the
+other German States. This last clause was firmly but vainly opposed by
+Stein and the German Unionist party. Austria's help was so sorely
+needed that she could dictate her terms, and she began to scheme for
+the creation of a sort of _Fürstenbund_, or League of Princes, under
+her hegemony. The result was seen in her Treaty of October 7th, 1813,
+with Bavaria, which detached that State from the French alliance and
+assured the success of Metternich's plans for Germany (see pp.
+354-355). The smaller States soon followed the lead given by Bavaria;
+and the reconstruction of Germany on the Austrian plan was further
+assured by the Treaty of Chaumont (see pp. 402-403). Thus the dire
+need of Austrian help felt by Russia and Prussia throughout the
+campaigns of 1813-1814 had no small share in moulding the future of
+Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+FROM THE RHINE TO THE SEINE
+
+
+"The Emperor Napoleon must become King of France. Up to now all his
+work has been done for the Empire. He lost the Empire when he lost his
+army. When he no longer makes war for the army, he will make peace for
+the French people, and then he will become King of France."--Such were
+the words of the most sagacious of French statesmen to Schwarzenberg.
+They were spoken on April 15th, 1813, when it still seemed likely that
+Napoleon would meet halfway the wishes of Austria. Such, at least, was
+Talleyrand's ardent hope. He saw the innate absurdity of attempting to
+browbeat Austria, and strangle the infant Hercules of German
+nationality, after the Grand Army had been lost in Russia.
+
+If this was reasonable in the spring of 1813, it was an imperative
+necessity at the close of the year. Napoleon had in the meantime lost
+400,000 men: and he could not now say, as he did to Metternich of his
+losses in Russia, that "nearly half were Germans." The men who had
+fallen in Saxony, or who bravely held out in the Polish, German, and
+Spanish fortresses, were nearly all French. They were, what the
+_triarii_ were to the Roman legion, the reserves of the fighting
+manhood of France. That unhappy land was growing restless under its
+disasters. In Spain, Wellington had blockaded Pamplona, stormed St.
+Sebastian, thrown Soult back on the Pyrenees in a series of desperate
+conflicts, and planted the British flag on the soil of France, eleven
+days before Napoleon was overthrown at Leipzig. Then, pressing
+northwards, in compliance with the urgent appeals of the allied
+sovereigns, our great commander assailed the lines south of the
+Nivelle, on which the French had been working for three months, drove
+the enemy out of them and back over the river, with a loss of 4,200
+men and 51 guns (November 10th).[385]
+
+The same tale was told in the north. The allies were welcomed by the
+secondary German princes, who, in return for compacts guaranteeing
+their sovereignty, promised to raise contingents that amounted in all
+to upwards of a quarter of a million of men. Bernadotte marched
+against the Danes and cut off Davoust in Hamburg, where that Marshal
+bravely held out to the end of the war. Elsewhere in the north
+Napoleon's domination quickly mouldered away. Bülow, aided by a small
+British force, invaded Holland early in November; and, with the old
+cry of _Orange boven_, the Dutch tore down the French tricolour and
+welcomed back the Prince of Orange. In Italy, Eugène remained faithful
+to his step-father and repulsed all the overtures of the allies: but
+Murat, whose allegiance had already been shaken by the secret offers
+of the allies, now began to show signs of going over to them, as he
+did at the dawn of the New Year.[386]
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had arrived at Paris (November 9th). He found his
+capital sunk in depression, and indignant at the author of its
+miseries. Peace was the dearest wish of all. Marie Louise confessed it
+by her tears, Cambacérès by his tactful reserve, and the people by
+their cries, while the sullen demeanour or bitter words of the
+Marshals showed that their patience was exhausted. Evidently a
+scapegoat was needed: it was found in the person of Maret, Duc de
+Bassano, whose devotion to Napoleon had reduced the Ministry of
+Foreign Affairs to a highly paid clerkship. For the crime of not
+bending his master's inflexible will at Dresden, he was now cast as a
+sop to the peace party; and his portfolio was intrusted to
+Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicenza (November 20th). The change was salutary.
+The new Minister, when ambassador at St. Petersburg, had been highly
+esteemed by the Czar for his frank, chivalrous demeanour. Our
+countrywoman, Lady Burghersh, afterwards testified to his personal
+charm: "I never saw a countenance so expressive of kindness,
+sweetness, and openness."[387] And these gifts were fortified by a
+manly intelligence, a profound love of France, and by devotion to her
+highest interests. The first of her interests was obviously peace; and
+there now seemed some chance of his conferring this boon on her and on
+the world at large.
+
+On November the 8th and 9th Metternich had two interviews at Frankfurt
+with Baron St. Aignan, a brother-in-law of Caulaincourt, and formerly
+the French envoy at Weimar. The Austrian Minister assured him of the
+moderation of the allies, especially of England, and of their wish for
+a lasting peace founded on the principle of the balance of power.
+France must give up all control of Spain, Italy, and Germany, and
+return to her natural frontiers, the Rhine, the Alps, and the
+Pyrenees. Lord Aberdeen, our ambassador to Austria, and Count
+Nesselrode, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, were present at
+the second interview, and assented to this statement, the latter
+pledging his word that it had the approval of Prussia. Aberdeen added
+his assurance that England was prepared to relax her maritime code and
+sacrifice many of her conquests in order to attain a durable peace. To
+these Frankfurt overtures Napoleon charged Maret to answer in vaguely
+favourable terms, and to suggest the meeting of a European Congress at
+Mannheim. The effect of this Note (November 16th) was marred by the
+strange statement--"a peace based on the independence of all nations,
+both from the continental and the maritime point of view, has always
+been the constant object of the desires and policy of the Emperor
+[Napoleon]."[388]
+
+Metternich in reply pointed out that the French Government had not
+accepted the proposed terms as a basis for negotiations. The new
+Foreign Minister, Caulaincourt, sent off (December 2nd) an acceptance
+which was far more frank and satisfactory; but the day before he
+penned it, the allies had virtually withdrawn their offer, as they had
+told him they would do if it was not speedily accepted. They had all
+along decided not to stay the military operations; and, as these were
+still flowing strongly in their favour, they could not be expected to
+keep open an offer which was exceedingly favourable to Napoleon even
+at the time when it was made, that is, before the support of the
+Dutch, of the Swiss, and of Murat was fully assured.
+
+It may be well to pause for a moment to inquire what were the views of
+the allied Governments, and of Napoleon himself, at this crisis when
+Europe was seething in the political crucible. Had Metternich the full
+assent of those Governments when he offered the French Emperor the
+natural frontiers? Here we must separate the views of Lord Aberdeen
+from those of the British Cabinet, as represented by its Foreign
+Minister, Lord Castlereagh: and we must also distinguish between the
+Emperor Alexander and his Minister, Nesselrode, a man of weak
+character, in whom he had little confidence. Certainly the British
+Cabinet was not disposed to leave Antwerp in Napoleon's hands.
+
+    "This nation," wrote Castlereagh to Aberdeen on November 13th, "is
+    likely to view with disfavour any peace which does not confine
+    France within her ancient limits.... We are still ready to
+    encounter, with our allies, the hazards of peace, if peace can be
+    made on the basis proposed, satisfactorily executed [_sic_]; and
+    we are not inclined to go out of our way to interfere in the
+    internal government of France, however much we might desire to see
+    it placed in more pacific hands. But I am satisfied we must not
+    encourage our allies to patch up an imperfect arrangement. If they
+    will do so, we must submit; but it should appear, in that case, to
+    be their own act, and not ours.... I must particularly entreat you
+    to keep your attention upon Antwerp. The destruction of that
+    arsenal is essential to our safety. To leave it in the hands of
+    France is little short of imposing upon Great Britain the charge
+    of a perpetual war establishment."[389]
+
+Thenceforth British policy inclined, though tentatively and with some
+hesitations, to the view that it was needful in the interests of peace
+to bring France back to the limits of 1791, that is, of withdrawing
+from her, not only Holland, the Rhineland and Italy, but also Belgium,
+Savoy, and Nice. The Prussian patriots were far more decided. They
+were determined that France should not dominate the Rhineland and
+overawe Germany from the fortresses of Mainz, Coblenz, and Wesel. On
+this subject Arndt spoke forth with no uncertain sound in a
+pamphlet--"The Rhine, Germany's river, not her boundary"--which proved
+that the French claim to the Rhine frontier was consonant neither with
+the teachings of history nor the distribution of the two peoples. The
+pamphlet had an immense effect in stirring up Germans to attack the
+cherished French doctrine of the natural frontiers, and it clinched
+the claim which he had put forward in his "Fatherland" song of the
+year before. It bade Germans strive for Trèves and Cologne, aye, even
+for Strassburg and Metz. Hardenberg and Stein, differing on most
+points, united in praising this work. Even before it appeared, the
+former chafed at the thought of Napoleon holding the left bank of the
+Rhine. On hearing of Metternich's Frankfurt offer to the French
+Emperor, he wrote in his diary: "Propositions of peace without my
+assent--Rhine, Alps, Pyrenees: a mad business."[390]
+
+Frederick William's views were less pronounced: in fact, his proneness
+to see a lion in every path earned for him the _sobriquet_ of
+Cassandra in his Chancellor's diary. But in the main he was swayed by
+the Czar; and that autocrat was now determined to dictate at Paris a
+peace that would rid him of all prospect of his great rival's revenge.
+Vanity and fear alike prescribed such a course of action. He longed to
+lead his magnificent Guards to Paris, there to display his clemency in
+contrast to the action of the French at Moscow; and this sentiment was
+fed by fear of Napoleon. The latter motive was concealed, of course,
+but Lord Aberdeen gauged its power during a private interview that he
+had with Alexander at Freiburg (December 24th): "He talked with great
+freedom: he is more decided than ever as to the necessity of
+perseverance, and puts little trust in the fair promises of
+Bonaparte.--'_So long as he lives there can be no security_'--he
+repeated it two or three times."[391] We can therefore understand his
+concern lest the Frankfurt terms should be accepted outright by
+Napoleon. Metternich, however, assured him that the French Emperor
+would not assent;[392] and, as in regard to the Prague Congress, he
+was substantially correct.
+
+Here again we touch on the disputed question whether Metternich played
+a fair game against Napoleon, or whether he tempted him to play with
+loaded dice while his throne was at stake. The latter supposition for
+a long time held the field; but it is untenable. On several occasions
+the Austrian statesman warned Napoleon, or his trusty advisers, that
+the best course open to him was to sign peace at once. He did so at
+Dresden, and he did so now. On November 10th he sent Caulaincourt a
+letter, of which these are the most important sentences:
+
+    " ... M. de St. Aignan will speak to you of my conversations [with
+    him]. I expect nothing from them, but I shall have done my duty.
+    France will never sign a more fortunate peace than that which the
+    Powers will make to-day, and tomorrow if they have reverses. New
+    successes may extend their views.... I do not doubt that the
+    approach of the allied armies to the frontiers of France may
+    facilitate the formation of great armaments by her Government. The
+    questions will become problematical for the civilized world; but
+    the Emperor Napoleon will not make peace. There is my profession
+    of faith, and I shall never be happier than if I am wrong."
+
+The letter rings true in every part. Metternich made no secret of
+sending it, but allowed Lord Aberdeen to see it.[393] And by good
+fortune it reached Caulaincourt about the time when he assumed the
+portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Its substance must therefore have been
+known to Napoleon; and the tone of the Frankfurt proposals ought to
+have convinced him of the need of speedily making peace while Austria
+held out the olive branch from across the Rhine. But Metternich's
+gloomy forecast was only too true. During his sojourn at Paris he had
+tested the rigidity of that cast-iron will.
+
+In fact, no one who knew the Emperor's devotion to Italy could believe
+that he would give up Piedmont and Liguria. His own despatches show
+that he never contemplated such a surrender. On November 20th he gave
+orders for the enrolling of 46,000 Frenchmen _of mature age_--"not
+Italians or Belgians"--who were to reinforce Eugène and help him to
+defend Italy; that, too, at a time when the defence of Champagne and
+Languedoc was about to devolve on lads of eighteen.
+
+He was equally determined not to give up Holland. On the possession of
+this maritime and industrious community he had always laid great
+stress. He once remarked to Roederer that the ruin of the French
+Bourbons was due to three events--the Battle of Rossbach, the affair
+of the diamond necklace, and the victory of Anglo-Prussian influence
+over that of France in Dutch affairs (1787). He even appealed to
+Nature to prove that that land must form part of the French Empire.
+"Holland," said one of his Ministers in 1809, "is the alluvium of the
+Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt--in other words, one of the great arteries
+of the Empire." Before the last battle at Leipzig he told Merveldt
+that he could not grant Holland its independence, for it would fall
+under the tutelage of England. And even while his Empire was crumbling
+away after that disaster, he wrote to his mother: "Holland is a French
+country, _and will remain so for ever_."[394]
+
+Russia, Prussia, and Britain were equally determined that the Dutch
+should be independent; and if Metternich wavered on the subject of
+Dutch independence, his hesitation was at an end by the middle of
+December, for a memorandum of the Russian diplomatist, Pozzo di Borgo,
+states that Metternich then regarded the Rhine boundary as ending at
+Düsseldorf: "after that town the river takes the name of Waal."[395]
+Such juggling with geography was surely superfluous; for by that time
+the Frankfurt terms had virtually lapsed, owing to Napoleon's belated
+acceptance; and Metternich had joined the other allied Governments
+that now demanded a more thorough solution of the boundary question.
+
+In fact, the allies were now able to make political capital out of
+their recent moderation.[396] On December 1st they issued an appeal to
+the French nation to the following effect: "We do not make war on
+France, but we are casting off the yoke which your Government imposed
+on our countries. We hoped to have found peace before touching your
+soil: we now go to find it there."
+
+If the sovereigns hoped by means of this declaration to separate
+France from Napoleon, they erred. To cross the Rhine was to attack,
+not Napoleon, but the French Revolution. Belgium and the Rhine
+boundary had been won by Dumouriez, Jourdain, Pichegru, and Moreau, at
+a time when Bonaparte's name was unknown outside Corsica and Provence.
+France had looked on wearily at Napoleon's wars in Germany, Spain, and
+Russia: they concerned him, not her. But when the "sacred soil" was
+threatened, citizens began to close their ranks: they ceased their
+declamations against the crushing taxes and youth-slaying
+conscription: they submitted to heavier taxes and levies of still
+younger lads. In fact, by doffing the mask of Charlemagne, the Emperor
+became once more the Bonaparte of the days of Marengo.
+
+He counted on some such change in public opinion; and it enabled him
+to defy with impunity the beginnings of a Parliamentary opposition.
+The Senate had been puffily obsequious, as usual; but the Corps
+Législatif had mistaken its functions. Summoned to vote new taxes, it
+presumed to give advice. A commission of its members agreed to a
+report on the existing situation, drawn up by Lainé, which gave the
+Emperor great offence. Its crime lay in its outspoken requests that
+peace should be concluded on the basis of the natural frontiers, that
+the rigours of the conscription should be abated, and that the laws
+which guaranteed the free exercise of political rights should be
+maintained intact. The Emperor was deeply incensed, and, despite the
+advice of his Ministers, determined to dissolve the Chamber forthwith
+(December 31st). Not content with this exercise of arbitrary power, he
+subjected its members to a barrack-like rebuke at the official
+reception on New Year's Day.--He had convoked them to do good, and
+they had done evil. Two battles lost in Champagne would not have been
+so harmful as their last action. What was their mandate compared with
+his? France had twice chosen _him_ by some millions of votes: while
+_they_ were nominated only by a few hundreds apiece. They had flung
+mud at him: but he was a man who might be slain, never dishonoured. He
+would fight for the nation, hurl back the foe, and conclude an
+honourable peace. Then, for their shame, he would print and circulate
+their report.--Such was the gist of this diatribe, which he shot forth
+in strident tones and with flashing eyes. He had the copies of the
+report destroyed, and dismissed the deputies to their homes throughout
+France.
+
+The country, in the main, took his side; and doubtless the national
+instinct was sound; for the allies had crossed the Rhine, and France
+once more was in danger. As in 1793, when the nation welcomed the
+triumph of the dare-devil Jacobins over the respectable parliamentary
+Girondins, as promising a vigorous rule and the expulsion of the
+monarchical invaders, so now the soldiers and peasants, if not the
+middle classes, rejoiced at the discomfiture of the talkers by the one
+necessary man of action. The general feeling was pithily expressed by
+an old peasant: "It's no longer a question of Bonaparte. Our soil is
+invaded: let us go and fight."
+
+This was the feeling which the Emperor ruthlessly exploited. He
+decreed the enrolment of a great force of National Guards, exacted
+further levies for the regular army, and ordered a _levée en masse_
+for the eastern Departments. The difficulties in his way were
+enormous. But he flung himself at the task with incomparable _verve_.
+Soldiers were wanting: youths were dragged forth, even from the
+royalist districts of the extreme north and west and south. Money was
+wanting: it was extorted from all quarters, and Napoleon not only
+lavished 55,000,000 francs from his own private hoard, but seized that
+of his parsimonious mother.[397] Cannon, muskets, uniforms were
+wanting: their manufacture was pushed on with feverish haste: Napoleon
+ordered his War Office to "procure all the cloth in France, good and
+bad," so as to have 200,000 uniforms ready by the end of February; and
+he counted on having half a million of effectives in the field at the
+close of spring.
+
+Among these he reckoned--so, at least, he wrote to Melzi--"nearly
+200,000" French soldiers from Arragon, Catalonia, and at Bayonne. Even
+if we allow for his desire to encourage his officials in Italy, the
+estimate is curious. Wellington at that time, it is true, had lessened
+his numbers by sending back across the Pyrenees all his Spanish
+troops, whose atrocities endangered that good understanding with the
+French peasantry which our great leader, for political motives, was
+determined to cultivate.[398] Yet, despite the shrinkage in numbers,
+he drove the French from the banks of the River Nive, and inflicted on
+them severe losses in desperate conflicts near Bayonne (December
+9th-13th). In fact, the intrenched camp in front of that town was now
+the sole barrier to Wellington's advance northwards, and it was with
+difficulty that Soult clung to this position. The peasantry, too,
+finding that they were far better treated by Wellington's troops than
+by their own soldiers, began to favour the allied cause, with results
+that will shortly appear. Yet these disquieting symptoms did not daunt
+Napoleon; for he now based his hopes of resisting the British advance
+on a compact which he had concluded with Ferdinand VII., the rightful
+King of Spain.
+
+As soon as he returned to St. Cloud after the Leipzig campaign he made
+secret overtures to that unhappy exile;[399] and by the Treaty of
+Valençay (December 11th, 1813) he agreed to recognize him as King of
+the whole of Spain, provided that British and French troops evacuated
+that land. His imagination ran riot in picturing the results of this
+treaty. Ferdinand was to enter Spain; Suchet, then playing a losing
+game in Catalonia, was quietly to withdraw his columns through the
+Pyrenees, while Wellington would have his base of operations cut from
+under him, and thenceforth be a negligeable quantity.[400] These
+pleasing fancies all rested on the acceptance of the new treaty by the
+Spanish Regency and Cortès. But, alas for Napoleon! they at once
+rejected it, declaring null and void all acts of Ferdinand while he
+was a prisoner, and forbidding all negotiations with France while
+French troops remained in the Peninsula (January 8th).
+
+Equally disappointing were affairs in Italy. On the 11th of January,
+Murat made an alliance with Austria, and promised to aid her with a
+corps of 30,000 Neapolitans, while she guaranteed him his throne and a
+slice of the Roman territory. Napoleon directed Eugène, as soon as
+this bad news was confirmed, to prepare to fall back on the Alps. But,
+in order to clog Murat's movements, the Emperor resolved to make use
+of the spiritual power, which for six years he had slighted. He gave
+orders that the aged Pope should be released from his detention at
+Fontainebleau, and hurried secretly to Rome. "Let him burst on that
+place like a clap of thunder," he wrote to Savary (January 21st). But
+this stagey device was not to succeed. Even now Napoleon insisted on
+conditions with which Pius VII. could not conscientiously comply, and
+he was still detained at Tarrascon when his captor was setting out for
+Elba.
+
+Three days after Murat's desertion, Denmark fell away from Napoleon.
+Overborne by the forces of Bernadotte, the little kingdom made peace
+with England and Sweden, agreeing to yield up Norway to the latter
+Power in consideration of recovering an indemnity in Germany. To us
+the Danes ceded Heligoland. Thus, within three months of the disaster
+at Leipzig, all Napoleon's allies forsook him, and all but the Danes
+were now about to fight against him--a striking proof of the
+artificiality of his domination.
+
+By this time it was clear that even France would soon be stricken to
+the heart unless Napoleon speedily concentrated his forces. On the
+north and east the allies were advancing with a speed that nonplussed
+the Emperor. Accustomed to sluggish movements on their part, he had
+not expected an invasion in force before the spring, and here it was
+in the first days of January. Bülow and Graham had overrun Holland.
+The allies, with the exception of the Czar, had no scruples about
+infringing the neutrality of Switzerland, as Napoleon had consistently
+done, and the constitution, which he had imposed upon that land eleven
+years before, now straightway collapsed. Detaching a strong corps
+southwards to hold the Simplon and Great St. Bernard Passes and
+threaten Lyons, Schwarzenberg led the allied Grand Army into France by
+way of Basel, Belfort, and Langres. The prompt seizure of the Plateau
+of Langres was an important success. The allies thereby turned the
+strong defensive lines of the Vosges Mountains, and of the Rivers
+Moselle and Meuse, so that Blücher, with his "Army of Silesia," was
+able rapidly to advance into Lorraine, and drive Victor from Nancy.
+Toul speedily surrendered, and the sturdy veteran then turned to the
+south-west, in order to come into touch with Schwarzenberg's columns.
+Neither leader delayed before the eastern fortresses. The allies had
+learnt from Napoleon to invest or observe them and press on, a course
+which their vast superiority of force rendered free from danger.
+Schwarzenberg, on the 25th, had 150,000 men between Langres, Chaumont,
+and Bar-sur-Aube; while Blücher, with about half those numbers,
+crossed the Marne at St. Dizier, and was drawing near to Brienne. In
+front of them were the weak and disheartened corps of Marmont, Ney,
+Victor, and Macdonald, mustering in all about 50,000 men. Desertions
+to the allies were frequent, and Blücher, wishing to show that the war
+was practically over, dismissed both deserters and prisoners to their
+homes.[401]
+
+But the war was far from over: it had not yet begun. Hitherto Napoleon
+had hurried on the preparations from Paris, but the urgency of the
+danger now beckoned him eastwards. As before, he left the Empress as
+Regent of France, but appointed King Joseph as Lieutenant-General of
+France. On Sunday, January 23rd, he held the last reception. It was in
+the large hall of the Tuileries, where the Parisian rabble had forced
+Louis XVI. to don the _bonnet rouge_. Another dynasty was now
+tottering to its fall; but none could have read its doom in the faces
+of the obsequious courtiers, or of the officers of the Parisian
+National Guards, who offered their homage to the heir of the
+Revolution.
+
+He came forward with the Empress and the King of Rome, a flaxen-haired
+child of three winters, clad in the uniform of the National Guard.
+Taking the boy by the hand into the midst of the circle, he spoke
+these touching words: "Gentlemen,--I am about to set out for the army.
+I intrust to you what I hold dearest in the world--my wife and my son.
+Let there be no political divisions." He then carried him amidst his
+dignitaries and officers, while sobs and shouts bespoke the warmth of
+the feelings kindled by this scene. And never, surely, since the young
+Maria Theresa appealed in person to the Hungarian magnates to defend
+her against rapacious neighbours, had any monarch spoken so straight
+to the hearts of his lieges. The secret of his success is not far to
+seek. He had not commanded as Emperor: he had appealed as a father to
+fathers and mothers.
+
+It is painful to have to add that many who there swore to defend him
+were even then beginning to plot his overthrow. Most painful of all is
+it to remember that when, before dawn of the 25th, Marie Louise bade
+him farewell, it was her last farewell: for she, too, deserted him in
+his misfortunes, refused to share his exile, and ultimately degraded
+herself by her connection with Count Neipperg.
+
+Heedless of all that the future might bring, and concentrating his
+thoughts on the problems of the present, the great warrior journeyed
+rapidly eastwards to Châlons-sur-Marne, and opened the most glorious
+of his campaigns. And yet it began with disaster. At Brienne, among
+the scenes of his school-days, he assailed Blücher in the hope of
+preventing the junction of the Army of Silesia with that of
+Schwarzenberg further south (January 29th). After sharp fighting, the
+Prussians were driven from the castle and town. But the success was
+illusory. Blücher withdrew towards Bar-sur-Aube, in order to gain
+support from Schwarzenberg, and, three days later, turned the tables
+on Napoleon while the latter was indulging in hopes that the allies
+were about to treat seriously for peace.[402] Nevertheless, though
+surprised by greatly superior numbers, the 40,000 French clung
+obstinately to the village of La Rothière until their thin lines were
+everywhere driven in or outflanked, with the loss of 73 cannon and
+more than 3,000 prisoners. Each side lost about 5,000 killed and
+wounded--a mere trifle to the allies, but a grave disaster to the
+defenders.
+
+The Emperor was much discouraged. He had put forth his full strength,
+exposed his own person to the hottest fire, so as to encourage his
+men, and yet failed to prevent the union of the allied armies, or to
+hold the line of the River Aube. Early on the morrow he left the
+castle of Brienne, and took the road for Troyes; while Marmont, with a
+corps now reduced to less than 3,000 men, bravely defended the passage
+of the Voire at Rosnay, and, after delaying the pursuit, took post at
+Arcis-sur-Aube. The means of defence, both moral and material, seemed
+wellnigh exhausted. When, on February 3rd, Napoleon entered Troyes,
+scarcely a single _vivat_ was heard. Even the old troops were cast
+down by defeat and hunger, while as many as 6,000 conscripts are said
+to have deserted. The inhabitants refused to supply the necessaries of
+life except upon requisition. "The army is perishing of famine,"
+writes the Emperor at Troyes. Again at Nogent: "Twelve men have died
+of hunger, though we have used fire and sword to get food on our way
+here." And, now, into the space left undefended between the Marne and
+the Aube, Blücher began to thrust his triumphant columns, with no
+barrier to check him until he neared the environs of Paris. Once more
+the Prussian and Russian officers looked on the war as over, and
+invited one another to dinner at the Palais-Royal in a week's
+time.[403]
+
+But it was on this confidence of the old hussar-general that Napoleon
+counted. He knew his proneness to daring movements, and the strong
+bias of Schwarzenberg towards delay: he also divined that they would
+now separate their forces, Blücher making straight for Paris, while
+other columns would threaten the capital by way of Troyes and Sens.
+That was why he fell back on Troyes, so as directly to oppose the
+latter movement, "or so as to return and manoeuvre against Blücher and
+stay his march."[404] Another motive was his expectation of finding at
+Nogent the 15,000 veterans whom he had ordered Soult to send
+northwards. And doubtless the final reason was his determination to
+use the sheltering curve of the Seine, which between Troyes and Nogent
+flows within twenty miles of the high-road that Blücher must use if he
+struck at Paris. At many a crisis Napoleon had proved the efficacy of
+a great river line. From Rivoli to Friedland his career abounds in
+examples of riverine tactics. The war of 1813 was one prolonged
+struggle for the line of the Elbe. He still continued the war because
+he could not yet bring himself to sign away the Rhenish fortresses:
+and he now hoped to regain that "natural boundary" by blows showered
+on divided enemies from behind the arc of the Seine.
+
+With wonderful prescience he had guessed at the general plan of the
+allies. But he could scarcely have dared to hope that on that very day
+(February 2nd) they were holding a council of war at Brienne, and
+formally resolved that Blücher should march north-west on Paris with
+about 50,000 men, while the allied Grand
+
+Army of nearly three times those numbers was to diverge south-west
+towards Bar-sur-Seine and Sens. So unequal a partition of forces
+seemed to court disaster. It is true that the allies had no magazines
+of supplies: they could not march in an undivided host through a
+hostile land where the scanty defenders themselves were nearly
+starving. If, however, they decided to move at all, it was needful to
+allot the more dangerous task to a powerful force. Above all, it was
+necessary to keep their main armies well in touch with one another and
+with the foe. Yet these obvious precautions were not taken. In truth,
+the separation of the allies was dictated more by political jealousy
+than by military motives. To these political affairs we must now
+allude; for they had no small effect in leading Napoleon on to an
+illusory triumph and an irretrievable overthrow. We will show their
+influence, first on the conduct of the allies, and then on the actions
+of Napoleon.
+
+The alarm of Austria at the growing power of Russia and Prussia was
+becoming acute. She had drawn the sword only because Napoleon's
+resentment was more to be feared than Alexander's ambition. But all
+had changed since then. The warrior who, five months ago, still had
+his sword at the throat of Germany, was now being pursued across the
+dreary flats of Champagne. And his eastern rival, who then plaintively
+sued for Austria's aid, now showed a desire to establish Russian
+control over all the Polish lands, indemnifying Prussia for losses in
+that quarter by the acquisition of Saxony. Both of these changes would
+press heavily on Austria from the north; and she was determined to
+prevent them as far as possible. Then there was the vexed question of
+the reconstruction of Germany to which we shall recur later on.
+Smaller matters, involving the relations of the allies to Bernadotte,
+Denmark, and Switzerland further complicated the situation: but, above
+all, there was the problem of the future limits and form of government
+of France.
+
+On that topic there were two chief parties: those who desired merely
+to clip Napoleon's wings, and those who sought to bring back France to
+her old boundaries. The Emperor Francis was still disposed to leave
+him the "natural frontiers," provided he gave up all control of
+Germany, Holland, and Italy. On the other side were the Czar and the
+forward wing of the Prussian patriots. Frederick William was more
+cautious, but in the main he deferred to the Czar's views on the
+boundary question. Still, so powerful was the influence of the Emperor
+Francis, Metternich, and Schwarzenberg, that the two parties were
+evenly balanced and beset by many suspicions and fears, until the
+arrival of the British Foreign Minister, Castlereagh, began to restore
+something like confidence and concord.
+
+The British Cabinet had decided that, as none of our three envoys then
+at the allied headquarters had much diplomatic experience, our
+Minister should go in person to supervise the course of affairs. He
+reached head-quarters in the third week of January, and what Thiers
+has called the proud simplicity of his conduct, contrasting as it did
+with the uneasy finesse of Metternich and Nesselrode, imparted to his
+counsels a weight which they merited from their disinterestedness.
+Great Britain was in a very strong position. She had borne the brunt
+of the struggle before the present coalition took shape: apart from
+some modest gains to Hanover, she was about to take no part in the
+ensuing territorial scramble: she even offered to give up many of her
+oceanic conquests, provided that the European settlement would be such
+as to guarantee a lasting peace.[405] And this, the British Minister
+came to see, could not be attained while Napoleon reigned over a Great
+France: the only sure pledge of peace would be the return of that
+country to its old frontiers, and preferably to its ancient dynasty.
+
+On the question of boundaries the Czar's views were not clearly
+defined; they were personal rather than territorial. He was determined
+to get rid of Napoleon; but he would not, as yet, hear of the
+re-establishment of the Bourbons. He disliked that dynasty in general,
+and Louis XVIII. in particular. Bernadotte seemed to him a far fitter
+successor to Napoleon than the gouty old gentleman who for three and
+twenty years had been morosely flitting about Europe and issuing
+useless proclamations.
+
+Here, indeed, was Napoleon's great chance: there was no man fit to
+succeed him, and he knew it. Scarcely anyone but Bernadotte himself
+agreed with the Czar as to the fitness of the choice just named. To
+the allies the Prince Royal of Sweden was suspect for his loiterings,
+and to Frenchmen he seemed a traitor. We find that Stein disagreed
+with the Czar on this point, and declared that the Bourbons were the
+only alternative to Napoleon. Assuredly, this was not because the
+great German loved that family, but simply because he saw that their
+very mediocrity would be a pledge that France would not again overflow
+her old limits and submerge Europe.
+
+Here, then, was the strength of Castlereagh's position. Amidst the
+warping disputes and underhand intrigues his claims were clear,
+disinterested, and logically tenable. Besides, they were so urged as
+to calm the disputants. He quietly assured Metternich that Britain
+would resist the absorption of the whole of Poland and Saxony by
+Russia and Prussia; and on his side the Austrian statesman showed that
+he would not oppose the return of the Bourbons to France "from any
+family considerations," provided that that act came as the act of the
+French nation.[406] And this was a proviso on which our Government and
+Wellington already laid great stress.
+
+Castlereagh's straightforward behaviour had an immense influence in
+leading Metternich to favour a more drastic solution of the French
+question than he had previously advocated. The Frankfurt proposals
+were now quietly waived, and Metternich came to see the need of
+withdrawing Belgium from France and intrusting it to the House of
+Orange. Still, the Austrian statesman was for concluding peace with
+Napoleon as soon as might be, though he confessed in his private
+letters that peace did not depend on the Châtillon parleys. Some
+persons, he wrote, wanted the Bourbons back: still more wished for a
+Regency (_i.e._, Marie Louise as Regent for Napoleon II.): others
+said: "Away with Napoleon, no peace is possible with him": the masses
+cried out for peace, so as to end the whole affair: but added
+Metternich: "The riddle will be solved before or in Paris."[407] There
+spoke the discreet opportunist, always open to the logic of facts and
+the persuasion of Castlereagh.
+
+Our Minister found the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia far less
+tractable; and he only partially succeeded in lulling their suspicions
+that Metternich was hand and glove with Napoleon. So deep was the
+Czar's distrust of the Austrian statesman and commander-in-chief that
+he resolved to brush aside Metternich's diplomatic _pourparlers_, to
+push on rapidly to Paris, and there dictate peace.[408]
+
+But it was just this eagerness of the Czar and the Prussians to reach
+Paris which kept alive Austrian fears. A complete triumph to their
+arms would seal the doom of Poland and Saxony; and it has been thought
+that Schwarzenberg, who himself longed for peace, not only sought to
+save Austrian soldiers by keeping them back, but that at this time he
+did less than his duty in keeping touch with Blücher. Several times
+during the ensuing days the charge of treachery was hurled by the
+Prussians against the Austrians, and once at least by Frederick
+William himself. But it seems more probable that Metternich and
+Schwarzenberg held their men back merely for prudential motives until
+the resumption of the negotiations with France should throw more light
+on the tangled political jungle through which the allies were groping.
+It is significant that while Schwarzenberg cautiously felt about for
+Napoleon's rearguard, of which he lost touch for two whole days,
+Metternich insisted that the peace Congress must be opened.
+Caulaincourt had for several days been waiting near the allied
+head-quarters; and, said the Austrian Minister, it would be a breach
+of faith to put him off any longer now that Castlereagh had arrived.
+Only when Austria threatened to withdraw from the Coalition did
+Alexander concede this point, and then with a very bad grace; for the
+resumption of the negotiations virtually tied him to the neighbourhood
+of Châtillon-sur-Seine, the town fixed for the Congress, while Blücher
+was rapidly moving towards Paris with every prospect of snatching from
+the imperial brow the coveted laurel of a triumphal entry.
+
+To prevent this interference with his own pet plans, the susceptible
+autocrat sent off from Bar-sur-Seine (February 7th) an order that
+Blücher was not to enter Paris, but must await the arrival of the
+sovereigns. The order was needless. Napoleon, goaded to fury by the
+demands which the allies on that very day formulated at Châtillon,
+flung himself upon Blücher and completely altered the whole military
+situation. But before describing this wonderful effort, we must take a
+glance at the diplomatic overtures which spurred him on.
+
+The Congress of Châtillon opened on February 5th, and on that day
+Castlereagh gained his point, that questions about our maritime code
+should be completely banished from the discussions. Two days later the
+allies declared that France must withdraw within the boundaries of
+1791, with the exception of certain changes made for mutual
+convenience and of some colonial retrocessions that England would
+grant to France. The French plenipotentiary, Caulaincourt, heard this
+demand with a quiet but strained composure: he reminded them that at
+Frankfurt they had proposed to leave France the Rhine and the Alps; he
+inquired what colonial sacrifices England was prepared to make if she
+cooped up France in her old limits in Europe. To this our
+plenipotentiaries Aberdeen, Cathcart, and Stewart refused to reply
+until he assented to the present demand of the allies. He very
+properly refused to do this; and, despite his eagerness to come to an
+arrangement and end the misfortunes of France, referred the matter to
+his master.[409]
+
+What were Napoleon's views on these questions? It is difficult to
+follow the workings of his mind before the time when Caulaincourt's
+despatch flashed the horrible truth upon him that he might, after all,
+leave France smaller and weaker than he found her. Then the lightnings
+of his wrath flash forth, and we see the tumult and anguish of that
+mighty soul: but previously the storm-wrack of passion and the
+cloud-bank of his clinging will are lit up by few gleams of the
+earlier piercing intelligence. On January the 4th he had written to
+Caulaincourt that the policy of England and the personal rancour of
+the Czar would drag Austria along. If Fortune betrayed him (Napoleon)
+he would give up the throne: never would he sign any shameful peace.
+But he added: "You must see what Metternich wants: it is not to
+Austria's interest to push matters to the end." In the accompanying
+instructions to his plenipotentiary, he seems to assent to the Alpine
+and Rhenish frontiers, but advises him to sign the preliminaries as
+vaguely as possible, "_as we have everything to gain by delay_." The
+Rhine frontier must be so described as to leave France the Dutch
+fortresses: and Savona and Spezzia must also count as on the French
+side of the Alps. These, be it observed, are his notions when he has
+not heard of the defection of Murat, or the rejection of his Spanish
+bargain by the Cortès.
+
+Twelve days later he proposes to Metternich an armistice, and again
+suggests that it is not to Austria's interest to press matters too
+far. But the allies are too wary to leave such a matter to Metternich:
+at Teplitz they bound themselves to common action; and the proposal
+only shows them the need of pushing on fast while their foe is still
+unprepared. Once more his old optimism asserts itself. The first
+French success, that at Brienne, leads him to hope that the allies
+will now be ready to make peace. Even after the disaster at La
+Rothière, he believes that the mere arrival of Caulaincourt at the
+allied headquarters will foment the discords which there exist.[410]
+Then, writing amidst the unspeakable miseries at Troyes (February
+4th), he upbraids Caulaincourt for worrying him about "powers and
+instructions when it is still doubtful if the enemy wants to
+negotiate. His terms, it seems, are determined on beforehand. As soon
+as you have them, you have the power to accept them or to refer them
+to me within twenty-four hours."
+
+After midnight, he again directs him to accept the terms, if
+acceptable: "in the contrary case we will run the risks of a battle;
+even the loss of Paris, and all that will ensue." Later on that day he
+allows Maret to send a despatch giving Caulaincourt "carte blanche" to
+conclude peace.[411] But the plenipotentiary dared not take on himself
+the responsibility of accepting the terms offered by the allies two
+days later. The last despatch was too vague to enable him to sign away
+many thousands of square miles of territory: it contradicted the tenor
+of Napoleon's letters, which empowered him to assent to nothing less
+than the Frankfurt terms. And thus was to slip away one more chance of
+bringing about peace--a peace that would strip the French Empire of
+frontier lands and alien peoples, but leave it to the peasants' ruler,
+Napoleon.
+
+In truth, the Emperor's words and letters breathed nothing but warlike
+resolve. Famine and misery accompany him on his march to Nogent, and
+there, on the 7th, he hears tidings that strike despair to every heart
+but his. An Anglo-German force is besieging the staunch old Carnot in
+Antwerp; Bülow has entered Brussels; Belgium is lost: Macdonald's weak
+corps is falling back on Epernay, hard pressed by Yorck, while Blücher
+is heading for Paris. Last of all comes on the morrow Caulaincourt's
+despatch announcing that the allies now insist on France returning to
+the limits of 1791.
+
+Never, surely, since the time of Job did calamity shower her blows so
+thickly on the head of mortal man: and never were they met with less
+resignation and more undaunted defiance. After receiving the black
+budget of news the Emperor straightway shut himself up. For some time
+his Marshals left him alone: but, as Caulaincourt's courier was
+waiting for the reply, Berthier and Maret ventured to intrude on his
+grief. He tossed them the letter containing the allied terms. A long
+silence ensued, while they awaited his decision. As he spoke not a
+word, they begged him to give way and grant peace to France. Then his
+pent-up feelings burst forth: "What, you would have me sign a treaty
+like that, and trample under foot my coronation oath! Unheard-of
+disasters may have snatched from me the promise to renounce my
+conquests: but, give up those made before me--never! God keep me from
+such a disgrace. Reply to Caulaincourt since you wish it, but tell him
+that I reject this treaty. I prefer to run the uttermost risks of
+war." He threw himself on his camp bed. Maret waited by his side, and
+gained from him in calmer moments permission to write to Caulaincourt
+in terms that allowed the negotiation to proceed. At dawn on the 9th
+Maret came back hoping to gain assent to despatches that he had been
+drawing up during the night. To his surprise he found the Emperor
+stretched out over large charts, compass in hand. "Ah, there you are,"
+was his greeting; "now it's a question of very different matters. I am
+going to beat Blücher: if I succeed, the state of affairs will
+entirely change, and then we will see."
+
+The tension of his feelings at this time, when rage and desperation
+finally gave way to a fixed resolve to stake all on a blow at
+Blücher's flank, finds expression in a phrase which has been omitted
+from the official correspondence.[412] In one of the five letters
+which he wrote to Joseph on the 9th, he remarked: "Pray the Madonna of
+armies to be for us: Louis, who is a saint, may engage to give her a
+lighted candle." A curiously sarcastic touch, probably due to his
+annoyance at the _Misereres_ and "prayers forty hours long" at Paris
+which he bade his Ministers curtail. Or was it a passing flash of that
+religious sentiment which he professed in his declining years?
+
+He certainly counted on victory over Blücher. A week earlier, he had
+foreseen the chance that that leader would expose his flank: on the
+7th he charged Marmont to occupy Sézanne, where he would be strongly
+supported; on the afternoon of the 9th he set out from Nogent to
+reinforce his Marshal; and on the morrow Marmont and Ney fell upon one
+of Blücher's scattered columns at Champaubert. It was a corps of
+Russians, less than 5,000 strong, with no horsemen and but twenty-four
+cannon; the Muscovites offered a stout resistance, but only 1,500
+escaped.[413] Blücher's line of march was now cut in twain. He himself
+was at Vertus with the last column; his foremost corps, under Sacken,
+was west of Montmirail, while Yorck was far to the north of that
+village observing Macdonald's movements along the Château-Thierry
+road.
+
+The Emperor with 20,000 men might therefore hope to destroy these
+corps piecemeal. Leaving Marmont along with Grouchy's horse to hold
+Blücher in check on the east, he struck westwards against Sacken's
+Russians near Montmirail. The shock was terrible; both sides were
+weary with night marches on miry roads, along which cannon had to be
+dragged by double teams: yet, though footsore and worn with cold and
+hunger, the men fought with sustained fury, the French to stamp out
+the barbarous invaders who had wasted their villages, the Russians to
+hold their position until Yorck's Prussians should stretch a
+succouring hand from the north. Many a time did the French rush at the
+village of Marchais held by Sacken: they were repeatedly repulsed,
+until, as darkness came on, Ney and Mortier with the Guard stormed a
+large farmhouse on their left. Then, at last, Sacken's men drew off in
+sore plight north-west across the fields, where Yorck's tardy advent
+alone saved them from destruction. The next day completed their
+discomfiture. Napoleon and Mortier pursued both allied corps to
+Château-Thierry and, after sharp fighting in the streets of that
+place, drove them across the Marne. The townsfolk hailed the advent of
+their Emperor with unbounded joy: they had believed him to be at
+Troyes, beaten and dispirited; and here he was delivering them from
+the brutal licence of the eastern soldiery. Nothing was impossible to
+him.
+
+Next it was Blücher's turn. Leaving Mortier to pursue the fugitives of
+Sacken and Yorck along the Soissons road, Napoleon left
+Château-Thierry late at night on the 13th, following the mass of his
+troops to reinforce Marmont. That Marshal had yielded ground to
+Blücher's desperate efforts, but was standing at bay at Vauchamps,
+when Napoleon drew near to the scene of the unequal fight. Suddenly a
+mighty shout of "Vive l'Empereur" warned the assailants that they now
+had to do with Napoleon. Yet no precipitation weakened the Emperor's
+blow: not until his cavalry greatly outnumbered that of the allies did
+he begin the chief attack. Stoutly it was beaten off by the allied
+squares: but Drouot's artillery ploughed through their masses, while
+swarms of horsemen were ready to open out those ghastly furrows. There
+was nothing for it but retreat, and that across open country, where
+the charges and the pounding still went on. But nothing could break
+that stubborn infantry: animated by their leader, the Prussians and
+Russians plodded steadily eastwards, until, as darkness drew on, they
+found Grouchy's horse barring the road before Etoges. "Forward" was
+still the veteran's cry: and through the cavalry they cut their way:
+through hostile footmen that had stolen round to the village they also
+burst, and at last found shelter near Bergères. "Words fail me," wrote
+Colonel Hudson Lowe, "to express my admiration at their undaunted and
+manly behaviour."
+
+This gallant retreat shed lustre over the rank and file. But the sins
+of the commanders had cost the allies dear. In four days the army of
+Silesia lost fully 15,000 men, and its corps were driven far asunder
+by Napoleon's incursion. His brilliant moves and trenchant strokes
+astonished the world. With less than 30,000 men he had burst into
+Blücher's line of march, and scattered in flight 50,000 warriors
+advancing on Paris in full assurance of victory. It was not chance,
+but science, that gave him these successes. Acting from behind the
+screen of the Seine, he had thrown his small but undivided force
+against scattered portions of a superior force. It was the strategy of
+Lonato and Castiglione over again; and the enthusiasm of those days
+bade fair to revive.
+
+His men, who previously had tramped downheartedly over wastes of snow
+and miry cross-roads, now marched with head erect as in former days;
+the villagers, far from being cowed by the brutalities of the
+Cossacks, formed bands to hang upon the enemies' rear and entrap their
+foragers. Above all, Paris was herself once more. Before he began
+these brilliant moves, he had to upbraid Cambacérès for his unmanly
+conduct. "I see that instead of sustaining the Empress, you are
+discouraging her. Why lose your head thus? What mean these _Miserere_
+and these prayers of forty hours? Are you going mad at Paris?" Now the
+capital again breathed defiance to the foe, and sent the Emperor
+National Guards. Many of these from Brittany, it is true, came "in
+round hats and _sabots_": they had no knapsacks: but they had guns,
+and they fought.
+
+Could he have pursued Blücher on the morrow he might probably have
+broken up even that hardy infantry, now in dire straits for want of
+supplies. But bad news came to hand from the south-west. Under urgent
+pressure from the Czar, Schwarzenberg had pushed forward two columns
+from Troyes towards Paris: one of them had seized the bridge over the
+Seine at Bray, a day's march below Nogent: the other was nearing
+Fontainebleau. Napoleon was furious at the neglect of Victor to guard
+the crossing at Bray, and reluctantly turned away from Blücher to
+crush these columns. His men marched or were carried in vehicles, by
+way of Meaux and Guignes, to reinforce Victor: on the 17th they drove
+back the outposts of Schwarzenberg's centre, while Macdonald and
+Oudinot marched towards Nogent to threaten his right. These rapid
+moves alarmed the Austrian commander, whose left, swung forward on
+Fontainebleau, was in some danger of being cut off. He therefore sued
+for an armistice. It was refused; and the request drew from Napoleon a
+letter to his brother Joseph full of contempt for the allies (February
+18th). "It is difficult," he writes, "to be so cowardly as that! He
+[Schwarzenberg] had constantly, and in the most insulting terms,
+refused a suspension of arms of any kind, ... and yet these wretches
+at the first check fall on their knees. I will grant no armistice till
+my territory is clear of them." He adds that he now expected to gain
+the "natural frontiers" offered by the allies at Frankfurt--the
+minimum that he could accept with honour; and he closes with these
+memorable words, which flash a searchlight on his pacific professions
+of thirteen months later: "If I had agreed to the old boundaries, I
+should have rushed to arms two years later, telling the nation that I
+had signed not a peace, but a capitulation."[414]
+
+The events of the 18th strengthened his resolve. He then attacked the
+Crown Prince of Würtemberg on the north side of the Seine, opposite
+Montereau, overthrew him by the weight of the artillery of the Guard,
+whereupon a brilliant charge of Pajol's horsemen wrested the bridge
+from the South Germans and restored to the Emperor the much-needed
+crossing over the river. Napoleon's activity on that day was
+marvellous. He wrote or dictated eleven despatches, six of them long
+before dawn, gave instructions to an officer who was to encourage
+Eugène to hold firm in Italy, fought a battle, directed the aim of
+several cannon, and wound up the day by severe rebukes to Marshal
+Victor and two generals for their recent blunders. Thus, on a brief
+winter's day, he fills the _rôle_ of Emperor, organizer, tactician,
+cannoneer, and martinet; in fact, he crowns it by pardoning Victor,
+when that brave man vows that he cannot live away from the army, and
+will fight as a common soldier among the Guards: he then and there
+assigns to him two divisions of the Guard. To the artillerymen the
+_camaraderie_ of the Emperor gave a new zest: and when they ventured
+to reproach him for thus risking his life, he replied with a touch of
+the fatalism which enthralls a soldier's mind: "Ah! don't fear: the
+ball is not cast that will kill me."
+
+Yes: Napoleon displayed during these last ten days a fertility of
+resource, a power to drive back the tide of events, that have dazzled
+posterity, as they dismayed his foes. We may seek in vain for a
+parallel, save perhaps in the careers of Hannibal and Frederick.
+Alexander the Great's victories were won over Asiatics: Cæsar's
+magnificent rally of his wavering bands against the onrush of the
+Nervii was but one effort of disciplined valour crushing the
+impetuosity of the barbarian. Marlborough and Wellington often
+triumphed over great odds and turned the course of history. But their
+star had never set so low as that of Napoleon's after La Rothière, and
+never did it rush to the zenith with a splendour like that which
+blinded the trained hosts of Blücher and Schwarzenberg. Whatever the
+mistakes of these leaders, and they were great, there is something
+that defies analysis in Napoleon's sudden transformation of his beaten
+dispirited band into a triumphant array before which four times their
+numbers sought refuge in retreat. But it is just this transcendent
+quality that adds a charm to the character and career of Napoleon.
+Where analysis fails, there genius begins.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+THE FIRST ABDICATION
+
+
+It now remained to be seen whether Napoleon would make a wise use of
+his successes. While the Grand Army drew in its columns behind the
+sheltering line of the Seine at Troyes, the French Emperor strove to
+reap in diplomacy the fruits of his military prowess. In brief, he
+sought to detach Austria from the Coalition. From Nogent he wrote, on
+February 21st, to the Emperor Francis, dwelling on the impolicy of
+Austria continuing the war. Why should she subordinate her policy to
+that of England and to the personal animosities of the Czar? Why
+should she see her former Belgian provinces handed over to a
+Protestant Dutch Prince about to be allied with the House of Brunswick
+by marriage? France would never give up Belgium; and he, as French
+Emperor, would never sign a peace that would drive her from the Rhine
+and exclude her from the circle of the Great Powers. But if Austria
+really wished for the equilibrium of Europe, he (Napoleon) was ready
+to forget the past and make peace on the basis of the Frankfurt
+terms.[415]
+
+Had these offers been rather less exacting, and reached the allied
+headquarters a week earlier, they might have led to the break up of
+the Coalition. For the political situation of the allies had been even
+more precarious than that of their armies. The pretensions of the Czar
+had excited indignation and alarm. Swayed to and fro between the
+counsels of his old tutor, Laharpe, now again at his side, and his own
+autocratic instincts, he declared that he would push on to Paris,
+consult the will of the French people by a plébiscite, and abide by
+its decision, even if it gave a new lease of power to Napoleon. But
+side by side with this democratic proposal came another of a more
+despotic type, that the military Governor of Paris must be a Russian
+officer.
+
+The amusement caused by these odd notions was overshadowed by alarm.
+Metternich, Castlereagh, and Hardenberg saw in them a ruse for
+foisting on France either Bernadotte, or an orientalized Republic, or
+a Muscovite version of the Treaty of Tilsit. Then again, on February
+9th, Alexander sent a mandate to the plenipotentiaries at Châtillon,
+requesting that their sessions should be suspended, though he had
+recently agreed at Langres to enter into negotiations with France,
+provided that the military operations were not suspended. Evidently,
+then, he was bent on forcing the hands of his allies, and Austria
+feared that he might at the end of the war insist on her taking
+Alsace, as a set-off to the loss of Eastern Galicia which he wished to
+absorb. So keen was the jealousy thus aroused, that at Troyes
+Metternich and Hardenberg signed a secret agreement to prevent the
+Czar carrying matters with a high hand at Paris (February 14th); and
+on the same day they sent him a stiff Note requesting the resumption
+of the negotiations with Napoleon. Indeed, Austria formally threatened
+to withdraw her troops from the war, unless he limited his aims to the
+terms propounded by the allies at Châtillon. Alexander at first
+refused; but the news of Blücher's disasters shook his determination,
+and he assented on that day, provided that steps were at once taken to
+lighten the pressure on the Russian corps serving under Blücher. Thus,
+by February 14th, the crisis was over.[416]
+
+Schwarzenberg cautiously pushed on three columns to attract the
+thunderbolts that otherwise would have destroyed the Silesian Army
+root and branch; and he succeeded. True, his vanguard was beaten at
+Montereau; but, by drawing Napoleon south and then east of the Seine,
+he gave time to Blücher to strengthen his shattered array and resume
+the offensive. Meanwhile Bülow, with the northern army, began to draw
+near to the scene of action, and on the 23rd the allies took the wise
+step of assigning his corps, along with those of Winzingerode,
+Woronzoff, and Strogonoff, to the Prussian veteran. The last three
+corps were withdrawn from the army of Bernadotte, and that prince was
+apprized of the fact by the Czar in a rather curt letter.
+
+The diplomatic situation had also cleared up before Napoleon's letter
+reached the Emperor Francis. The negotiations with Caulaincourt were
+resumed at Châtillon on February the 17th; and there is every reason
+to think that Austria, England, Prussia, and perhaps even Russia would
+now gladly have signed peace with Napoleon on the basis of the French
+frontiers of 1791, provided that he renounced all claims to
+interference in the affairs of Europe outside those limits.[417]
+
+These demands would certainly have been accepted by the French
+plenipotentiary had he listened to his own pacific promptings. But he
+was now in the most painful position. Maret had informed him, the day
+after Montmirail, that Napoleon was set on keeping the Rhenish and
+Alpine frontiers.[418] He could, therefore, do nothing but temporize.
+He knew how precarious was the military supremacy just snatched by his
+master, and trusted that a few days more would bring wisdom before it
+was too late. But his efforts for delay were useless.
+
+While he was marking time, Napoleon was sending him despatches
+instinct with pride. "I have made 30,000 to 40,000 prisoners," he
+wrote on the 17th: "I have taken 200 cannon, a great number of
+generals, and destroyed several armies, almost without striking a
+blow. I yesterday checked Schwarzenberg's army, which I hope to
+destroy before it recrosses my frontier." And two days later, after
+hearing the allied terms, he wrote that they would make the blood of
+every Frenchman boil with indignation, and that he would dictate _his_
+ultimatum at Troyes or Châtillon. Of course, Caulaincourt kept these
+diatribes to himself, but his painfully constrained demeanour betrayed
+the secret that he longed for peace and that his hands were tied.
+
+On all sides proofs were to be seen that Napoleon would never give up
+Belgium and the Rhine frontier. When the allies (at the suggestion of
+Schwarzenberg, and _with the approval of the Czar_) sued for an
+armistice, he forbade his envoys to enter into any parleys until the
+allies agreed to accept the "natural frontiers" as the basis for a
+peace, and retired in the meantime on Alsace, Lorraine, and
+Holland.[419] These last conditions he agreed three days later to
+relax; but on the first point he was inexorable, and he knew that the
+military commissioners appointed to arrange the truce had no power to
+agree to the _political_ article which he made a _sine quâ non_.
+
+Accordingly, no armistice was concluded, and his unbending attitude
+made a bad impression on the Emperor Francis, who, on the 27th,
+replied to his son-in-law in terms which showed that his blows were
+welding the Coalition more firmly together.[420]
+
+In fact, while the plenipotentiaries at Châtillon were exchanging
+empty demands, a most important compact was taking form at Chaumont:
+it was dated from the 1st of March, but definitively signed on the
+9th. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia thereby bound
+themselves not to treat singly with France for peace, but to continue
+the war until France was brought back to her old frontiers, and the
+complete independence of Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Spain was
+secured. Each of the four Powers must maintain 150,000 men in the
+field (exclusive of garrisons); and Britain agreed to aid her allies
+with equal yearly subsidies amounting in all to £5,000,000 for the
+year 1814.[421] The treaty would be only defensive if Napoleon
+accepted the allied terms formulated at Châtillon: otherwise it would
+be offensive and hold good, if need be, for twenty years.
+
+Undoubtedly this compact was largely the work of Castlereagh, whose
+tact and calmness had done wonders in healing schisms; but so intimate
+a union could never have been formed among previously discordant
+allies but for their overmastering fear of Napoleon. Such a treaty was
+without parallel in European history; and the stringency of its
+clauses serves as the measure of the prowess and perversity of the
+French Emperor. It is puerile to say, as Mollien does, that England
+bribed the allies to this last effort. Experiences of the last months
+had shown them that peace could not be durable as long as Napoleon
+remained in a position to threaten Germany. Even now they were ready
+to conclude it with Napoleon on the basis of the old frontiers of
+France, provided that he assented before the 11th of March; but the
+most pacific of their leaders saw that the more they showed their
+desire for peace, the more they strengthened Napoleon's resolve to
+have it only on terms which they saw to be fraught with future
+danger.[422]
+
+While the conferences at Châtillon followed one another in fruitless
+succession, Blücher, with 48,000 effectives, was once more resuming
+the offensive. Napoleon heard the news at Troyes (February 25th). He
+was surprised at the veteran's temerity: he had pictured him crushed
+and helpless beyond Chalons, and had cherished the hope of destroying
+Schwarzenberg.--"If," he wrote to Clarke on the morrow, "I had had a
+pontoon bridge, the war would be over, and Schwarzenberg's army would
+no longer exist.... For want of boats, I could not pass the Seine at
+the necessary points. It was not 50 boats that I needed, only
+20."--With this characteristic outburst against his War Minister,
+whose neglect to send up twenty boats from Paris had changed the
+world's history, the Emperor turned aside to overwhelm Blücher. The
+Prussian commander was near the junction of the Seine and the Aube;
+and seemed to offer his flank as unguardedly as three weeks before.
+
+Napoleon sent Ney, Victor, and Arrighi northwards to fall on his rear,
+and on the 27th repaired to Arcis-sur-Aube to direct the operations.
+What, then, was his annoyance when, in pursuance of the allied plan
+formed on the 23rd, Blücher skilfully retired northwards, withdrew
+beyond the Marne and broke the bridges behind him. Then after failing
+to drive Marmont and Mortier from Meaux and the line of the Ourcq, the
+Prussian leader marched towards Soissons, near which town he expected
+to meet the northern army of the allies. For some hours he was in
+grave danger: Marmont hung on his rear, and Napoleon with 35,000 hardy
+troops was preparing to turn his right flank. In fact, had he not
+broken the bridge over the Marne at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, and thereby
+delayed the Emperor thirty-six hours, he would probably have been
+crushed before he could cross the River Aisne. His men were dead beat
+by marching night and day over roads first covered by snow and now
+deep in slush: for a week they had had no regular rations, and great
+was their joy when, at the close of the 2nd, they drew near to the
+42,000 troops that Bülow and Winzingerode mustered near the banks of
+the Aisne and Vesle.
+
+On that day Napoleon, when delayed at La Ferté, conceived the daring
+idea of rushing on the morrow after Blücher, who was "very embarrassed
+in the mire," and then of carrying the war into Lorraine, rescuing the
+garrisons of Verdun, Toul, and Metz, and rousing the peasantry of the
+east of France against the invaders. It mattered not that
+Schwarzenberg had dealt Oudinot and Gérard a severe check at
+Bar-sur-Aube, as soon as Napoleon's back was turned. That cautious
+leader would be certain, he thought, to beat a retreat towards the
+Rhine as soon as his rear was threatened; and Napoleon pictured France
+rising as in 1793, shaking off her invaders and dictating a glorious
+peace.
+
+Far different was the actual situation. Blücher was not to be caught;
+a sharp frost on the 3rd improved the roads; and his complete junction
+with the northern army was facilitated by the surrender of Soissons on
+that same afternoon. This fourth-rate fortress was ill-prepared to
+withstand an attack; and, after a short bombardment by Winzingerode,
+two allied officers made their way to the Governor, praised his
+bravery, pointed out the uselessness of further resistance, and
+offered to allow the garrison to march out with the honours of war and
+rejoin the Emperor, where they could fight to more advantage. The
+Governor, who bore the ill-starred name of Moreau, finally gave way,
+and his troops, nearly all Poles, marched out at 4 p.m., furious at
+his "treason"; for the distant thunder of Marmont's cannon was already
+heard on the side of Oulchy. Rumour said that they were the Emperor's
+cannon, but rumour lied. At dawn Napoleon's troops had begun to cross
+the temporary bridge over the Marne, thirty-five miles away; but by
+great exertions his outposts on that evening reached Rocourt, only
+some twenty miles south of Soissons.[423]
+
+The fact deserves notice: for it disposes of the strange statement of
+Thiers that the surrender of Soissons was, next to Waterloo, the most
+fatal event in the annals of France. The gifted historian, as also, to
+some extent, M. Houssaye, assumed that, had Soissons held out, Blücher
+and Bülow could not have united their forces. But Bülow had not relied
+solely on the bridge at Soissons for the union of the armies; on the
+2nd he had thrown a bridge over the Aisne at Vailly, some distance
+above that city, and another on the third near to its eastern
+suburb.[424] It is clear, then, that the two armies, numbering in all
+over 100,000 men, could have joined long before Napoleon, Marmont, and
+Mortier were in a position to attack. Before the Emperor heard of the
+surrender, he had marched to Fismes, and had detached Corbineau to
+occupy Rheims, evidently with the aim of cutting Blücher's
+communications with Schwarzenberg, and opening up the way to Verdun
+and Metz.
+
+For that plan was now his dominant aim, while the repulse of Blücher
+was chiefly of importance because it would enable him to stretch a
+hand eastwards to his beleaguered garrisons.[425] But Blücher was not
+to be thus disposed of. While withdrawing from Soissons to the natural
+fortress of Laon, he heard that Napoleon had crossed the Aisne at
+Berry-au-Bac, and was making for Craonne. Above that town there rises
+a long narrow ridge or plateau, which Blücher ordered his Russian
+corps to occupy. There was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the
+war (March 7th). The aim of the allies was to await the French attack
+on the plateau, while 10,000 horsemen and sixty guns worked round and
+fell on their rear.
+
+The plan failed, owing to a mistake in the line of march of this
+flanking force: and the battle resolved itself into a soldiers' fight.
+Five times did Ney lead his braves up those slopes, only to be hurled
+back by the dogged Muscovites. But the Emperor now arrived; a sixth
+attack by the cavalry and artillery of the Guard battered in the
+defence; and Blücher, hearing that the flank move had failed, ordered
+a retreat on Laon. This confused and desperate fight cost both sides
+about 7,000 men, nearly a fourth of the numbers engaged. Victor,
+Grouchy, and six French generals were among the wounded.[426]
+
+Nevertheless, Napoleon struggled on: he called up Marmont and Mortier,
+gave out that he was about to receive other large reinforcements, and
+bade his garrisons in Belgium and Lorraine fall on the rear of the
+foe. One more victory, he thought, would end the war, or at least
+lower the demands of the allies. It was not to be. Blücher and Bülow
+held the strong natural citadel of Laon; and all Napoleon's efforts on
+March the 9th and 10th failed to storm the southern approaches.
+Marmont fared no better on the east; and when, at nightfall, the weary
+French fell back, the Prussians resolved to try a night attack on
+Marmont's corps, which was far away from the main body. Never was a
+surprise more successful; Marmont was quite off his guard; horse and
+foot fled in wild confusion, leaving 2,500 prisoners and forty-five
+cannon in the hands of the victorious Yorck. Could the allies have
+pressed home their advantage, the result must have been decisive; but
+Blücher had fallen ill, and a halt was called.[427]
+
+Alone, among the leaders in this campaign, the Emperor remained
+unbroken. All the allied leaders had at one time or another bent under
+his blows; and the French Marshals seemed doomed, as in 1813, to fail
+wherever their Emperor was not. Ney, Victor, and Mortier had again
+evinced few of the qualities of a commander, except bravery. Augereau
+was betraying softness and irresolution in the Lyonnais in front of a
+smaller Austrian force. Suchet and Davoust were shut up in Catalonia
+and Hamburg. St. Cyr and Vandamme were prisoners. Soult had kept a
+bold front near Bayonne: but now news was to hand that Wellington had
+surprised and routed him at Orthez. On the Seine, Macdonald and
+Oudinot failed to hold Troyes against the masses of Schwarzenberg. Of
+all the French Marshals, Marmont had distinguished himself the most in
+this campaign, and now at Laon he had been caught napping. Yet, while
+all others failed, Napoleon seemed invincible. Even after Marmont's
+disaster, the allies forbore to attack the chief; and, just as a lion
+that has been beaten off by a herd of buffaloes stalks away, mangled
+but full of fight and unmolested, so the Emperor drew off in peace
+towards Soissons. Thence he marched on Rheims, gained a victory over a
+Russian division there, and hoped to succour his Lorraine garrisons,
+when, on the 17th, the news of Schwarzenberg's advance towards Paris
+led him southwards once more.
+
+Yielding to the remonstrances of the Czar, the Austrian leader had
+purposed to march on the French capital, if everything went well; but
+he once more drew back on receiving news of Napoleon's advance against
+his right flank. While preparing to retire towards Brienne, he heard
+that his great antagonist had crossed that river at Plancy with less
+than 20,000 troops. To retrace his steps, fall upon this handful of
+weary men with 100,000, and drive them into the river, was not a
+daring conception: but so accustomed were the allies to dalliance and
+delay that a thrill of surprise ran through the host when he began to
+call up its retiring columns for a fight.[428]
+
+Napoleon also was surprised: he believed the Grand Army to be in full
+retreat, and purposed then to dash on Vitry and Verdun.[429] But the
+allies gave him plenty of time to draw up Macdonald's and Oudinot's
+corps, while they themselves were still so widely sundered as at first
+scarcely to stay his onset. The fighting behind Arcis was desperate:
+Napoleon exposed his person freely to snatch victory from the
+deepening masses in front. At one time a shell burst in front of him,
+and his staff shivered as they saw his figure disappear in the cloud
+of smoke and dust; but he arose unhurt, mounted another charger and
+pressed on the fight. It was in vain: he was compelled to draw back
+his men to the town (March 20th). On the morrow a bold attack by
+Schwarzenberg could have overwhelmed Napoleon's 30,000 men; but his
+bold front imposed on the Austrian leader, while the French were drawn
+across the river, only the rearguard suffering heavily from the
+belated attack of the allies. With the loss of 4,000 men, Napoleon
+fell back northwards into the wasted plains of Sézanne. Hope now
+vanished from every breast but his. And surely if human weakness had
+ever found a place in that fiery soul, it might now have tempted him
+to sue for peace. He had flung himself first north, then south, in
+order to keep for France the natural frontiers that he might have had
+as a present last November; he had failed; and now he might with
+honour accept the terms of the victors. But once more he was too late.
+
+The negotiations at Châtillon had ended on March 19th, that is, nine
+days later than had been originally fixed by the allies. The extension
+of time was due mainly to their regard and pity for Caulaincourt; and,
+indeed, he was in the most pitiable position, a plenipotentiary
+without full powers, a Minister kept partly in the dark by his
+sovereign, and a patriot unable to rescue his beloved France from the
+abyss towards which Napoleon's infatuation was hurrying her. He knew
+the resolve of the allies far better than his master's intentions. It
+was from Lord Aberdeen that he heard of the failure of the parleys for
+an armistice: from him also he learnt that Napoleon had written a
+"passionate" letter to Kaiser Francis, and he expressed satisfaction
+that the reply was firm and decided.[430] His private intercourse at
+Châtillon with the British plenipotentiaries was frank and friendly,
+as also with Stadion. He received frequent letters from Metternich,
+advising him quickly to come to terms with the allies;[431] and the
+Austrian Minister sent Prince Esterhazy to warn him that the allies
+would never recede from their demand of the old frontiers for France,
+not even if the fortune of war drove them across the Rhine for a time.
+"Is there, then, no means to enlighten Napoleon as to his true
+situation, or to save him if he persists in destroying himself? Has he
+irrevocably staked his own and his son's fate on the last
+cannon?"--Let Napoleon, then, accept the allied proposal by sending a
+counter-project, differing only very slightly from theirs, and peace
+would be made.[432] Caulaincourt needed no spur. "He works tooth and
+nail for a peace," wrote Stewart, "as far as depends on him. He dreads
+Bonaparte's successes even more than ours, lest they should make him
+more impracticable."[433]
+
+But, unfortunately, his latest and most urgent appeal to the Emperor
+reached the latter just after the Pyrrhic victory at Craonne, which
+left him more stubborn than ever. Far from meeting the allies halfway,
+he let fall words that bespoke only injured pride: "If one must
+receive lashes," he said within hearing of the courier, "it is not for
+me to offer my back to them." On the morrow he charged Maret to reply
+to his distressed plenipotentiary that he (Napoleon) knew best what
+the situation demanded; the demand of the allies that France should
+retire within her old frontiers was only their _first word:_
+Caulaincourt must get to know their ultimatum: if this was their
+ultimatum, he must reject it. He (Napoleon) would possibly give up
+Dutch Brabant and the fortresses of Wesel, Castel (opposite Mainz),
+and Kehl, but would make no substantial changes on the Frankfurt
+terms. Still, Caulaincourt struggled on. When the session of March
+10th was closing, he produced a declaration offering to give up all
+Napoleon's claims to control lands beyond the natural limits.
+
+The others divined that it was his own handiwork, drawn up in order to
+spin out the negotiations and leave his master a few days of
+grace.[434] They respected his intentions, and nine days of grace were
+gained; but the only answer that Napoleon vouchsafed to Caulaincourt's
+appeals was the missive of March 17th from Rheims: "I have received
+your letters of the 13th. I charge the Duke of Bassano to answer them
+in detail. I give you directly the power to make the concessions which
+would be indispensable to keep up the activity of the negotiations,
+and to get to know at last the ultimatum of the allies, it being well
+understood that the treaty would have for result the evacuation of our
+territory and the release of all prisoners on both sides." The
+instructions which he charged the Duke of Bassano to send to
+Caulaincourt were such as a victor might have dictated. The allies
+must evacuate his territory and give up all the fortresses as soon as
+the preliminaries of peace were signed: if the negotiations were to
+break off they had better break off on this question. He himself would
+cease to control lands beyond the natural frontiers, and would
+recognize the independence of Holland: as regards Belgium, he would
+refuse to cede it to a prince of the House of Orange, but he hinted
+that it might well go to a French prince as an indemnity--evidently
+Joseph Bonaparte was meant. If this concession were made, he expected
+that all the French colonies, including the Ile de France, would be
+restored. Nothing definite was said about the Rhine frontier.
+
+The courier who carried these proposals from Rheims to Châtillon was
+twice detained by the Russians, and had not reached the town when the
+Congress came to an end (March 19th). Their only importance,
+therefore, is to show that, despite all the warnings in which the
+Prague negotiations were so fruitful, Napoleon clung to the same
+threatening and dilatory tactics which had then driven Austria into
+the arms of his foes. He still persisted in looking on the time limit
+of the allies as meaningless, on their ultimatum as their _first
+word_, from which they would soon shuffle away under the pressure of
+his prowess--and this, too, when Caulaincourt was daily warning him
+that the hours were numbered, that nothing would change the resolve of
+his foes, and that their defeats only increased their exasperation
+against him.
+
+If anything could have increased this exasperation, it was the
+discovery that he was playing with them all the time. On the 20th the
+allied scouts brought to head-quarters a despatch written by Maret the
+day before to Caulaincourt which contained this damning sentence: "The
+Emperor's desires remain entirely vague on everything relating to the
+delivering up of the strongholds, Antwerp, Mayence, and Alessandria,
+if you should be obliged to consent to these cessions, as he has the
+intention, even after the ratification of the treaty, to take counsel
+from the military situation of affairs. Wait for the last
+moment."[435] Peace, then, was to be patched up for Napoleon's
+convenience and broken by him at the first seasonable opportunity. Is
+it surprising that on that same day the Ministers of the Powers
+decided to have no more negotiations with Napoleon, and that
+Metternich listened not unfavourably to the emissary of the Bourbons,
+the Count de Vitrolles, whom he had previously kept at arm's length?
+
+In truth, Napoleon was now about to stake everything on a plan from
+which other leaders would have recoiled, but which, in his eyes,
+promised a signal triumph. This was to rally the French garrisons in
+Lorraine and throw himself on Schwarzenberg's rear. It was, indeed,
+his only remaining chance. With his band of barely 40,000 men, kept up
+to that number by the arrival of levies that impaired its solidity, he
+could scarcely hope to beat back the dense masses now marshalled
+behind the Aube, the Seine, and the Marne.
+
+A glance at the map will show that behind those rivers the allies
+could creep up within striking distance of Paris, while from his
+position north of the Aube he could attack them only by crossing one
+or other of those great streams, the bridges of which were in their
+hands. He still held the central position; but it was robbed of its
+value if he could not attack. Warfare for him was little else than the
+art of swift and decisive attack; or, as he tersely phrased it, "The
+art of war is to march twelve leagues, fight a battle, and march
+twelve more in pursuit." As this was now impossible against the fronts
+and flanks of the allies, it only remained to threaten the rear of the
+army which was most likely to be intimidated by such a manoeuvre. And
+this was clearly the army led by Schwarzenberg. From Blücher and Bülow
+naught but defiance to the death was to be expected, and their rear
+was supported by the Dutch strongholds.
+
+But the Austrians had shown themselves as soft in their strategy as in
+their diplomacy. Everyone at the allied headquarters knew that
+Schwarzenberg was unequal to the load of responsibility thrust on him,
+that the incursion of a band of Alsatian peasants on his convoys made
+him nervous, and that he would not move on Paris as long as his
+"communications were exposed to a movement by Chalons and Vitry."[436]
+What an effect, then, would be produced on that timid commander by an
+"Imperial Vendée" in Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comté!
+
+And such a rising might then have become fierce and widespread. The
+east and centre were the strongholds of French democracy, as they had
+been the hotbed of feudal and monarchical abuses; and at this very
+time the Bourbon princes declared themselves at Nancy and Bordeaux.
+The tactless Comte d'Artois was at Nancy, striving to whip up royalist
+feeling in Lorraine, and his eldest son, the Duc d'Angoulême, entered
+Bordeaux with the British red-coats (March 12th).
+
+To explain how this last event was possible we must retrace our steps.
+After Soult was driven by Wellington from the mountains at the back of
+the town of Orthez, he drew back his shattered troops over the River
+Adour, and then turned sharply to the east in order to join hands with
+Suchet's corps. This move, excellent as it was in a military sense,
+left Bordeaux open to the British; and Wellington forthwith sent
+Beresford northwards with 12,000 troops to occupy that great city. He
+met with a warm greeting from the French royalists, as also did the
+Duc d'Angoulême, who arrived soon after. The young prince at once
+proclaimed Louis XVIII. King of France, and allowed the royalist mayor
+to declare that the allies were advancing to Paris merely in order to
+destroy Napoleon and replace him by the rightful monarch. Strongly as
+Wellington's sympathies ran with the aim of this declaration, he
+emphatically repudiated it. Etiquette compelled him to do so; for the
+allies were still negotiating with Napoleon; and his own tact warned
+him that the Bourbons must never come into France under the cloak of
+the allies.
+
+The allied sovereigns had as yet done nothing to favour their cause;
+and the wiser heads among the French royalists saw how desirable it
+was that the initiative should come from France. The bad effects of
+the Bordeaux manifesto were soon seen in the rallying of National
+Guards and peasants to the tricolour against the hated _fleur-de-lys;_
+and Beresford's men could do little more than hold their own.[437] If
+that was the case in the monarchical south, what might not Napoleon
+hope to effect in the east, now that the Bourbon "chimæra" threatened
+to become a fact?
+
+The news as to the state of Paris was less satisfactory. That fickle
+populace cheered royalist allusions at the theatres, hissed off an
+"official" play that represented Cossack marauders,[438] and caused
+such alarm to Savary that he wrote to warn his master of the inability
+of the police to control the public if the war rolled on towards
+Paris. Whether Savary's advice was honestly stupid, or whether, as
+Lavalette hints, Talleyrand's intrigues were undermining his loyalty
+to Napoleon, it is difficult to say. But certainly the advice gave
+Napoleon an additional reason for flinging himself on Schwarzenberg's
+rear and drawing him back into Lorraine. He had reason to hope that
+Augereau, reinforced by some of Suchet's troops, would march towards
+Dijon and threaten the Austrians on the south, while he himself
+pressed on them from the north-east. In that case, would not Austria
+make peace, and leave Alexander and Blücher at his mercy? And might he
+not hope to cut off the Comte d'Artois, and possibly also catch
+Bernadotte, who had been angling unsuccessfully for popular support in
+the north-east?
+
+But, while basing all his hopes on the devotion of the French
+peasantry and the pacific leanings of Austria, the French Emperor left
+out of count the eager hatred of the Czar and the Prussians. "Blücher
+would be mad if he attempted any serious movement," so Napoleon wrote
+to Berthier on the 20th, apparently on the strength of his former
+suggestion that Joseph should persuade Bernadotte to desert the allies
+and attack Blücher's rear.[439] At least, it is difficult to find any
+other reason for Napoleon's strange belief that Blücher would sit
+still while his allies were being beaten; unless, indeed, we accept
+Marmont's explanation that Napoleon's brain now rejected all
+unpleasing news and registered wishes as facts.
+
+Fortune seemed to smile on his enterprise. Though he failed to take
+Vitry from the allied garrison, yet near St. Dizier he fell on a
+Prussian convoy, captured 800 men and 400 wagons filled with stores.
+Everywhere he ordered the tocsin to proclaim a _levée en masse_, and
+sent messengers to warn his Lorraine garrisons to cut their way to his
+side. His light troops spread up the valley of the Marne towards
+Chaumont, capturing stores and couriers; and he seized this
+opportunity, when he pictured the Austrians as thoroughly demoralized,
+to send Caulaincourt from Doulevant with offers to renew the
+negotiations for peace (March 25th).[440] But while Napoleon awaits
+the result of these proposals, his rear is attacked: he retraces his
+steps, falls on the assailants, and finds that they belong to Blücher.
+But how can Prussians be there in force? Is not Blücher resting on the
+banks of the Aisne? And where is Schwarzenberg? The Emperor pushes a
+force on to Vitry to solve this riddle, and there the horrible truth
+unfolds itself little by little that he stands on the brink of ruin.
+
+It is a story instinct with an irony like that of the infatuation of
+King Oedipus in the drama of Sophocles. Every step that the warrior
+has taken to snatch at victory increases the completeness of the
+disaster. The Emperor Francis, scared by the approach of the French
+horsemen, and not wishing to fall into the hands of his son-in-law,
+has withdrawn with Metternich to Dijon.
+
+Napoleon's letter to him is lost.[441] Metternich, well guarded by
+Castlereagh, is powerless to meet Caulaincourt's offer, and their
+flight leaves Schwarzenberg under the influence of the Czar.[442]
+Moreover, Blücher has not been idle. While Napoleon is hurrying
+eastwards to Vitry, the Prussian leader drives back Marmont's weak
+corps, his vanguard crosses the Marne near Epernay on the 23rd, his
+Cossacks capture a courier bearing a letter written on that day by
+Napoleon to Marie Louise. It ends thus: "I have decided to march
+towards the Marne, in order to push the enemy's army further from
+Paris, and to draw near to my fortresses. I shall be this evening at
+St. Dizier. Adieu, my friend! Embrace my son." Warned by this letter
+of Napoleon's plan, Blücher pushes on; his outposts on the morrow join
+hands with those of Schwarzenberg, and send a thrill of vigour into
+the larger force.
+
+That leader, held at bay by Macdonald's rearguard, was groping after
+Napoleon, when the capture of a French despatch, and the news
+forwarded by Blücher, informed him of the French Emperor's eastward
+march. A council of war was therefore held at Pougy on the afternoon
+of the 23rd, when the Czar and the bolder spirits led Schwarzenberg to
+give up his communications with Switzerland, and stake everything on
+joining Blücher, and following Napoleon's 40,000 with an array of
+180,000 men. But the capture of another French despatch a few hours
+later altered the course of events once more. This time it was a
+budget of official news from Paris to Napoleon, describing the
+exhaustion of the finances, the discontent of the populace, and the
+sensation caused by Wellington's successes and the capture of
+Bordeaux. These glad tidings inspired Alexander with a far more
+incisive plan--to march on Paris. This suggestion had been pressed on
+him on the 17th by Baron de Vitrolles, a French royalist agent, at the
+close of a long interview; and now its advantages were obvious.
+Accordingly, at Sommepuis, on the 24th, he convoked his generals,
+Barclay, Volkonski, Toll, and Diebitsch, to seek their advice. Barclay
+was for following Napoleon, but the two last voted for the advance to
+Paris, Toll maintaining that only 10,000 horsemen need be left behind
+to screen their movements. The Czar signified his warm approval of
+this plan; a little later the King of Prussia gave his assent, and
+Schwarzenberg rather doubtfully deferred to their wishes. Thus the
+result of Napoleon's incursion on the rear of the allies signally
+belied his expectations. Instead of compelling the enemy to beat a
+retreat on the Rhine, it left the road open to his capital.[443]
+
+At dawn on the 25th, then, the allied Grand Army turned to the
+right-about, while Blücher's men marched joyfully on the parallel road
+from Chalons. Near La Fère-Champenoise, on that day, a cloud of
+Russian and Austrian horse harassed Marmont's and Mortier's corps, and
+took 2,500 prisoners and fifty cannon. Further to the north, Blücher's
+Cossacks swooped on a division of 4,500 men, mostly National Guards,
+that guarded a large convoy. Stoutly the French formed in squares, and
+beat them off again and again. Thereupon Colonel Hudson Lowe rode away
+southwards, to beg reinforcements from Wrede's Bavarians.
+
+They, too, failed to break that indomitable infantry. The 180 wagons
+had to be left behind; but the recruits plodded on, and seemed likely
+to break through to Marmont, when the Czar came on the scene. At once
+he ordered up artillery, riddled their ranks with grapeshot, and when
+their commander, Pacthod, still refused to surrender, threatened to
+overwhelm their battered squares by the cavalry of his Guard. Pacthod
+thereupon ordered his square to surrender. Another band also grounded
+arms; but the men in the last square fought on, reckless of life, and
+were beaten down by a whirlwind of sabring, stabbing horsemen, whose
+fury the generous Czar vainly strove to curb. "I blushed for my very
+nature as a man," wrote Colonel Lowe, "at witnessing this scene of
+carnage." The day was glorious for France, but it cost her, in all,
+more than 5,000 killed and wounded, 4,000 prisoners, and 80 cannon,
+besides the provisions and stores designed for Napoleon's army.[444]
+Nothing but the wreck of Marmont's and Mortier's corps, about 12,000
+men in all, now barred the road to Paris. Meeting with no serious
+resistance, the allies crossed the Marne at Meaux, and on the 29th
+reached Bondy, within striking distance of the French capital.
+
+In that city the people were a prey, first to sheer incredulity, then
+to the wildest dismay. To them history was but a melodrama and war a
+romance. Never since the time of Jeanne d'Arc had a foreign enemy come
+within sight of their spires. For ramparts they had octroi walls, and
+in place of the death-dealing defiance of 1792 they now showed only
+the spasmodic vehemence or ironical resignation of an over-cultivated
+stock. As M. Charles de Rémusat finely remarks on their varying moods,
+"The despotism which makes a constant show of prosperity gives men
+little fortitude to meet adversity." Doubtless the royalists, with
+Talleyrand as their factotum, worked to paralyze the defence; but they
+formed a small minority, and the masses would have fought for Napoleon
+had he been present to direct everything. But he was far away, rushing
+back through Champagne to retrieve his blunder, and in his place they
+had Joseph. The ex-King of Spain was not the man for the hour. He was
+no hero to breathe defiance into a bewildered crowd, nor was he well
+seconded. Clarke, and Moncey, the commander of the 12,000 National
+Guards, had not armed one-half of that doubtful militia. Marmont and
+Mortier were at hand, and, with the garrison and National Guards,
+mustered some 42,000 men.
+
+But what were these against the trained host of more than 100,000 men
+now marching against the feeble barriers on the north and east?
+Moreover, Joseph and the Council of Regency had dispirited the
+defenders by causing the Empress Regent and the infant King of Rome to
+leave the capital along with the treasure. In Joseph's defence it
+should be said that Napoleon had twice warned him to transfer the seat
+of Government to the south of the Loire if the allies neared Paris,
+and in no case to allow the Empress and the King of Rome to be
+captured. "Do not leave the side of my son: I had rather know that he
+was in the Seine than in the hands of the enemies of France." The
+Emperor's views as to the effect of the capture of Paris were also
+well known. In January he remarked to Mollien, the Minister of the
+Treasure, "My dear fellow, if the enemy reaches the gates of Paris,
+the Empire is no more."[445]
+
+Oppressed by these gloomy omens, the defenders awaited the onset of
+the allies at Montreuil, Romainville Pantin, and on the northern plain
+(March 30th). At some points French valour held up successfully
+against the dense masses; but in the afternoon Marmont, seeing his
+thin lines overlapped, and in imminent danger of being cut off at
+Belleville, sent out a request for a truce, as Joseph had empowered
+him to do if affairs proved to be irretrievable. At all points
+resistance was hopeless; Mortier was hard pressed on the north-east;
+at the Clichy gate Moncey and his National Guards fought only for
+honour; and so, after a whole day of sanguinary conflicts, the great
+city surrendered on honourable terms.
+
+And thus ended the great impulse which had gone forth from Paris since
+1789, which had flooded the plains of Germany, the plateaux of Spain,
+the cities of Italy, and the steppes of Russia, levelling the barriers
+of castes and creeds, and binding men in a new and solid unity. The
+reaction against that great centrifugal and international movement had
+now become centripetal and profoundly national. Thanks to Napoleon's
+statecraft, the peoples of Europe from the Volga to the Tagus were now
+embattled in a mighty phalanx, and were about to enter in triumph the
+city that only twenty-five years before had heralded the dawn of their
+nascent liberties.
+
+And what of Napoleon, in part the product and in part the cause, of
+this strange reaction? By a strange Nemesis, his military genius and
+his overweening contempt of Schwarzenberg drew him aside at the very
+time when the allies could strike with deadly effect at the heart of
+his centralized despotism. On the 29th he hears of disaffection at
+Paris, of the disaster at La Fère Champenoise, and of the loss of
+Lyons by Augereau. He at once sees the enormity of his blunder. His
+weary Guards and he seek to annihilate space. They press on by the
+unguarded road by way of Troyes and Fontainebleau, thereby cutting off
+all chance of the Emperor Francis and Metternich sending messages from
+Dijon to Paris. By incredible exertions the men cover seventeen
+leagues on the 29th and reach Troyes.
+
+Napoleon, accompanied by Caulaincourt, Drouot, Flahaut, and Lefebvre,
+rushes on, wearing out horses at every stage: at Fontainebleau on the
+30th he hears that his consort has left Paris; at Essonne, that the
+battle is raging. Late at night, near Athis, he meets a troop of horse
+under General Belliard: eagerly he questions this brave officer, and
+learns that Joseph has left Paris, and that the battle is over.
+"Forward then to Paris: everywhere where I am not they act
+stupidly."--"But, sire," says the general, "it is too late: Paris has
+capitulated."
+
+The indomitable will is not yet broken. He must go on; he will sound
+the tocsin, rouse the populace, tear up the capitulation, and beat the
+insolent enemy. The sight of Mortier's troops, a little further on, at
+last burns the truth into his brain: he sends on Caulaincourt with
+full powers to treat for peace, and then sits up for the rest of the
+night, poring over his maps and measuring the devotion of his Guard
+against the inexorable bounds of time and space. He is within ten
+miles of Paris, and sees the glare of the enemy's watch-fires all over
+the northern sky.
+
+On the morrow he hears that the allied sovereigns are about to enter
+Paris, and Marmont warns him by letter that public opinion has much
+changed since the withdrawal, first of the Empress, and then of
+Joseph, Louis, and Jerome. This was true. The people were disgusted by
+their flight; Blücher now had eighty cannon planted on the heights of
+Montmartre; and men knew that he would not spare Paris if she hazarded
+a further effort. And thus, when, on that same morning, the Czar, with
+the King of Prussia on his right, and Schwarzenberg on his left, rode
+into Paris at the head of the Russian and Prussian Guards, they met
+with nothing worse than sullen looks on the part of the masses, while
+knots of enthusiastic royalists shouted wildly for the Bourbons, and
+women flung themselves to kiss the boots of the liberating Emperor.
+The Bourbon party, however, was certainly in the minority; but at
+places along the route their demonstrations were effective enough to
+influence an impressionable populace, and to delight the
+conquerors.--"The white cockade appeared very universally:"--wrote
+Stewart with suspicious emphasis--"many of the National Guards, whom I
+saw, wore them."[446]
+
+Fearing that the Elysée Palace had been mined, the Czar installed
+himself at Talleyrand's mansion, opposite the Place de la Concorde;
+and forthwith there took place a most important private Council. The
+two monarchs were present, along with Nesselrode and Napoleon's
+Corsican enemy, Pozzo di Borgo. Princes Schwarzenberg and Lichtenstein
+represented Austria; while Talleyrand and Dalberg were there to plead
+for the House of Bourbon: De Pradt and Baron Louis were afterwards
+summoned. The Czar opened the deliberations by declaring that there
+were three courses open, to make peace with Napoleon, to accept Marie
+Louise as Regent for her son, or to recall the Bourbons.[447] The
+first he declared to be impossible; the second was beset by the
+gravest difficulties; and, while stating the objections to the
+Bourbons, he let it be seen that he now favoured this solution,
+provided that it really was the will of France. He then called on
+Talleyrand to speak; and that pleader set forth the case of the
+Bourbons with his usual skill. The French army, he said, was more
+devoted to its own glory than to Napoleon. France longed for peace,
+and she could only find it with due sureties under her old dynasty. If
+the populace had not as yet declared for the Bourbons, who could
+wonder at that, when the allies persisted in negotiating with
+Napoleon? But let them declare that they will no more treat with him,
+and France would at once show her real desires. For himself, he would
+answer for the Senate. The Czar was satisfied; Frederick William
+assented; the Austrian princes said not a word on behalf of the claims
+of Marie Louise; and the cause of the House of Bourbon easily
+triumphed.[448]
+
+On the morrow appeared in the "Journal des Débats" a decisive
+proclamation, signed by Alexander _on behalf of all the allied
+Powers;_ but we must be permitted to doubt whether the Emperor
+Francis, if present, would have allowed it to appear, especially if
+his daughter were present in Paris as Regent. The proclamation set
+forth that the allies would never again treat with "Napoleon
+Bonaparte" or any member of his family; that they would respect the
+integrity of France as it existed under its lawful kings, and would
+recognize and guarantee the constitution which the French nation
+should adopt.
+
+Accordingly, they invited the Senate at once to appoint a Provisional
+Government. Talleyrand, as Grand Elector of the Empire, had the power
+to summon that guardian of the commonwealth, whose vote would clearly
+be far more expeditious than the _plébiscite_ on which Alexander had
+previously set his heart. Of the 140 Senators only 64 assembled, but
+over them Talleyrand's influence was supreme. He spake, and they
+silently registered his suggestions. Thus it was that the august body,
+taught by ten years of despotism to bend gracefully before every
+breeze, fulfilled its last function in the Napoleonic _régime_ by
+overthrowing the very constitution which it had been expressly charged
+to uphold. The date was the 1st of April. Talleyrand, Dalberg,
+Beurnonville, Jaucourt, and l'Abbé de Montesquiou at once formed a
+Provisional Government; but the soul of it was Talleyrand. The Czar
+gave the word, and Talleyrand acted as scene-shifter. The last tableau
+of this constitutional farce was reached on the following day, when
+the Senate and the Corps Législatif declared that Napoleon had ceased
+to reign.
+
+Such was the ex-bishop's revenge for insults borne for many a year
+with courtly tact, but none the less bitterly felt. Napoleon and he
+had come to regard each other with instinctive antipathy; but while
+the diplomatist hid his hatred under the cloak of irony, the soldier
+blurted forth his suspicions. Before leaving Paris, the Emperor had
+wound up his last Council-meeting by a diatribe against enemies left
+in the citadel; and his words became all the hotter when he saw that
+Talleyrand, who was then quietly conversing with Joseph in a corner,
+took no notice of the outburst. From Champagne he sent off an order to
+Savary to arrest the ex-Minister, but that functionary took upon
+himself to disregard the order. Probably there was some understanding
+between them. And thus, after steering past many a rock, the patient
+schemer at last helped Europe to shipwreck that mighty adventurer when
+but a league or two from port.
+
+But all was not over yet. Napoleon had fallen back on Fontainebleau,
+in front of which town he was assembling a force of nearly 60,000 men.
+Marie Louise, with the Ministers, was at Blois, and desired to make
+her way to the side of her consort. Had she done so, and had her
+father been present at Paris, a very interesting and delicate
+situation would have been the result; and we may fancy that it would
+have needed all Metternich's finesse and Castlereagh's common sense to
+keep the three monarchs united. But Francis was still at Dijon; and
+Metternich and Castlereagh did not reach Paris until April 10th; so
+that everything in these important days was decided by the Czar and
+Talleyrand, both of them irreconcilable foes of Napoleon. It was in
+vain that Caulaincourt (April 1st) begged the Czar to grant peace to
+Napoleon on the basis of the old frontiers. "Peace with him would only
+be a truce," was the reply.
+
+The victor did not repulse the idea of a Regency so absolutely, and
+the faithful Minister at once hurried to Fontainebleau to persuade his
+master to abdicate in favour of his son. Napoleon repulsed the offer
+with disdain: rather than _that_, he would once more try the hazards
+of war. He knew that the Old and the Young Guard, still nearly 9,000
+strong in all, burned to revenge the insult to French pride; and at
+the close of a review held on the 3rd in the great court of the
+palace, they shouted, "To Paris!" and swore to bury themselves under
+its ruins. It needed not the acclaim of his veterans to prompt him to
+the like resolve. When, on April 1st, he received a Verbal Note from
+Alexander, stating that the allies would no longer treat with him,
+except on his private and family concerns, he exclaimed to Marmont, at
+the line of the Essonne, that he must fight, for it was a necessity of
+his position. He also proposed to that Marshal to cross the Seine and
+attack the allies, forgetting that the Marne, with its bridges held by
+them, was in the way. Marmont, endowed with a keen and sardonic
+intelligence, had already seen that his master was more and more the
+victim of illusions, never crediting the existence of difficulties
+that he did not actually witness. And when, on the 3rd, or perhaps
+earlier, offers came from the royalists, the Marshal promised to help
+them in the way that will shortly appear.
+
+Napoleon's last overtures to the Czar came late on the following day.
+On that morning he had a long and heated discussion with Berthier,
+Ney, Oudinot, and Lefebvre. Caulaincourt and Maret were present as
+peacemakers. The Marshals upbraided Napoleon with the folly of
+marching on Paris. Angered by their words Napoleon at last said: "The
+army will obey me." "No," retorted Ney, "it will obey its commanders."
+
+Macdonald, who had just arrived with his weary corps, took up their
+case with his usual frankness. "Our horses," he said, "can go no
+further: we have not enough ammunition for one skirmish, and no means
+of procuring more. If we fail, as we probably shall, the whole of
+France will be destroyed. We can still impose on the enemy: let us
+retain our attitude.... We have had enough of war without kindling
+civil war." Finally the Emperor gave way, and drew up a declaration
+couched in these terms: "The allied Powers having proclaimed that the
+Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of
+peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oaths, declares
+that he is ready to descend from the throne, to leave France, and even
+give up his life, for the good of the fatherland, inseparable from the
+rights of his son, of those of the regency of the Empress and of the
+maintenance of the laws of the Empire."[449]
+
+A careful reading of this document will show that it was not an act of
+abdication, but merely a conditional offer to abdicate, which would
+satisfy those undiplomatic soldiers and gain time. Macdonald also
+relates that, after drawing it up, the Emperor threw himself on the
+sofa, struck his thigh, and said: "Nonsense, gentlemen! let us leave
+all that alone and march to-morrow, we shall beat them." But they held
+him to his promise; and Caulaincourt, Ney, and Macdonald straightway
+proceeding to Paris, beset the Czar with many entreaties and some
+threats to recognize the Regency.
+
+In their interview, late at night on the 4th, they seemed to make a
+great impression, especially when they reminded him of his promise not
+to force any government on France. Next, the Czar called in the
+members of the Provisional Government, and heard their arguments that
+a Regency must speedily give way before the impact of the one
+masterful will. Yet again Alexander listened to the eloquence of
+Caulaincourt, and finally to the pleadings of the now anxious
+provisionals. So the night wore on at Talleyrand's mansion, the Czar
+finally stating that, after hearing the Prussian monarch's advice, he
+would give his decision. And shortly before dawn came the news that
+Marmont's corps had marched over to the enemy. "You see," said
+Alexander to Pozzo di Borgo, "it is Providence that wills it: no more
+doubt or hesitation now."[450]
+
+On that same night, in fact, Marmont's corps of 12,000 men was brought
+from Essonne within the lines of the allies, by the Marshal's
+generals. Marmont himself was then in Paris, having been induced by
+Ney and Macdonald to come with them, so as to hinder the carrying out
+of his treasonable design; but his generals, who were in the secret,
+were alarmed by the frequency of Napoleon's couriers, and carried out
+the original plan. Thus, at dawn of the 5th, the rank and file found
+themselves amidst the columns and squadrons of the allies. It was now
+too late to escape; the men swore at their leaders with helpless fury;
+and 12,000 men were thus filched from Napoleon's array.[451]
+
+If this conduct be viewed from the personal standpoint, it must be
+judged a base betrayal of an old friend and benefactor; and it is
+usually regarded in that light alone. And yet Marmont might plead that
+his action was necessary to prevent Napoleon sacrificing his troops,
+and perhaps also his capital, to a morbid pride and desire for
+revenge. The Marshal owed something to France. The Chambers had
+pronounced his master's abdication, and Paris seemed to acquiesce in
+their decision: Bordeaux and Lyons had now definitely hoisted the
+white flag: Wellington had triumphed in the south; Schwarzenberg
+marshalled 140,000 men around the capital; and Marmont knew, perhaps,
+better than any of the Marshals, the obstinacy of that terrible will
+which had strewn the roads between Moscow, Paris, and Lisbon with a
+million of corpses. Was it not time that this should end? And would it
+end as long as Napoleon saw any chance of snatching a temporary
+success?
+
+However we may regard Marmont's conduct, there can be no doubt that it
+helped on Napoleon's fall. The Czar was too subtle a diplomatist to
+attach much importance to Napoleon's declaration cited above. He must
+have seen in it a device to gain time. But he himself also wished for
+a few more hours' respite before flinging away the scabbard; and we
+may regard his lengthy balancings between the pleas of Caulaincourt
+and Talleyrand as prompted partly by a wish to sip to the full the
+sweets of revenge for the occupation of Moscow, but mainly by the
+resolve to mark time until Marmont's corps had been brought over.
+
+Now that the head was struck off Napoleon's lance, the Czar repulsed
+all notion of a Regency, but declared that he was ready to grant
+generous terms to Napoleon if the latter abdicated outright. "Now,
+when he is in trouble," he said, "I will become once more his friend
+and will forget the past." In conferences with Napoleon's
+representatives, Alexander decided that Napoleon must keep the title
+of Emperor, and receive a suitable pension. The islands of Corfu,
+Corsica, and Elba were considered for his future abode: the last
+offered the fewest objections; and though Metternich later on
+protested against the choice of Elba, the Czar felt his honour pledged
+to this arrangement.[452]
+
+Napoleon himself now began to yield to the inevitable. On hearing the
+news of Marmont's defection, he sat for some time as if stupefied,
+then sadly remarked: "The ungrateful man: well! he will be more
+unhappy than I." But once more, on the 6th, the fighting instinct
+comes uppermost. He plans to retire with his faithful troops beyond
+the Loire, and rally the corps of Augereau, Suchet, and Soult. "Come,"
+he cries to his generals, "let us march to the Alps." Not one of them
+speaks in reply. "Ah," replies the Emperor to their unspoken thoughts;
+"you want repose: have it then. Alas! you know not how many
+disappointments and dangers await you on your beds of down." He then
+wrote his formal abdication:
+
+    "The allied Powers having declared that the Emperor was the sole
+    obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the Emperor,
+    faithful to his oaths, declares that he renounces, for himself and
+    his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no
+    sacrifice, not even that of life, which he is not ready to make
+    for the interest of France."
+
+The allies made haste to finish the affair; for even now they feared
+that the caged lion would burst his bars. Indeed, the trusty secretary
+Fain asserts that when on Easter Monday, the 11th, Caulaincourt
+brought back the allies' ratification of this deed, Napoleon's first
+demand was to retract the abdication. It would be unjust, however, to
+lay too much stress on this strange conduct; for at that time the
+Emperor's mind was partly unhinged by maddening tumults.
+
+His anguish increased when he heard the final terms of the allies.
+They allotted to him the isle of Elba; to his consort and heir, the
+duchies of Parma, Placentia and Guastalla, and two millions of francs
+as an annual subsidy, divided equally between himself and her. They
+were to keep the title of Emperor and Empress; but their son would
+bear the name of Duke of Parma, etc. The other Bonapartes received an
+annual subsidy of 2,500,000 francs, this and the former sum being paid
+by France. Four hundred soldiers might accompany him to Elba. A
+"suitable establishment" was to be provided for Eugène outside of
+France.[453] For some hours Napoleon refused to ratify this compact.
+All hope of resistance was vain, for Oudinot, Victor, Lefebvre, and,
+finally, Ney and Berthier, had gone over to the royalists: even the
+soldiery began to waver. But a noble pride held back the mighty
+conqueror from accepting Elba and signing a money compact. It is not
+without a struggle that a Cæsar sinks to the level of a Sancho Panza.
+
+He then talked to Caulaincourt with the insight that always illumined
+his judgments. Marie Louise ought to have Tuscany, he said: Parma
+would not befit her dignity. Besides, if she had to traverse other
+States to come to him, would she ever do so? He next talked of his
+Marshals. Masséna's were the greatest exploits: but Suchet had shown
+himself the wisest both in war and administration. Soult was able, but
+too ambitious. Berthier was honest, sensible, the model of a chief of
+the staff; and "yet he has now caused me much pain." Not a word
+escaped him about Davoust, still manfully struggling at Hamburg. Not
+one of his Ministers, he complained, had come from Blois to bid him
+farewell. He then spoke of his greatest enemy--England. "She has done
+me much harm, doubtless, but I have left in her flanks a poisoned
+dart. It is I who have made this debt, that will ever burden, if not
+crush, future generations." Finally, he came back to the hateful
+compact which Caulaincourt pressed him in vain to sign. How could he
+take money from the allies. How could he leave France so small, after
+receiving her so great!
+
+That same night he sought to end his life. On February the 8th he had
+warned his brother Joseph that he would do so if Paris were captured.
+During the retreat from Moscow he had carried about a phial which was
+said to contain opium, and he now sought to end his miseries. But
+Caulaincourt, his valet Constant, and the surgeon Ivan were soon at
+hand with such slight cures as were possible. After violent sickness
+the Emperor sank into deep prostration; but, when refreshed by tea,
+and by the cool air of dawning day, he gradually revived. "Fate has
+decided," he exclaimed: "I must live and await all that Providence has
+in store for me."[454] He then signed the treaty with the allies,
+presented Macdonald with the sword of Murad Bey, and calmly began to
+prepare for his departure.
+
+Marie Louise did not come to see him. Her decision to do so was
+overruled by her father, in obedience to whose behests she repaired
+from Blois to Rambouillet.
+
+There, guarded by Cossacks, she saw Francis, Alexander, and Frederick
+William in turn. What passed between them is not known: but the result
+was that, on April 23rd, she set out for Vienna, whence she finally
+repaired to Parma; she manifested no great desire to see her consort
+at Elba, but soon consoled herself with the Count de Neipperg.
+
+No doubts as to her future conduct, no qualms of conscience as to the
+destiny of France now ruffled Napoleon's mind. Like a sky cleared by a
+thunderstorm, once more it shone forth with clear radiance. Those who
+saw him now were astonished at his calmness, except in some moments
+when he declaimed at his wife and child being kept from him by
+Austrian schemes. Then he stormed and wept and declared that he would
+seek refuge in England, which General Köller, the Austrian
+commissioner appointed to escort him to Elba, strongly advised him to
+do. But for the most part he showed remarkable composure. When Bausset
+sought to soothe him by remarking that France would still form one of
+the finest of realms, he replied: "_with remarkable serenity_--'I
+abdicate and I yield nothing.'"[455] The words hide a world of
+meaning: they inclose the secret of the Hundred Days.
+
+On the 20th, he bade farewell to his Guard: in thrilling words he told
+them that his mission thenceforth would be to describe to posterity
+the wonders they had achieved: he then embraced General Petit, kissed
+the war-stained banner, and, wafted on his way by the sobs of these
+unconquered heroes, set forth for the Mediterranean. In the central
+districts, and as far as Lyons, he was often greeted by the well-known
+shouts, but, further south, the temper of the people changed.
+
+At Orange they cursed him to his face, and hurled stones at the
+windows of the carriage; Napoleon, protected by Bertrand, sat huddled
+up in the corner, "apparently very much frightened." After forcing a
+way through the rabble, the Emperor, when at a safe distance, donned a
+plain great coat, a Russian cloak, and a plain round hat with a white
+cockade: in this or similar disguises he sought to escape notice at
+every village or town, evincing, says the British Commissioner,
+Colonel Campbell, "much anxiety to save his life."
+
+By a détour he skirted the town of Avignon, where the mob thirsted for
+his blood; and by another device he disappointed the people of Orgon,
+who had prepared an effigy of him in uniform, smeared with blood, and
+placarded with the words: "Voilà donc l'odieux tyran! Tôt ou tard le
+crime est puni."[456] In this humiliating way he hurried on towards
+the coast, where a British frigate, the "Undaunted," was waiting for
+him. There some suspicious delays ensued, which aroused the fears of
+the allied commissioners, especially as bands of French soldiers began
+to draw near after the break-up of Eugène's army.[457]
+
+At last, on the 28th, accompanied by Counts Bertrand and Drouot, he
+set sail from Fréjus. It was less than fifteen years since he had
+landed there crowned with the halo of his oriental adventures.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+ELBA AND PARIS
+
+
+If it be an advantage to pause in the midst of the rush of life and
+take one's bearings afresh, then Napoleon was fortunate in being
+drifted to the quiet eddy of Elba. He there had leisure to review his
+career, to note where he had served his generation and succeeded,
+where also he had dashed himself fruitlessly against the fundamental
+instincts of mankind. Undoubtedly he did essay this mental
+stock-taking. He remarked to the conscientious Drouot that he was
+wrong in not making peace at the Congress of Prague; that trust in his
+own genius and in his soldiery led him astray; "but those who blame me
+have never drunk of Fortune's intoxicating cup." When a turn of her
+wheel brought him uppermost again, he confessed that at Elba he had
+heard, as in a tomb, the verdict of posterity; and there are signs
+that his maturer convictions thenceforth strove to curb the old
+domineering instincts that had wrecked his life.
+
+Introspection, however, was alien to his being; he was made for the
+camp rather than the study; his critical powers, if turned in for a
+time on himself, quickly swung back to work upon men and affairs; and
+they found the needed exercise in organizing his Liliputian Empire and
+surveying the course of European politics. In the first weeks he was
+up at dawn, walking or riding about Porto Ferrajo and its environs,
+planning better defences, or tracing out new roads and avenues of
+mulberry trees. "I have never seen a man," wrote Campbell, "with so
+much activity and restless perseverance: he appears to take pleasure
+in perpetual movement, and in seeing those who accompany him sink
+under fatigue." About seven hundred of his Guards were brought over on
+British transports; and these, along with Corsicans and Tuscans,
+guarded him against royalist plotters, real or supposed. In a short
+time he purchased a few small vessels, and annexed the islet of
+Pianosa. These affairs and the formation of an Imperial Court for the
+delectation of his mother and his sister Pauline, who now joined him,
+served to drive away ennui; but he bitterly resented the Emperor
+Francis's refusal to let his wife and son come to him. Whether Marie
+Louise would have come is more than doubtful, for her relations to
+Count Neipperg were already notorious; but the detention of his son
+was a heartless action that aroused general sympathy for the lonely
+man. The Countess Walewska paid him a visit for some days, bringing
+the son whom she had borne him.[458]
+
+Meanwhile Europe was settling down uneasily on its new political
+foundations. Considering that France had been at the mercy of the
+allies, she had few just grounds of complaint against them. The
+Treaties of Paris (May 30th, 1814) left her with rather wider bounds
+than those of 1791; and she kept the art treasures reft by Napoleon.
+Perfidious Albion yielded up all her French colonial conquests, except
+Mauritius, Tobago, and St. Lucia. Britons grumbled at the paltry gains
+brought by a war that had cost more than £600,000,000: but Castlereagh
+justified the policy of conciliation. "It is better," said he, "for
+France to be commercial and pacific than a warlike and conquering
+State." We insisted on her ceding Belgium to the House of Orange,
+while we retained the Dutch colonies conquered by us, the Cape,
+Demerara, and Curaçoa--paying £6,000,000 for them.
+
+The loss of the Netherlands, the Rhineland, and Italy galled French
+pride. Loud were the murmurs of the throngs of soldiers that came from
+the fortresses of Germany, or the prisons of Spain, Russia, and
+England--70,000 crossed over from our shores alone--at the harshness
+of the allies and the pusillanimity of the Bourbons. The return from
+war to peace is always hard; and now these gaunt warriors came back to
+a little France that perforce discharged them or placed them on
+half-pay. Perhaps they might have been won over by a tactful Court:
+but the Bourbons, especially that typical _émigré_, the Comte
+d'Artois, were nothing if not tactless, witness their shelving of the
+Old Guard and formation of the Maison du Roi, a privileged and highly
+paid corps of 6,000 nobles and royalist gentlemen. The peasants, too,
+were uneasy, especially those who held the lands of nobles confiscated
+in the Revolution. To indemnify the former owners was impossible in
+face of the torrent of exorbitant claims that flowed in. And the year
+1814, which began as a soul-stirring epic, ended with sordid squabbles
+worthy of a third-rate farce.
+
+Moreover, at this very time, the former allies seemed on the brink of
+war. The limits of our space admit only of the briefest glance at the
+disputes of the Powers at the Congress of Vienna. The storm centre of
+Europe was the figure of the Czar. To our ambassador at Vienna, Sir
+Charles Stewart, he declared his resolve to keep western Poland and
+never to give up 7,000,000 of his "Polish subjects."[459] Strange to
+say, he ultimately gained the assent of Prussia to this objectionable
+scheme, provided that she acquired the whole of Saxony, while
+Frederick Augustus was to be transplanted to the Rhineland with Bonn
+as capital. To these proposals Austria, England, and France offered
+stern opposition, and framed a secret compact (January 3rd, 1815) to
+resist them, if need be, with armies amounting to 450,000 men. But,
+though swords were rattled in their scabbards, they were not drawn.
+When news reached Vienna of the activity of Bonapartists in France and
+of Murat in Italy, the Powers agreed (February 8th) to the
+Saxon-Polish compromise which took shape in the map of Eastern Europe.
+The territorial arrangements in the west were evidently inspired by
+the wish to build up bulwarks against France. Belgium was tacked on to
+Holland; Germany was huddled into a Confederation, in which the
+princes had complete sovereign powers; and the Kingdom of Sardinia
+grew to more than its former bulk by recovering Savoy and Nice and
+gaining Genoa.
+
+This piling up of artificial barriers against some future Napoleon was
+to serve the designs of the illustrious exile himself. The instinct of
+nationality, which his blows had aroused to full vigour, was now
+outraged by the sovereigns whom it carried along to victory. Belgians
+strongly objected to Dutch rule, and German "Unitarians," as
+Metternich dubbed them, spurned a form of union which subjected the
+Fatherland to Austria and her henchmen. Hardest of all was the fate of
+Italy. After learning the secret of her essential unity under
+Napoleon, she was now parcelled out among her former rulers; and
+thrills of rage shot through the peninsula when the Hapsburgs settled
+down at Venice and Milan, while their scions took up the reins at
+Modena, Parma, and Florence.
+
+It was on this popular indignation that Murat now built his hopes.
+After throwing over Napoleon, he had looked to find favour with the
+allies; but his movements in 1814 had been so suspicious that the fate
+of his kingdom remained hanging in the balance. The Bourbons of Paris
+and Madrid strove hard to effect his overthrow; but Austria and
+England, having tied their hands early in 1814 by treaties with him,
+could only wait and watch in the hope that the impetuous soldier would
+take a false step. He did so in February, 1815, when he levied forces,
+summoned Louis XVIII. to declare whether he was at war with him, and
+prepared to march into Northern Italy.
+
+The disturbed state of the peninsula caused the Powers much uneasiness
+as to the presence of Napoleon at Elba. Louis XVIII. in his
+despatches, and Talleyrand in private conversations, two or three
+times urged his removal to the Azores; but, with the exception of
+Castlereagh, who gave a doubtful assent, the plenipotentiaries scouted
+the thought of it. Metternich entirely opposed it, and the Czar would
+certainly have objected to the reversal of his Elba plan, had
+Talleyrand made a formal proposal to that effect. But he did not do
+so. The official records of the Congress contain not a word on the
+subject. Equally unfounded were the newspaper rumours that the
+Congress was considering the advisability of removing Napoleon to St.
+Helena. On this topic the official records are also silent; and we
+have the explicit denial of the Duke of Wellington (who reached Vienna
+on the 1st of February to relieve Castlereagh) that "the Congress ever
+had any intention of removing Bonaparte from Elba to St. Helena."[460]
+
+Napoleon's position was certainly one of unstable equilibrium, that
+tended towards some daring enterprise or inglorious bankruptcy. The
+maintenance of his troops cost him more than 1,000,000 francs a year,
+while his revenue was less than half of that sum. He ought to have
+received 2,000,000 francs a year from Louis XVIII.; but that monarch,
+while confiscating the property of the Bonapartes in France, paid not
+a centime of the sums which the allies had pledged him to pay to the
+fallen House. Both the Czar and our envoy, Castlereagh, warmly
+reproached Talleyrand with his master's shabby conduct; to which the
+plenipotentiary replied that it was dangerous to furnish Napoleon with
+money as long as Italy was in so disturbed a state. Castlereagh, on
+his return to England by way of Paris, again pressed the matter on
+Louis XVIII., who promised to take the matter in hand. But he was soon
+quit of it: for, as he wrote to Talleyrand on March 7th, Bonaparte's
+landing in France _spared him the trouble_.[461]
+
+To assert, however, that Napoleon's escape from Elba was prompted by a
+desire to avoid bankruptcy, is to credit him with respectable
+_bourgeois_ scruples by which he was never troubled. Though "Madame
+Mère" and Pauline complained bitterly to Campbell of the lack of funds
+at Elba, the Emperor himself was far from depressed. "His spirits seem
+of late," wrote Campbell on December 28th, "rather to rise, and not to
+yield in the smallest degree to the pressure of pecuniary
+difficulties." Both Campbell and Lord John Russell, who then paid the
+Emperor a flying visit, thought that he was planning some great move,
+and warned our Ministers.[462] But they shared the view of other
+wiseacres, that Italy would be his goal, and that too, when Campbell's
+despatches teemed with remarks made to him by Napoleon as to the
+certainty of an outbreak in France. Here are two of them:
+
+    He said that there would be a violent outbreak, similar to the
+    Revolution, in consequence of their present humiliation: every man
+    in France considers the Rhine to be the natural frontier of
+    France, and nothing can alter this opinion. If the spirit of the
+    nation is roused into action nothing can oppose it. It is like a
+    torrent.... The present Government of France is too feeble: the
+    Bourbons should make war as soon as possible so as to establish
+    themselves upon the throne. It would not be difficult to recover
+    Belgium. It is only for the British troops there that the French
+    army has the smallest awe" (_sic_).
+
+His final resolve to put everything to the hazard was formed about
+February 13th, when, shortly after receiving tidings as to the unrest
+in Italy, the discords of the Powers, and the resolve of the allied
+sovereigns to leave Vienna on the 20th, he heard news of the highest
+importance from France. On that day one of his former officials,
+Fleury de Chaboulon, landed in Elba, and informed him of the hatching
+of a plot by military malcontents, under the lead of Fouché, for the
+overthrow of Louis XVIII.[463] Napoleon at once despatched his
+informant to Naples, and ordered his brig, "L'Inconstant," to be
+painted like an English vessel. Most fortunately for him, Campbell on
+the 16th set sail for Tuscany--"for his health and on private
+affairs"--on the small war-vessel, "Partridge," to which the British
+Government had intrusted the supervision of Napoleon. Captain Adye, of
+that vessel, promised, after taking Campbell to Leghorn, to return and
+cruise off Elba. He called at Porto Ferrajo on the 24th, and to
+Bertrand's question, when he was to bring Campbell back, returned the
+undiplomatic answer that it was fixed for the 26th. The news seems to
+have decided Napoleon to escape on that day, when the "Partridge"
+would be absent at Leghorn. Meanwhile Campbell, alarmed by the news of
+the preparations at Elba, was sending off a request to Genoa that
+another British warship should be sent to frustrate the designs of the
+"restless villain."
+
+But it was now too late. On that Sunday night at 9 p.m., the Emperor,
+with 1,050 officers and men, embarked at Porto Ferrajo on the
+"Inconstant" and six smaller craft. Favoured by the light airs that
+detained the British vessel, his flotilla glided away northwards; and
+not before the 28th did Adye and Campbell find that the imperial eagle
+had flown. Meanwhile Napoleon had eluded the French guard-ship,
+"Fleur-de-Lys," and ordered his vessels to scatter. On doubling the
+north of Corsica, he fell in with another French cruiser, the
+"Zephyr," which hailed his brig and inquired how the great man was.
+"Marvellously well," came the reply, suggested by Napoleon himself to
+his captain. The royalist cruiser passed on contented. And thus,
+thanks to the imbecility of the old Governments and of their servants,
+Napoleon was able to land his little force safely in the Golfe de
+Jouan on the afternoon of March 1st.[464] Is it surprising that
+foreigners, who had not yet fathomed the eccentricities of British
+officialdom, should have believed that we connived at Napoleon's
+escape? It needed the blood shed at Waterloo to wipe out the
+misconception.
+
+"I shall reach Paris without firing a shot." Such was the prophecy of
+Napoleon to his rather questioning followers as they neared the coast
+of Provence. It seemed the wildest of dreams. Could the man, who had
+been wellnigh murdered by the rabble of Avignon and Orgon, hope to
+march in peace through that royalist province? And, if he ever reached
+the central districts where men loved him better, would the soldiery
+dare to disobey the commands of Soult, the new Minister of War, of
+Ney, Berthier, Macdonald, St. Cyr, Suchet, Augereau, and of many more
+who were now honestly serving the Bourbons? The King and his brothers
+had no fears. They laughed at the folly of this rash intruder.
+
+At first their confidence seemed justified. Napoleon's overtures to
+the officer and garrison of Antibes were repulsed, and the small
+detachment which he sent there was captured. Undaunted by this check,
+he decided to hurry on by way of Grasse towards Grenoble, thus
+forestalling the news of his first failure, and avoiding the royalist
+districts of the lower Rhone.
+
+Napoleon was visibly perturbed as he drew near to Grenoble. There the
+officer in command, General Marchand, had threatened to exterminate
+this "band of brigands"; and his soldiers as yet showed no signs of
+defection. But, by some bad management, only one battalion held the
+defile of Laffray on the south. As the bear-skins of the Guard came in
+sight, the royalist ranks swerved and drew back. Then the Emperor came
+forward, and ordered his men to lower their arms. "There he is: fire
+on him," cried a royalist officer. Not a shot rang out.--"Soldiers,"
+said the well-known voice, "if there is one among you who wishes to
+kill his Emperor, he can do so. Here I am." At once a great shout of
+"Vive l'Empereur" burst forth: and the battalion broke into an
+enthusiastic rush towards the idol of the soldiery.
+
+That scene decided the whole course of events. A little later, a young
+noble, Labédoyère, leads over his regiment; at Grenoble the garrison
+stands looking on and cheering while the Bonapartists batter in the
+gates; and the hero is borne in amidst a whirlwind of cheers. At
+Lyons, the Comte d'Artois and Macdonald seek safety in flight; and
+soldiers and workmen welcome their chief with wild acclaim; but amidst
+the wonted cries are heard threats of "The Bourbons to the
+guillotine," "Down with the priests!"
+
+The shouts were ominous: they showed that the Jacobins meant to use
+Napoleon merely as a tool for the overthrow of the Bourbons. The
+"have-nots" cheered him, but the "haves" shivered at his coming, for
+every thinking man knew that it implied war with Europe.[465] Napoleon
+saw the danger of relying merely on malcontents and sought to arouse a
+truly national feeling. He therefore on March 13th issued a series of
+popular decrees, that declared the rule of the Bourbons at an end,
+dissolved the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and summoned the
+"electoral colleges" of the Empire to a great assembly, or Champ de
+Mai, at Paris. He further proscribed the white flag, ordered the
+wearing of the tri-colour cockade, disbanded the hated "Maison du
+Roi," abolished feudal titles, and sequestered the domains of the
+Bourbon princes. In brief, he acted as the Bonaparte of 1799. He then
+set forth for Paris, at the head of 14,000 men.
+
+Ney was at the same time marching with 6,000 men from Besançon. He had
+lately assured Louis XVIII. that Napoleon deserved to be brought to
+Paris in an iron cage. But now his soldiers kept a sullen silence. At
+Bourg the leading regiment deserted; and while beset by difficulties,
+the Marshal received from Napoleon the assurance that he would be
+received as he was on the day after the Moskwa (Borodino). This was
+enough. He drew his troops around him, and, to their lively joy,
+declared for the Emperor (March 14th). Napoleon was as good as his
+word. Never prone to petty malice, he now received with equal
+graciousness those officers who flung themselves at his feet, and
+those who staunchly served the King to the very last. Before this
+sunny magnanimity the last hopes of the Bourbons melted away. Greeted
+on all sides by soldiers and peasants, the enchanter advances on
+Paris, whence the King and Court beat a hasty retreat towards Lille.
+
+Crowds of peasants line and almost block the road from Fontainebleau
+to catch a glimpse of the gray coat; and, to expedite matters, he
+drives on in a cabriolet with his faithful Caulaincourt. Escorted by a
+cavalcade of officers he enters Paris after nightfall; but there the
+tone of the public is cool and questioning, until the front of the
+Tuileries facing the river is reached.[466] Then a mighty shout arises
+from the throng of jubilant half-pay officers as the well-known figure
+alights: he passes in, and is half carried up the grand staircase,
+"his eyes half closed," says Lavalette, "his hands extended before him
+like a blind man, and expressing his joy only by a smile." Ladies are
+there also, who have spent the weary hours of waiting in stripping off
+_fleurs-de-lys_, and gleefully exposing the N's and golden bees
+concealed by cheap Bourbon upholstery. Anon they fly back to this
+task; the palace wears its wonted look; and the brief spell of Bourbon
+rule seems gone for ever.
+
+To his contemporaries this triumph of Napoleon appeared a miracle
+before which the voice of criticism must be dumb. And yet, if we
+remember the hollowness of the Bourbon restoration, the tactlessness
+of the princes and the greed of their partisans, it seems strange that
+the house of cards reared by the Czar and Talleyrand remained standing
+even for eleven months. Napoleon correctly described the condition of
+France when he said to his comrades on the "Inconstant": "There is no
+historic example that induces me to venture on this bold enterprise:
+but I have taken into account the surprise that will seize on men, the
+state of public feeling, the resentment against the allies, the love
+of my soldiers, in fine, all the Napoleonic elements that still
+germinate in our beautiful France."[467]
+
+Still less was he deceived by the seemingly overwhelming impulse in
+his favour. He looked beyond the hysteria of welcome to the cold and
+critical fit which follows; and he saw danger ahead. When Mollien
+complimented him on his return, he replied, alluding to the general
+indifference at the departure of the Bourbons: "My dear fellow! People
+have let me come, just as they let the others go." The remark reveals
+keen insight into the workings of French public opinion. The whole
+course of the Revolution had shown how easy it was to destroy a
+Government, how difficult to rebuild. In truth, the events of March,
+1815, may be called the epilogue of the revolutionary drama. The royal
+House had offended the two most powerful of French interests, the
+military and the agrarian, so that soldiers and peasants clutched
+eagerly at Napoleon as a mighty lever for its overthrow.
+
+The Emperor wisely formed his Ministry before the first enthusiasm
+cooled down. Maret again became Secretary of State; Decrès took the
+Navy; Gaudin the finances; Mollien was coaxed back to the Treasury,
+and Davoust reluctantly accepted the Ministry of War. Savary declined
+to be burdened with the Police, and Napoleon did not press him: for
+that clever intriguer, Fouché, was pointed out as the only man who
+could rally the Jacobins around the imperial throne: to him, then,
+Napoleon assigned this important post, though fully aware that in his
+hands it was a two-edged tool. Carnot was finally persuaded to become
+Minister for Home Affairs.
+
+Napoleon's fate, however, was to be decided, not at Paris, but by the
+statesmen assembled at Vienna. There time was hanging somewhat
+heavily, and the news of Napoleon's escape was welcomed at first as a
+grateful diversion. Talleyrand asserted that Napoleon would aim at
+Italy, but Metternich at once remarked: "He will make straight for
+Paris." When this prophecy proved to be alarmingly true, a drastic
+method was adopted to save the Bourbons. The plenipotentiaries drew up
+a declaration that Bonaparte, having broken the compact which
+established him at Elba--the only legal title attaching to his
+existence--had placed himself outside the bounds of civil and social
+relations, and, as an enemy and disturber of the peace of the world,
+was consigned to "public prosecution" (March 13th).[468] The rigour of
+this decree has been generally condemned. But, after all, it did not
+exceed in harshness Napoleon's own act of proscription against Stein;
+it was a desperate attempt to stop the flight of the imperial eagle to
+Paris and to save France from war with Europe.
+
+Public considerations were doubtless commingled with the promptings of
+personal hatred. We are assured that Talleyrand was the author of this
+declaration, which had the complete approval of the Czar. But Napoleon
+had one enemy more powerful than Alexander, more insidious than
+Talleyrand, and that was--his own past. Everywhere the spectre of war
+rose up before the imagination of men. The merchant pictured his ships
+swept off by privateers: the peasant saw his homestead desolate: the
+housewife dreamt of her larder emptied by taxes, and sons carried off
+for the war. At Berlin, wrote Jackson, all was agitation, and
+everybody said that _the work of last year would have to be done over
+again_.
+
+In England the current of public feeling was somewhat weakened by the
+drifts and eddies of party politics. Many of the Whigs made a popular
+hero of Napoleon, some from a desire to overthrow the Liverpool
+Ministry that proscribed him; others because they believed, or tried
+to believe, that the return of Napoleon concerned only France, and
+that he would leave Europe alone if Europe left him alone. Others
+there were again, as Hazlitt, who could not ignore the patent fact
+that Napoleon was an international personage and had violated a
+European compact, yet nevertheless longed for his triumph over the bad
+old Governments and did not trouble much as to what would come next.
+But, on the whole, the judgment of well-informed people may be summed
+up in the conclusion of that keen lawyer, Crabb Robinson: "The
+question is, peace with Bonaparte now, or war with him in Germany two
+years hence."[469] The matter came to a test on April 28th, when
+Whitbread's motion against war was rejected by 273 to 72.[470]
+
+If that was the general opinion in days when Ministers and
+diplomatists alone knew the secrets of the game, it was certain that
+the initiated, who remembered his wrongheaded refusals to make peace
+even in the depressing days of 1814, would strive to crush him before
+he could gather all his strength. In vain did he protest that he had
+learnt by sad experience and was a changed man. They interpreted his
+pacific speeches by their experience of his actions; and thus his
+overweening conduct in the past blotted out all hope of his crowning a
+romantic career by a peaceful and benignant close. The declaration of
+outlawry was followed, on March 25th, by the conclusion of treaties
+between the Powers, which virtually renewed those framed at Chaumont.
+In quick succession the smaller States gave in their adhesion; and
+thus the coalition which tact and diplomacy had dissolved was
+revivified by the fears which the mighty warrior aroused. Napoleon
+made several efforts to sow distrust among the Powers; and chance
+placed in his hands a veritable apple of discord.
+
+The Bourbons in their hasty flight from Paris had left behind several
+State papers, among them being the recent secret compact against
+Russia and Prussia. Napoleon promptly sent this document to the Czar
+at Vienna; but his hopes of sundering the allies were soon blighted.
+Though Alexander and Metternich had for months refused to exchange a
+word or a look, yet the news of Napoleon's adventure brought about a
+speedy reconciliation; and when the compromising paper from Paris was
+placed in the Czar's hands, he took the noble revenge of sending for
+Metternich, casting it into the fire, and adjuring the Minister to
+forget recent disputes in the presence of their common enemy. Napoleon
+strove to detach Austria from the Coalition, as did also Fouché on his
+own account; but the overtures led to no noteworthy result, except
+that Napoleon, on finding out Fouché's intrigue, threatened to have
+him shot--a threat which that necessary tool treated with quiet
+derision.
+
+A few acts of war occurred at once; but Austria and Russia pressed for
+delay, the latter with the view of overthrowing Murat. That potentate
+now drew the sword on behalf of Napoleon, and summoned the Italians to
+struggle for their independence. But he was quickly overpowered at
+Tolentino (May 3rd), and fled from his kingdom, disguised as a sailor,
+to Toulon. There he offered his sword to Napoleon; but the Emperor
+refused his offer and blamed him severely, alleging that he had
+compromised the fortunes of France by rendering peace impossible. The
+charge must be pronounced not proven. The allies had taken their
+resolve to destroy Napoleon on March 13th, and Murat's adventure
+merely postponed the final struggle for a month or so.
+
+Napoleon used this time of respite to form his army and stamp out
+opposition in France. The French royalist bands gave him little
+trouble. In the south-west the _fleur-de-lys_ was speedily beaten
+down; but in La Vendée royalism had its roots deep-seated. Headed by
+the two Larochejacqueleins, the peasants made a brave fight; and
+20,000 regulars failed to break them up until the month of June was
+wearing on. What might not those 20,000 men, detained in La Vendée,
+have effected on the crest of Waterloo?
+
+Napoleon's preoccupation, however, was the conduct of the Jacobins in
+France, who had been quickened to immense energy by the absurdities of
+the royalist reaction and felt that they had the new ruler in their
+power. A game of skill ensued, which took up the greater part of the
+"Hundred Days" of Napoleon's second reign. His conduct proved that he
+was not sure of success. He felt out of touch with this new
+liberty-loving France, so different from the passively devoted people
+whom he had left in 1814; he bridled his impetuous nature, reasoning
+with men, inviting criticism, and suggesting doubts as to his own
+proposals, in a way that contrasted curiously with the old
+sledge-hammer methods.
+
+    "He seemed," writes Mollien, "habitually calm, pensive, and
+    preserved without affectation a serious dignity, with little of
+    that old audacity and self-confidence which had never met with
+    insuperable obstacles.... As his thoughts were cramped in a narrow
+    space girt with precipices instead of soaring freely over a vast
+    horizon of power, they became laborious and
+
+This Pegasus in harness chafed at the unwonted yoke; and at times the
+old instincts showed themselves. On one occasion, when the subject
+turned on the new passion for liberty, he said to Lavalette with a
+question in his voice: "All this will last two or three years?" "Your
+Majesty," replied the Minister, "must not believe that. It will last
+for ever."
+
+The first grave difficulty was to frame a constitution, especially as
+his Lyons decrees led men to believe that it would emanate from the
+people, and be sanctioned by them in a great _Champ de Mai_. Perhaps
+this was impossible. A great part of France was a prey to civil
+strifes; and it was a skilful device to intrust the drafting of a
+constitution to Benjamin Constant.
+
+This brilliant writer and talker had now run through the whole gamut
+of political professions. A pronounced Jacobin and free-thinker during
+the Consulate, he subsequently retired to Germany, where he unlearnt
+his politics, his religion, and his philosophy. The sight of
+Napoleon's devastations made him a supporter of the throne and altar,
+compelled him to recast his treatises, and drove him to consort with
+the quaint circle of pietists who prayed and grovelled with Madame de
+Krudener. Returning to France at the Restoration, he wielded his
+facile pen in the cause of the monarchy, and fluttered after the
+fading charms of Madame Récamier, confiding to his friend, De Broglie,
+that he knew not whether to trust most to divine or satanic agencies
+for success in this lawless chase. In March, 1815, he thundered in the
+Press against the brigand of Elba--until the latter won him over in
+the space of a brief interview, and persuaded him to draft, with a few
+colleagues, the final constitution of the age.
+
+Not that Constant had a free hand: he worked under imperial
+inspiration. The present effort was named the Additional
+Act--additional, that is, to the Constitutions of the Empire (April
+22nd, 1815). It established a Chamber of Peers nominated by Napoleon,
+with hereditary rights, and a Chamber of Representatives elected on
+the plan devised in August, 1802. The Emperor was to nominate all the
+judges, including the _juges de paix;_ the jury system was maintained,
+and liberty of the Press was granted. The Chambers also gained
+somewhat wider control over the Ministers.[471]
+
+This Act called forth a hail of criticisms. When the Council of State
+pointed out that there was no guarantee against confiscations,
+Napoleon's eyes flashed fire, and he burst forth:
+
+    "You are pushing me in a way that is not mine. You are weakening
+    and chaining me. France looks for me and does not find me. Public
+    opinion was excellent: now it is execrable. France is asking what
+    has come to the Emperor's arm, this arm which she needs to master
+    Europe. Why speak to me of goodness, abstract justice, and of
+    natural laws? The first law is necessity: the first justice is the
+    public safety."
+
+The councillors quailed under this tirade and conceded the
+point--though we may here remark that Napoleon showed a wise clemency
+towards his foes, and confiscated the estates of only thirteen of
+them.
+
+Public opinion became more and more "execrable." Some historians have
+asserted that the decline of Napoleon's popularity was due, not to the
+Additional Act, but to the menaces of war from a united Europe: this
+may be doubted. Miot de Melito, who was working for the Emperor in the
+West, states that "never had a political error more immediate effects"
+than that Act; and Lavalette, always a devoted adherent, asserts
+that Frenchmen thenceforth "saw only a despot in the Emperor and forgot
+about the enemy."
+
+As a display of military enthusiasm, the _Champ de Mai_, of June 1st,
+recalled the palmy days gone by. Veterans and conscripts hailed their
+chief with jubilant acclaim, as with a few burning words he handed
+them their eagles. But the people on the outskirts cheered only when
+the troops cheered. Why should they, or the "electors" of France,
+cheer? They had hoped to give her a constitution; and they were now
+merely witnesses to Napoleon's oath that he would obey the
+constitution of his own making. As a civic festival, it was a mockery
+in the eyes of men who remembered the "Feast of Pikes," and were not
+to be dazzled by the waving of banners and the gorgeous costumes of
+Napoleon and his brothers. The opening of the Chambers six days later
+gave an outlet to the general discontent. The report that Napoleon
+designed his brother Lucien for the Presidency of the Lower House is
+incorrect. That honest democrat Lanjuinais was elected. Everything
+portended a constitutional crisis, when the summons to arms rang
+forth; and the chief, warning the deputies not to imitate the Greeks
+of the late Empire by discussing abstract propositions while the
+battering-ram thundered at their gates, cut short these barren debates
+by that appeal to the sword which had rarely belied his hopes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS
+
+
+A less determined optimist than Napoleon might well have hoped for
+success over the forces of the new coalition. True, they seemed
+overwhelmingly great. But many a coalition had crumbled away under the
+alchemy of his statecraft; and the jealousies that had raged at the
+Congress of Vienna inspired the hope that Austria, and perhaps
+England, might speedily be detached from their present allies. Strange
+as it seems to us, the French people opined that Napoleon's escape
+from Elba was due to the connivance of the British Government; and
+Captain Mercer states that, even at Waterloo, many of the French clung
+to the belief that the British resistance would be a matter of form.
+Napoleon cherished no such illusion: but he certainly hoped to
+surprise the British and Prussian forces in Belgium, and to sever at
+one blow an alliance which he judged to be ill cemented. Thereafter he
+would separate Austria from Russia, a task that was certainly possible
+if victory crowned the French eagles.[472]
+
+His military position was far stronger than it had been since the
+Moscow campaign. The loss of Germany and Spain had really added to his
+power. No longer were his veterans shut up in the fortresses of Europe
+from Danzig to Antwerp, from Hamburg to Ragusa; and the Peninsular War
+no longer engulfed great armies of his choicest troops. In the eyes of
+Frenchmen he was not beaten in 1814; he was only tripped up by a
+traitor when on the point of crushing his foes. And, now that peace
+had brought back garrisons and prisoners of war, as many as 180,000
+well-trained troops were ranged under the imperial eagles. He hoped by
+the end of June to have half a million of devoted soldiers ready for
+the field.
+
+The difficulties that beset him were enough to daunt any mind but his.
+Some of the most experienced Marshals were no longer at his side. St.
+Cyr, Macdonald, Oudinot, Victor, Marmont, and Augereau remained true
+to Louis XVIII. Berthier, on hearing of Napoleon's return from Elba,
+forthwith retired into Germany, and, in a fit of frenzy, threw himself
+from the window of a house in Bamberg while a Russian corps was
+passing through that town. Junot had lost his reason. Masséna and
+Moncey were too old for campaigning; Mortier fell ill before the first
+shots were fired. Worst of all, the unending task of army organization
+detained Davoust at Paris. Certainly he worked wonders there; but, as
+in 1813 and 1814, Napoleon had cause to regret the absence of a
+lieutenant equally remarkable for his acuteness of perception and
+doggedness of purpose, for a good fortune that rarely failed, and a
+devotion that never faltered. Doubtless it was this last priceless
+quality, as well as his organizing gifts, that marked him out as the
+ideal Minister of War and Governor of Paris. Besides him he left a
+Council charged with the government during his absence, composed of
+Princes Joseph and Lucien and the Ministers.
+
+But, though the French army of 1815 lacked some of the names far famed
+in story, numbers of zealous and able officers were ready to take
+their place. The first and second corps were respectively assigned to
+Drouet, Count d'Erlon, and Reille, the former of whom was the son of
+the postmaster of Varennes, who stopped Louis XVI.'s flight. Vandamme
+commanded the third corps; Gérard, the fourth; Rapp, the fifth; while
+the sixth fell to Mouton, better known as Count Lobau. Rapp's corps
+was charged with the defence of Alsace; other forces, led by Brune,
+Decaen, and Clausel, protected the southern borders, while Suchet
+guarded the Alps; but the rest of these corps were gradually drawn
+together towards the north of France, and the addition of the Guard,
+20,800 strong, brought the total of this army to 125,000 men.
+
+There was one post which the Emperor found it most difficult to fill,
+that of Chief of the Staff. There the loss of Berthier was
+irreparable. While lacking powers of initiative, he had the faculty of
+lucidly and quickly drafting Napoleon's orders, which insures the
+smooth working of the military machine. Who should succeed this
+skilful and methodical officer? After long hesitation Napoleon chose
+Soult. In a military sense the choice was excellent. The Duke of
+Dalmatia had a glorious military record; in his nature activity was
+blended with caution, ardour with method; but he had little experience
+of the special duties now required of him; and his orders were neither
+drafted so clearly nor transmitted so promptly as those of Berthier.
+
+The concentration of this great force proceeded with surprising
+swiftness; and, in order to lull his foes into confidence, the Emperor
+delayed his departure from Paris to the last moment possible. As dawn
+was flushing the eastern sky, on June 12th, he left his couch, after
+four hours' sleep, entered his landau, and speedily left his
+slumbering capital behind. In twelve hours he was at Laon. There he
+found that Grouchy's four cavalry brigades were not sharing in the
+general advance owing to Soult's neglect to send the necessary orders.
+The horsemen were at once hurried on, several regiments covering
+twenty leagues at a stretch and exhausting their steeds. On the 14th
+the army was well in hand around Beaumont, within striking distance of
+the Prussian vanguard, from which it was separated by a screen of
+dense woods. There the Emperor mounted his charger and rode along the
+ranks, raising such a storm of cheers that he vainly called out: "Not
+so loud, my children, the enemy will hear you." There, too, on this
+anniversary of Marengo and Friedland, he inspired his men by a
+stirring appeal on behalf of the independence of Poles, Italians, the
+smaller German States, and, above all, of France herself. "For every
+Frenchman of spirit the time has come to conquer or die."
+
+What, meanwhile, was the position of the allies? An Austro-Sardinian
+force threatened the south-east of France. Mighty armies of 170,000
+Russians and 250,000 Austrians were rolling slowly on towards Lorraine
+and Alsace respectively; 120,000 Prussians, under Blücher, were
+cantoned between Liège and Charleroi; while Wellington's composite
+array of British, German, and Dutch-Belgian troops, about 100,000
+strong, lay between Brussels and Mons.[473] The original plan of these
+two famous leaders was to push on rapidly into France; but the
+cautious influences of the Military Council sitting at Vienna
+prevailed, and it was finally decided not to open the campaign until
+the Austrians and Russians should approach the frontiers of France.
+Even as late as June 15th we find Wellington writing to the Czar in
+terms that assume a co-operation of all the allies in simultaneous
+moves towards Paris--movements which Schwarzenberg had led him to
+expect _would begin about the 20th of June_.[474]
+
+From this prolonged and methodical warfare Europe was saved by
+Napoleon's vigorous offensive. His political instincts impelled him to
+strike at Brussels, where he hoped that the populace would declare for
+union with France and severance from the detested Dutch. In this war
+he must not only conquer armies, he must win over public opinion; and
+how could he gain it so well as in the guise of a popular liberator?
+
+But there were other advantages to be gained in Belgium. By flinging
+himself on Wellington and the Prussians, and driving them asunder, he
+would compel Louis XVIII. to another undignified flight; and he would
+disorganize the best prepared armies of his foes, and gain the
+material resources of the Low Countries. He seems even to have
+cherished the hope that a victory over Wellington would dispirit the
+British Government, unseat the Ministry, and install in power the
+peace-loving Whigs.
+
+And this victory was almost within his grasp. While his host drew near
+to the Prussian outposts south of Charleroi and Thuin, the allies were
+still spread out in cantonments that extended over one hundred miles,
+namely, from Liège on Blücher's left to Audenarde on Wellington's
+right. This wide dispersion of troops, when an enterprising foe was
+known to be almost within striking distance, has been generally
+condemned. Thus General Kennedy, in his admirable description of
+Waterloo, admits that there was an "absurd extension" of the
+cantonments. Wellington, however, was bound to wait and to watch the
+three good high-roads, by any one of which Napoleon might advance,
+namely, those of Tournay, Mons, and Charleroi. The Duke had other
+causes for extending his lines far to the west: he desired to cover
+the roads from Ostend, whence he was expecting reinforcements, and to
+stretch a protecting wing over the King of France at Ghent.
+
+There are many proofs, however, that Wellington was surprised by
+Napoleon. The narratives of Sir Hussey Vivian and Captain Mercer show
+that the final orders for our advance were carried out with a haste
+and flurry that would not have happened if the army had been well in
+hand, or if Wellington had been fully informed of Napoleon's latest
+moves.[475] There is a wild story that the Duke was duped by Fouché,
+on whom he was relying for news from Paris. But it seems far more
+likely that he was misled by the tidings sent to Louis XVIII. at Ghent
+by zealous royalists in France, the general purport of which was that
+Napoleon _would wage a defensive campaign_.[476] On the 13th June,
+Wellington wrote: "I have accounts  from Paris of the 10th, on which
+day he [Bonaparte] was still there; and I judge from his speech to
+the Legislature that his departure was not likely to be immediate. I
+think we are now too strong for him here." And, in later years, he
+told Earl Stanhope that Napoleon "was certainly wrong in attacking at
+all"; for the allied armies must soon have been in great straits for
+want of food if they had advanced into France, exhausted as she was
+by the campaign of 1814. "But," he added, "the fact is, Bonaparte
+never in his life had patience for a defensive war."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE WATERLOO
+CAMPAIGN]
+
+The Duke's forces would, at the outset of the campaign, have been in
+less danger, if the leaders at the Prussian outposts, Pirch II. and
+Dörnberg of the King's German Legion, had warned him of the enemy's
+massing near the Sambre early on the 15th. By some mischance this was
+not done; and our leader only heard from Hardinge, at the Prussian
+headquarters, that the enemy seemed about to begin the offensive. He
+therefore waited for more definite news before concentrating upon any
+one line.
+
+About 6 p.m. on the 15th he ordered his divisions and brigades to
+concentrate at Vilvorde, Brussels, Ninove, Grammont, Ath,
+Braine-le-Comte, Hal, and Nivelles--the first four of which were
+somewhat remote, while the others were chosen with a view to defending
+the roads leading northwards from Mons. Not a single British brigade
+was posted on the Waterloo-Charleroi road, which was at that time
+guarded only by a Dutch-Belgian division, a fact which supports Mr.
+Ropes's contention that no definite plan of co-operation had been
+formed by the allied leaders. Or, if there was one, the Duke certainly
+refused to act upon it until he had satisfied himself that the chief
+attack was not by way of Mons or Ath. More definite news reached
+Brussels near midnight of the 15th, whereupon he gave a general left
+turn to his advance, namely, _towards Nivelles_.
+
+Clausewitz maintains that he should already have removed his
+headquarters to Nivelles; had he done so and hurried up all available
+troops towards the Soignies-Quatre Bras line, his Waterloo fame would
+certainly have gained in solidity. A dash of romance was added by his
+attending the Duchess of Richmond's ball at Brussels on the night of
+the 15th-16th; lovers of the picturesque will always linger over the
+scene that followed with its "hurrying to and fro and tremblings of
+distress"; but the more prosaic inquirer may doubt whether Wellington
+should not then have been more to the front, feeling every throb of
+Bellona's pulse.[477]
+
+Blücher's army, comprising 90,000 men, also covered a great stretch of
+country. The first corps, that of Ziethen, held the bridges of the
+Sambre at and near Charleroi; but the corps of Pirch I. and Thielmann
+were at Namur and Ciney; while, owing to a lack of stringency in the
+orders sent by Gneisenau, chief of the staff, to Bülow, his corps of
+32,000 men was still at Liège. Early on the 15th, Pirch I. and
+Thielmann began hastily to advance towards Sombref; and Ziethen, with
+32,000 men, prepared to hold the line of the Sambre as long as
+possible. His chief of staff, General Reiche, states that one-third of
+the Prussians were new troops, drafted in from the Landwehr; but all
+the corps gloried in their veteran Field-Marshal, and were eager to
+fight.
+
+Such, then, was the general position. Wellington was unaware of his
+danger; Blücher was straining every nerve to get his army together;
+while 32,000 Prussians were exposed to the attack of nearly four times
+their number. It is clear that, had all gone well with the French
+advance, the fortunes of Wellington and Blücher must have been
+desperate. But, though the concentration of 125,000 French troops near
+Beaumont and Maubeuge had been effected with masterly skill (except
+that Gérard's and D'Erlon's corps were late), the final moves did not
+work quite smoothly. An accident to the officer who was to order
+Vandamme's corps to march at 2 a.m. on the 15th caused a long delay to
+that eager fighter.[478] The 4th corps, that of Gérard, was also
+disturbed and delayed by an untoward event. General Bourmont, whose
+old Vendéan opinions seemed to have melted away completely before the
+sun of Napoleon's glory, rewarded his master by deserting with several
+officers to the Prussians, very early on that morning. The incident
+was really of far less importance than is assigned to it in the St.
+Helena Memoirs, which falsely ascribe it to the 14th: the Prussians
+were already on the _qui vive_ before Bourmont's desertion; but it
+clogged the advance of Gérard's corps and fostered distrust among the
+rank and file. When, on the morrow, Gérard rejoined his chief at the
+mill of Fleurus, the latter reminded him that he had answered for
+Bourmont's fidelity with his own head; and, on the general protesting
+that he had seen Bourmont fight with the utmost devotion, Napoleon
+replied: "Bah! A man who has been a white will never become a blue:
+and a blue will never be a white." Significant words, that show the
+Emperor's belief in the ineradicable strength of instinct and early
+training.[479]
+
+Despite these two mishaps, the French on the morning of the 15th
+succeeded in driving Ziethen's men from the banks of the Sambre about
+Thuin, while Napoleon in person broke through their line at Charleroi.
+After suffering rather severely, the defenders fell back on Gilly,
+whither Napoleon and his main force followed them; while the left wing
+of the French advance, now intrusted to Ney, was swung forward against
+the all-important position of Quatre Bras.
+
+We here approach one of the knotty questions of the campaign. Why did
+not Ney occupy the cross-roads in force on the evening of the 15th? We
+may note first that not till the 11th had Napoleon thought fit to
+summon Ney to the army, so that the Marshal did not come up till the
+afternoon of this very day. He at once had an interview with the
+Emperor, who, according to General Gourgaud, gave the Marshal verbal
+orders to take command of the corps of Reille and D'Erlon, to push on
+northwards, take up a position at Quatre Bras, and throw out advanced
+posts beyond on the Brussels and Namur roads; but it seems unlikely
+that the Emperor would have given one of the most venturesome of his
+Marshals an absolute order to push on so far in advance, unless the
+French right wing had driven the Prussians back beyond the Sombref
+position. Otherwise, Ney would have been dangerously far in advance of
+the main body and exposed to blows either from the Prussians or the
+British.
+
+However this may be, Ney certainly felt insecure, and did not push on
+with his wonted dash; while, fortunately for the allies, an officer
+was at hand Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who saw the need of holding
+Quatre Bras at all costs.[480] The young leader imposed on the foe by
+making the most of his men--they were but 4,500 all told, and had only
+ten bullets apiece--and he succeeded. For once, Ney was prudent to a
+fault, and did not push home the attack. In his excuse it may be said
+that the men of Reille's corps, on whom he had to rely--for D'Erlon's
+corps was still far to the rear--had been marching and fighting ever
+since dawn, and were too weary for another battle. Moreover, the roar
+of cannon on the south-east warned him that the right wing of the
+French advance was hotly engaged between Gilly and Fleurus; until it
+beat back the Prussians, his own position was dangerously "in the
+air"; and, as but two hours of daylight remained, he drew back on
+Frasnes. He is also said to have sent word to the Emperor that "he was
+occupying Quatre Bras by an advanced guard, and that his main body was
+close behind." If he deceived his chief by any such report, he
+deserves the severest censure; but the words quoted above were written
+later at St. Helena by General Gourgaud, when Ney had come to figure
+as the scapegoat of the campaign.[481] Ney sent in a report on that
+evening; but it has been lost.[482] Judging from the orders issued by
+Napoleon and Soult early on the 16th, there was much uncertainty as to
+Ney's position. The Emperor's letter bids him post his first division
+"two leagues in front of les Quatres Chemins"; but Soult's letter to
+Grouchy states that Ney is ordered _to advance to the cross-roads_.
+Confusion was to be expected from the circumstances of the case. Ney
+did not know his staff-officers, and he hastily took command of the
+left wing when in the midst of operations whose success, as Janin
+points out, largely depended on that of the right. He therefore played
+a cautious game, when, as we now know, caution meant failure and
+daring spelt safety.
+
+Meanwhile the French right wing, of which Grouchy had received the
+command, though Napoleon in person was its moving force, had been
+pressing the Prussians hard near Gilly. Yet here, too, the assailants
+were weakened by the absence of the corps of Vandamme and Gérard.
+Irritated by Ziethen's skilful withdrawal, the Emperor at last
+launched his cavalry at the Prussian rear battalions, four of which
+were severely handled before they reached the covert of a wood. With
+the loss, on the whole, of nearly 2,000 men, the Prussians fell back
+towards Ligny, while Grouchy's vanguard bivouacked near the village of
+Fleurus.
+
+Napoleon might well be satisfied with the work done on June 15th: he
+rode back to his headquarters at Charleroi, "exhausted with fatigue,"
+after spending wellnigh eighteen hours in the saddle, but confident
+that he had sundered the allies. This was certainly his aim now, as it
+had been in the campaign of 1796. After two decisive blows at their
+points of connection, he purposed driving them on divergent lines of
+retreat, just as he had driven the Austrians and Sardinians down the
+roads that bifurcate near Montenotte. True, there were in Belgium no
+mountain spurs to prevent their reunion; but the roads on which they
+were operating were far more widely divergent.[483] He also thought
+lightly of Wellington and Blücher. The former he had pronounced
+"incapable and unwise"; as for Blücher, he told Campbell at Elba that
+he was "no general"; but that he admired the pluck with which "the old
+devil" came on again after a thrashing.
+
+Unclouded confidence is seen in every phrase of the letters that he
+penned at Charleroi early on the 16th. He informs Ney that he intends
+soon to attack the Prussians at Sombref, _if he finds them there_, to
+clear the road as far as Gembloux, and then to decide on his further
+actions as the case demands. Meanwhile Ney is to sweep the road in
+front of Quatre Bras, placing his first division two leagues beyond
+that position, if it seemed desirable, with a view to marching on
+Brussels during the night with his whole force of about 50,000 men.
+The Guard is to be kept in reserve as much as possible, so as to
+support either Napoleon on the Gembloux road, or Ney on the Brussels
+road; and "if any skirmish takes place with the English, it is
+preferable that the work should fall on the Line rather than on the
+Guard." As for the Prussian resistance, Napoleon rated it almost as
+lightly as that of the English; for he regards it as probable that he
+will in the evening _march on Brussels with his Guard_.
+
+While he pictured his enemies hopelessly scattered or in retreat, they
+were beginning to muster at the very points which he believed to be
+within his grasp. At 11 a.m. only Ziethen's corps, now but 28,000
+strong, was in position at Sombref, but the corps of Pirch I. and
+Thielmann came up shortly after midday. Had Napoleon pushed on early
+on the 16th, he must easily have gained the Ligny-Sombref position.
+What, then, caused the delay in the French attack? It can be traced to
+the slowness of Gérard's advance, to the Emperor's misconception of
+the situation, and to his despatch to Grouchy.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF LIGNY.]
+
+In this he reckoned the Prussians at
+40,000 men, and ordered Grouchy to repair with the French right wing
+to Sombref.
+
+    " ... I shall be at Fleurus between 10 and 11 a.m.: I shall
+    proceed to Sombref, leaving my Guard, both infantry and cavalry,
+    at Fleurus: I would not take it to Sombref, unless it should be
+    necessary. If the enemy is at Sombref, I mean to attack him: I
+    mean to attack him even at Gembloux, and to gain this position
+    also, my aim being, after having known about these two positions,
+    to set out to-night, and to operate with my left wing, under the
+    command of Marshal Ney, against the English."
+
+The Emperor did not reach Fleurus until close on 11 a.m., and was
+undoubtedly taken aback to find Grouchy still there, held in check by
+the enemy strongly posted around Ligny. Grouchy has been blamed for
+not having already attacked them; but surely his orders bound him to
+wait for the Emperor before giving battle: besides, the corps of
+Gérard, which had been assigned to him was still far away in the rear
+towards Châtelet.[484] The absence of Gérard, and the uncertainty as
+to the enemy's aims, annoyed the Emperor. He mounted the windmill
+situated on the outskirts of Fleurus to survey the enemy's position.
+
+It was a fair scene that lay before him. Straight in front ran the
+high-road which joined the Namur-Nivelles _chaussée_, some six miles
+away to the north-east. On either side stretched cornfields, whose
+richness bore witness alike to the toils and the warlike passions of
+mankind. Further ahead might be seen the dark lines of the enemy
+ranged along slopes that formed an irregular amphitheatre, dotted with
+the villages of Bry and Sombref. In the middle distance, from out a
+hollow that lay concealed, rose the steeples and a few of the higher
+roofs of Ligny. Further to the left and on higher ground lay St.
+Amand, with its outlying hamlets. All was bathed in the shimmering,
+sultry heat of midsummer, the harbinger, as it proved, of a violent
+thunderstorm. The Prussian position was really stronger than it
+seemed. Napoleon could not fully see either the osier beds that
+fringed the Ligny brook, or its steep banks, or the many strong
+buildings of Ligny itself. He saw the Prussians on the slope behind
+the village, and was at first puzzled by their exposed position. "The
+old fox keeps to earth," he was heard to mutter. And so he waited
+until matters should clear up, and Gérard's arrival should give him
+strength to compass Blücher's utter overthrow while in the act of
+stretching a feeler towards Wellington. From the time when the Emperor
+came on the scene to the first swell of the battle's roar, there was a
+space of more than four hours.
+
+This delay was doubly precious to the allies. It gave Blücher time to
+bring up the corps of Pirch I. and Thielmann under cover of the high
+ground near Sombref, thereby raising his total force to about 87,000
+men; and it enabled the two allied commanders to meet and hastily
+confer on the situation. Wellington had left Brussels that morning at
+8 o'clock, and thanks to Ney's inaction, was able to reach the crest
+south of Quatre Bras a little after 10, long before the enemy showed
+any signs of life. There he penned a note to Blücher, asking for news
+from him before deciding on his operations for the day.[485] He then
+galloped over to the windmill of Bussy to meet Blücher.
+
+It was an anxious meeting; the heads of the advancing French columns
+were already in sight; and the Duke saw with dismay the position of
+the Prussians on a slope that must expose them to the full force of
+Napoleon's cannon--or, as he whispered to Hardinge, "they will be
+damnably mauled if they fight here."[486] In more decorous terms, but
+to the same effect, he warned Gneisenau, and said nothing to encourage
+him to hold fast to his position. Neither did he lead him to expect
+aid from Quatre Bras. The utmost that Gneisenau could get from him was
+the promise, "Well! I will come provided I am not attacked myself."
+Did these words induce the Prussians to accept battle at Ligny? It is
+impossible to think so. Everything tends to show that Blücher had
+determined to fight there. The risk was great; for, as we learn from
+General Reiche, the position was seen to admit of no vigorous
+offensive blows against the French. But fortune smiled on the veteran
+Field-Marshal, and averted what might have been an irretrievable
+disaster.[487]
+
+It would seem that the inequalities of the ground hid the strength of
+Pirch I. and Thielmann; for Napoleon still believed that he had ranged
+against him at Ligny only a single corps. At 2 p.m. Soult informed Ney
+that the enemy had united a _corps_ between Sombref and Bry, and that
+in half an hour Grouchy would attack it. Ney was therefore to beat
+back the foes at Quatre-Bras, and then turn to envelop the Prussians.
+_But if these were driven in first, the Emperor would move towards Ney
+to hasten his operations_.[488] Not until the battle was about to
+begin does the Emperor seem to have realized that he was in presence
+of superior forces.[489] But after 2 p.m. their masses drew down over
+the slopes of Bry and Sombref, their foremost troops held the villages
+of Ligny and St. Amand, while their left crowned the ridge of
+Tongrines. Napoleon reformed his lines, which had hitherto been at
+right angles to the main road through Fleurus. Vandamme's corps moved
+off towards St. Amand; and Gérard, after ranging his corps parallel to
+that road, began to descend towards Ligny, Grouchy meanwhile
+marshalling the cavalry to protect their flank and rear. Behind all
+stood the imposing mass of the Imperial Guard on the rising ground
+near Fleurus.
+
+The fiercest shock of battle fell upon the corps of Vandamme and
+Gérard. Three times were Gérard's men driven back by the volleys of
+the Prussians holding Ligny. But the French cannon open fire with
+terrific effect. Roofs crumble away, and buildings burst into flame.
+Once more the French rush to the onset, and a furious hand-to-hand
+scuffle ensues. Half stifled by heat, smoke, and dust, the rival
+nations fight on, until the defenders give way and fall back on the
+further part of the village behind the brook; but, when reinforced,
+they rally as fiercely as ever, and drive the French over its banks;
+lane, garden, and attic once more become the scene of struggles where
+no man thinks of giving or taking quarter.
+
+Higher up the stream, at St. Amand, Vandamme's troops fared no better;
+for Blücher steadily fed that part of his array. In so doing, however,
+he weakened his reserves behind Ligny, thereby unwittingly favouring
+Napoleon's design of breaking the Prussian centre, and placing its
+wreckage and the whole of their right wing between two fires. The
+Emperor expected that, by 6 o'clock, Ney would have driven back the
+Anglo-Dutch forces, and would be ready to envelop the Prussian right.
+That was the purport of Soult's despatch of 3.15 p.m. to Ney: "This
+army [the Prussian] is lost, if you act with vigour. The fate of
+France is in your hands."
+
+But at 5.30, when part of the Imperial Guard was about to strengthen
+Gérard for the decisive blow at the Prussian centre, Vandamme sent
+word that a hostile force of some twenty or thirty thousand men was
+marching towards Fleurus. This strange apparition not only unsteadied
+the French left: it greatly perplexed the Emperor. As he had ordered
+first Ney and then D'Erlon to march, not on Fleurus, but against the
+rear of the Prussian right wing, he seems to have concluded that this
+new force must be that of Wellington about to deal the like deadly
+blow against the French rear.[490] Accordingly he checked the advance
+of the Guard until the riddle could be solved. After the loss of
+nearly two hours it was solved by an aide-de-camp, who found that the
+force was D'Erlon's, and that it had retired.
+
+Meanwhile the battle had raged with scarcely a pause, the French guns
+working frightful havoc among the dense masses on the opposite slope.
+And yet, by withdrawing troops to his right, Blücher had for a time
+overborne Vandamme's corps and part of the Young Guard, unconscious
+that his insistence on this side jeopardized the whole Prussian army.
+His great adversary had long marked the immense extension of its
+concave front, the massing of its troops against St. Amand, and the
+remoteness of its left wing, which Grouchy's horsemen still held in
+check; and he now planned that, while Blücher assailed St. Amand and
+its hamlets, the Imperial Guard should crush the Prussian centre at
+Ligny, thrust its fragments back towards St. Amand, and finally shiver
+the greater part of the Prussian army on the anvil which D'Erlon's
+corps would provide further to the west. He now felt assured of
+victory; for the corps of Lobau was nearing Fleurus to take the place
+of the Imperial Guard; and the Prussians had no supports. "They have
+no reserve," he remarked, as he swept the hostile position with his
+glass. This was true: their centre consisted of troops that for four
+hours had been either torn by artillery or exhausted by the fiendish
+strife in Ligny.
+
+And now, as if the pent-up powers of Nature sought to cow rebellious
+man into awe and penitence, the artillery of the sky pealed forth.
+Crash after crash shook the ground; flash upon flash rent the
+sulphur-laden rack; darkness as of night stole over the scene; and a
+deluge of rain washed the blood-stained earth. The storm served but to
+aid the assailants in their last and fiercest efforts. Amidst the
+gloom the columns of the Imperial Guard crept swiftly down the slope
+towards Ligny, gave new strength to Gérard's men, and together with
+them broke through the defence. A little higher up the stream,
+Milhaud's cuirassiers struggled across, and, animated by the Emperor's
+presence, poured upon the shattered Prussian centre. No timely help
+could it now receive either from Blücher or Thielmann; for the
+darkness of the storm had shrouded from view the beginnings of the
+onset, and Thielmann had just suffered from a heedless assault on
+Grouchy's wing.
+
+As the thunder-clouds rolled by, the gleams of the setting sun lit up
+the field and revealed to Blücher the full extent of his error.[491]
+His army was cut in twain. In vain did he call in his troops from St.
+Amand: in vain did he gallop back to his squadrons between Bry and
+Sombref and lead them forward. Their dashing charge was suddenly
+checked at the brink of a hollow way; steady volleys tore away their
+front; and the cuirassiers completed their discomfiture. Blücher's
+charger was struck by a bullet, and in his fall badly bruised the
+Field-Marshal; but his trusty adjutant, Nostitz, managed to hide him
+in the twilight, while the cuirassiers swept onwards up the hill.
+Other Prussian squadrons, struggling to save the day, now charged home
+and drove back the steel-clad ranks. Some Uhlans and mounted Landwehr
+reached the place where the hero lay; and Nostitz was able to save
+that precious life. Sorely battered, but still defiant like their
+chief, the Prussian cavalry covered the retreat at the centre; the
+wings fell back in good order, the right holding on to the village of
+Bry till past midnight; but several battalions of disaffected troops
+broke up and did not rejoin their comrades. About 14,000 Prussians and
+11,000 French lay dead or wounded on that fatal field.[492]
+
+Napoleon, as he rode back to Fleurus after nightfall, could claim that
+he had won a great victory. Yet he had not achieved the results
+portrayed in Soult's despatch of 3.15 to Ney. This was due partly to
+Ney's failure to fulfil his part of the programme, and partly to the
+apparition of D'Erlon's corps, which led to the postponement of
+Napoleon's grand attack on Ligny.
+
+The mystery as to the movements of D'Erlon and his 20,000 men has
+never been fully cleared up. The evidence collected by Houssaye leaves
+little doubt that, as soon as the Emperor realized the serious nature
+of the conflict at Ligny, he sent orders to D'Erlon, whose vanguard
+was then near Frasnes, to diverge and attack Blücher's exposed flank.
+That is to say, D'Erlon was now called on to deal the decisive blow
+which had before been assigned to Ney, who was now warned, though very
+tardily, not to rely on the help of D'Erlon's corps. Misunderstanding
+his order, D'Erlon made for Fleurus, and thus alarmed Napoleon and
+delayed his final blow for wellnigh two hours. Moreover, at 6 p.m.,
+when D'Erlon might have assailed Blücher's right with crushing effect,
+he received an urgent command from Ney to return. Assuredly he should
+not have hesitated now that St. Amand was almost within cannon-shot,
+while Quatre Bras could scarcely be reached before nightfall; but he
+was under Ney's command; and, taking a rather pedantic view of the
+situation, he obeyed his immediate superior. Lastly, no one has
+explained why the Emperor, as soon as he knew the errant corps to be
+that of D'Erlon, did not recall him at once, bidding him fall on the
+exposed wing of the Prussians. Doubtless he assumed that D'Erlon would
+now fulfil his instructions and march against Bry; but he gave no
+order to this effect, and the unlucky corps vanished.
+
+At that time a desperate conflict was drawing to a close at Quatre
+Bras. Ney had delayed his attack until 2 p.m.; for, firstly, Reille's
+corps alone was at hand--D'Erlon's rearguard early on that morning
+being still near Thuin--and, secondly, the Marshal heard at 10 a.m.
+that Prussian columns were marching westwards from Sombref, a move
+that would endanger his rear behind Frasnes. Furthermore, the approach
+to Quatre Bras was flanked by the extensive Bossu Wood, and by a
+spinney to the right of the highway. Reille therefore counselled
+caution, lest the affair should prove to be "a Spanish battle where
+the English show themselves only when it is time." When, however,
+Reille's corps pushed home the attack, the weakness of the defence was
+speedily revealed. After a stout stand, the 7,000 Dutch-Belgians under
+the Prince of Orange were driven from the farm of Gémioncourt, which
+formed the key of the position, and many of them fled from the field.
+
+But at this crisis the Iron Duke himself rode up; and the arrival of a
+Dutch-Belgian brigade and of Picton's division of British infantry,
+about 3 p.m., sufficed to snatch victory from the Marshal's
+grasp.[493] He now opened a destructive artillery fire on our front,
+to which the weak Dutch-Belgian batteries could but feebly reply.
+Nothing, however, could daunt the hardihood of Picton's men. Shaking
+off the fatigue of a twelve hours' march from Brussels under a burning
+sun, they steadily moved down through the tall crops of rye towards
+the farm and beat off a fierce attack of Piré's horsemen. On the
+allied left, the 95th Rifles (now the Rifle Brigade) and Brunswickers
+kept a clutch on the Namur road which nothing could loosen. But our
+danger was mainly at the centre. Under cover of the farmhouse, French
+columns began to drive in our infantry, whose ammunition was already
+running low. Wellington determined to crush this onset by a
+counter-attack in line of Picton's division, the "fighting division"
+of the Peninsula. With threatening shouts they advanced to the charge;
+and before that moving wall the foe fell back in confusion beyond the
+rivulet.
+
+Still, the French drove back the Dutch in the wood, and the
+Brunswickers on its eastern fringe, killing the brave young Duke of
+Brunswick as he attempted to rally his raw recruits. Into the gap thus
+left the French horsemen pushed forward, making little impression upon
+our footmen, but compelling them to keep in a close formation, which
+exposed them in the intervals between the charges to heavy losses from
+the French cannon.
+
+So the afternoon wore on. Between 5 and 6 o'clock our weary troops
+were reinforced by Alten's division. A little later, a brigade of
+Kellermann's heavy cavalry came up from the rear and renewed Ney's
+striking power--but again too late. Already he was maddened by the
+tidings that D'Erlon's corps had been ordered off towards Ligny, and
+next by Napoleon's urgent despatch of 3.15 p.m. bidding him envelop
+Blücher's right. Blind with indignation at this seeming injustice, he
+at once sent an imperative summons to D'Erlon to return towards Quatre
+Bras, and launched a brigade of Kellermann's cuirassiers at those
+stubborn squares.
+
+The attack nearly succeeded. The horsemen rushed upon our 69th
+Regiment just when the Prince of Orange had foolishly ordered it back
+into line, caught it in confusion, and cut it up badly. Another
+regiment, the 33rd, fled into the wood, but afterwards re-formed; the
+other squares beat off the onset. The torrent, however, only swerved
+aside: on it rushed almost to the cross-roads, there to be stopped by
+a flanking fire from the wood and from the 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders
+lining the roadway in front.--"Ninety-second, don't fire till I tell
+you," exclaimed the Duke. The volley rang out when the horsemen were
+but thirty paces off. The effect was magical. Their front was torn
+asunder, and the survivors made off in a panic that spread to Foy's
+battalions of foot and disordered the whole array.[494]
+
+Ney still persisted in his isolated assaults; but reinforcements were
+now at hand that brought up Wellington's total to 31,000 men, while
+the French were less than 21,000. At nightfall the Marshal drew back
+to Frasnes; and there D'Erlon's errant corps at last appeared. Thanks
+to conflicting orders, it had oscillated between two battles and taken
+part in neither of them.
+
+Such was the bloody fight of Quatre Bras. It cost Wellington 4,600
+killed and wounded, mainly from the flower of the British infantry,
+three Highland regiments losing as many as 878 men. The French losses
+were somewhat lighter. Few conflicts better deserve the name of
+soldiers' battles. On neither side was the generalship brilliant.
+Twilight set in before an adequate force of British cavalry and
+artillery approached the field where their comrades on foot had for
+five hours held up in unequal contest against cannon, sabre, and
+lance. The victory was due to the strange power of the British soldier
+to save the situation when it seems past hope.
+
+Still less did it redound to the glory of Ney. Once more he had
+merited the name of bravest of the brave. At the crisis of the fight,
+when the red squares in front defied his utmost efforts, he brandished
+his sword in helpless wrath, praying that the bullets that flew by
+might strike him down. The rage of battle had, in fact, partly
+obscured his reason. He was now a fighter, scarcely a commander; and
+to this cause we may attribute his neglect adequately to support
+Kellermann's charge. Had this been done, Quatre Bras might have ended
+like Marengo. Far more serious, however, was his action in
+countermanding the Emperor's orders' by recalling D'Erlon to Quatre
+Bras; for, as we have seen, it robbed his master of the decisive
+victory that he had the right to expect at Ligny. Yet this error must
+not be unduly magnified. It is true that Napoleon at 3.15 sent a
+despatch to Ney bidding him envelop Blücher's flank; but the order did
+not reach him until some time after 5, when the allies were pressing
+him hard, and when he had just heard of D'Erlon's deflection towards
+the Emperor's battle.[495] He must have seen that his master misjudged
+the situation at Quatre Bras; and in such circumstances a Marshal of
+France was not without excuse when he corrected an order which he saw
+to be based on a misunderstanding. Some part of the blame must surely
+attach to the slow-paced D'Erlon and to the Emperor himself, who first
+underrated the difficulties both at Ligny and Quatre Bras, and then
+changed his plans when Ney was in the midst of a furious fight.
+
+Nevertheless, the general results obtained on June the 16th were
+enormously in favour of Napoleon. He had inflicted losses on the
+Prussians comparable with those of Jena-Auerstädt; and he retired to
+rest at Fleurus with the conviction that they must hastily fall back
+on their immediate bases of supply, Namur and Liège, leaving
+Wellington at his mercy. The rules of war and the dictates of humdrum
+prudence certainly prescribed this course for a beaten army,
+especially as Bülow's corps was known to be on the Liège road.
+
+Scarcely had the Prussian retreat begun in the darkness, when officers
+pressed up to Gneisenau, on whom now devolved all responsibility, for
+instructions as to the line of march. At once he gave the order to
+push northwards to Tilly. General Reiche thereupon pointed out that
+this village was not marked upon the smaller maps with which colonels
+were provided; whereupon the command was given to march towards the
+town of Wavre, farther distant on the same road. An officer was posted
+at the junction of roads to prevent regiments straying towards Namur;
+but some had already gone too far on this side to be recalled--a fact
+which was to confuse the French pursuers on the morrow. The greater
+part of Thielmann's corps had fallen back on Gembloux; but, with these
+exceptions, the mass of the Prussians made for Tilly, near which place
+they bivouacked. Early on the next morning their rearguard drew off
+from Sombref; and, thanks to the inertness of their foes, the line of
+retreat remained unknown. During the march to Wavre, their columns
+were cheered by the sight of the dauntless old Field-Marshal, who was
+able to sit a horse once more. Thielmann's corps did not leave
+Gembloux till 2 p.m., but reached Wavre in safety. Meanwhile Bülow's
+powerful corps was marching unmolested from the Roman road near Hannut
+to a position two miles east of Wavre, where it arrived at nightfall.
+Equally fortunate was the reserve ammunition train, which, unnoticed
+by the French cavalry, wound northwards by cross-roads through
+Gembloux, and reached the army by 5 p.m.[496]
+
+In his "Commentaries," written at St. Helena, Napoleon sharply
+criticised the action of Gneisenau in retreating northwards to Wavre,
+because that town is farther distant from Wellington's line of retreat
+than Sombref is from Quatre Bras, and is connected with it only by
+difficult cross-roads. He even asserted that the Prussians ought to
+have made for Quatre Bras, a statement which presumes that Gneisenau
+could have rallied his army sufficiently after Ligny to file away on
+the Quatre Bras _chaussée_ in front of Napoleon's victorious legions.
+But the Prussian army was virtually cut in half, and could not have
+reunited so as to attempt the perilous flank march across Napoleon's
+front. We shall, therefore, probably not be far wrong if we say of
+this criticism that the wish was father to the thought. A march on
+Quatre Bras would have been a safe means of throwing away the Prussian
+army.[497]
+
+To the present writer it seems probable that Gneisenau's action, in
+the first instance, was undertaken as the readiest means of reuniting
+the Prussian wings. But Gneisenau cannot have been blind to the
+advantages of a reunion with Wellington, which a northerly march would
+open out. The report which he sent to his Sovereign from Wavre shows
+that by that time he believed the Prussian position to be "not
+disadvantageous"; while in a private letter written at noon on the
+17th he expressly states that the Duke will accept battle at Waterloo
+if the Prussians help him with two army corps. Gneisenau's only doubts
+seem to have been whether Wellington would fight and whether his own
+ammunition would be to hand in time. Until he was sure on these two
+points caution was certainly necessary.
+
+The results of this prompt rally of the Prussians were infinitely
+enhanced by the fact that Wellington soon found it out, while Napoleon
+did not grasp its full import until he was in the thick of the battle
+of Waterloo. To the final steps that led up to this dramatic finale we
+must now briefly refer.
+
+It is strange that Gneisenau, on the night of the 16th, took no steps
+to warn his allies of the Prussian retreat, and merely left them to
+infer it from his last message, that he must do so if he were not
+succoured. Müffling, indeed, says that a Prussian officer was sent,
+but was shot by the French on the British left wing. Seeing, however,
+that Wellington had beaten back Ney's forces before the Prussian
+retreat began, the story may be dismissed as a lame excuse of
+Gneisenau's neglect.[498]
+
+From the risk of being crushed by Napoleon, the Anglo-Dutch forces
+were saved by the vigilance of their leader and the supineness of the
+enemy. After a brief rest at Genappe, the Duke was back at the front
+at dawn, and despatched two cavalry patrols towards Sombref to find
+out the results of the battle. The patrol, which was accompanied by
+the Duke's aide-de-camp, Colonel Gordon, came into touch with the
+Prussian rear. On his return soon after 10, the staff-officer, Basil
+Jackson, was at once sent to bid Picton immediately prepare to fall
+back on Waterloo, an order which that veteran received very
+sulkily.[499] Shortly after Gordon's return, a Prussian orderly
+galloped up and confirmed the news of their retreat, which drew from
+the Duke the remark: "Blücher has had a d---- d good licking and gone
+back to Wavre.... As he has gone back, we must go too." The infantry
+now began to file off by degrees behind hedges or under cover of a
+screen of cavalry and skirmishers, these keeping Ney's men busy in
+front, until the bulk of the army was well through the narrow and
+crowded street of Genappe.
+
+And how came it that Napoleon and Ney missed this golden opportunity?
+In the first case, it was due to their chiefs of staff, who had not
+sent overnight any tidings as to the results of their respective
+battles. Until Count Flahaut returned to the Imperial headquarters
+about 8 a.m., Napoleon knew nothing as to the position of affairs at
+Quatre Bras; while a similar carelessness on Soult's part left Ney
+powerless to attempt anything against Wellington until somewhat later
+in the morning.
+
+But Napoleon's inaction lasted nearly up to 11.30. How is this to be
+accounted for? In reply, some attribute his conduct to illness of body
+and torpor of mind--a topic that will engage our attention presently;
+others assert that the army urgently needed rest; but the effective
+cause was his belief that the Prussians were retreating eastwards away
+from Wellington. This was the universal belief at headquarters. He had
+ordered Grouchy to follow them at dawn; Grouchy's lieutenant, Pajol,
+struck to the south-east, and by 4 a.m. reported that Blücher was
+heading for Namur. Such was the news that the Emperor heard from
+Grouchy about 8 a.m.--he refused to grant him an audience earlier.
+Forthwith he dictated a letter to Ney to the following effect: that
+the Prussians had been routed and were being pursued towards Namur;
+that the British could not attack him (Ney) at Quatre Bras, for the
+Emperor would in that case march on their flank and destroy them in an
+instant; that he heard with pain how isolated Ney's troops had been on
+the 16th, and ordered him to close up his divisions and occupy Quatre
+Bras. If he could not effect that task, he must warn the Emperor, who
+would then come. Finally, he warned him that "the present day is
+needed to finish this operation, to complete the munitions of war, to
+rally stragglers and call in detachments."
+
+A singular day's programme this for the man who had trebled the
+results of the victory of Jena by the remorseless energy of the
+pursuit. After dictating this despatch, he ordered Lobau to take a
+division of infantry for the support of Pajol on the Namur road. He
+then set out for St. Amand in his carriage. On arriving at the place
+of carnage he mounted his horse and rode slowly over the battle-field,
+seeing to the needs of the wounded of both nations with kindly care,
+and everywhere receiving the enthusiastic acclaim of his soldiery.
+This done, he dismounted and talked long and earnestly with Grouchy,
+Gérard, and others on the state of political parties at Paris. They
+listened with ill-concealed restlessness. At Fleurus Grouchy asked for
+definite orders, and received the brusque reply that he must wait. But
+now, towards 11 o'clock, the Emperor hears that Wellington is still at
+Quatre Bras, that Pajol has captured eight Prussian guns on the Namur
+road, and that Excelmans has seen masses of the enemy at Gembloux. At
+once he turns from politics to war.
+
+His plan is formed. While he himself falls on the British, Grouchy is
+to pursue the Prussians with the corps of Gérard and Vandamme, the
+division of Teste (from Lobau's command), and the cavalry corps of
+Pajol, Excelmans, and Milhaud. The Marshal begged to be relieved of
+the task, setting forth the danger of pursuing foes that were now
+reunited and far away. It was in vain. About 11.30 the Emperor
+developed his verbal instructions in a written order penned by
+Bertrand. It bade Grouchy proceed to Gembloux with the forces stated
+above (except Milhaud's corps and a division of Vandamme's corps,
+which were to follow Napoleon) to reconnoitre on the roads leading to
+Namur and Maestricht, to pursue the enemy, and inform the Emperor as
+to their intentions. If they have evacuated Namur, it is to be
+occupied by the National Guards. "It is important to know what Blücher
+and Wellington mean to do, and whether they propose reuniting their
+armies in order to cover Brussels and Liège, by trying their fortune
+in another battle...."[500]
+
+As Napoleon's fate was to depend largely on an intelligent carrying
+out of this order, we may point out that it consisted of two chief
+parts, the general aim and the means of carrying out that aim. The aim
+was to find out the direction of the Prussians' retreat, and to
+prevent them joining Wellington, whether for the defence of Brussels
+or of Liège. The means were an advance to Gembloux and scouting along
+the Namur and Maestricht roads. The chance that the allies might
+reunite for the defence of Brussels was alluded to, but no measures
+were prescribed as to scouting in that direction: these were left to
+Grouchy's discretion. It must be confessed that the order was not
+wholly clear. To name the towns of Brussels and Liège (which are sixty
+miles apart) was sufficiently distracting; and to suggest that only
+the eastern and south-eastern roads should be explored was certain to
+limit Grouchy's immediate attention to those roads alone. For he
+distrusted alike his own abilities and the power of the force placed
+at his disposal; and an officer thus situated is sure to inclose
+himself in the strict letter of his instructions. This was what he
+did, with disastrous results.
+
+Grouchy had hitherto held no important command. As a cavalry general
+he had done brilliant service; but now he was launched on a duty that
+called for strategic insight. His force was scarcely equal to the
+work. True, it was strong for scouting, having nearly 6,000 light
+horse; but the 27,000 footmen of Vandamme's and Gérard's corps had
+been exhausted by the deadly strife in the villages and were expecting
+a day's rest. Their commanders also resented being placed under
+Grouchy. In fact, leaders and men disliked the task, and set about it
+in a questioning, grumbling way. The infantry did not start till about
+3 o'clock and only reached Gembloux late that evening--nine miles in
+six hours! The cavalry, too, was so badly handled by Excelmans around
+Gembloux that Thielmann's corps slipped away northward. The rain fell
+in torrents, obscuring the view; but it seems strange that the
+direction of the Prussian retreat was not surmised until about
+nightfall.
+
+Meanwhile, on the French left wing, Ney had been equally lax. He must
+have received Napoleon's order to occupy Quatre Bras, "if there was
+only a rearguard there," a little before 10 a.m.; but he took no steps
+beyond futile skirmishing, and apparently knew not that the British
+were slipping away.
+
+About 2 p.m., when the British cavalry was ready to turn rein, the
+Duke and Sir H. Vivian saw the glint of cuirasses along the Sombref
+road. It was the vanguard of the Emperor's advance. Furious that his
+foes were escaping from his clutches, Napoleon had left his carriage
+and was pressing on with the foremost horsemen. To Ney he sent an
+imperative summons to advance, and when that Marshal came up, greeted
+him with the words "You have ruined France." But it was time for
+deeds, not words; and he now put forth all his strength. At once he
+flung his powerful cavalry at the British rear; and even now it might
+have gone hard with Wellington had not the lowering clouds burst in a
+deluge of rain. Quickly the road was ploughed up; and the cornfields
+became impassable for the French horsemen.
+
+While the pursuers struggled in the mire and aimed wildly through the
+pelting haze, the British rearguard raced for safety. Says Captain
+Mercer of the artillery: "We galloped for our lives through the storm,
+striving to gain the hamlets, Lord Uxbridge urging us on, crying 'Make
+haste; for God's sake gallop, or you will be taken.'"[501] Gaining on
+the pursuit, they reached Genappe, and, filing over its bridge and up
+the narrow street, prepared to check the French. At this time the
+Emperor galloped up, drenched to the skin, his gray overcoat streaming
+with rain, his hat bent out of all shape by the storm.[502] He was
+once more the artillery officer of Toulon. "Fire on them," he shouted
+to his gunners, "they are English." A sharp skirmish ensued, in which
+our 7th Hussars, charging down into the village, were worsted by the
+French lancers, "an arm," says Cotton, "with which we were quite
+unacquainted." In their retreat they were saved by the Life Guards,
+whose weight and strength carried all before them.
+
+At last, on the ridge of Waterloo, Wellington's force turned at bay.
+Napoleon, coming up at 6.30 to the brow of the opposite slope, ordered
+a strong force to advance into the sodden clay of the valley. It was
+promptly torn by a heavy cannonade; and the truth was borne in on him
+that the British had escaped him for that day.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NAPOLEON'S HEALTH IN THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
+
+
+As many writers assert that Napoleon at this time was but the shadow
+of his former self, we must briefly review the evidence of
+contemporaries on this subject; for if the assertion be true, the
+Battle of Waterloo deserves little notice.
+
+It seems that for some time past there had been a slight falling off
+in his mental and bodily powers; but when it began and how far it
+progressed is matter of doubt. Some observers, including Chaptal, date
+it from the hardships of the retreat from Moscow. This is very
+doubtful. He ended that campaign in a better state of health than he
+had enjoyed during the advance. Besides, in none of his wars did he
+show such vitality and fertility of resource as in the desperate
+struggle of 1814, which Wellington pronounced his masterpiece. After
+this there seems to have been a period of something like relapse at
+Elba. In September, 1814, Sir Neil Campbell reported: "Napoleon seems
+to have lost all habits of study and sedentary application. He
+occasionally falls into a state of inactivity never known before, and
+sometimes reposes in his bedroom of late for several hours in the day;
+takes exercise in a carriage and not on horseback. His health
+excellent and his spirits not at all depressed" ("F.O.," France, No.
+114). During his ten months at Elba he became very stout and his
+cheeks puffy.
+
+On his return to France he displayed his old activity; and the most
+credible witnesses assert that his faculties showed no marked decline.
+Guizot, who saw a good deal of him, writes: "I perceive in the
+intellect and conduct of Napoleon during the Hundred Days no sign of
+enfeebling: I find in his judgment and actions his accustomed
+qualities." In a passage quoted above (p. 449) Mollien notes that his
+master was a prey to lassitude after some hours of work, but he says
+nothing on the subject of disease; and in a man of forty-six, who had
+lived a hard life and a "fast" life, we should not expect to find the
+capacity for the sustained intellectual efforts of the Consulate.
+Méneval noticed nothing worse in his master's condition than a
+tendency to "réverie": he detected no disease. The statement of
+Pasquier that his genius and his physical powers were in a profound
+decline is a manifest exaggeration, uttered by a man who did not once
+see him before Waterloo, who was driven from Paris by him, and strove
+to discourage his supporters. Still less can we accept the following
+melodramatic description, by Thiébault, of Napoleon's appearance on
+Sunday, June 11th: "His look, once so formidable and piercing, had
+lost its strength and even its steadiness: his face had lost all
+expression and all its force: his mouth, compressed, had none of its
+former witchery: and his gait was as perplexed as his demeanour and
+gestures were undecided: the ordinary pallor of his skin was replaced
+by a strongly pronounced greenish tinge which struck me."
+
+Let us follow this wreck of a man to the war and see what he
+accomplished. At dawn on June 12th he entered his landau and drove to
+Laon, a distance of some seventy miles. On the next day he got through
+an immense amount of work, and proceeded to Beaumont. On the 15th of
+June he was up at dawn, mounted his horse, and remained on horseback,
+directing the operations against the Prussians, for nearly eighteen
+hours. This time was broken by one spell of rest. Near Charleroi, says
+Baudus, an officer of Soult's staff, he was overcome by sleep and
+heeded not the cheers of a passing column: at this Baudus was
+indignant, but most unjustly so. Napoleon needed these snatches of
+sleep as a relief to prolonged mental tension. At night he returned to
+Charleroi, "overcome with fatigue." On the next day he was still very
+weary, says Ségur; he did not exert himself until the battle of Ligny
+began at 2.30; but he then rode about till nightfall, through a time
+of terrible heat. Fatigue showed itself again early on the morrow,
+when he declined to see Grouchy before 8 a.m. Yet his review of the
+troops and his long discussions on Parisian politics were clearly due,
+not to torpor, but to the belief that he had sundered the allies, and
+could occupy Brussels at will; for when he found out his mistake, he
+showed all the old energy, riding with the vanguard from Quatre Bras
+to La Belle Alliance through the violent rain.
+
+Whatever, then, were his ailments, they were not incompatible with
+great and sustained activity. What were those ailments? He is said to
+have suffered from intermittent affections of the lower bowel, of the
+bladder, and of the skin, the two last resulting in ischury (Dorsey
+Gardner's "Quatre Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo," pp. 31-37; O'Connor
+Morris, pp. 164-166, note). The list is formidable; but it contains
+its own refutation. A man suffering from these diseases, unless in
+their earliest and mildest stages, could not have done what Napoleon
+did. Ischury, if at all pronounced, is a bar to horse exercise.
+Doubtless his long rides aggravated any trouble that he had in this
+respect, for Pétiet, who was attached to the staff, noticed that he
+often dismounted and sat before a little table that was brought to him
+for the convenience of examining maps; but Pétiet thought this was
+due, not to ill health (about which he says nothing), but to his
+corpulence ("Souvenirs militaires," pp. 196 and 212). Prince Jerome
+and a surgeon of the imperial staff assured Thiers that Napoleon was
+suffering from a disease of the bladder; but this was contradicted by
+the valet, Marchand; and if he really was suffering from all, or any
+one, of the maladies named above, it is very strange that the surgeon
+allowed him to expose himself to the torrential rain of the night of
+the 17th-18th for a purpose which a few trusty officers could equally
+well have discharged (see next chapter). Furthermore, Baron Larrey,
+Chief Surgeon of the army, who saw Napoleon before the campaign began
+and during its course, _says not a word about the Emperor's health_
+("Relation médicale des Campagnes, 1815-1840," pp. 5-11).
+
+Again, the intervals of drowsiness on the 15th and 18th of June, on
+which the theory of physical collapse is largely based, may be
+explained far more simply. Napoleon had long formed the habit of
+working a good deal at night and of seeking repose during a busy day
+by brief snatches of slumber. The habit grew on him at Elba; and this,
+together with his activity since daybreak, accounts for his sleeping
+near Charleroi. The same explanation probably holds good as to his
+occasional drowsiness at Waterloo. He scarcely closed his eyes before
+3.30 a.m.; and he cannot have been physically fit for the unexpectedly
+long and severe strain of that Sunday. That he began the day well we
+know from a French soldier named Barral (grandfather of the author of
+"L'Epopée de Waterloo"), who looked at him carefully at 9.30 a.m., and
+wrote: "He seemed to me in very good health, extraordinarily active
+and preoccupied." Decoster, the peasant guide who was with Napoleon
+the whole day, afterwards told Sir W. Scott that he was calm and
+confident up to the crisis. Gourgaud, who clung to him during the
+flight to Paris and thence to Rochefort, notes nothing more serious
+than great fatigue; Captain Maitland, when he received him on board
+the "Bellerophon," thought him "a remarkably strong, well-built man."
+During the voyage to St. Helena he suffered from nothing worse than
+_mal de mer_; he ate meat in exceptional quantity, even in the
+tropics.
+
+Very noteworthy, too, is Lavalette's narrative. When he saw Napoleon
+before his departure from Paris to the Belgian frontier, he found him
+suffering from depression and a pain in the chest; but he avers that,
+on the return from Waterloo, apart from one "frightful epileptic
+laugh," Napoleon speedily settled down to his ordinary behaviour: not
+a word is added as to his health. (Sir W. Scott, "Life of Napoleon,"
+vol. viii., p. 496; Gourgaud, "Campagne de 1815," and "Journal de St.
+Hélène," vol. ii., Appendix 32; "Narrative of Captain Maitland," p.
+208; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxxiii.; Houssaye ridicules the stories
+of his ill-health.)
+
+What is the upshot of it all? The evidence seems to show that,
+whatever was Napoleon's condition before the campaign, he was in his
+usual health amidst the stern joys of war. And this is consonant with
+his previous experience: he throve on events which wore ordinary
+beings to the bone: the one thing that he could not endure was the
+worry of parliamentary opposition, which aroused a nervous irritation
+not to be controlled and concealed without infinite effort. During the
+campaign we find very few trustworthy proofs of his decline and much
+that points to energy of resolve and great rallying power after
+exertion. If he was suffering from three illnesses, they were
+assuredly of a highly intermittent nature.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+WATERLOO
+
+
+Would Wellington hold on to his position? This was the thought that
+troubled the Emperor on the night after the wild chase from Quatre
+Bras. Before retiring to rest at the Caillou farm, he went to the
+front with Bertrand and a young officer, Gudin by name, and peered at
+the enemy's fires dimly seen through the driving sheets of rain.
+Satisfied that the allies were there, he returned to the farm,
+dictated a few letters on odious parliamentary topics, and then sought
+a brief repose. But the same question drove sleep from his eyes. At
+one o'clock he was up again and with the faithful Bertrand plashed to
+the front through long rows of drenched recumbent forms. Once more
+they strained their ears to catch through the hiss of the rain some
+sound of a muffled retirement. Strange thuds came now and again from
+the depths of the wood of Hougoumont: all else was still. At last,
+over the slope on the north-east crowned by the St. Lambert Wood there
+stole the first glimmer of gray; little by little the murky void
+bodied forth dim shapes, and the watch-fires burnt pale against the
+orient gleams. It was enough. He turned back to the farm. Wellington
+could scarcely escape him now.
+
+While the Emperor was making the round of his outposts, a somewhat
+cryptic despatch from Grouchy reached headquarters. The Marshal
+reported from Gembloux, at 10 p.m. of the 17th, that part of the
+Prussians had retired towards Wavre, seemingly with a view to joining
+Wellington; that their centre, led by Blücher, had fallen back on
+Perwez in the direction of Liège; while a column with artillery had
+made for Namur; if he found the enemy's chief force to be on the Liège
+_chaussée_, he would pursue them along that road; if towards Wavre, he
+would follow them thither "in order that they may not gain Brussels,
+and so as to separate them from Wellington." This last phrase ought
+surely to have convinced Napoleon that Grouchy had not fully
+understood his instructions; for to march on Wavre would not stop the
+Prussians joining Wellington, if they were in force.[503]
+
+Moreover, Napoleon now knew, what Grouchy did not know, that the
+Prussians were in force at Wavre. It seems strange that the Emperor
+did not send this important news to his Marshal; but perhaps we may
+explain this by his absence at the outposts. As it was, no clear
+statement of the facts of the case was sent off to Grouchy _until 10
+a.m. of the 18th_. He then informed his Marshal that, according to all
+the reports, three bodies of Prussians had made for Wavre. Grouchy
+"must therefore move thither--in order to approach us, to put yourself
+within the sphere of our operations, and to keep up your
+communications with us, pushing before you those bodies of Prussians
+which have taken this direction and which may have stopped at Wavre,
+where you ought to arrive as soon as possible." Grouchy, however, was
+not to neglect Blücher's troops that were on his right, but must pick
+up their stragglers and keep up his communications with Napoleon.
+
+Such was the letter; and again we must pronounce it far from clear.
+Grouchy was not bidden to throw all his efforts on the side of Wavre;
+and he was not told whether he must attack the enemy at that town, or
+interpose a wedge between them and Wellington, or support Napoleon's
+right. Now Napoleon would certainly have prescribed an immediate
+concentration of Grouchy's force towards the north-west for one of the
+last two objects, had he believed Blücher about to attempt a flank
+march against the chief French army. Obviously it had not yet entered
+his thoughts that so daring a step would be taken by a foe whom he
+pictured as scattered and demoralized by defeat.[504]
+
+As we have seen, the Prussians were not demoralized; they had not gone
+off in three directions; and Blücher was not making for Liège. He was
+at Wavre and was planning a master-stroke. At midnight, he had sent to
+Wellington, through Müffling, a written promise that at dawn he would
+set the corps of Bülow in motion against Napoleon's right; that of
+Pirch I. was to follow; while the other two corps would also be ready
+to set out. Wellington received this despatch about 3 a.m. of the
+18th, and thereupon definitely resolved to offer battle. A similar
+message was sent off from Wavre at 9.30 a.m., but with a postscript,
+in which we may discern Gneisenau's distrust of Wellington, begging
+Müffling to find out accurately whether the Duke really had determined
+to fight at Waterloo. Meanwhile Bülow's corps had begun its march from
+the south-east of Wavre, but with extreme slowness, which was due to a
+fire at Wavre, to the crowded state of the narrow road, and also to
+the misgivings of Gneisenau. It certainly was not owing to fear of
+Grouchy; for at that time the Prussian leaders believed that only
+15,000 French were on their track. Not until midday, when the
+cannonade on the west grew to a roar, did Gneisenau decide to send
+forward Ziethen's corps towards Ohain, on Wellington's left; but
+thereafter the defence of the Dyle against Grouchy was left solely to
+Thielmann's corps.[505]
+
+While this storm was brewing in the east, everything in front of the
+Emperor seemed to portend a prosperous day. High as he rated
+Wellington's numbers, he had no doubt as to the result. "The enemy's
+army," he remarked just after breakfast, "outnumbers ours by more than
+a fourth; nevertheless we have ninety chances out of a hundred in our
+favour." Ney, who then chanced to come in, quickly remarked: "No
+doubt, sire, if Wellington were simple enough to wait for you; but I
+come to inform you that he is retreating." "You have seen wrong," was
+the retort, "the time is gone for that." Soult did not share his
+master's assurance of victory, and once more begged him to recall some
+of Grouchy's force; to which there came the brutal reply: "Because you
+have been beaten by Wellington you think him a great general. And I
+tell you that Wellington is a bad general, that the English are bad
+troops, and that this will be the affair of a _déjeuner_." "I hope it
+may," said Soult. Reille afterwards came in, and, finding how
+confident the Emperor was, mentioned the matter to D'Erlon, who
+advised his colleague to return and caution him. "What is the use,"
+rejoined Reille; "he would not listen to us."
+
+In truth, Napoleon was in no mood to receive advice. He admitted on
+the voyage to St. Helena that "he had not exactly reconnoitred
+Wellington's position."[506] And, indeed, there seemed to be nothing
+much to reconnoitre. The Mont St. Jean, or Waterloo, position does not
+impress the beholder with any sense of strength. The so-called valley,
+separating the two arrays, is a very shallow depression, nowhere more
+than fifty feet below the top of the northern slope. It is divided
+about halfway across by an undulation that affords good cover to
+assailants about to attack La Haye Sainte. Another slight rise crosses
+the vale halfway between this farm and Hougoumont, and facilitates the
+approach to that part of the ridge. In fact, only on their extreme
+left could the defenders feel much security; for there the slope is
+steeper, besides being protected in front by marshy ground, copses,
+and the hamlets of Papelotte, La Haye, and Smohain.
+
+Napoleon paid little attention to the left wing of the allies. The
+centre and right centre were evidently Wellington's weak points, and
+there, especially near the transverse rise, our leader chiefly massed
+his troops. Yet there, too, the defence had some advantages. The front
+of the centre was protected by La Haye Sainte, "a strong stone and
+brick building," says Cotton, "with a narrow orchard in front and a
+small garden in the rear, both of which were hedged around, except on
+the east side of the garden, where there was a strong wall running
+along the high-road." It is generally admitted that Wellington gave
+too little attention to this farm, which Napoleon saw to be the key of
+the allied position. Loopholes were made in its south and east walls,
+but none in the western wall, and half of the barn-door opening on the
+fields had been torn off for firewood by soldiers overnight. The place
+was held at first by 376 men of the King's German Legion, who threw up
+a barricade at the barn-door, as also on the high-road outside the
+orchard; but, as the sappers and carpenters were removed to
+Hougoumont, little could be done.
+
+Far stronger was the château of Hougoumont, which had been built with
+a view to defence. The outbuildings were now loopholed, and scaffolds
+were erected to enable our men to fire over the garden walls which
+commanded the orchard. The defence was intrusted to the light
+companies of the second battalions of Coldstreams and Foot Guards (now
+the Grenadier Guards); while the wood in front was held by Nassauers
+and Hanoverians. Chassé's Dutch-Belgians were posted at the village of
+Braine la Leud to give further security to Wellington's right.[507]
+Napoleon's intention was to pierce the allied centre behind La Haye
+Sainte, where their lines were thin. But he did not know that behind
+the crest ran a sunken cross-road, which afforded excellent cover, and
+that the ground, sloping away towards Wellington's rear, screened his
+second line and reserves.
+
+It was this peculiarity of the ground, so different from that of the
+exposed slope behind Ligny, that helped the great master of defensive
+tactics secretly to meet and promptly to foil every onset of his
+mighty antagonist.
+
+While under-estimating the strength of Wellington's position Napoleon
+over-rated his numbers. As we have seen, he remarked that the allies
+exceeded the French by more than a fourth. Now, as his own numbers
+were fully 74,000, he credited the allies with upwards of 92,000. In
+reality, they were not more than 67,000, as Wellington had left 17,000
+at Hal; but if this powerful detachment had been included, Napoleon's
+estimate would not have been far wrong. At St. Helena he gave out that
+his despatch of cavalry towards Hal had induced Wellington to weaken
+his army to this extent; but Houssaye has shown that the statement is
+an entire fabrication. The Emperor certainly believed that all
+Wellington's troops were close at hand.[508]
+
+The Duke, on his side, would doubtless have retreated had he known
+that the Prussian advance would be as slow as it was. His composite
+forces, in which five languages were spoken, were unfit for a long
+contest with Napoleon's army. The Dutch-Belgian troops, numbering
+17,000, were known to be half-hearted; the 2,800 Nassauers, who had
+served under Soult in 1813, were not above suspicion; the 11,000
+Hanoverians and 5,900 Brunswickers were certain to do their best, but
+they were mostly raw troops. In fact, Wellington could thoroughly rely
+only on his 23,990 British troops and the 5,800 men of the King's
+German Legion; and among our men there was a large proportion of
+recruits or drafts from militia battalions. Events were to prove that
+this motley gathering could hold its own while at rest; but during the
+subsequent march to Paris Wellington passed the scathing judgment
+that, with the exception of his Peninsular men, it was "the worst
+equipped army, with the worst staff, ever brought together."[509] This
+was after he had lost De Lancey, Picton, Ponsonby, and many other able
+officers; but on the morning of the 18th there was no lack of skill in
+the placing of the troops, witness General Kennedy's arrangement of
+Alten's division so that it might readily fall into the "chequer"
+pattern, which proved so effective against the French horsemen.
+
+Napoleon's confidence seemed to be well founded: he had 246 cannon
+against the allies' 156, and his preponderance in cavalry of the line
+was equally great. Above all, there were the 13,000 footmen of the
+Imperial Guard, flanked by 3,000 cavaliers. The effective strength of
+the two armies has been reckoned by Kennedy as in the proportion of
+four to seven. Why, then, did he not attack at once? There were two
+good reasons: first that his men had scattered widely overnight in
+search of food and shelter, and now assembled very slowly on the
+plateau; second, that the rain did not abate until 8 a.m., and even
+then slight drizzles came on, leaving the ground totally unfit for the
+movements of horse and artillery. Leaving the troops time to form and
+the ground to improve, the Emperor consulted his charts and took a
+brief snatch of sleep. He then rode to the front; and, as the
+gray-coated figure passed along those imposing lines, the enthusiasm
+found vent in one rolling roar of "Vive l'Empereur," which was wafted
+threateningly to the thinner array of the allies. There the leader
+received no whole-hearted acclaim save from the men who knew him; but
+among these there was no misgiving. "If," wrote Major Simmons of the
+95th, "you could have seen the proud and fierce appearance of the
+British at that tremendous moment, there was not one eye but gleamed
+with joy."[510]
+
+The first shots were fired at 11.50 to cover the assault on the wood
+of Hougoumont by Prince Jerome Bonaparte's division of Reille's corps.
+The Nassauers and Hanoverians briskly replied, and Cleeve's German
+battery opened fire with such effect that the leading column fell
+back. Again the assailants came on in greater force under shelter of a
+tremendous cannonade: this time they gained a lodgment, and step by
+step drove the defenders back through the copse. Though checked for a
+time by the Guards, they mastered the wood south of the house by about
+one o'clock. There they should have stopped. Napoleon's orders were
+for them to gain a hold only on the wood and throw out a good line of
+skirmishers: all that he wanted on this side was to prevent any
+turning movement from Wellington's advanced outposts. Reille also sent
+orders not to attack the château; but the Prince and his men rushed on
+at those massive walls, only to meet with a bloody repulse. A second
+attack fared no better; and though some 12,000 of Reille's men
+finally attacked the mansion on three sides, yet our Guards, when
+reinforced, beat off every onset of wellnigh ten times their numbers.
+
+For some time the Emperor paid little heed to this waste of energy; at
+2 p.m. he recalled Jerome to his side. He now saw the need of
+husbanding his resources; for a disaster had overtaken the French
+right centre. He had fixed one o'clock for a great attack on La Haye
+Sainte by D'Erlon's corps of nearly 20,000 men. But a delay occurred
+owing to a cause that we must now describe.
+
+Before his great battery of eighty guns belched forth at the centre
+and blotted out the view, he swept the horizon with his glass, and
+discerned on the skirts of the St. Lambert wood, six miles away, a
+dark object. Was it a spinney, or a body of troops? His staff officers
+could not agree; but his experienced eye detected a military
+formation. Thereupon some of the staff asserted that they must be
+Blücher's men, others that they were Grouchy's. Here he could scarcely
+be in a doubt. Not long after 10 a.m. he received from Grouchy a
+despatch, dated from Gembloux at 3 a.m., reporting that the Prussians
+were retiring in force on Brussels to concentrate or to join
+Wellington, and that he (Grouchy) was on the point of starting for
+Sart-à-Walhain and Wavre. He said nothing as to preventing any flank
+march that the enemy might make from Wavre with a view to joining
+their allies straightway. Therefore he was not to be looked for on
+this side of Wavre, and those troops must consequently be
+Prussians.[511]
+
+All doubts were removed when a Prussian hussar officer, captured by
+Marbot's vedettes near Lasne, was brought to Napoleon. He bore a
+letter from Bülow to Müffling, stating that the former was on the
+march to attack the French right wing. In reply to Napoleon's
+questions the captain stated that Bülow's whole corps was in motion,
+but wisely said nothing about the other two corps that were following.
+Such as it was, the news in no way alarmed the Emperor. As Bülow was
+about to march against the French flank, Grouchy must march on his
+flank and take his corps _en flagrant délit_. That is the purport of
+the postscript added to a rather belated reply that was about to be
+sent off to Grouchy at 1 p.m. It did not reach him till 5 p.m., too
+late to influence the result, even had he desisted from his attack on
+Wavre, which he did not.[512]
+
+We return to the Emperor's actions at half-past one. Domont's and
+Subervie's light horsemen were sent out towards Frischermont to
+observe the Prussians; the great battery of eighty guns, placed on the
+intermediate rise, now opened fire; and under cover of its deadly
+blasts D'Erlon's four divisions dipped down into the valley. They were
+ranged in closely packed battalions spread out in a front of some two
+hundred men, a formation that Napoleon had not suggested, but did not
+countermand. The left column, that of Alix, was supported by cavalry
+on its flank. Part of this division gained the orchard of La Haye
+Sainte, and attacked the farm buildings on all sides. From his
+position hard by a great elm above the farm, Wellington had marked
+this onset, and now sent down a Hanoverian battalion to succour their
+compatriots; but in the cutting of the main road it was charged and
+routed by Milhaud's cuirassiers, who pursued them up the slope until
+the rally sounded. Farther to the east, the French seemed still surer
+of victory. Bylandt's Dutch-Belgians, some 3,000 strong, after
+suffering heavily in their cruelly exposed position, wavered at the
+approach of Donzelot's column, and finally broke into utter rout,
+pelted in their flight with undeserved gibes from the British in their
+rear. These consisted of Picton's division, the heroes of Quatre Bras.
+Here they had as yet sustained little loss, thanks to the shelter of
+the hollow cross-road and a hedge.
+
+The French columns now topped the ridge, uttering shouts of triumph,
+and began to deploy into line for the final charge. This was the time,
+as Picton well knew, to pour in a volley and dash on with the cold
+steel; but as he cheered on his men, a bullet struck him in the temple
+and cut short his brilliant career. His tactics were successful at
+some points while at others our thin lines barely held up against the
+masses. Certainly no decisive result could have been gained but for
+the timely onset of Ponsonby's Union Brigade--the 1st Royal Dragoons,
+the Scots Greys, and the Inniskillings.
+
+At the time when Lord Uxbridge gave the order, "Royals and
+Inniskillings charge, the Greys support," Alix's division was passing
+the cross-road. But as the Royals dashed in, "the head of the column
+was seized with a panic, gave us a fire which brought down about
+twenty men, then went instantly about and endeavoured to regain the
+opposite side of the hedges; but we were upon and amongst them, and
+had nothing to do but press them down the slope." So wrote Captain
+Clark Kennedy, who sabred the French colour-bearer and captured the
+eagle. Equally brilliant was the charge of the Inniskillings, in the
+centre of the brigade. They rode down Donzelot's division, jostled its
+ranks into a helpless mass, and captured a great number of prisoners.
+The Scots Greys, too, succouring the hard-pressed Gordons, fell
+fiercely on Marcognet's division. "Both regiments," wrote Major
+Winchester of the 92nd, "charged together, calling out 'Scotland for
+ever'; the Scots Greys actually walked over this column, and in less
+than three minutes it was totally destroyed. The grass field, which
+was only an instant before as green and smooth as Phoenix Park, was
+covered with killed and wounded, knapsacks, arms, and
+accoutrements."[513]
+
+Meanwhile, on the left of the brigade, Vandeleur's horse and some
+Dutch-Belgian dragoons drove back Durutte's men past Papelotte. On its
+right, the 2nd Life Guards cut up the cuirassiers while disordered by
+the sudden dip of the hollow cross-road; and further to the west, the
+1st Dragoon Guards and 1st Life Guards met them at the edge of the
+plateau, clashed furiously, burst through them, and joined in the wild
+charge of Ponsonby's brigade up the opposite slope, cutting the traces
+of forty French cannon and sabring the gunners.
+
+But Napoleon was awaiting the moment for revenge, and now sent forward
+a solid force of lancers and dragoons, who fell on our disordered
+bands with resistless force, stabbing the men and overthrowing their
+wearied steeds. Here fell the gallant Ponsonby with hundreds of his
+men, and, had not Vandeleur's horse checked the pursuit, very few
+could have escaped. Still, this brigade had saved the day. Two of
+D'Erlon's columns had gained a hold on the ridge, until the sudden
+charge of our horsemen turned victory into a disastrous rout that cost
+the French upwards of 5,000 men.
+
+As if exhausted by this eager strife, both armies relaxed their
+efforts for a space and re-formed their lines. Wellington ordered
+Lambert's brigade of 2,200 Peninsular veterans, who had only arrived
+that morning, to fill the gaps on his left. The Emperor, too, was
+uneasy, as he showed by taking copious pinches of snuff. He mounted
+his horse and rode to the front, receiving there the cheers of his
+blood-stained lancers and battered infantry. Having received another
+despatch from Grouchy which gave no hope of his speedy arrival, he
+ordered his cannon once more to waste the British lines and bombard
+Hougoumont, while Ney led two of D'Erlon's brigades that were the
+least shaken to resume the attack on La Haye Sainte. Once more they
+were foiled at the farm buildings by the hardy Germans, to whom
+Wellington had sent a timely reinforcement.[514] At Hougoumont also
+the Guards held firm, despite the fierce conflagration in the barn and
+part of the chapel. But while his best troops everywhere stood their
+ground, the Duke saw with concern the gaps in his fighting line. Many
+of the Dutch-Belgians had made off to the rear; and Jackson, when
+carrying an order to a reserve Dutch battery to advance--an order that
+was disobeyed--saw what had become of these malingerers. "I peeped
+into the skirts of the forest and truly felt astonished: entire
+companies seemed there with regularly piled arms, fires blazing under
+cooking kettles, while the men lay about smoking!"[515]
+
+Far different was the scene at the front. There the third act of the
+drama was beginning. After half an hour of the heaviest cannonade ever
+known, Wellington's faithful troops were threatened by an avalanche of
+cavalry, and promptly fell into the "chequer" disposition previously
+arranged for the most exposed division, that of Alten. Napoleon
+certainly hoped either to crush Wellington outright by a mighty onset
+of horse, or to strip him bare for the _coup de grâce_. At the Caillou
+farm in the morning he said: "I will use my powerful artillery; my
+cavalry shall charge; and I will advance with my Old Guard." The use
+of cavalry on a grand scale was no new thing in his wars. By it he had
+won notable advantages, above all at Dresden; and he believed that
+footmen, when badly shaken by artillery, could not stand before his
+squadrons. The French cavalry, 15,000 strong at the outset, had as yet
+suffered little, and the way had been partly cleared by the last
+assaults on Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, where the defenders were
+wholly occupied in self-defence.
+
+But Ney certainly pressed the first charge too soon. Doubtless he was
+misled by the retirement of our first line a little way behind the
+crest to gain some slight shelter from the iron storm. Looking on this
+prudent move as a sign of retreat he led forward the cuirassiers of
+Milhaud; and as these splendid brigades trotted forward, the
+_chasseurs à cheval_ of the Guard and "red" lancers joined them. More
+than 5,000 strong, these horsemen rode into the valley, formed at the
+foot of the slope, and then, under cover of their artillery, began to
+breast the slope. At its crest the guns of the allies opened on them
+point-blank; but, despite their horrible losses, they swept on,
+charged through the guns and down the reverse slope towards the
+squares. Volley after volley now tore through with fearful effect, and
+the survivors swerved to the intervals. Their second and third lines
+fared little better; astonished at so stout a stand, where they looked
+to find only a few last despairing efforts, they fell into faltering
+groups.
+
+    "As to the so-called charges," says Basil Jackson, "I do not think
+    that on a single occasion actual collision occurred. I many times
+    saw the cuirassiers come on with boldness to within some twenty or
+    thirty yards of a square, when, seeing the steady firmness of our
+    men, they invariably edged away and retired. Sometimes they would
+    halt and gaze at the triple row of bayonets, when two or three
+    brave officers would advance and strive to urge the attack,
+    raising their helmets aloft on their sabres--but all in vain, as
+    no efforts could make the men close with the terrible bayonets,
+    and meet certain destruction."[516]
+
+After the fire of the rear squares had done its work, our cavalry fell
+on the wavering masses; and, as they rode off, the gunners ran forth
+from the squares and plied them with shot. In a few minutes the
+mounted host that seemed to have swallowed up the footmen was gone,
+the red and blue chequers stood forth triumphant, and the guns that
+should have been spiked dealt forth death. Down below, the confused
+mass shaped itself for a new charge while its supports routed our
+horsemen.
+
+In this second attack Ney received a powerful reinforcement. The
+Emperor ordered the advance of Kellermann and of Guyot with the heavy
+cavalry of the Guard, thus raising the number of horsemen to about
+10,000. At the head of these imposing masses Ney again mounted the
+slope. But Wellington had strengthened his line by fresh troops,
+ordering up also Mercer's battery of six 9-pounders, to support two
+Brunswick regiments that wavered ominously as the French cannon-balls
+tore through them. Would these bewildered lads stand before the wave
+of horsemen already topping the crest? It seemed impossible. But just
+then Mercer's men thundered up between them with the guns, took post
+behind the raised cross-road, and opened on the galloping horsemen
+with case-shot. At once the front was strewn with steeds and men; and
+gunners and infantry riddled the successive ranks, that rushed on only
+to pile up writhing heaps and bar retreat to the survivors in front.
+Some of these sought safety by a dash through the guns, while the
+greater number struggled and even laid about with their sabres to hew
+their way out of this _battue_.
+
+Elsewhere the British artillery was too exposed to be defended, and
+the gunners again fled back to the squares. Once more the cavalry
+surrounded our footmen, like "heavy surf breaking on a coast beset
+with isolated rocks, against which the mountainous wave dashes with
+furious uproar, breaks, divides, and runs hissing and boiling far
+beyond." Yet, as before, it failed to break those stubborn blocks, and
+a perplexing pause occurred, varied by partial and spasmodic rushes.
+"Will those English never show us their backs"--exclaimed the Emperor,
+as he strained his eyes to catch the first sign of rout "I fear,"
+replied Soult, "they will be cut to pieces first." For the present, it
+was the cavalry that gave way. Foiled by that indomitable infantry,
+they were again charged by British and German hussars and driven into
+the valley.
+
+Once more Ney led on his riders, gathering up all his reserves. But
+the Duke had now brought up Adam's brigade and Duplat's King's Germans
+to the space behind Hougoumont; their fire took the horsemen in flank:
+the blasts of grape and canister were as deadly as before: one and
+all, the squares held firm, beating back onset after onset: and by 6
+o'clock the French cavalry fell away utterly exhausted.[517]
+
+Who is to be held responsible for these wasteful attacks, and why was
+not French infantry at hand to hold the ground which the cavaliers
+seemed to have won? Undoubtedly, Ney began the first attack somewhat
+too early; but Napoleon himself strengthened the second great charge
+by the addition of Kellermann's and Guyot's brigades, doubtless in the
+belief that the British, of whose tenacity he had never had direct
+personal proof, must give way before so mighty a mass. Moreover, time
+after time it seemed that the attacks were triumphant; the allied guns
+on the right centre, except Mercer's, were nine or ten times taken,
+their front squares as often enveloped; and more than once the cry of
+victory was raised by the Emperor's staff.
+
+Why, then, was not the attack clinched by infantry? To understand this
+we must review the general situation. Hougoumont still defied the
+attacks of nearly the whole of Reille's corps, and the effective part
+of D'Erlon's corps was hotly engaged at and near La Haye Sainte. Above
+all, the advent of the Prussians on the French right now made itself
+felt. After ceaseless toil, in which the soldiers were cheered on by
+Blücher in person, their artillery was got across the valley of the
+Lasne; and at 4.30 Bülow's vanguard debouched from the wood behind
+Frischermont. Lobau's corps of 7,800 men, which, according to Janin,
+was about to support Ney, now swung round to the right to check this
+advance.[518] Towards 5 o'clock the Prussian cannon opened fire on the
+horsemen of Domont and Subervie, who soon fell back on Lobau.
+
+Bülow pressed on with his 30,000 men, and, swinging forward his left
+wing, gained a footing in the village of Planchenoit, while Lobau fell
+back towards La Belle Alliance. This took place between 5.30 and 6
+o'clock, and accounts for Napoleon's lack of attention to the great
+cavalry charges. To break the British squares was highly desirable;
+but to ward off the Prussians from his rear was an imperative
+necessity. He therefore ordered Duhesme with the 4,000 footmen of the
+Young Guard to regain Planchenoit. Gallantly they advanced at the
+charge, and drove their weary and half-famished opponents out into the
+open.
+
+Satisfied with this advantage, the Emperor turned his thoughts to the
+British and bade Ney capture La Haye Sainte at all costs. Never was
+duty more welcome. Mistakes and failures could now be atoned by
+triumph or a soldier's death. Both had as yet eluded his search. Three
+horses had been struck to the ground under him, but, dauntless as
+ever, he led Donzelot's men, with engineers, against the farm.
+Begrimed with smoke, hoarse with shouting, he breathed the lust of
+battle into those half-despondent ranks; and this time he succeeded.
+For five hours the brave Germans had held out, beating off rush after
+rush, until now they had but three or four bullets apiece left. The
+ordinary British ammunition did not fit their rifles; and their own
+reserve supply could not be found at the rear. Still, even when firing
+ceased, bayonet-thrusts and missiles kept off the assailants for a
+space, even from the half-destroyed barn-door, until Frenchmen mounted
+the roof of the stables and burst through the chief gateway: then
+Baring and his brave fellows fled through the house to the garden. "No
+pardon to these green devils" was now the cry, and those who could not
+make off to the ridge were bayoneted to a man.[519]
+
+This was a grave misfortune for the allies. French sharpshooters now
+lined the walls of the farm and pushed up the ridge, pressing our
+front very hard, so that, for a time, the space behind La Haye Sainte
+was practically bare of defenders. This was the news that Kennedy took
+to Wellington. He received it with the calm that bespoke a mighty
+soul; for, as Sir A. Frazer observed, however indifferent or
+apparently careless he might appear at the beginning of battles, as
+the crisis came he rose superior to all that could be imagined. Such
+was his demeanour now. Riding to the Brunswickers posted in reserve,
+he led them to the post of danger; Kennedy rallied the wrecks of
+Alten's division and brought up Germans from the left wing; the
+cavalry of Vandeleur and Vivian, moving in from the extreme left, also
+helped to steady the centre; and the approach of Chassé's
+Dutch-Belgian brigade, lately called in from Braine-la-Leud,
+strengthened our supports.
+
+Had Napoleon promptly launched his Old and Middle Guard at
+Wellington's centre, victory might still have crowned the French
+eagles. But to Ney's request for more troops he returned the petulant
+answer: "Troops? where do you want me to get them from? Am I to make
+them?" At this time the Prussians were again masters of Planchenoit.
+Once more, then, he turned on them, and sent in two battalions, one of
+the Old, the other of the Middle Guard. In a single rush with the
+bayonet these veterans mastered the place and drove Bülow's men a
+quarter of a mile beyond, while Lobau regained ground further north.
+But the head of Pirch's corps was near at hand to strengthen Bülow;
+while, after long delays caused by miry lanes and an order from
+Blücher to make for Planchenoit, Ziethen's corps began to menace the
+French right at Smohain. Reiche soon opened fire with sixteen cannon,
+somewhat relieving the pressure on Wellington's left.[520]
+
+Still the Emperor was full of hope. He did not know of the approach of
+Pirch and Ziethen. Now and again the muttering of Grouchy's guns was
+heard on the east, and despite that Marshal's last despatch, Napoleon
+still believed that he would come up and catch the Prussians.
+Satisfied, then, with holding off Bülow for a while, he staked all on
+a last effort with the Old and Middle Guard. Leaving two battalions of
+these in Planchenoit, and three near Rossomme as a last reserve, he
+led forward nine battalions formed in hollow squares. A thrill ran
+through the line regiments, some of whom were falling back, as they
+saw the bearskins move forward; and, to revive their spirits, the
+Emperor sent on Labédoyère with the news that Grouchy was at hand.
+
+Thus the tension of hope long deferred, which renders Waterloo unique
+among battles, rose to its climax. Each side had striven furiously for
+eight hours in the belief that the Prussians, or Grouchy, must come;
+and now, at the last agony, came the assurance that final triumph was
+at hand. The troops of D'Erlon and Reille once more clutched at
+victory on the crest behind La Haye Sainte or beneath the walls of
+Hougoumont, while the squares of the Guard struck obliquely across the
+vale in the track of the great cavalry charges. On the rise south-west
+of La Haye Sainte, Napoleon halted one battalion and handed over to
+Ney the command of the remaining eight, that hailed him as they passed
+with enthusiastic shouts. Two aides-de-camp just then galloped up from
+the right to tell him of the Prussian advance, but he refused to
+listen to them and bent his eyes on the Guards.[521]
+
+Under cover of a whirlwind of shot the veterans pressed on. Having
+suffered very little at Ligny, they numbered fully 4,000, and formed
+at first one column, some seventy men in width. The front battalions
+headed for a point a little to the west of the present Belgian
+monument, while for some unexplained reason the rear portion diverged
+to the left, and breasted the slope later than the others and nearer
+Hougoumont. Flanked by light guns that opened a brisk fire, and most
+gallantly supported by Donzelot's division close on their right, the
+leading column struggled on, despite the grape and canister which
+poured from the batteries of Bolton and Bean, making it wave "like
+corn blown by the wind." Friant, the Commander of the Old Guard, was
+severely wounded; Ney's horse fell under him, but the gallant fighter
+rose undaunted, and waved on his men anew. And now they streamed over
+the ridge and through the British guns in full assurance of triumph.
+Few troops seemed to be before them; for Maitland's men (2nd and 3rd
+battalions of the 1st Foot Guards) had lain down behind the bank of
+the cross-road to get some shelter from the awful cannonade. "Stand
+up, Guards, and make ready," exclaimed the Duke when the French were
+but sixty paces away. The volley that flashed from their lengthy front
+staggered the column, and seemed to force it bodily back. In vain did
+the French officers wave their swords and attempt to deploy into line.
+Mangled in front by Maitland's brigade, on its flank by our 33rd and
+69th Regiments drawn up in square, and by the deadly salvos of
+Chassé's Dutch-Belgians,[522] that stately array shrank and shrivelled
+up. "Now's the time, my boys," shouted Lord Saltoun; and the thin red
+line, closing with the mass, drove it pell-mell down the slope.
+
+Near the foot the victors fell under the fire of the rear portion of
+the Imperial Guards, who, undaunted by their comrades' repulse, rolled
+majestically upwards. Colborne now wheeled the 52nd (Oxfordshire)
+Regiment on the crest in a line nearly parallel to their advance, and
+opened a deadly fire on their flank, which was hotly returned;
+Maitland's men, re-forming on the crest, gave them a volley in front;
+and some Hanoverians at the rear of Hougoumont also galled their rear.
+Seizing the favourable moment when the column writhed in anguish,
+Colborne cheered his men to the charge, and, aided by the second 95th
+Rifles, utterly overthrew the last hope of France. Continuing his
+advance, and now supported by the 71st Regiment, he swept our front
+clear as far as the orchard of La Haye Sainte.[523]
+
+The Emperor had at first watched the charge with feelings of buoyant
+hope; for Friant, who came back wounded, reported that success was
+certain. As the truth forced itself on him, he turned pale as a
+corpse. "Why! they are in confusion," he exclaimed; "all is lost for
+the present." A thrill of agony also shot through the French lines.
+Donzelot's onset had at one time staggered Halkett's brigade; but the
+hopes aroused by the charge of the Guard and the rumour of Grouchy's
+approach gave place to dismay when the veterans fell back and
+Ziethen's Prussians debouched from Papelotte. To the cry of "The Guard
+gives way," there succeeded shouts of "treason." The Duke, noting the
+confusion, waved on his whole line to the longed-for advance. Menaced
+in front by the thin red line, and in rear by Colborne's glorious
+charge, D'Erlon's divisions broke up in general rout. For a time,
+three rocks stood boldly forth above this disastrous ebb. They were
+the battalions of the Guard previously repulsed, and that had rallied
+around the Emperor on the rise south of La Haye Sainte. In front of
+them the three regiments of Adam's brigade stopped to re-form; but at
+the Duke's command--"Go on, go on: they will not stand"--Colborne
+charged them, and they gave way.
+
+And now, as the sun shot its last gleams over the field, the swords of
+the British horsemen were seen to flash and fall with relentless
+vigour. The brigades of Vandeleur and Vivian, well husbanded during
+the day, had been slipped upon the foe. The effect was electrical. The
+retreat became a rout that surged wildly around the last squares of
+the Guard. In one of them Napoleon took refuge for a space, still
+hoping to effect a rally, while outside Ney rushed from band to band,
+brandishing a broken sword, foaming with fury, and launching at the
+runaways the taunt, "Cowards! have you forgotten how to die?"[524]
+
+But panic now reigned supreme. Adam's brigade was at hand to support
+our horsemen; and shortly after nine there knelled from Planchenoit
+the last stroke of doom, the shouts of Prussians at last victorious
+over the stubborn defence. "The Guard dies and does not
+surrender"--such are the words attributed by some to Michel, by others
+to Cambronne before he was stretched senseless on the ground.[525]
+Whether spoken or not, some such thought prompted whole companies to
+die for the honour of their flag. And their chief, why did he not
+share their glorious fate? Gourgaud says that Soult forced him from
+the field. If so (and Houssaye discredits the story) Soult never
+served his master worse. The only dignified course was to act up to
+his recent proclamation that the time had come for every Frenchman of
+spirit to conquer or die. To belie those words by an ignominious
+flight was to court the worst of sins in French political life,
+ridicule.
+
+And the flight was ignominious. Wellington's weary troops, after
+several times mistaking friends for foes in the dusk, halted south of
+Rossomme and handed over the pursuit to the Prussians, many of whom
+had fought but little and now drank deep the draught of revenge. By
+the light of the rising moon Gneisenau led on his horsemen in a
+pursuit compared with which that of Jena was tame. At Genappe Napoleon
+hoped to make a stand: but the place was packed with wagons and
+thronged with men struggling to get at the narrow bridge. At the blare
+of the Prussian trumpets, the panic became frightful; the Emperor left
+his carriage and took to horse as the hurrahs drew near. Seven times
+did the French form bivouacs, and seven times were they driven out and
+away. At Quatre Bras he once more sought to gather a few troops; but
+ere he could do so the Uhlans came on. With tears trickling down his
+pallid cheeks, he resumed his flight over another field of carnage,
+where ghastly forms glinted on all sides under the pale light of dawn.
+After further futile efforts at Charleroi, he hurried on towards
+Paris, followed at some distance by groups amounting to about 10,000
+men, the sorry remnant still under arms of the host that fought at
+Waterloo: 25,000 lay dead or wounded there: some thousands were taken
+prisoners: the rest were scattering to their homes. Wellington lost
+10,360 killed and wounded, of whom 6,344 were British: the Prussian
+loss was about 6,000 men.
+
+The causes of Napoleon's overthrow are not hard to find. The lack of
+timely pursuit of Blücher and Wellington on the 17th enabled those
+leaders to secure posts of vantage and to form an incisive plan which
+he did not fully fathom even at the crisis of the battle. Full of
+overweening contempt of Wellington, he began the fight heedlessly and
+wastefully. When the Prussians came on, he underrated their strength
+and believed to the very end that Grouchy would come up and take them
+between two fires. But, in the absence of prompt, clear, and detailed
+instructions, that Marshal was left a prey to his fatal notion that
+Wavre was the one point to be aimed at and attacked. Despite the heavy
+cannonade on the west he persisted in this strange course; while
+Napoleon staked everything on a supreme effort against Wellington.
+This last was an act of appalling hardihood; but he explained to
+Cockburn on the voyage to St. Helena that, still confiding in
+Grouchy's approach, he felt no uneasiness at the Prussian movements,
+"which were, in fact, already checked, and that he considered the
+battle to have been, on the whole, rather in his favour than
+otherwise." The explanation has every appearance of sincerity. But
+would any other great commander have staked his last reserve and laid
+bare his rear solely in reliance on the ability of an almost untried
+leader who had sent not a single word that justified the hopes now
+placed in him?
+
+We here touch the weak points in Napoleon's intellectual armour.
+Gifted with almost superhuman insight and energy himself, he too often
+credited his paladins with possessing the same divine afflatus.
+Furthermore, he had a supreme contempt for his enemies. Victorious in
+a hundred fights over second-rate opponents in his youth, he could not
+now school his hardened faculties to the caution needed in a contest
+with Wellington, Gneisenau, and Blücher. Only after he had ruined
+himself and France did he realize his own errors and the worth of the
+allied leaders. During the voyage to England he confessed to Bertrand:
+"The Duke of Wellington is fully equal to myself in the management of
+an army, _with the advantage of possessing more prudence_."[526]
+
+
+
+    NOTE ADDED TO THE FOURTH EDITION.--I have discussed several of the
+    vexed questions of the Waterloo Campaign in an Essay, "The
+    Prussian Co-operation at Waterloo," in my volume entitled
+    "Napoleonic Studies" (George Bell and Sons, 1904). In that Essay I
+    have pointed out the inaccuracy or exaggeration of the claims put
+    forward by some German writers to the effect that (1) Wellington
+    played Blücher false at Ligny, (2) that he did not expect Prussian
+    help until late in the day at Waterloo, (3) that the share of
+    credit for the victory rested in overwhelming measure with Blücher
+    and Gneisenau.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+FROM THE ELYSÉE TO ST. HELENA
+
+
+Napoleon was far from accepting Waterloo as a final blow. At
+Philippeville on the day after the battle, he wrote to his brother
+Joseph that he would speedily have 300,000 men ready to defend France:
+he would harness his guns with carriage-horses, raise 100,000
+conscripts, and arm them with muskets taken from the royalists and
+malcontent National Guards: he would arouse Dauphiné, Lyonnais, and
+Burgundy, and overwhelm the enemy. "But the people must help me and
+not bewilder me.... Write to me what effect this horrible piece of bad
+luck has had on the Chamber. I believe the deputies will feel
+convinced that their duty in this crowning moment is to rally round me
+and save France."[527]
+
+The tenacious will, then, is only bent, not broken. Waterloo is merely
+a greater La Rothière, calling for a mightier defensive effort than
+that of 1814. Such are his intentions, even when he knows not that
+Grouchy is escaping from the Prussians. The letter breathes a firm
+resolve. He has no scruples as to the wickedness of spurring on a
+wearied people to a conflict with Europe. As yet he forms no
+magnanimous resolve to take leave of a nation whom his genius may once
+more excite to a fatal frenzy. He still seems unable to conceive of
+France happy and prosperous apart from himself. In indissoluble union
+they will struggle on and defy the world.
+
+Such was the frame of mind in which he reached the Elysée Palace early
+on the 21st of June. For a time he was much agitated. "Oh, my God!" he
+exclaimed to Lavalette, raising his eyes to heaven and walking up and
+down the room. But after taking a warm bath--his unfailing remedy for
+fatigue--he became calm and discussed with the Ministers plans of a
+national defence. The more daring advised the prorogation of the
+Chambers and the declaration of a state of siege in Paris; but others
+demurred to a step that would lead to civil war. The Council dragged
+on at great length, the Emperor only once rousing himself from his
+weariness to declare that all was not lost; that _he_, and not the
+Chambers, could save France. If so, he should have gone to the
+deputies, thrilled them with that commanding voice, or dissolved them
+at once. Montholon states that this course was recommended by
+Cambacérès, Carnot, and Maret, but that most of the Ministers urged
+him not to expose his wearied frame to the storms of an excited
+assembly. At St. Helena he told Gourgaud that, despite his fatigue, he
+would have made the effort had he thought success possible, but he did
+not.[528]
+
+The Chamber of Deputies meanwhile was acting with vigour. Agonized by
+the tales of disaster already spread abroad by wounded soldiers, it
+eagerly assented to Lafayette's proposal to sit in permanence and
+declare any attempt at dissolution an act of high treason. So
+unblenching a defiance, which recalled the Tennis Court Oath of
+twenty-six years before, struck the Emperor almost dumb with
+astonishment. Lucien bade him prepare for a _coup d'état_: but
+Napoleon saw that the days for such an act were passed. He had
+squandered the physical and moral resources bequeathed by the
+Revolution. Its armies were mouldering under the soil of Spain,
+Russia, Germany, and Belgium; and a decade of reckless ambition had
+worn to tatters Rousseau's serviceable theory of a military
+dictatorship. Exhausted France was turning away from him to the prime
+source of liberty, her representatives.
+
+These were doubtless the thoughts that coursed through his brain as he
+paced with Lucien up and down the garden of the Elysée. A crowd of
+_fédérés_ and workmen outside cheered him frantically. He saluted them
+with a smile; but, says Pasquier, "the expression of his eyes showed
+the sadness that filled his soul." True, he might have led that
+unthinking rabble against the Chambers; but that would mean civil war,
+and from this he shrank. Still Lucien bade him strike. "Dare," he
+whispered with Dantonesque terseness. "Alas," replied his brother, "I
+have dared only too much already." Davoust also opined that it was too
+late now that the deputies had firmly seized the reins and were
+protected by the National Guards of Paris.
+
+And so Napoleon let matters drift. In truth, he was "bewildered" by
+the disunion of France. It was a France that he knew not, a land given
+over to _idéalogues_ and traitors. His own Minister, Fouché, was
+working to sap his power, and yet he dared not have him shot! What
+wonder that the helpless autocrat paced restlessly to and fro, or sat
+as in a dream! In the evening Carnot went to the Peers, Lucien to the
+Deputies, to appeal for a united national effort against the
+Coalition, but the simple earnestness of the one and the fraternal
+fervour of the other alike failed. When Lucien finally exclaimed
+against any desertion of Napoleon, Lafayette fiercely shot at him the
+long tale of costly sacrifices which France had offered up at the
+shrine of Napoleon's glory, and concluded: "We have done enough for
+him: our duty is to save _la patrie_."
+
+On the morrow came the news that Grouchy had escaped from the
+Prussians; and that the relics of Napoleon's host were rallying at
+Laon. But would not this encouragement embolden the Emperor to crush
+the contumacious Chambers? Evidently the case was urgent. He must
+abdicate, or they would dethrone him--such was the purport of their
+message to the Elysée; but, as an act of grace, they allowed him _an
+hour_ in which to forestall their action. Shortly after midday, on the
+advice of his Ministers, he took the final step of his official
+career. Lucien and Carnot begged him for some time to abdicate only in
+favour of his son;[529] and he did so, but with the bitter remark: "My
+son! What a chimera! No, it is for the Bourbons that I abdicate! They
+at least are not prisoners at Vienna."
+
+The deputies were of his opinion. Despite frantic efforts of the
+Bonapartists, they passed over Napoleon II. without any effective
+recognition, and at once appointed an executive Commission of
+five--Carnot, Caulaincourt, Fouché, Grenier, and Quinette. Three of
+them were regicides, and Fouché was chosen their President. We can
+gauge Napoleon's wrath at seeing matters thus promptly rolled back to
+where they were before Brumaire by his biting comment that he had made
+way for the King of Rome, not for a Directory which included one
+traitor and two babies. His indignation was just. An abdication forced
+on by _idéalogues_ was hateful; to be succeeded by Fouché seemed an
+unforgivable insult; but he touched the lowest depth of humiliation on
+the 25th, when he received from that despicable schemer an order to
+leave Paris.
+
+He obeyed on that first Sunday after Waterloo, driving off quietly to
+Malmaison, there to be joined by Hortense Beauharnais and a few
+faithful friends. At that ill-omened abode, where Josephine had
+breathed her last shortly after his first abdication, he spent four
+uneasy days. At times he was full of fight. He sent to the "Moniteur"
+a proclamation urging the army to make "some efforts more, and the
+Coalition will be dissolved." The manifesto was suppressed by Fouché's
+orders.
+
+Meanwhile the invaders pressed on rapidly towards Compiègne. They met
+with no attempts at a national rising, a fact which proves the welcome
+accorded to Napoleon in March to have been mainly the outcome of
+military devotion and of the dislike generally felt for the Bourbons.
+It is a libel on the French people to suppose that a truly national
+impulse in his favour would have vanished with a single defeat. In
+vain did the Provisional Government sue for an armistice that would
+stay the advance. Wellington refused outright; but Blücher declared
+that he would consider the matter if Napoleon were handed over to him,
+_dead or alive_. On hearing of this, Wellington at once wrote his ally
+a private remonstrance, which drew from Gneisenau a declaration that,
+as the Duke was held back _by parliamentary considerations and by the
+wish to prolong the life of the villain whose career had extended
+England's power_, the Prussians would see to it that Napoleon was
+handed over to them for execution conformably to the declaration of
+the Congress of Vienna.[530]
+
+But the Provisional Government acted honestly towards Napoleon. On the
+26th Fouché sent General Becker to watch over him and advise him to
+set out for Rochefort, _en route_ to the United States, for which
+purpose passports were being asked from Wellington. Becker found the
+ex-Emperor a prey to quickly varying moods. At one time he seemed
+"sunk into a kind of _mollesse_, and very careful about his ease and
+comfort": he ate hugely at meals: or again he affected a rather coarse
+joviality, showing his regard for Becker by pulling his ear. His plans
+varied with his moods. He declared he would throw himself into the
+middle of France and fight to the end, or that he would take ship at
+Rochefort with Bertrand and Savary alone, and steal past the English
+squadron; but when Mme. Bertrand exclaimed that this would be cruel to
+her, he readily gave up the scheme.[531]
+
+It is not easy to gauge his feelings at this time. Apart from one
+outburst to Lavalette of pity for France, he seems not to have
+realized how unspeakably disastrous his influence had been on the land
+which he found in a victoriously expansive phase, and now left
+prostrate at the feet of the allies and the Bourbons. Hatred and
+contempt of the upper classes for their "fickle" desertion of him,
+these, if we may judge from his frequent allusions to the topic during
+the voyage, were the feelings uppermost in his mind; and this may
+explain why he wavered between the thought of staking all on a last
+effort against the allies and the plan of renewing in America the
+career now closed to him in Europe.
+
+He certainly was not a prey to torpor and dumb despair. His brain
+still clutched eagerly at public affairs, as if unable to realize that
+they had slipped beyond his control; and his behaviour showed that he
+was still _un être politique_, with whom power was all in all. He
+evinced few signs of deep emotion on bidding farewell to his devoted
+followers: but whether this resulted from inner hardness, or
+resentment at his fall, or a sense of dignified prudence, it is
+impossible to say. When Denon, the designer of his medals, sobbed on
+bidding him adieu, he remarked: _Mon cher, ne nous attendrissons pas:
+il faut dans les crises comme celle-ci se conduire avec froid_. This
+surely was one source of his power over an emotional people: his
+feelings were the servant, not the master, of his reason.
+
+Meanwhile the Prussians were drawing near to Paris. Early on the 29th
+they were at Argenteuil, and Blücher detached a flying column to seize
+the bridge of Chatou over the Seine near Malmaison and carry off
+Napoleon on the following night. But Davoust and Fouché warded off the
+danger. While the Marshal had the nearest bridges of the Seine
+barricaded or burnt, Fouché on the night of the 28th-29th sent an
+order to Napoleon to leave at once for Rochefort and set sail with two
+frigates, even though the English passports had not arrived.
+
+He received the news calmly, and then with unusual animation requested
+Becker to submit to the Government a scheme for rapidly rallying the
+troops around Paris, whereupon he, _as General Bonaparte_, would
+surprise first Blücher and then Wellington--they were two days'
+marches apart: then, after routing the foe, he would resume his
+journey to the coast. The Commission would have none of it. The
+reports showed that the French troops were so demoralized that success
+was not to be hoped for.[532] And if a second Montmirail were snatched
+from Blücher, would it bring more of glory to Napoleon or of useless
+bloodshed to France? Those who look on the world as an arena for the
+exploits of heroes at the cost of ordinary mortals may applaud the
+scheme. But could men who were responsible to France regard it as
+anything but a final proof of Napoleon's perverse optimism, or a flash
+of his unquenchable ambition, or a last mad bid for power? He showed
+signs of anger on hearing of their refusal, but set out for Rochefort
+at 6 p.m.; and thus the Prussians were cheated of their prey by a few
+hours. Bertrand, Savary, Gourgaud, and Becker accompanied him.
+
+The cheers of troops and people at Niort, and again at Rochefort,
+where he arrived on July 3rd, re-awakened his fighting instincts; and
+as the westerly winds precluded all hope of the two frigates slipping
+quickly down either of the practicable outlets so as to elude the
+British cruisers, he again sought permission to take command of the
+French forces, now beginning to fall back from Paris behind the line
+of the Loire. Again his offer was refused; and messages came thick and
+fast bidding Becker get him away from the mainland. Such was the
+desire of his best friends. Paris capitulated to the allies on July
+4th, and both French royalists and Prussians were eager to get hold of
+him. Thus, while he sat weaving plans of a campaign on the Loire, the
+tottering Government at Paris pressed on his embarkation, hinting that
+force would be used should further delays ensue. Sadly, then, on July
+8th, he went on board the "Saale," moored near L'Ile d'Aix, opposite
+the mouth of the Charente.
+
+He was now in sore straits. The orders from Paris expressly forbade
+his setting foot again on the mainland, and most of the great towns
+had already hoisted the white flag. In front of him was the Bay of
+Biscay, swept by British cruisers, which the French naval officers had
+scant hopes of escaping. There was talk among Napoleon's suite, which
+now included Montholon, Las Cases, and Lallemand, of attempting flight
+from the Gironde, or in the hold of a small Danish sloop then at
+Rochefort, or on two fishing boats moored to the north of L'Ile de Ré;
+but these plans were given up in consequence of the close watch kept
+by our cruisers at all points. The next day brought with it a despatch
+from Paris ordering the ex-Emperor to set sail within twenty-four
+hours.
+
+On the morrow Napoleon sent Savary and Las Cases with a letter to
+H.M.S. "Bellerophon," then cruising off the main channel--that between
+the islands of Oléron and Ré--asking whether the permits for
+Napoleon's voyage to America had arrived, or his departure would be
+prevented. Savary also inquired whether his passage on a merchant-ship
+would be stopped. The commander, Captain Maitland, had received strict
+orders to intercept Napoleon; but, seeking to gain time and to bring
+Admiral Hotham up with other ships, he replied that he would oppose
+the frigates by force: neither could he permit Napoleon to set sail on
+a merchant-ship until he had the warrant of his admiral for so doing.
+The "Bellerophon," "Myrmidon," and "Slaney" now drew closer in to
+guard the middle channel, while a corvette watched each of the
+difficult outlets on the north and south.[533]
+
+Three days of sorrow and suspense now ensued. On the 12th came the
+news of the entry of Louis XVIII. into Paris, the collapse of the
+Provisional Government, and the general hoisting of the _fleur-de-lys_
+throughout France. On the 13th Joseph Bonaparte came for a last
+interview with his brother on the Ile d'Aix. Montholon states that the
+ex-King offered to change places with the ex-Emperor and thus allow
+him the chance of escaping on a neutral ship from the Gironde.
+Gourgaud does not refer to any such offer, nor does Bertrand in his
+letter of July 14th to Joseph. In any case, it was not put to the
+test; for royalism was rampant on the mainland, and two of our
+cruisers hovered about the Gironde. Sadly the two brothers parted, and
+for ever. Then the other schemes were again mooted only to be given up
+once more; and late on the 13th Napoleon dictated the following
+letter, to be taken by Gourgaud to the Prince Regent:
+
+    "Exposed to the factions which distract my country and to the
+    enmity of the greatest Powers of Europe, I have closed my
+    political career, and I come, like Themistocles, to throw myself
+    upon the hospitality of the British people. I put myself under the
+    protection of their laws, which I claim from your Royal Highness,
+    as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of
+    my enemies."[534]
+
+On the 14th Gourgaud and Las Cases took this letter to the
+"Bellerophon," whereupon Maitland assured them that he would convey
+Napoleon to England, Gourgaud preceding them on the "Slaney"; but that
+the ex-Emperor _would be entirely at the disposal of our Government_.
+This last was made perfectly clear to Las Cases, who understood
+English, though at first he feigned not to do so; but, unfortunately,
+Maitland did not exact from him a written acknowledgment of this
+understanding. Gourgaud was transferred to the "Slaney," which soon
+set sail for Torbay, while Las Cases reported to Napoleon on L'Ile
+d'Aix what had happened. Thereupon Bertrand wrote to Maitland that
+Napoleon would come on board on the morrow:
+
+    " ... If the Admiral, in consequence of the demand that you have
+    addressed to him, sends you the permits for the United States, His
+    Majesty will go there with pleasure; but in default of them, he
+    will go voluntarily to England as a private individual to enjoy
+    the protection of the laws of your country."
+
+Now, either Las Cases misinterpreted Maitland's words and acts, or
+Napoleon hoped to impose on the captain by the statements just quoted.
+Maitland had not sent to Hotham for permits; he held out no hopes of
+Napoleon's going to America; he only promised to take him to England
+_to be at the disposal of the Prince Regent_. Napoleon, taking no
+notice of the last stipulation, now promised to go to England, not as
+Emperor, but as a private individual. He took this step soon after
+dawn on the 15th, when any lingering hopes of his escape were ended by
+the sight of Admiral Hotham's ship, "Superb," in the offing. On
+leaving the French brig, "Epervier," he was greeted with the last
+cheers of _Vive l'Empereur_, cheers that died away almost in a wail as
+his boat drew near to the "Bellerophon." There he was greeted
+respectfully, but without a salute. He wore the green uniform, with
+gold and scarlet facings, of a colonel of the Chasseurs à Cheval of
+the Guard, with white waistcoat and military boots; and Maitland
+thought him "a remarkably strong, well-built man." Keeping up a
+cheerful demeanour, he asked a number of questions about the ship, and
+requested to be shown round even thus early, while the men were
+washing the decks. He inquired whether the "Bellerophon" would have
+worsted the two French frigates and acquiesced in Maitland's
+affirmative reply. He expressed admiration of all that he saw,
+including the portrait of Maitland's wife hanging in the cabin; and
+the captain felt the full force of that seductive gift of pleasing,
+which was not the least important of the great man's powers.
+
+He was accompanied by General and Mme. Bertrand, the former a tall,
+slim, good-looking man, of refined manners and domestic habits, though
+of a sensitive and hasty temper; his wife, a lady of slight figure,
+but stately carriage, the daughter of a Irishman named Dillon, who
+lost his life in the Revolution. Her vivacious manners bespoke a warm
+impulsive nature, that had revelled in the splendour of her high
+ceremonial station and now seemed strained beyond endurance by the
+trials threatening her and her three children. The Bertrands had been
+with Napoleon at Elba, and enjoyed his complete confidence. Younger
+than they were General (Count) Montholon and his wife--he, a short but
+handsome man, his consort, a sweet unassuming woman--who showed their
+devotion to the ex-Emperor by exchanging a life of luxury for exile in
+his service. Count Las Cases, a small man, whose thin eager face and
+furtive glances revealed his bent for intrigue, was the eldest of the
+party. He had been a naval officer, had then lived in England as an
+_émigré_, but after the Peace of Amiens took civil service under
+Napoleon; he now brought with him his son, a lad of fifteen, fresh
+from the Lycée. We need not notice the figures of Savary and
+Lallemand, as they were soon to part company. Maingaud the surgeon,
+Marchand the head valet, several servants, and the bright little boy
+of the Montholons completed the list.
+
+The voyage passed without incident. Napoleon's health and appetite
+were on the whole excellent, and he suffered less than the rest from
+sea-sickness. The delicate Las Cases, who had donned his naval
+uniform, was in such distress as to move the mirth of the crew,
+whereupon Napoleon sharply bade him appear in plain clothes so as not
+to disgrace the French navy. For the great man himself the crew soon
+felt a very real regard, witness the final confession of one of them
+to Maitland: "Well, they may abuse that man as much as they like, but
+if the people of England knew him as well as we do, they would not
+hurt a hair of his head."--What a tribute this to the mysterious power
+of genius!
+
+On passing Ushant, he remained long upon deck, silent and abstracted,
+casting melancholy looks at the land he was never more to see. As they
+neared Torbay, the exile was loud in praise of the beauty of the
+scene, which he compared with that of Porto Ferrajo. Whatever
+misgivings he felt before embarking on the "Bellerophon" had
+apparently disappeared. He had been treated with every courtesy and
+had met with only one rebuff. He prompted Mme. Bertrand, who spoke
+English well, to sound Maitland as to the acceptance of a box
+containing his (Napoleon's) portrait set in diamonds. This the captain
+very properly refused.[535]
+
+In Torbay troubles began to thicken upon the party. Gourgaud rejoined
+them on the 24th: he had not been allowed to land. Orders came on the
+26th for the "Bellerophon" to proceed to Plymouth; and the rumour
+gained ground that St. Helena would be their destination. It was true.
+On July 31st, Sir Henry Bunbury, Secretary to the Admiralty, and Lord
+Keith, Admiral in command at Plymouth, laid before him in writing the
+decision of our Government, that, in order to prevent any further
+disturbance to the peace of Europe, it had been decided to restrain
+his liberty--"to whatever extent may be necessary for securing that
+first and paramount object"--and that St. Helena would be his place of
+residence, as it was healthy, and would admit of a smaller degree of
+restraint than might be necessary elsewhere.
+
+Against this he made a lengthy protest, declaring that he was not a
+prisoner of war, that he came as a passenger on the "Bellerophon"
+"after a previous negotiation with the commander," that he demanded
+the rights of a British citizen, and wished to settle in a country
+house far from the sea, where he would submit to the surveillance of a
+commissioner over his actions and correspondence. St. Helena would
+kill him in three months, for he was wont to ride twenty leagues a
+day; he preferred death to St. Helena. Maitland's conduct had been a
+deliberate snare. To deprive him (Napoleon) of his liberty would be an
+eternal disgrace to England; for in coming to our shores he had
+offered the Prince Regent the finest page of his history.--Our
+officials then bowed and withdrew. He recalled Keith, and when the
+latter remarked that to go to St. Helena was better than being sent to
+Louis XVIII. or to Russia, the captive exclaimed "Russia! God keep me
+from that."[536]
+
+It is unnecessary to traverse his statements at length. The foregoing
+recital of facts will have shown that he was completely at the end of
+his resources, and that Maitland had not made a single stipulation as
+to his reception in England. Indeed, Napoleon never reproached
+Maitland; he left that to Las Cases to do; and the captain easily
+refuted these insinuations, with the approval of Montholon. If there
+was any misunderstanding, it was certainly due to Las Cases.[537]
+
+Indeed, the thought of Napoleon settling dully down in the Midlands is
+ludicrous. How could a man who revelled in vast schemes, whose mind
+preyed on itself if there were no facts and figures to grind, or
+difficulties to overcome, ever sink to the level of a Justice Shallow?
+And if he longed for repose, would the Opposition in England and the
+malcontents in France have let him rest? Inevitably he would become a
+rallying point for all the malcontents of Europe. Besides, our
+engagements to the allies bound us to guard him securely; and we were
+under few personal obligations to a man who, during the Peace of
+Amiens, persistently urged us to drive forth the Bourbons from our
+land, who at its close forcibly detained 10,000 Britons in defiance of
+the law of nations, and whose ambition added £600,000,000 to our
+National Debt.
+
+Ministers had decided on St. Helena by July 28th. Their decision was
+clinched by a Memorandum of General Beatson, late Governor of the
+island, dated July 29th, recommending St. Helena, because all the
+landing places were protected by batteries, and the semaphores
+recently placed on the lofty cliffs would enable the approach of a
+rescue squadron to be descried sixty miles off, and the news to be
+speedily signalled to the Governor's House. Napoleon's appeal and
+protests were accordingly passed over; and, in pursuance of advice
+just to hand from Castlereagh at Paris, Ministers decided to treat
+him, not as our prisoner, but as the prisoner of all the Powers. A
+Convention was set in hand as to his detention; it was signed on
+August 2nd at Paris, and bound the other Powers to send Commissioners
+as witnesses to the safety of the custody.[538]
+
+His departure from Plymouth was hastened by curious incidents. Crowds
+of people assembled there to see the great man, and shoals of
+boats--Maitland says more than a thousand on fine days--struggled and
+jostled to get as near the "Bellerophon" as the guard-boats would
+allow. Two or three persons were drowned; but still the swarm pressed
+on. Many of the men wore carnations--a hopeful sign this seemed to Las
+Cases--and the women waved their handkerchiefs when he appeared on the
+poop or at the open gangway. Maitland was warned that a rescue would
+be attempted on the night of the 3rd-4th; and certainly the Frenchmen
+were very restless at that time. They believed that if Napoleon could
+only set foot on shore he must gain the rights of Habeas Corpus.[539]
+And there seemed some chance of his gaining them. Very early on August
+4th a man came down from London bringing a subpoena from the Court of
+King's Bench to compel Lord Keith and Captain Maitland to produce the
+person of Napoleon Bonaparte for attendance in London as witness in a
+trial for libel then pending. It appears that some one was to be sued
+for a libel on a naval officer, censuring his conduct in the West
+Indies; and it was suggested that if he (the defendant) could get
+Napoleon's evidence to prove that the French ships were at that time
+unserviceable, his case would be strengthened. An attorney therefore
+came down to Plymouth armed with a subpoena, with which he chased
+Keith on land and chased him by sea, until his panting rowers were
+foiled by the stout crew of the Admiral's barge. Keith also found
+means to let Maitland know how matters stood early on the 4th,
+whereupon the "Bellerophon" stood out to sea, her guard-boat keeping
+at a distance the importunate man with the writ.
+
+The whole affair looks very suspicious. What defendant in a plain
+straightforward case would ever have thought of so far-fetched a
+device as that of getting the ex-Emperor to declare on oath that his
+warships in the West Indies had been unseaworthy? The tempting thought
+that it was a trick of some enterprising journalist in search of "copy
+"must also be given up as a glaring anachronism. On the other hand,
+it is certain that Napoleon's well-wishers in London and Plymouth were
+moving heaven and earth to get him ashore, or delay his
+departure.[540] In common with Sieyès, Lavalette, and Las Cases, he
+had hoped much from the peculiarities of English law; and on July 28th
+he dictated to Las Cases a paper, "suited to serve as a basis to
+jurists," which the latter says he managed to send ashore.[541] If
+this be true, Napoleon himself may have spurred on his friends to the
+effort just described. Or else the plan may have occurred to some of
+his English admirers who wished to embarrass the Ministry. If so,
+their attempt met with the fate that usually befalls the efforts of
+our anti-national cliques on behalf of their foreign heroes: it did
+them harm: the authorities acted more promptly than they would
+otherwise have done: the "Bellerophon" put to sea a few days before
+the Frenchmen expected, with the result that they were exposed to a
+disagreeable cruise until the "Northumberland" (the ship destined for
+the voyage in place of the glorious old "Bellerophon") was ready to
+receive them on board.[542]
+
+Dropping down from Portsmouth, the newer ship met the "Bellerophon"
+and "Tonnant," Lord Keith's ship, off the Start. The transhipment took
+place on the 7th, under the lee of Berry Head, Torbay. After dictating
+a solemn protest against the compulsion put upon him, the ex-Emperor
+thanked Maitland for his honourable conduct, spoke of his having hoped
+to buy a small estate in England where he might end his days in peace,
+and declaimed bitterly against the Government.
+
+Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, of the "Northumberland," then came
+by official order to search his baggage and that of his suite, so as
+to withdraw any large sums of money that might be thereafter used for
+effecting an escape. Savary and Marchand were present while this was
+done by Cockburn's secretary with as much delicacy as possible: 4,000
+gold Napoleons (80,000 francs) were detained to provide a fund for
+part maintenance of the illustrious exile. The diamond necklace which
+Hortense had handed to him at Malmaison was at that time concealed on
+Las Cases, who continued to keep it as a sacred trust. The
+ex-Emperor's attendants were required to give up their swords during
+the voyage. Montholon states that when the same request was made by
+Keith to Napoleon, the only reply was a flash of anger from his eyes,
+under which the Admiral's tall figure shrank away, and his head, white
+with years, fell on his breast. Alas, for the attempt at melodrama!
+_Maitland was expressly told by Lord Keith not to proffer any such
+request to the fallen chief_.
+
+Apart from one or two exclamations that he would commit suicide rather
+than go to St. Helena, Napoleon had behaved with a calm and serenity
+that contrasted with the peevish gloom of his officers and the spasms
+of Mme. Bertrand. This unhappy lady, on learning their fate, raved in
+turn against Maitland, Gourgaud, Napoleon, and against her husband for
+accompanying him, and ended by trying to throw herself from a window.
+From this she was pulled back, whereupon she calmed down and secretly
+urged Maitland to write to Lord Keith to prevent Bertrand accompanying
+his master. The captain did so, but of course the Admiral declined to
+interfere. Her shrill complaints against Napoleon had, however, been
+heard on the other side of the thin partition, and fanned the dislike
+which Montholon and Gourgaud had conceived for her, and in part for
+her husband. These were the officers whom he selected as companions of
+exile. Las Cases was to go as secretary, and his son as page.
+
+Savary, Lallemand, and Planat having been proscribed by Louis XVIII.,
+were detained by our Government, and subsequently interned at Malta.
+On taking leave of Napoleon they showed deep emotion, while he
+bestowed the farewell embrace with remarkable composure. The surgeon,
+Maingaud, now declined to proceed to St. Helena, alleging that he had
+wanted to go to America only because his uncle there was to leave him
+a legacy! At the same time Bertrand asked that O'Meara, the surgeon of
+the "Bellerophon," might accompany Napoleon to St. Helena. As
+Maingaud's excuse was very lame, and O'Meara had had one or two talks
+with Napoleon _in Italian_, Keith and Maitland should have seen that
+there was some understanding between them; but the Admiral consented
+to the proposed change. As to O'Meara's duplicity, we may quote from
+Basil Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena": "I _know_ that he [O'Meara]
+was _fully enlisted_ for Napoleon's service during the voyage from
+Rochefort to England." The sequel will show how disastrous it was to
+allow this man to go with the ex-Emperor.
+
+In the Admiral's barge that took him to the "Northumberland" the
+ex-Emperor "appeared to be in perfect good humour," says Keith,
+"talking of Egypt, St. Helena, of my former name being Elphinstone,
+and many other subjects, and joking with the ladies about being
+seasick."[543] In this firm matter-of-fact way did Napoleon accept the
+extraordinary change in his fortunes. At no time of his life, perhaps,
+was he so great as when, forgetting his own headlong fall, he sought
+to dispel the smaller griefs of Mmes. Bertrand and Montholon. A hush
+came over the crew as Napoleon mounted the side and set foot on the
+deck of the ship that was to bear him away to a life of exile. It was
+a sight that none could behold unmoved, as the great man uncovered,
+received the salute, and said with a firm voice: "Here I am, General,
+at your orders."
+
+The scene was rich, not only in personal interest and pathos, but also
+in historic import. It marks the end of a cataclysmic epoch and the
+dawn of a dreary and confused age. We may picture the Muse of History,
+drawn distractedly from her abodes on the banks of the Seine, gazing
+in wonder on that event taking place under the lee of Berry Head, her
+thoughts flashing back, perchance, to the days when William of Orange
+brought his fleet to shore at that same spot and baffled the designs
+of the other great ruler of France. The glory of that land is now once
+more to be shrouded in gloom. For a time, like an uneasy ghost, Clio
+will hover above the scenes of Napoleon's exploits and will find
+little to record but promises broken and development arrested by his
+unteachable successors.
+
+But the march of Humanity is only clogged: it is not stayed. Ere long
+it breaks away into untrodden paths amidst the busy hives of industry
+or in the track of the colonizing peoples. The Muse follows in
+perplexity: her course at first seems dull and purposeless: her story,
+when it bids farewell to Napoleon, suffers a bewildering fall in
+dramatic interest: but at length new and varied fields open out to
+view. Democracy, embattled for seven sad years by Napoleon against her
+sister, Nationality, little by little awakens to a consciousness of
+the mistake that has blighted his fortune and hers, and begins to ally
+herself with the ill-used champion of the Kings. Industry, starved by
+War, regains her strength and goes forth on a career of conquest more
+enduring than that of the great warrior. And the peoples that come to
+the front are not those of the Latin race, whom his wars have stunted,
+but those of the untamable Teutonic stock, the lords of the sea and
+the leaders of Central Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The treatment of the ex-Emperor henceforth differed widely from that
+which had been hastily arranged by the Czar for his sojourn at Elba.
+In that case he retained the title of Emperor; he reigned over the
+island, and was free to undertake coasting trips. As these generous
+arrangements had entailed on Europe the loss of more than 80,000 men
+in killed and wounded, it is not surprising that the British Ministers
+should now have insisted on far stricter rules, especially as they and
+their Commissioner had been branded as accomplices in the former
+escape. His comfort and dignity were now subordinated to security. As
+the title of Emperor would enable him to claim privileges incompatible
+with any measure of surveillance, it was firmly and consistently
+denied to him; while he as persistently claimed it, and doubtless for
+the same reason. He was now to rank as a General not on active
+service; and Cockburn received orders, while treating him with
+deference and assigning to him the place of honour at table, to
+abstain from any acknowledgment of the imperial dignity. Napoleon soon
+put this question to the test by rising from dinner before the others
+had finished; but, with the exception of his suite, the others did not
+accompany him on deck. At this he was much piqued, as also at seeing
+that the officers did not uncover in his presence on the quarter-deck;
+but when Cockburn's behaviour in this respect was found to be quietly
+consistent, the anger of the exiles began to wear off--or rather it
+was thrust down.
+
+One could wish that the conduct of our Government in this matter had
+been more chivalrous. It is true that we had only on two occasions
+acknowledged the imperial title, namely during the negotiations of
+1806 and 1814; and to recognize it after his public outlawry would
+have been rather illogical, besides feeding the Bonapartists with
+hopes which, in the interests of France, it was well absolutely to
+close. Ministers might also urge that he himself had offered to live
+in England _as a private individual_, and that his transference to St.
+Helena, which allowed of greater personal liberty than could be
+accorded in England, did not alter the essential character of his
+detention. Nevertheless, their decision is to be regretted. The zeal
+of his partisans, far from being quenched, was inflamed by what they
+conceived to be a gratuitous insult; and these feelings, artfully
+worked upon by tales, medals, and pictures of the modern Prometheus
+chained to the rock, had no small share in promoting unrest in France.
+
+Apart from this initial friction, Napoleon's relations to the Admiral
+and officers were fairly cordial. He chatted with him at the
+dinner-table and during the hour's walk that they afterwards usually
+took on the quarter-deck. His conversations showed no signs of despair
+or mental lethargy. They ranged over a great variety of topics,
+general and personal. He discussed details of navigation and
+shipbuilding with a minuteness of knowledge that surprised the men of
+the sea.
+
+From his political conversations with Cockburn we may cull the
+following remarks. He said that he really meant to invade England in
+1803-5, and to dictate terms of peace at London. He stoutly defended
+his execution of the Duc d'Enghien, and named none of the paltry
+excuses that his admirers were later on to discover for that crime.
+Referring to recent events, he inveighed against the French Liberals,
+declared that he had humoured the Chambers far too much, and dilated
+on the danger of representative institutions on the Continent. However
+much a Parliament might suit England, it was, he declared, highly
+perilous in Continental States. With respect to the future of France,
+he expressed the conviction that, as soon as the armies of occupation
+were withdrawn, there would be a general insurrection owing to the
+strong military bias of the people and their hatred of the Bourbons,
+now again brought back by devastating hordes of foreigners.[544]
+
+This last observation probably explains the general buoyancy of his
+bearing. He did not consider the present settlement as final; and
+doubtless it was his boundless fund of hope that enabled him to
+triumph over the discomforts of the present, which left his companions
+morose and snappish. "His spirits are even," wrote Glover, the
+Admiral's secretary, at the equator, "and he appears perfectly
+unconcerned about his fate."[545] His recreations were chess, which he
+played with more vehemence than skill, and games of hazard, especially
+_vingt-et-un_: he began to learn "le wisth" from our officers.
+Sometimes he and Gourgaud amused themselves by extracting the square
+and cube roots of numbers; he also began to learn English from Las
+Cases. On some occasions he diverted his male companions with tales of
+his adventures, both military and amorous. His interest in the ship
+and in the events of the voyage did not flag. When a shark was caught
+and hauled up, "Bonaparte with the eagerness of a schoolboy scrambled
+on the poop to see it."
+
+His health continued excellent. Despite his avoidance of vegetables
+and an excessive consumption of meat, he suffered little from
+indigestion, except during a few days of fierce sirocco wind off
+Madeira. He breakfasted about 10 on meat and wine, and remained in his
+cabin reading, dictating, or learning English, until about 3 p.m.,
+when he played games and took exercise preparatory to dinner at 5.
+After a full meal, in which he partook by preference of the most
+highly dressed dishes of meat, he walked the deck for an hour or more.
+On one evening, the Admiral begged to be excused owing to a heavy
+equatorial rain-storm; but the ex-Emperor went up as usual, saying
+that the rain would not hurt him any more than the sailors; and it did
+not. The incident claims some notice: for it proves that, whatever
+later writers may say as to his decline of vitality in 1815, he
+himself was unaware of it, and braved with impunity a risk that a
+vigorous naval officer preferred to avoid. Moreover, the mere fact
+that he was able to keep up a heavy meat diet all through the tropics
+bespeaks a constitution of exceptional strength, unimpaired as yet by
+the internal malady which was to be his doom.
+
+That one element of conviviality was not wanting at meals will appear
+from the official return of the consumption of wine at the Admiral's
+table by his seven French guests and six British officers: Port, 20
+dozen; Claret, 45 dozen; Madeira, 22 dozen; Champagne, 13 dozen;
+Sherry, 7 dozen; Malmsey, 5 dozen.[546] The "Peruvian" had been
+detached from the squadron to Guernsey to lay in a stock of French
+wines specially for the exiles; and 15 dozen of claret--Napoleon's
+favourite beverage--were afterwards sent on shore at St. Helena for
+his use.
+
+Doubtless the evenness of his health, which surprised Cockburn,
+Warden, and O'Meara alike, was largely due to his iron will. He knew
+that his exile must be disagreeable, but he had that useful faculty of
+encasing himself in the present, which dulls the edge of care.
+Besides, his tastes were not so exacting, or his temperament so
+volatile, as to shroud him in the gloom that besets weaker natures in
+time of trouble. Alas for him, it was far otherwise with his
+companions. The impressionable young Gourgaud, the thought-wrinkled
+Las Cases, the bright pleasure-loving Montholons, the gloomy Grand
+Marshal, Bertrand, and his mercurial consort, over whose face there
+often passed "a gleam of distraction"--these were not fashioned for a
+life of adversity. Thence came the long spells of _ennui_, broken by
+flashes of temper, that marked the voyage and the sojourn at St.
+Helena.
+
+The storm-centre was generally Mme. Bertrand; her varying moods, that
+proclaimed her Irish-Creole parentage, early brought on her the
+hostility of the others, including Napoleon; and as the discovery of
+her little plot to prevent Bertrand going to St. Helena gave them a
+convenient weapon, the voyage was for her one long struggle against
+covert intrigues, thinly veiled sarcasms, sea-sickness, and despair.
+At last she has to keep to her cabin, owing to some nervous disorder.
+On hearing of this Napoleon remarks that it is better she should
+die--such is Gourgaud's report of his words. Unfortunately, she
+recovers: after ten days she reappears, receives the congratulations
+of the officers in the large cabin where Napoleon is playing chess
+with Montholon. He receives her with a stolid stare and goes on with
+the game. After a time the Admiral hands her to her seat at the
+dinner-table, on the ex-Emperor's left. Still no recognition from her
+chief! But the claret bottle that should be in front of him is not
+there: she reaches over and hands it to him. Then come the looked-for
+words: "Ah! comment se porte madame?"--That is all.[547]
+
+For Bertrand, even in his less amiable moods, Bonaparte ever had the
+friendly word that feeds the well-spring of devotion. On the
+"Bellerophon," when they hotly differed on a trivial subject, Bertrand
+testily replied to his dogmatic statements: "Oh! if you reply in that
+manner, there is an end of all argument." Far from taking offence at
+this retort, Napoleon soothed him and speedily restored him to good
+temper--a good instance of his forbearance to those whom he really
+admired.
+
+Certainly the exiles were not happy among themselves. Even the amiable
+Mme. Montholon was the cause of one quarrel at table. After leaving
+Funchal, Cockburn states that a Roman Catholic priest there has
+offered to accompany the ex-Emperor. Napoleon replies in a way that
+proves his utter indifference; but the ladies launch out on the
+subject of religion. The discussion waxes hot, until the impetuous
+Gourgaud shoots out the remark that Montholon is wanting in respect
+for his wife. Whereupon the Admiral ends the scene by rising from
+table. Sir George Bingham, Colonel of the 53rd Regiment sailing in the
+squadron, passes the comment in his diary: "It is not difficult to see
+that envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness are firmly rooted in
+Napoleon's family, and that their residence in St. Helena will be
+rendered very uncomfortable by it."[548]
+
+Intrigues there are of kaleidoscopic complexity, either against the
+superior Bertrands or the rising influence of Las Cases. This official
+has but yesterday edged his way into the Emperor's inner circle, and
+Gourgaud frankly reminds him of the fact: "'If I have come [with the
+Emperor] it is because I have followed him for four years, except at
+Elba. I have saved his life; and one loves those whom one has
+obliged.... But you, sir, he did not know you even by sight: then, why
+this great devotion of yours?'--I see around me," he continues, "many
+intrigues and deceptions. Poor Gourgaud, _qu'allais-tu faire dans
+cette galère_?"[549]
+
+The young aide-de-camp's influence is not allowed to wane for lack of
+self-advertisement. Thus, when the battle of Waterloo is mentioned at
+table, he at once gives his version of it, and stoutly maintains that,
+_whatever Napoleon may say to the contrary_, he (Napoleon) did mistake
+the Prussian army for Grouchy's force: and, waxing eloquent on this
+theme, he exclaims to his neighbour, Glover, "that at one time he
+[Gourgaud] might have taken the Duke of Wellington prisoner, but he
+_desisted from it, knowing the effusion of blood it would have
+occasioned_."[550]--It is charitable to assume that this utterance was
+inspired by some liquid stronger than the alleged "stale water that
+had been to India and back."
+
+On the whole, was there ever an odder company of shipmates since the
+days of Noah? A cheery solid Admiral, a shadowy Captain Ross who can
+navigate but does not open his lips, a talkative creature of the
+secretary type, the soldierly Bingham, the graceful courtly
+Montholons, the young General who out-gascons the Gascons, the
+wire-drawn subtle Las Cases, the melancholy Grand Marshal and his
+spasmodic consort--all of them there to guard or cheer that pathetic
+central figure, the world's conqueror and world's exile.
+
+Meanwhile France was feeling the results of his recent enterprise.
+Enormous armies began to hold her down until the Bourbons, whose
+nullity was a pledge for peace, should be firmly re-established.
+Blücher, baulked of his wish to shoot Bonaparte, was with difficulty
+dissuaded by the protests of Wellington and Louis XVIII. from blowing
+up the Pont de Jéna at Paris; and the fierce veteran voiced the
+general opinion of Germans, including Metternich, that France must be
+partitioned, or at least give back Alsace and Lorraine to the
+Fatherland. Even Lord Liverpool, our cautious Premier, wrote on July
+15th that, if Bonaparte remained at large, the allies ought to retain
+all the northern fortresses as a security.[551] But the knowledge that
+the warrior was in our power led our statesmen to bear less hardly on
+France. From the outset Wellington sought to bring the allies to
+reason, and on August 11th he wrote a despatch that deserves to rank
+among his highest titles to fame. While granting that France was still
+left "in too great strength for the rest of Europe," he pointed out
+that "revolutionary France is more likely to distress the world, than
+France, however strong in her frontier, under a regular Government;
+and that is the situation in which we ought to endeavour to place
+her."
+
+This generous and statesmanlike judgment, consorting with that of the
+Czar, prevailed over the German policy of partition; and it was
+finally arranged by the Treaty of Paris of November 20th, 1815, that
+France should surrender only the frontier strips around Marienburg,
+Saarbrücken, Landau, and Chambéry, also paying war indemnities and
+restoring to their lawful owners all the works of art of which
+Napoleon had rifled the chief cities of the continent. In one respect
+these terms were extraordinarily lenient. Great Britain, after bearing
+the chief financial strain of the war, might have claimed some of the
+French colonies which she restored in 1814, or at least have required
+the surrender of the French claims on part of the Newfoundland coast.
+Even this last was not done, and alone of the States that had suffered
+loss of valuable lives, we exacted no territorial indemnity for the
+war of 1815.[552] In truth, our Ministers were content with placing
+France and her ancient dynasty in an honourable position, in the hope
+that Europe would thus at last find peace; and the forty years of
+almost unbroken rest that followed justified their magnanimity.
+
+But there was one condition fundamental to the Treaty of Paris and
+essential to the peace of Europe, namely, that Napoleon should be
+securely guarded at St. Helena.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+CLOSING YEARS
+
+
+After a voyage of sixty-seven days the exiles sighted St.
+Helena--"that black wart rising out of the ocean," as Surgeon Henry
+calls it. Blank dismay laid hold of the more sensitive as they gazed
+at those frowning cliffs. What Napoleon's feelings were we know not.
+Watchful curiosity seemed to be uppermost; for as they drew near to
+Jamestown, he minutely scanned the forts through a glass. Arrangements
+having been made for his reception, he landed in the evening of the
+17th October, so as to elude the gaze of the inhabitants, and entered
+a house prepared for him in the town.
+
+On the morrow he was up at dawn, and rode with Cockburn and Bertrand
+to Longwood, the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor. The orders of
+our East India Company, to which the island then belonged, forbade his
+appropriation of Plantation House, the Governor's residence; and a
+glance at the accompanying map will show the reason of this
+prohibition. This house is situated not far from creeks that are
+completely sheltered from the south-east trade winds, whence escape by
+boat would be easy; whereas Longwood is nearer the surf-beaten side
+and offers far more security. After conferring with Governor Wilks and
+others, Cockburn decided on this residence.
+
+    "At Longwood," wrote Cockburn, "an extent of level ground, easily
+    to be secured by sentries, presents itself, perfectly adapted for
+    horse exercise, carriage exercise, or for pleasant walking, which
+    is not to be met with in all the other parts of the island. The
+    house is certainly small; but ... I trust the carpenters of the
+    'Northumberland' will in a little time be able to make such
+    additions to the house as will render it, if not as good as might
+    be wished, yet at least as commodious as necessary."[553]
+
+[Illustration: ST. HELENA]
+
+"Napoleon," wrote Glover, "seemed well satisfied with the situation of
+Longwood, and expressed a desire to occupy it as soon as possible." As
+he disliked the publicity of the house in Jamestown, Cockburn
+suggested on their return that he should reside at a pretty little
+bungalow, not far from the town, named "The Briars." He readily
+assented, and took up his abode there for seven weeks, occupying a
+small adjoining annexe, while Las Cases and his son established
+themselves in the two garrets. A marquee was erected to serve as
+dining-room. It was a narrow space for the lord of the Tuileries, but
+he seems to have been not unhappy. There he dictated Memoranda to Las
+Cases or Gourgaud in the mornings, and often joined the neighbouring
+family of the Balcombes for dinner and the evening. Mr. Balcombe, an
+elderly merchant, was appointed purveyor to the party; he and his wife
+were most hospitable, and their two daughters, of fifteen and fourteen
+years, frequently beguiled Napoleon's evening hours with games of
+whist or naïve questions. On one supreme occasion, in order to please
+the younger girl, Napoleon played at blindman's buff; at such times
+she ventured to call him "Boney"; and, far from taking offence at this
+liberty, he delighted in her glee. It is such episodes as these that
+reveal the softer traits of his character, which the dictates of
+policy had stunted but not eradicated.[554]
+
+In other respects, the time at "The Briars" was dull and monotonous,
+and he complained bitterly to Cockburn of the inadequate
+accommodation. The most exciting times were on the arrival of
+newspapers from Europe. The reports just to hand of riots in England
+and royalist excesses in France fed his hopes of general disorders or
+revolutions which might lead to his recall. He believed the Jacobins
+would yet lord it over the Continent. "It is only I who can tame
+them."
+
+Equally noteworthy are his comments on the trials of Labédoyère and
+Ney for their treason to Louis XVIII. He has little pity for them.
+"One ought never to break one's word," he remarked to Gourgaud, "and I
+despise traitors." On hearing that Labédoyère was condemned to death,
+he at first shows more feeling: but he comes round to the former view:
+"Labédoyère acted like a man without honour," and "Ney dishonoured
+himself."[555]
+
+We may hereby gauge the value which Napoleon laid on fidelity. For him
+it is the one priceless virtue. He esteems those who staunchly oppose
+him, and seeks to gain them over by generosity: for those who _come
+over_ he ever has a secret contempt; for those who desert him, hatred.
+Doubtless that is why he heard the news of Ney's execution unmoved.
+Brilliantly brave as the Marshal was, he had abandoned him in 1814,
+and Louis XVIII. in the Hundred Days. The tidings of Murat's miserable
+fate, at the close of his mad expedition to Calabria, leave Napoleon
+equally cold.--"I announce the fatal news," writes Gourgaud, "to His
+Majesty, whose expression remains unchanged, and who says that Murat
+must have been mad to attempt a venture like that."--Here again his
+thoughts seem to fly back to Murat's defection in 1814. Later on, he
+says he loved him for his brilliant bravery, and therefore pardoned
+his numerous follies. But his present demeanour shows that he never
+forgave that of 1814.[556]
+
+Meanwhile, thanks to the energy of Cockburn and his sailors, Longwood
+was ready for the party (December 9th, 1815), and the Admiral hoped
+that their complaints would cease. The new abode contained five rooms
+for Napoleon's use, three for the Montholons, two for the Las Cases,
+and one for Gourgaud: it was situated on a plateau 1,730 feet above
+the sea: the air there was bracing, and on the farther side of the
+plain dotted with gum trees stretched the race-course, a mile and a
+half of excellent turf. The only obvious drawbacks were the occasional
+mists, and the barren precipitous ravines that flank the plateau on
+all sides. Seeing, however, that Napoleon disliked the publicity of
+Jamestown, the isolation of Longwood could hardly be alleged as a
+serious grievance. The Bertrands occupied Hutt's Gate, a small villa
+about a mile distant.
+
+The limits within which Napoleon might take exercise unaccompanied by
+a British officer formed a roughly triangular space having a
+circumference of about twelve miles. Outside of those bounds he must
+be so accompanied; and if a strange ship came in sight, he was to
+return within bounds. The letters of the whole party must be
+supervised by the acting Governor. This is the gist of the official
+instructions. Napoleon's dislike of being accompanied by a British
+officer led him nearly always to restrict himself to the limits and
+generally to the grounds of Longwood.
+
+And where, we may ask, could a less unpleasant place of detention have
+been found? In Europe he must inevitably have submitted to far closer
+confinement. For what safeguards could there have been proof against a
+subtle intellect and a personality whose charm fired thousands of
+braves in both hemispheres with the longing to start him once more on
+his adventures? The Tower of London, the eyrie of Dumbarton Castle,
+even Fort William itself, were named as possible places of detention.
+Were they suited to this child of the Mediterranean? He needed sun; he
+needed exercise; he needed society. All these he could have on the
+plateau of Longwood, in a singularly equable climate, where the heat
+of the tropics is assuaged by the south-east trade wind, and plants of
+the sub-tropical and temperate zones alike flourish.[557]
+
+But nothing pleased the exiles. They moped during the rains; they
+shuddered at the yawning ravines; they groaned at the sight of the
+red-coats; above all, they realized that escape was hopeless in face
+of Cockburn's watchful care. His first steps on arriving at the island
+were to send on to the Cape seventy-five foreigners whose presence was
+undesirable. He also despatched the "Peruvian" to hoist the British
+flag on the uninhabited island, Ascension, in order, as he wrote to
+the Admiralty, "to prevent America or any other nation from planting
+themselves [_sic_] there ... for the purpose of favouring sooner or
+later the escape of General Bonaparte." Four ships of war were also
+kept at St. Helena, and no merchantmen but those of the East India
+Company were to touch there except under stress of weather or when in
+need of water.
+
+These precautions early provoked protests from the exiles. Bertrand
+had no wish to draw them up in the trenchant style that the ex-Emperor
+desired; but Gourgaud's "Journal" shows that he was driven on to the
+task (November 5th). It only led to a lofty rejoinder from Cockburn,
+in which he declined to relax his system, but expressed the wish to
+render their situation "as little disagreeable as possible." On
+December 21st, Montholon returned to the charge with a letter dictated
+by Napoleon, complaining that Longwood was the most barren spot on the
+island, always deluged with rain or swathed in mist; that O'Meara was
+not to count as a British officer when they went beyond the limits,
+and had been reprimanded by the Admiral for thus acting; and that the
+treatment of the exiles would excite the indignation of all times and
+all people. To this the Admiral sent a crushing rejoinder, declining
+to explain why he had censured O'Meara or any other British subject:
+he asserted that Longwood was "the most pleasant as well as the most
+healthy spot of this most healthful island," expressed the hope that,
+when the rains had ceased, the party would change their opinion of
+Longwood, and declared that the treatment of the party would "obtain
+the admiration of future ages, as well as of every unprejudiced person
+of the present."
+
+We now know that the Admiral's trust in the judicial impartiality of
+future ages was a piece of touching credulity, and that the next
+generation, like his own, was greedily to swallow sensational slander
+and to neglect the prosaic truth. But, arguing from present signs, he
+might well believe that Montholon's letter was a tissue of falsehoods;
+for that officer soon confessed to him that "it was written in a
+moment of petulance of the General [Bonaparte] ... and that he
+[Montholon] considered the party to be in point of fact vastly well
+off and to have everything necessary for them, though anxious that
+there should be no restrictions as to the General going unattended by
+an officer wherever he pleased throughout the island."[558] On the
+last point Cockburn was inflexible.
+
+The Admiral's responsibility was now nearly at an end. On April 14th,
+1816, there landed at St. Helena Sir Hudson Lowe, the new Governor,
+who was to take over the powers wielded both by Cockburn and Wilks.
+The new arrival, on whom the storms of calumny were thenceforth
+persistently to beat, had served with distinction in many parts. Born
+in 1769, within one month of Napoleon, he early entered our army, and
+won his commission by service in Corsica and Elba, his linguistic and
+military gifts soon raising him to the command of a corps of Corsican
+exiles who after 1795 enlisted in our service. With these "Corsican
+Rangers" Lowe campaigned in Egypt and finally at Capri, their devotion
+to him nerving them to a gallant but unavailing defence of this islet
+against a superior force of Murat's troops in 1808.[559] In 1810 Lowe
+and his Corsicans captured the Isle of Santa Maura, which he
+thereafter governed to the full satisfaction of the inhabitants. Early
+in 1813 he was ordered to Russia, and thereafter served as _attaché_
+on Blücher's staff in the memorable advance to the Rhine and the
+Seine. He brought the news of Napoleon's first abdication to England,
+was knighted by the Prince Regent, and received Russian and Prussian
+orders of distinction for his services. At the close of 1814 he was
+appointed Quartermaster-General of our forces in the Netherlands and
+received flattering letters of congratulation from Blücher and
+Gneisenau, the latter expressing his appreciation of "Your rare
+military talents, your profound judgment on the great operations of
+war, and your imperturbable _sang froid_ in the day of battle. These
+rare qualities and your honourable character will link me to you
+eternally." In 1822, when O'Meara was slandering Lowe's character, the
+Czar Alexander met his step-daughter, the Countess Balmain, at Verona,
+and in reference to Sir Hudson's painful duties at St. Helena, said of
+him: "Je l'estime beaucoup. Je l'ai connu dans les temps
+critiques."[560]
+
+Lowe's firmness of character, command of foreign languages, and
+intimate acquaintance with Corsicans, seemed to mark him out as the
+ideal Governor of St. Helena in place of the mild and scholarly Wilks.
+And yet the appointment was in some ways unfortunate. Though a man of
+sterling worth, Lowe was reserved, and had little acquaintance with
+the ways of courtiers. Moreover, the superstitious might deem that all
+the salient events of his career proclaimed him an evil genius dogging
+the steps of Napoleon; and, as superstition laid increasing hold on
+the great Corsican in his later years, we may reasonably infer that
+this feeling intensified, if it did not create, the repugnance which
+he ever manifested to _la figure sinistre_ of the Governor. Lowe also
+at first shrank from an appointment that must bring on him the
+intrigues of Napoleon and of his partisans in England. Only a man of
+high rank and commanding influence could hope to live down such
+attacks; and Lowe had neither rank nor influence. He was the son of an
+army surgeon, and was almost unknown in the country which for
+twenty-eight years he had served abroad.
+
+His first visits to Longwood were unfortunate. Cockburn and he
+arranged to go at 9 a.m., the time when Napoleon frequently went for a
+drive. On their arrival they were informed that the Emperor was
+indisposed and could not see them until 4 p.m. of the next day, and it
+soon appeared that the early hour of their call was taken as an act of
+rudeness. On the following afternoon Lowe and Cockburn arranged to go
+in together to the presence; but as Lowe advanced to the chamber,
+Bertrand stepped forward, and a valet prevented the Admiral's
+entrance, an act of incivility which Lowe did not observe. Proceeding
+alone, the new Governor offered his respects in French; but on
+Napoleon remarking that he must know Italian, for he had commanded a
+regiment of Corsicans, they conversed in Napoleon's mother-tongue. The
+ex-Emperor's first serious observation, which bore on the character of
+the Corsicans, was accompanied by a quick searching glance: "They
+carry the stiletto: are they not a bad people?"--Lowe saw the snare
+and evaded it by the reply: "They do not carry the stiletto, having
+abandoned that custom in our service: I was very well satisfied with
+them." They then conversed a short time about Egypt and other topics.
+Napoleon afterwards contrasted him favourably with Cockburn: "This new
+Governor is a man of very few words, but he appears to be a polite
+man: however, it is only from a man's conduct for some time that you
+can judge of him."[561]
+
+Cockburn was indignant at the slight put upon him by Napoleon and
+Bertrand, which succeeded owing to Lowe's want of ready perception;
+but he knew that the cause of the exiles' annoyance was his recent
+firm refusal to convey Napoleon's letter of complaint direct to the
+Prince Regent, without the knowledge of the Ministry. Failing to bend
+the Admiral, they then sought to cajole the retiring Governor, Wilks,
+who, having borne little of the responsibility of their custody, was
+proportionately better liked. First Bertrand, and then Napoleon,
+requested him to take this letter _without the knowledge of the new
+Governor_. Wilks at once repelled the request, remarking to Bertrand
+that such attempts at evasion must lead to greater stringency in the
+future. And this was the case.[562] The incident naturally increased
+Lowe's suspicion of the ex-Emperor.
+
+At first there was an uneasy truce between them. Gourgaud, though cast
+down at the departure of the "adorable" Miss Wilks, found strength
+enough to chronicle in his "Journal" the results of a visit paid by
+Las Cases to Lowe at Plantation House (April 26th): the Governor
+received the secretary very well and put all his library at the
+disposal of the party; but the diarist also notes that Napoleon took
+amiss the reception of any of his people by the Governor. This had
+been one of the unconscious crimes of the Admiral. With the hope of
+brightening the sojourn of the exiles, he had given several balls, at
+which Mmes. Bertrand and Montholon shone resplendent in dresses that
+cast into the shade those of the officers' wives. Their triumph was
+short-lived. When _la grande Maréchale_ ventured to desert the
+Emperor's table on these and other festive occasions, her growing
+fondness for the English drew on her sharp rebukes from the ex-Emperor
+and a request not to treat Longwood as if it were an inn.[563] Many
+jottings in Gourgaud's diary show that the same policy was thenceforth
+strictly maintained. Napoleon kept up the essentials of Tuileries
+etiquette, required the attendance of his courtiers, and jealously
+checked any familiarity with Plantation House or Jamestown.
+
+On some questions Lowe was more pliable than the home Government,
+notably in the matter of the declarations signed by Napoleon's
+followers. But in one matter he was proof against all requests from
+Longwood: this was the extension of the twelve-mile limit. It
+afterwards became the custom to speak as if Lowe could have granted
+this. Even the Duke of Wellington declared to Stanhope that he
+considered Lowe a stupid man, suspicious and jealous, who might very
+well have let Napoleon go freely about the island provided that the
+six or seven landing-places were well guarded and that Napoleon showed
+himself to a British officer every night and morning. Now, it is
+futile to discuss whether such liberty would have enabled Napoleon to
+pass off as someone else and so escape. What is certain is that our
+Government, believing he could so escape, _imposed rules which Lowe
+was not free to relax_.
+
+Napoleon realized this perfectly well, but in the interview of April
+30th, 1816, he pressed Lowe for an extension of the limits, saying
+that he hated the sight of our soldiers and longed for closer
+intercourse with the inhabitants. Other causes of friction occurred,
+such as Lowe's withdrawal of the privilege, rather laxly granted by
+Cockburn to Bertrand, of granting passes for interviews with Napoleon;
+or again a tactless invitation that Lowe sent to "General Bonaparte"
+to meet the wife of the Governor-General of India at dinner at
+Plantation House. But in the midst of the diatribe which Napoleon
+shortly afterwards shot forth at his would-be host--a diatribe
+besprinkled with taunts that Lowe was sent to be his
+_executioner_--there came a sentence which reveals the cause of his
+fury: "If you cannot extend my limits, you can do nothing for
+me."[564]
+
+Why this wish for wider limits? It did not spring from a desire for
+longer drives; for the plateau offered nearly all the best ground in
+the island for such exercise. Neither was it due to a craving for
+wider social intercourse. There can be little doubt that he looked on
+an extension of limits as a necessary prelude to attempts at escape
+and as a means of influencing the slaves at the outlying plantations.
+Gourgaud names several instances of gold pieces being given to slaves,
+and records the glee shown by his master on once slipping away from
+the sentries and the British officer. These feelings and attempts were
+perfectly natural on Napoleon's part; but it was equally natural that
+the Governor should regard them as part of a plan of escape or
+rescue--a matter that will engage our closer attention presently.
+
+Napoleon had only two more interviews with Lowe namely, on July 17th
+and August 18th. In the former of these he was more conciliatory; but
+in the latter, at which Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm was present, he
+assailed the Governor with the bitterest taunts. Lowe cut short the
+painful scene by saying: "You make me smile, sir." "How smile, sir?"
+"You force me to smile: your misconception of my character and the
+rudeness of your manners excite my pity. I wish you good day." The
+Admiral also retired.[565]
+
+Various causes have been assigned for the hatred that Napoleon felt
+for Lowe. His frequents taunts that he was no general, but only a
+leader of Corsican deserters, suggests one that has already been
+referred to. It has also been suggested that Lowe was not a gentleman,
+and references have been approvingly made to comparisons of his
+physiognomy with that of the devil, and of his eye with "that of a
+hyæna caught in a trap." As to this we will cite the opinion of
+Lieutenant (later Colonel) Basil Jackson, who was unknown to Lowe
+before 1816, and was on friendly terms with the inmates both of
+Longwood and of Plantation House:
+
+    "He [Lowe] stood five feet seven, spare in make, having good
+    features, fair hair, and eyebrows overhanging his eyes: his look
+    denoted penetration and firmness, his manner rather abrupt, his
+    gait quick, his look and general demeanour indicative of energy
+    and decision. He wrote or dictated rapidly, and was fond of
+    writing, was well read in military history, spoke French and
+    Italian with fluency, was warm and steady in his friendships, and
+    popular both with the inhabitants of the isle and the troops. His
+    portrait, prefixed to Mr. Forsyth's book, is a perfect
+    likeness."[566]
+
+If overhanging eyebrows, a penetrating glance, and rather abrupt
+manners be thought to justify comparisons with the devil or a hyæna,
+the art of historical portraiture will assuredly have to be learnt
+over again in conformity with impressionist methods. That Lowe was a
+gentleman is affirmed by Mrs. Smith (_née_ Grant), who, in later
+years, _when prejudiced against him by O'Meara's slanders_, met him at
+Colombo without at first knowing his name:
+
+    "I was taken in to dinner by a grave, particularly gentlemanly
+    man, in a General's uniform, whose conversation was as agreeable
+    as his manner. He had been over half the world, knew all
+    celebrities, and contrived without display to say a great deal one
+    was willing to hear.... Years before, with our Whig principles and
+    prejudices, we had cultivated in our Highland retirement a horror
+    of the great Napoleon's gaoler. The cry of party, the feeling for
+    the prisoner, the book of Surgeon O'Meara, had all worked my
+    woman's heart to such a pitch of indignation that this maligned
+    name [Lowe] was an offence. We were to hold the owner in
+    abhorrence. Speak to him, never! Look at him, sit in the same room
+    with him, never! None were louder than I, more vehement; yet here
+    was I beside my bugbear and perfectly satisfied with my position.
+    It was a good lesson."[567]
+
+The real cause of Napoleon's hatred of Lowe is hinted at by Sir George
+Bingham in his Diary (April 19th). After mentioning Napoleon's
+rudeness to Cockburn on parting with him, he proceeds:
+
+    "You have no idea of the dirty little intrigues of himself
+    [Napoleon] and his set: if Sir H. Lowe has firmness enough not to
+    give way to them, he will in a short time treat him in the same
+    manner. For myself, it is said I am a favourite [of Napoleon],
+    though I do not understand the claim I have to such."[568]
+
+
+Yes! Lowe's offence lay not in his manners, not even in his features,
+but in his firmness. Napoleon soon saw that all his efforts to bend
+him were in vain. Neither in regard to the Imperial title, nor the
+limits, nor the transmission of letters to Europe, would the Governor
+swerve a hair's breadth from his instructions. At the risk of giving a
+surfeit of quotations, we must cite two more on this topic. Basil
+Jackson, when at Paris in 1828, chanced to meet Montholon, and was
+invited to his Château de Frémigny; during his stay the conversation
+turned upon their sojourn at St. Helena, to the following effect:
+
+    "He [Montholon] enlarged upon what he termed _la politique de
+    Longwood_, spoke not unkindly of Sir Hudson Lowe, allowing he had
+    a difficult task to execute, since an angel from Heaven, as
+    Governor, could not have pleased them. When I more than hinted
+    that nothing could justify detraction and departure from truth in
+    carrying out a policy, he merely shrugged his shoulders and
+    reiterated: '_C'était notre politique; et que voulez-vous?_' That
+    he and the others respected Sir Hudson Lowe, I had not the shadow
+    of a doubt: nay, in a conversation with Montholon at St. Helena,
+    when speaking of the Governor, he observed that Sir Hudson was an
+    officer who would always have distinguished employment, as all
+    Governments were glad of the services of a man of his calibre.
+
+    "Happening to mention that, owing to his inability to find an
+    officer who could understand and speak French, the Governor was
+    disposed to employ me as orderly officer at Longwood, Montholon
+    said it was well for me that I was not appointed to the post, as
+    they did not want a person in that capacity who could understand
+    them; in fact, he said, we should have found means to get rid of
+    you, and perhaps ruined you."[569]
+
+
+Las Cases also, _in a passage that he found it desirable to suppress
+when he published his "Journal"_ wrote as follows (November 30th,
+1815):
+
+    "We are possessed of moral arms only: and in order to make the
+    most advantageous use of these it was necessary to reduce into _a
+    system_ our demeanour, our words, our sentiments, _even our
+    privations_, in order that we might thereby excite a lively
+    interest in a large portion of the population of Europe, and that
+    the Opposition in England might not fail to attack the Ministry on
+    the violence of their conduct towards us."[570]
+
+We are now able to understand the real nature of the struggle that
+went on between Longwood and Plantation House. Napoleon and his
+followers sought by every means to bring odium upon Lowe, and to
+furnish the Opposition at Westminster with toothsome details that
+might lead to the disgrace of the Governor, the overthrow of the
+Ministry, and the triumphant release of the ex-Emperor. On the other
+hand, the knowledge of the presence of traitors on the island, and of
+possible rescuers hovering about on the horizon, kept Lowe ever at
+work "unravelling the intricate plotting constantly going on at
+Longwood," until his face wore the preoccupied worried look that
+Surgeon Henry describes.
+
+That both antagonists somewhat overacted their parts does not surprise
+us when we think of the five years thus spent within a narrow space
+and under a tropical sun. Lowe was at times pedantic, witness his
+refusal to forward to Longwood books inscribed to the "Emperor
+Napoleon," and his suspicions as to the political significance of
+green and white beans offered by Montholon to the French Commissioner,
+Montchenu. But such incidents can be paralleled from the lives of most
+officials who bear a heavy burden of responsibility. And who has ever
+borne a heavier burden?[571]
+
+Napoleon also, in his calmer moods, regretted the violence of his
+language to the Governor. He remarked to Montholon: "This is the
+second time in my life that I have spoilt my affairs with the English.
+Their phlegm leads me on, and I say more than I ought. I should have
+done better not to have replied to him." This reference to his attack
+on Whitworth in 1803 flashes a ray of light on the diatribe against
+Lowe. In both cases, doubtless, the hot southron would have bridled
+his passion sooner, had it produced any visible effect on the colder
+man of the north. Nevertheless, the scene of August 18th, 1816, had an
+abiding influence on his relations with the Governor. For the rest of
+that weary span of years they never exchanged a word.
+
+Lowe's official reports prove that he did not cease to consult the
+comfort of the exiles as far as it was possible. The building of the
+new house, however, remained in abeyance, as Napoleon refused to give
+any directions on the subject: and the much-needed repairs to Longwood
+were stopped owing to his complaints of the noise of the workmen. But
+by ordering the claret that the ex-Emperor preferred, and by sending
+occasional presents of game to Longwood, Lowe sought to keep up the
+ordinary civilities of life; and when the home Government sought to
+limit the annual cost of the Longwood household to £8,000, Lowe took
+upon himself to increase that sum by one half.
+
+Napoleon's behaviour in this last affair is noteworthy. On hearing of
+the need for greater economy, he readily assented, sent away seven
+servants, and ordered a reduction in the consumption of wine. A day or
+two later, however, he gave orders that some of his silver plate
+should be sold in order "to provide those little comforts denied
+them." Balcombe was accordingly sent for, and, on expressing regret to
+Napoleon at the order for sale, received the reply: "_What is the use
+of plate when you have nothing to eat off it?_" Lowe quietly directed
+Balcombe to seal up the plate sent to him, and to advance money up to
+its value (£250); but other portions of the plate were broken and sold
+later on. O'Meara reveals the reason for these proceedings in his
+letter of October 10th: "In this he [Napoleon] has also a wish to
+excite odium against the Governor by saying that he has been obliged
+to sell his plate in order to provide against starvation, _as he
+himself told me was his object_."[572]
+
+Another incident that embittered the relations between Napoleon and
+the Governor was the arrival from England of more stringent
+regulations for his custody. The chief changes thus brought about
+(October 9th, 1816) were a restriction of the limits from a
+twelve-mile to an eight-mile circumference and the posting of a ring
+of sentries at a slight distance from Longwood at sunset instead of at
+9 p.m.[573] The latter change is to be regretted; for it marred the
+pleasure of Napoleon's evening strolls in his garden; but, as the
+Governor pointed out, the three hours after sunset had been the
+easiest time for escape. The restriction of limits was needful, not
+only in order to save our troops the labour of watching a wide area
+that was scarcely ever used for exercise, but also to prevent
+underhand intercourse with slaves.
+
+Was there really any need for these "nation-degrading" rules, as
+O'Meara called them? Or were they imposed in order to insult the great
+man? A reference to the British archives will show that there was some
+reason for them. Schemes of rescue were afoot that called for the
+greatest vigilance.
+
+As we have seen (page 527, note), a letter had on August 2nd, 1815,
+been directed to Mme. Bertrand (really for Napoleon) at Plymouth,
+stating that the writer had placed sums of money with well-known firms
+of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charlestown on his behalf, and
+that he (Napoleon) had only to make known his wishes "_avec le thé de
+la Chine ou les mousselines de l'Inde_": for the rest, the writer
+hoped much from English merchantmen. This letter, after wide
+wanderings, fell into our hands and caused our Government closely to
+inspect all letters and merchandise that passed into, or out of, St.
+Helena. Its attention was directed specially to the United States.
+There the Napoleonic cult had early taken root, thanks to his
+overthrow of the kings and his easy sale of Louisiana; the glorifying
+haze of distance fostered its growth; and now the martyrdom of St.
+Helena brought it to full maturity. Enthusiasm and money alike
+favoured schemes of rescue.
+
+In our St. Helena Records (No. 4) are reports as to two of them.
+Forwarded by the Spanish Ambassador at Washington, the first reached
+Madrid on May 9th, 1816, and stated that a man named Carpenter had
+offered to Joseph Bonaparte (then in the States) to rescue Napoleon,
+and had set sail on a ship for that purpose. This was at once made
+known to Lord Bathurst, our Minister for War and the Plantations, who
+forwarded it to Lowe. In August of that year our Foreign Office also
+received news that four schooners and other smaller vessels had set
+sail from Baltimore on June 14th with 300 men under an old French
+naval officer, named Fournier, ostensibly to help Bolivar, but really
+to rescue Bonaparte. These fast-sailing craft were to lie out of sight
+of the island by day, creep up at night to different points, and send
+boats to shore; from each of these a man, _in English uniform_, was to
+land and proceed to Longwood, warning Napoleon of the points where the
+boats would be ready to receive him. The report concludes:
+"Considerable sums in gold and diamonds will be put at his disposal to
+bribe those who may be necessary to him. They seem to flatter
+themselves of a certain co-operation on the part of certain
+individuals domiciled or employed at St. Helena."[574]
+
+Bathurst sent on to Lowe a copy of this intelligence. Forsyth does not
+name the affair, though he refers to other warnings, received at
+various times by Bathurst and forwarded to the Governor, that there
+were traitors in the island who had been won over by Napoleon's gold
+to aid his escape.[575] I cannot find out that the plans described
+above were put to the test, though suspicious vessels sometimes
+appeared and were chased away by our cruisers. But when we are
+considering the question whether Bathurst and Lowe were needlessly
+strict or not, the point at issue is _whether plans of escape or
+rescue existed, and if so, whether they knew of them_. As to this
+there cannot be the shadow of doubt; and it is practically certain
+that they were the cause of the new regulations of October 9th, 1816.
+
+We have now traced the course of events during the first critical
+twelvemonth; we have seen how friction burst into a flame, how the
+chafing of that masterful spirit against all restraint served but to
+tighten the inclosing grasp, and how the attempts of his misguided
+friends in America and Europe changed a fairly lax detention into
+actual custody. It is a vain thing to toy with the "might-have-beens"
+of history; but we can fancy a man less untamable than Napoleon
+frankly recognizing that he had done with active life by assuming a
+feigned name (_e.g._, that of Colonel Muiron, which he once thought
+of) and settling down in that equable retreat to the congenial task of
+compiling his personal and military Memoirs. If he ever intended to
+live as a country squire in England, there were equal facilities for
+such a life in St. Helena, with no temptations to stray back into
+politics. The climate was better for him than that of England, and the
+possibilities for exercise greater than could there have been allowed.
+Books there were in abundance--2,700 of them at last: he had back
+files of the "Moniteur" for his writings, and copies of "The Times"
+came regularly from Plantation House: a piano had been bought in
+England for £120. Finally there were the six courtiers whose jealous
+devotion, varying moods, and frequent quarrels furnished a daily
+comedietta that still charms posterity.
+
+What then was wanting? Unfortunately everything was wanting. He cared
+not for music, or animals, or, in recent years, for the chase. He
+himself divulged the secret, in words uttered to Gallois in the days
+of his power: "_Je n'aime pas beaucoup les femmes, ni le jeu--enfin
+rien: je suis tout à fait un être politique!_"--He never ceased to
+love politics and power. At St. Helena he pictured himself as winning
+over the English, had he settled there. Ah! if I were in England, he
+said, I should have conquered all hearts.[576] And assuredly he would
+have done so. How could men so commonplace as the Prince Regent,
+Liverpool, Castlereagh, and Bathurst have made head against the
+influence of a truly great and enthralling personality? Or if he had
+gone to the United States, who would have competed with him for the
+Presidency?
+
+As it was, he chose to remain indoors, in order to figure as the
+prisoner of Longwood,[577] and spent his time between intrigues
+against Lowe and dictation of Memoirs. On the subject of Napoleon's
+writings we cannot here enter, save to say that his critiques of
+Cæsar, Turenne, and Frederick the Great, are of great interest and
+value; that the records of his own campaigns, though highly
+suggestive, need to be closely checked by the original documents,
+seeing that he had not all the needful facts and figures at hand; and
+that his record of political events is in the main untrustworthy: it
+is an elaborate device for enhancing the Napoleonic tradition and
+assuring the crown to the King of Rome.
+
+We turn, then, to take a brief glance at his last years. The first
+event that claims notice is the arrest of Las Cases. This subtle
+intriguer had soon earned the hatred of Montholon and Gourgaud, who
+detested "the little Jesuit" for his Malvolio-like airs of importance
+and the hints of Napoleon that he would have ceremonial precedence
+over them. His rapid rise into favour was due to his conversational
+gifts, literary ability, and thorough knowledge of the English people
+and language. This last was specially important. Napoleon very much
+wished to learn our language, as he hoped that any mail might bring
+news of the triumph of the Whigs and an order for his own departure
+for England. His studies with Las Cases were more persevering than
+successful, as will be seen from the following curious letter, written
+apparently in the watches of the night: it has been recently
+re-published by M. de Brotonne.
+
+    "COUNT LASCASES,
+
+    "Since sixt week y learn the English and y do not any progress.
+    Sixt week do fourty and two day. If might have learn fivty word,
+    for day, i could know it two thousands and two hundred. It is in
+    the dictionary more of fourty thousand: even he could most twenty;
+    bot much of tems. For know it or hundred and twenty week, which do
+    more two years. After this you shall agree that the study one
+    tongue is a great labour who it must do into the young aged."
+
+How much farther Napoleon progressed in his efforts to absorb our
+language by these mathematical methods we do not know; for no other
+English letter of his seems to be extant. The arrest and departure of
+his tutor soon occurred, and there are good grounds for assigning this
+ultimately to the jealousy of the less cultured Generals. Thus, we
+find Gourgaud asserting that Las Cases has come to St. Helena solely
+"in order to get talked about, write anecdotes, and make money."
+Montholon also did his best to render the secretary's life miserable,
+and on one occasion predicted to Gourgaud that Las Cases would soon
+leave the island.[578]
+
+The forecast speedily came true. The secretary intrusted to his
+servant, a dubious mulatto named Scott, two letters for Europe sewn up
+in a waistcoat: one of them was a long letter to Lucien Bonaparte. The
+servant showed the letters to his father, who in some alarm revealed
+the matter to the Governor. It is curious as illustrating the state of
+suspicion then prevalent at St. Helena, that Las Cases accused the
+Scotts of being tools of the Governor; that Lowe saw in the affair the
+frayed end of a Longwood scheme; while the residents there suspected
+Las Cases of arranging matters as a means of departure from the
+island. There was much to justify this last surmise. Las Cases and his
+son were unwell; their position in the household was very
+uncomfortable; and for a skilled intriguer to intrust an important
+letter to a slave, who was already in the Governor's black books, was
+truly a singular proceeding. Besides, after the arrest, when the
+Governor searched Las Cases' papers in his presence, they were found
+to be in good order, among them being parts of his "Journal." Napoleon
+himself thought Las Cases guilty of a piece of extraordinary folly,
+though he soon sought to make capital out of the arrest by comparing
+the behaviour of our officers and their orderlies with "South Sea
+savages dancing around a prisoner that they are about to devour."[579]
+After a short detention at Ross Cottage, _when he declined the
+Governor's offer that he should return to Longwood_, the secretary was
+sent to the Cape, and thence made his way to France, where a judicious
+editing of his "Memoirs" and "Journal" gained for their compiler a
+rich reward.
+
+Gourgaud is the next to leave. The sensitive young man has long been
+tormented by jealousy. His diary becomes the long-drawn sigh of a
+generous but vain nature, when soured by real or fancied neglect.
+Though often unfair to Napoleon, whose egotism the slighted devotee
+often magnifies into colossal proportions, the writer unconsciously
+bears witness to the wondrous fascination that held the little Court
+in awe. The least attention shown to the Montholons costs "Gogo" a fit
+of spleen or a sleepless night, scarcely to be atoned for on the
+morrow by soothing words, by chess, or reversi, or help at the
+manuscript of "Waterloo." Again and again Napoleon tries to prove to
+him that the Montholons ought to have precedence: it is in vain. At
+last the crisis comes: it is four years since the General saved the
+Emperor from a Cossack's lance at Brienne, and the recollection
+renders his present "humiliations" intolerable. He challenges
+Montholon to a duel; Napoleon strictly forbids it; and the aggrieved
+officer seeks permission to depart.
+
+Napoleon grants his request. It seems that the chief is weary of his
+moody humours; he further owes him a grudge for writing home to his
+mother frank statements of the way in which the Longwood exiles are
+treated. These letters were read by Lowe and Bathurst, and their
+general purport seems to have been known in French governmental
+circles, where they served as an antidote to the poisonous stories
+circulated by Napoleon and his more diplomatic followers. Clearly
+nothing is to be made of Gourgaud; and so he departs (February 13th,
+1818). Bidding a tearful adieu, he goes with Basil Jackson to spend
+six weeks with him at a cottage near Plantation House, when he is
+astonished at the delicate reserve shown by the Governor. He then sets
+sail for England. The only money he has is _£100_ advanced by Lowe.
+Napoleon's money he has refused to accept.[580]
+
+And yet he did not pass out of his master's life. Landing in England
+on May 1st, he had a few interviews with our officials, in which he
+warned them that Napoleon's escape would be quite easy, and gave a
+hint as to O'Meara being the tool of Napoleon. But soon the young
+General came into touch with the leaders of the Opposition. No change
+in his sentiments is traceable until August 25th, when he indited a
+letter to Marie Louise, asserting that Napoleon was dying "in the
+torments of the longest and most frightful agony," a prey to the
+cruelty of England! To what are we to attribute this change of front?
+The editors of Gourgaud's "Journal" maintain that there was no change;
+they hint that the "Journal" may have been an elaborate device for
+throwing dust into Lowe's eyes; and they point to the fact that before
+leaving the island Gourgaud received secret instructions from Napoleon
+bidding him convey to Europe several small letters sewn into the soles
+of his boots. Whether he acted on these instructions may be doubted;
+for at his departure he gave his word of honour to Lowe that he was
+not the bearer of any paper, pamphlet, or letter from Longwood.
+Furthermore, we hear nothing of these secret letters afterwards; and
+he allowed nearly four months to elapse in England before he wrote to
+Marie Louise. The theory referred to above seems quite untenable in
+face of these facts.[581]
+
+How, then, are we to explain Gourgaud's conduct at St. Helena and
+afterwards? Now, in threading the mendacious labyrinths of St. Helena
+literature it is hard ever to find a wholly satisfactory clue; but
+Basil Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena" (p. 103) seems to supply it
+in the following passage:
+
+    "To finish about Gourgaud, I may add that on his reaching England,
+    after one or two interviews with the Under-Secretary of State, he
+    fell into the hands of certain Radicals of note, who represented
+    to him the folly of his conduct in turning against Napoleon; that,
+    as his adherent, he was really somebody, whereas he was only
+    ruining himself by appearing inimical. In short, they so worked
+    upon the poor weak man, that he was induced to try and make it
+    appear that he was still _l'homme de l'Empereur:_ this he did by
+    inditing a letter to Marie Louise, in which he inveighed against
+    the treatment of Napoleon at the hands of the Government and Sir
+    H. Lowe, which being duly published, Gourgaud fell to zero in the
+    opinion of all right-minded persons."
+
+This seems consonant with what we know of Gourgaud's character: frank,
+volatile, and sensitive, he could never have long sustained a policy
+of literary and diplomatic deceit. He was not a compound of Chatterton
+and Fouché. His "Journal" is the artless outpouring of wounded vanity
+and brings us close to the heart of the hero-worshipper and his hero.
+At times the idol falls and is shivered but love places it on the
+shrine again and again, until the fourth anniversary of Brienne finds
+the spell broken. Even before he leaves St. Helena the old fascination
+is upon him once more; and then Napoleon seeks to utilize his devotion
+for the purpose of a political mission. Gourgaud declines the _rôle_
+of agent, pledges his word to the Governor, and keeps it; but, thanks
+to British officialism or the seductions of the Opposition,
+hero-worship once more gains the day and enrolls him beside Las Cases
+and Montholon. This we believe to be the real Gourgaud, a genuine,
+lovable, but flighty being, as every page of his "Journal" shows.
+
+One cannot but notice in passing the extraordinary richness of St.
+Helena literature. Nearly all the exiles kept diaries or memoirs, or
+wrote them when they returned to Europe. And, on the other hand, of
+all the 10,000 Britons whom Napoleon detained in France for eleven
+years, not one has left a record that is ever read to-day.
+Consequently, while the woes of Napoleon have been set forth in every
+civilized tongue, the world has forgotten the miseries causelessly
+inflicted on 10,000 English families. The advantages possessed by a
+memoir-writing nation over one that is but half articulate could not
+be better illustrated. For the dumb Britons not a single tear is ever
+shed; whereas the voluble inmates of Longwood used their pens to such
+effect that half the world still believes them to have been bullied
+twice a week by Lowe, plied with gifts of poisoned coffee, and nearly
+eaten up by rats at night. On this last topic we are treated to tales
+of part of a slave's leg being eaten off while he slept at
+Longwood--nay, of a horse's leg also being gnawed away at night--so
+that our feelings are divided between pity for the sufferers and envy
+at the soundness of their slumbers.
+
+Longwood was certainly far from being a suitable abode; but a word
+from Napoleon would have led to the erection of the new house on a
+site that he chose to indicate. The materials had all been brought
+from England; but the word was not spoken until a much later time; and
+the inference is inevitable that he preferred to remain where he was
+so that he could represent himself as lodged in _cette grange
+insalubre._[582] The third of the Longwood household to depart was the
+surgeon, O'Meara. The conduct of this British officer in facilitating
+Napoleon's secret correspondence has been so fully exposed by Forsyth
+and Seaton that we may refer our readers to their works for proofs of
+his treachery. Gourgaud's "Journal" reveals the secret influence that
+seduced him. Chancing once to refer to the power of money over
+Englishmen, Napoleon remarked that that was why we did not want him to
+draw sums from Europe, and continued: "_Le docteur n'est si bien pour
+moi que depuis que je lui donne mon argent. Ah! j'en suis bien sûr, de
+celui-là!"_[583] This disclosure enables us to understand why the
+surgeon, after being found out and dismissed from the service, sought
+to blacken the character of Sir Hudson Lowe by every conceivable
+device. The wonder is that he succeeded in imposing his version of
+facts on a whole generation.
+
+The next physician who resided at Longwood, Dr. Stokoe, was speedily
+cajoled into disobeying the British regulations and underwent official
+disgrace. An attempt was then made, through Montholon, to bribe his
+successor, Dr. Verling, who indignantly repelled it and withdrew from
+his duty.[584]
+
+There can be no doubt that Napoleon found pleasure in these intrigues.
+In his last interview with Stürmer, the Austrian Commissioner at St.
+Helena, Gourgaud said, in reference to this topic: "However unhappy he
+[Napoleon] is here, he secretly enjoys the importance attached to his
+custody, the interest that the Powers take in it, and the care taken
+to collect his least words." Napoleon also once remarked to Gourgaud
+that it was better to be at St. Helena than as he was at Elba.[585] Of
+the same general tenour are his striking remarks, reported by Las
+Cases at the close of his first volume:
+
+    "Our situation here may even have its attractions. The universe is
+    looking at us. We remain the martyrs of an immortal cause:
+    millions of men weep for us, the fatherland sighs, and Glory is in
+    mourning. We struggle here against the oppression of the gods, and
+    the longings of the nations are for us.... Adversity was wanting
+    to my career. If I had died on the throne amidst the clouds of my
+    omnipotence, I should have remained a problem for many men:
+    to-day, thanks to misfortune, they can judge of me naked as I am."
+
+In terseness of phrase, vividness of fancy, and keenness of insight
+into the motives that sway mankind, this passage is worthy of
+Napoleon. He knew that his exile at St. Helena would dull the memory
+of the wrongs which he had done to the cause of liberty, and that from
+that lonely peak would go forth the legend of the new Prometheus
+chained to the rock by the kings and torn every day by the ravening
+vulture. The world had rejected his gospel of force; but would it not
+thrill responsive to the gospel of pity now to be enlisted in his
+behalf? His surmise was amazingly true. The world was thrilled. The
+story worked wonders, not directly for him, but for his fame and his
+dynasty. The fortunes of his race began to revive from the time when
+the popular imagination transfigured Napoleon the Conqueror into
+Napoleon the Martyr. Viewed in this light, and thrown up into telling
+relief against the sinister policy of the Holy Alliance of the
+monarchs, the dreary years spent at St. Helena were not the least
+successful of his career. Without them there could have been no second
+Napoleonic Empire.
+
+Not that his life there was a "long-drawn agony." His health was
+fairly good. There were seasons of something like enjoyment, when he
+gave himself up to outdoor recreations. Such a time was the latter
+part of 1819 and the first half of 1820: we may call it the Indian
+summer of his life, for he was then possessed with a passion for
+gardening. Lightly clad and protected by a broad-brimmed hat, he went
+about, sometimes spade in hand, superintending various changes in the
+grounds at Longwood and around the new house which was being erected
+for him hard by. Or at other times he used the opportunity afforded by
+the excavations to show how infantry might be so disposed on a hastily
+raised slope as to bring a terrific fire to bear on attacking cavalry.
+Marshalling his followers at dawn by the sound of a bell, he made them
+all, counts, valets, and servants, dig trenches as if for the front
+ranks, and throw up the earth for the rear ranks: then, taking his
+stand in front, as the shortest man, and placing the tallest at the
+rear (his Swiss valet, Noverraz), he triumphantly showed how the
+horsemen might be laid low by the rolling volleys of ten ranks.[586]
+In May or June he took once more to horse exercise, and for a time his
+health benefited from all this activity. His relations with the
+Governor were peaceful, if not cordial, and the limits were about this
+time extended.
+
+Indoors there were recreations other than work at the Memoirs. He
+often played chess and billiards, at the latter using his hand instead
+of the cue! Dinner was generally at a very late hour, and afterwards
+he took pleasure in reading aloud. Voltaire was the favourite author,
+and Montholon afterwards confessed to Lord Holland that the same
+plays, especially "Zaïre," were read rather too often.
+
+    "Napoleon slept himself when read to, but he was very observant
+    and jealous if others slept while he read. He watched his audience
+    vigilantly, and _'Mme. Montholon, vous dormez'_ was a frequent
+    ejaculation in the course of reading. He was animated with all
+    that he read, especially poetry, enthusiastic at beautiful
+    passages, impatient of faults, and full of ingenious and lively
+    remarks on style."[587]
+
+During this same halcyon season two priests, who had been selected by
+the Bonapartes, arrived in the island, as also a Corsican doctor,
+Antommarchi. Napoleon was disappointed with all three. The doctor,
+though a learned anatomist, knew little of chemistry, and at an early
+interview with Napoleon passed a catechism on this subject so badly
+that he was all but chased from the room. The priests came off little
+better. The elder of them, Buonavita by name, had lived in Mexico, and
+could talk of little else: he soon fell ill, and his stay in St.
+Helena was short. The other, a Corsican named Vignali, having neither
+learning, culture, nor dialectical skill, was tolerated as a
+respectable adjunct to the household, but had little or no influence
+over the master. This is to be regretted on many grounds, and partly
+because his testimony throws no light on Napoleon's religious views.
+
+Here we approach a problem that perhaps can never be cleared up.
+Unfathomable on many sides of his nature, Napoleon is nowhere more so
+than when he confronts the eternal verities. That he was a convinced
+and orthodox Catholic few will venture to assert. At Elba he said to
+Lord Ebrington: "_Nous ne savons d'où nous venons, ce que nous
+deviendrons_": the masses ought to have some "fixed point of faith
+whereon to rest their thoughts."--"_Je suis Catholique parce que mon
+père l'étoit, et parce que c'étoit la religion de la France_." He also
+once or twice expressed to Campbell scorn of the popular creed: and
+during his last voyage, as we have seen, he showed not the slightest
+interest in the offer of a priest at Funchal to accompany him. At St.
+Helena the party seems to have limited the observances of religion to
+occasional reading of the Bible. When Mme. Montholon presented her
+babe to the Emperor, he teasingly remarked that Las Cases was the most
+suitable person to christen the infant; to which the mother at once
+replied that Las Cases was not a good enough Christian for that.
+
+Judging from the entries in Gourgaud's "Journal," this young General
+pondered more than the rest on religious questions; and to him
+Napoleon unbosomed his thoughts.--Matter, he says, is everywhere and
+pervades everything; life, thought, and the soul itself are but
+properties of matter, and death ends all. When Gourgaud points to the
+majestic order of the universe as bearing witness to a Creator,
+Napoleon admits that he believes in "superior intelligences": he avers
+that he would believe in Christianity if it had been the original and
+universal creed: but then the Mohammedans "follow a religion simpler
+and more adapted to their morality than ours." In ten years their
+founder conquered half the world, which Christianity took three
+hundred years to accomplish. Or again, he refers to the fact that
+Laplace, Monge, Berthollet, and Lagrange were all atheists, though
+they did not proclaim the fact; as for himself, he finds the idea of
+God to be natural; it has existed at all times and among all peoples.
+But once or twice he ends this vague talk with the remarkable
+confession that the sight of myriad deaths in war has made him a
+materialist. "Matter is everything."--"Vanity of vanities!"[588]
+
+Mirrored as these dialogues are in the eddies of Gourgaud's moods,
+they may tinge his master's theology with too much of gloom: but,
+after all, they are by far the most lifelike record of Napoleon's
+later years, and they show us a nature dominated by the tangible. As
+for belief in the divine Christ, there seems not a trace. A report has
+come down to us, enshrined in Newman's prose, that Napoleon once
+discoursed of the ineffable greatness of Christ, contrasting His
+enduring hold on the hearts of men with the evanescent rule of
+Alexander and Cæsar. One hopes that the words were uttered; but they
+conflict with Napoleon's undoubted statements. Sometimes he spoke in
+utter uncertainty; at others, as one who wished to believe in
+Christianity and might perhaps be converted. But in the political
+testament designed for his son, the only reference to religion is of
+the diplomatic description that we should expect from the author of
+the "Concordat": "Religious ideas have more influence than certain
+narrow-minded philosophers are willing to believe: they are capable of
+rendering great services to Humanity. By standing well with the Pope,
+an influence is still maintained over the consciences of a hundred
+millions of men."
+
+Equally vague was Napoleon's own behaviour as his end drew nigh. For
+some time past a sharp internal pain--the stab of a penknife, he
+called it--had warned him of his doom; in April, 1821, when vomiting
+and prostration showed that the dread ancestral malady was drawing on
+apace, he bade the Abbé Vignali prepare the large dining-room of
+Longwood as a _chapelle ardente_; and, observing a smile on
+Antommarchi's face, the sick man hotly rebuked his affectation of
+superiority. Montholon, on his return to England, informed Lord
+Holland that extreme unction was administered before the end came,
+Napoleon having ordered that this should be done as if solely on
+Montholon's responsibility, and that the priest, when questioned on
+the subject, was to reply that he had acted on Montholon's orders,
+without having any knowledge of the Emperor's wishes. It was
+accordingly administered, but apparently he was insensible at the
+time.[589] In his will, also, he declared that he died in communion
+with the Apostolical Roman Church, in whose bosom he was born. There,
+then, we must leave this question, shrouded in the mystery that hangs
+around so much of his life.
+
+The decease of a great man is always affecting: but the death of the
+hero who had soared to the zenith of military glory and civic
+achievement seems to touch the very nadir of calamity. Outliving his
+mighty Empire, girt around by a thousand miles of imprisoning ocean,
+guarded by his most steadfast enemies, his son a captive at the Court
+of the Hapsburgs, and his Empress openly faithless, he sinks from
+sight like some battered derelict. And Nature is more pitiless than
+man. The Governor urges on him the best medical advice: but he will
+have none of it. He feels the grip of cancer, the disease which had
+carried off his father and was to claim the gay Caroline and Pauline.
+At times he surmises the truth: at others he calls out "_le foie_"
+"_le foie_." Meara had alleged that his pains were due to a liver
+complaint brought on by his detention at St. Helena; Antommarchi
+described the illness as gastric fever (_febbre gastrica pituitosa_);
+and not until Dr. Arnott was called in on the 1st of April was the
+truth fully recognized.
+
+At the close of the month the symptoms became most distressing,
+aggravated as they were by the refusal of the patient to take medicine
+or food, or to let himself be moved. On May 4th, at Dr. Arnott's
+insistence, some calomel was secretly administered and with beneficial
+results, the patient sleeping and even taking some food. This was his
+last rally: on the morrow, while a storm was sweeping over the island,
+and tearing up large trees, his senses began to fail: Montholon
+thought he heard the words _France, armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine_:
+he lingered on insensible for some hours: the storm died down: the sun
+bathed the island in a flood of glory, and, as it dipped into the
+ocean, the great man passed away.
+
+By the Governor's orders Dr. Arnott remained in the room until the
+body could be medically examined--a precaution which, as Montchenu
+pointed out, would prevent any malicious attempt on the part of the
+Longwood servants to cause death to appear as the result of poisoning.
+The examination, conducted in the presence of seven medical men and
+others, proved that all the organs were sound except the ulcerated
+stomach; the liver was rather large, but showed no signs of disease;
+the heart, on the other hand, was rather under the normal size. Far
+from showing the emaciation that usually results from prolonged
+inability to take food, the body was remarkably stout--a fact which
+shows that that tenacious will had its roots in an abnormally firm
+vitality.[590]
+
+After being embalmed, the body was laid out in state, and all
+beholders were struck with the serene and beautiful expression of the
+face: the superfluous flesh sank away after death, leaving the
+well-proportioned features that moved the admiration of men during the
+Consulate.
+
+Clad in his favourite green uniform, he fared forth to his
+resting-place under two large weeping willow trees in a secluded
+valley: the coffin, surmounted by his sword and the cloak he had worn
+at Marengo, was borne with full military honours by grenadiers of the
+20th and 66th Regiments before a long line of red-coats; and their
+banners, emblazoned with the names of "Talavera," "Albuera,"
+"Pyrenees," and "Orthez," were lowered in a last salute to our mighty
+foe. Salvos of artillery and musketry were fired over the grave: the
+echoes rattled upwards from ridge to ridge and leaped from the
+splintery peaks far into the wastes of ocean to warn the world beyond
+that the greatest warrior and administrator of all the ages had sunk
+to rest.
+
+His ashes were not to remain in that desolate nook: in a clause of his
+will he expressed the desire that they should rest by the banks of the
+Seine among the people he had loved so well. In 1840 they were
+disinterred in presence of Bertrand, Gourgaud, and Marchand, and borne
+to France. Paris opened her arms to receive the mighty dead; and Louis
+Philippe, on whom he had once prophesied that the crown of France
+would one day rest, received the coffin in state under the dome of the
+_Invalides_. There he reposes, among the devoted people whom by his
+superhuman genius he raised to bewildering heights of glory, only to
+dash them to the depths of disaster by his monstrous errors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Viewing his career as a whole, it seems just and fair to assert that
+the fundamental cause of his overthrow is to be found, not in the
+failings of the French, for they served him with a fidelity that would
+wring tears of pity from Rhadamanthus; not in the treachery of this or
+that general or politician, for that is little when set against the
+loyalty of forty millions of men; but in the character of the man and
+of his age. Never had mortal man so grand an opportunity of ruling
+over a chaotic Continent: never had any great leader antagonists so
+feeble as the rulers who opposed his rush to supremacy. At the dawn of
+the nineteenth century the old monarchies were effete: insanity
+reigned in four dynasties, and weak or time-serving counsels swayed
+the remainder. For several years their counsellors and generals were
+little better. With the exception of Pitt and Nelson, who were carried
+off by death, and of Wellington, who had but half an army, Napoleon
+never came face to face with thoroughly able, well-equipped, and
+stubborn opponents until the year 1812.
+
+It seems a paradox to say that this excess of good fortune largely
+contributed to his ruin: yet it is true. His was one of those
+thick-set combative natures that need timely restraint if their best
+qualities are to be nurtured and their domineering instincts curbed.
+Just as the strongest Ministry prances on to ruin if the Opposition
+gives no effective check, so it was with Napoleon. Had he in his early
+manhood taken to heart the lessons of adversity, would he have
+ventured at the same time to fight Wellington in Spain and the Russian
+climate in the heart of the steppes? Would he have spurned the offers
+of an advantageous peace made to him from Prague in 1813? Would he
+have let slip the chance of keeping the "natural frontiers" of France
+after Leipzig, and her old boundaries, when brought to bay in
+Champagne? Would he have dared the uttermost at all points at
+Waterloo? In truth, after his fortieth year was past, the fervid
+energies of youth hardened in the mould of triumph; and thence came
+that fatal obstinacy which was his bane at all those crises of his
+career. For in the meantime the cause of European independence had
+found worthy champions--smaller men than Napoleon, it is true, but men
+who knew that his determination to hold out everywhere and yield
+nothing must work his ruin. Finally, the same clinging to unreal hopes
+and the same love of fight characterized his life in St. Helena; so
+that what might have been a time of calm and dignified repose was
+marred by fictitious clamours and petty intrigues altogether unworthy
+of his greatness.
+
+For, in spite of his prodigious failure, he was superlatively great in
+all that pertains to government, the quickening of human energies, and
+the art of war. His greatness lies, not only in the abiding importance
+of his best undertakings, but still more in the Titanic force that he
+threw into the inception and accomplishment of all of them--a force
+which invests the storm-blasted monoliths strewn along the latter
+portion of his career with a majesty unapproachable by a tamer race of
+toilers. After all, the verdict of mankind awards the highest
+distinction, not to prudent mediocrity that shuns the chance of
+failure and leaves no lasting mark behind, but to the eager soul that
+grandly dares, mightily achieves, and holds the hearts of millions
+even amidst his ruin and theirs. Such a wonder-worker was Napoleon.
+The man who bridled the Revolution and remoulded the life of France,
+who laid broad and deep the foundations of a new life in Italy,
+Switzerland, and Germany, who rolled the West in on the East in the
+greatest movement known since the Crusades and finally drew the
+yearning thoughts of myriads to that solitary rock in the South
+Atlantic, must ever stand in the very forefront of the immortals of
+human story.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+LIST OF THE CHIEF APPOINTMENTS AND DIGNITIES BESTOWED BY NAPOLEON
+
+[_An asterisk is affixed to the names of his Marshals_.]
+
+
+   Arrighi.  Duc de Padua.
+  *Augereau.  Duc de Castiglione.
+  *Bernadotte.  Prince de Ponte Corvo.
+  *Berthier.  Chief of the Staff.  Prince de Neufchâtel.  Prince
+      de Wagram.
+  *Bessières.  Duc d'Istria.  Commander of the Old Guard.
+   Bonaparte, Joseph.  (King of Naples.) King of Spain.
+      "       Louis.  King of Holland.
+      "       Jerome.  King of Westphalia.
+  *Brune.
+   Cambacérès.  Arch-Chancellor.  Duc de Parma.
+   Caulaincourt.  Duc de Vicenza.  Master of the Horse.  Minister
+       of Foreign Affairs (1814).
+   Champagny.  Duc de Cadore.  Minister of Foreign Affairs
+       (1807-11).
+   Chaptal.  Minister of the Interior.  Comte de Chanteloupe.
+   Clarke.  Minister of War.  Duc de Feltre.
+   Daru.  Comte.
+  *Davoust.  Duc d'Auerstädt.  Prince d'Eckmühl.
+   Drouet.  Comte d'Erlon.
+   Drouot.  Comte.  Aide-Major of the Guard.
+   Duroc.  Grand Marshal of the Palace.  Duc de Friuli.
+   Eugène (Beauharnais).  Viceroy of Italy.
+   Fesch (Cardinal).  Grand Almoner.
+   Fouché.  Minister of Police (1804-10).  Duc d'Otranto.
+  *Grouchy.  Comte.
+   Jomini.  Baron.
+  *Jourdan.  Comte.
+   Junot.  Duc d'Abrantès.
+  *Kellermann.  Duc de Valmy.
+  *Lannes.  Duc de Montebello.
+   Larrey.  Baron.
+   Latour-Maubourg.  Baron.
+   Lauriston.  Comte.
+   Lavalette.  Comte.  Minister of Posts.
+  *Lefebvre.  Duc de Danzig.
+  *Macdonald.  Duc de Taranto.
+   Maret.  Minister of Foreign Affairs (1811-14.) Duc de Bassano.
+  *Marmont.  Duc de Ragusa.
+  *Masséna.  (Duc de Rivoli.) Prince d'Essling.
+   Miot.  Comte de Melito.
+   Méneval.  Baron.
+   Mollien.  Comte.  Minister of the Treasury.
+  *Moncey.  Duc de Conegliano.
+   Montholon.  Comte.
+  *Mortier.  Duc de Treviso.
+   Mouton.  Comte de Lobau.
+  *Murat.  (Grand Duc de Berg.) King of Naples.
+  *Ney.  (Duc d'Elchingen.) Prince de la Moskwa.
+  *Oudinot.  Duc de Reggio.
+   Pajol.  Baron.
+   Pasquier, Duc de.  Prefect of Police.
+  *Pérignon.
+  *Poniatowski.
+   Rapp.  Comte.
+   Reynier.  Duc de Massa.
+   Rémusat.  Chamberlain.
+   Savary.  Duc de Rovigo.  Minister of Police (1810-14).
+   Sébastiani.  Comte.
+  *Sérurier.
+  *Soult.  Duc de Dalmatia.
+  *St. Cyr, Marquis de.
+  *Suchet.  Duc d'Albufera.
+   Talleyrand.  Minister of Foreign Affairs (1799-1807).  Grand
+       Chamberlain (1804-8).  Prince de Benevento.
+   Vandamme.  Comte.
+  *Victor.  Duc de Belluno.
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
+
+
+Some critics have blamed me for underrating the _rôle_ of the
+Prussians at Waterloo; but after careful study I have concluded that
+it has been overrated by some recent German writers. We now know that
+the Prussian advance was retarded by Gneisenau's deep-rooted suspicion
+of Wellington, and that no direct aid was given to the British left
+until nearly the end of the battle. Napoleon always held that he could
+readily have kept off the Prussians at Planchenoit, that the main
+battle throughout was against Wellington, and that it was decided by
+the final charge of British cavalry. The Prussians did not wholly
+capture Planchenoit until the French opposing Wellington were in full
+flight. But, of course, Blücher's advance and onset made the victory
+the overwhelming triumph that it was.
+
+An able critic in the "Saturday Review" of May 10, 1902, has charged
+me with neglecting to say that the French left wing (Foy's and
+Bachelu's divisions) supported the French cavalry at the close of the
+great charges. I stated (p. 502) that French infantry was not "at hand
+to hold the ground which the cavaliers seemed to have won." Let me
+cite the exact words of General Foy, written in his Journal a few days
+after the battle (M. Girod de L'Ain's "Vie militaire du General Foy,"
+p. 278): "Alors que la cavalerie française faisait cette longue et
+terrible charge, le feu de notre artillerie était déjà moins nourri,
+et notre infanterie ne fit aucun mouvement. Quand la cavalerie fut
+rentrée, et que l'artillerie anglaise, qui avait cessé de tirer
+pendant une demi-heure, eut recommencé son feu, on donna ordre aux
+divisions Foy et Bachelu d'avancer droit aux carrés qui s'y étaient
+avancés pendant la charge de cavalerie et qui ne s'étaient pas
+repliés. L'attaque fut formée en colonnes par échelons de régiment,
+Bachelu formant les échelons les plus avancés. Je tenis par ma gauche
+à la haie [de Hougoumont]: j'avais sur mon front un bataillon en
+tirailleurs. Près de joindre les Anglais, nous avons reçu un feu très
+vif de mitraille et de mousqueterie. C'était une grêle de mort. Les
+carrés ennemis avaient le premier rang genoux en terre et présentaient
+une haie de baïonettes. Les colonnes de la 1're division ont pris la
+fuite les premières: leur mouvement a entraîné celui de mes colonnes.
+En ce moment j'ai été blessé...."
+
+This shows that the advance of the French infantry was far too late to
+be of the slightest use to the cavalry. The British lines had been
+completely re-formed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Armfeldt to Drake, December 24th, 1803 ("F.O.," Bavaria,
+No. 27).]
+
+[Footnote 2: Drake's despatch of December 15th, 1803, _ib_.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Czartoryski, "Memoirs," vol. ii., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: The Czar's complaints were: the exile of the King of
+Sardinia, the re-occupation of S. Italy by the French, the changes in
+Italy, the violation of the neutrality of Baden, the occupation of
+Cuxhaven by the French, and the levying of ransom from the Hanse Towns
+to escape the same fate ("F.O.," Russia, No. 56).]
+
+[Footnote 5: Lord Harrowby to Admiral Warren ("F.O.," Russia, No.
+56).]
+
+[Footnote 6: Garden, "Traités" vol. viii., p. 302; Ulmann,
+"Russisch-Preussische Politik," p. 117]
+
+[Footnote 7: See the letter in the "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 170.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "F.O.," Russia, No. 55. See note on p. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Czartoryski's "Mems.," vol. ii., chs. ii.-iv.]
+
+[Footnote 10: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon" (May 30th, 1805).]
+
+[Footnote 11: See Novossiltzoff's Report in Czartoryski's "Memoirs,"
+vol. ii., ch. iv., and Pitt's note developing the Russian proposals in
+Garden's "Traités," vol. viii., pp. 317-323, or Alison, App. to ch.
+xxxix. A comparison of these two memoranda will show that on
+Continental questions there was no difference such as Thiers affected
+to see between the generous policy of Russia and the "cold egotism" of
+Pitt. As Czartoryski has proved in his "Memoirs" (vol. ii., ch. x.)
+Thiers has erred in assigning importance to a mere first draft of a
+conversation which Czartoryski had with that ingenious schemer, the
+Abbé Piatoli. The official proposals sent from St. Petersburg to
+London were very different; _e.g._, the proposal of Alexander with
+regard to the French frontiers was this: "The first object is to bring
+back France into its ancient limits or such other ones as might appear
+most suitable to the general tranquillity of Europe." It is,
+therefore, futile to state that this was solely the policy of Pitt
+after he had "remodelled" the Russian proposals.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Corresp.," No. 8231. See too Bourrienne, Miot de
+Melito, vol. ii., ch. iv., and Thiers, bk. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This refusal has been severely criticised. But the
+knowledge of the British Government that Napoleon was still
+persevering with his schemes against Turkey, and that the Russians
+themselves, from their station at Corfu, were working to gain a
+foothold on the Albanian coast, surely prescribed caution ("F.O.,"
+Russia, Nos. 55 and 56, despatches of June 26th and October 10th,
+1804). It was further known that the Austrian Government had proposed
+to the Czar plans that were hostile to Turkey, and were not decisively
+rejected at St. Petersburg; and it is clear from the notes left by
+Czartoryski that the prospect of gaining Corfu, Moldavia, parts of
+Albania, and the precious prize of Constantinople was kept in view.
+Pitt agreed to restore the conquests made from France (Despatch of
+April 22nd).]
+
+[Footnote 14: Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., pp. 328-333. It is clear
+that Gustavus IV. was the ruler who insisted on making the restoration
+of the Bourbons the chief aim of the Third Coalition. In our "F.O.
+Records" (Sweden, No. 177) is an account (August 20th, 1804) of a
+conversation of Lord Harrowby with the Swedish ambassador, who stated
+that such a declaration would "palsy the arms of France." Our Foreign
+Minister replied that it would "much more certainly palsy the arms of
+England: that we made war because France was become too powerful for
+the peace of Europe."]
+
+[Footnote 15: "Corresp.," No. 8329.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Bailleu, "Preussen und Frankreich," vol. ii., p. 354.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Thiers (bk. xxi.) gives the whole text.]
+
+[Footnote 18: The annexation of the Ligurian or Genoese Republic took
+place on June 4th, the way having been prepared there by Napoleon's
+former patron, Salicetti, who liberally dispensed bribes. A little
+later the Republic of Lucca was bestowed on Elisa Bonaparte and her
+spouse, now named Prince Bacciochi. Parma, hitherto administered by a
+French governor, was incorporated in the French Empire about the same
+time.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Paget to Lord Mulgrave (March 19th, 1805).]
+
+[Footnote 20: Beer, "Zehn Jahre oesterreich. Politik (1801-1810)." The
+notes of Novossiltzoff and Hardenberg are printed in Sir G. Jackson's
+"Diaries," vol i., App.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See Bignon, vol. iv., pp. 271 and 334. Probably Napoleon
+knew through Laforest and Talleyrand that Russia had recently urged
+that George III. should offer Hanover to Prussia. Pitt rejected the
+proposal. Prussia paid more heed to the offer of Hanover from Napoleon
+than to the suggestions of Czartoryski that she might receive it from
+its rightful owner, George III. Yet Duroc did not succeed in gaining
+more from Frederick William than the promise of his neutrality (see
+Garden, "Traités," vol. viii., pp. 339-346). Sweden was not a member
+of the Coalition, but made treaties with Russia and England.
+
+The high hopes nursed by the Pitt Ministry are seen in the following
+estimate of the forces that would be launched against France: Austria,
+250,000; Russia, 180,000; Prussia, 100,000 (Pitt then refused to
+subsidize more than 100,000); Sweden, 16,000; Saxony, 16,000; Hesse
+and Brunswick, 16,000; Mecklenburg, 3,000; King of Sardinia, 25,000;
+Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Baden, 25,000; Naples, 20,000. In a P.S. he
+adds that the support of the King of Sardinia would not be needed, and
+that England had private arrangements with Naples as to subsidies.
+This Memoir is not dated, but it must belong to the beginning of
+September, before the defection of Bavaria was known ("F.O.," Prussia,
+No. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 22: "F.O.," Russia, No. 57; Gower's note of July 22nd,
+1805.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Colonel Graham's despatches, which undoubtedly
+influenced the Pitt Ministry in favouring the appointment of Mack to
+the present command. Paget ("Papers," vol. ii., p. 238) states that
+the Iller position was decided on by Francis. The best analysis of
+Mack's character is in Bernhardi's "Memoirs of Count Toll" (vol. i.,
+p. 121). The State Papers are in Burke's "Campaign of 1805," App.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Marmont, "Mems.," vol. ii., p. 310.]
+
+[Footnote 25: See "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 224; also Schönhals
+"Der Krieg 1805 in Deutschland," p. 67.]
+
+[Footnote 26: "Corresp.," No. 9249. See too No. 9254 for the details
+of the enveloping moves which Napoleon then (September 22nd)
+accurately planned twenty-five days before the final blows were dealt:
+yet No. 9299 shows that, even on September 30th, he believed Mack
+would hurry back to the Inn. Beer, p. 145.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Rüstow, "Der Krieg 1805." Hormayr, "Geschichte Hofers"
+(vol. i., p. 96), states that, in framing with Russia the plan of
+campaign, the Austrians forgot to allow for the difference (twelve
+days) between the Russian and Gregorian calendars. The Russians
+certainly were eleven days late.]
+
+[Footnote 28: "Corresp.," No 9319; Sir G. Jackson's "Diaries," vol.
+i., p. 334.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _Ibid_.; also Metternich, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. iii. For
+Prussia's protest to Napoleon, which pulverized the French excuses,
+see Garden, vol. ix., p. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Schönhals; Ségur, ch. xvi., exculpates Murat and Ney.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Schönhals, p. 73. Thiers states that Dupont's 6,000
+gained a victory over 25,000 Austrians detached from the 60,000 who
+occupied Ulm!]
+
+[Footnote 32: Marmont, vol. ii., p. 320; Lejeune, "Memoirs," vol. i.,
+ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Thiers, bk. xxii. During Mack's interview with Napoleon
+(see "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 235), when the Emperor asked him why
+he did not cut his way through to Ansbach, he replied, "Prussia would
+have declared against us." To which the Emperor retorted: "Ah! the
+Prussians do not declare so quickly."]
+
+[Footnote 34: "Alexandre I et Czartoryski," pp. 32-34.]
+
+[Footnote 35: See these terms compared with the Anglo-Russian treaty
+of April 11th, 1805, in the Appendix of Dr. Hansing's "Hardenberg und
+die dritte Coalition" (Berlin, 1899).]
+
+[Footnote 36: Häusser, vol. ii., p. 617 (4th. edit.); Lettow-Vorbeck,
+"Der Krieg von 1806-1807," vol. i., _ad init_.]
+
+[Footnote 37: For the much more venial stratagem which Kutusoff played
+on Murat at Hollabrunn, see Thiers, bk. xxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Lord Harrowby, then on a special mission to Berlin,
+reports (November 24th) that this appeal of the Czar had been "coolly
+received," and no Prussian troops would enter Bohemia until it was
+known how Prussia's envoy to Napoleon, Count Haugwitz, had been
+received.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Thiers says December 1st, which is corrected by
+Napoleon's letter of November 30th to Talleyrand.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Thiébault, vol. ii., ch. viii.; Ségur, ch. xviii.; York
+von Wartenburg, "Nap. als Feldherr," vol. i., p. 230.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Davoust's reports of December 2nd and 5th in his
+"Corresp."]
+
+[Footnote 42: Ségur, Thiébault, and Lejeune all state that Napoleon in
+the previous advance northwards had foretold that a great battle would
+soon be fought opposite Austerlitz, and explained how he would fight
+it.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Thiébault wrongly attributes this succour to Lannes: for
+that Marshal, who had just insulted and challenged Soult, Thiébault
+had a manifest partiality. Savary, though hostile to Bernadotte, gives
+him bare justice on this move.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Harrowby evidently thought that Prussia's conduct would
+depend on events. Just before the news of Austerlitz arrived, he wrote
+to Downing Street: "The eyes of this Government are turned almost
+exclusively on Moravia. It is there the fate of this negotiation must
+be decided." Yet he reports that 192,000 Prussians are under arms
+("F.O.," Prussia, No. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 45: Jackson, "Diaries," vol. i., p. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 46: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," pp. 205-208.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Metternich, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Hanover, along with a few districts of Bavarian
+Franconia, would bring to Prussia a gain of 989,000 inhabitants, while
+she would lose only 375,000. Neufchâtel had offered itself to
+Frederick I. of Prussia in 1688, and its proposed barter to France
+troubled Hardenberg ("Mems.," vol. ii., p. 421).]
+
+[Footnote 49: Gower to Lord Harrowby from Olmütz, November 25th, in
+"F.O. Records," Russia, No. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 50: "Lettres inédites de Tall.," p. 216.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Printed for the first time in full in "Lettres inédites
+de Tall.," pp. 156-174. On December 5th Talleyrand again begged
+Napoleon to strengthen Austria as "a needful bulwark against the
+barbarians, the Russians."]
+
+[Footnote 52: I dissent, though with much diffidence, from M. Vandal
+("Napoléon et Alexandre," vol. i., p. 9) in regard to Talleyrand's
+proposal.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Napoleon to Talleyrand (December 14th, 1805): "Sûr de la
+Prusse, l'Autriche en passera par où je voudrai. Je ferai également
+prononcer la Prusse contre l'Angleterre."]
+
+[Footnote 54: Report of M. Otto, August, 1799.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Czartoryski ("Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xii.) states that
+England offered Holland to Prussia. I find no proof of this in our
+Records. The districts between Antwerp and Cleves are Belgian, not
+Dutch; and we never wavered in our support of the House of Orange.]
+
+[Footnote 56: These proposals, dated October 27th, 1805, were modified
+somewhat on the news of Mack's disaster and the Treaty of Potsdam.
+Hardenberg assured Harrowby (November 24th) that, despite England's
+liberal pecuniary help, Frederick William felt great difficulty in
+assenting to the proposed territorial arrangements ("F.O.," Prussia,
+No. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 57: Hardenberg's "Memoirs," vol. ii., pp. 377, 382.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Ompteda, p. 188. The army returned in February, 1806.]
+
+[Footnote 59: "F.O.," Prussia, No. 70 (November 23rd).]
+
+[Footnote 60: "Diaries of Right Hon. G. Rose," vol. ii., pp. 223-224.]
+
+[Footnote 61: _Ib._, pp. 233-283; Rosebery, "Life of Pitt," p. 258.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Lord Malmesbury's "Diary," vol. iv., p. 114.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Letter of December 27th, 1805; Jackson, "Diaries," vol.
+ii., p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Mollien, "Mems.," vol. i. _ad fin_., and vol. ii., p.
+80, for the budget of 1806; also, Fiévée, "Mes Relations avec
+Bonaparte," vol. ii., pp. 180-203.]
+
+[Footnote 65: The Court of Naples asserted that in the Convention with
+France its ambassador, the Comte de Gallo, exceeded his powers in
+promising neutrality. See Lucchesini's conversation with Gentz, quoted
+by Garden, "Traités," vol. x., p. 129.]
+
+[Footnote 66: See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Rev.," April, 1900.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Ducasse, "Les Rois Frères de Napoléon," p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Letter of February 7th, 1806. On the same day he blames
+Junot, then commander of Parma, for too great lenience to some rebels
+near that city. The Italians were a false people, who only respected a
+strong Government. Let him, then, burn two large villages so that no
+trace remained, shoot the priest of one village, and send three or
+four hundred of the guilty to the galleys. "Trust my old experience of
+the Italians."]
+
+[Footnote 69: For a list of the chief Napoleonic titles, see Appendix,
+_ad fin_.]
+
+[Footnote 70: January 2nd, 1802; so too Fiévée, "Mes Relations avec
+Bonaparte," vol. ii., p. 210, who notes that, by founding an order of
+nobility, Napoleon ended his own isolation and attached to his
+interests a powerful landed caste.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Hardenberg's "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 390-394.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Hardenberg to Harrowby on January 7th, "Prussia," No.
+70.]
+
+[Footnote 73: I have not found a copy of this project; but in
+"Prussia," No. 70 (forwarded by Jackson on January 27th, 1806), there
+is a detailed "Mémoire explicatif," whence I extract these details, as
+yet unpublished, I believe. Neither Hardenberg, Garden, Jackson, nor
+Paget mentions them.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Records, "Prussia," No. 70, dated February 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Hardenberg, "Mems.," vol. ii., pp. 463-469; "Nap.
+Corresp.," No. 9742, for Napoleon's thoughts as to peace, when he
+heard of Fox being our Foreign Minister.]
+
+[Footnote 76: See "Nap. Corresp.," Nos. 9742, 9773, 9777, for his
+views as to the weakness of England and Prussia. This treaty of
+February 15th, 1806, confirmed the cession of Neufchâtel and Cleves to
+France, and of Ansbach to Bavaria; but did not cede any Franconian
+districts to Prussia's Baireuth lands. See Hardenberg, "Mémoires,"
+vol. ii., p. 483, for the text of the treaty.]
+
+[Footnote 77: The strange perversity of Haugwitz is nowhere more shown
+than in his self-congratulation at the omission of the adjectives
+_offensive et défensive_ from the new treaty of alliance between
+France and Prussia (Hardenberg, vol. ii., p. 481). Napoleon was now
+not pledged to help Prussia in the war which George III. declared
+against her on April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 78: It is noteworthy that in all the negotiations that
+followed, Napoleon never raised any question about our exacting
+maritime code, which proves how hollow were his diatribes against the
+tyrant of the seas at other times.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Despatch of April 20th, 1806, in Papers presented to
+Parliament on December 22nd, 1806.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Czartoryski's "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 81: "I do not intend the Court of Rome to mix any more in
+politics" (Nap. to the Pope, February 13th, 1806).]
+
+[Footnote 82: I translate literally these N.B.'s as pasted in at the
+end of Yarmouth's Memoir of July 8th ("France," No. 73). As Oubril's
+instructions have never, I believe, been published, the passage given
+above is somewhat important as proving how completely he exceeded his
+powers in bartering away Sicily. The text of the Oubril Treaty is
+given by De Clercq, vol. ii., p. 180. The secret articles required
+Russia to help France in inducing the Court of Madrid to cede the
+Balearic Isles to the Prince Royal of Naples; the dethroned King and
+Queen were not to reside there, and Russia was to recognize Joseph
+Bonaparte as King of the Two Sicilies.]
+
+[Footnote 83: In conversing with our ambassador, Mr. Stuart, Baron
+Budberg excused Oubril's conduct on the ground of his nervousness
+under the threats of the French plenipotentiary, General Clarke, who
+scarcely let him speak, and darkly hinted at many other changes that
+must ensue if Russia did not make peace; Switzerland was to be
+annexed, Germany overrun, and Turkey partitioned. That Clarke was a
+master in diplomatic hectoring is well known; but, from private
+inquiries, Stuart discovered that the Czar, in his private conference
+with Oubril, seemed more inclined towards peace than Czartoryski: when
+therefore the latter resigned, Oubril might well give way before
+Clarke's bluster. (Stuart's Despatch of August 9th, 1806, F.O.,
+Russia, No. 63; also see Czartoryski's "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xiv.;
+and Martens, "Traités," Suppl. vol. iv.)]
+
+[Footnote 84: "Memoirs of Karl Heinrich, Knight of Lang."]
+
+[Footnote 85: Garden, vol. ix., pp. 157, 189, 255.]
+
+[Footnote 86: "Corresp.," Nos. 10522 and 10544. For a French account
+see the "Mems." of Baron Desvernois, p. 288.]
+
+[Footnote 87: "F.O. Records," Naples, No. 73.]
+
+[Footnote 88: This was on Napoleon's advice. He wrote to Talleyrand
+from Rambouillet on August 18th, to give as an excuse for the delay,
+"The Emperor is hunting and will not be back before the end of the
+week."]
+
+[Footnote 89: So too Napoleon said at St. Helena to Las Cases: "Fox's
+death was one of the fatalities of my career."]
+
+[Footnote 90: Despatches of September 26th and October 6th.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Bailleu, "Frankreich und Preussen," Introd.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Decree of July 26th.]
+
+[Footnote 93: See "Corresp." No. 10604, note; also Talleyrand's letter
+of August 4th ("Lettres inédites," p. 245), showing the indemnities
+that might be offered to Prussia after the loss of Hanover: they
+included, of course, little States, Anhalt, Lippe, Waldeck, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Gentz, "Ausgew. Schriften," vol. v., p. 252.
+Conversation with Lucchesini.]
+
+[Footnote 95: "Corresp.," Nos. 10575, 10587, 10633.]
+
+[Footnote 96: "Mems.," vol. iii., pp. 115, _et seq._ The
+Prusso-Russian convention of July, by which these Powers mutually
+guaranteed the integrity of their States, was mainly the work of
+Hardenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Bailleu, pp. 540-552. See too Fournier's "Napoleon,"
+vol. ii., p. 106.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Bailleu, pp. 556-557. So too Napoleon's letter of
+September 5th to Berthier is the first hint of his thought of a
+Continental war.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Queen Louisa said to Gentz (October 9th) that war had
+been decided on, not owing to selfish calculations, but the sentiment
+of honour (Garden, "Traités," vol. x., p. 133).]
+
+[Footnote 100: A memorial was handed in to him on September 2nd. It
+was signed by the King's brothers, Henry and William, also by the
+leader of the warlike party, Prince Louis Ferdinand, by Generals
+Rüchel and Phull, and by the future dictator, Stein. The King rebuked
+all of them. See Pertz, "Stein," vol. i., p. 347.]
+
+[Footnote 101: "F.O.," Russia, No. 64. Stuart's despatches of
+September 30th and October 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Müffling, "Aus meinem Leben."]
+
+[Footnote 103: Lettow-Vorbeck, "Der Krieg von 1806-7," p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 104: See Prince Hohenlohe's "Letters on Strategy" (p. 62,
+Eng. ed.) for the effect of this rapid marching; Foucart's "Campagne
+de Prusse," vol. i., pp. 323-343; also Lord Fitzmaurice's "Duke of
+Brunswick."]
+
+[Footnote 105: Höpfner, vol. i.p. 383; and Lettow-Vorbeck, vol. i., p.
+345.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Foucart, _op. cit._, pp. 606-623.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Marbot says Rüchel was killed: but he recovered from
+his wound, and did good service the next spring.
+
+Vernet's picture of Napoleon inspecting his Guards at Jena before
+their charge seems to represent the well-known incident of a soldier
+calling out "_en avant_"; whereupon Napoleon sharply turned and bade
+the man wait till he had commanded in twenty battles before he gave
+him advice.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Foucart, p. 671.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Lang thus describes four French Marshals whom he saw at
+Ansbach: "Bernadotte, a very tall dark man, with fiery eyes under
+thick brows; Mortier, still taller, with a stupid sentinel look;
+Lefebvre, an old Alsatian camp-boy, with his wife, former washerwoman
+to the regiment; and Davoust, a little smooth-pated, unpretending man,
+who was never tired of waltzing."]
+
+[Footnote 110: Davoust, "Opérations du 3'me Corps," pp. 31-32. French
+writers reduce their force to 24,000, and raise Brunswick's total to
+60,000. Lehmann's "Scharnhorst," vol. i., p. 433, gives the details.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Foucart, pp. 604-606, 670, and 694-697, who only blames
+him for slowness. But he set out from Naumburg before dawn, and,
+though delayed by difficult tracks, was near Apolda at 4 p.m., and
+took 1,000 prisoners.]
+
+[Footnote 112: For this service, as for his exploits at Austerlitz,
+Napoleon gave few words of praise. Lannes' remonstrance is printed by
+General Thoumas, "Le Maréchal Lannes," p. 169. The Emperor secretly
+disliked Lannes for his very independent bearing.]
+
+[Footnote 113: "Nap. Corresp.," November 21st, 1807; Baron Lumbroso's
+"Napoleone I e l'Inghilterra," p. 103; Garden, vol. x., p. 307.]
+
+[Footnote 114: This decree, of 10 Brumaire, an V, is printed in full,
+and commented on by Lumbroso, _op. cit._, p. 49. See too Sorel,
+"L'Europe et la Rév. Fr.," vol. iii., p. 389; and my article,
+"Napoleon and English Commerce," in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of October,
+1893.]
+
+[Footnote 115: This phrase occurs, I believe, first in the
+conversation of Napoleon on May 1st, 1803: "We will form a more
+complete coast-system, and England shall end by shedding tears of
+blood" (Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i., chap. xiv.).]
+
+[Footnote 116: _E.g._, Fauchille, "Du Blocus maritime," pp. 93 _et
+seq._]
+
+[Footnote 117: See especially the pamphlet "War in Disguise, or the
+Frauds of the Neutral Flags" (1805), by J. Stephen. It has been said
+that this pamphlet was a cause of the Orders in Council. The whole
+question is discussed by Manning, "Commentaries on the Law of Nations"
+(1875); Lawrence, "International Law"; Mahan, "Infl. of Sea Power,"
+vol. ii., pp. 274-277; Mollien, vol. iii., p. 289 (first edit.); and
+Chaptal, p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Hausser, vol. iii., p. 61 (4th edit.). The Saxon
+federal contingent was fixed at 20,000 men.]
+
+[Footnote 119: Papers presented to Parliament, December 22nd, 1806.]
+
+[Footnote 120: After the interview of November 28th, 1801, Cornwallis
+reports that Napoleon "expressed a wish that we could agree to remove
+disaffected persons from either country ... and declared his
+willingness to send away United Irishmen" ("F.O. Records," No. 615).]
+
+[Footnote 121: Czartoryski, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xv.]
+
+[Footnote 122: In our "F.O. Records," Prussia, No. 74, is a report of
+Napoleon's reply to a deputation at Warsaw (January, 1807): "I warn
+you that neither I nor any French prince cares for your Polish throne:
+I have crowns to give and don't know what to do with them. You must
+first of all think of giving bread to my soldiers--'Bread, bread,
+bread.' ... I cannot support my troops in this country, where there is
+no one besides nobles and miserable peasants. Where are your great
+families? They are all sold to Russia. It is Czartoryski who wrote to
+Kosciusko not to come back to Poland." And when a Galician deputy
+asked him of the fate of his province, he turned on him: "Do you think
+that I will draw on myself new foes for one province." Nevertheless,
+the enthusiasm of the Poles was not wholly chilled. Their contingents
+did good service for him. Somewhat later, female devotion brought a
+beautiful young Polish lady to act as his mistress, primarily with the
+hope of helping on the liberation of her land, and then as a willing
+captive to the charm which he exerted on all who approached him. Their
+son was Count Walewska]
+
+[Footnote 123: Marbot, ch. xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 124: Lettow-Vorbeck estimates the French loss at more than
+24,000; that of the Russians as still heavier, but largely owing to
+the bad commissariat and wholesale straggling. On this see Sir R.
+Wilson's "Campaign in Poland," ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Napoleon on February 13th charged Bertrand to offer
+_verbally, but not in writing_, to the King of Prussia a separate
+peace, without respect to the Czar. Frederick William was to be
+restored to his States east of the Elbe. He rejected the offer, which
+would have broken his engagements to the Czar. Napoleon repeated the
+offer on February 20th, which shows that, at this crisis, he did wish
+for peace with Prussia. See "Nap. Corresp.," No. 11810; and Hausser,
+vol. iii., p. 74.]
+
+[Footnote 126: "I have been repeatedly pressed by the Prussian and
+Russian Governments," wrote Lord Hutchinson, our envoy at Memel, March
+9th, 1807, "on the subject of a diversion to be made by British troops
+against Mortier.... Stettin is a large place with a small garrison and
+in a bad state of defence" ("F.O.," Prussia, No. 74). in 1805 Pitt
+promised to send a British force to Stralsund (see p. 17).]
+
+[Footnote 127: Lord Cathcart's secret report to the War Office, dated
+April 22nd, 1807, dealt with the appeal made by Lord Hutchinson, and
+with a _Projet_ of Dumouriez, both of whom strongly urged the
+expedition to Stralsund. On May 30th Castlereagh received a report
+from a Hanoverian officer, Kuckuck, stating that Hanover and Hesse
+were ripe for revolt, and that Hameln might easily be seized if the
+North Germans were encouraged by an English force ("Castlereagh
+Letters," vol. vi., pp. 169 and 211).]
+
+[Footnote 128: "F.O.," Russia, No. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 129: "Correspond.," No. 12563; also "La Mission du Gen.
+Gardane en Perse," par le comte de Gardane. Napoleon in his
+proclamation of December 2nd, 1806, told the troops that their
+victories had won for France her Indian possessions and the Cape of
+Good Hope.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Wilson, "Campaign in Poland"; "Opérations du 3ème Corps
+[Davoust's], 1806-1807," p. 199.]
+
+[Footnote 131: "Corresp.," Nos. 12749 and 12751. Lejeune, in his
+"Memoirs," also shows that Napoleon's chief aim was to seize
+Königsberg.]
+
+[Footnote 132: "Memoirs of Oudinot," ch. i]
+
+[Footnote 133: The report is dated Memel, June 21st, 1807, in "F.O.,"
+Prussia, No. 74. Hutchinson thinks the Russians had not more than
+45,000 men engaged at Friedland, and that their losses did not exceed
+15,000: but there were "multitudes of stragglers." Lettow-Vorbeck
+gives about the same estimates. Those given in the French bulletin are
+grossly exaggerated.]
+
+[Footnote 134: On June 17th, 1807, Queen Louisa wrote to her father:"
+... we fall with honour. The King has proved that he prefers honour to
+shameful submission." On June 23rd Bennigsen professed a wish to
+fight, while secretly advising surrender (Hardenberg, "Mems.," vol.
+iii., p. 469).]
+
+[Footnote 135: "F.O.," Russia, No. 69. Soult told Lord Holland
+("Foreign Reminiscences," p. 185) that Bennigsen was plotting to
+murder the Czar, and he (S.) warned him of it.]
+
+[Footnote 136: "Lettres inédites de Talleyrand," p. 468; also Garden,
+vol. x., pp. 205-210; and "Ann. Reg." (1807), pp. 710-724, for the
+British replies to Austria.]
+
+[Footnote 137: Canning to Paget ("Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 324). So
+too Canning's despatch of July 21st to Gower (Russia, No. 69).]
+
+
+[Footnote 138: Stadion saw through it. See Beer, p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 139: "Nap. Corresp.," No. 11918.]
+
+[Footnote 140: _Ib._, No. 12028. This very important letter seems to
+me to refute M. Vandal's theory ("Nap. et Alexandre," ch. i.), that
+Napoleon was throughout seeking for an alliance with _Austria_, or
+Prussia, or Russia.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Canning to Paget, May 16th, 1807 ("Paget Papers," vol.
+ii., p. 290).]
+
+[Footnote 142: Garden, vol. x., pp. 214-218; and Gower's despatch of
+June 17th. 1807 (Russia, No. 69).]
+
+[Footnote 143: All references to the story rest ultimately on Bignon,
+"Hist. de France" (vol. vi., p. 316), who gives no voucher for it. For
+the reasons given above I must regard the story as suspect. Among a
+witty, phrase-loving people like the French, a good _mot_ is almost
+certain to gain credence and so pass into history.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Tatischeff, "Alexandre I et Napoléon" (pp. 144-148).]
+
+[Footnote 145: Reports of Savary and Lesseps, quoted by Vandal, _op.
+cit._, p. 61; "Corresp.," No. 12825.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Vandal, p. 73, says that the news reached Napoleon at a
+review when Alexander was by his side. If so, the occasion was
+carefully selected with a view to effect; for the news reached him on,
+or before, June 24th (see "Corresp.," No. 12819). Gower states that
+the news reached Tilsit as early as the 15th; and Hardenberg secretly
+proposed a policy of partition of Turkey on June 23rd ("Mems.," vol.
+iii., p. 463). Hardenberg resigned office on July 4th, as Napoleon
+refused to treat through him.]
+
+[Footnote 147: "Corresp.," No. 12862, letter of July 6th.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Tatischeff (pp. 146-148 and 163-168) proves from the
+Russian archives that these schemes were Alexander's, and were in the
+main opposed by Napoleon. This disproves Vandal's assertion (p. 101)
+that Napoleon pressed Alexander to take the Memel and Polish
+districts.]
+
+[Footnote 149: "Erinnerungen der Gräfin von Voss."]
+
+[Footnote 150: Probably this refers not to the restitution of Silesia,
+which he politely offered to her (though he had previously granted it
+on the Czar's request), but to Madgeburg and its environs west of the
+Elbe. On July 7th he said to Goltz, the Prussian negotiator, "I am
+sorry if the Queen took as positive assurances the _phrases de_
+_politesse_ that one speaks to ladies" (Hardenberg's "Mems.," vol.
+iii., p. 512).]
+
+[Footnote 151: See the new facts published by Bailleu in the
+"Hohenzollern Jahrbuch" (1899). The "rose" story is not in any German
+source.]
+
+[Footnote 152: In his "Memoirs" (vol. i., pt. iii.) Talleyrand says
+that he repeated this story several times at the Tuileries, until
+Napoleon rebuked him for it.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Before Tilsit Prussia had 9,744,000 subjects;
+afterwards only 4,938,000. See her frontiers in map on p. 215.]
+
+[Footnote 154: The exact terms of the secret articles and of the
+secret treaty have only been known since 1890, when, owing to the
+labours of MM. Fournier, Tatischeff, and Vandal, they saw the light.]
+
+[Footnote 155: Gower's despatch of July 12th. "F.O.," Russia, No. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 156: De Clercq, "Traités," vol. ii., pp. 223-225; Garden,
+vol. x., p. 233 and 277-290. Our envoy, Jackson, reported from Memel
+on July 28th: "Nothing can exceed the insolence and extortions of the
+French. No sooner is one demand complied with than a fresh one is
+brought forward."]
+
+[Footnote 157: That he seriously thought in November, 1807, of leaving
+to Prussia less than half of her already cramped territories, is clear
+from his instructions to Caulaincourt, his ambassador to the Czar: "Is
+it not to Prussia's interest for her to place herself, at once, and
+with entire resignation, among the inferior Powers?" A new treaty was
+to be framed, under the guise of _interpreting_ that of Tilsit, Russia
+keeping the Danubian Provinces, and Napoleon more than half of Prussia
+(Vandal, vol. i., p. 509).]
+
+[Footnote 158: Lucchesini to Gentz in October, 1806, in Gentz's
+"Ausgewählte Schriften," vol. v., p. 257.]
+
+[Footnote 159: See Canning's reply to Stahremberg's Note, on April
+25th, 1807, in the "Ann. Reg.," p. 724.]
+
+[Footnote 160: For Mackenzie's report and other details gleaned from
+our archives, see my article "A British Agent at Tilsit," in the "Eng.
+Hist. Rev." of October, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 161: James, "Naval History," vol. iv., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 162: "F.O.," Denmark, No. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 163: Garden, vol. x., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 164: "Corresp.," No. 12962; see too No. 12936, ordering the
+15,000 Spanish troops now serving him near Hamburg to form the nucleus
+of Bernadotte's army of observation, which, "in case of events," was
+to be strengthened by as many Dutch.]
+
+[Footnote 165: "F.O.," Denmark, No. 53. I published this Memorandum of
+Canning and other unpublished papers in an article, "Canning and
+Denmark," in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of January, 1896. The terms of the
+capitulation were, it seems, mainly decided on by Sir Arthur
+Wellesley, who wrote to Canning (September 8th): "I might have carried
+our terms higher ... had not our troops been needed at home" ("Well.
+Despatches," vol. iii., p. 7).]
+
+[Footnote 166: Castlereagh's "Corresp.," vol. vi. So too Gower
+reported from St. Petersburg on October 1st that public opinion was
+"decidedly averse to war with England, ... and it appears to me that
+the English name was scarcely ever more popular in Russia than at the
+present time."]
+
+[Footnote 167: Letters of July 19th and 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 168: The phrase is that of Viscount Strangford, our
+ambassador at Lisbon ("F.O.," Portugal, No. 55). So Baumgarten,
+"Geschichte Spaniens," vol. i., p. 136.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Report of the Portuguese ambassador, Lourenço de Lima,
+dated August 7th, 1807, inclosed by Viscount Strangford ("F.O.,"
+Portugal, No. 55).]
+
+[Footnote 170: This statement as to the date of the summons to
+Portugal is false: it was July 19th when he ordered it to be sent,
+that is, long before the Copenhagen news reached him.]
+
+[Footnote 171: "Corresp.," No. 12839.]
+
+[Footnote 172: See Lady Blennerhasset's "Talleyrand," vol. ii., ch.
+xvi., for a discussion of Talleyrand's share in the new policy. This
+question, together with many others, cannot be solved, owing to
+Talleyrand's destruction of most of his papers. In June, 1806, he
+advised a partition of Portugal; and in the autumn he is said to have
+favoured the overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons. But there must surely
+be some connection between Napoleon's letter to him of July 19th,
+1807, on Portuguese affairs and the resignation which he persistently
+offered on their return to Paris. On August 10th he wrote to the
+Emperor that that letter would be the last act of his Ministry
+("Lettres inédites de Tall.," p. 476). He was succeeded by Champagny.]
+
+[Footnote 173: "Corresp.," Nos. 13235, 37, 43.]
+
+[Footnote 174: "Corresp.," Nos. 13314 and 13327. So too, to General
+Clarke, his new Minister of War, he wrote: "Junot may say anything he
+pleases, so long as he gets hold of the fleet" ("New Letters of Nap.,"
+October 28th, 1807).]
+
+[Footnote 175: Strangford's despatches quite refute Thiers' confident
+statement that the Portuguese answers to Napoleon were planned in
+concert with us. I cannot find in our archives a copy of the
+Anglo-Portuguese Convention signed by Canning on October 22nd, 1807;
+but there are many references to it in his despatches. It empowered us
+to occupy Madeira; and our fleet did so at the close of the year. In
+April next we exchanged it for the Azores and Goa.]
+
+[Footnote 176: "Corresp.," July 22nd, 1807.]
+
+[Footnote 177: Between September 1st, 1807, and November 23rd, 1807,
+he wrote eighteen letters on the subject of Corfu, which he designed
+to be his base of operations as soon as the Eastern Question could be
+advantageously reopened. On February 8th, 1808, he wrote to Joseph
+that Corfu was more important than Sicily, and that "_in the present
+state of Europe, the loss of Corfu would be the greatest of
+disasters_." This points to his proposed partition of Turkey.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Letter of October 13th, 1807.]
+
+[Footnote 179: "Ann. Register" for 1807, pp. 227, 747.]
+
+[Footnote 180: _Ibid._, pp. 749-750. Another Order in Council
+(November 25th) allowed neutral ships a few more facilities for
+colonial trade, and Prussian merchantmen were set free (_ibid._, pp.
+755-759). In April, 1809, we further favoured the carrying of British
+goods on neutral ships, especially to or from the United States.]
+
+[Footnote 181: Bourrienne, "Memoirs." The case against the Orders in
+Council is fairly stated by Lumbroso, and by Alison, ch. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 182: Gower reported (on September 22nd) that the Spanish
+ambassador at St. Petersburg had been pleading for help there, so as
+to avenge this insult.]
+
+[Footnote 183: Baumgarten, "Geschichte Spaniens," vol. i., p. 138.]
+
+[Footnote 184: "Nap. Corresp." of October 17th and 31st, November
+13th, December 23rd, 1807, and February 20th, 1808; also Napier,
+"Peninsular War," bk. i., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 185: Letter of January 10th, 1808.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Letter of Charles IV. to Napoleon of October 29th,
+1807, published in "Murat, Lieutenant de l'Empereur en Espagne,"
+Appendix viii.]
+
+[Footnote 187: "New Letters of Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 188: "Corresp.," letter of February 25th.]
+
+[Footnote 189: Murat in 1814 told Lord Holland ("Foreign
+Reminiscences," p. 131) he had had no instructions from Napoleon.]
+
+[Footnote 190: Thiers, notes to bk. xxix.]
+
+[Footnote 191: "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la Révolution
+d'Espagne, par Nellerto"; also "The Journey of Ferdinand VII. to
+Bayonne," by Escoiquiz.]
+
+[Footnote 192: "Corresp.," No. 13696. A careful comparison of this
+laboured, halting effusion, with the curt military syle*style of the
+genuine letters--and especially with Nos. 93, 94, and 100 of the "New
+Letters"--must demonstrate its non-authenticity. Thiers' argument to
+the contrary effect is rambling and weak. Count Murat in his recent
+monograph on his father pronounces the letter a fabrication of St.
+Helena or later. It was first published in the "Mémorial de St.
+Hélène," an untrustworthy compilation made by Las Cases after
+Napoleon's death from notes taken at St. Helena.]
+
+[Footnote 193: Napoleon had at first intended the Spanish crown for
+Louis, to whom he wrote on March 27th: "The climate of Holland does
+not suit you. Besides, Holland can never rise from her ruins." Louis
+declined, on the ground that his call to Holland had been from heaven,
+and not from Napoleon!]
+
+[Footnote 194: Memoirs of Thiébault and De Broglie; so, too, De Rocca,
+"La Guerre en Espagne."]
+
+[Footnote 195: See the letter of an Englishman from Buenos Ayres of
+September 27th, 1809, in "Cobbett's Register" for 1810 (p. 256),
+stating that the new popular Government there was driven by want of
+funds, "not from their good wishes to England," to open their ports to
+all foreign commerce on moderate duties.]
+
+[Footnote 196: Vandal, "Napoléon et Alexandre," ch. vii. It is not
+published in the "Correspondence" or in the "New Letters."]
+
+[Footnote 197: Vandal, "Napoléon et Alexandre," vol. i., ch. iv., and
+App. II.]
+
+[Footnote 198: In the conversations which Metternich had with Napoleon
+and Talleyrand on and after January 22nd, 1808, he was convinced that
+the French Emperor intended to partition Turkey as soon as it suited
+him to do so, which would be after he had subjected Spain. Napoleon
+said to him: "When the Russians are at Constantinople you will need
+France to help you against them."--"Metternich Memoirs," vol. ii., p.
+188.]
+
+[Footnote 199: So Soult told Lord Holland ("Foreign Reminiscences," p.
+171).]
+
+[Footnote 200: Vandal, vol. i., p. 384.]
+
+[Footnote 201: Metternich, "Mems.," vol. ii. p. 298 (Eng. edit.).]
+
+[Footnote 202: I think that Beer (pp. 330-340) errs somewhat in
+ranking Talleyrand's work at Erfurt at that statesman's own very high
+valuation, which he enhanced in later years: see Greville's "Mems.,"
+Second Part, vol. ii., p. 193.]
+
+[Footnote 203: Vandal, vol. i., p. 307.]
+
+[Footnote 204: Sklower, "L'Entrevue de Napoléon avec Goethe"; Mrs.
+Austin's "Germany from 1760 to 1814"; Oncken, bk. vii., ch. i. For
+Napoleon's dispute with Wieland about Tacitus see Talleyrand, "Mems.,"
+vol. i., pt. 5. When the Emperors' carriages were ready for departure,
+Talleyrand whispered to Alexander: "Ah! si Votre Majesté pouvait se
+tromper de voiture."]
+
+[Footnote 205: "F.O.," Russia, No. 74, despatch of December 9th, 1808.
+On January 14th, 1809, Canning signed a treaty of alliance with the
+Spanish people, both sides agreeing never to make peace with Napoleon
+except by common consent. It was signed when the Spanish cause seemed
+desperate; but it was religiously observed.]
+
+[Footnote 206: Madelin's "Fouché," vol. ii., p. 80; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+pp. 353-360.]
+
+[Footnote 207: Seeley, "Life and Times of Stein," vol. ii., p. 316;
+Hausser, vol. iii., p. 219 (4th edition).]
+
+[Footnote 208: Our F.O. Records show that we wanted to help Austria;
+but a long delay was caused by George III.'s insisting that she should
+make peace with us first. Canning meanwhile sent £250,000 in silver
+bars to Trieste. But in his note of April 20th he assured the Court of
+Vienna that our treasury had been "nearly exhausted" by the drain of
+the Peninsular War. (Austria, No. 90.)]
+
+[Footnote 209: For the campaign see the memoirs of Macdonald, Marbot,
+Lejeune, Pelet and Marmont. The last (vol. iii., p. 216) says that,
+had the Austrians pressed home their final attacks at Aspern, a
+disaster was inevitable; or had Charles later on cut the French
+communications near Vienna, the same result must have followed. But
+the investigations of military historians leave no doubt that the
+Austrian troops were too exhausted by their heroic exertions, and
+their supplies of ammunition too much depleted, to warrant any risky
+moves for several days; and by that time reinforcements had reached
+Napoleon. See too Angelis' "Der Erz-Herzog Karl."]
+
+[Footnote 210: Thoumas, "Le Maréchal Lannes," pp. 205, 323 _et seq._
+Desvernois ("Mems.," ch. xii.) notes that after Austerlitz none of
+Napoleon's wars had the approval of France.]
+
+[Footnote 211: For the Walcheren expedition see Alison, vol. viii.;
+James, vol. iv.; as also for Gambier's failure at Rochefort. The
+letters of Sir Byam Martin, then cruising off Danzig, show how our
+officers wished to give timely aid to Schill ("Navy Records," vol.
+xii.).]
+
+[Footnote 212: Captain Boothby's "A Prisoner of France," ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 213: For Charles's desire to sue for peace after the first
+battles on the Upper Danube, see Häusser, vol. iii., p. 341; also,
+after Wagram, _ib._, pp. 412-413.]
+
+[Footnote 214: Napier, bk. viii., chs. ii. and iii. In the App. of
+vol. iii. of "Wellington's Despatches" is Napoleon's criticism on the
+movements of Joseph and the French marshals. He blames them for their
+want of _ensemble_, and for the precipitate attack which Victor
+advised at Talavera. He concluded: "As long as you attack good troops
+like the English in good positions, without reconnoitring them, you
+will lead men to death _en pure perte_."]
+
+[Footnote 215: An Austrian envoy had been urging promptitude at
+Downing Street. On June 1st he wrote to Canning: "The promptitude of
+the enemy has always been the key to his success. A long experience
+has proved this to the world, which seems hitherto not to have
+profited by this knowledge." On July 29th Canning acknowledged the
+receipt of the Austrian ratification of peace with us, "accompanied by
+the afflicting intelligence of the armistice concluded on the 12th
+instant between the Austrian and French armies."
+
+Napoleon at St. Helena said to Montholon that, had 6,000 British
+troops pushed rapidly up the banks of the Scheldt on the day that the
+expedition reached Flushing, they could easily have taken Antwerp,
+which was then very weakly held. See, too, other opinions quoted by
+Alison, ch. lx.]
+
+[Footnote 216: Beer, p. 441.]
+
+[Footnote 217: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 161; Metternich, vol. i., p. 114.]
+
+[Footnote 218: Letter of February 10th, 1810, quoted by Lanfrey. See,
+too, the "Mems." of Prince Eugène, vol. vi., p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 219: "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 365 (Eng. ed.).]
+
+[Footnote 220: Bausset, "Mems.," ch. xix.]
+
+[Footnote 221: Mme. de Rémusat, "Mems.," ch. xxvii.]
+
+[Footnote 222: Tatischeff, "Alexandre et Napoléon," p. 519.
+Welschinger, "Le Divorce de Napoléon," ch. ii.; he also examines the
+alleged irregularities of the religious marriage with Josephine; Fesch
+and most impartial authorities brushed them aside as a flimsy excuse.]
+
+[Footnote 223: Metternich's despatch of December 25th, 1809, in his
+"Mems.," vol. ii., § 150. The first hints were dropped by him to
+Laborde on November 29th (Vandal, vol. ii., pp. 204, 543): they
+reached Napoleon's ears about December 15th. For the influence of
+these marriage negotiations in preparing for Napoleon's rupture with
+the Czar, see chap, xxxii. of this work.]
+
+[Footnote 224: "Conversations with the Duke of Wellington," p. 9. The
+disobedience of Ney and Soult did much to ruin Masséna's campaign, and
+he lost the battle of Fuentès d'Onoro mainly through that of
+Bessières. Still, as he failed to satisfy Napoleon's maxim, "Succeed:
+I judge men only by results," he was disgraced.]
+
+[Footnote 225: Decree of February 5th, 1810. See Welschinger, "La
+Censure sous le premier Empire," p. 31. For the seizure of Madame de
+Staël's "Allemagne" and her exile, see her preface to "Dix Années
+d'Exil."]
+
+[Footnote 226: Mollien, "Mems.," vol. iii., p. 183.]
+
+[Footnote 227: Fouché retired to Italy, and finally settled at Aix.
+His place at the Ministry of Police was taken by Savary, Duc de
+Rovigo. See Madelin's "Fouché," chap. xx.]
+
+[Footnote 228: Porter, "Progress of the Nation," p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 229: Letters of August 6th, 7th, 29th. The United States had
+just repealed their Non-Intercourse Act of 1807. For their relations
+with Napoleon and England, see Channing's "The United States of
+America," chs. vi. and vii.; also the Anglo-American correspondence in
+Cobbett's "Register for 1809 and 1810."]
+
+[Footnote 230: Mollien, "Mems." vol. i., p. 316.]
+
+[Footnote 231: Tooke, "Hist. of Prices," vol. i., p. 311; Mollien,
+vol. iii., pp. 135, 289; Pasquier, vol. i., p. 295; Chaptal, p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 232: Letter of August 6th, 1810, to Eugène.]
+
+[Footnote 233: "Progress of the Nation," p. 148.]
+
+[Footnote 234: So Mollien, vol. iii., p. 135: "One knows that his
+powerful imagination was fertile in illusions: as soon as they had
+seduced him, he sought with a kind of good faith to enhance their
+prestige, and he succeeded easily in persuading many others of what he
+had convinced himself. He braved business difficulties as he braved
+dangers in war."] [Footnote 235: Miot de Melito, vol. ii., ch. xv. For
+some favourable symptoms in French industry, see Lumbroso, pp.
+165-226, and Chaptal, p. 287. They have been credited to the
+Continental System; but surely they resulted from the internal free
+trade and intelligent administration which France had enjoyed since
+the Revolution.]
+
+[Footnote 236: "Nap. Corresp.," May 8th, 1811.]
+
+[Footnote 237: Goethe published the first part of "Faust," _in full_,
+early in 1808.]
+
+[Footnote 238: Baur, "Stein und Perthes," p. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 239: Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxv.]
+
+[Footnote 240: Letters of October 10th and 13th, 1810, and January
+1st, 1811.]
+
+[Footnote 241: Letter of September 17th, 1810.]
+
+[Footnote 242: Letter of March 8th, 1811. For a fuller treatment of
+the commercial struggle between Great Britain and Napoleon see my
+articles, "Napoleon and British Commerce" and "Britain's Food Supply
+during the French War," in a volume entitled "Napoleonic Studies"
+(George Bell and Sons, 1904).]
+
+[Footnote 243: Czartoryski, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xvii. At this time
+he was taken back to the Czar's favour, and was bidden to hope for the
+re-establishment of Poland by the Czar as soon as Napoleon made a
+blunder.]
+
+[Footnote 244: Tatischeff, p. 526; Vandal, vol. ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 245: "Corresp.," No. 16178; Vandal, vol. ii., ch. vii. The
+_exposé_ of December 1st, 1809, had affirmed that Napoleon did not
+intend to re-establish Poland. But this did not satisfy Alexander.]
+
+[Footnote 246: Letters of October 23rd and December 2nd, 1810.]
+
+[Footnote 247: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 529.]
+
+[Footnote 248: Tatischeff, p. 555.]
+
+[Footnote 249: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 535, admits that we had no hand in
+it. But the Czar naturally became more favourable to us, and at the
+close of 1811 secretly gave entry to our goods.]
+
+[Footnote 250: Quoted by Garden, vol. xiii., p. 171.]
+
+[Footnote 251: Bernhardi's "Denkwürdigkeiten des Grafen von Toll,"
+vol. i. p. 223.]
+
+[Footnote 252: Czartoryski, vol. ii., ch. xvii. At Dresden, in May,
+1812, Napoleon admitted to De Pradt, his envoy at Warsaw that Russia's
+lapse from the Continental System was the chief cause of war; "Without
+Russia, the Continental System is absurdity."]
+
+[Footnote 253: For the overtures of Russia and Sweden to us and their
+exorbitant requests for loans, see Mr. Hereford George's account in
+his careful and systematic study, "Napoleon's Invasion of Russia," ch.
+iv. It was not till July, 1812, that we formally made peace with
+Russia and Sweden, and sent them pecuniary aid. We may note here that
+Napoleon, in April, 1812, sent us overtures for peace, if we would
+acknowledge Joseph as King of Spain and Murat as King of Naples, and
+withdraw our troops from the Peninsula and Sicily: Napoleon would then
+evacuate Spain. Castlereagh at once refused an offer which would have
+left Napoleon free to throw his whole strength against Russia (Garden,
+vol. xiii., pp. 215, 254).]
+
+[Footnote 254: Garden, vol. xiii., p. 329.]
+
+[Footnote 255: Hereford George, _op. cit._, pp. 34-37. Metternich
+("Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 517, Eng. ed.) shows that Napoleon had also
+been holding out to Austria the hope of gaining Servia, Wallachia and
+Moldavia (the latter of which were then overrun by Russian troops), if
+she would furnish 60,000 troops: but Metternich resisted
+successfully.]
+
+[Footnote 256: See his words to Metternich at Dresden, Metternich's
+"Mems.," vol. i., p. 152; as also that he would not advance beyond
+Smolensk in 1812.]
+
+[Footnote 257: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. i., p. 226; Stern,
+"Abhandlungen," pp. 350-366; Müffling, "Aus meinem Leben"; L'Abbé de
+Pradt, "L'histoire de l'Ambassade de Varsovie."]
+
+[Footnote 258: "Erinnerungen des Gen. von Boyen," vol. ii., p. 254.
+This, and other facts that will later be set forth, explode the story
+foisted by the Prussian General von dem Knesebeck in his old age on
+Müffling. Knesebeck declared that his mission early in 1812 to the
+Czar, which was to persuade him to a peaceful compromise with
+Napoleon, was directly controverted by the secret instructions which
+he bore from Frederick William to Alexander. He described several
+midnight interviews with the Czar at the Winter Palace, in which he
+convinced him that by war with Napoleon, and by enticing him into the
+heart of Russia, Europe would be saved. Lehmann has shown ("Knesebeck
+und Schön") that this story is contradicted by all the documentary
+evidence. It may be dismissed as the offspring of senile vanity.]
+
+[Footnote 259: "Toll," vol. i., pp. 256 _et seq._ Müffling was assured
+by Phull in 1819 that the Drissa plan was only part of a grander
+design which had never had a fair[*Scanner's note: fair is correct]
+chance!]
+
+[Footnote 260: Bernhardi's "Toll" (vol. i., p. 231) gives Barclay's
+chief "army of the west" as really mustering only 127,000 strong,
+along with 9,000 Cossacks; Bagration, with the second "army of the
+west," numbered at first only 35,000, with 4,000 Cossacks; while
+Tormasov's corps observing Galicia was about as strong. Clausewitz
+gives rather higher estimates.]
+
+[Footnote 261: Labaume, "Narrative of 1812," and Ségur.]
+
+[Footnote 262: See the long letter of May 28th, 1812, to De Pradt;
+also the Duc de Broglie's "Memoirs" (vol. i., ch. iv.) for the
+hollowness of Napoleon's Polish policy. Bignon, "Souvenirs d'un
+Diplomate" (ch. xx.), errs in saying that Napoleon charged De
+Pradt--"Tout agiter, tout enflammer." At St. Helena, Napoleon said to
+Montholon ("Captivity," vol. iii., ch. iii.): "Poland and its
+resources were but poetry in the first months of the year 1812."]
+
+[Footnote 263: "Toll," vol. i., p. 239; Wilson, "Invasion of Russia,"
+p. 384.]
+
+[Footnote 264: We may here also clear aside the statements of some
+writers who aver that Napoleon intended to strike at St. Petersburg.
+Perhaps he did so for a time. On July 9th he wrote at Vilna that he
+proposed to march _both on Moscow and St. Petersburg_. But that was
+while he still hoped that Davoust would entrap Bagration, and while
+Barclay's retreat on Drissa seemed likely to carry the war into the
+north. Napoleon always aimed first at the enemy's army; and Barclay's
+retreat from Drissa to Vitepsk, and thence to Smolensk, finally
+decided Napoleon's move towards Moscow. If he had any preconceived
+scheme--and he always regulated his moves by events rather than by a
+cast-iron plan--it was to strike at Moscow. At Dresden he said to De
+Pradt: "I must finish the war by the end of September.... I am going
+to Moscow: one or two battles will settle the business. I will burn
+Tula, and Russia will be at my feet. Moscow is the heart of that
+Empire. I will wage war with Polish blood." De Pradt's evidence is not
+wholly to be trusted; but I am convinced that Napoleon never seriously
+thought of taking 200,000 men to the barren tracts of North Russia
+late in the summer, while the English, Swedish, and Russian fleets
+were ready to worry his flank and stop supplies.]
+
+[Footnote 265: Letter of August 24th to Maret; so too Labaume's
+"Narrative," and Garden, vol. xiii., p. 418. Mr. George thinks that
+Napoleon decided on August 21st to strike at Moscow on grounds of
+general policy.]
+
+[Footnote 266: Labaume, "Narrative"; Lejeune's "Mems.," vol. ii., ch.
+vi.]
+
+[Footnote 267: Marbot's "Mems." Bausset, a devoted servant to
+Napoleon, refutes the oft-told story that he was ill at Borodino. He
+had nothing worse than a bad cold. It is curious that such stories are
+told about Napoleon after every battle when his genius did not shine.
+In this case, it rests on the frothy narrative of Ségur, and is out of
+harmony with those of Gourgaud and Pelet. Clausewitz justifies
+Napoleon's caution in withholding his Guard.]
+
+[Footnote 268: Bausset, "Cour de Napoléon." Tolstoi ("War and
+Liberty") asserts that the fires were the work of tipsy pillagers. So
+too Arndt, "Mems.," p. 204. Dr. Tzenoff, in a scholarly monograph
+(Berlin, 1900), comes to the same conclusion. Lejeune and Bourgogne
+admit both causes.]
+
+[Footnote 269: Garden, vol. xiii., p. 452; vol. xiv., pp. 17-19.]
+
+[Footnote 270: Cathcart, p. 41; see too the Czar's letters in Sir Byam
+Martin's "Despatches," vol. ii., p. 311. This fact shows the
+frothiness of the talk indulged in by Russians in 1807 as to "our
+rapacity and perfidy" in seizing the Danish fleet.]
+
+[Footnote 271: _E.g._, the migration of Rostopchin's serfs _en masse_
+from their village, near Moscow, rather than come under French
+dominion (Wilson, "French Invasion of Russia," p. 179).]
+
+[Footnote 272: Letter of October 16th; see too his undated notes
+("Corresp.," No. 19237). Bausset and many others thought the best plan
+would be to winter at Moscow. He also says that the Emperor's
+favourite book while at Moscow was Voltaire's "History of Charles
+XII."]
+
+[Footnote 273: Lejeune, vol. ii., chap. vi. As it chanced, Kutusoff
+had resolved on retreat, if Napoleon attacked him. This is perhaps the
+only time when Napoleon erred through excess of prudence. Fezensac
+noted at Moscow that he would not see or hear the truth.]
+
+[Footnote 274: It has been constantly stated by Napoleon, and by most
+French historians of this campaign, that his losses were mainly due to
+an exceptionally severe and early winter. The statement will not bear
+examination. Sharp cold usually sets in before November 6th in Russia
+at latitude 55°; the severe weather which he then suffered was
+succeeded by alternate thaws and slighter frosts until the beginning
+of December, when intense cold is always expected. Moreover, the bulk
+of the losses occurred before the first snowstorm. The Grand Army
+which marched on Smolensk and Moscow may be estimated at 400,000
+(including reinforcements). At Viasma, _before severe cold set in_, it
+had dwindled to 55,000. We may note here the curious fact,
+substantiated by Alison, that the French troops stood the cold better
+than the Poles and North Germans. See too N. Senior's "Conversations,"
+vol. i., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 275: Bausset, "Cour de Napoléon"; Wilson, pp. 271-277.]
+
+[Footnote 276: Oudinot, "Mémoires."]
+
+[Footnote 277: Hereford George, pp. 349-350.]
+
+[Footnote 278: Bourgogne, ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 279: Pasquier, vol. ii., _ad init._]
+
+[Footnote 280: Colonel Desprez, who accompanied the retreat, thus
+described to King Joseph its closing scenes: "The truth is best
+expressed by saying that _the army is dead_. The Young Guard was 8,000
+strong when we left Moscow: at Vilna it scarcely numbered 400.... The
+corps of Victor and Oudinot numbered 30,000 men when they crossed the
+Beresina: two days afterwards they had melted away like the rest of
+the army. Sending reinforcements only increased the losses."
+
+The following French official report, a copy of which I have found in
+our F.O. Records (Russia, No. 84), shows how frightful were the losses
+after Smolensk. But it should be noted that the rank and file in this
+case numbered only 300 at Smolensk, and had therefore lost more than
+half their numbers--and this in a regiment of the Guard.
+
+    GARDE IMPÉRIALE: 6ème RÉGIMENT DE TIRAILLEURS.
+    _l^ère Division. Situation à l'époque du 19 Décembre, 1812_.
+
+  |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+  |             |     Perte depuis le départ de Smolensk                            |
+  |             |------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------|--------|
+  |Présents sous|Restés sur  |Blessés qui|Morts de   |Restés en  |Total des|Reste   |
+  |les armes au |le champ    |n'ont pu   |froid ou de|en arrière |Pertes   |présents|
+  |départ de    |de bataille |suivre,    |misère     |gelés, ou  |         |sous les|
+  |Smolensk     |            |restés au  |           |pour cause |         |armes   |
+  |             |            |pouvoir de |           |de maladie |         |        |
+  |             |            |l'ennemi   |           |au pouvoir |         |        |
+  |             |            |           |           |de l'ennemi|         |        |
+  |-----|-------|------------|------|--- |------|----|------|----|-----|---|----|---|
+  | Off.|Tr.    | Off. |Tr.  | Off. |Tr. | Off. |Tr. | Off. |Tr. | Off.|Tr.|Off.|Tr.|
+  | 31  |300    |  --  |13   |  4   | 52 |  --  | 24 |  13  |201 | 17  |290| 14 |10 |
+  |-----|-------|------|-----|------|----|------|----|------|----|-----|---|----|---|
+                          _Signé_ le Colonel Major Commandant
+                                         le dit Regiment.  CARRÉ.
+
+    Les autres régiments sont plus
+    ou moins dans le même état.]
+
+[Footnote 281: "Corresp.," December 20th, 1812. For the so-called
+Concordat of 1813, concluded with the captive Pius VII. at
+Fontainebleau, see "Corresp." of January 25th, 1813. The Pope
+repudiated it at the first opportunity. Napoleon wanted him to settle
+at Avignon as a docile subject of the Empire.]
+
+[Footnote 282: Mollien, vol. iii., _ad fin._ For his vague offers to
+mitigate the harsh terms of Tilsit for Prussia, and to grant her a
+political existence if she would fight for him, see Hardenberg,
+"Mems.," vol. iv., p. 350.]
+
+[Footnote 283: Walpole reports (December 19th and 22nd, 1812)
+Metternich's envy of the Russian successes and of their occupation of
+the left bank of the Danube. Walpole said he believed Alexander would
+grant Austria a set-off against this; but Metternich seemed entirely
+Bonapartist ("F.O.," Russia, No. 84). See too the full account, based
+on documentary evidence, in Luckwaldt's "Oesterreich und die Anfange
+des Befreiungskrieges" (Berlin, 1898).]
+
+[Footnote 284: Hardenberg, "Mems.," vol. iv., p. 366.]
+
+[Footnote 285: Oncken, "Oesterreich und Preussen," vol. ii.; Garden,
+vol. xiv., p. 167; Seeley's "Stein," vol. ii., ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 286: Arndt, "Wanderungen"; Steffens, "Was ich erlebte."]
+
+[Footnote 287: At this time she had only 61,500 men ready for the
+fighting line; but she had 28,000 in garrison and 32,000 in Pomerania
+and Prussia (Proper), according to Scharnhorst's report contained in
+"F.O.," Russia, No. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 288: Letters of March 2nd and 11th.]
+
+[Footnote 289: Metternich's "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 159; Luckwaldt,
+_op. cit._, ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 290: See the whole note in Luckwaldt, Append. No. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 291: Oncken, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 205. So too
+Metternich's letter to Nesselrode of April 21st ("Memoirs," vol. i.,
+p. 405, Eng. ed.): "I beg of you to continue to confide in me. If
+Napoleon will be foolish enough to fight, let us endeavour not to meet
+with a reverse, which I feel to be only too possible. One battle lost
+for Napoleon, and all Germany will be under arms."]
+
+[Footnote 292: "F.O.," Austria, No. 105. Doubtless, as Oncken has
+pointed out with much acerbity, Castlereagh's knowledge that Austria
+would suggest the modification of our maritime claims contributed to
+his refusal to consider her proposal for a general peace: but I am
+convinced, from the tone of our records, that his chief motive was his
+experience of Napoleon's intractability and a sense of loyalty to our
+Spanish allies: we were also pledged to help Sweden and Russia.]
+
+[Footnote 293: Letters of April 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 294: Napoleon's troops in Thorn surrendered on April 17th;
+those in Spandau on April 24th (Fain, "Manuscrit de 1813," vol. ii.,
+ch. i.).]
+
+[Footnote 295: Oncken, vol. ii., p. 272.]
+
+[Footnote 296: Cathcart's report in "F.O.," Russia, No. 85. Müffling
+("Aus meinem Leben") regards the delay in the arrival of
+Miloradovitch, and the preparations for defence which the French had
+had time to make at Gross Görschen, as the causes of the allies'
+failure. The chief victim on the French side was Bessières, commander
+of the Guard.]
+
+[Footnote 297: "Corresp.," Nos. 20017-20031. For his interview with
+Bubna, see Luckwaldt, p. 257.]
+
+[Footnote 298: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. iii., pp. 490-492. Marmont
+gives the French 150,000; Thiers says 160,000.]
+
+[Footnote 299: In his bulletin Napoleon admitted having lost 11,000 to
+12,000 killed and wounded in the two days at Bautzen; his actual
+losses were probably over 20,000. He described the allies as having
+150,000 to 160,000 men, nearly double their actual numbers.]
+
+[Footnote 300: Müffling, "Aus meinem Leben."]
+
+[Footnote 301: "Lettres inédites." So too his letters to Eugène of
+June 11th and July 1st; and of June 11th, 17th, July 6th and 29th, to
+Augereau, who was to threaten Austria from Bavaria.]
+
+[Footnote 302: See his conversation with our envoy, Thornton, reported
+by the latter in the "Castlereagh Letters," 2nd series, vol. iv., p.
+314.]
+
+[Footnote 303: "Castlereagh Letters," 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 344.]
+
+[Footnote 304: Garden, vol. xiv., p. 356. We also stipulated that
+Sweden should not import slaves into Guadeloupe, and should repress
+the slave trade. When, at the Congress of Vienna, that island was
+given back to France, we paid Bernadotte a money indemnity.]
+
+[Footnote 305: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," June 18th, 1813. See
+too that of July 16th, _ibid._]
+
+[Footnote 306: Letters of F. Perthes.]
+
+[Footnote 307: Joseph to Marmont, July 21st, 1812.]
+
+[Footnote 308: "Méms. du Roi Joseph," vols. viii. and ix.; Napier,
+book xix., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 309: "Mémoires du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 195.]
+
+[Footnote 310: Napier and Alison say March 18th, which is refuted by
+the "Méms. du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 131.]
+
+[Footnote 311: _Ibid._, vol. ix., p. 464.]
+
+[Footnote 312: As a matter of fact he had 50,000 there for three
+months, and did not succeed. See Clarke's letter to Clausel, "Méms. du
+Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 251.]
+
+[Footnote 313: Stanhope's "Conversations with Wellington," p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 314: "Mémoires du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 60.]
+
+[Footnote 315: Thiers, bk. xlix.; "Nap. Corresp.," No. 20019;
+Baumgarten vol i., p. 577.]
+
+[Footnote 316: "Mémoires du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., pp. 284, 294.
+Joseph's first order to Clausel was sent under protection of _an
+escort of 1,500 men_.]
+
+[Footnote 317: See Lord Melville's complaint as to Wellington's
+unreasonable charges on this head in the "Letters of Sir B. Martin"
+("Navy Records," 1898).]
+
+[Footnote 318: Miot de Melito, vol. ii., ch. xviii.]
+
+[Footnote 319: Clausel afterwards complained that if he had received
+any order to that effect he could have pushed on so as to be at
+Vittoria ("Méms. du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 454). The muster-rolls
+of the French were lost at Vittoria. Napier puts their force at
+70,000; Thiers at 54,000; Jourdan at 50,000.]
+
+[Footnote 320: Wellington's official account of the fight states that
+the French got away only two of their cannon; and Simmons, "A British
+Rifleman," asserts that the last of these was taken near Pamplona on
+the 24th. Wellington generously assigned much credit to the Spanish
+troops--far more than Napier will allow.]
+
+[Footnote 321: Ducasse, "Les rois, frères de Napoléon."]
+
+[Footnote 322: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," July 1st, 3rd, 15th,
+and 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 323: Stadion to Metternich, May 30th, June 2nd and 8th; in
+Luckwaldt, p. 382.]
+
+[Footnote 324: Cathcart's "most secret" despatch of June 4/16* from
+Reichenbach. Just a month earlier he reported that the Czar's
+proposals to Austria included all these terms in an absolute form, and
+also the separation of Holland from France, the restoration of the
+Bourbons to Spain, and "L'Italie libre dans toutes ses parties du
+Gouvernement et de l'influence de la France." Such were also
+Metternich's _private_ wishes, with the frontier of the Oglio on the
+S.W. for Austria. See Oncken, vol. ii., p. 644. The official terms
+were in part due to the direct influence of the Emperor Francis.]
+
+[Footnote 325: In a secret article of the Treaty we promised to
+advance to Austria a subsidy of £500,000 as soon as she should join
+the allies.]
+
+[Footnote 326: Martens, vol. ix., pp. 568-575. Our suspicion of
+Prussia reappears (as was almost inevitable after her seizure of
+Hanover), not only in the smallness of the sum accorded to her--for we
+granted £2,000,000 in all to the Swedish, Hanseatic, and Hanoverian
+contingents--but also in the stipulation that she should assent to the
+eventual annexation of the formerly Prussian districts of East Frisia
+and Hildesheim to Hanover. We also refused to sign the Treaty of
+Reichenbach until she, most unwillingly, assented to this prospective
+cession. This has always been thought in Germany a mean transaction;
+but, as Castlereagh pointed out, those districts were greatly in the
+way of the development of Hanover. Prussia was to have an indemnity
+for the sacrifice; and we bore the chief burden in the issue of
+"federative paper notes," which enabled the allies to prepare for the
+campaign ("Castlereagh Papers," 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 355; 3rd
+series, vol. i., pp. 7-17; and "Bath Archives," vol. ii., p. 86).
+Moreover, we were then sending 30,000 muskets to Stralsund and Colberg
+for the use of Prussian troops (Despatch from "F.O.," July 28th, to
+Thornton, "Sweden," No. 79). On July 6th we agreed to pay the cost of
+a German Legion of 10,000 men under the Czar's orders. Its Commissary
+was Colonel Lowe.]
+
+[Footnote 327: For the official reports see Garden, vol. xiv., pp.
+486-499; also Bausset's account, "Cour de Napoléon."]
+
+[Footnote 328: Any account of a private interview between two astute
+schemers must be accepted with caution; and we may well doubt whether
+Metternich really was as firm, not to say provocative, as he
+afterwards represented in his "Memoirs." But, on the whole, his
+account is more trustworthy than that of Fain, Napoleon's secretary,
+in his "Manuscrit de 1813," vol. ii., ch. ii. Fain places the
+interview on June 28th; in "Napoleon's Corresp." it is reprinted, but
+assigned to June 23rd. The correct date is shown by Oncken to have
+been June 26th. Bignon's account of it (vol. xii., ch. iv.) is marked
+by his usual bias.]
+
+[Footnote 329: Cathcart reported, on July 8th, that Schwarzenberg had
+urged an extension of the armistice, so that Austria might meet the
+"vast and unexpected" preparations of France ("Russia," No. 86).]
+
+[Footnote 330: "Russia," No. 86.]
+
+[Footnote 331: Thornton's despatch of July 12th ("Castlereagh Papers,"
+2nd Series, vol. iv., _ad fin._).]
+
+[Footnote 332: _Ibid._, pp. 383 and 405.]
+
+[Footnote 333: For details see Oncken, Luckwaldt, Thiers, Fain, and
+the "Mems." of the Duc de Broglie; also Gentz, "Briefe an Pilat," of
+July 16th-22nd, 1813. Humboldt, the Prussian ambassador, reported on
+July 13th to Berlin that Metternich looked on war as quite
+unavoidable, and on the Congress merely as a means of convincing the
+Emperor Francis of the impossibility of gaining a lasting peace.]
+
+[Footnote 334: Thiers; Ernouf's "Maret, Duc de Bassano," p. 571.]
+
+[Footnote 335: Bignon "Hist. de France," vol. xii., p. 199; Lefebvre,
+"Cabinets de l'Europe," vol. v., p. 555.]
+
+[Footnote 336: Letter of July 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 337: Gentz to Sir G. Jackson, August 4th ("Bath Archives,"
+vol. ii., p. 199). For a version flattering to Napoleon, see Ernouf's
+"Maret" (pp. 579-587), which certainly exculpates the Minister.]
+
+[Footnote 338: Metternich, "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 546 (Eng. ed.).]
+
+[Footnote 339: "F.O.," Russia, No. 86. A letter of General Nugent
+(July 27th), from Prague, is inclosed. When he (N.) expressed to
+Metternich the fear that Caulaincourt's arrival there portended peace,
+M. replied that this would make no alteration, "as the proposals were
+such that they certainly would not be accepted, and they would even be
+augmented."]
+
+[Footnote 340: "Souvenirs du Duc de Broglie," vol. i., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 341: British aims at this time are well set forth in the
+instructions and the accompanying note to Lord Aberdeen, our
+ambassador designate at Vienna, dated Foreign Office, August 6th,
+1813: " ... Your Lordship will collect from these instructions that a
+general peace, in order to provide adequately for the tranquillity and
+independence of Europe, ought, in the judgment of His Majesty's
+Government, to confine France at least within the Pyrenees, the Alps,
+and the Rhine: and if the other Great Powers of Europe should feel
+themselves enabled to contend for such a Peace, Great Britain is fully
+prepared to concur with them in such a line of policy. If, however,
+the Powers most immediately concerned should determine, rather than
+encounter the risks of a more protracted struggle, to trust for their
+own security to a more imperfect arrangement, it never has been the
+policy of the British Government to attempt to dictate to other States
+a perseverance in war, which they did not themselves recognize to be
+essential to their own as well as to the common safety." As regards
+details, we desired to see the restoration of Venetia to Austria, of
+the Papal States to the Pope, of the north-west of Italy to the King
+of Sardinia, but trusted that "a liberal establishment" might be found
+for Murat in the centre of Italy. Napoleon knew that we desired to
+limit France to the "natural frontiers" and that we were resolved to
+insist on our maritime claims. As our Government took this unpopular
+line, and went further than Austria in its plans for restricting
+French influence, he had an excellent opportunity for separating the
+Continental Powers from us. But he gave out that those Powers were
+bought by England, and that we were bent on humiliating France.]
+
+[Footnote 342: Boyen, "Erinnerungen," Pt. III., p. 66.]
+
+[Footnote 343: Fain, vol. ii., p. 27. The italicized words are given
+thus by him; but they read like a later excuse for Napoleon's
+failures.]
+
+[Footnote 344: "Commentaries on the War in Russia and Germany," p.
+195.]
+
+[Footnote 345: In his letters of August 16th to Macdonald and Ney he
+assumed that the allies might strike at Dresden, or even as far west
+as Zwickau: but meanwhile he would march "pour enlever Blücher."]
+
+[Footnote 346: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon." The Emperor forwarded
+this suggestion to Savary (August 11th): it doubtless meant an issue
+of false paper notes, such as had been circulated in Russia the year
+before.]
+
+[Footnote 347: Cathcart, "Commentaries," p. 206.]
+
+[Footnote 348: "Extrait d'un Mémoire sur la Campagne de 1813." With
+characteristic inaccuracy Marbot remarks that the defection of Jomini,
+_with Napoleon's plans_, was "a disastrous blow." The same is said by
+Dedem de Gelder, p. 328.]
+
+[Footnote 349: The Emperor's eagerness is seen by the fact that on
+August 21st he began dictating despatches, at Lauban, at 3 a.m. On the
+previous day he had dictated seventeen despatches; twelve at Zittau,
+four after his ride to Görlitz, and one more on his arrival at Lauban
+at midnight.]
+
+[Footnote 350: Letters of August 23rd to Berthier.]
+
+[Footnote 351: Boyen, vol. iii., p. 85. But see Wiehr, "Nap. und
+Bernadotte in 1813," who proves how risky was B.'s position, with the
+Oder fortresses, held by the French, on one flank, and Davoust and the
+Danes on the other. He disposes of many of the German slanders against
+Bernadotte.]
+
+[Footnote 352: Hausser, pp. 260-267. Oudinot's "Memoirs" throw the
+blame on the slowness of Bertrand in effecting the concentration on
+Grossbeeren and on the heedless impetuosity of Reynier. Wiehr (pp.
+74-116) proves from despatches that Bernadotte meant to attack the
+French _south of Berlin_: he discredits the "bones" anecdote.]
+
+[Footnote 353: Letters of August 23rd.]
+
+[Footnote 354: So called to distinguish it from the two other Neisses
+in Silesia.]
+
+[Footnote 355: Blasendorfs "Blücher"; Müffling's "Aus meinem Leben"
+and "Campaigns of the Silesian Army in 1813 and 1814"; Bertin's "La
+Campagne de 1813." Hausser assigns to the French close on 60,000 at
+the battle; to the allies about 70,000.]
+
+[Footnote 356: Jomini, "Vie de Napoléon," vol. iv., p. 380; "Toll,"
+vol. iii., p. 124.]
+
+[Footnote 357: "Toll," vol. iii., p. 144. Cathcart reports (p. 216)
+that Moreau remarked to him: "We are already on Napoleon's
+communications; the possession of the town [Dresden] is no object; it
+will fall of itself at a future time." If Moreau said this seriously
+it can only be called a piece of imbecility. The allies were far from
+safe until they had wrested from Napoleon one of his strong places on
+the Elbe; it was certainly not enough to have seized Pirna.]
+
+[Footnote 358: "Corresp." No. 20461.]
+
+[Footnote 359: Cathcart's "Commentaries," p. 230: Bertin, "La Campagne
+de 1813," p. 109; Marmont, "Mems.," bk. xvii.; Sir Evelyn Wood's
+"Achievements of Cavalry."]
+
+[Footnote 360: It is clear from Napoleon's letters of the evening of
+the 27th that he was not quite pleased with the day's work, and
+thought the enemy would hold firm, or even renew the attack on the
+morrow. They disprove Thiers' wild statements about a general pursuit
+on that evening, thousands of prisoners swept up, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 361: Vandamme on the 28th received a reinforcement of
+eighteen battalions, and thenceforth had in all sixty-four; yet Marbot
+credits him with only 20,000 men.]
+
+[Footnote 362: Thiers gives Berthier's despatch in full. See also map,
+p. 336.]
+
+[Footnote 363: Marmont, bk. xvii., p. 158. He and St. Cyr ("Mems.,"
+vol. iv., pp. 120-123) agree as to the confusion of their corps when
+crowded together on this road. Napoleon's aim was to insure the
+capture of all the enemy's cannon and stores; but his hasty orders had
+the effect of blocking the pursuit on the middle road. St. Cyr sent to
+headquarters for instruction; but these were now removed to Dresden;
+hence the fatal delay.]
+
+[Footnote 364: Thiers has shown that Mortier did not get the order
+from Berthier to support Vandamme _until August 30th_. The same is
+true of St. Cyr, who did not get it till 11.30 a.m. on that day. St.
+Cyr's best defence is Napoleon's letter of September 1st to him
+("Lettres inédites de Napoléon"): "That unhappy Vandamme, who seems to
+have killed himself, had not a sentinel on the mountains, nor a
+reserve anywhere.... I had given him positive orders to intrench
+himself on the heights, to encamp his troops on them, and only to send
+isolated parties of men into Bohemia to worry the enemy and collect
+news." With this compare Napoleon's approving statement of August 29th
+to Murat ("Corresp.," No. 20486): "Vandamme was marching on Teplitz
+_with all his corps_."]
+
+[Footnote 365: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon," September 3rd.]
+
+[Footnote 366: Häusser, vol. iv., p. 343, and Boyen, "Erinnerungen,"
+vol. ii., pp. 345-357, for Bernadotte's suspicious delays on this day;
+also Marmont, bk. xviii., for a critique on Ney. Napoleon sent for
+Lejeune, then leading a division of Ney's army, to explain the
+disaster; but when Lejeune reached the headquarters at Dohna, south of
+Dresden, the Emperor bade him instantly return--a proof of his
+impatience and anger at these reverses.]
+
+[Footnote 367: Thornton, our envoy at Bernadotte's headquarters, wrote
+to Castlereagh that that leader's desire was to spare the Swedish
+corps; he expected that Bernadotte would aim at the French crown
+("Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. i., pp. 48-59). See too Boyen,
+vol. ii., p. 378.]
+
+[Footnote 368: Letter of October 10th to Reynier. This and his letter
+to Maret seem to me to refute Bernhardi's contention ("Toll," vol.
+iii., pp. 385-388) that Napoleon only meant to drive the northern
+allies across the Elbe, and then to turn on Schwarzenberg. The
+Emperor's plans shifted every few hours: but the plan of crossing the
+Elbe in great force was distinctly prepared for.]
+
+[Footnote 369: Thiers asserts that he had. But if so, how could the
+Emperor have written to Macdonald (October 2nd) that the Silesian army
+had made a move on Grossenhain: "It appears that this is so as to
+attack the intrenched camp (at Dresden) by the side of the plain, by
+the roads of Berlin and Meissen."? On the same day he scoffs at
+Lefebre-Desnoëttes for writing that Bernadotte had crossed the Elbe,
+and retorts that if he had, it would be so much the worse for him: the
+war would soon be over.]
+
+[Footnote 370: Letter of October 10th to Reynier. This and his letter
+to Maret seem to me to refute Bernhardi's contention ("Toll," vol.
+iii., pp. 385-388) that Napoleon only meant to drive the northern
+allies across the Elbe, and then to turn on Schwarzenberg. The
+Emperor's plans shifted every few hours: but the plan of crossing the
+Elbe in great force was distinctly prepared for.]
+
+[Footnote 371: Martens, "Traités," vol. ix., p. 610. This secret
+bargain cut the ground from under the German unionists, like Stein,
+who desired to make away with the secondary princes, or strictly to
+limit their powers.]
+
+[Footnote 372: Thiers and Bernhardi ("Toll," vol. iii., p. 388) have
+disposed of this fiction.]
+
+[Footnote 373: Sir E. Wood, "Achievements of Cavalry."]
+
+[Footnote 374: "Corresp.," No. 20814. Marmont, vol. v., p. 281,
+acutely remarks that Napoleon now regarded as true only that which
+entered into his combinations and his thoughts.]
+
+[Footnote 375: Bernadotte was only hindered from retreat across the
+Elbe by the remonstrances of his officers, by the forward move of
+Blücher, and by the fact that the Elbe bridges were now held by the
+French. For the council of war at Köthen on October 14th, see Boyen,
+vol. ii., p. 377.]
+
+[Footnote 376: Müffling, "Campaign of 1813."]
+
+[Footnote 377: Colonel Lowe, who was present, says it was won and lost
+five times (unpublished "Memoirs").]
+
+[Footnote 378: Napoleon's bulletin of October 16th, 1813, blames Ney
+for this waste of a great corps; but it is clear, from the official
+orders published by Marmont (vol. v., pp. 373-378), that Napoleon did
+not expect any pitched battle on the north side on the 16th. He
+thought Bertrand's corps would suffice to defend the north and west,
+and left the defence on that side in a singularly vague state.]
+
+[Footnote 379: Dedem de Gelder, "Mems.," p. 345, severely blames
+Napoleon's inaction on the 17th; either he should have attacked the
+allies before Bennigsen and Bernadotte came up, or have retreated
+while there was time.]
+
+[Footnote 380: Lord Burghersh, Sir George Jackson, Odeleben, and Fain
+all assign this conversation to the night of the 16th; but Merveldt's
+official account of it (inclosed with Lord Cathcart's despatches),
+gives it as on October 17th, at 2 p.m. ("F.O.," Russia, No. 86). I
+follow this version rather than that given by Fain.]
+
+[Footnote 381: That the British Ministers did not intend anything of
+the kind, even in the hour of triumph, is seen by Castlereagh's
+despatch of November 13th, 1813, to Lord Aberdeen, our envoy at the
+Austrian Court: "We don't wish to impose any dishonourable condition
+upon France, which limiting the number of her ships would be: but she
+must not be left in possession of this point [Antwerp]" ("Castlereagh
+Papers," 3rd series, vol. i., p. 76).]
+
+[Footnote 382: Boyen describes the surprising effects of the fire of
+the British rocket battery that served in Bernadotte's army. Captain
+Bogue brought it forward to check the charge of a French column
+against the Swedes. He was shot down, but Lieutenant Strangways poured
+in so hot a fire that the column was "blown asunder like an ant-heap,"
+the men rushing back to cover amidst the loud laughter of the allies.]
+
+[Footnote 383: The premature explosion was of course due, not to
+Napoleon, but to the flurry of a serjeant and the skilful flanking
+move of Sacken's light troops, for which see Cathcart and Marmont. The
+losses at Leipzig were rendered heavier by Napoleon's humane refusal
+to set fire to the suburbs so as to keep off the allies. He rightly
+said he could have saved many thousand French had he done so. This is
+true. But it is strange that he had given no order for the
+construction of other bridges. Pelet and Fain affirm that he gave a
+verbal order; but, as Marbot explains, Berthier, the Chief of the
+Staff, had adopted the pedantic custom of never acting on anything
+less than _a written order_, which was not given. The neglect to
+secure means for retreat is all the stranger as the final miseries at
+the Beresina were largely due to official blundering of the same kind.
+Wellington's criticism on Napoleon's tactics at Leipzig is severe
+(despatch of January 10th, 1814): "If Bonaparte had not placed himself
+in a position that every other officer would have avoided, and
+remained in it longer than was consistent with any ideas of prudence,
+he would have retired in such a state that the allies could not have
+ventured to approach the Rhine."]
+
+[Footnote 384: Sir Charles Stewart wrote (March 22nd, 1814): "On the
+Elbe Napoleon was quite insane, and his lengthened stay there was the
+cause of the Battle of Leipzig and all his subsequent misfortunes"
+("Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p. 373).]
+
+[Footnote 385: Napier, vol. v., pp. 368-378.]
+
+[Footnote 386: On November 10th Lord Aberdeen, our ambassador at the
+Austrian Court, wrote to Castlereagh: " ... As soon as he [Murat]
+received the last communication addressed to him by Prince Metternich
+and myself at Prague, he wrote to Napoleon and stated that the affairs
+of his kingdom absolutely demanded his presence. Without waiting for
+any answer, he immediately began his journey, and did not halt a
+moment till he arrived at Basle. While on the road he sent a cyphered
+dispatch to Prince Cariati, his Minister at Vienna, in which he
+informs him that he hopes to be at Naples on the 4th of this month:
+that he burns with desire to revenge himself of [_sic_] all the
+injuries he has received from Bonaparte, and to connect himself with
+the cause of the allies in contending for a just and stable peace. He
+proposes to declare war on the instant of his arrival." Again, on
+December 19th, Aberdeen writes: "You may consider the affair of Murat
+as settled.... It will probably end in Austria agreeing to his having
+a change of frontier on the Papal territory, just enough to satisfy
+his vanity and enable him to show something to his people. I doubt
+much if it will be possible, with the claims of Sicily, Sardinia, and
+Austria herself in the north of Italy, to restore to him the three
+Legations: but something adequate must be done" ("Austria," No. 102).
+The disputes between Murat and Napoleon will be cleared up in Baron
+Lumbroso's forthcoming work, "Murat." Meanwhile see Bignon, vol.
+xiii., pp. 181 _et seq._; Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. xx.; and Chaptal
+(p. 305), for Fouché's treacherous advice to Murat.]
+
+[Footnote 387: Lady Burghersh's "Journal," p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 388: Fain, "Manuscrit de 1814," pp. 48-63. Ernouf, "Vie de
+Maret," p. 606, states that Napoleon touched up Maret's note; the
+sentence quoted above is doubtless the Emperor's. The same author
+proves that Maret's advice had always been more pacific than was
+supposed, and that now, in his old position of Secretary of State, he
+gave Caulaincourt valuable help during the negotiations at Châtillon.]
+
+[Footnote 389: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. i., p. 74. This
+was written, of course, before he heard of the Frankfurt proposals;
+but it anticipates them in a remarkable way. Thiers states that
+Castlereagh, after hearing of them, sent Aberdeen new instructions. I
+cannot find any in our archives. This letter warned Aberdeen against
+any compromise on the subject of Antwerp; but it is clear that
+Castlereagh, when he came to the allied headquarters, was a partisan
+of peace, as compared with the Czar and the Prussian patriots.
+Schwarzenberg wrote (January 26th) at Langres: "We ought to make peace
+here: our Kaiser, also Stadion, Metternich, even Castlereagh, are
+fully of this opinion--but Kaiser Alexander!"]
+
+[Footnote 390: Fournier, "Der Congress von Châtillon," p. 242.]
+
+[Footnote 391: "Castlereagh Papers," _loc. cit._, p. 112.]
+
+[Footnote 392: Metternich. "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 214.]
+
+[Footnote 393: "F.O.," Austria, No. 102.]
+
+[Footnote 394: "Lettres inédites" (November 6th, 1813).]
+
+[Footnote 395: The memorandum is endorsed, "Extract of Instructions
+delivered to me by Gen. Pozzo di Borgo, 18 Dec, 1813" ("Russia," No.
+92).]
+
+[Footnote 396: Metternich's letter to Hudelist, in Fournier, p. 242.]
+
+[Footnote 397: Houssaye's "1814," p. 14; Metternich, "Memoirs," vol.
+i., p. 308.]
+
+[Footnote 398: "Our success and everything depend upon our moderation
+and justice," he wrote to Lord Bathurst (Napier, bk. xxiii., ch.
+ii.).]
+
+[Footnote 399: "Lettres inédites" (November 12th). The date is
+important: it refutes Napier's statement (bk. xxiii., ch. iv.) that
+the Emperor had planned that Ferdinand should enter Spain early in
+November when the disputes between Wellington and the Cortès at Madrid
+were at their height. Bignon (vol. xiii., p. 88 _et seq._) says that
+Talleyrand's indiscretion revealed the negotiations to the Spanish
+Cortès and Wellington; but our general's despatches show that he did
+not hear of them before January 9th or 10th. He then wrote: "I have
+long suspected that Bonaparte would adopt this expedient; and if he
+had had less pride and more common sense, it would have succeeded."]
+
+[Footnote 400: On January 14th the Emperor ordered Soult, as soon as
+the ratification of the treaty*treatry was known, to set out
+northwards from Bayonne "with all his army, only leaving what is
+necessary to form a screen." Suchet was likewise to hurry with 10,000
+foot, _en poste_, and two-thirds of his horse, to Lyons. On the 22nd
+the Emperor blames both Marshals for not sending off the infantry,
+though the Spanish treaty had _not_ been ratified. After long delays
+Ferdinand set out for Spain on March 13th, when the war was almost
+over.]
+
+[Footnote 401: Houssaye's "1814," ch. ii.; Müffling's "Campaign of
+1814."]
+
+[Footnote 402: Letter of January 31st to Joseph.]
+
+[Footnote 403: "Méms. de Langeron" in Houssaye, p. 62; but see
+Müffling.]
+
+[Footnote 404: Letter of February 2nd to Clarke.]
+
+[Footnote 405: Metternich said of Castlereagh, "I can't praise him
+enough: his views are most peaceful, in our sense" (Fournier, p.
+252).]
+
+[Footnote 406: Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool, January 22nd and 30th,
+1814.]
+
+[Footnote 407: Letter to Hudelist (February 3rd), in Fournier, p.
+255.]
+
+[Footnote 408: Stewart's Mem. of January 27th, 1814, in "Castlereagh
+Papers," vol. ix., p. 535. On that day Hardenberg noted in his diary:
+"Discussion on the plan of operations, and misunderstandings. Intrigue
+of Stein to get the army straight to Paris, as the Czar wants. The
+Austrians oppose this: others don't know what they want" (Fournier, p.
+361).]
+
+[Footnote 409: Stewart's notes in "Castlereagh Papers," pp. 541-548.
+On February 17th Castlereagh promised to give back all our conquests
+in the West Indies, except Tobago, and to try to regain for France
+Guadaloupe and Cayenne from Sweden and Portugal; also to restore all
+the French possessions east of the Cape of Good Hope except the Iles
+de France (Mauritius) and de Bourbon (Fournier, p. 381).]
+
+[Footnote 410: Letters of January 31st and February 2nd to Joseph.]
+
+[Footnote 411: Printed in Napoleon's "Corresp." of February 17th. I
+cannot agree with Ernouf, "Vie de Maret," and Fournier, that
+Caulaincourt could have signed peace merely on Maret's "carte blanche"
+despatch. The man who had been cruelly duped by Napoleon in the
+D'Enghien affair naturally wanted an explicit order now.]
+
+[Footnote 412: Given by Ducasse, "Les Rois Frères de Napoléon," p.
+64.]
+
+[Footnote 413: Hausser, p. 503. According to Napoleon, 6,000 men and
+forty cannon were captured!]
+
+[Footnote 414: Letter of February 18th, 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 415: At Elba Napoleon told Colonel Campbell that he would
+have made peace at Châtillon had not England insisted on his giving up
+Antwerp, and that England was therefore the cause of the war
+continuing. This letter, however, proves that he was as set on
+retaining Mainz as Antwerp. Caulaincourt then wished him to make peace
+while he could do so with credit ("Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p.
+287).]
+
+[Footnote 416: Fournier, pp. 132-137, 284-294, 299.]
+
+[Footnote 417: See Metternich's letter to Stadion of February 15th in
+Fournier, pp. 319, 327.]
+
+[Footnote 418: Houssaye, p. 102.]
+
+[Footnote 419: Instructions of February 24th to Flahaut, "Corresp.,"
+No. 21359; Hardenberg's "Diary," in Fournier, pp. 363-364.]
+
+[Footnote 420: Fournier, pp. 170, 385.]
+
+[Footnote 421: _Ibid._, pp. 178-181, 304; Martens, vol. ix., p. 683.
+Castlereagh, vol. ix., p. 336, calls it "my treaty," and adds that
+England was practically supplying 300,000 men to the Coalition. One
+secret article invited Spain and Sweden to accede to the treaty;
+another stated that Germany was to consist of a federation of
+sovereign princes, that Holland must receive a "suitable" military
+frontier, and that Italy, Spain, and Switzerland must be independent,
+that is, of France; a third bound the allies to keep their armies on a
+war footing for a suitable time after the peace.]
+
+[Footnote 422: See his instructions of March 2nd to Caulaincourt:
+"Nothing will bring France to do anything that degrades her national
+character and deposes her from the rank she has held in the world for
+centuries." But it was precisely that rank which the allies were
+resolved to assign to her, neither more nor less. The joint allied
+note of February 29th to the negotiators at Châtillon bade them
+"announce to the French negotiator that you are ready to discuss, in a
+spirit of conciliation, every modification that he might be authorized
+to propose"; but that any essential departure from the terms already
+proposed by them must lead to a rupture of the negotiations.]
+
+[Footnote 423: Letters of March 2nd, 3rd, 4th, to Clarke.]
+
+[Footnote 424: Houssaye, p. 156, note. So too Müffling, "Aus meinem
+Leben," shows that Blücher could have crossed the Aisne there or at
+Pontavaire or Berry-au-Bac.]
+
+[Footnote 425: See Napoleon's letters to Clarke of March 4th-6th.]
+
+[Footnote 426: Houssaye, pp. 176-188.]
+
+[Footnote 427: Müffling says that Blücher and Gneisenau feared an
+attack by _Bernadotte_ on their rear. Napoleon on February 25th
+advised Joseph to try and gain over that prince, who had some very
+suspicious relations with the French General Maison in Belgium.
+Probably Gneisenau wished to spare his men for political reasons.]
+
+[Footnote 428: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. iv., p. 697. Lord Burghersh
+wrote from Troyes (March 12th): "I am convinced this army will not be
+risked in a general action.... S. would almost wish to be back upon
+the Rhine." So again on the 19th he wrote to Colonel Hudson Lowe from
+Pougy: "I cannot say much for our activity; I am unable to explain the
+causes of our apathy--the facts are too evident to be disputed. We
+have been ten days at Troyes, one at Pont-sur-Seine, two at Arcis, and
+are now at this place. We go tomorrow to Brienne" ("Unpublished Mems.
+of Sir H. Lowe"). Stewart wittily said that Napoleon came to Arcis to
+feel Schwarzenberg's pulse.]
+
+[Footnote 428: Letters of March 20th to Clarke.]
+
+[Footnote 430: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., pp. 325, 332.]
+
+[Footnote 431: These letters were written in pairs--the one being
+official, the other confidential. Caulaincourt's replies show that he
+appreciated them highly (see Fain, Appendix).]
+
+[Footnote 432: From Caulaincourt's letter of March 3rd to Napoleon;
+Bignon, vol. xiii., p. 379.]
+
+[Footnote 433: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p. 555.]
+
+[Footnote 434: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., pp. 335, 559.
+Caulaincourt's project of March 15th much resembled that dictated by
+Napoleon three days later; Austria was to have Venetia as far as the
+Adige, the kingdom of Italy to go to Eugène, and the duchy of Warsaw
+to the King of Saxony, etc. The allies rejected it (Fain, p. 388).]
+
+[Footnote 435: Fournier, p. 232, rebuts, and I think successfully,
+Houssaye's objections (p. 287) to its genuineness. Besides, the letter
+is on the same moral level with the instructions of January 4th to
+Caulaincourt, and resembles them in many respects. No forger could
+have known of those instructions. At Elba, Napoleon admitted that he
+was wrong in not making peace at this time. "_Mais je me croyais assez
+fort pour ne pas la faire, et je me suis trompé_" (Lord Holland's
+"Foreign Rem.," p. 319). The same writer states (p. 296) that he saw
+the official correspondence about Châtillon: it gave him the highest
+opinion of Caulaincourt, but N.'s conduct was "full of subterfuge and
+artifice."]
+
+[Footnote 436: Castlereagh to Clancarty, March 18th.]
+
+[Footnote 437: Napier, bk. xxiv., ch. iii. Wellington seems to have
+thought that the allies would probably make peace with Napoleon.]
+
+[Footnote 438: Broglie, "Mems.," bk. iii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 439: Letter of February 25th to Joseph. Thiébault gives us
+an odd story that Bernadotte sent an agent, Rainville, to persuade
+Davoust to join him in attacking the rear of the allies; but that
+Rainville's nerve so forsook him in Davoust's presence that he turned
+and bolted for his life!]
+
+[Footnote 440: Caulaincourt to Metternich on March 25th: "Arrived only
+this [last] night near the Emperor, His Majesty has ... given me all
+the powers necessary to sign peace with the Ministers of the allied
+Courts" (Fain, p. 345; Ernouf, "Vie de Maret," p. 634).
+
+Thiers does not mention these overtures of Napoleon, which are surely
+most characteristic. His whole eastward move was motived by them.
+Efforts have been made (_e.g._, by M. de Bacourt in Talleyrand's
+"Mems.," pt. vii., app. 4) to prove that on the 25th Napoleon was
+ready to agree to all the allied terms, and thus concede more than was
+done by Louis XVIII. But there is no proof that he meant to do
+anything of the sort. The terms of Caulaincourt's note were perfectly
+vague. Moreover, even on the 28th, when Napoleon was getting alarmed,
+he had an interview with a captured Austrian diplomatist, Wessenberg,
+whom he set free in order that he might confer with the Emperor
+Francis. He told the envoy that France would yet give him support: he
+wanted the natural frontiers, but would probably make peace on less
+favourable terms, as he wished to end the war: "I am ready to renounce
+all the French colonies if I can thereby keep the mouth of the Scheldt
+for France. England will not insist on my sacrificing Antwerp if
+Austria does not support her" (Arneth's "Wessenberg," vol. i., p.
+188). This extract shows no great desire to meet the allied terms, but
+rather to separate Austria from her allies. According to Lady
+Burghersh ("Journals," p. 216), Napoleon admitted to Wessenberg that
+his position was desperate. I think this was a pleasing fiction of
+that envoy. There is no proof that Napoleon was wholly cast down till
+the 29th, when he heard of La Fère Champenoise (Macdonald's
+"Souvenirs").]
+
+[Footnote 441: Bignon, vol. xiii., pp. 436, 437.]
+
+[Footnote 442: On hearing of their withdrawal Stein was radiant with
+joy: "Now, he said, the Czar will go on to Paris, and all will soon be
+at an end" (Tourgueneff quoted by Häusser, vol. iv., p. 553).]
+
+[Footnote 443: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. iv., pp. 737 _et seq._;
+Houssaye, pp. 354-362; also Nesselrode's communication published in
+Talleyrand's "Mems." Thielen and Radetzky have claimed that the
+initiative in this matter was Schwarzenberg's; and Lord Burghersh, in
+his despatch of March 25th ("Austria," No. 110), agrees with them.
+Stein supports Toll's claim. I cannot agree with Houssaye (p. 407)
+that "Napoleon had resigned himself to the sacrifice of Paris." His
+intercepted letter, and also the official letters, Nos. 21508, 21513,
+21516, 21526, 21538, show that he believed the allies would retreat
+and that his communications with Paris would be safe.]
+
+[Footnote 444: I take this account largely from Sir Hudson Lowe's
+unpublished memoirs. Napoleon blamed Marmont for not marching to
+Rheims as he was ordered to do. At Elba, Napoleon told Colonel
+Campbell that Marmont's disobedience spoilt the eastern movement, and
+ruined the campaign. But had Marmont and Mortier joined Napoleon at
+Vitry, Paris would have been absolutely open to the allies.]
+
+[Footnote 445: Houssaye, pp. 485 _et seq._; Napoleon's letters of
+February 8th and March 16th; Mollien, vol. iv., p. 128. In Napoleon's
+letter of April 2nd to Joseph ("New Letters") there is not a word of
+reproach to Joseph for leaving Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 446: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p. 420; Pasquier, vol.
+iii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 447: We do not know definitely why Alexander dropped
+Bernadotte so suddenly. On March 17th he had assured the royalist
+agent, Baron de Vitrolles, that he would not hear of the Bourbons, and
+that he had first thought of establishing Bernadotte in France, and
+then Eugène. We do know, however, that Bernadotte had made suspicious
+overtures to the French General Maison in Belgium ("Castlereagh
+Papers," vol. ix., pp. 383, 445, 512).]
+
+[Footnote 448: De Pradt, "Restauration de la Royauté, le 31 Mars,
+1814"; Pasquier, vol. iii., ch. xiii. Vitrolles ("Mems.," vol. i., pp.
+95-101) says that Metternich assured him on March 15th that Austria
+would not insist on the Regency of Marie Louise, but would listen to
+the wishes of France.]
+
+[Footnote 449: For the first draft of this Declaration, see
+"Corresp.," No. 21555 (note).]
+
+[Footnote 450: Pasquier, vol. iii., ch. xv.; Macdonald, "Souvenirs."]
+
+[Footnote 451: Houssaye, pp. 593-623; Marmont, vol. vi., pp. 254-272;
+Macdonald, chs. xxvii.-xxviii. At Elba, Napoleon told Lord Ebrington
+that Marmont's troops were among the best, and his treachery ruined
+everything ("Macmillan's Mag.," Dec, 1894).]
+
+[Footnote 452: Pasquier, vol. iii., ch. xvi.; "Castlereagh Papers,"
+vol. ix., p. 442. Alison wrongly says that _Napoleon_ chose Elba.]
+
+[Footnote 453: Martens, vol. ix., p. 696.]
+
+[Footnote 454: Thiers and Constant assign this event to the night of
+11th-12th. I follow Fain and Macdonald in referring it to the next
+night.]
+
+[Footnote 455: Bausset, "Cour de Napoléon."]
+
+[Footnote 456: Sir Neil Campbell's "Journal," p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 457: Ussher, "Napoleon's Last Voyages," p. 29.]
+
+[Footnote 458: A quondam Jacobin, Pons (de l'Hérault), Commissioner of
+Mines at Elba, has left "Souvenirs de l'Ile d'Elbe," which are of
+colossal credulity. In chap. xi. he gives tales of plots to murder
+Napoleon--some of them very silly. In part ii., chap, i., he styles
+him "essentiellement réligieux," and a most tender-hearted man, who
+was compelled by prudence to hide his sensibility! Yet Campbell's
+official reports show that Pons, _at that time_, was far from admiring
+Napoleon.]
+
+[Footnote 459: "F.O.," Austria, No. 117. Talleyrand, in his letters to
+Louis XVIII., claims to have broken up the compact of the Powers. But
+it is clear that fear of Russia was more potent than Talleyrand's
+_finesse_. Before the Congress began Castlereagh and Wellington
+advised friendship with France so as to check "undue pretensions"
+elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 460: Stanhope's "Conversations," p. 26. In our archives
+("Russia," No. 95) is a suspicious letter of Pozzo di Borgo, dated
+Paris, July 10/22, 1814, to Castlereagh (it is not in his Letters)
+containing this sentence: "_L'existence de Napoléon_, comme il était
+aisé à prévoir, est un inconvénient qui se rencontre partout." For
+Fouché's letter to Napoleon, begging him voluntarily to retire to the
+New World, see Talleyrand's "Mems.," pt. vii., app. iv. Lafayette
+("Mems.," vol. v., p. 345) asserts that French royalists were plotting
+his assassination. Brulart, Governor of Corsica, was suspected by
+Napoleon, but, it seems, wrongly (Houssaye's "1815," p. 172).]
+
+[Footnote 461: Pallain, "Correspondance de Louis XVIII avec
+Talleyrand," pp. 307, 316.]
+
+[Footnote 462: "Recollections," p. 16; "F.O.," France, No. 114. The
+facts given above seem to me to refute the statements often made that
+the allies violated the Elba arrangement and so justified his escape.
+The facts prove that the allies sought to compel Louis XVIII. to pay
+Napoleon the stipulated sum, and that the Emperor welcomed the
+non-payment. His words to Lord Ebrington on December 6th breathe the
+conviction that France would soon rise.]
+
+[Footnote 463: Fleury de Chaboulon's "Mems.," vol. i., pp. 105-140;
+Lafayette, vol. v., p. 355.]
+
+[Footnote 464: Campbell's "Journal"; Peyrusse, "Mémorial," p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 465: Houssaye's "1815," p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 466: Guizot, "Mems.," ch. iii.; De Broglie, "Mems.," bk.
+ii., ch. ii.; Fleury, vol. i., p. 259.]
+
+[Footnote 467: Peyrusse, "Mémorial," p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 468: As Wellington pointed out ("Despatches," May 5th,
+1815), the phrase "il s'est livré à la vindicte publique" denotes
+public justice, _not_ public vengeance. At St. Helena, Napoleon told
+Gourgaud that he came back _too soon_ from Elba, _believing that the
+Congress had dissolved!_ (Gourgaud's "Journals," vol. ii., p. 323.)]
+
+[Footnote 469: "Diary," April 15th and 18th, 1815.]
+
+[Footnote 470: "Parl. Debates"; Romilly's "Diary," vol. ii., p. 360.]
+
+[Footnote 471: Napoleon told Cockburn during his last voyage that he
+bestowed this constitution, not because it was a wise measure, but as
+a needful concession to popular feeling. The continental peoples were
+not fit for representative government as England was ("Last Voyages of
+Nap.," pp. 115, 137). So, too, he said to Gourgaud he was wrong in
+summoning the Chambers at all "_especially as I meant to dismiss them
+as soon as I was a conqueror_" (Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 93).]
+
+[Footnote 472: Mercer's "Waterloo Campaign," vol. i., p. 352. For
+Fleury de Chaboulon's mission to sound Austria, see his "Mems.," vol.
+ii., and Madelin's "Fouché," ch. xxv.]
+
+[Footnote 473: In the "English Hist. Review" for July, 1901, I have
+published the correspondence between Sir Hudson Lowe
+(Quartermaster-General of our forces in Belgium up to May, 1815) and
+Gneisenau, Müffling, and Kleist. These two last were _most reluctant_
+to send forward Prussian troops into Belgium to guard the weak
+frontier fortresses from a _coup de main_: but Lowe's arguments
+prevailed, thus deciding the main features of the war.]
+
+[Footnote 474: "F.O.," France, No. 116. On June 9th the Duke charged
+Stuart, our envoy at Ghent, to defend this course, on the ground that
+Blücher and he had many raw troops, and could not advance into France
+with safety and invest fortresses until the Russians and Austrians
+co-operated.]
+
+[Footnote 475: Sir H. Vivian states ("Waterloo Letters," No. 70) that
+the Duke intended to give a ball on June 21st, the anniversary of
+Vittoria. See too Sir E. Wood's "Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign,"
+ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 476: "F.O.," France, No. 115. A French royalist sent a
+report, dated June 1st, recommending "point d'engagement avec
+Bonaparte.... Il faut user l'armée de Bonaparte: elle ne peut plus se
+recruter."]
+
+[Footnote 477: Ropes's "Campaign of Waterloo," ch. v.; Chesney,
+"Waterloo Lectures," p. 100; Sir H. Maxwell's "Wellington" (vol. ii.,
+p. 14); and O'Connor Morris, "Campaign of 1815," p. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 478: Janin, "Campagne de Waterloo," p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 479: Pétiet, "Souvenirs militaires," p. 195.]
+
+[Footnote 480: Credit is primarily due to Constant de Rebecque, a
+Belgian, chief of staff to the Prince of Orange, for altering the
+point of concentration from Nivelles, as ordered by Wellington, to
+Quatre Bras; also to General Perponcher for supporting the new
+movement. The Belgian side of the campaign has been well set forth by
+Boulger in "The Belgians at Waterloo" (1901).]
+
+[Footnote 481: Gourgaud, "Campagne de 1815," ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 482: Houssaye, "1815," pp. 133-138, 186, notes.]
+
+[Footnote 483: Hamley, "Operations of War," p. 187.]
+
+[Footnote 484: For Gérard's delays see Houssaye, p. 158, and
+Horsburgh, "Waterloo," p. 36. Napoleon's tardiness is scarcely noticed
+by Houssaye or by Gourgaud; but it has been censured by Jomini,
+Charras, Clausewitz, and Lord Wolseley.]
+
+[Footnote 485: Ollech (p. 125) sees in it a conditional offer of help
+to Blücher. But on what ground? It states that the Prince of Orange
+has one division at Quatre Bras and other troops at Nivelles: that the
+British reserve would reach Genappe at noon, and their cavalry
+Nivelles at the same hour. How could Blücher hope for help from forces
+so weak and scattered? See too Ropes (note to ch. x.). Horsburgh (ch.
+v.) shows that Wellington believed his forces to be more to the front
+than they were: he traces the error to De Lancey, chief of the staff.
+But it is fair to add that Wellington thought very highly of De
+Lancey, and after his death at Waterloo severely blamed subordinates.]
+
+[Footnote 486: Stanhope, "Conversations," p. 109.]
+
+[Footnote 487: Reiche, "Memoiren," vol. ii., p. 183.]
+
+[Footnote 488: The term _corps_ is significant. Not till 3.15 did
+Soult use the term _armée_ in speaking of Blücher's forces. The last
+important sentence of the 2 p.m. despatch is not given by Houssaye (p.
+159), but is printed by Ropes (p. 383), Siborne (vol. i., p. 453),
+Charras (vol. i., p. 136), and Ollech (p. 131). It proves that _as
+late as 2 p.m._ Napoleon expected an easy victory over the Prussians.]
+
+[Footnote 489: The best authorities give the Prussians 87,000 men, and
+the French 78,000; but the latter estimate includes the corps of
+Lobau, 10,000 strong, which did not reach Fleurus till dark.]
+
+[Footnote 490: I follow Houssaye's solution of this puzzle as the
+least unsatisfacty, but it does not show why Napoleon should have been
+so perplexed. D'Erlon debouched from the wood of Villers Perwin
+_exactly where he might have been expected_. Was Napoleon puzzled
+because the corps was heading south-east instead of east?]
+
+[Footnote 491: Delbrück ("Gneisenau," vol. ii., p. 190) shows how the
+storm favoured the attack.]
+
+[Footnote 492: I here follow Delbrück's "Gneisenau" (vol. ii., p. 194)
+and Charras (vol. i., p. 163). Reiche ("Mems.," vol ii., p. 193) says
+that his corps of 30,800 men lost 12,480 on the 15th and 16th: he
+notes that Blücher and Nostitz probably owed their escape to the
+plainness of their uniforms and headgear.]
+
+[Footnote 493: "Waterloo Letters," Nos. 163 and 169, prove that the
+time was 3 p.m. and not 3.30; see also Kincaid's account in Fitchett's
+"Wellington's Men" (p. 120).]
+
+[Footnote 494: "Waterloo Letters," No. 169.]
+
+[Footnote 495: See Houssaye, p. 205, for the sequence of these
+events.]
+
+[Footnote 496: Ollech, pp. 167-171. Colonel Basil Jackson, in his
+"Waterloo and St. Helena" (printed for private circulation), p. 64,
+states that he had been employed in examining and reporting on the
+Belgian roads, and did so on the road leading south from Wavre. This
+report had been sent to Gneisenau, and must have given him greater
+confidence on the night of the 16th.]
+
+[Footnote 497: O'Connor Morris, p. 176, approves Napoleon's criticism,
+and censures Gneisenau's move on Wavre: but surely Wavre combined more
+advantages than any other position. It was accessible for the whole
+Prussian army (including Bülow); it was easily defensible (as the
+event proved); and it promised a reunion with Wellington for the
+defence of Brussels. Houssaye says (p. 233) that Gneisenau did not at
+once foresee the immense consequences of his action. Of course he did
+not, because he was not sure of Wellington; but he took all the steps
+that might lead to immense consequences, if all went well.]
+
+[Footnote 498: Müffling, "Passages," p. 238: Charras, vol. i., p. 226,
+discredits it.]
+
+[Footnote 499: Basil Jackson, _op. cit._, p. 24; Cotton, "A Voice from
+Waterloo," p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 500: Grouchy suppressed this despatch, but it was published
+in 1842.]
+
+[Footnote 501: Mercer, vol. i., p. 270.]
+
+[Footnote 502: Pétiet, "Souvenirs militaires," p. 204.]
+
+[Footnote 503: Ropes, pp. 212, 246, 359. I follow the "received"
+version of this despatch. For a comparison of it with the "Grouchy"
+version see Horsburgh, p. 155, note.]
+
+[Footnote 504: Ropes, pp. 266, 288; Houssaye, p. 316, with a good
+note.]
+
+[Footnote 505: Ollech, pp. 187-192; Delbrück's "Gneisenau," vol. ii.,
+p. 205. I cannot credit the story told by Hardinge in 1837 to Earl
+Stanhope ("Conversations," p. 110), that, on the night of the 16th
+June, Gneisenau sought to dissuade Blücher from joining Wellington.
+Hardinge only had the story at second hand, and wrongly assigns it to
+Wavre. On the afternoon of the 17th Gneisenau ordered Ziethen _to keep
+open communications with Wellington_ (Ollech, p. 170). The story that
+Wellington rode over to Wavre on the night of the 18th on his horse
+"Copenhagen" is of course a myth.]
+
+[Footnote 506: "Blackwood's Magazine," October, 1896; "Cornhill,"
+January, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 507: Beamish's "King's German Legion," vol. ii., p. 352. Sir
+Hussey Vivian asserts that the allied position was by no means strong;
+but General Kennedy, in his "Notes on Waterloo" (p. 68), pronounces it
+"good and well occupied." A year previously Wellington noted it as a
+good position. Sir Hudson Lowe then suggested that it should be
+fortified: "Query, in respect to the construction of a work at Mt.
+Jean, being the commanding point at the junction of two principal
+chaussées" ("Unpublished Memoirs").]
+
+[Footnote 508: Wellington has been censured by Clausewitz, Kennedy and
+Chesney for leaving so large a force at Hal. Perhaps he desired to
+protect the King of France at Ghent, though he was surely relieved of
+responsibility by his despatch of June 18th, 3 a.m., begging the Duc
+de Berri to retire with the King to Antwerp. It seems to me more
+likely that he was so confident of an early advance of the Prussians
+(see his other despatch of the same hour and Sir A. Frazer's
+statement--"Letters," p. 553--"We expected the Prussian co-operation
+early in the day") as to assume that Napoleon would stake all on an
+effort against his right; and in that case the Hal force would have
+crushed the French rear, though it was very far off.]
+
+[Footnote 509: Wellington to Earl Bathurst, June 25th, 1815. The Earl
+of Ellesmere, who wrote under the Duke's influence, stated that not
+more than 7,000 of the British troops had seen a shot fired. This is
+incorrect. Picton's division, still 5,000 strong, was almost wholly
+composed of tried troops; and Lambert's brigade counted 2,200
+veterans; many of the Guards had seen fire, and the 52nd was a
+seasoned regiment. Tomkinson (p. 296) reckons all the 5,220 British
+and 1,730 King's German troopers as "efficient," and Wellington
+himself, so Mercer affirms, told Blücher he had 6,000 of the finest
+cavalry in the world.]
+
+[Footnote 510: "A British Rifleman," p. 367.]
+
+[Footnote 511: I distrust the story told by Zenowicz, and given by
+Thiers, that Napoleon at 10 a.m. was awaiting Grouchy with impatience;
+also Marbot's letter referred to in his "Memoirs," _ad fin._, in which
+he says the Emperor bade him push on boldly towards Wavre, as the
+troops near St. Lambert "could be nothing else than the corps of
+Grouchy." Grouchy's despatch and the official reply show that Napoleon
+knew Grouchy to be somewhere between Gembloux and Wavre. Besides,
+Bülow's report (Ollech, p. 192) states that, while at St. Lambert, he
+sent out two strong patrols to the S.W., and was not observed by the
+French, "who appeared to have no idea of our existence." This
+completely disposes of Marbot's story.]
+
+[Footnote 512: Houssaye, ch. vii. In the "Eng. Hist. Rev." for
+October, 1900, p. 815, Mr. H. George gives a proof of this, citing the
+time it took him to pace the roads by which Grouchy might have
+advanced.]
+
+[Footnote 513 "Waterloo Letters," pp. 60-63, 70-77, 81-84, 383. The
+whole brigade was hardly 1,000 sabres strong. Sir E. Wood, pp.
+126-146; Siborne, vol. ii., pp. 20-45.]
+
+[Footnote 514: Houssaye, pp. 354, 499, admits the repulse.]
+
+[Footnote 515 B. Jackson, p. 34. Müffling says the defaulters numbered
+10,000! While sympathizing with the efforts of Dutch-Belgian writers
+on behalf of their kin, I must accept Jackson's evidence as conclusive
+here. See also Mr. Oman's article in "Nineteenth Century," Oct.,
+1900.]
+
+[Footnote 516: B. Jackson, p. 35; "Waterloo Letters," pp. 129-144,
+296; Cotton, p. 79.]
+
+[Footnote 517: Houssaye, pp. 365, 371-376; Kennedy, pp. 117-120;
+Mercer, vol. i., pp. 311-324.]
+
+[Footnote 518: Gourgaud (ch. vi.) states that the time of Lobau's move
+was 4.30, though he had reconnoitred on his right earlier. Napoleon's
+statements on this head at St. Helena are conflicting. One says that
+Lobau moved at 1.30, another at 4.30. Perhaps Janin's statement
+explains why Lobau did nothing definite till the later hour.]
+
+[Footnote 519: Baring's account ("King's German Legion," App. xxi.)
+shows that the farm was taken about the time of the last great cavalry
+charge. Kennedy (p. 122) and Ompteda (_ad fin._) are equally explicit;
+and the evidence of the French archives adduced by Houssaye (p. 378)
+places the matter beyond doubt.]
+
+[Footnote 520: Ollech, pp. 243-246. Reiche's exorbitant claims (vol.
+ii., pp. 209-215) are refuted by "Waterloo Letters," p. 22.]
+
+[Footnote 521: Lacoste (Decoster), Napoleon's Flemish guide, told this
+to Sir W. Scott, "Life of Napoleon," vol. viii., p. 496.]
+
+[Footnote 522: See Boulger's "The Belgians at Waterloo" (1901), p.
+33.]
+
+[Footnote 523: The formation and force of the French Guards in this
+attack have been much discussed. Thiers omits all notice of the second
+column; Houssaye limits its force to a single battalion, but his
+account is not convincing. On p. 385 he says nine battalions of the
+Guard advanced into the valley, but, on p. 389, he accounts only for
+six. Other authorities agree that eight joined in the attack. As to
+their formation, Houssaye advances many proofs that it was in hollow
+squares. Here is one more. On the 19th Basil Jackson rode along the
+slope and ridge near the back of Hougoumont and talked with some of
+the wounded of the Imperial Guard. "As they lay they formed large
+squares, of which the centres were hollow" (p. 57). Maitland
+("Waterloo Letters," p. 244.) says: "There was one great column at
+first, which separated into two parts." Gawler (p. 292) adds that:
+"The second column was subdivided in two parts, close together, and
+that _its whole flank was much longer than the front of our 52nd
+regiment_." It is difficult to reconcile all this with the attack in
+hollow squares; but probably the squares (or oblongs?) followed each
+other so closely as to seem like a serried column. None of our men
+could see whether the masses were solid or hollow, but naturally
+assumed them to be solid, and hence greatly over-estimated their
+strength. A column made up of hollow squares is certainly an odd
+formation, but perhaps is not unsuitable to withstand cavalry and
+overthrow infantry.
+
+I cannot accept Houssaye's statement (p. 393) that the French squares
+attacked our front at four different places, from the 52nd regiment on
+our right to the Brunswickers in our centre, a quarter of a mile to
+the east. The only evidence that favours this is Macready's ("Waterloo
+Letters," p. 330); he says that the men who attacked his square (30th
+and 73rd regiments) were of the Middle Guard; for their wounded said
+so; but Kelly, of the same square, thought they were Donzelot's men,
+who certainly attacked there. Siborne, seemingly on the strength of
+Macready's statement, says that part of the Guards' column diverged
+thither: but this is unlikely. Is it credible that the Guards, less
+than 4,000 strong, should have spread their attacks over a quarter of
+a mile of front? Was not the column the usual method of attack? I
+submit, then, that my explanation of the Guard attacking in hollow
+oblongs, formed in two chief columns, harmonizes the known facts. See
+Petit's "Relation" in "Eng. Hist. Rev.," April, 1903.]
+
+[Footnote 524: Janin, p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 525: Bertrand at St. Helena said he _heard_ Michel utter
+these words (Montholon, vol. iii., ch. iv.).]
+
+[Footnote 526: Maitland's "Narrative," p. 222. Basil Jackson, who knew
+Gourgaud well at St. Helena, learnt from him that he could not finish
+his account of Waterloo, "as Napoleon could never decide on the best
+way of ending the great battle: that he (Gourgaud) had suggested no
+less than six different ways, but none were satisfactory" ("Waterloo
+and St. Helena," p, 102). Gourgaud's "Journal" shows that Napoleon
+blamed in turn the rain, Ney, Grouchy, Vandamme, Guyot, and Soult; but
+he ends--"it was a fatality; for in spite of all, I should have won
+that battle."]
+
+[Footnote 527: "Lettres inédites de Napoléon."]
+
+[Footnote 528: Gourgaud, "Journal inédit de Ste. Hélène," vol. ii., p.
+321, small edit.]
+
+[Footnote 529: Lucien, "Mems.," vol. iii., p. 327.]
+
+[Footnote 530: Stuart's despatch of June 28th, "F.O.," France, No.
+117; Gneisenau to Müffling, June 27th, "Passages," App.]
+
+[Footnote 531: Croker ("Papers," vol. iii., p. 67) had this account
+from Jaucourt, who had it from Becker.]
+
+[Footnote 532: Ollech, pp. 350-360. The French cavalry success near
+Versailles was due to exceptional circumstances.]
+
+[Footnote 533: Maitland's "Narrative," pp. 23-39, disproves Thiers'
+assertion that Napoleon was not expected there. Maitland's letter of
+July 10th to Hotham ("F.O.," France, No. 126, not in the "Narrative")
+ends: "It appears to me from the anxiety the bearers express to get
+away, that they are very hard pressed by the Government at Paris."
+Hotham's instructions of July 8th to Maitland were most stringent. See
+my Essay in "Napoleonic Studies" (1904).]
+
+[Footnote 534: The date of the letter disproves Las Cases' statement
+that it was written _after_ his second interview with Maitland, and
+_in consequence of_ the offers Maitland had made!
+
+Napoleon's reference to Themistocles has been much admired. But why?
+The Athenian statesman was found to have intrigued with Persia against
+Athens in time of peace; he fled to the Persian monarch and was richly
+rewarded _as a renegade_. No simile could have been less felicitous.]
+
+[Footnote 535: "Narrative," p. 244. [This work has been republished by
+Messrs. Blackwood, 1904.]]
+
+[Footnote 536: "F.O.," France, No. 126; Allardyce, "Mems. of Lord
+Keith."]
+
+[Footnote 537: Maitland, pp. 206, 239-242; Montholon, vol. i., ch.
+iii.]
+
+[Footnote 538: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. ii., pp.
+434,438. Beatson's Mem. is in "F.O.," France, No. 123. This and other
+facts refute Lord Holland's statement ("Foreign Reminiscences," p.
+196) that the Government was treating for the transfer of St. Helena
+from the East India Company _early in_ 1815.--Why does Lord Rosebery,
+"Napoleon: last Phase," p. 58, write that Lord Liverpool thought that
+Napoleon should either (1) be handed over to Louis XVIII. to be
+treated as a rebel; or (2) treated as vermin; or (3) that we would
+(regretfully) detain him? In his letters to Castlereagh at Paris,
+Liverpool expressly says it would be better for us, rather than any
+other Power, to detain him, and writes not a word about treating him
+as vermin. Lord Rosebery is surely aware that our Government and
+Wellington did their best _to preclude the possibility of the
+Prussians treating him as vermin_.]
+
+[Footnote 539: Keith's letter of August 1st, in "F.O.," France, No.
+123: "The General and many of his suite have an idea that if they
+could but put foot on shore, no power could remove them, and they are
+determined to make the attempt if at all possible: they are becoming
+most refractory."]
+
+[Footnote 540: In our Colonial Office archives, St. Helena, No. 1, is
+a letter of August 2nd, 1815, from an Italian subject of Napoleon
+(addressed] to Mme. Bertrand, but really for him), stating that
+£16,000 had been placed in good hands for his service, one-fourth of
+which would be at once intrusted to firms at New York, Boston,
+"Philadelfi," and Charlestown, to provide means for effecting his
+escape, and claiming again "le plus beau trône de l'univers." It begs
+him to get his departure from Plymouth put off, for a plot had been
+formed by discontented British officers to get rid of the Premier and
+one other Minister. Napoleon must not build any hopes on the Prince
+Regent: "Le Silène de cette isle.... Je fonds donc mon espoir avant
+tout sur les navires marchands, Anglais comme autres, par l'apas du
+gain." The writer's name is illegible: so is the original postmark:
+the letter probably came from London: it missed Mme. Bertrand at
+Plymouth, followed her to St. Helena, and was opened by Sir G.
+Cockburn, who sent it back to our Government. I have published it _in
+extenso_ in my volume, "Napoleonic Studies " (1904), as also an
+accompanying letter from Miss McKinnon of Binfield, Berks, to
+Napoleon, stating that her mother, still living, had known him and
+given him hospitality when a lieutenant at Valence.]
+
+[Footnote 541: Las Cases, "Mémorial," vol, i., pp. 55, 65.]
+
+[Footnote 542: I wish I had space to give a whole chapter to the
+relations between Napoleon and the Whigs, and to show how their
+championship of him worked mischief on both sides in 1803-21, enticing
+him on to many risky ventures, and ruining the cause of Reform in
+England for a generation.]
+
+[Footnote 543: "F.O.," France, No. 123. Keith adds: "I accompanied him
+to look at the accommodation on board the 'Northumberland,' with which
+he appeared to be well satisfied, saying, 'the apartments are
+convenient, and you see I carry my little tent-bed with me.'" The
+volume also contains the letter of Maingaud, etc. Bertrand requested
+permission from our Government to return in a year; Gourgaud, when his
+duty to his aged mother recalled him; O'Meara stipulated that he
+should still be a British surgeon on full pay and active service.]
+
+[Footnote 544: "Extract from a Diary of Sir G. Cockburn," pp. 21, 51,
+94.]
+
+[Footnote 545: "Napoleon's last Voyages," p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 546: I found this return in "Admiralty Secret Letters,"
+1804-16.
+
+Lord Rosebery, in his desire to apologize for our treatment of
+Napoleon at every point, says ("Nap.: last Phase," p. 64): "They [the
+exiles] were packed like herrings in a barrel. The 'Northumberland,'
+it was said, had been arrested on her way back from India in order to
+convey Napoleon: all the water on board, it was alleged, had also been
+to India, was discoloured and tainted, as well as short in
+quantity."--On the contrary, the diary of Glover, in "Last Voyages of
+Nap.," p. 91, shows that the ship was in the Medway in July, and was
+fitted out at Portsmouth (where it was usual to keep supplies of
+water): also (p. 99) that Captain Ross gave up his cabin to the
+Bertrands, and Glover his to the Montholons: Gourgaud and Las Cases
+slept in the after cabin until cabins could be built for them. We have
+already seen (p. 529) that Napoleon was well satisfied with his own
+room. Water, wine, cattle, and fruit were taken in at Funchal in spite
+of the storm.]
+
+[Footnote 547: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 47, 59 (small
+edition); "Last Voyages of Nap.," p. 198.]
+
+[Footnote 548: Sir G. Bingham's Diary in "Blackwood's Mag.," October,
+1896, and "Cornhill," January, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 549: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 64.]
+
+[Footnote 550: "Last Voyages," p. 130.]
+
+[Footnote 551: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. ii., pp. 423,
+433, 505; Seeley's "Stein," vol. iii., pp. 333-344.]
+
+[Footnote 552: See Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. ii., p. 315, for
+Napoleon's view as to our stupidity then: "In their place I would have
+stipulated that I alone could sail and trade in the eastern seas. It
+is ridiculous for them to leave Batavia (Java) to the Dutch and L'Ile
+de Bourbon to the French."]
+
+[Footnote 553: Forsyth, "Captivity of Napoleon," vol. i., p. 218.
+Plantation House was also the centre of the semaphores of the island.]
+
+[Footnote 554: Mrs. Abell ("Betsy" Balcombe), "Recollections," ch.
+vii. These were compiled twenty-five years later, and are not, as a
+rule, trustworthy, but the "blindman's buff" is named by Glover.
+Balcombe later on infringed the British regulations, along with
+O'Meara.]
+
+[Footnote 555: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 77, 94, 136, 491.]
+
+[Footnote 556: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 135, 298. See too
+"Cornhill" for January, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 557: Surgeon Henry of the 66th, in "Events of a Military
+Life," ch. xxviii., writes that he found side by side at Plantation
+House the tea shrub and the English golden-pippin, the bread-fruit
+tree and the peach and plum, the nutmeg overshadowing the gooseberry.
+In ch. xxxi. he notes the humidity of the uplands as a drawback, "but
+the inconvenience is as nothing compared with the comfort, fertility,
+and salubrity which the clouds bestow." He found that the soldiers
+enjoyed far better health at Deadwood Camp, behind Longwood, than down
+in Jamestown.]
+
+[Footnote 558: Despatch of Jan. 12th, 1816, in Colonial Office, St.
+Helena, No. 1.]
+
+[Footnote 559: Lord Rosebery ("Napoleon: last Phase," p. 67),
+following French sources, assigns the superiority of force to Lowe;
+but the official papers published by Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 397-416,
+show that the reverse was the case. Lowe had 1,362 men; the French,
+about 3,000.]
+
+[Footnote 560: From a letter in the possession of Miss Lowe.]
+
+[Footnote 561: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 139-147.]
+
+[Footnote 562: See the interview in "Monthly Rev.," Jan., 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 563: Bingham's Diary in "Cornhill" for Jan., 1901; Gourgaud,
+vol. i., pp. 152, 168.]
+
+[Footnote 564: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 171-177.]
+
+[Footnote 565: Lowe's version (Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 247-251) is fully
+borne out by Admiral Malcolm's in Lady Malcolm's "Diary of St.
+Helena," pp. 55-65; Gourgaud was not present.]
+
+[Footnote 566: B. Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena," pp. 90-91. The
+assertion in the article on B. Jackson, in the "Dict. of Nat.
+Biography," that he was related to Lowe, and therefore partial to him,
+is incorrect. Miss Lowe assures me that he did not see her father
+before the year 1815.]
+
+[Footnote 567: "Mems. of a Highland Lady," p. 459.]
+
+[Footnote 568: In "Blackwood's," Oct., 1896, and "Cornhill," Jan.,
+1901. I cannot accept Stürmer's hostile verdict on Lowe as that of an
+impartial witness. The St. Helena Records show that Stürmer persisted
+in evading the Governor's regulations by secretly meeting the French
+Generals. He was afterwards recalled for his irregularities. Balmain,
+the Russian, and Montchenu, the French Commissioner, are fair to him.
+The latter constantly pressed Lowe _to be stricter with Napoleon_! See
+M. Firmin-Didot's edition of Montchenu's reports in "La Captivité de
+Ste. Hélène," especially App. iii. and viii.]
+
+[Footnote 569: "Waterloo and St. Helena," p. 104.]
+
+[Footnote 570: Lowe had the "Journal" copied out when it came into his
+hands in Dec., 1816. This passage is given by Forsyth, vol. i., p. 5,
+and by Seaton, "Sir H. Lowe and Napoleon," p. 52.]
+
+[Footnote 571: An incident narrated to the present writer by Sir
+Hudson Lowe's daughter will serve to show how anxious was his
+supervision of all details and all individuals on the island. A
+British soldier was missed from the garrison; and as this occurred at
+the time when Napoleon remained in strict seclusion, fear was felt
+that treachery had enabled him to make off in the soldier's uniform.
+The mystery was solved a few days after, when a large shark was caught
+near the shore, and on its being cut open the remains of the soldier
+were found!
+
+It should be remembered that Lowe prevailed on the slave-owners of the
+island to set free the children of slaves born there on and after
+Christmas Day, 1818.]
+
+[Footnote 572: Quoted by Forsyth, vol. i., p. 289. This letter of
+course finds no place in O'Meara's later malicious production, "A
+Voice from St. Helena"; the starvation story is there repeated _as if
+it were true_!--That Napoleon was fastidious to the last is proved by
+the archives of our India Office, which contain the entry (Dec. 11th,
+1820): "The storekeeper paid in the sum of £105 on account of 48 dozen
+of champagne rejected by General Bonaparte" (Sir G. Birdwood's "Report
+on the Old Records of the India Office," p. 97).]
+
+[Footnote 573: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 330-343, 466-475.]
+
+[Footnote 574: I have quoted this _in extenso_ in "The Owens College
+Historical Essays." May not the words "domiciled" and "employed" have
+aroused Lowe's suspicions of Balcombe and O'Meara? Napoleon always
+said that he did not wish to escape, and hoped only for a change of
+Ministry in England. But what responsible person could trust his words
+after Elba, where he repeatedly told Campbell that he had done with
+the world and was a dead man?]
+
+[Footnote 575: Forsyth, vol. i., p. 310, vol. ii., p. 142, vol. iii.,
+pp. 151, 250; Montholon, "Captivity of Napoleon," vol. iii., ch. v.;
+Firmin-Didot, App. vi. The schemes named by Forsyth are ridiculed by
+Lord Rosebery ("Last Phase," p. 103). But would he have ignored them,
+had he been in Bathurst's place?]
+
+[Footnote 576: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 577: He said to Gourgaud that, _if he had the whole island
+for exercise he would not go out_ (Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. ii., p.
+299).]
+
+[Footnote 578: Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. i., pp. 262-270, 316. Yet
+Montholon ("Captivity of Napoleon," vol. i., ch. xiii.), afterwards
+wrote of Las Cases' departure: "_We all loved the well-informed and
+good man, whom we had pleasure in venerating as a Mentor.... He was an
+immense loss to us!_"]
+
+[Footnote 579: Gourgaud, vol. i., p. 278; Forsyth, vol. i., pp.
+381-384, vol. ii., p. 74. Bonaparte wanted this "Journal" to be given
+back to him: but Las Cases would not hear of this, as it contained
+"_ses pensées_." It was kept under seal until Napoleon's death, and
+then restored to the compiler.]
+
+[Footnote 580: Henry, vol. ii., p. 48; B. Jackson, pp. 99-101; quoted
+by Seaton, pp. 159-162.]
+
+[Footnote 581: Forsyth, vol. iii., p. 40; Gourgaud's "Journal," vol.
+ii., pp. 531-537.]
+
+[Footnote 582: "Apostille" of April 27th, 1818. As to the new house,
+see Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 212, 270; vol. iii., pp. 51,257; it was
+ready when Napoleon's illness became severe (Jan., 1821).
+
+If the plague of rats was really very bad, why is it that Gourgaud
+made so little of it?]
+
+[Footnote 583: "Journal" of Oct. 4th, 1817. On the return voyage to
+England Mme. Bertrand told Surgeon Henry that secret letters had
+constantly passed between Longwood and England, through two military
+officers; but the passage above quoted shows who was the culprit.]
+
+[Footnote 584: Forsyth, vol. iii., pp. 153, 178-181.]
+
+[Footnote 585: Stürmer's "Report" of March 14th, 1818; Gourgaud's
+"Journal" of Sept. 11th and 14th, 1817.]
+
+[Footnote 586: Described by Bertrand to Lowe on May 12th, 1821 ("St.
+Helena Records," No. 32).]
+
+[Footnote 587: Lord Holland, "Foreign Reminiscences," p. 305.]
+
+[Footnote 588: Gourgaud, vol. i., pp. 297, 540, 546; vol. ii., pp. 78,
+130, 409, 425. See Las Cases, "Mémorial," vol. iv., p. 124, for
+Napoleon's defence of polygamy. See an Essay on Napoleon's religion in
+my "Napoleonic Studies" (1904).]
+
+[Footnote 589: Lord Holland's "Foreign Reminiscences," p. 316; Colonel
+Gorrequer's report in "Cornhill" of Feb., 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 590: "Colonial Office Records," St. Helena, No. 32; Henry,
+"Events of a Military Life," vol. ii., pp. 80-84: h also states that
+Antommarchi, when about to sign the report agreed on by the English
+doctors, was called aside by Bertrand and Montholon, and thereafter
+declined to sign it: Antommarchi afterwards issued one of his own,
+laying stress on cancer _and enlarged liver_, thus keeping up
+O'Meara's theory that the illness was due to the climate of St. Helena
+and want of exercise. In our records is a letter of Montholon to his
+wife of May 6th, 1821, which admits the contrary: "C'est dans notre
+malheur une grande consolation pour nous d'avoir acquis la preuve que
+sa mort n'est, et n'a pu être, en aucune manière le résultat de sa
+captivité." Yet, on his return to Europe, Montholon stoutly maintained
+that the liver complaint endemic to St. Helena had been the death of
+his master. It is, however, noteworthy that on his death-bed Napoleon
+urged Bertrand to be reconciled to Lowe. He and Montholon accordingly
+went to Plantation House, where, according to all appearance, the dead
+past was buried.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abdication, the Second, ii. 515.
+
+  Abell, Mrs., ii. 541.
+
+  Aberdeen, Lord, ii. 361, 369, 371, 372, 374-375. 390, 410.
+
+  Aboukir, i. 192-193, 201.
+
+  Aboukir, battle of, i. 213.
+
+  Abrantès, Duchesse d', i. 426.
+
+  Acre, i. 201, 204-210, 413.
+
+  Acton, Gen., i. 435.
+
+  Adams, Gen., ii. 502, 508.
+
+  Adda River, i. 93.
+
+  Addington, i. 310, 321, 402, 420-427, 452.
+
+  Additional Act, the, ii. 450-451.
+
+  Adige, i. 101, 107, 122, 123, 124, 132;
+    River, i. 263.
+
+  Adye, Capt., ii. 441-442.
+
+  Ajaccio, i. 4-6, 12, 30-32, 34, 36, 38-41, 215.
+
+  Alessandria, i. 88, 250-258, 259.
+
+  Alexander I., i. 339.
+
+  Alexander, Czar, i. 263, 333, 338-340, 387-388, 395, 406-408, 419-425,
+    430-432; ii. 1-3, 5-11, 20, 29-31, 33-36, 42, 58, 63,
+    81, 82, 86-87, 90, 108, 110, 114-116, 125-132, 134-137,
+    144-145, 175, 179-183, 185-186, 202, 205-207, 209, 229,
+    231-236, 241-243, 258-259, 273-276, 285, 290, 296-297,
+    316-318, 321-322, 335, 344-345, 347, 372, 374, 381,
+    386-388, 400, 408, 415-420, 423-424, 426-430, 433, 437,
+    447, 448, 538, 546.
+
+  Alexander the Great, i. 33, 202, 213.
+
+  Alexandria, i. 187-189, 192, 214.
+
+  Algesiras, i. 313.
+
+  Alix, Gen., ii. 496, 497.
+
+  Alkmaar, i. 217.
+
+  Alps, the, i. 92.
+
+  Alten, Gen., ii. 474, 499, 504.
+
+  Alvintzy, i. 121, 131-136.
+
+  Amiens, Treaty of, i. 331, 336-354, 405.
+
+  _Ancien régime, L'_, i. 25, 27, 31.
+
+  Andréossi, i. 215.
+
+  Angoulême, Duc d', ii. 414-415.
+
+  Ansbach, ii. 20, 30, 44.
+
+  Antibes, i. 60; ii. 442.
+
+  Antigua, i. 498.
+
+  Antommarchi, ii. 568, 570.
+
+  Antwerp, i. 439; ii. 399.
+
+  Apennines, i. 90, 91, 92.
+
+  Arcis, battle of, ii. 409.
+
+  Arcola, i. 123-128.
+
+  Aréna, i. 303-304, 307.
+
+  Argaum, i. 377.
+
+  Arisch, El, i. 203-204.
+
+  Armed Neutrality League, i. 263, 331.
+
+  Armenia, i. 201.
+
+  Arndt, ii. 274, 278, 373.
+
+  Arnott, Dr., ii. 571.
+
+  Arrighi, ii. 404.
+
+  Arrondissements, i. 268, 269, 323-324.
+
+  Artois, Comte d', i. 54-55, 451, 456, 462; ii. 414, 416, 437, 443.
+
+  Aspern-Essling, battle of, ii. 192.
+
+  Assaye, i. 377.
+
+  Assignats, i. 62.
+
+  Astrakan, i. 262.
+
+  Auerstädt, battle of, ii. 97, 98.
+
+  Augereau, i. 82, 85, 101, 108-115, 124, 138, 161, 162,
+    168, 449, 469-470, 491, 511 (App.); ii. 18, 91, 96, 97,
+    101, 112, 295, 355-356, 408, 415, 422, 454.
+
+  Aulic Council, i. 106, 121, 131.
+
+  Austerlitz, battle of, 37-42.
+
+  Australia, i. 379-385, 428; ii. 107, 174.
+
+  Austria,i. 35, 37, 52, 56, 57, 77, 79, 87, 89, 96, 100, 101,
+    105, 120, 128, 129, 137, 163, 164, 166-170, 183, 216,
+    219, 240, 263, 265, 352, 395, 414, 500; ii. 1-3, 5-6,
+    9-11, 12, 13-14, 18-26, 30-31, 42, 45-50, 58, 90-91,
+    110-111, 114-115, 126-128, 155, 177-182, 187, 189-202,
+    206-207, 271-272, 281-284, 289-290, 294-296, 315-317,
+    324-328, 331, 354-355, 365, 380, 385-389, 399-400,
+    402-403, 438, 453.
+
+  Austrian Netherlands, i. 141.
+
+  Auxonne, i. 22, 32-33.
+
+  Avignon, i. 137.
+
+
+  Babeuf, i. 157, 305.
+
+  Bacciocchi, i. 153.
+
+  Badajoz, Treaty of, i. 311.
+
+  Baden, ii. 46, 60.
+
+  Bagration, ii. 244, 248-249, 251-252.
+
+  Balcombe, Mr., ii. 541, 555.
+
+  Balearic Isles, ii. 74
+
+  Balmain, ii. 552.
+
+  Barbé-Marbois, ii. 60.
+
+  Barclay, Gen., ii. 244, 248-254, 291-292, 294, 335, 419.
+
+  Barras, i. 49, 50, 69, 70, 71, 74, 158, 159, 160, 167, 173,
+    180-181, 220-221, 223, 451.
+
+  Barrère, i. 59.
+
+  Bartenstein, Treaty of, ii. 141.
+
+  Barthélemy, i. 158, 162.
+
+  Bassano, i. 117.
+
+  Bastia, i. 30, 41.
+
+  Batavian Republic. _See_ Holland.
+
+  Bathurst, Earl, ii. 493, 556, 557, 558, 562.
+
+  Baudin, Commodore, ii. 380-382.
+
+  Baudus, Col., ii. 485.
+
+  Bausset, i. 483; ii. 204, 255, 257, 433.
+
+  Bautzen, battle of, ii. 291-293.
+
+  Bavaria, ii. 46, 59, 65, 69, 189-191, 201, 354-355.
+
+  Baylen, ii. 177.
+
+  Baylen, battle of, ii. 170.
+
+  Bayonne, Conventions of, ii. 166, 379 (battles of).
+
+
+  Beatson, Gen., ii. 525.
+
+  Beauharnais,Eugène, i. 215, 468, 501; ii. 10, 12, 85, 154, 195,
+    216, 254-255, 260, 279-281, 284-285, 287, 294, 369,
+    375, 380, 397, 411.
+
+  Beauharnais, Hortense, i. 215, 442; ii. 515.
+
+  Beaulieu, i. 82, 83, 85, 86, 92, 93, 101, 102.
+
+  Becker, Gen., ii. 516-518.
+
+  Beethoven, i. 481.
+
+  Beet-root, ii. 223.
+
+  Belgium, i. 141, 308; ii. 35, 54, 373, 387, 392, 399,
+    402, 412, 436, 438, 441, 456-457.
+
+  Belliard, Gen., ii. 423.
+
+  Bennigsen, Gen., ii. 111, 114, 118-120, 123-124, 126, 140, 250, 359, 362.
+
+  Beresford, ii. 414-415.
+
+  Beresina, crossing of, ii. 264.
+
+  Berg, Grand Duchy of, ii. 64.
+
+  Berlier, i. 302.
+
+  Berlin,
+    decree of, ii. 103-105;
+    University of, ii. 226, 275.
+
+  Bernadotte,i. 220, 222, 246, 449, 451, 469-470; ii. 18-21, 36, 38,
+    40, 63, 91, 94, 99-100, 111, 142, 229, 238, 296-298,
+    321-323, 332-333, 335, 337-338, 350, 352, 353-354,
+    357-360, 362, 369, 380, 387, 401, 416, 424.
+
+  Bernard, Prince, ii. 462.
+
+  Berne, i. 180, 391-395, 398-399.
+
+  Bernier, i. 236, 274.
+
+  Berthier, i. 76, 95, 109, 134, 135, 158, 179, 194, 214,
+    234, 246, 249, 276, 468-470; ii. 64, 113, 200, 207,
+    260, 335, 348, 363, 364, 392, 416, 427, 431, 432, 454,
+    455.
+
+  Berthollet, i. 182, 195, 215, 285, 487; ii. 569.
+
+  Bertrand, ii. 18, 32, 113, 280, 292, 332-333, 337-338,
+    354, 358, 359, 433, 434, 441, 481, 487, 516, 520-524,
+    529-530, 535-537, 539, 542, 544, 547, 567, 572.
+
+  Bertrand, Mme., ii. 522, 523, 527, 528, 529-530, 535-537, 542, 548.
+
+  Bessarabia, ii. 238.
+
+  Bessières, i. 194, 215, 258, 469-470; ii. 18, 41, 169,
+    211, 255, 260, 288.
+
+  Beyme, ii. 90.
+
+  Bialystock, ii. 134.
+
+  Bingham, Sir George, ii. 536, 548, 551.
+
+  Black Forest, ii. 14-16.
+
+  Blücher, ii. 83, 92, 98, 100, 285-286, 288, 292,
+    332-333, 335-336, 338-340, 350-352, 353-354, 356, 358,
+    360, 361, 362, 364, 366, 381-384, 389, 392-396, 401,
+    404-407, 414, 416-419, 423, 456-457, 460, 467-473,
+    476-477, 479, 480, 481, 489, 502, 510, 516-518, 537,
+    545, 546.
+
+  Bologna, i. 78, 103, 119, 128, 131.
+
+  Bon, i. 182, 209.
+
+  Bonaparte, Caroline, ii. 571.
+
+  Bonaparte, Charles, i. 5-10.
+
+  Bonaparte, Elise, i. 37, 153; ii. 10.
+
+  Bonaparte family, the, i. 2-12, 17.
+
+  Bonaparte, Jerome, i. 444-445, 473-474; ii. 135, 154,
+    194, 216, 248-249, 352. 423, 485, 494-495.
+
+  Bonaparte, Joseph, i. 7, 10, 13, 23, 30, 32, 73, 153,
+    341, 351-354, 369-371, 424-426, 443-444, 465, 468,
+    473-475; ii. 9-10, 62, 63, 85, 135, 168, 169-171, 181,
+    185, 198, 201, 210, 269, 300-304, 305-313, 382, 393,
+    396, 412, 416, 421-422, 423, 454, 512, 520.
+
+  Bonaparte, Josephine, i. 73-74, 153-156, 215, 221, 304,
+    327, 329, 459, 462, 472-474, 477-480; ii. 129, 133,
+    182, 204-207, 515, 571.
+
+  Bonaparte, Letizia (Madame Mère), i. 5-7, 23, 41, 468; ii. 440.
+
+  Bonaparte, Louis, i. 32, 61, 125, 153, 442, 468, 473-475; ii. 10,
+            168, 212-214, 393, 423.
+
+  Bonaparte, Lucien, i. 21, 31, 39, 40, 179, 214,
+    223-226, 228, 234, 295, 311, 369-371, 442-444, 473-475;
+    ii. 162, 452, 454, 513, 514, 560.
+
+  Bonaparte, Pauline, i. 153, 360, 363, 442; ii. 436, 440, 571.
+
+  Borghese, Prince, i. 442.
+
+  Borodino, battle of, ii. 254-256.
+
+  Boulay de la Meurthe, i. 229, 234, 302, 305.
+
+  Boulogne, i. 313, 485-503.
+
+  Bourbon, Ile de, i. 358, 372; ii. 390, 538.
+
+  Bourgogne, Serg., ii. 257, 261.
+
+  Bourmont, Gen., i. 237; ii. 461.
+
+  Bourrienne, i. 12, 13, 72, 175, 180-181, 215, 245, 303;
+    ii. 157, 222.
+
+  Boyen, Gen. von, ii. 330.
+
+  Breisgau, i. 170, 263.
+
+  Brescia, i. 101, 107, 108, 109, 113, 143, 144, 259.
+
+  Breslau, Convention of, ii. 277.
+
+  Brest, i. 160, 375.
+
+  Brienne, battle of, ii. 383.
+
+  Brienne, Napoleon at, i. 10-14.
+
+  Broglie, Duc de, i. 162; ii. 246, 327, 450.
+
+  Brueys, Admiral, i. 182-183, 192, 229.
+
+  Bruix, i. 214, 487.
+
+  Brulart, ii. 439.
+
+  Brumaire, _coup d'état_ of, i. 222-228.
+
+  Brune, Marshal, i. 70, 180, 237, 469; ii. 144, 454.
+
+  Brunswick, Duke of, ii. 31, 91-94, 97-98, 100.
+
+  Brunswick-Oels, Duke of, ii. 194, 474.
+
+  Bubna, Count, ii. 289-290, 314, 321, 328.
+
+  Budberg, Baron, ii. 74.
+
+  Bülow, Gen. von, ii. 338, 350, 352, 381, 392, 401, 405,
+    414, 460, 489, 495, 496, 502, 503, 504.
+
+  Buonavita, ii. 568.
+
+  Burghersh, Lady, ii. 370, 417.
+
+  Burghersh, Lord, ii. 360, 419.
+
+  Busaco, battle of, ii. 209.
+
+  Buttafuoco, Comte de, i. 31.
+
+  Bylandt, Gen., ii. 496.
+
+
+  Cadiz, i. 499-502, 507.
+
+  Cadoudal, Georges, i. 236-238, 446, 453-456, 458, 471-472.
+
+  Cæsar, i. 187.
+
+  Caffarelli, i. 183-184, 190, 195, 209.
+
+  Cairo, i. 189-191, 197-199.
+
+  Calder, i. 499, 502-504.
+
+  Caldiero, i. 122, 123.
+
+  Cambacérès, i. 222, 234, 289, 302, 321-322, 458,
+    467-468; ii. 312, 370, 395. 513.
+
+  Cambronne, Gen., ii. 509.
+
+  Camel corps, i. 197.
+
+  Campbell, Col., i. 489; ii. 420, 434, 435, 440-442.
+
+  Campbell, Sir Neil, ii. 484, 485.
+
+  Camperdown, i. 175.
+
+  Campo Formio, Treaty of, i. 170-172, 263.
+
+  Canning, ii. 116, 126, 141-143, 145, 148, 152, 169,
+    185-186, 190, 199, 208.
+
+  Cape of Good Hope, i. 166, 311-312, 314, 333, 375, 396,
+    405-406, 420, 428; ii. 54, 73, 81, 82, 221, 229, 436.
+
+  Caprara, i. 274.
+
+  Capri, i. 4; ii. 80, 545.
+
+  Carmel, Mount, i. 206.
+
+  Carnot, i. 74, 75, 162, 234, 322, 451, 467, 471; ii. 446, 513, 515.
+
+  Carteaux, i. 47, 49, 52, 70.
+
+  Castiglione, i. 110.
+
+  Castlereagh, i. 336; ii. 56, 116, 145, 208, 283, 296,
+    322, 361, 369, 372, 386-389, 390, 400, 403, 410-411,
+    426, 436, 437, 439-440, 525, 558.
+
+  Catalonia, annexation of, ii. 210.
+
+  Cathcart, Lord, ii. 116, 144-145, 277, 287-288,
+    316-317, 321, 326, 332, 334, 364. 390.
+
+  Catherine II., i. 138; ii. 273.
+
+  Cattaro, i. 170.
+
+  Caulaincourt, i. 458, 462, 468; ii. 34, 182-183, 205,
+    290, 295, 323-324, 327, 354, 370-371, 374-375, 389-392,
+    401, 410-413, 416-418, 422, 423, 426-428, 431-432, 444,
+    515.
+
+  Certificates of origin, ii. 104, 156, 233.
+
+  Cervoni, i. 95.
+
+  Ceva, i. 85, 86, 87.
+
+  Ceylon, i. 311-312, 314-315, 333, 343.
+
+  Chaboulon, Fleury de, ii. 441.
+
+  Chamber of Peers, ii. 451.
+
+  Chamber of Representatives, ii. 451.
+
+  Champ de Mai. ii. 444, 450, 452.
+
+  Champagny, ii. 149, 181, 185, 213.
+
+  Champaubert, battle of, ii. 393.
+
+  Channel Islands, the, i. 166, 175.
+
+  Chaptal, i. 234, 285, 304-306, 316; ii. 216, 219, 224, 484.
+
+  Charlemagne, i. 478-479; ii. 191, 227-228.
+
+  Charles, Archduke, i. 121, 137, 196; ii. 11, 13-14, 22,
+    26, 31-33, 35, 189-192, 194-195, 201.
+
+  Charles IV., ii. 159, 161-166.
+
+  Charles XIII., ii. 202, 238.
+
+  Charlotte, Queen, i. 435.
+
+  Chassé, Gen., ii. 491, 504, 506.
+
+  Chastel, ii. 255.
+
+  Chateaubriand, i. 282, 298, 463.
+
+  Chatham, Earl, ii. 199.
+
+  Châtillon, Congress of, ii. 389-392, 400, 409-412.
+
+  Chaumont, Treaty of, ii. 402-403, 448.
+
+  Chénier, i. 451.
+
+  Cherasco, i. 88, 89.
+
+  Chouans, i. 305-307.
+
+  Cintra, Convention of, ii. 172.
+
+  Cisalpine Republic, i. 142, 151-152, 166, 168-170,
+    251-252, 264, 319, 345-349.
+
+  Cispadane Republic, i. 119-120, 131, 142, 149, 152.
+
+  Ciudad Rodrigo, ii. 302.
+
+  Clarke, Gen., i. 128, 129, 130, 140, 158, 164; ii. 74,
+    295, 302-303, 325, 363, 404, 421.
+
+  Clausel, ii.  303-304, 306-307, 309, 313, 454.
+
+  Clausewitz, ii. 244, 250, 255 _n._, 459, 466, 492.
+
+  Clichy Club, i. 158, 161.
+
+  Cleves, ii. 44.
+
+  Coalition, Second, 209, 213, 216, 240-243.
+
+  Coalition, Third, i. 500; ii. 1, 5-12, 42, 58.
+
+  Cobenzl, Count, i. 162, 263; ii. 1, 3, 45.
+
+  Cockburn, Admiral, ii. 451, 510, 527, 528, 531-532,
+    534-535, 539-549, 545, 547.
+
+  Code Napoleon, i. 287-294, 466; ii. 77.
+
+  Coffee, price of, ii. 218, 223.
+
+  Collingwood, i. 488.  Colloredo, ii. 359.
+
+  Commercial prohibition, i. 401-402; ii. 104-106,
+    156-157, 217-220, 224.
+
+  Committee of Public Safety, i. 44, 65, 67, 162.
+
+  Concordat, the (of 1802), i. 21, 271-284, 476; ii. 570.
+
+  Condorcet, i. 295.
+
+  Confederation of the Rhine, ii. 75-78, 83-84, 91, 103,
+    135, 195, 229, 240, 277, 316, 324, 329-330.
+
+  Coni, i. 88.
+
+  Consalvi, Cardinal, i. 274-279.
+
+  Constant, Benjamin, i. 163, 238, 320; ii. 450.
+
+  Constant (the Valet), ii. 432.
+
+  Constantine, Grand Duke, ii. 250.
+
+  Constantinople, i. 182, 201-203, 210; ii. 128, 136, 175.
+
+  Constitution of 1795, i. 66, 159, 218, 221.
+
+  Constitution of 1799 (Year VIII.), i. 229-233, 238.
+
+  Constitutional priests, i. 28, 164, 272, 273-277, 282.
+
+  Consul, First, powers of, i. 231-233.
+
+  Consulate for life, i. 321-324, 326.
+
+  Continental System, i. 176, 436; ii. 28, 48, 49, 77,
+    103-107, 144, 153-158, 174, 189-190, 193, 211-223,
+    233-235, 236-237.
+
+  "Contrat Social, Le," i. 17, 20, 26, 43, 466.
+
+  Convention, the, i. 37, 40, 54, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68, 69, 72, 289.
+
+  Copenhagen, bombardment of, ii. 142.
+
+  Corbineau, Gen., ii. 263.
+
+  Corfu, i. 168, 192-193, 413, 420-422, 434, 488; ii. 17,
+    62, 82, 154, 430.
+
+  Cornwallis, Lord, i. 337, 341, 343, 350-354, 372.
+
+  Cornwallis, Admiral, i. 440, 491-492, 499, 502-504.
+
+  Coronation, i. 476-477, 479-480.
+
+  Corps Législatif, i. 230, 270, 305, 320, 321-324; ii. 377.
+
+  Corsica, i. 1, 3-11, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 28-32, 34-35,
+    37, 38-43, 56, 60, 61, 217, 241; ii. 430.
+
+  Cortès, ii. 301, 379, 380.
+
+  Corvisart, ii. 205.
+
+  Cotton, ii. 483, 491.
+
+  Cotton, price of, ii. 218.
+
+  Council of Ancients, i. 66, 223-224.
+
+  Council of Five Hundred, i. 67, 158, 162, 217, 223-226.
+
+  Council of State, i. 230, 234, 238, 266, 269, 287,
+    304-306, 320, 467, 475; ii. 451.
+
+  Court, Mr. à, i. 435.
+
+  Craonne, battle of, ii. 406-407, 411.
+
+  Croatia, ii. 201.
+
+  Croker, ii. 516.
+
+  Cromwell, i. 33.
+
+  Cuesta, ii. 198.
+
+  Curaçoa, i. 311-312, 333; ii. 436.
+
+  Cyprus, i. 215.
+
+  Czartoryski, i. 262, 409-410, 423; ii. 5-9, 29, 54, 71,
+    74, 110, 232.
+
+
+  Dalberg, ii. 424-425.
+
+  Dallemagne, i. 95.
+
+  Dalmatia, i. 142, 168-170; ii. 45-48, 201.
+
+  Dandolo, i. 170-172.
+
+  Danton, i. 63.
+
+  Dantzig, siege of, ii. 284.
+
+  Danubian provinces, ii. 47, 135, 138, 185.
+
+  Daru, i. 503.
+
+  David, i. 248.
+
+  Davidovich, i. 107, 121, 122, 127.
+
+  Davoust, i. 182, 438, 469-470; ii. 18, 38, 91, 94,
+    98-101, 112, 113, 119, 122, 193, 195, 248-249, 251-252,
+    280, 296, 298-299, 325, 332, 337-338, 350, 352, 360,
+    369, 408, 416, 432, 446, 454, 514, 5I7.
+
+  Decaen, Gen., i. 373-375, 378, 381, 419, 433; ii. 454.
+
+  Decoster, ii. 486.
+
+  Decrès, i. 358, 363, 487, 497; ii. 176, 446.
+
+  Dedem de Gelder, ii. 360.
+
+  Defermon, i. 234.
+
+  Dego, i. 85, 86.
+
+  Delhi, i. 201.
+
+  Demerara, i. 311-312, 333, 439; ii. 436.
+
+  D'Enghien, Duc, i. 446, 457-463; ii. 532.
+
+  Denmark, i. 64, 263; ii. 114, 136, 140-144, 152-153, 221,
+    296-297, 380.
+
+  Dennewitz, battle of, ii. 350.
+
+  Denon, i. 215; ii. 517.
+
+  Departments, French, i. 27.
+
+  D'Erlon, Count, ii. 454, 460, 462, 470, 472-473,
+    474-476, 490, 495, 498, 502, 505, 508.
+
+
+  Desaix, i. 181, 182, 191, 199, 214-215, 254, 259.
+
+  Desgenettes, i. 212.
+
+  Desprez, Col., ii. 305.
+
+  Diebitsch, ii. 419.
+
+  Dijon, i. 246.
+
+  Directors, the, i. 97, 104, 146, 218-224, 226.
+
+  Directory, the, i. 67, 68, 75, 87, 97, 98, 99, 119,
+    129, 130, 140, 143, 148, 157-160, 167-172, 177-181,
+    214, 228, 300, 326.
+
+  Divorce, i. 292.
+
+  Divorce, the Imperial, ii. 204-205, 327.
+
+  Dolder, i. 393.
+
+  Dommartin, i. 47, 87, 183.
+
+  Domont, Gen., ii. 496, 503.
+
+  Donzelot, ii. 497, 503, 506, 507, 508.
+
+  Doppet, i. 49, 52.
+
+  Dörnberg, ii. 459.
+
+  Douglas, Col., i. 208.
+
+  Drake, Francis, i. 55, 453-454; ii. 2, 62.
+
+  Dresden, battle of, ii. 342-347.
+
+  Drissa, camp of, ii. 243, 249-250.
+
+  Drouot, ii. 395, 422, 434.
+
+  Ducos, Roger, i. 220, 223, 228, 233, 239.
+
+  Dugommier, i. 52, 53.
+
+  Duhesme, ii. 503.
+
+  Dumas, Gen., i. 115, 182, 194, 285.
+
+  Dumouriez, Gen., i. 90, 457-459, 486.
+
+  Dundas, i. 441.
+
+  Dunkirk, i. 175.
+
+  Duphot, i. 179.
+
+  Dupont, Gen., i. 70; ii. 22-23, 123, 169-170, 173.
+
+  Duroc, i. 76, 172, 215, 327, 409, 443, 468; ii. 12, 20,
+    40, 59, 101, 134, 150, 293.
+
+
+  Eastern Question, i. 340, 406, 408-410, 428; ii. 47-48, 108.
+
+  East Indies, i. 497-499.
+
+  Ebrington, Lord, ii. 568.
+
+  Eckmühl, battle of, ii. 191.
+
+  Economists, i. 174.
+
+  Education, national, i. 295-298.
+
+  Egypt, i. 168, 175-200, 201-203, 261, 312-313, 314,
+    355, 369, 411-416, 420-422, 434, 488; ii. 139, 174,
+    176, 229, 529.
+
+
+  Elba, i. 264, 314, 389; ii. 430, 435-442.
+
+  Elchingen, ii. 24.
+
+  Ellesmere, Earl of, ii. 493.
+
+  Emmett, i. 510 (App.).
+
+  England, i. 22, 25, 39, 41, 42, 46, 48, 54-56, 166-167,
+    174, 178, 200, 216, 240, 261, 265, 307-315, 321,
+    331-338, 350-354, 358, 361-363, 364, 372-378, 387-388,
+    401-408, 413-438, 436-441, 450-454, 460-461, 509-510
+    (App.); ii. 2, 4-9, 48, 55-58, 65-67, 69-74, 81-83,
+    87-89, 90, 104-107, 114-115, 125-128, 136, 138-148,
+    155-158, 185-186, 190, 199-200, 208, 211-212, 216-223,
+    229, 233, 283, 317, 322, 327-328, 334, 361, 372,
+    386-387, 389, 399, 402-403, 417, 432, 436-438, 447,
+    453, 532, 538-539.
+
+
+  England, invasion of, i. 175-178, 438-441, 482, 485-499.
+
+  Ense, Varnhagen von, ii. 101, 177, 225.
+
+  Erfurt, meeting at, ii. 179-185, 189, 231, 235.
+
+  Escoiquiz, ii. 165.
+
+  Esterhazy, Prince, ii. 410.
+
+  Etruria,  kingdom of, i. 264, 334, 389, 420; ii. 150, 153-158.
+
+  Eugène, Prince, of Wurtemberg, ii. 347-348.
+
+  Eylau, battle of, ii. 111-114.
+
+  Excelmans, Gen., ii. 481-482.
+
+
+  Fain, ii. 360, 364, 371.
+
+  Faypoult, i. 148.
+
+  Ferdinand, Archduke, ii. 14-16, 19, 21, 24, 35.
+
+  Ferdinand, Prince Louis, ii. 93.
+
+  Ferdinand IV., i. 77.
+
+  Ferdinand VII. (Spain), ii. 161-166, 379-380.
+
+  Ferrara, i. 78, 119.
+
+  Fesch, Cardinal, i. 468, 477; ii. 206.
+
+  Feudalism, i. 120, 288; ii. 77-78, 178, 187.
+
+  Fichte, ii. 177, 184, 226, 237, 286.
+
+  Finland, ii. 175, 176, 185, 235-236.
+
+  Fiorella, i. 114.
+
+  Flahaut, Count, ii. 422, 479.
+
+  Flinders, Capt., i. 380-381.
+
+  Florence, i. 77, 104.
+
+  Florence, Buonapartes at, i. 2, 6.
+
+  Florence, Treaty of, i. 264.
+
+  Florida, i. 364, 368.
+
+  Flotilla, the Boulogne, i. 483-499.
+
+  Fombio, i. 92, 93.
+
+  Fontainebleau, Convention of, ii. 150, 160.
+
+  Fontainebleau, decree of, ii. 217.
+
+  Fontanes, i. 481.
+
+  Forfait, i. 234.
+
+  Forsyth, ii. 540, 550, 555, 557.
+
+  Fouché, i. 227, 234, 302, 304, 427, 449, 451, 463,
+    466-467, 472, 504; ii. 6, 182, 187-188, 213, 334, 439,
+    446, 448, 514, 515, 517.
+
+  Fox, i. 294, 414, 441; ii. 59, 70-72, 81, 83, 105, 330.
+
+  Foy, Gen., ii. 307.
+
+  France, i. 314.
+
+  France, Ile de, i. 358, 372, 380; ii. 390, 412.
+
+  France, Protestantism in, i. 283-284.
+
+  France, University of, i. 296-297.
+
+  Francis II., Emperor, i. 105, 117, 120, 121, 140-142,
+    170, 263, 264, 406, 482; ii. 3, 9-10, 14-16, 34, 42,
+    76, 197, 200-203, 239, 272-273, 283, 289, 314-315, 321,
+    326, 335, 386-388, 399, 410, 417, 422, 426, 433, 436.
+
+  Frazer, Sir A., ii. 492.
+
+  Frederick William III., ii. 4, 30-32, 33, 42-45, 51-55,
+    65, 83-87, 89-94, 98-100, 108, 127, 129-131, 177-178,
+    237, 270-271, 273-277, 285, 316-317, 335, 344-345, 347,
+    373, 386-388, 433.
+
+  French Colonies, i. 357-383.
+
+  French Republic, the, i. 38, 42, 45, 48.
+
+  Fréjus, i. 215-217.
+
+  Fréron, i. 54.
+
+  Friant, ii. 36, 38, 350, 506.
+
+  Friedland, battle of, ii. 119-124.
+
+  Frotté, i. 235, 237.
+
+  Fructidor, _coup d'état_, i. 157, 161-164, 217, 272.
+
+  Fulton, i. 483-484.
+
+
+  Gallican Church, i. 274.
+
+  Gallois, M., ii. 558.
+
+  Gantheaume, Admiral, i. 215, 234, 372, 485, 487, 489, 491-492,
+    495-498.
+
+  Garda, Lake, i. 100, 101, 106, 108, 112.
+
+  Gardane, Gen., i. 254; ii. 117-118.
+
+  Gaudin, i. 234, 270; ii. 446.
+
+  Geneva, i. 180, 246, 390.
+
+  Genoa, i. 5, 7, 55, 59, 60, 75, 82, 83, 121, 147, 182, 216,
+    241, 243, 250, 334, 504; ii. 11-12.
+
+  Gentz, ii. 91, 314, 323.
+
+  Gérard, ii. 454, 460-461, 463, 466, 469-471, 480-482.
+
+  Gezzar, i. 204-209.
+
+  Gibraltar, i. 167, 175; ii. 150.
+
+  Girard, Gen., ii. 338.
+
+  Girondins, i. 44-46, 63, 218, 301.
+
+  Glover, ii. 533, 534, 540, 541.
+
+  Gneisenau, ii. 92, 125, 237, 286, 351, 366, 456, 460, 468, 476-479,
+    481, 509, 516, 546.
+
+  Godoy, i. 365-368, 437; ii. 146, 149-150, 159-161, 163-166.
+
+  Goethe, ii. 3, 183-184, 278.
+
+  Gohier, i. 220, 221, 223-224.
+
+  Gourgaud, Gen., ii. 451, 461, 463, 486, 503, 509, 513,
+    518, 520-524, 528, 529, 533, 535-537, 541, 542, 544,
+    548, 549, 560, 561-564, 569, 572.
+
+  Government, local, i. 267-271.
+
+  Gower, Lord Leveson, ii. 45, 126, 128, 130, 145, 160.
+
+  Graham, i. 83, 111, 114; ii. 310, 381.
+
+  Great Britain. _See_ England.
+
+  Great St. Bernard, i. 245-248.
+
+  Grégoire, i. 467.
+
+  Grenoble, Napoleon at, ii. 443.
+
+  Grenville, Lord, i. 55, 166, 242, 414; ii. 59.
+
+  Gross Görschen, ii. 287-289.
+
+  Grossbeeren, battle of, ii. 338.
+
+  Grouchy, ii. 120, 124, 255-256, 395, 407, 455, 463,
+    464, 466, 469, 470, 480, 481, 482, 485, 487-489, 495,
+    496, 505, 508, 510, 514.
+
+  Guadeloupe, i. 358; ii. 296-297.
+
+  Guards, National, i. 62, 69, 71.
+
+  Gudin, ii. 487.
+
+  Guiana, French, i. 358.
+
+  Guizot, ii. 484.
+
+  Gustavus IV., ii. 2, 4, 5, 144, 202, 238.
+
+  Guyot, ii. 501, 502.
+
+
+  Hagelberg, battle of, ii. 338.
+
+  Hainau, ambush at, ii. 294.
+
+  Hal, Wellington's force at, ii. 492.
+
+  Halkett, ii. 508.
+
+  Hamburg. _See_ Hanse Towns.
+
+  Hameln, ii. 34.
+
+  Hammond, Lord, i. 450.
+
+  Hanau, battle of, ii. 365.
+
+  Hanover, i. 64, 176, 436; ii. 9, 17, 30, 34, 44, 45-48, 53-57,
+    65-69, 82-85, 88, 91, 135, 199, 277, 317, 361, 386.
+
+  Hanse Towns, i. 176; ii. 73-74, 213, 214 (annexation of); 226,
+            280-281, 297-299, 316, 361, 369.
+
+  Hardenberg, ii. 11, 55, 65, 68, 89, 129, 270, 274, 276, 373, 400.
+
+  Hardinge, ii. 459, 468, 489.
+
+  Harel, i. 459.
+
+  Harrowby, Earl of, ii. 5, 42, 53, 56, 57.
+
+  Hasslach, ii. 22.
+
+  Hatzfeld, Prince, ii. 271.
+
+  Haugwitz, i. 432; ii. 20, 30-31, 34, 43-46, 53-55, 65-69, 83-84, 86,
+    89-90.
+
+  Hauterive, i. 278-279; ii. 149.
+
+  Hawkesbury, Lord, i. 310, 312-314, 333-334, 338-340, 350-354, 396,
+            405, 422, 431, 450, 452; ii. 56.
+
+  Hayti. _See_ Domingo.
+
+  Hazlitt, ii. 447.
+
+  Heilsberg, battle of, ii. 118-119.
+
+  Heligoland, ii. 380.
+
+  Helvetic Republic. _See_ Switzerland.
+
+  Henry, Surgeon, ii. 539, 543, 553, 571.
+
+  Hesse-Cassel, i. 64; ii. 84.
+
+  Hill, Gen., ii. 309.
+
+  Hobart, Lord, i. 377, 382.
+
+  Hoche, i. 63, 65, 160, 168.
+
+  Hofer, ii. 193, 201-202.
+
+  Hohenlinden, i. 260.
+
+  Hohenlohe, ii. 93-97, 97-100.
+
+  Holkar, i. 374, 377.
+
+  Holland, i. 39, 166, 178, 242, 265, 293, 308, 314-315,
+    327, 334-338, 344, 345, 376-377, 403, 405, 416, 420,
+    425, 428, 433, 438, 485-486, 493, 503, ii. 1, 6, 8, 18,
+    30, 35, 54, 55, 69, 103, 134, 135-137, 212-214, 361,
+    369, 373, 375-376, 381, 403, 412, 436-438.
+
+  Holland, Lord, ii. 126, 413, 567, 570.
+
+  Holy Alliance, ii. 566.
+
+  Holy Roman Empire, i. 141, 170, 264, 387, 478; ii. 75-76.
+
+  Hood, Admiral, i. 50, 54-55.
+
+  Hostages, law of, i. 220, 229.
+
+  Hotham, Admiral, ii. 519-521.
+
+  Hougoumont, ii. 490-491, 499, 500-505.
+
+  Howick, Earl, ii. 116.
+
+  Hulin, Gen., i. 460-461.
+
+  Humbert, Gen., i. 511 (App.).
+
+  Humboldt, ii. 226, 323.
+
+  Hutchinson, Lord, ii. 124.
+
+  Hyde de Neuville, i. 220, 236-237.
+
+
+  Ibrahim, i. 188-191.
+
+  Illyria, ii. 315-316, 320, 324, 326, 328.
+
+  Imam of Muscat, i. 200.
+
+  India, i. 176, 189, 194, 200, 210, 262, 342, 372-379,
+    396, 419-420, 428-429, 431, 434; ii. 117-118, 139,
+    174-176, 230.
+
+  Ionian Isles, the, i. 168-170, 177, 314, 428, 432; ii. 9, 74, 135.
+
+  Ireland, i. 160, 202-203, 309, 331-332, 417, 488-489, 491,
+    505-506, 510-512 (App.); ii. 229.
+
+  Iron Cross, Order of the, ii. 277.
+
+  Istria, i. 142, 168-170; ii. 46-47.
+
+  Italian Republic, i. 388, 420.
+    Italy, i. 77, 79, 96, 100, 213, 263, 265, 345-349, 388,
+    433-435, 438, 493, 497; ii. 1, 6, 10-11, 17, 46-48, 69,
+    88, 103, 150, 154, 202, 324, 361, 373, 375, 380, 397,
+    411, 438-439, 440.
+
+
+  Italy, army of, i. 57, 61, 64, 74, 75, 76, 80, 82, 122.
+
+  Izquierdo, Don, ii. 150, 163.
+
+
+  Jackson, Col. Basil, ii. 477, 479, 499, 500, 507, 529,
+    550, 552, 563.
+
+  Jackson, Sir G., ii. 43, 314, 360, 447.
+
+  Jacobins, the, i. 31, 35, 37, 42, 45, 47, 49, 53, 59,
+    63, 64, 69, 149, 161, 218, 223, 226-228, 260, 267, 281,
+    301, 302-306, 401, 427, 465-466; ii. 449.
+
+
+  Jaffa, i. 201, 203-204, 211-213.
+
+  Jamaica, i. 361.
+
+  Janin, Count, ii. 502.
+
+  Jaubert, i. 412.
+
+  Java, ii. 538.
+
+  Jefferson, i. 367, 369.
+
+  Jena, battle of, ii. 94-97.
+
+  Jews, the, i. 284.
+
+  John, Archduke, ii. 195-196.
+
+  Jomini, ii. 335, 340, 342, 466.
+
+  Jonan, Golfe de, ii. 442.
+
+  Joubert, i. 131, 135, 138, 219.
+
+  Jouberthon, Madame, i. 443.
+
+  Jourdan, i. 222, 469-470; ii. 198, 305, 307, 308-310.
+
+  _Juges de paix_, i. 270, 323; ii. 451.
+
+  Junot, i. 60, 61, 76, 112, 136, 138, 207, 426; ii. 151,
+    160, 162, 172, 454.
+
+  Junot, Madame, i. 64, 181, 426.
+
+
+  Kalckreuth, ii. 91, 137.
+
+  Kalisch, Treaty of, ii. 276-277.
+
+  Katzbach, battle of the, ii. 339.
+
+  Keith, Lord, i. 250-251, 440; ii. 526, 528, 529-530.
+
+  Kellermann, i. 89, 90, 256, 258-259, 469; ii. 40, 474, 501, 502.
+
+  Kennedy, Gen., ii. 457, 492, 493, 504.
+
+  Kilmaine, i. 143.
+
+  King's German Legion, ii. 493, 502.
+
+  Kléber, i. 63, 182, 189, 204, 207-208, 213, 215.
+
+  Kleist, ii. 292, 347-348, 456.
+
+  Knesebeck, Gen., ii. 242, 275, 276, 335.
+
+  Koran, i. 185.
+
+  Körner, ii. 278.
+
+  Krasnoe, battle of, ii. 262.
+
+  Kray, Gen., i. 244.
+
+  Krudener, Madame de, ii. 450.
+
+  Kulm, battle of, ii. 347-349.
+
+  Kurakin, Prince, ii. 239.
+
+  Kutusoff, ii. 33, 36, 38, 39, 254-255, 258-262, 274, 285.
+
+
+  Labaume, ii. 245, 253, 260.
+
+  Labédoyère, ii. 505, 541.
+
+  Laborde, ii. 206.
+
+  Labouchere, ii. 213.
+
+  Labrador, ii. 165.
+
+  Lafayette, i. 476; ii. 439, 513, 514.
+
+  La Fère Champenoise, battle of, ii. 419-420, 422.
+
+  La Fère regiment, the, i. 15-17.
+
+  Laffray, defile of, ii. 443.
+
+  Laforest, ii. 65, 66, 84, 87.
+
+  Lagrange, i. 285; ii. 569.
+
+  Laharpe, i. 395, 408, 512 (App.); ii. 231, 400.
+
+  La Haye Sainte, ii. 490-491, 495, 496, 499, 500-505, 507, 508.
+
+  Lainé, ii. 377.
+
+  Lajolais, Gen., i. 455.
+
+  Lake, Gen., i. 377.
+
+  Lallemand, Count, ii. 519, 529.
+
+  Lambert, Gen., ii. 493, 498.
+
+  Lampedusa, i. 422, 425.
+
+  Lancey, De, ii. 467, 493.
+
+  Landrieux, i. 110, 111, 115, 143, 144.
+
+  Langeron, Gen. ii. 339.
+
+  Lanjuinais, i. 321, 467; ii. 452.
+
+  Lannes, i. 92, 95, 102, 138, 183, 194, 209, 213, 215,
+    249, 252, 256, 451, 469; ii. 18, 21, 24, 26,32, 40, 91,
+    94-97, 100, 118-124, 192-193.
+
+  Laplace, i. 285, 484; ii. 569.
+
+  Larochejacquelein, ii. 449.
+
+  La Rothière, battle of, ii. 383.
+
+  Larrey, i. 212; ii. 485.
+
+  Las Cases, Count, i. 212; ii. 519, 520-524, 527, 528,
+    529, 533, 535-537, 541, 542, 548, 553, 559-561,
+    564, 566, 568.
+
+
+  Latouche-Tréville, i. 489-490.
+
+  Latour-Maubourg, ii. 123, 337, 342, 345, 358.
+
+  Lauderdale, Earl of, ii. 81-82.
+
+  Lauriston, ii. 235, 258, 281, 291, 332, 340, 364.
+
+  Lavalette, i. 148, 159, 161, 163, 168, 215; ii. 415,
+    445, 450, 451, 486, 513, 516, 526.
+
+  Lebanon, i. 201, 211.
+
+  Lebrun, i. 234, 302, 458, 468.
+
+  Leclerc, i. 135, 182, 225, 360-363.
+
+  Lefebvre, i. 469; ii. 422.
+
+  Lefebvre-Desnoëttes, ii. 353, 422, 427, 431.
+
+  Legations, i. 78, 142, 145, 169, 275, 346; ii. 54.
+
+  Leghorn, i. 103.
+
+  Legion of Honour, i. 284-287, 327, 449; ii. 184.
+
+  Législatif Corps, i. 467, 481.
+
+  Legnago, i. 107, 114, 126, 131.
+
+  Leipzig, battle of, ii. 356-363.
+
+  Lejeune, ii. 37, 192, 257, 351.
+
+  Leoben, i. 138, 140, 145.
+
+  Lépeaux-Réveillière, La, i. 74, 158, 178, 220, 274.
+
+  Lestocq, Gen., ii. 113.
+
+  Letourneur, i. 74.
+
+  Liberty of the press, i. 239; ii. 211, 451.
+
+  Licences, commercial, ii. 220, 222-223.
+
+  Lichtenstein, ii. 424.
+
+  Ligny, battle of, ii. 468-473.
+
+  Ligurian Republic, i. 148, 264, 345, 420, 504; ii. 6, 10.
+
+  Lille, i. 164, 166-167.
+
+  Lindet, i. 220.
+
+  Linois, Admiral, i. 313, 376; ii. 81.
+
+  Liptay, i. 92, 93.
+
+  Lithuania, ii. 244-246, 248.
+
+  Liverpool, Earl of, ii. 447, 525, 537, 538.
+
+  Lobau, ii. 469, 480-482, 502, 503, 504.
+
+  Lobau, Isle of, ii. 192-193, 195.
+
+  Lodi, battle of, i. 93-95, 97.
+
+  Loison, i. 70.
+
+  Lombardy, i. 90, 91, 96, 142, 436; ii. 21, 55.
+
+  Lonato, i. 110, 112, 113.
+
+  London, Preliminaries of, i. 314, 331-336.
+
+  Louis, Baron, ii. 424.
+
+  Louis XIV., i. 24, 283.
+
+  Louis XV., i. 283, 364.
+
+  Louis XVI., i. 26, 29, 35-36, 42, 71, 283.
+
+  Louis XVII, i. 54-55, 65.
+
+  Louis XVIII., ii. 415, 424-425, 439-440, 457-458, 537, 541, 542.
+
+  Louisa, Queen, ii. 85-86, 125, 132-134, 226.
+
+  Louisiana, i. 264, 334, 364-372, 414, 421, 509-510; ii. 153.
+
+  Lowe, Sir Hudson, i. 4; ii. 291, 359, 395, 409, 419-420, 456, 492,
+            545, 561-566, 570, 572.
+
+  Lucca, i. 77.
+
+  Lucchesini, ii. 83-85, 87, 138.
+
+  Lucerne, i. 180.
+
+  Luddite riot, ii. 220.
+
+  Lunéville, Treaty of, i. 263.
+
+  Lützen, battle of, ii. 285, 287-289.
+
+  Lützow, ii. 278, 318.
+
+  Luxemburg, i. 141.
+
+  Lycées, i. 295-297.
+
+  Lyons, i. 16, 46, 48, 319.
+
+  Lyons, Consulta of, i. 346-348.
+
+
+  Macdonald, i. 260, 449, 469, 471; ii. 192, 195, 197,
+    270, 288, 332, 335-336, 338-340, 357, 362, 381, 392,
+    393-394, 408, 409, 418, 427, 428, 443, 454.
+
+  Mack, ii. 14-16, 18-26, 365.
+
+  Mackenzie, Mr., ii. 140.
+
+  Madalena Isles, the, i. 38-39.
+
+  Madras, i. 376.
+
+  Mahrattas, the, i. 374, 377-378, 416; ii. 117.
+
+  Maida, battle of, ii. 79-80.
+
+  Maingaud, ii. 529.
+
+  Maitland, Capt., ii. 486, 519, 520-524, 525, 526, 529-530.
+
+  Maitland, Gen., ii. 506, 507.
+
+  Malcolm, Sir Pulteney, ii. 550.
+
+  Malet Conspiracy, the, ii. 265, 267.
+
+  Mallet du Pan, i. 180.
+
+  Malmaison, Napoleon at, ii. 515-518.
+
+  Malmesbury, Lord, i. 166-167.
+
+  Malo-Jaroslavitz, battle of, ii. 260.
+
+  Malta, i. 168, 181, 217, 260-263, 307, 311-12, 314,
+    333, 338-341, 351-353, 404, 406-408, 415-416, 419-425,
+    430-431, 434; ii. 7-9, 17, 54, 62, 73, 225.
+
+  Mamelukes, i. 188-191, 199, 412.
+
+  Manin, i. 169.
+
+  Mantua, i. 77, 79, 89, 90, 95, 100, 101, 102, 105-118,
+    124, 130, 131, 136, 216, 259.
+
+
+  Marbot, i. 254, 504; ii. 41, 192, 335, 364, 495, 496.
+
+  Marchand (the valet), ii. 485, 572.
+
+  Marchand, Gen., ii. 443, 528.
+
+  Marengo, battle of, i. 254-260.
+
+  Maret, i. 166-167, 278-279; ii. 235, 259, 265, 271,
+    295, 370, 371, 391-392, 401, 411, 412, 446, 513.
+
+  Marie Louise, ii. 206-207, 227, 370, 382, 388, 418,
+    426, 431, 432-433, 436, 562-563.
+
+  Marmont, i. 60, 61, 64, 76, 99, 114, 124, 126, 138,
+    153, 215, 247, 257, 483, 484; ii. 18, 115, 192, 256,
+    259, 292, 300, 332-333, 348-349, 351, 356, 357,
+    358-359, 362, 364, 381, 383, 393-394, 404, 406,
+    407-408, 418, 420-421, 423, 427, 429-430, 454.
+
+  Marseilles, i. 35, 45, 49, 57, 182.
+
+  Martinique, i. 311-312, 314, 333, 496-497.
+
+  Masséna, i. 57, 82, 84, 85, 95, 102, 107, 110, 112,
+    114, 117, 118, 122, 124, 134, 135, 138, 217, 243-244,
+    250, 451, 469, 471; ii. 17, 26, 31, 61, 80, 192-193,
+    195, 209, 304, 432, 454.
+
+  Mauritius, ii. 436.
+
+  Mediatization, ii. 77.
+
+  Méhée de la Touche, i. 449-450, 453-455, 457.
+
+  Melas, i. 244-245, 249-259.
+
+  Melito, Miot de, i. 103, 130, 150, 187, 468; ii. 62, 451.
+
+  Melzi, i. 150, 456; ii. 378.
+
+  Memel, decrees of, ii. 178.
+
+  Memmingen, ii. 14, 18, 23-24.
+
+  Memphis, i. 195.
+
+  Mercer, Capt., ii. 453, 457, 483, 501, 502.
+
+  Merlin, i. 302.
+
+  Merry, Mr., i. 337, 393, 406, 411-412.
+
+  Menou, Gen., i. 70, 182, 189, 313.
+
+  Merveldt, Gen., ii. 360-361, 375.
+
+  Metternich, ii. 177, 200, 202-203, 206, 241, 253,
+    271-272, 273, 281-283, 289-290, 314-316, 318-320, 323,
+    325-327, 368, 370-371, 374-376, 386-389, 391, 400, 410,
+    413, 417-418, 422, 426, 438-439, 446, 448, 537.
+
+  Milan, i. 77, 79, 93, 96, 105, 107, 108, 143, 146, 151, 172.
+
+  Milan decrees, ii. 157.
+
+  Milhaud, Count, ii. 471, 481-482, 496, 500.
+
+  Miller, Capt., i. 206.
+
+  Millesimo, i. 85.
+
+  Miloradovitch, ii. 287.
+
+  Mina, ii. 301, 303.
+
+  Mincio, i. 100, 101, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110.
+
+  Minto, Earl, i. 423.
+
+  Miquelon, i. 342.
+
+  Mirabeau, i. 29.
+
+  Missiessy, i. 490, 492; ii. 7.
+
+  Möckern, battle of, ii. 359.
+
+  Modena, i. 77, 118, 119, 145, 170, 264, 346.
+
+  Modena, Duke of, i. 100.
+
+  Mollien, i. 267; ii. 60, 88, 217, 269, 421, 445, 449, 484.
+
+  Moltke, Von, i. 106.
+
+  Moncey, i. 250, 469; ii. 421-422, 454.
+
+  Mondovi, i. 87.
+
+  Monge, i. 150, 182, 195, 215, 285, 484; ii. 569.
+
+  Monroe, i. 369.
+
+  Montagu, Admiral, i. 485.
+
+  Montchenu, ii. 552, 553, 571.
+
+  Montebello, Castle of, i. 148, 158, 252.
+
+  Montechiaro, i. 107, 110.
+
+  Montenotte, i. 79, 83, 84, 85.
+
+  Montereau, battle of, ii. 397.
+
+  Montesquieu, i. 25, 27, 42, 185.
+
+  Montholon, ii. 513, 519-529, 535-537, 542, 544, 545,
+    552, 553, 557, 560, 561, 564, 567, 570, 572.
+
+  Montholon, Mme., ii. 530, 536, 542, 548.
+
+  Montmirail, battle of, ii. 394.
+
+  Morea, the, i. 410, 422, 488-489.
+
+  Moreau, i. 63, 102, 105, 141, 219, 244-245, 449-452, 470-472;
+            ii. 298, 335, 341, 345.
+
+  Morfontaine, i. 264.
+
+  Morillo, Gen., ii. 309.
+
+  Mortier, i. 469; ii. 115, 117, 120, 345, 349, 394, 404, 406, 408,
+            420-421, 422-423, 454.
+
+  Moscow, burning of, ii. 256-257.
+
+  Moulin, i. 220, 223-224.
+
+  Mouton, i. 482; ii. 192. _See_ Lobau.
+
+  Müffling, Gen. von, ii. 92, 241, 243, 294, 339, 456, 479, 489,
+    496, 499.
+
+  Muiron, i. 53, 124, 125; ii. 558.
+
+  Murad, i. 188-191.
+
+  Murat, i. 71, 76, 138, 182, 194, 213, 215, 225, 252,
+    276, 422, 458, 460, 468-469; ii. 19, 21, 22, 24, 26,
+    32, 40, 64, 83, 85, 97, 100, 112, 119, 122, 135,
+    162-164, 166-168, 176, 187, 216, 252-256, 259, 260,
+    265, 328, 331, 345-346, 348, 353, 355, 358, 362,
+    369-370, 380, 438, 448, 449, 542, 545.
+
+  Muscat, i. 378-379.
+
+
+  Nablûs, i. 204.
+
+  Nansouty, ii. 345.
+
+  Naples, i. 128, 196, 216, 264, 308, 314, 433; ii. 30,
+    59, 60, 61, 63, 115, 134.
+
+  Napoleon, first abdication of, ii. 430.
+
+  Narbonne, ii. 323-324.
+
+  National Assembly, i. 27, 28, 29, 36.
+
+  National Guard, i. 28-29, 34-35, 39, 62, 71.
+
+  Nazareth, i. 207.
+
+  Necker, i. 159.
+
+  Neipperg, Count de, ii. 382, 433, 436.
+
+  Nelson, i. 84, 187, 192-194, 196, 202, 206, 263, 310,
+    313, 333, 434, 440, 453, 484, 488; ii. 573.
+
+  Nepean, i. 451.
+
+  Nesselrode, Count, ii. 371, 372, 424.
+
+  Neufchâtel, ii. 44.
+
+  Newfoundland, i. 175, 314, 342; ii. 538.
+
+  Ney, i. 396, 438, 469-470, 487; ii. 18, 21, 24, 91, 96,
+    97, 113, 120-122, 194, 211, 245, 252-256, 262-263, 287,
+    289, 291-292, 322, 335, 350, 353, 354, 356, 359, 362,
+    381, 404, 407, 408, 427, 428, 431, 444, 461-463, 466,
+    467, 469, 472, 473-479, 482-483, 490, 498,
+    500-505, 541, 542.
+
+  Nisas, ii. 318.
+
+  Nice, i. 48, 57, 60, 76, 78, 80, 87, 232, 243, 244-245, 312.
+
+  Nile, battle of the, i. 192-194.
+
+  Nivelle, battle of the, ii. 369.
+
+  Nivôse, affair of, i. 303-306.
+
+  Non-intercourse Act, ii. 156.
+
+  Non-jurors, i. 28, 272.
+
+  Norway, ii. 2, 238, 296-297, 380.
+
+  Noverraz, ii. 567.
+
+  Novi, i. 216, 219.
+
+  Novossiltzoff, ii. 5, 7, 11.
+
+
+  O'Connor, i. 510-512 (App.).  Odeleben, Col. von, ii. 288, 353,
+    360.
+
+  Oglio, i. 142.  O'Hara, i. 52, 54.
+
+  Oldenburg, ii. 134-135.
+
+  Oldenburg, annexation of, ii. 214, 234-236.
+
+  Oldenburg, Duchy of, ii. 183, 206.
+
+  Old Guard, ii. 471, 504-507.
+
+  Olivenza, i. 311, 314.
+
+  O'Meara, ii. 529-530, 534, 541, 544, 546, 551, 555,
+    562, 565, 571, 572.
+
+  Ompteda, ii. 55.
+
+  Oporto, ii. 194.
+
+  Orange, Prince of, ii. 467, 473.
+
+  Ordener, Gen., i. 458.
+
+  Orders in Council, ii. 105-107, 155-157, 222.
+
+  "Organic" articles, i. 281.
+
+  Orleans, New, i. 364, 368-369, 510 (App.).
+
+  Orthez, battle of, ii. 414.
+
+  Ossian, i. 185.
+
+  Ostermann, ii. 347.
+
+  Otto, i. 256, 310, 313, 314, 333, 341.
+
+  Oubril, ii. 71-75, 81.
+
+  Oudinot, i. 243; ii. 32, 38-39, 120, 124, 195, 231,
+    250, 253, 263-264, 266, 292, 332-333, 337-338, 350,
+    408, 409, 427, 431, 454.
+
+  Ouvrard, ii. 60, 213.
+
+
+  Pacthod, Gen., ii. 420.
+
+  Pahlen, ii. 358.
+
+  Pajol, ii. 358, 397, 480, 481.
+
+  Palais Royal, the, i. 16.
+
+  Palm, ii. 89, 184.
+
+  Paoli, i. 5, 18, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38-42, 59.
+
+  Papal States, i. 78; ii. 154, 228.
+
+  Paris, i. 13-16, 35-36, 44-47, 62, 64, 66, 172, 260.
+
+  Paris, Treaties of (1814), ii. 436.
+
+  Paris, Treaty of (1815), ii. 538.
+
+  Parlements, i. 27, 268, 269.
+
+  Parma, i. 78, 366-369, 389.
+
+  Parma, Duke of, i. 100, 129, 264.
+
+  Parthenopæan Republic, i. 216.
+
+  Pasquier, i. 267; ii. 149, 279, 484, 514.
+
+  Passeriano, i. 156, 169-170.
+
+  Paterson, Miss, i. 414-415; ii. 154.
+
+  Paul, Czar, i. 183, 217, 260-263, 310.
+
+  Pavia, i. 92, 96, 98.
+
+  Pelet, ii. 364.
+
+  Peltier, i. 402.
+
+  Peninsular War, ii. 171-173, 186-188, 194, 197-199,
+    209-211, 300-313, 368-369.
+
+  Perim, i. 262.
+
+  Permoa, Madame, i. 64, 73.
+
+  Perponcher, Gen., ii. 462.
+
+  Perron, i. 364, 377.
+
+  Persia, i. 262; ii. 9, 110.
+
+  Persia, Shah of, ii. 117-118.
+
+  Perthes, ii. 299.
+
+  Peschiera, i. 101, 112, 113.
+
+  Pétiet, ii. 485.
+
+  Petit, Gen., ii. 433.
+
+  Phélippeaux, i. 207-208.
+
+  Phillip, Port, i. 380, 382.
+
+  Phull, Gen. von, ii. 242-243, 248-250.
+
+  Piacenza, i. 92, 93.
+
+  Pichegru, i. 63, 158, 162, 451, 456-457, 463-464, 471.
+
+  Picton, Gen., ii. 311, 473, 479, 490, 493, 497.
+
+  Piedmont, i. 47, 64, 241, 245.
+
+  Piombino, i. 264.
+
+  Pirch I., ii. 460, 464, 467, 468, 489, 504, 505.
+
+  Pirch II., ii. 459.
+
+  Pitt, i. 54-56, 166-167, 243, 310, 414, 441, 452; ii.
+    5, 7, 13, 14, 53, 55-58, 573.
+
+  Pope Pius VI., i. 78, 102, 103, 120, 121, 137, 179,
+    261.
+
+  Pope Pius VII., i. 274-277, 280-281, 476-467, 480; ii.
+    72, 88, 153-154, 191, 211, 227-228, 380.
+
+  Pizzighetone, i. 93.
+
+  Plague, the, i. 204, 209-212.
+
+  Po, River, i. 79, 88, 92, 100.
+
+  Poischwitz, Armistice of, ii. 296, 320.
+
+  Poland, ii. 109-111, 131-132, 193, 201, 232-233, 236, 244-246, 272,
+            273-274, 294, 330, 387-388, 437.
+
+  Polignacs, i. 456, 458, 472.
+
+  Pondicherry, i. 372.
+
+  Poniatowski, ii. 252, 254, 284, 332, 362, 364.
+
+  Pons (de l'Hérault), ii. 436.
+
+  Ponsonby, ii. 490, 493, 497, 498.
+
+  Portalis, i. 289.
+
+  Portland, Duke of, ii. 116, 208.
+
+  Porto Ferrajo, ii. 435, 441-442.
+
+  Portugal, i. 216, 308, 311-312, 437-438; ii. 106, 145-153, 160, 170-171,
+            209-210, 306.
+
+  Potsdam, Treaty of, ii. 30, 44.
+
+  Poussielgue, i. 178.
+
+  Power-looms, ii. 220.
+
+  Pozzo di Borgo, ii. 376, 424, 428, 439.
+
+  _Praams_, i. 485-486.
+
+  Pradt, Abbé de, ii. 246, 253, 258, 267, 424.
+
+  Prague, Congress of, ii. 323-324, 326, 329, 435.
+
+  Prefect, office of, i. 268, 269.
+
+  Press, the, i. 319.
+
+  Press, liberty of the, i. 239; ii. 211, 451.
+
+  Pressburg, Treaty of, ii. 46-48.
+
+  Priests, orthodox, i. 272, 273-277, 282.
+
+  Provence, i. 32, 44, 244.
+
+  Provence, Comte de, i. 54-55, 66, 143.
+
+  Provera, i. 85, 131, 136.
+
+  Prussia, i. 37, 64, 219, 263, 352, 422, 436; ii. 1,
+    4-5, 9, 11, 20, 29-30, 34, 42-45, 48, 49, 51-55, 64-69,
+    83-101, 110, 114-115, 126-127, 131-132, 134-137,
+    177-178, 182, 193, 221, 226, 237-240, 241, 269-271,
+    273-278, 280, 282, 316-317, 385-389, 402-403,
+    423-424, 437, 448.
+
+
+  Public works, i. 316-317.
+
+  Puisaye Papers, i. 450, 452.
+
+  Pyrenees, battle of the, ii. 368.
+
+  Pyramids, battle of the, i. 190-191.
+
+
+
+  Quatre Bras, battle of, ii. 473-475, 509.
+
+  Quosdanovich, i. 107, 109, 110, 114, 115, 116.
+
+
+
+  Rapp, ii. 41, 454.
+
+  Rastadt, Congress of, i. 170, 176.
+
+  Ratisbon, battle of, ii. 191.
+
+  Raynal, M., i. 34.
+
+  Réal, i. 222, 302, 449, 458, 460, 462-463.
+
+  Rebecque, Constant de, ii. 462.
+
+  Reding, i. 392-394.
+
+  Red Sea, i. 181, 200.
+
+  Reggio, i. 118.
+
+  Regnier, i. 449, 454.
+
+  Reiche, Gen., ii. 460, 468, 476, 505.
+
+  Reichenbach, Treaty of, ii. 317.
+
+  Reille, Gen., ii. 309-311, 454, 462, 473, 490, 494, 495, 505.
+
+  Religion, Napoleon's, i. 19-21.
+
+  Rémusat, Madame de, i. 329-330, 459.
+
+  Revolution, French, i. 465-466.
+
+  Rewbell, i. 74, 158, 181, 219, 451.
+
+  Reynier, i. 182, 191; ii. 79-80, 332-333, 337-338, 354, 356, 360,
+    362, 364.
+
+  Richter, Jean Paul, ii. 177.
+
+  Rivière, Marquis de, i. 456, 458.
+
+  Rivoli, battle of, i. 131-136.
+
+  Robespierre, i. 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 70, 82, 174.
+
+  Robespierre, the younger, i. 57, 58, 59, 60.
+
+  Roederer, i. 222, 233-234, 304-305, 308, 399, 473; ii. 375.
+
+  Rohan, Charlotte de, i. 457.
+
+  Roland, Mme., i. 46.
+
+  Roll, Baron de, i. 450.
+
+  Roman Catholic Church, i. 271.
+
+  Romantzoff, ii. 144, 180, 269, 274.
+
+  Rome, i. 100, 129, 179, 275-277.
+
+  Rome, King of, ii. 227, 382, 421.
+
+  Romilly, i. 294, 318.
+
+  Rose, George, ii. 56.
+
+  Rosetta, i. 189.
+
+  Rossbach, battle of, ii. 282.
+
+  Rousseau, i. 17-21, 25, 26-27, 42-43.
+
+  Rüchel, Gen., ii. 91-92, 94, 97.
+
+  Rue St. Honoré, i. 72.
+
+  Rumbold, Sir George, ii. 4.
+
+  Russell, Lord John, ii. 440.
+
+  Russia, i. 183, 216, 243, 260-263, 315, 333, 339-340,
+    352, 387, 422, 425, 430-432, 458, 500, 511 (App.); ii.
+    1, 4-13, 29-30, 47-48, 54, 86, 87, 90, 110, 114-115,
+    130-132, 134-137, 185, 221, 223, 233, 269, 270-272,
+    273, 275-276, 282, 317, 385-389, 402-403, 448.
+
+
+
+
+  Saalfeld, battle of, ii. 93.
+
+  Sacken, Gen., ii. 339, 364, 393-394.
+
+  St. Aignan, Baron, ii. 370, 374.
+
+  St. Cloud, i. 223-227, 225.
+
+  St. Cyr, i. 469; ii. 17, 61-62, 253, 332-334, 337,
+    340-349, 353, 360, 408, 454.
+
+
+  St. Domingo, i. 312, 358-364, 368, 440, 490, 509 (App.); ii. 81.
+
+  St. Gotthard, i. 245-250.
+
+
+  St. Helena, ii. 439, 539-574.
+
+  St, Ildefonso, Convention of, i. 366.
+
+  St. John, Knights of. _See_ Malta.
+
+  St. Just, i. 59, 174.
+
+  St. Lucia, i. 439; ii. 436.
+
+  St. Marsan, ii. 241, 270, 276.
+
+  St. Pierre, i. 342.
+
+  Salamanca, battle of, ii. 256, 300.
+
+  Salicetti, i. 39-40, 47, 49, 57, 60, 104, 121, 147, 148; ii. 10.
+
+  Salo, i. 110.
+
+  Salvatori, i. 144.
+
+  Salzburg, i. 129, 170; ii. 46, 54, 201.
+
+  Saragossa, ii. 170, 177.
+
+  Sardinia, i. 38-39, 54-57, 78, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90,
+    167-168, 216, 241, 245, 261, 312, 388, 430; ii. 6,
+    8, 30, 115.
+
+
+  Sarzana, i. 2, 3.
+
+  Savary, i. 200, 258, 456, 458, 460-463; ii. 35, 41, 96, 144, 165,
+    170-171, 298, 313, 334, 380, 415, 426, 446, 516, 519, 528, 529.
+
+  Savona, i. 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 243, 259.
+
+  Savoy, i. 37, 78, 89, 244-245.
+
+  Savoy, House of, i. 87, 90, 338, 344, 388.
+
+  Saxony, i. 64; ii. 84, 88, 91, 93, 108, 134-135, 194, 207, 275,
+    284-285, 289, 295, 355, 366, 385, 387-388, 411, 437.
+
+  Scharnhorst, ii. 92, 178, 237, 242, 250, 280, 286.
+
+  Schérer, i. 61, 75.
+
+  Schill, ii. 193.
+
+  Schiller, ii. 184.
+
+  Schleiermacher, ii. 286.
+
+  Schönbrunn, Treaty of, ii. 43-45, 201.
+
+  Schwarzenberg, Prince, ii. 24, 281-282, 321, 335-336,
+    341-346, 351, 354, 356, 366, 368, 373, 381, 383, 384,
+    386-389, 396, 402, 404-405, 408-409, 413-414, 417, 418,
+    423-424, 429, 456.
+
+  Scindiah, i. 374, 377-378.
+
+  Sebastiani, Gen., i. 411-413; ii. 339.
+
+  Sebottendorf, i. 94.
+
+  Secularizations, i. 387-388; ii. 52.
+
+  Ségur, Count, ii. 37, 245, 252, 485.
+
+  Ségur, Mme. de, i. 479.
+
+  Sénarmont, ii. 123.
+
+  Senate, i. 230-232, 287, 305-306, 320, 321-325, 466-468, 475; ii.
+    377, 425, 444.
+
+  _Senatus Consultum_, i. 306, 322, 324-325, 468.
+
+  Senegal, i. 358.
+
+  Sérurier, i. 87, 108, 114, 469.
+
+  Servan, i. 36.
+
+  Sicily, i. 77; ii. 72-74, 79-83, 85, 88, 135, 176, 213.
+
+  Sièyes, i. 219-226, 228-233, 451, 467; ii. 526.
+
+  Silesia, ii. 282, 284, 291, 294.
+
+  Silesia, army of, ii. 332, 338-340, 381, 395.
+
+  Silk industry, ii. 224.
+
+  Simmons, Major, ii. 307, 494.
+
+  Simplon, i. 245, 246, 316.
+
+  Sinai, Mount, i. 200.
+
+  Slavery, in French colonies, i. 360-363.
+
+  Smith, Sir Sidney, i. 202, 204-215; ii. 80.
+
+  Smolensk, ii. 251-252.
+
+  Smorgoni, ii. 265.
+
+  Socotra, i. 262.
+
+  Soissons, surrender of, ii. 405-406.
+
+  Sommepuis, council at, ii. 419.
+
+  Somosierra, battle of, ii. 186.
+
+  Souham, Gen., ii. 287, 339.
+
+  Soult, i. 243, 469-470; ii. 18, 21, 38-41, 91, 96, 97,
+    100, 122, 126, 180, 194, 198, 209, 256, 300-301,
+    304-306, 312-313, 325, 368, 379, 384, 408, 414, 432,
+    455, 469, 472, 479, 490, 501, 509.
+
+
+  "Souper de Beaucaire, Le," i. 45-46.
+
+   Spain, i. 46-47, 54-56, 64, 129, 166, 178, 214, 264,
+    265, 294, 308, 311-312, 314-315, 334, 352, 364-370,
+    422, 437-438, 493-496; ii. 69, 74, 106, 146, 149-151,
+    153, 176, 177, 181-182, 186-187, 209-211, 215, 300,
+    361, 368, 379, 403.
+
+  Spina, Monseigneur, i. 274-276.
+
+  Stadion, Count, ii. 197, 202, 289, 315, 326, 410.
+
+
+  Staël, Madame de, i. 73, 163-164, 180, 217, 298.
+
+  Stapfer, i. 391-395, 400.
+
+  Staps, ii. 200.
+
+  Steffens, ii. 274-275, 276.
+
+  Stein, ii. 130, 177, 190, 237, 273-274, 276-277, 373, 387.
+
+  Stewart, Sir Charles, ii. 358, 366, 390, 410, 423, 437.
+
+  Stockholm, Treaty of, ii. 297.
+
+  Stokoe, Dr., ii. 565.
+
+  Stradella, i. 252.
+
+  Stralsund, battle at, ii. 193.
+
+  Strangford, Viscount, ii. 146-148, 152.
+
+  Stuart, Sir John, i. 412; ii. 79-80.
+
+  Stürmer, ii. 565.
+
+  Subervie, Gen., ii. 496, 502.
+
+  Suchet, Marshal, i. 243-244, 250-257, 469;
+    ii. 300-301, 305-306, 313, 379-380, 408, 414, 415, 455.
+
+  Suez, i. 181, 194, 197, 199.
+
+  Sugar, price of, ii. 218.
+
+  Suvoroff, i. 216.
+
+  Swabia, i. 244, 246; ii. 45-48.
+
+  Sweden, i. 263; ii. 1-2, 5-6, 13, 114,
+    136, 140-141, 143-144, 208, 223,
+    237-239, 296-298, 322, 380.
+
+  Swiss Guards, the, i. 36.
+
+  Switzerland, i. 64, 179, 243, 244, 265, 294, 308, 334,
+    336, 377, 389-400, 403, 405, 416, 420;
+    ii. 1, 6, 8, 103, 215, 381, 403.
+
+  Sydney, i. 379-382.
+
+  Syria, i. 201-215; ii. 229.
+
+
+  Tabor, Mount, i. 207.
+
+  Talavera, battle of, ii. 198-199.
+
+  Talleyrand, i. 150, 163-166, 168, 175, 177, 222, 234,
+    278, 294, 304, 306, 337, 341-343, 357, 361, 365-371,
+    395, 417, 423-426, 432, 458, 459, 463, 468, 500; ii.
+    18, 35, 44, 46, 47-49, 63, 66-67, 70-72, 79, 82-84, 87,
+    127, 141, 146, 149, 166, 180-182, 187, 205, 368, 415,
+    424-426, 437, 439-440, 446-447.
+
+
+  Tallien, i. 156, 451.
+
+  Tallien, Madame, i. 73, 155, 443.
+
+  Tauenzien, ii. 350.
+
+  Terror, the, i. 58, 59, 62, 68, 267.
+
+  Tettenborn, ii. 280.
+
+  Théo-philanthropie, i. 179, 272, 273-277.
+
+  Thibaudeau, i. 290, 305, 467.
+
+  Thiébault, i. 71, 111; ii. 37, 39, 40, 416, 484.
+
+  Thielmann, Gen., ii. 460, 467, 468, 471, 477, 482, 489.
+
+  Thornton, Mr., ii. 318, 321-322, 352.
+
+  Thugut, i. 142.
+
+  Ticino, i, 92.
+
+  Tilsit, ii. 123, 126-128.
+
+  Tilsit, Treaty of, ii. 134-137, 145, 155.
+
+  Tippoo Sahib, i. 200, 373.
+
+  Tobago, i. 311-312, 314, 333, 341, 439; ii. 390, 436.
+
+  Tolentino, i. 137.
+
+  Toll, ii. 335, 340, 341, 419.
+
+  Tomkinson, Col., ii. 307, 493.
+
+  Tormassov, ii. 244.
+
+  Torres Vedras, ii. 209.
+
+  Tortona, i. 88, 252.
+
+  Toulon, i. 39, 40, 44, 46-56, 70, 80, 180-182.
+
+  Toussaint l'Ouverture, i. 359-362, 367.
+
+  Trachenberg, compact of, ii. 321-323, 332.
+
+  Trafalgar, battle of, ii. 26-28.
+
+  Trèves, i. 141.
+
+  Trianon Decree, the, ii. 214, 216.
+
+  Tribunate, i. 230, 238, 270, 286-287, 305, 319-324, 467.
+
+  Trieste, i. 121; ii. 201.
+
+  Trinidad, i. 166, 311-312, 314-315, 333, 343, 495; ii. 150.
+
+  Tronchet, i. 289, 321.
+
+  Tugendbund, ii. 184, 237.
+
+  Tuileries, i. 71, 162.
+
+  Turin, i. 79, 85, 87, 89, 250.
+
+  Turkey, i. 65, 183, 188, 201, 216,
+    261, 343, 389, 408-410, 420, 428, 431-432;
+    ii. 44, 72-73, 108, 110,
+    114, 130-131, 135-137, 175-176,
+    181, 182, 207, 208, 236, 238, 272.
+
+  Tuscany, i. 64, 103, 129, 263, 264, 312, 366-369.
+
+  Tyrol, i. 101; ii. 45-48, 193.
+
+  Tyrolese, ii. 189, 201.
+
+
+  Ulm, ii. 14-16, 18-20.
+
+  United States, i. 264, 365-372, 509-510 (App.);
+    ii. 156, 212-213, 221, 269.
+
+  Uxbridge, Lord, ii. 483.
+
+
+  Valais, i. 392; ii. 214.
+
+  Valeggio, i. 101.
+
+  Valençay, Treaty of, ii. 379.
+
+  Valence, i. 14-16, 18.
+
+  Valenza, i. 88, 89, 92.
+
+  Valetta, i. 110.
+
+  Valteline, i. 152.
+
+  Valutino, battle of, ii. 253.
+
+  Vandamme, ii. 39-40, 41, 296, 332-333,
+    342, 344, 346-349, 408, 454, 460, 463, 469, 470.
+
+  Vandeleur, ii. 498, 504, 508.
+
+  Van Diemen's Land, i. 379-382.
+
+  Vaubois, i. 122, 127.
+
+  Vauchamps, battle of, ii. 394.
+
+  Vaud, i. 180, 397.
+
+  Vendée, La, i. 47, 61, 64, 65; ii. 268, 449.
+
+  Vendémiaire, the affair of, i. 68-73.
+
+  Vendetta, i. 3, 4.
+
+  Venetia, ii. 45-48, 438.
+
+  Venice, i. 101, 142, 168-172.
+
+  Verdier, i. 111, 115; ii. 120.
+
+  Verling, Dr., ii. 565.
+
+  Verona, i. 122, 124, 144, 145.
+
+  Viasma, battle of, ii. 260.
+
+  Vicenza, i. 126.
+
+  Victor, Gen., i. 52, 138, 369;
+    ii. 120-122, 198, 254, 264, 266, 332, 345,
+    362, 381, 396, 397, 404, 407, 408, 431, 454.
+
+  Victor Amadeus III., i. 78.
+
+  Vienna, Congress of, ii. 437-439, 453.
+
+  Villeneuve, i. 490-493, 495-503, 506; ii. 12, 26-27.
+
+  Vimiero, battle of, ii. 172.
+
+  Vincent, Baron, ii. 181.
+
+  Visconti, i. 151.
+
+  Vitrolles, Count de; ii. 413, 419.
+
+  Vittoria, battle of, ii. 308-313.
+
+  Vivian, Sir Hussey, ii. 457, 482, 491, 508.
+
+  Volney, i. 75, 182, 206, 484.
+
+  Voltaire, i. 21, 25-27; ii. 179, 567.
+
+  Voltri, i. 82, 83.
+
+  Voss, Countess von, ii. 132-133.
+
+
+  Wagram, battle of, ii. 195-197.
+
+  Walcheren, expedition of, ii. 200.
+
+  Walewska, Countess of, ii. 111, 436.
+
+  Walmoden, Gen., ii. 352.
+
+  Walpole, Lord, ii. 272, 283.
+
+  Warden, Surgeon, ii. 534.
+
+  Warren, Admiral, i. 406, 410, 423; ii. 81.
+
+  Warsaw, Duchy of, ii. 134, 411.
+
+  Waterloo, the position at, ii. 490-492.
+
+  Wavre, movement on, ii. 488.
+
+  Wellesley, Marquis, i. 373, 377-379, 440.
+
+  Wellesley, Sir Arthur. _See_ Wellington.
+
+  Wellington, i. 332; ii. 143, 171-172,
+    194-197, 209, 229, 256, 299, 301-304
+    306, 364, 368, 378-379, 414-415,
+    418, 429, 437, 439, 446, 456,
+    460, 464, 473-475, 481, 489, 499,
+    501, 504, 506-511, 516, 537-538, 548, 573.
+
+  Wertingen, ii. 21.
+
+  Wessenberg, Count, ii. 283, 417.
+
+  West Indies, i. 490-492, 496-499; ii. 229, 390.
+
+  West Indies, French, ii. 56.
+
+  Westphalia, ii. 134, 194.
+
+  Weyrother, ii. 36.
+
+  Whigs, the, i. 22, 167, 427, 452, 494;
+    ii. 209, 447, 457, 527, 559.
+
+  Whitbread, Mr., M.P., ii. 447.
+
+  Whitworth, Lord, i. 403-404, 415-416, 418-425.
+
+  Wieland, ii. 183-184.
+
+  Wilks, Governor, 539, 545, 546, 547.
+
+  Wilson, Sir R., ii. 258, 262.
+
+  Windham, i. 452.
+
+  Winzingerode, ii. 401, 405-406.
+
+  Wittgenstein, ii. 250, 254, 287-288, 294, 335, 341, 345.
+
+  Wrede, ii. 419.
+
+  Wright, Capt, i. 451-452, 456.
+
+  Würmser, i. 105-107, 110-117, 127, 136.
+
+
+  Würtemberg, ii. 46, 59-60.
+
+  Würzburg, ii. 46.
+
+
+
+  Yarmouth, Lord, ii. 72, 79, 81-83, 85.
+
+  Yorck, Gen., ii. 270, 339, 358-359, 392, 393-394, 407.
+
+  York, Duke of, i. 217, 261.
+
+  Yorke, i. 450.
+
+  Young Guard, ii. 503.
+
+
+
+  Zach, i. 257.
+
+  Ziethen, Gen., ii. 460, 461, 463, 464, 505, 508.
+
+  Znaim, Armistice of, ii. 197.
+
+  Zürich, battle of, i. 180, 217.
+
+
+
+
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+
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+
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+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2)
+
+Author: John Holland Rose
+
+Release Date: December 7, 2004 [EBook #14290]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Murray, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON: G. BELL & SONS, LIMITED,
+  PORTUGAL STREET, KINGSWAY, W.C.
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL & CO.
+  NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
+  BOMBAY: A.H. WHEELER & CO.
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+
+
+  INCLUDING NEW MATERIALS FROM THE BRITISH OFFICIAL RECORDS
+
+
+
+
+  BY
+
+  JOHN HOLLAND ROSE, LITT.D. LATE SCHOLAR OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
+
+
+
+
+    "Let my son often read and reflect on history: this is the only
+    true philosophy."--_Napoleon's last Instructions for the King of
+    Rome_.
+
+
+
+
+
+  VOL. II
+
+
+
+
+
+  LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD 1910
+  POST 8VO EDITION,
+  ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+  First Published, December 1901.
+  Second Edition, revised, March 1902.
+  Third Edition, revised, January 1903.
+  Fourth Edition, revised,September 1907.
+  Reprinted, January 1910.
+
+
+  CROWN 8VO EDITION
+  First Published, September 1904.
+  Reprinted, October 1907;
+  July 1910.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER
+     XXII. ULM AND TRAFALGAR
+    XXIII. AUSTERLITZ
+     XXIV. PRUSSIA AND THE NEW CHARLEMAGNE
+      XXV. THE FALL OF PRUSSIA
+     XXVI. THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM: FRIEDLAND
+    XXVII. TILSIT
+   XXVIII. THE SPANISH RISING
+     XXIX. ERFURT
+      XXX. NAPOLEON AND AUSTRIA
+     XXXI. THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT
+    XXXII. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
+   XXXIII. THE FIRST SAXON CAMPAIGN
+    XXXIV. VITTORIA AND THE ARMISTICE
+     XXXV. DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG
+    XXXVI. FROM THE RHINE TO THE SEINE
+   XXXVII. THE FIRST ABDICATION
+  XXXVIII. ELBA AND PARIS
+    XXXIX. LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS
+       XL. WATERLOO
+      XLI. FROM THE ELYSEE TO ST. HELENA
+     XLII. CLOSING YEARS
+
+           APPENDIX I: LIST OF THE CHIEF APPOINTMENTS
+             AND DIGNITIES BESTOWED BY NAPOLEON
+
+           APPENDIX II: THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
+
+           INDEX
+
+
+MAPS AND PLANS
+
+  BATTLE OF ULM
+  BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ
+  BATTLE OF JENA
+  BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND
+  BATTLE OF WAGRAM
+  CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER 1810
+  CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA
+  BATTLE OF VITTORIA
+  THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813
+  BATTLE OF DRESDEN
+  BATTLE OF LEIPZIG
+  THE CAMPAIGN OF 1814                              _to face_
+  PLAN OF THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
+  BATTLE OF LIGNY
+  BATTLE OF WATERLOO, about 11 o'clock a.m.    _to face_
+  ST. HELENA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+ULM AND TRAFALGAR
+
+
+"Napoleon is the only man in Europe that knows the value of
+time."--Czartoryski.
+
+
+Before describing the Continental campaign which shattered the old
+European system to its base, it will be well to take a brief glance at
+the events which precipitated the war of the Third Coalition. Even at
+the time of Napoleon's rupture with England, his highhanded conduct
+towards the Italian Republic, Holland, Switzerland, and in regard to
+the Secularizations in Germany, had exposed him to the hostility of
+Russia, Sweden, and Austria; but as yet it took the form of secret
+resentment. The last-named Power, under the Ministry of Count Cobenzl,
+had relapsed into a tame and undignified policy, which the Swedish
+Ambassador at Vienna described as "one of fear and hope--fear of the
+power of France, and hope to obtain favours from her."[1] At Berlin,
+Frederick William clung nervously to neutrality, even though the
+French occupation of Hanover was a threat to Prussia's influence in
+North Germany. The Czar Alexander was, at present, wrapt up in home
+affairs; and the only monarch who as yet ventured to show his dislike
+of the First Consul was the King of Sweden. In the autumn of 1803
+Gustavus IV. defiantly refused Napoleon's proposals for a
+Franco-Swedish alliance, baited though they were with the offer of
+Norway as an eventual prize for Sweden, and a subsidy for every
+Swedish warship serving against England. And it was not the dislike of
+a proud nature to receive money which prompted his refusal; for
+Gustavus, while in Germany, hinted to Drake that he desired to have
+pecuniary help from England for the defence of his province of
+Pomerania.[2]
+
+But a doughtier champion of European independence was soon to enter
+the field. The earlier feelings of respect and admiration which the
+young Czar had cherished towards Napoleon were already overclouded,
+when the news of the execution of the Duc d'Enghien at once roused a
+storm of passion in his breast. The chivalrous protection which he
+loved to extend to smaller States, the guarantee of the Germanic
+system which the Treaty of Teschen had vested in him, above all, his
+horror at the crime, led him to offer an emphatic protest. The Russian
+Court at once went into mourning, and Alexander expressed both to the
+German Diet and to the French Government his indignation at the
+outrage. It was ever Napoleon's habit to return blow with blow; and he
+now instructed Talleyrand to reply that in the D'Enghien affair he had
+acted solely on the defensive, and that Russia's complaint "led him to
+ask if, at the time when England was compassing the assassination of
+Paul I., the authors of the plot had been known to be one league
+beyond the [Russian] frontiers, every effort would not have been made
+to have them seized?" Never has a poisoned dart been more deftly sped
+at the weak spot of an enemy's armour. The Czar, ever haunted by the
+thought of his complicity in a parricidal plot, was deeply wounded by
+this malicious taunt, and all the more so because, as the death of
+Paul had been officially ascribed to a fit, the insult could not be
+flung back.[3] The only reply was to break off all diplomatic
+relations with Napoleon; and this took place in the summer of 1804.[4]
+
+Yet war was not to break out for more than a year. This delay was due
+to several causes. Austria could not be moved from her posture of
+timid neutrality. In fact, Francis II. and Cobenzl saw in Napoleon's
+need of a recognition of his new imperial title a means of assuring a
+corresponding change of title for the Hapsburg Dominions. Francis had
+long been weary of the hollow dignity of Elective Emperor of the Holy
+Roman Empire. The faded pageantry of Ratisbon and Frankfurt was all
+that remained of the glories of the realm of Charlemagne: the medley
+of States which owned him as elected lord cared not for the decrees of
+this ghostly realm; and Goethe might well place in the mouth of his
+jovial toper, in the cellar scene of "Faust," the words:
+
+                    "Dankt Gott mit jedem Morgen
+  Dass Ihr nicht braucht fuer's Roem'sche Reich zu sorgen!"
+
+In that bargaining and burglarious age, was it not better to build a
+more lasting habitation than this venerable ruin? Would not the
+hereditary dominions form a more lasting shelter from the storm? Such
+were doubtless the thoughts that prompted the assumption of the title
+of Hereditary Emperor of Austria (August 11th, 1804). The
+letter-patent, in which this change was announced, cited as parallels
+"the example of the Imperial Court of Russia in the last century and
+of the new sovereign of France." Both references gave umbrage to
+Alexander, who saw no parallel between the assumption of the title of
+Emperor by Peter the Great and the game of follow-the-leader played by
+Francis to Napoleon.[5]
+
+Prussian complaisance to the French Emperor was at this time to be
+expected. Frederick William III. reigned over 10,000,000 subjects; he
+could marshal 248,000 of the best trained troops in Europe, and his
+revenue was more fruitful than that of the great Frederick. Yet the
+effective power of Prussia had sadly waned; for her policy was now
+marked by an enervating indecision. In the autumn of 1804, however,
+the Prussian King was for a time spurred into action by the news that
+Sir George Rumbold, British envoy at Hamburg, had been seized on the
+night of October 24th, by French troops, and carried off to Paris.
+This aggression upon the Circle of Lower Saxony, of which Frederick
+William was Director, aroused lively indignation at Berlin; and the
+King at once wrote to Napoleon a request for the envoy's liberation as
+a proof of his "friendship and high consideration ...a seal on the past
+and a pledge for the future."
+
+To this appeal Napoleon returned a soothing answer that Sir George
+would at once be released, though England was ever violating the
+rights of neutrals, and her agents were conspiring against his life.
+The Emperor, in fact, saw that he had taken a false step, which might
+throw Prussia into the arms of England and Russia. For this latter
+Power had already (May, 1804) offered her armed help to the Court of
+Berlin in case the French should violate any other German
+territory.[6] But the King was easily soothed; and when, in the
+following spring, Napoleon sent seven Golden Eagles of the Legion of
+Honour to the Court of Berlin, seven Black Eagles of the renowned
+Prussian Order were sent in return--an occurrence which led Gustavus
+IV. to return his Order of the Black Eagle with the remark that he
+could not recognize "Napoleon and his like" as comrades in an Order of
+Chivalry and Religion.[7] Napoleon's aim was achieved: Prussia was
+sundered from any league in which Gustavus IV. was a prominent member.
+
+Thus, the chief steps in the formation of the Third Coalition were
+taken by Sweden, England, and Russia. Early in 1804 Gustavus proposed
+a League of the Powers; and, on the advent of the Pitt Ministry to
+office, overtures began to pass between St. Petersburg and London for
+an alliance. Important proposals were made by Pitt and our Foreign
+Minister, the Earl of Harrowby, in a note of June 26th, 1804, in which
+hopes were expressed that Russia, England, Austria, Sweden, and if
+possible Prussia, might be drawn together.[8] Alexander and
+Czartoryski were already debating the advantages of an alliance with
+England. Their aims were certainly noble. International law and the
+rights of the weak States bordering on France were to be championed,
+and it was suggested by Czartoryski that disputes should be settled,
+not by force, but by arbitration.[9]
+
+The statement of these exalted ideas was intrusted to a special envoy
+to London, M. Novossiltzoff, who propounded to Pitt the scheme of a
+European polity where the States should be independent and enjoy
+institutions "founded on the sacred rights of humanity." With this aim
+in view, the Czar desired to curb the power of Napoleon, bring back
+France to her old limits, and assure the peace of Europe on a firm
+basis, namely on the principle of the _balance of power_. Pitt and
+Lord Harrowby having agreed to these proposals, details were discussed
+at the close of 1804. None of the allies were, in any case, to make a
+separate peace; and England (said M. Novossiltzoff) must not only use
+her own troops, but grant subsidies to enable the Powers to set on
+foot effective forces.
+
+This last sentence claims special notice, as it disposes of the
+well-worn phrase, that the Third Coalition was _built up_ by Pitt's
+gold. On the contrary, Russia was the first to set forth the need of
+English subsidies, which Pitt was by no means eager to supply. The
+phrase used by French historians is doubtless correct in so far as
+English gold enabled our allies to arm efficiently; but it is wholly
+false if it implies that the Third Coalition was merely trumped up by
+our money, and that the Russian, Austrian, and Swedish Governments
+were so many automatic machines which, if jogged with coins, would
+instantly supply armies to the ready money purchaser. This is
+practically the notion still prevalent on the Continent; and it is
+clearly traceable to the endless diatribes against Pitt's gold with
+which Napoleon seasoned his bulletins, and to the caricatures which he
+_ordered to be drawn_. The following was his direction to his Minister
+of Police, Fouche: "Have caricatures made--an Englishman purse in
+hand, _entreating the various Powers to take his money. This is the
+real direction to give the whole business._" How well he knew mankind:
+he rightly counted on its gullibility where pictures were concerned;
+and the direction which he thus gave to public opinion bids fair to
+persist, in spite of every exposure of the trickery.[10]
+
+But, to return to the plans of the allies, Holland, Switzerland, and
+Italy were to be liberated from their "enslavement to France," and
+strengthened so as to provide barriers to future aggressions: the King
+of Sardinia was to be restored to his mainland possessions, and
+receive in addition the Ligurian, or Genoese, Republic.[11]
+
+On all essential topics the British Government was in full accord with
+the views of the Czar, and Pitt insisted on the need of a system of
+international law which should guarantee the Continent against further
+rapacious acts. But Europe was not destined to find peace on these
+principles until after ten years of desolating war.
+
+Various causes hindered the formation of this league. On January 2nd,
+1805, Napoleon sent to George III. an offer of peace; and those
+persons who did not see that this was a device for discovering the
+course of negotiations believed that he ardently desired it. We now
+know that the offer was despatched a week after he had ordered
+Missiessy to ravage the British West Indies.[12] And, doubtless, his
+object was attained when George III. replied in the speech from the
+throne (January 15th) that he could not entertain the proposal without
+reference to the Powers with whom he was then engaged in confidential
+intercourse, and especially the Emperor of Russia. Yet the British
+Government discussed with the Czar the basis for a future pacification
+of Europe; and the mission of Novossiltzoff at midsummer to Berlin, on
+his way to Paris, was the answer, albeit a belated one, to Napoleon's
+New Year's pacific appeal. We shall now see why this delay occurred,
+and what acts of the French Emperor finally dispelled all hopes of
+peace.
+
+The delay was due to differences between Russia and England respecting
+Malta and our maritime code. The Czar insisted on our relinquishing
+Malta and relaxing the rigours of the right of search for deserters
+from our navy. To this the Pitt Ministry demurred, seeing that Malta
+was our only means of protecting the Mediterranean States, and our
+only security against French aggressions in the Levant, while the
+right of searching neutral vessels was necessary to prevent the
+enfeebling of our navy.[13] Negotiations were nearly broken off even
+after a treaty between the two Powers had been brought to the final
+stage on April 11th, 1805; but in July (after the Czar had recorded
+his solemn protest against our keeping Malta) it was ratified, and
+formed the basis for the Third Coalition. The aims of the allies were
+to bring about the expulsion of French troops from North Germany; to
+assure the independence of the Republics of Holland and Switzerland;
+and to reinstate the King of Sardinia in Piedmont. Half a million of
+men were to be set in motion, besides the forces of Great Britain; and
+the latter Power, as a set-off to her lack of troops, agreed to
+subsidize her allies to the extent of; L1,250,000 a year for every
+100,000 men actually employed in the war. It was further stipulated
+that a European Congress at the close of the war should endeavour to
+fix more surely the principles of the Law of Nations and establish a
+federative system. Above all, the allies bound themselves not to
+hinder the popular wish in France respecting the form of government--a
+clause which deprived the war of the Third Coalition of that
+monarchical character which had pervaded the league of 1793 and, to a
+less extent, that of 1799.[14]
+
+What was the attitude of Napoleon towards this league? He certainly
+took little pains to conciliate the Czar. In fact, his actions towards
+Russia were almost openly provocative. Thus, while fully aware of the
+interest which Alexander felt in the restoration of the King of
+Sardinia, he sent the proposal that that unlucky King should receive
+the Ionian Isles and Malta as indemnities for his losses, and that too
+when Russia looked upon Corfu as her own. To this offer the Czar
+deigned not a word in reply. Napoleon also sent an envoy to the Shah
+of Persia with an offer of alliance, so as to check the advances of
+Russia on the shores of the Caspian.[15]
+
+On the other hand, he used every effort to allure Prussia, by secretly
+offering her Hanover, and that too as early as the close of July.[16]
+For a brief space, also, he took some pains to conciliate Austria.
+This indeed was necessary: for the Court of Vienna had already
+(November 6th, 1804) framed a secret agreement with Russia to make war
+on Napoleon if he committed any new aggression in Italy or menaced any
+part of the Turkish Empire.[17] Yet this act was really defensive.
+Francis desired only to protect himself against Napoleon's ambition,
+and, had he been treated with consideration, would doubtless have
+clung to peace.
+
+For a time Napoleon humoured that Court, even as regards the changes
+now mooted in Italy. On January 1st, 1805, he wrote to Francis,
+stating that he was about to proclaim Joseph Bonaparte King of Italy,
+if the latter would renounce his claim to the crown of France, and so
+keep the governments of France and Italy separate, as the Treaty of
+Luneville required; that this action would enfeeble his (Napoleon's)
+power, but would carry its own recompense if it proved agreeable to
+the Emperor Francis.
+
+But it soon appeared that Joseph was by no means inclined to accept
+the crown of Lombardy if it entailed the sacrifice of all hope of
+succeeding to the French Empire. He had already demurred to _le vilain
+titre de roi_, and on January 27th announced his final rejection of
+the offer. Napoleon then proposed to Louis that he should hold that
+crown in trust for his son; but the suggestion at once rekindled the
+flames of jealousy which ever haunted Louis; and, after a violent
+scene, the Emperor thrust his brother from the room.
+
+Perhaps this anger was simulated. He once admitted that his rage only
+mounted this high--pointing to his chin; and the refusals of his
+brothers were certainly to be expected. However that may be, he now
+resolved to assume that crown himself, appointing as Viceroy his
+step-son, Eugene Beauharnais. True, he announced to the French Senate
+that the realms of France and Italy would be kept separate: but
+neither the Italian deputies, who had been summoned to Paris to vote
+this dignity to their master, nor the servile Senate, nor the rulers
+of Europe, were deceived. Thus, when in the early summer Napoleon
+reviewed a large force that fought over again in mimic war the battle
+of Marengo; when, amidst all the pomp and pageantry that art could
+devise, he crowned himself in the cathedral of Milan with the iron
+circlet of the old Lombard Kings, using the traditional formula: "God
+gave it me, woe to him who touches it"; when, finally, he incorporated
+the Ligurian Republic in the French Empire, Francis of Austria
+reluctantly accepted the challenges thus threateningly cast down, and
+began to arm.[18] The records of our Foreign Office show conclusively
+that the Hapsburg ruler felt himself girt with difficulties: the
+Austrian army was as yet ill organized: the reforms after which the
+Archduke Charles had been striving were ill received by the military
+clique; and the sole result had been to unsettle rather than
+strengthen the army, and to break down the health of the Archduke.[19]
+Yet the intention of Napoleon to treat Italy as a French province was
+so insultingly paraded that Francis felt war to be inevitable, and
+resolved to strike a blow while the French were still entangled in
+their naval schemes. He knew well the dangers of war; he would have
+eagerly welcomed any sign of really peaceful intentions at Paris; but
+no signs were given; in fact, French agents were sent into Switzerland
+to intrigue for a union of that land with France. Here again the pride
+of the Hapsburgs was cut to the quick, and they disdained to submit to
+humiliations such as were eating the heart out of the Prussian
+monarchy.
+
+The Czar, too, was far from eager for war. He had sent Novossiltzoff
+to Berlin _en route_ for Paris, in the hope of coming to terms with
+Napoleon, when the news of the annexation of Genoa ended the last
+hopes of a compromise. "This man is insatiable," exclaimed Alexander;
+"his ambition knows no bounds; he is a scourge of the world; he wants
+war; well, he shall have it, and the sooner the better," The Czar at
+once ordered all negotiations to be broken off. Novossiltzoff, on July
+10th, declared to Baron Hardenberg, the successor of Haugwitz at the
+Prussian Foreign Office, that Napoleon had now passed the utmost
+limits of the Czar's patience; and he at once returned his French
+passports. In forwarding them to the French ambassador at Berlin,
+Hardenberg expressed the deep regret of the Prussian monarch at the
+breakdown of this most salutary negotiation--a phrase which showed
+that the patience of Berlin was nearly exhausted.[20]
+
+Clearly, then, the Third Coalition was not cemented by English gold,
+but by Napoleon's provocations. While England and Russia found great
+difficulty in coming to an accord, and Austria was arming only from
+fear, the least act of complaisance on his part would have unravelled
+this ill-knit confederacy. But no such action was forthcoming. All his
+letters written in North Italy after his coronation are puffed up with
+incredible insolence. Along with hints to Eugene to base politics on
+dissimulation and to seek only to be feared, we find letters to
+Ministers at Paris scorning the idea that England and Russia can come
+to terms, and asserting that the annexation of Genoa concerns England
+alone; but if Austria wants to find a pretext for war, she may now
+find it.
+
+Then he hurries back to Fontainebleau, covering the distance from
+Turin in eighty-five hours; and, after a brief sojourn at St. Cloud,
+he reaches Boulogne. There, on August the 22nd, he hears that Austria
+is continuing to arm: a few hours later comes the news that Villeneuve
+has turned back to Cadiz. Fiercely and trenchantly he resolves this
+fateful problem. He then sketches to Talleyrand the outlines of his
+new policy. He will again press, and this time most earnestly, his
+offer of Hanover to Prussia as the price of her effective alliance
+against the new coalition. Perhaps this new alliance will strangle the
+coalition at its birth; at any rate it will paralyze Austria.
+Accordingly, he despatches to Berlin his favourite aide-de-camp,
+General Duroc, to persuade the King that his alliance will save the
+Continent from war.[21]
+
+Meanwhile the Hapsburgs were completely deceived. They imagined
+Napoleon to be wholly immersed in his naval enterprise, and
+accordingly formed a plan of campaign, which, though admirable against
+a weak and guileless foe, was fraught with danger if the python's
+coils were ready for a spring. As a matter of fact, he was far better
+prepared than Austria. As late as July 7th, the Court of Vienna had
+informed the allies that its army would not be ready for four months;
+yet the nervous anxiety of the Hapsburgs to be beforehand with
+Napoleon led them to hurry on war: and on August 9th they secretly
+gave their adhesion to the Russo-British alliance.
+
+Then, too, by a strange fatuity, their move into Bavaria was to be
+made with a force of only 59,000 men, while their chief masses, some
+92,000 strong, were launched into Italy against the strongholds on the
+Mincio. To guard the flanks of these armies, Austria had 34,000 men in
+Tyrol; but, apart from raw recruits, there were fewer than 20,000
+soldiers in the rest of that vast empire. In fact, the success of the
+autumn campaign was known to depend on the help of the Russians, who
+were expected to reach the banks of the Inn before the 20th of
+October, while it was thought that the French could not possibly reach
+the Danube till twenty days later.[22] It was intended, however, to
+act most vigorously in Italy, and to wage a defensive campaign on the
+Danube.
+
+Such was the plan concocted at Vienna, mainly under the influence of
+the Archduke Charles, who took the command of the army in Italy, while
+that of the Danube was assigned to the Archduke Ferdinand and Mack,
+the new Quarter-Master-General. This soldier had hitherto enjoyed a
+great reputation in Austria, probably because he was the only general
+who had suffered no great defeat. Amidst the disasters of 1797 he
+seemed the only man able to retrieve the past, and to be shut out from
+command by Thugut's insane jealousy of his "transcendent
+abilities."[23] Brave he certainly was: but his mind was always swayed
+by preconceived notions; he belonged to the school of "manoeuvre
+strategists," of whom the Duke of Brunswick was the leader; and he now
+began the campaign of 1805 with the fixed purpose of holding a
+commanding military position. Such a position the Emperor Francis and
+Mack had discovered in the weak fortress of Ulm and the line of the
+River Iller. Towards these points of vantage the Austrians now began
+to move.
+
+The first thing was to gain over the Elector of Bavaria. The Court of
+Vienna, seeking to persuade or compel that prince to join the
+Coalition, made overtures (September 3rd to 6th) with which he dallied
+for a day or two until an opportunity came of escaping to the fortress
+of Wuerzburg. Mack thereupon crossed the River Inn and sought, but in
+vain, to cut off the Bavarian troops from that stronghold.
+Accordingly, the Austrian leader marched on to Ulm, where he arrived
+in the middle of September; and, not satisfied with holding this
+advanced position, he pushed on his outposts to the chief defiles of
+the Black Forest, while other regiments held the valley of the River
+Iller and strengthened the fortress of Memmingen. Doubtless this would
+have been good strategy, had his forces been equal in numbers to those
+of Napoleon. At that time the Black Forest was the only  physical barrier
+between France and Southern Germany; the Rhine was then practically a
+French river; and, only by holding the passes of that range could the
+Austrians hope to screen Swabia from invasion on the side of Alsace.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF ULM]
+
+But Mack forgot two essential facts. Until the Russians arrived, he
+was too weak to hold so advanced a position in what was hostile
+ground, now that Bavaria and the other South German States obeyed
+Napoleon's summons to range themselves on his side. Further, he was
+dangerously exposed on the north, as a glance at the map will show.
+Ulm and the line of the Iller formed a strong defence against the
+south-west: but on the north that position is singularly open: it can
+be turned from the valleys of the Main, the Neckar, and the Altmuehl,
+all of which conduct an invader to the regions east of Ulm. Indeed, it
+passes belief how even the Aulic Council could have ignored the
+dangers of that position. Possibly the fact that Ulm had been stoutly
+held by Kray in 1796 now induced them to overrate its present
+importance; but at that time the fortified camp of Ulm was the central
+knot of vast operations, whereas now it was but an advanced
+outpost.[24] If Francis and his advisers were swayed by historical
+reminiscences it is strange that they forgot the fate of Melas in
+Piedmont. The real parallel had been provided, not by Kray, but by the
+general who was cut off at Marengo. Indeed, in its broad outlines, the
+campaign of Ulm resembles that of Marengo. Against foes who had thrust
+their columns far from their base, Napoleon now, as in 1800,
+determined to deal a crushing blow. On the part of the Austrians we
+notice the same misplaced confidence, the same lack of timely news,
+and the same inability to understand Napoleon's plan until his
+dispositions are complete; while his strategy and tactics in 1805
+recall to one's mind the masterly simplicity of design, the subtlety
+and energy of execution, which led up to his triumph in the plains of
+Piedmont.
+
+Meanwhile the allies were dissipating their strength. A Russian corps,
+acting from Corfu as a base, and an English expedition from Malta,
+were jointly to attack St. Cyr in the south of Italy, raise the
+country at his rear and compel him to surrender. This plan was left
+helplessly flapping in the air by a convention which Napoleon imposed
+on the Neapolitan ambassador. On September 21st Talleyrand induced
+that envoy to guarantee the neutrality of the kingdom of Naples, all
+belligerents being excluded from its domains. Consequently St. Cyr's
+corps evacuated that land and brought a welcome reinforcement to
+Massena on the Mincio. Equally skilful was Napoleon's action as
+regards Hanover. On that side also the allies planned a formidable
+expedition. From the fortress of Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania, a
+force of Russians and Swedes, which Gustavus burned to command, was to
+march into Hanover, and, when strengthened by an Anglo-Hanoverian
+corps, drive the French from the Low Countries. It is curious to
+contrast the cumbrous negotiations concerning this expedition--the
+quarrels about the command, the anxiety at the outset lest Villeneuve
+should perhaps sail into the Baltic, the delays of the British War
+Office, the remonstrances of the Czar, and the efforts to avert the
+jealousy of Prussia--with the serene indifference of Napoleon as to
+the whole affair. He knew full well that the war would not be decided
+by diversions at the heel of Italy or on the banks of the Ems, but by
+the shock of great masses of men on the Danube. He denuded Hanover of
+French troops, except at its southern fortress of Hameln, so that he
+could overwhelm the levies of Austria before the Russians came up. In
+brief, while the Coalition sought, like a Briareus, to envelop him on
+all sides, he prepared to deal a blow at its heart.
+
+As the first part of the campaign depended almost entirely on problems
+of time and space, it will be well to follow the chief movements of
+the hostile forces somewhat closely. The Austrian plan aimed at
+forestalling the French in the occupation of Swabia; and its apparent
+success puffed up Mack with boundless confidence. At Ulm he threw up
+extensive outworks to strengthen that obsolete fortress, extended his
+lines to Memmingen far on the south, and trusted that the Muscovites
+would come up long before the French eagles hovered above the sources
+of the Danube. But at that time the Russian vanguard had not reached
+Linz in Upper Austria, and not before October 10th did it appear on
+the banks of the River Inn.[25]
+
+Far from being the last to move, the French Emperor outstripped his
+enemies in the speed of his preparations. Whereas the Austrians
+believed he would not be able to reach the Danube in force before
+November 10th, he intended to have 200,000 men in Germany by September
+18th. But he knew not at first the full extent of his good fortune: it
+did not occur to him that the Austrians would cross the Inn: all he
+asks Talleyrand, on August 23rd, is that such news may appear in the
+"Moniteur" as will gain him twenty days and give General Bertrand time
+to win over Bavaria, while "I make my 200,000 men pirouette into
+Germany." On August 29th the _Army of England_ became the _Grand
+Army_, composed of seven corps, led by Bernadotte, Marmont, Davoust,
+Soult, Lannes, Ney and Augereau. The cavalry was assigned to Murat;
+while Bessieres was in command of the Imperial Guard, now numbering
+some 10,000 men.
+
+Already the greater part of this vast array was beginning to move
+inland; Davoust and Soult left some regiments, 30,000 strong, to guard
+the flotilla, and Marmont detached 14,000 men to defend the coasts of
+Holland; but the other corps on September 2nd began their march
+Rhine-wards in almost their full strength. On that day Bernadotte
+broke up his cantonments in Hanover, and began his march towards the
+Main, on which so much was to turn. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel now
+espoused Napoleon's cause. Thus, without meeting any opposition,
+Bernadotte's columns reached Wuerzburg at the close of September; there
+the Elector of Bavaria welcomed the Marshal and gave him the support
+of his 20,000 troops; and at that stronghold he was also joined by
+Marmont.
+
+In order to mislead the Austrians, Napoleon remained up to September
+23rd at St. Cloud or Paris; and during his stay appeared a _Senatus
+Consultum_ ordering that, after January 1st, 1806, France should give
+up its revolutionary calendar and revert to the Gregorian. He then set
+out for Strassburg, as though the chief blows were to be dealt through
+the passes of the Black Forest at the front of Mack's line of defence;
+and, to encourage that general in this belief, Murat received orders
+to show his horsemen in the passes held by Mack's outposts, but to
+avoid any serious engagements. This would give time for the other
+corps to creep up to the enemy's rear. Mack, meanwhile, had heard of
+the forthcoming junction of the French and Bavarians at Wuerzburg, but
+opined that it threatened Bohemia.[26]
+
+Accordingly, he still clung to his lines, contenting himself with
+sending a cavalry regiment to observe Bernadotte's movements; but
+neither he nor his nominal chief, the Archduke Ferdinand, divined the
+truth. Indeed, so far did they rely on the aid of the Russians as to
+order back some regiments sent from Italy by the more sagacious
+Archduke Charles; but 11,000 troops from Tyrol reached the Swabian
+army. That force was now spread out so as to hold the bridges of the
+Danube between Ingolstadt and Ulm; and on October 7th the Austrians
+were disposed as follows: 18,000 men under Kienmayer were guarding
+Ingolstadt, Neuburg, Donauwoerth, Guenzburg, and lesser points, while
+Mack had about 35,000 men at Ulm and along the line of the Iller; the
+arrival of other detachments brought the Austrian total to upwards of
+70,000 men. Against this long scattered line Napoleon led greatly
+superior forces.[27] The development of his plans proceeded apace.
+Though Prussia had proclaimed her strict neutrality, he did not
+scruple to violate it by sending Bernadotte's corps through her
+principality of Ansbach, which lay in their path. He charged
+Bernadotte to "offer many assurances favourable to Prussia, and
+testify all possible affection and respect for her--and then rapidly
+cross her land, asserting the impossibility of doing anything else."
+Accordingly, that Marshal was lavish in his regrets and apologies, but
+ordered his columns to defile past the battalions and squadrons of
+Prussia, that were powerless to resent the outrage.[28]
+
+The news of this trespass on Prussian territory reached the ears of
+Frederick William at a critical time, when the Czar sent to Berlin a
+kind of ultimatum, intimating that, even if Prussia deserted the cause
+of European independence, Russian troops must nevertheless pass
+through part of Prussian Poland. Stung by this note from his usually
+passive demeanour, the King sent off an answer that such a step would
+entail a Franco-Prussian alliance against the violators of his
+territory, when the news came that Napoleon had actually done at
+Ansbach what Alexander had announced his intention of doing in the
+east. The revulsion of feeling was violent: for a short space the King
+declared he would dismiss Duroc and make war on Napoleon for this
+insult, but in the end he called a cabinet council and invited the
+Czar to come to Berlin.[29]
+
+While the Gallophil counsellors, Haugwitz and Lombard, were using all
+their arts to hinder the Prusso-Russian understanding, the meshes were
+being woven fast around Mack and the Archduke Ferdinand. Bernadotte's
+corps, after making history in its march, was detached to the
+south-east so as to hold in check the Russian vanguard, and to give
+plenty of room to the troops that were to cut off Mack from Austria, a
+move which may be compared with the march of Bonaparte to Milan before
+he essayed the capture of Melas. Both steps bespeak his desire to have
+ample space at his back before circling round his prey.
+
+On October 6th the corps of Soult and Lannes, helped by Murat's
+powerful cavalry, cut the Austrian lines on the Danube at Donauwoerth,
+and gained a firm footing on the right bank. Over the crossing thus
+secured far in Mack's rear, the French poured in dense array, and
+marched south and south-west towards the back of the Austrian
+positions, while Ney's corps marched to seize the chief bridges over
+the Danube.
+
+A study of the processes of Mack's brain at this time is not without
+interest. It shows the danger of intrusting the fate of an army to a
+man who cannot weigh evidence. Mack was not ignorant of the course of
+events, though his news generally came late. The mischief was that his
+brain warped the news. On October 6th he wrote to Vienna that the
+enemy seemed about to aim a blow at his communications: on October
+7th, when he heard of the loss of Donauwoerth, he described it as an
+unfortunate event, which no one thought to be possible. The Archduke
+now urged the need of an immediate retreat towards Munich, and marched
+in an easterly direction on Guenzburg: another Austrian division of
+8,000 men moved on Wertingen, where, on October 8th, it was furiously
+attacked by the troops of Murat and Lannes. At first the Imperialists
+firmly kept their ranks; but the unequal contest closed with a hasty
+flight, which left 2,000 men in the hands of the French Then Murat,
+pressing on through the woods, cut off Mack's retreat to Augsburg. Yet
+that general still took a cheerful view of his position. On that same
+day he wrote from Guenzburg that, as soon as the enemy had passed over
+the Lech, he would cross the Danube and cut their communications at
+Noerdlingen. He wrote thus when Ney's corps was striving to seize the
+Danube bridges below Ulm. If Mack were to march north-east against the
+French communications it was of the utmost importance for him to hold
+the chief of these bridges: but Ney speedily seized three of them, and
+on the 9th was able to draw closer the toils around Ulm.
+
+From his position at Augsburg the French Emperor now directed the
+final operations; and, as before Marengo, he gave most heed to that
+side by which he judged his enemy would strive to break through, in
+this case towards Kempten and Tyrol. This would doubtless have been
+Mack's safest course; for he was strong enough to brush aside Soult,
+gain Tyrol, seal up its valleys against Napoleon, and carry
+reinforcements to the Archduke Charles. But he was still intent on his
+Noerdlingen scheme, even after the loss of the Danube bridges exposed
+his march thither to flank attacks from the four French corps now
+south of the river. Nevertheless, Napoleon's miscalculation of Mack's
+plans, or, as Thiers has striven to prove, a misunderstanding of his
+orders by Murat, gave the Austrians a chance such as fortune rarely
+bestows.[30]
+
+In spite of Ney's protests, one of his divisions, that led by Dupont,
+had been left alone to guard the northern bank of the Danube, a
+position where it might have been overwhelmed by an enterprising foe.
+What is more extraordinary, Dupont, with only 6,000 men, was charged
+to advance on Ulm, and carry it by storm. On the 11th he accordingly
+advanced against Mack's fortified camp north of that city. The
+Austrians met him in force, and, despite the utmost heroism of his
+troops, finally wrested the village of Hasslach from his grasp; later
+in the day a cloud of their horsemen, swooping round his right wing,
+cut up his tired troops, took 1,000 prisoners, and left 1,500 dead and
+wounded on the field. Among the booty was found a despatch of Napoleon
+ordering Dupont to carry Ulm by storm--which might have shown them
+that the French Emperor believed that city to be all but deserted.[31]
+In truth, Napoleon's miscalculation opened for Mack a path of safety;
+and had he at once marched away to the north, the whole aspect of
+affairs might have changed. The Russian vanguard was on the banks of
+the Inn: all the French, except the relics of Dupont's division, were
+south of the Danube, and a few vigorous blows at their communications
+might have greatly embarrassed troops that had little artillery, light
+stores of ammunition, and lived almost entirely on the produce of the
+country. We may picture to ourselves the fierce blows that, in such a
+case, Frederick the Great would have rained on his assailants as he
+wheeled round on their rear and turned their turning movements. With
+Frederick matched against Napoleon, the Lech and the Danube would have
+witnessed a very cyclone of war.
+
+But Mack was not Frederick: and he had to do with a foe who speedily
+made good an error. On October 13th, when Mack seemed about to cut off
+the French from the Main, he received news through Napoleon's spies
+that the English had effected a landing at Boulogne, and a revolution
+had broken out in France. The tidings found easy entrance into a brain
+that had a strange bias towards pleasing falsities and rejected
+disagreeable facts. At once he leaped to the conclusion that the moves
+of Soult, Murat, Lannes, Marmont, and Ney round his rear were merely
+desperate efforts to cut back a way to Alsace. He therefore held fast
+to his lines, made only feeble efforts to clear the northern road, and
+despatched reinforcements to Memmingen. The next day brought other
+news; that Memmingen had been invested by Soult; that Ney by a
+brilliant dash across the Danube at Elchingen had routed an Austrian
+division there, and was threatening Ulm from the north-east; and that
+the other French columns were advancing from the south-east. Yet Mack,
+still viewing these facts in the twilight of his own fancies, pictured
+them as the efforts of despair, not as the drawing in of the hunter's
+toils.
+
+He was now almost alone in his reading of events. The Archduke
+Ferdinand, though nominally in supreme command, had hitherto deferred
+to Mack's age and experience, as the Emperor Francis enjoined. But he
+now urged the need of instantly marching away to the north with all
+available forces. Still Mack clung to his notion that it was the
+French who were in sore straits; and he forbade the evacuation of Ulm;
+whereupon the Archduke, with Schwarzenberg, Kollowrath, Gyulai, and
+all whose instincts or rank prompted and enabled them to defy the
+madman's authority, assembled 1,500 horsemen and rode off by the
+northern road. It was high time; for Ney, firmly established at
+Elchingen, was pushing on his vanguard towards the doomed city: Murat
+and Lannes were charged to support him on the north bank, while across
+the river Marmont, and further south Soult, cut off the retreat on
+Tyrol.
+
+At last the scales fell from Mack's eyes. Even now he protested
+against the mere mention of surrender. But again he was disappointed.
+Ney stormed the Michaelsberg north of Ulm, a position on which the
+Austrians had counted; and on October 17th the hapless commander
+agreed to terms of capitulation, whereby his troops were to march out
+and lay down their arms in six days' time, if an Austro-Russian army
+able to raise the siege did not come on the scene. These conditions
+were afterwards altered by the captor, who, wheedling his captive with
+a few bland words, persuaded him to surrender on the 20th on condition
+that Ney and his corps remained before Ulm until the 25th. This was
+Mack's last offence against his country and his profession; his assent
+to this wily compromise at once set free the other French corps for
+offensive operations; and that too when every day was precious to
+Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
+
+On October 20th the French Emperor, with a brilliant staff, backed by
+the solid wall of his Guard and flanked by eight columns of his
+troops, received the homage of the vanquished. First came their
+commander, who, bowed down by grief, handed his sword to the victor
+with the words, "Here is the unfortunate Mack." Then there filed out
+to the foot of the Michaelsberg 20,000 foot and 3,000 horse, who laid
+down their arms before the Emperor, some with defiant rage, the most
+part in stolid dejection, while others flung them away with every sign
+of indecent joy.[32] As if the elements themselves conspired to
+enhance the brilliance of Napoleon's triumph, the sun, which had been
+obscured for days by storm-clouds and torrents of rain, now shone
+brightly forth, bathing the scene in the mild radiance of autumn,
+lighting up the French forces disposed on the slopes of that natural
+amphitheatre, while it cast deep shadows from the long trail of the
+vanquished beneath. The French were electrified by the sight: the
+fatigues of their forced marches through the dusty heats of September,
+and the slush, swamps, and torrents of the last few days were all
+forgotten, and they hailed with jubilant shouts the chief whose
+sagacity had planned and achieved a triumph hitherto unequalled in the
+annals of war. "Our Emperor," said they, "has found out a new way of
+making war: he no longer makes it with our arms, but with our
+legs."[33]
+
+Meanwhile the other Austrian detachments were being hunted down. Only
+a few men escaped from Memmingen into Tyrol: the division, which, if
+properly supported, might have cut a way through to Noerdlingen three
+days earlier, was now overwhelmed by the troops of Murat and Lannes;
+out of 13,000 foot-soldiers very few escaped. Most of the horsemen
+succeeded in joining the Archduke Ferdinand, on whose track Murat now
+flung himself with untiring energy. The _beau sabreur_ swept through
+part of Ansbach in pursuit, came up with Ferdinand near Nuremberg, and
+defeated his squadrons, their chief, with about 1,700 horse and some
+500 mounted artillerymen, finally reaching the shelter of the Bohemian
+Mountains. All the rest of Mack's great array had been engulfed.
+
+Thus closed the first scene of the War of the Third Coalition. Hasty
+preparations, rash plans, and, above all, Mack's fatal ingenuity in
+reading his notions into facts--these were the causes of a disaster
+which ruined the chances of the allies. The Archduke Charles, who had
+been foiled by Massena's stubborn defence, was at once recalled from
+Italy in order to cover Vienna; and, worst of all, the Court of Berlin
+now delayed drawing the sword.
+
+Yet, even amidst the unstinted boons that she showered on Napoleon by
+land, Fortune rudely baffled him at sea. When he was hurrying from Ulm
+towards the River Inn, to carry the war into Austria, he heard that
+the French navy had been shattered. Trafalgar was fought the day after
+Mack's army filed out of Ulm. The greatest sea-fight of the century
+was the outcome of Napoleon's desire that his ships should carry
+succour to his troops in Italy. For this voyage the Emperor was about
+to substitute Admiral Rosily for Villeneuve: and the unfortunate
+admiral, divining that resolve, sought by a bold stroke to retrieve
+his fortunes. He put to sea, and Trafalgar was the result. It would be
+superfluous to describe this last and most splendid of Nelson's
+exploits; but a few words as to the bearing of this great victory on
+the events of that time may not be out of place. It is certain that
+Villeneuve at Trafalgar fought under more favourable conditions than
+in the conflict of July 22nd. He had landed his very numerous sick,
+his crews had been refreshed and reinforced, and, above all, the worst
+of the Spanish ships had been replaced by seaworthy and serviceable
+craft. Yet out of the thirty-three sail of the line, he lost eighteen
+to an enemy that numbered only twenty-seven sail; and that fact alone
+absolves him from the charge of cowardice in declining to face
+Cornwallis and Calder in July with ships that were cumbered with sick
+and badly needed refitting.
+
+Then again: it is often stated that Trafalgar saved England from
+invasion. To refute this error it is merely needful to remind the
+reader that all immediate fear of invasion was over, when, at the
+close of August, Napoleon wheeled the Grand Army against Austria. Not
+until the Continent was conquered could the landing in Kent become
+practicable. That opportunity occurred two years later, after Tilsit;
+then, in truth, the United Kingdom was free from panic because
+Trafalgar had practically destroyed the French navy. For these
+islands, then, the benefits of Trafalgar were prospective. But, for
+the British Empire, they were immediate. Every French, Dutch, and
+Spanish colony that now fell into our hands was in great measure the
+fruit of Nelson's victory, which heralded the second and vaster stage
+of imperial growth.
+
+Finally, the decisive advantage which Britain now gained over Napoleon
+at sea compelled him, if he would realize the world-wide schemes ever
+closest to his heart, to adopt the method of warfare against us which
+he had all along contemplated as an effective alternative. As far back
+as February, 1798, he pointed out that there were three ways of
+attacking and ruining England, either a direct invasion, or a French
+control of North Germany which would ruin British commerce, or an
+expedition to the Indies. After Trafalgar the first of these
+alternatives was impossible, and the last receded for a time into the
+background. The second now took the first place in his thoughts; he
+could only bring England to his feet and gain a world-empire by
+shutting out her goods from the whole of the Continent, and thus
+condemning her to industrial strangulation. In a word, Trafalgar
+necessitated the adoption of the Continental System, which was built
+up by the events now to be described.
+
+    Note to the Third Edition.--An American critic has charged me with
+    inconsistency in saying that the Third Coalition was not built up
+    by English gold, because I state (p. 5) that the first advances
+    were made by England to Russia. I ought to have used the phrase
+    "the first _written_ proposals that I have found were made," etc.
+    Czartoryski's "Memoirs" (vol. ii., chs. ii.-iii.), to which I
+    referred my readers for details, show clearly that Alexander and
+    his advisers looked on a rupture with France as inevitable, but
+    wished to temporize for some three months or so, until certain
+    matters were cleared up; they therefore cautiously sounded the
+    position at Vienna and London. This passage from Czartoryski (vol.
+    ii., ch. iii.) proves that Russia wanted the English alliance:
+
+    "After the diplomatic rupture consequent upon the execution of the
+    Duc d'Enghien, it became indispensable to come to an understanding
+    with the only Power, except Russia, which thought herself strong
+    enough to contend with France--to ascertain as thoroughly as
+    possible what were her inclinations and designs, the principles of
+    her policy, and those which she could be led to adopt in certain
+    contingencies. It would have been a great advantage to obtain the
+    concurrence in our views of so powerful a State as England, and to
+    strive with her for the same objects; but for this it was
+    necessary, not only to make sure of her present inclinations, but
+    to weigh well the possibilities of the future after the death of
+    George III. and the fall of the Pitt Ministry. We had to make
+    England understand that the wish to fight Napoleon was not in
+    itself sufficient to establish an indissoluble bond between her
+    Government and that of St. Petersburg...."
+
+    In "F.O.," Russia, No. 55, is a despatch of our ambassador at St.
+    Petersburg, Admiral Warren, of June 30, 1804, in which he reports
+    Czartoryski's concern at rumours of negotiations between England
+    and France: "The prince [Czartoryski] remarked that he could not
+    suppose, after what had passed between the two Courts, and the
+    manner in which the Emperor [Alexander] had explained himself to
+    England, and after the measures which Russia had since proposed,
+    that Great Britain would make a peace at once by herself."
+
+    Of these earlier negotiations I have found no trace; but obviously
+    the first proposals for an alliance must have come from Russia.
+    Sweden was the first to propose a monarchical league against
+    Napoleon. (See my article in the "Revue Napoleonienne" for June,
+    1902.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+AUSTERLITZ
+
+
+After the capitulation of Ulm, the French Emperor marched against the
+Russian army, which, as he told his troops, _English gold had brought
+from the ends of the earth._ As is generally the case with coalitions,
+neither of the allies was ready in time or sent its full quota. In
+place of the 54,000 which Alexander had covenanted to send to
+Austria's support, he sent as yet only 46,000; and of these 8,000 were
+detached into Podolia in order to watch the warlike moves of the
+Turks, whom the French had stirred up against the Muscovite.
+
+But Alexander had another and weightier excuse for not denuding his
+realm of troops, namely, the ambiguous policy of Prussia. Up to the
+middle of October this great military Power clung to her somewhat
+threatening neutrality, an attitude not unlike that of the
+Scandinavian States, which, in 1691, remained deaf to the entreaties
+of William of Orange to take up the cause of European freedom against
+Louis XIV., and were dubbed the Third Party. It would seem, however,
+that the Prussian King had some grounds for his conduct: he feared the
+Polish influence which Czartoryski wielded over the Czar, and saw in
+the Russian request for a right of way through Prussian Poland a
+deep-laid scheme for the seizure of that territory. Indeed, the
+letters of Czartoryski prove that such a plan was pressed forward, and
+found much favour with the Czar, though at the last moment he
+prudently shelved it.[34]
+
+For a time the hesitations of Prussia were ended by Napoleon's
+violation of Ansbach, and by Alexander's frank explanations at
+Potsdam; but meanwhile the delays caused by Prussia's suspicions had
+marred the Austrian plans. A week's grace granted by Napoleon, or a
+week gained by the Russians on their actual marching time, would have
+altered the whole situation in Bavaria--and Prussia would have drawn
+the sword against France to avenge the insult at Ansbach.
+
+On October 10th Hardenberg informed the Austrian ambassador,
+Metternich, that Frederick William was on the point of declaring for
+the allies. Nothing, however, was done until Alexander reached
+Potsdam, and the first news that he received on his arrival (October
+25th) was of the surrender of Ulm. Nevertheless, the influence of the
+Czar checkmated the efforts of Haugwitz and the French party, and kept
+that Government to its resolve, which on November 3rd took the form of
+the Treaty of Potsdam between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Frederick
+William pledged himself to offer the armed mediation of Prussia, and,
+if it were refused by Napoleon, to join the allies. The Prussian
+demands were as follows: indemnities for the King of Sardinia in
+Lombardy, Liguria, and Parma; the independence of Naples, Holland,
+Germany, and Switzerland; and the Mincio as Austria's boundary in
+Italy.[35]
+
+An envoy was to offer these terms to Napoleon, and to bring back a
+definite answer within one month from the time of his departure, and
+in the meantime 180,000 Prussians prepared to threaten his flank and
+rear. Alexander also secretly pledged himself to use his influence
+with George III. to gain Hanover for Frederick William at the close of
+the war, England meanwhile subsidizing Prussia and her Saxon allies on
+the usual scale. The Czar afterwards accompanied the King and Queen to
+the crypt of the Great Frederick, kissed the tomb, and, as he took his
+leave of their majesties, cast a significant look at the altar.[36]
+
+Did he fear the peace-loving tendencies of the King, or the treachery
+of Haugwitz? It is difficult to see good faith in every detail of the
+treaty. Apart from the strange assumption that England would subsidize
+Prussia and also give up Hanover, the manner in which the armed
+mediation was to be offered left several loopholes for escape. After
+the surrender of Ulm, speedy and vigorous action was needed to restore
+the balance; yet a month's delay was bargained for. Then, too,
+Haugwitz, who was charged with this most important mission, deferred
+his departure for ten days on the plea that Prussia's forces could not
+be ready before the middle of December. Such was the statement of the
+leisurely Duke of Brunswick; but it can scarcely be reconciled with
+Frederick William's threat, a month earlier, of immediate war against
+the Russians if they entered his lands. Yet now that monarch approved
+of the delay. Haugwitz therefore did not set out till November 14th,
+and by that time Napoleon was master of Vienna, and the allies were
+falling back into Moravia.
+
+We now turn to the scene of war. For the first time in modern history
+the Hapsburg capital had fallen into the hands of a foreign foe.
+Napoleon now installed himself at the stately palace of Schoenbrunn,
+while Francis was fleeing to Olmuetz and the Archdukes Charles and John
+were struggling in the defiles of the Alps to disengage themselves
+from the vanguard of Massena. The march of the French on Vienna, and
+thence northwards to Bruenn, led to only one incident of general
+interest, namely, the filching away from the Austrians of the bridge
+over the Danube to the north of Vienna. As it nears the city, that
+great river spreads out into several channels, the largest being on
+the north. The wooden bridge further up the river having been burnt by
+the Russian rearguard, there remained only the bridge or bridges,
+opposite the city, on the possession of which Napoleon set much store.
+He therefore charged Murat and Lannes to secure them if possible.
+
+Murat was smarting under the Emperor's displeasure for a rash advance
+on Vienna which had wellnigh cost the existence of Mortier's corps on
+the other bank. Indeed, only by the most resolute bravery did the
+remnant of that corps hew its way through overwhelming numbers. Murat,
+who should have kept closely in touch with Mortier by a flotilla of
+boats, was eager to retrieve his fault, and, with Lannes, Bertrand,
+and an officer of engineers, he now approached the first part of the
+bridge as if for a parley during an informal armistice which had just
+been discussed but not concluded. The French Marshals had disposed the
+grenadiers of General Oudinot, a body of men as renowned as their
+leader for fighting qualities, behind some thickets that spread along
+the southern bank and partly screened the approach. The plank
+barricade at the southern end was now thrown down, and the four
+Frenchmen advanced. An Austrian mounted sentinel fired his carbine and
+galloped away to the main bridge; thereupon the four men advanced,
+called to the officer there in command as if for a parley, and stopped
+him in the act of firing the gunpowder stored beneath the bridge, with
+the assurance that an armistice was, or was about to be, concluded.
+
+Reaching the northern end they repeated their tale, and claimed to see
+the commander. While the defenders were hesitating, Oudinot's
+grenadiers were rapidly marching forward. As soon as they were seen,
+the Austrians prepared once more to fire the bridge. Again they were
+implored to desist, as peace was as good as signed. But when the
+grenadiers had reached the northern bank, the mask was dropped: fresh
+troops were hurrying up and the chance of saving the bridge from their
+grasp was now lost. By these means did Murat and Lannes secure an
+undisputed passage to the northern bank, for which four years later
+the French had desperately to fight. Napoleon was delighted at Murat's
+exploit, which greatly furthered his pursuit of the allies, and he at
+once restored that Marshal to high favour. But those who placed
+gentlemanly conduct above the glamour of a trickster's success were
+not slow, even then, to express their disapproval of this act of
+perfidy.[37]
+
+The prolonged retreat into Moravia, the unexpected feebleness of the
+Hapsburg arms, and the lack of supplies weighed heavily on Alexander's
+spirits, as is shown in his letter from Olmuetz to the King of Prussia
+on November 19th: "Our position is more than critical: we stand almost
+alone against the French, who are close on our heels. As for the
+Austrian army, it does not exist.... If your armies advance, the whole
+position will alter at once."[38] A few days later, however, when
+27,000 more Russians were at hand, including his Imperial Guard, the
+Czar passed from the depths of depression to the heights of
+confidence. The caution of his wary commander, Kutusoff, who urged a
+Fabian policy of delay and retreat, now began to weary him. To retire
+into northern Hungary seemed ignominious. And though Frederick William
+held to his resolve of not drawing the sword before December 15th, and
+by that time the Archduke Charles with a large army was expected below
+Vienna, yet the susceptible young autocrat spurned the behests of
+irksome prudence. In vain did Kutusoff and Schwarzenberg urge the need
+of delay and retreat: Alexander gave more heed to the rash counsels of
+his younger officers. An advance was ordered on Bruenn, and a
+successful cavalry skirmish at Wischau confirmed the Czar in his
+change from the strategy of Fabius to that of Varro.
+
+Napoleon, who was now at Bruenn, had already divined this change in the
+temper of his foe, and called back his men with the express purpose of
+humouring Alexander's latest mood and tempting him on to a decisive
+battle. He saw clearly the advantage of fighting at once. The renewed
+offers of an armistice, which he received from the prudent Francis,
+might alone have convinced him of this; and they came in time to give
+him an argument, telling enough to daunt the Prussian envoy, who was
+now drawing near to his headquarters.
+
+After proceeding towards Vienna and being sent back to Bruenn, Haugwitz
+arrived there on November 29th.[39] Of the four hours' private
+conference that ensued with Napoleon we have but scanty records, and
+those by Haugwitz himself, who had every reason for warping the truth.
+He states that he was received with icy coldness, and at once saw that
+the least threat of hostile pressure by Prussia would drive Napoleon
+to make a separate peace with Austria. But after the first hour the
+Emperor appeared to thaw: he discussed the question of a Continental
+peace and laid aside all resentment at Prussia's conduct: finally, he
+gave a general assent to her proposals, on two conditions, namely,
+that the allied force then in Hanover should not be allowed by Prussia
+to invade Holland, and that the French garrison in the fortress of
+Hameln, now compassed about by Prussians, should be provisioned. To
+both of these requests Haugwitz assented, and pledged the word of his
+King, an act of presumption which that monarch was to repudiate.
+
+While exceeding his instructions on this side, Haugwitz did
+practically nothing to advance the chief business of his mission.
+Either his own fears, or the crafty mixture of threats and flattery
+that cajoled so many envoys, led him to neglect the interests of
+Prussia, and to play into the hands of the very man whose ambition he
+was sent to check. After the interview, when the envoy had retired to
+his lodging, Caulaincourt came up in haste to warn him that a battle
+was imminent, that his personal safety might be endangered, and that
+Napoleon requested him to repair to Vienna, where he might consult
+with Talleyrand on affairs of State. Horses and an escort were ready,
+and Haugwitz set out for that city, where he arrived on November 30th,
+only to find that Talleyrand was strictly forbidden to do more than
+entertain him with commonplaces. Thus, the all-important question as
+to the action of Prussia's legions was again postponed, even when
+150,000 Prussians and Saxons were ready to march against the French
+communications.
+
+Napoleon's letter of November 30th to Talleyrand reveals his secret
+anxiety at this time. In truth, the crisis was terrible. With a
+superior force in front, with the Archdukes Ferdinand and Charles
+threatening to raise Bohemia and Hungary on his flanks, while two
+Prussian armies were about to throw themselves on his rear, his
+position was fully as serious as that of Hannibal before Cannae, from
+which the Carthaginian freed himself only by that staggering blow. Did
+that example inspire the French Emperor, or did he take counsel from
+his own boundless resources of brain and will? Certain it is that,
+after a passing fit of discouragement, he braced himself for a final
+effort, and staked all on the effect of one mighty stroke. In order to
+hurry on the battle he feigned discouragement and withdrew his lines
+from Austerlitz to the Goldbach. Already he had sent General Savary to
+the Czar with proposals for a short truce.[40] The word truce now
+spelt guile; its offer through Savary, whose hands were stained with
+the blood of the Duc d'Enghien, was in itself an insult, and Alexander
+gave that envoy the coolest reception. In return he sent Prince
+Dolgoruki, the leader of the bellicose youths now high in favour, who
+proudly declared to the French Emperor the wishes of his master for
+the independence of Europe--adding among other things that Holland
+must be free and have Belgium added to it.
+
+This suggestion greatly amused Napoleon, who replied that Russia ought
+now to think of her own advantages on the side of Turkey. The answer
+convinced the Czar that Napoleon dreaded a conflict in his dangerously
+advanced position. He knew not his antagonist's resources. Napoleon
+had hurried up every available regiment. Bernadotte's corps was
+recalled from the frontier of Bohemia; Friant's division of 4,000 men
+was ordered up from Pressburg; and by forced marches it also was nigh
+at hand on the night of December 1st, worn with fatigue after covering
+an immense space in two days, but ready to do excellent service on the
+morrow.[41] By this timely concentration Napoleon raised his forces to
+a total of at least 73,000 men, while the enemy founded their plan on
+the assumption that Napoleon had less than 50,000, and would scarcely
+resist the onset of superior forces.
+
+Their plan was rash, even for an army which numbered about 80,000 men.
+The Austrian General Weyrother had convinced the Czar that an
+energetic advance of his left wing, which rested on the southern spurs
+of the Pratzenberg, would force back Napoleon's right, which was
+ranged between the villages of Kobelnitz and Sokelnitz, and so roll up
+his long line that stretched beyond Schlapanitz. This move, if
+successful, would not only win the day, but decide the campaign, by
+cutting off the French from their supplies coming from the south and
+driving them into the exhausted lands around Olmuetz. Such was
+Weyrother's scheme, which enchanted the Czar and moved the fears of
+the veteran Kutusoff: it was expounded to the Russian and Austrian
+generals after midnight on December the 2nd. Strong in the great
+central hill, the Pratzenberg, and the cover of its village at the
+foot, the Czar had no fear for his centre: to his right or northern
+wing he gave still less heed, as it rested firmly on villages and was
+powerful in cavalry and artillery; but his left wing, comprising fully
+two-fifths of the allied army, was expected easily to defeat
+Napoleon's weak and scattered right, and so decide the day. Kutusoff
+saw the peril of massing so great a force there and weakening the
+centre, but sadly held his peace.
+
+Napoleon had already divined their secret. In his order of battle he
+took his troops into his confidence, telling them that, while the
+enemy marched to turn his right, they would expose their flank to his
+blows. To announce this beforehand was strangely bold, and it has been
+thought that he had the plan from some traitor on the enemy's staff.
+No proof of this has been given; and such an explanation seems
+superfluous to those who have observed Napoleon's uncanny power of
+fathoming his adversary's designs. The idea of withdrawing one wing in
+order to tempt the foe unduly to prolong his line on that side, and
+then to crush it at the centre, or sever it from the centre, is common
+both to Castiglione and Austerlitz. It is true, the peculiarities of
+the ground, the ardour of the Russian attack, and the vastness of the
+operations lent to the present conflict a splendour and a horror which
+Castiglione lacked. But the tactics which won both battles were
+fundamentally the same.
+
+He had studied the ground in front of Austerlitz; and the priceless
+gift of strategic imagination revealed to him what a rash and showy
+leader would be certain to do on that ground;[42] he tempted him to
+it, and the announcement of the enemy's plan to the French soldiery
+supplied the touch of good comradeship which insured their utmost
+devotion on the morrow. At midnight, as he returned from visiting the
+outposts, the soldiers greeted him with a weird illumination: by a
+common impulse they tore down the straw from their rude shelters and
+held aloft the burning wisps on long poles, dancing the while in
+honour of the short gray-coated figure, and shouting, "It is the
+anniversary of the coronation. Long live the Emperor." Thus was the
+great day ushered in. The welkin glowed with this tribute of an army's
+heroworship: the frost-laden clouds echoed back the multitudinous
+acclaim; and the Russians, as they swung forward their left, surmised
+that, after all, the French would stand their ground and fight, whilst
+others saw in the flare a signal that Napoleon was once more about to
+retreat.
+
+December the 2nd may well be the most famous day of the Napoleonic
+calendar: it was the day of his coronation, it was the day of
+Austerlitz, and, a generation later, another Napoleon chose it for his
+_coup d'etat_. The "sun of Austerlitz," which the nephew then hailed,
+looked down on a spectacle far different from that which he wished to
+gild with borrowed splendour. Struggling dimly through dense banks of
+mist, it shone on the faces of 73,000 Frenchmen resolved to conquer or
+to die: it cast weird shadows before the gray columns of Russia and
+the white-coats of Austria as they pressed in serried ranks towards
+the frozen swamps of the Goldbach. At first the allies found little
+opposition; and Kienmayer's horse cleared the French from Tellnitz and
+the level ground beyond. But Friant's division, hurrying up from the
+west, restored the fight and drove the first assailants from the
+village. Others, however, were pressing on, twenty-nine battalions
+strong, and not all the tenacious bravery of Davoust's soldiery
+availed to hold that spot. Nor was it necessary. Napoleon's plan was
+to let the allied left compromise itself on this side, while he rained
+the decisive blows at its joint with the centre on the southern spur
+of the Pratzenberg.
+
+For this reason he reduced Davoust to defensive tactics, for which his
+stubborn methodical genius eminently fitted him, until the French
+centre had forced the Russians from the plateau. Opposite or near that
+height he had posted the corps of Soult and Bernadotte, supporting
+them with the grenadiers of Oudinot and the Imperial Guard.
+Confronting these imposing forces was the Russian centre, weakened by
+the heavy drafts sent towards Tellnitz, but strong in its position and
+in the experience of its leader Kutusoff. Caution urged him to hold
+back his men to the last moment, until the need of giving cohesion to
+the turning movement led the Czar impatiently to order his advance.
+Scarcely had the Russians descended beyond Pratzen when they were
+exposed to a furious attack. Vandamme, noted even then as one of the
+hardest hitters in the army, was leading his division of Soult's corps
+up the northern slopes of the plateau; by a sidelong slant his men cut
+off a detachment of Russians in the village, and, aided by the brigade
+of Thiebault, swarmed up the hill at a speed which surprised and
+unsteadied its defenders. Oudinot's grenadiers and the Imperial Guard
+were ready to sustain Soult: but the men of his corps had the glory of
+seizing the plateau and driving back the Russians. Yet these returned
+to the charge. Alexander and Kutusoff saw the importance of the
+heights, and brought up a great part of their reserves. Soon the
+divisions of  Vandamme and St. Hilaire were borne back;
+and it needed all the grand fighting powers of their troops to hold up
+against the masses of howling Russians. For two hours the battle there
+swayed to and fro; and Thiebault has censured Napoleon for the lack of
+support, and Soult for his apathy, during this soldiers' battle.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ]
+
+But the Emperor was awaiting the development of events on the wings. A
+sharp fight of all arms was raging on the plain further to the north.
+There the allies at first gained ground, the Austrian horse well
+maintaining its old fame: but the infantry of Lannes' corps, supported
+by powerful artillery ranged on a small conical hill, speedily checked
+their charges; the French horse, marshalled by Murat and Kellermann
+somewhat after the fashion of the British cavalry at Waterloo, so as
+to support the squares and dash through the intervals in pursuit, soon
+made most effective charges upon the dense squadrons of the allies,
+and finally a general advance of Lannes and Murat overthrew the
+wavering lines opposite and chased them back towards the small town of
+Austerlitz.
+
+Thus by noon the lines of fighting swerved till they ranged along the
+course of the Littawa stream, save where the allies had thrust forward
+a long and apparently successful wedge beyond Tellnitz. The Czar saw
+the danger of this almost isolated wing, and sought to keep touch with
+it; but the defects of the allied plan were now painfully apparent.
+Napoleon, having the interior lines, while his foes were scattered
+over an irregular arc, could reinforce his hard-pressed right. There
+Davoust was being slowly borne back, when the march of Duroc with part
+of the Imperial Guard restored the balance on that side. The French
+centre also was strengthened by the timely arrival of part of
+Bernadotte's corps. That Marshal detached a division towards the
+northern slopes of the plateau; for he divined that there his master
+would need every man to deal the final blows.[43]
+
+In truth, Alexander and Kutusoff were struggling hard to regain the
+Pratzenberg. Four times did the Muscovites fling themselves on the
+French centre, and not without some passing gleams of success. Here
+occurred the most famous cavalry fight of the war. The Russian Guards,
+mounted on superb horses, had cut up two of Vandamme's battalions,
+when Rapp rode to their rescue with the chasseurs of the French
+Imperial Guard. These choice bodies of horsemen met with a terrible
+shock, which threw the Russians into disorder. Rallied by other
+squadrons, these now overthrew their assailants and seemed about to
+overpower them, when Bessieres with the heavy cavalry of the Guard
+fell on the flank of the Muscovite horse and drove their lines, horse
+and foot, into the valley beyond.
+
+Assured of his centre, Napoleon now launched Soult's corps down the
+south-western spurs of the plateau upon the flank and rear of the
+allied left: this unexpected onset was decisive: the French, sweeping
+down the slopes with triumphant shouts, cut off several battalions on
+the banks of the Goldbach, scattered others in headlong flight towards
+Bruenn, and drove the greater part down to the Lake of Tellnitz. Here
+the troubles of the allies culminated. A few gained the narrow marshy
+gap between the two lakes; but dense bodies found no means of escape
+save the frozen surface of the upper lake. In some parts the ice bore
+the weight of the fugitives; but where they thronged pell-mell, or
+where it was cut up by the plunging fire of the French cannon on the
+heights, crowds of men sank to destruction. The victors themselves
+stood aghast at this spectacle; and, for the credit of human nature be
+it said, many sought to save their drowning foes. Among others, the
+youthful Marbot swam to a floe to help bring a Russian officer to
+land, a chivalrous exploit which called forth the praise of Napoleon.
+The Emperor brought this glorious day to a fitting close by visiting
+the ground most thickly strewn with his wounded, and giving directions
+for their treatment or removal. As if satisfied with the victory, he
+gave little heed to the pursuit. In truth, never since Marlborough cut
+the Franco-Bavarian army in twain at Blenheim, had there been a battle
+so terrible in its finale, and so decisive in its results as this of
+the three Emperors, which cost the allies 33,000 men and 186 cannon.
+
+The Emperors Alexander and Francis fled eastwards into the night.
+Between them there was now a tacit understanding that the campaign was
+at an end. On that night Francis sent proposals for a truce; and in
+two days' time Napoleon agreed to an armistice (signed on December
+6th) on condition that Francis would send away the Russian army and
+entirely exclude that of Prussia from his territories. A contribution
+of 100,000,000 francs was also laid upon the Hapsburg dominions. On
+the next day Alexander pledged himself to withdraw his army at once;
+and Francis proceeded to treat for peace with Napoleon. This was an
+infraction of the treaties of the Third Coalition, which prescribed
+that no separate peace should be made.
+
+Under the circumstances, the conduct of the Hapsburgs was pardonable:
+but the seeming break-up of the coalition furnished the Court of
+Berlin with a good reason for declining to bear the burden alone. It
+was not Austerlitz that daunted Frederick William; for, after hearing
+of that disaster, he wrote that he would be true to his pledge given
+on November 3rd. But then, on the decisive day (December 15th), came
+the news of the defection of Austria, the withdrawal of Alexander's
+army, and the closing of the Hapsburg lands to a Prussian force. These
+facts absolved Frederick William from his obligations to those Powers,
+and allowed him with perfect good faith to keep his sword in the
+scabbard. The change, it is true, sadly dulled the warlike ardour of
+his army; but it could not be called desertion of Russia and
+Austria.[44] The disgrace came later, when, on Christmas Day, Haugwitz
+reached Berlin, and described to the King and Ministers his interview
+with Napoleon in the palace of Schoenbrunn, and the treaty which the
+victor then and there offered to Prussia at the sword's point.
+
+For most men a great victory such as Austerlitz would have brought a
+brief spell of rest, especially after the ceaseless toils and
+anxieties of the previous fortnight. Yet now, after ridding himself of
+all fear of Austria, Napoleon at once used every device of his subtle
+statecraft to dissolve the nascent coalition. And Fortune had willed
+that, when flushed with triumph, he should have to deal with a
+timorous time-server.
+
+It is the curse of a policy of keeping up a dainty balance in a
+hurricane that it unmans the balancer, until at last the peacemaker
+resembles a juggler. A decade of compromise and evasion of
+difficulties had enfeebled the spirit of Prussia, until the hardest
+trial for her King was to take any step that could not be retraced. He
+had often spoken "feelingly, if not energetically," of the
+predicaments of his position between France, England, and Russia.[45]
+And, as in the case of that other _bon pere de famille_, Louis XVI.,
+whom Nature framed for a farmhouse and Fate tossed into a revolution,
+his lack of foresight and resolution took the heart out of his
+advisers and turned statesmen into trimmers. Even before the news of
+Austerlitz reached the ears of Talleyrand and Haugwitz at Vienna, the
+bearer of Prussia's ultimatum was posing as the friend of France. On
+all occasions he wore the cordon of the Legion of Honour; and while
+the hosts of East and West were in the death-grapple on the
+Pratzenberg, he strove to convince the French Foreign Minister that
+the Prussians had entered Hanover only in order to keep the peace in
+North Germany; that, as Russians had traversed Prussian territory, the
+French would, of course, be equally free to do so; that Frederick
+William objected to the descent of any English force in Hanover, which
+belonged _de facto_ to France; and finally that the Treaty of Potsdam
+was not a treaty at all, but merely a declaration with the "offer of
+Prussia's good offices and of mediation, but without any mingling of
+hostile intentions." Well might Talleyrand write to Napoleon: "I am
+very satisfied with M. Haugwitz."[46]
+
+Napoleon's victory over Prussian diplomacy was therefore won, even
+before the lightning-stroke of Austerlitz blasted the Third Coalition.
+Haugwitz began his conference with the victor at Schoenbrunn on
+December 13th, by offering Frederick William's congratulations on his
+triumph at Austerlitz, to which the Emperor replied by a sarcastic
+query whether, if the result of that battle had been different, he
+would have spoken at all about the friendship of his master.[47] After
+thus disconcerting the envoy and upbraiding him with the Treaty of
+Potsdam, Napoleon unmasked his battery by offering Prussia the
+Electorate of Hanover in return for the comparatively petty sacrifices
+of Ansbach to Bavaria, and Cleves and Neufchatel to France. For the
+loss of these outlying districts Prussia could buy that long-coveted
+land.[48] The envoy was dazzled by this glittering offer, and by
+others that followed. The conqueror proposed an offensive and
+defensive alliance, whereby France and Prussia mutually guaranteed
+their lands along with prospective additions in Germany and Italy; and
+the Court of Berlin was also to uphold the independence of Turkey.
+
+Such were the terms that Napoleon peremptorily required Haugwitz to
+sign within a few hours: and the bearer of Prussia's ultimatum on
+December 15th signed this Treaty of Schoenbrunn, which degraded the
+would-be arbitress of Europe to her former position of well-fed
+follower of France. This was the news which Haugwitz brought back to
+his astonished King. His reception was of the coolest; for Frederick
+William was an honest man, who sought peace, prosperity, and the
+welfare of his people, and now saw himself confronted by the
+alternative of war or national humiliation. In truth, every turn and
+double of his course was now leading him deeper into the discredit and
+ruin which will be described in the next chapter.
+
+Leaving for the present that unhappy King amidst his increasing
+perplexities, we return to the affairs of Austria. Mack's disaster
+alone had cast that Government into the depths of despair, and we
+learn from Lord Gower, our ambassador at St. Petersburg, that he had
+seen copies of letters written by the Emperor Francis to Napoleon
+"couched in terms of humility and submission unworthy of a great
+monarch," to which the latter replied in a tone of superiority and
+affected commiseration, and with a demand for the Hapsburg lands in
+Venetia and Swabia.[49]
+
+The same tone of whining dejection was kept up by Cobenzl and other
+Austrian Ministers, even before Austerlitz, when Prussia was on the
+point of drawing the sword; and they sent offers of peace, when it was
+rather for their foe to sue for it. After that battle, and, still more
+so, after signing the armistice of December 6th, they were at the
+conqueror's mercy; and Napoleon knew it. After probing the inner
+weakness of the Berlin Court, he now pressed with merciless severity
+on the Hapsburgs. He proposed to tear away their Swabian and Tyrolese
+lands and their share of the spoils of Venice. In vain did the
+Austrian plenipotentiaries struggle against these harsh terms,
+pleading for Tyrol and Dalmatia, and pointing out the impossibility of
+raising 100,000,000 francs from territories ravaged by war. In vain
+did they proffer a claim to Hanover for one of their Archdukes: though
+Talleyrand urged the advantage of this step as dissolving the
+Anglo-Austrian alliance, yet Napoleon refused to hear of it; for at
+that time he was offering that Electorate to Haugwitz.[50] Still less
+would he hear a word in favour of the Court of Naples, whose conduct
+had aroused his resentment. The utmost that the Austrian envoys could
+wring from him was the reduction of the war contribution to 40,000,000
+francs.
+
+The terms finally arranged in the Treaty of Pressburg (December 26th,
+1805) may be thus summarized: Austria recognized the recent
+acquisitions and changes of title made by Napoleon in Italy, and ceded
+to him her parts of Venetia, Istria, and Dalmatia. She recognized the
+title of King now bestowed by Napoleon on the Electors of Bavaria and
+Wuertemberg, a change which was not to invalidate their membership of
+the "Germanic Confederation." To those potentates and to the Elector
+(now Grand Duke) of Baden, the Hapsburgs ceded all their scattered
+Swabian domains, while Bavaria also gained Tyrol and Vorarlberg. As a
+slight compensation for these grievous losses, Austria gained
+Salzburg, whose Elector was to receive from Bavaria the former
+principality of Wuerzburg. The domains and revenues of the Teutonic and
+Maltese Orders were secularized, so as to furnish appanages to some
+other princes of the Hapsburg House; and another blow was dealt at the
+Germanic system by the declaration that Napoleon guaranteed the full
+and entire sovereignty of the rulers of Bavaria, Wuertemberg, and
+Baden. In fact, as will appear in the next chapter, Napoleon now
+usurped the place in Germany previously held by the Hapsburgs, and
+extended his influence as far east as the River Inn, and, on the
+south, down to the remote city of Ragusa on the Adriatic.
+
+But it is one thing to win a brilliant diplomatic triumph, and quite
+another thing to secure a firm and lasting peace. The Peace of
+Pressburg raised Napoleon to heights of power never dreamt of by Louis
+XIV.: but his pre-eminence was at best precarious. When by moderate
+terms he might have secured the alliance of Austria and severed her
+friendship with England, he chose to place his heel on her neck and
+drive her to secret but irreconcilable hatred.
+
+And his choice was deliberate. Two months earlier, Talleyrand had sent
+him a memorandum on the subject of a Franco-Austrian alliance, which
+is instinct with statesmanlike foresight. He stated that there were
+four Great Powers--France, Great Britain, Russia, and Austria: he
+excluded Prussia, whose rise to greatness under Frederick the Great
+was but temporary. Austria, he claimed, must remain a Great Power. She
+had opposed revolutionary France; but with Imperial France she had no
+lasting quarrel. Rather did her manifest destiny clash with that of
+Russia on the lower Danube, where the approaching break-up of the
+Ottoman Power must bring those States into conflict. It was good
+policy, then, to give a decided but friendly turn of Hapsburg policy
+towards the east. Let Napoleon frankly approach the Emperor Francis
+and say in effect: "I never sought this war with you, but I have
+conquered: I wish to restore complete harmony between us: and, in
+order to remove all causes of dispute, you must give up your Swabian,
+Tyrolese, and Venetian lands: of these Tyrol shall fall to a prince of
+your choice, and Venice (along with Trieste and Istria) shall form an
+aristocratic Republic under a magistrate nominated in the first
+instance by me. As a set-off to these losses, you shall receive
+Moldavia, Wallachia, and northern Bulgaria. If the Russians object to
+this and attack you, I will be your ally." Such was Talleyrand's
+proposal.[51]
+
+It is easy to criticise it in many details; but there can be little
+doubt that its adoption by Napoleon would have laid a firmer
+foundation for French supremacy than was afforded by the Treaties of
+Pressburg and Tilsit. Austria would not have been deeply wounded, as
+she now was by the transfer of her faithful Tyrolese to the detested
+rule of Bavaria, and by the undisguised triumph of Napoleon in Italy
+and along the Adriatic. Moreover, the erection of Tyrol and Venetia
+into separate States would have been a wise concession to those
+clannish societies; and Austria could not have taken up the
+championship of outraged Tyrolese sentiment, which she assumed four
+years later. Instead of figuring as the leader of German nationality,
+she would have been on the worst of terms with the Czar over the
+Eastern Question; and their discord would have enabled France to
+dictate her own terms as to the partition of the Sultan's dominions.
+Talleyrand had no specific for dissolving the traditional friendship
+of England and Austria, and we may imagine the joy with which he heard
+from the Hapsburg envoys the demand for Hanover, at a time when
+English gold was pouring into the empty coffers at Vienna. Here was
+the sure means of embroiling England and Austria for a generation at
+least. But this further chance of preventing future coalitions was
+likewise rejected by Napoleon, who deliberately chose to make Austria
+a deadly foe, and to aggrandize her rival Prussia.[52]
+
+Why did Napoleon reject Talleyrand's plan? Unquestionably, I think,
+because he had resolved to build up a Continental System, which should
+"hermetically seal" the coasts of Europe against English commerce. If
+he was to realize those golden visions of his youth, ships, colonies,
+and an Eastern empire, which, even amidst the glories of Austerlitz,
+he placed far above any European triumph, he must extend his coast
+system and subject or conciliate the maritime States. Of these the
+most important were Prussia and Russia. The seaborne commerce of
+Austria was insignificant, and could easily be controlled from his
+vassal lands of Venetia and Dalmatia. To the would-be conqueror of
+England the friendship or hatred of Austria seemed unimportant: he
+preferred to depress this now almost land-locked Power, and to draw
+tight the bonds of union with Prussia, always provided that she
+excluded British goods.[53]
+
+The same reason led him to hope for a Russian alliance. Only by the
+help of Russia and Prussia could he shut England out from the Baltic;
+and, to win that help, he destined Hanover for Prussia and the
+Danubian States for the Czar. For the founder of the Continental
+System such a choice was natural; but, viewed from the standpoint of
+Continental politics, his treatment of Austria was a serious blunder.
+His frightful pressure on her motley lands endowed them with a
+solidity which they had never known before; and in less than four
+years, the conqueror had cause to regret having driven the Hapsburgs
+to desperation. It may even be questioned whether Austerlitz itself
+was not a misfortune to him. Just before that battle he thought of
+treating Austria leniently, taking only Verona and Legnago, and
+exchanging Venetia against Salzburg. This would have detached her from
+the Coalition, and made a friend of a Power that is naturally inclined
+to be conservative.
+
+After Austerlitz, he rushed to the other extreme and forced the
+Hapsburgs to a hostility in which the Marie Louise marriage was only a
+forced and uneasy truce. His motives are not, in my judgment, to be
+assigned to mere lust of domination, but rather to a reasoned though
+exaggerated conviction of the need of Prussia and Russia to his
+Continental System. Above all things, he now sought to humble England,
+so that finally he might be free for his long-deferred Oriental
+enterprise. This is the irony of his career, that, though he preferred
+the career of Alexander the Great to that of Caesar; though he placed
+his victory at Austerlitz far below the triumph of the great
+Macedonian at Issus which assured the conquest of the Orient, yet he
+felt himself driven to the very measures which tethered him to _cette
+vieille Europe_ and which finally roused the Continent against him.
+
+Among his errors of judgment, assuredly his behaviour to Austria in
+1805 was not the least. The recent history of Europe supplies a
+suggestive contrast. Two generations after Austerlitz, the Hapsburg
+Power was shattered by the disaster of Koeniggraetz, and once more lost
+all influence in Germany and Italy. But the victor then showed
+consideration for the vanquished. Bismarck had pondered over the
+lessons of history, because, as he said, _history teaches one how far
+one may safely go_. He therefore persuaded King William to forego
+claims that would have embittered the rivalry of Prussia and Austria.
+Nay! he recurred to Talleyrand's policy of encouraging the Hapsburgs
+to seek in the Balkan Peninsula compensation for their losses in the
+west: and within fifteen years the basis of the Triple Alliance was
+firmly laid. Napoleon, on the other hand, for lack of that
+statesmanlike moderation which consecrates victory and cements the
+fabric of an enduring Empire, soon saw the political results of
+Austerlitz swept away by the rising tide of the nations' wrath. In
+less than nine years the Austrians and their allies were masters of
+Paris.
+
+    NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--The account given on p. 41 of the
+    drowning of numbers of Russians at the close of the Battle of
+    Austerlitz was founded upon the testimony of Napoleon and many
+    French generals; the facts, as related by Lejeune, seemed quite
+    convincing; the Czar Alexander also asserted at Vienna in 1815
+    that 20,000 Russians had been drowned there. But the local
+    evidence (kindly furnished to me by Professor Fournier of Vienna)
+    seems to prove that the story is a myth. Both lakes were drained
+    only a few days after the battle, _at Napoleon's orders_; in the
+    lower lake not a single corpse was found; in the upper lake 150
+    corpses of horses, but only two, some say three, of men, were
+    found. Probably Napoleon invented the catastrophe for the sake of
+    dramatic effect, and others followed the lead given in his
+    bulletin. The Czar may have adopted the story because it helped to
+    excuse his defeat. (See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." for
+    July, 1902.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+PRUSSIA AND THE NEW CHARLEMAGNE
+
+
+An eminent German historian, who has striven to say some kind words
+about Frederick William's Government before the collapse at Jena,
+prefaces his apology by the axiom that from a Prussian monarch one
+ought to expect, not French, English, or Russian policy, but only
+Prussian policy. The claim may well be challenged. Doubtless, there
+are some States concerning which it would be true. Countries such as
+Great Britain and Spain, whose areas are clearly defined by nature,
+may with advantage be self-contained until their peoples overflow into
+new lands: before they become world Powers, they may gain in strength
+by being narrowly national. But there are other States whose fortunes
+are widely different. They represent some principle of life or energy,
+in the midst of mere political wreckage. If the binding power, which
+built up an older organism, should decline, as happened to the Holy
+Roman Empire after the religious wars, fragments will fall away and
+join bodies to which they are now more akin.
+
+Of the States that throve among the crumbling masses of the old Empire
+the chief was Brandenburg-Prussia. She had a twofold energy which the
+older organism lacked: she was Protestant and she was national; she
+championed the new creed cherished by the North Germans, and she felt,
+though dimly as yet, the strength that came from an almost single kin.
+Until she seized on part of the spoils of Poland, her Slavonic
+subjects were for the most part germanized Slavs; and even after
+acquiring Posen and Warsaw at the close of the eighteenth century, she
+could still claim to be the chief Germanic State. A generation
+earlier, Frederick the Great had seen this to be the source of her
+strength. His policy was not merely Prussian: in effect, if not in
+aim, it was German. His victory at Rossbach over a great polyglot
+force of French and Imperialists first awakened German nationality to
+a thrill of conscious life; and the last success of his career was the
+championship of the lesser German princes against the encroachments of
+the Hapsburgs. In fact, it seems now a mere commonplace to assert that
+Prussia has prospered most when, as under Frederick the Great and
+William the Great, her policy has been truly German, and that she has
+fallen back most in the years 1795-1806 and 1848-1852, when the
+subservience of her Frederick Williams to France and Austria has lost
+them the respect and support of the rest of the Fatherland. A State
+that would attract other fragments of the same nation must be
+attractive, and it must be broadly national if it is to attract. If
+Stein and Bismarck had been merely Prussians, if Cavour's policy had
+been narrowly Sardinian, would their States ever have served as the
+rallying centres for the Germany and Italy of to-day?
+
+The difficulties which beset Frederick William III. in 1805 were not
+entirely of his own making. His predecessor of the same ill-omened
+name, when nearing the close of his inglorious reign, made the Peace
+of Basel (1795), which began to place the policy of Berlin at the beck
+and call of the French revolutionists. But the present ruler had
+assured Prussia's subservience to France at the time of the
+Secularizations, when he gained Erfurt, Eichsfeld, Hildesheim,
+Paderborn, and a great part of the straggling bishopric of Muenster.
+Even at that time of shameless rapacity, there were those who saw that
+the gain of half a million of subjects to Prussia was a poor return
+for the loss of self-respect that befell all who shared in the
+sacrilegious plunder bartered away by Bonaparte and Talleyrand.
+Frederick William III. was even suspected of a leaning towards French
+methods of Government; and a Prussian statesman said to the French
+ambassador:
+
+    "You have only the nobles against you: the King and the people are
+    openly for France. The revolution which you have made from below
+    upwards will be slowly effected in Prussia from above downwards:
+    the King is a democrat after his fashion: he is always striving to
+    curtail the privileges of the nobles, but by slow means. In a few
+    years feudal rights will cease to exist in Prussia."[54]
+
+Could the King have carried out these much-needed reforms, he might
+perhaps have opposed a solid society to the renewed might of France.
+But he failed to set his house in order before the storm burst; and in
+1803 he so far gave up his championship of North German affairs as to
+allow the French to occupy Hanover, a land that he and his Ministers
+had long coveted.
+
+We saw in the last chapter that Hanover was the bait whereby Napoleon
+hooked the Prussian envoy, Haugwitz, at Schoenbrunn; and that the very
+man who had been sent to impose Prussia's will upon the French Emperor
+returned to Berlin bringing peace and dishonour. The surprise and
+annoyance of Frederick William may be imagined. On all sides
+difficulties were thickening around him. Shortly before the return of
+Haugwitz to Berlin, the Russian troops campaigning in Hanover had been
+placed under the protection of Prussia; and the King himself had
+offered to our Minister, Lord Harrowby, to protect Cathcart's
+Anglo-Hanoverian corps which, _with the aid of Prussian troops_, was
+restoring the authority of George III. in that Electorate.
+
+Moreover, Frederick William could not complain of any shabby treatment
+from our Government. Knowing that he was set on the acquisition of
+Hanover and could only be drawn into the Coalition by an equally
+attractive offer, the Pitt Ministry had proposed through Lord Harrowby
+the cession to Prussia at the general peace of the lands south-west of
+the Duchy of Cleves, "bounded by a frontier line drawn from Antwerp to
+Luxemburg," and connected with the rest of her territories.[55] This
+plan, which would have planted Prussia firmly at Antwerp, Liege,
+Luxemburg, and Cologne, also aimed at installing the Elector of
+Salzburg in the rest of the new Rhenish acquisitions of France; while
+the equipoise of the Powers was to be adjusted by the cession of
+Salzburg, the Papal Legations, and the line of the Mincio to Austria,
+she in her turn giving up part of her Dalmatian lands to Russia.
+Prussia was to be the protectress of North Germany and regard any
+incursion of the French, "north of the Maine or at least of the Lahn,"
+as an act of war. Great Britain, after subsidizing Prussia for 100,000
+troops on the usual scale, pledged herself to restore all her
+conquests made, or to be made, during the war, with the exception of
+the Cape of Good Hope: but no questions were to be raised about that
+desirable colony, or Malta, or the British maritime code.[56]
+
+At the close of 1805, then, Frederick William was face to face with
+the offers of England and those brought by Haugwitz from Napoleon.
+That is, he had to choose between the half of Belgium and the
+Rhineland as offered by England, or Hanover as a gift from Napoleon.
+The former gain was the richer, but apparently the more risky, for it
+entailed the hatred of France: the latter seemed to secure the
+friendship of the conqueror, though at the expense of the claims of
+honour and a naval war with England. His confidential advisers,
+Lombard, Beyme, and Haugwitz, were determined to gain the Electorate,
+preferably at Napoleon's hands; while his Foreign Minister,
+Hardenberg, a Hanoverian by birth, desired to assure the union of his
+native land with Prussia by more honourable means, and probably by
+means of an exchange with George III., which will be noticed
+presently. In his opposition to French influence, Hardenberg had the
+support of the more patriotic Prussians, who sought to safeguard
+Prussia's honour, and to avert war with England. The difficulty in
+accepting the Electorate at the point of Napoleon's sword was not
+merely on the score of morality: it was due to the presence of a large
+force of English, Hanoverians, and Russians on the banks of the Weser,
+and to the protection which the Prussian Government had offered to
+those troops against any French attack, always provided that they did
+not move against Holland and retired behind the Prussian
+battalions.[57] The indignation of British officers at this last order
+is expressed by Christian Ompteda, of the King's German Legion, in a
+letter to his brother at Berlin: "My dear fellow, if this sort of
+thing goes on, the Continent will soon be irrecoverably lost. The
+Russian and English armies will not long creep for refuge under the
+contemptible Prussian cloak. We are here, 40,000 of the best and
+bravest troops. A swift move on Holland only would have opened the
+road to certain success.... And this is Lombard's and Haugwitz's
+work!"[58]
+
+What meanwhile were George III.'s Ministers doing? At this crisis
+English policy suffered a terrible blow. Death struck down the
+"stately column" that held up the swaying fortunes of our race.
+William Pitt, long failing in health, was sore-stricken by the news of
+Austerlitz and the defection of Austria. But the popular version as to
+the cause of his death--that _Austerlitz killed Pitt_--is more
+melodramatic than correct. Among the many causes that broke that
+unbending spirit, the news of the miserable result of the Hanoverian
+Expedition was the last and severest. The files of our Foreign Office
+papers yield touching proof of the hopes which the Cabinet cherished,
+even after Vienna was in Napoleon's hands. Harrowby was urged to do
+everything in his power--short of conceding Hanover--to bring Prussia
+into the field, in which case "nearly 300,000 men will be available in
+North Germany at the beginning of the next campaign, which will
+include 70,000 British and Hanoverian troops employed there or in
+maritime enterprises."[59] To this hope Pitt clung, even after hearing
+the news of Austerlitz, and it was doubtless this which enabled him to
+bear that last journey from Bath to Putney Heath, with less fatigue
+and far more quickly than had been expected. He arrived home on
+Saturday night, January 11th. On the following Wednesday his friend,
+George Rose, called on him and found that a serious change for the
+worse had set in.
+
+    "On the Sunday he was better, and continued improving till Monday
+    in the afternoon, when Lord Castlereagh insisted on seeing him,
+    and, having obtained access to him, entered (Lord Hawkesbury being
+    also present) on points of public business of the most serious
+    importance (principally respecting the bringing home the British
+    troops from the Continent), which affected him visibly that
+    evening and the next day, and this morning the effect was more
+    plainly observed: ... his countenance is extremely changed, his
+    voice weak, and his body almost wasted."
+
+It is clear also from the medical evidence which the diarist gives
+that the news from Hanover was the cause of this sudden change. On the
+previous Sunday, that is, just after the fatigue of the three days'
+journey, the physicians "thought there was a reasonable prospect of
+Mr. Pitt's recovery, that the probability was in favour of it, and
+that, if his complaint should not take an unfavourable turn, he might
+be able to attend to business in about a month."[60] That unfavourable
+turn took place when the heroic spirit lost all hope under the
+distressing news from Berlin and Hanover. Austerlitz, it is true, had
+depressed him. Yet that, after all, did not concern British honour and
+the dearest interests of his master.
+
+But, that Frederick William, from whom he had hoped so much, to whom
+he was on the point of advancing a great subsidy, should now fall
+away, should talk of peace with Napoleon and claim Hanover, should
+forbid an invasion of Holland and request the British forces to
+evacuate North Germany--this was a blow to George III., to our
+military prestige, and to the now tottering Ministry. How could he
+face the Opposition, already wellnigh triumphant in the sad Melville
+business, with a King's Speech in which this was the chief news?
+Losing hope, he lost all hold on life: he sank rapidly: in the last
+hours his thoughts wandered away to Berlin and Lord Harrowby. "What is
+the wind?" he asked. "East; that will do; that will bring him fast,"
+he murmured. And, on January 23rd, about half an hour before he
+breathed his last, the servant heard him say: "My country: oh my
+country."[61]
+
+Thus sank to rest, amidst a horror of great darkness, the statesman
+whose noon had been calm and glorious. Only a superficial reading of
+his career can represent him as eager for war and a foe to popular
+progress. His best friends knew full well his pride in the great
+financial achievements of 1784-6, his resolute clinging to peace in
+1792, and his longing for a pacification in 1796, 1797, and 1800,
+provided it could be gained without detriment to our allies and to the
+vital interests of Britain. His defence lies buried amidst the
+documents of our Record Office, and has not yet fully seen the light.
+For he was a reserved man, the warmth of whose nature blossomed forth
+only to a few friends, or on such occasions as his inspired speech on
+the emancipation of slaves. To outsiders he had more than the usual
+fund of English coldness: he wrote no memoirs, he left few letters, he
+had scant means of influencing public opinion; and he viewed with
+lofty disdain the French clamour that it was he who made and kept up
+the war. "I know it," he said; "the Jacobins cry louder than we can,
+and make themselves heard."[62] He was, in fact, a typical champion of
+our rather dumb and stolid race, that plods along to the end of the
+appointed stage, scarcely heeding the cloud of stinging flies. Both
+the people and its champion were ill fitted to cope with Napoleon.
+None of our statesmen had the Latin tact and the histrionic gifts
+needful to fathom his guile, to arouse the public opinion of Europe
+against him, or to expose his double-dealing.
+
+But Pitt was unfortunate above all of them. It was his fate to begin
+his career in an age of mediocrities and to finish it in an almost
+single combat with the giant. He was no match for Napoleon. The
+Coalition, which the Czar and he did so much to form, was a house of
+cards that fell at the conqueror's first touch; and the Prussian
+alliance now proved to be a broken reed. His notions of strategy were
+puerile. The French Emperor was not to be beaten by small forces
+tapping at his outworks; and Austria might reasonably complain that
+our neglect to attack the rear of the Grand Army in Flanders exposed
+her to the full force of its onset on the Danube. But though his
+genius pales before the fiery comet of Napoleon, it shines with a
+clear and steady radiance when viewed beside that of the Continental
+statesmen of his age. They flickered for a brief space and set. His
+was the rare virtue of dauntless courage and unswerving constancy. By
+the side of their wavering groups he stands forth like an Abdiel:
+
+  "Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
+  His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal:
+  Nor number nor example with him wrought
+  To swerve from truth or change his constant mind,
+  Though single."
+
+While English statesmanship was essaying the task of forming a
+Coalition Ministry under Fox and Grenville, Napoleon with untiring
+activity was consolidating his position in Germany, Italy, and France.
+In Germany he allied his family by marriage with the now royal Houses
+of Bavaria and Wuertemberg. He chased the Bourbons of Naples from their
+Continental domains. In France he found means to mitigate a severe
+financial crisis, and to strengthen his throne by a new order of
+hereditary nobility. In a word, he became the new Charlemagne.
+
+The exaltation of the South German dynasties had long been a favourite
+project with Napoleon, who saw in the hatred of the House of Bavaria
+for Austria a sure basis for spreading French influence into the heart
+of Germany. Not long after the battle of Austerlitz, the Elector of
+Bavaria, while out shooting, received from a French courier a letter
+directed to "Sa Majeste _le Roi_ de Baviere et de Suabe."[63] This
+letter was despatched six days after a formal request was sent through
+Duroc, that the Elector would give his daughter Augusta in marriage to
+Eugene Beauharnais. The affair had been mooted in October: it was
+clinched by the victory of Austerlitz; and after Napoleon's arrival at
+Munich on the last day of the year, the final details were arranged.
+The bridegroom was informed of it in the following laconic style: "I
+have arrived at Munich. I have arranged your marriage with the
+Princess Augusta. It has been announced. This morning the princess
+visited me, and I spoke with her for a long time. She is very pretty.
+You will find herewith her portrait on a cup; but she is much better
+looking." The wedding took place at Munich as soon as the bridegroom
+could cross the Alps; and Napoleon delayed his departure for France in
+order to witness the ceremony which linked him with an old reigning
+family. At the same time he arranged a match between Jerome Bonaparte
+and Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg. This was less expeditious,
+partly because, in the case of a Bonaparte, Napoleon judged it needful
+to sound the measure of his obedience. But Jerome had been broken in:
+he had thrown over Miss Paterson, and, after a delay of a year and a
+half, obeyed his brother's behests, and strengthened the ties
+connecting Swabia with France. A third alliance was cemented by the
+marriage of the heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden with Stephanie de
+Beauharnais, niece of Josephine.
+
+In the early part of 1806 Napoleon might flatter himself with his
+brilliant success as a match-maker. Yet, after all, he was less
+concerned with the affairs of Hymen than with those of Mars and
+Mercury. He longed to be at Paris for the settlement of finances; and
+he burned to hear of the expulsion of the Bourbons from Naples. For
+this last he had already sent forth his imperious mandates from
+Vienna; and, after a brief sojourn at the Swabian capitals, he set out
+for Paris, where he arrived incognito at midnight of January 26th.
+During his absence of one hundred and twenty-five days he had captured
+or destroyed two armies, stricken a mighty coalition to the heart,
+shattered the Hapsburg Power, and revolutionized the Germanic system
+by establishing two Napoleonic kingdoms in its midst.
+
+Yet, as if nothing had been done, and all his hopes and thoughts lay
+in the future, he summoned his financial advisers to a council for
+eight o'clock in the morning. Scarcely did he deign to notice their
+congratulations on his triumphs. "We have," he said, "to deal with
+more serious questions: it seems that the greatest dangers of the
+State were not in Austria: let us hear the report of the Minister of
+the Treasury." It then appeared that Barbe-Marbois had been concerned
+in risky financial concerns with the Court of Spain, through a man
+named Ouvrard. The Minister therefore was promptly dismissed, and
+Mollien then and there received his post. The new Minister states in
+his memoirs that the money, which had sufficed to carry the French
+armies from the English Channel to the Rhine, had been raised on
+extravagant terms, largely on loans on the national domains. In fact,
+it had been an open question whether victory would come promptly
+enough to avert a wholesale crash at Paris.
+
+So bad were the finances that, though 40,000,000 francs were poured
+every year into France as subsidies from Italy and Spain, yet loans of
+120,000,000 francs had been incurred in order to meet current
+expenses.[64] It would exceed the limits of our space to describe by
+what forceful means Napoleon restored the financial equilibrium and
+assuaged the commercial crisis resulting from the war with England.
+Mollien soon had reason to know that, so far from avoiding Continental
+wars, the Emperor thenceforth seemed almost to provoke them, and that
+the motto--_War must support war_--fell far short of the truth.
+Napoleon's wars, always excepting his war with England, supported the
+burdens of an armed peace. In this respect his easy and gainful
+triumph over Austria was a disaster for France and Europe. It beckoned
+him on to Jena and Tilsit.
+
+While reducing his finances to order and newspaper editors to
+servility, the conqueror received news of the triumph of his arms in
+Southern Italy. There the Bourbons of Naples had mortally offended
+him. After concluding a convention for the peaceable withdrawal of St.
+Cyr's corps and the strict observance of neutrality by the kingdom of
+Naples, Ferdinand IV. and his Queen Caroline welcomed the arrival at
+their capital of an Anglo-Russian force of 20,000 men, and intrusted
+the command of these and of the Neapolitan troops to General Lacy.[65]
+This force, it is true, did little except weaken the northward march
+of Massena; but the violation of neutrality by the Bourbons galled
+Napoleon. At Vienna he refused to listen to the timid pleading of the
+Hapsburgs on their behalf, and as soon as peace was signed at
+Pressburg he put forth a bulletin stating that St. Cyr was marching on
+Naples to hurl from the throne that guilty woman who had so flagrantly
+violated all that is sacred among men. France would fight for thirty
+years rather than pardon her atrocious act of perfidy: the Queen of
+Naples had ceased to reign: let her go to London and form a committee
+of sympathetic ink with Drake, Spencer-Smith, Taylor, and Wickham.
+
+This diatribe was not the first occasion on which the conqueror had
+proved that he was no gentleman. In his brutal letter of January 2nd,
+1805, to Queen Caroline, he told her that, if she was the cause of
+another war, she and her children would beg their bread all through
+Europe. That and similar outbursts afford some excuse for the conduct
+of the Bourbons in the autumn of 1805. They infringed the neutrality
+which their ambassador had engaged to observe: but it is to be
+remembered that Napoleon's invasion of the Neapolitan States in 1803
+was a gross violation of international law, which the French Foreign
+Office sought to cloak by fabricating two secret articles of the
+Treaty of Amiens.[66] And though troth should doubtless be kept, even
+with a law-breaker, yet its violation becomes venial when the latter
+adopts the tone of a bully. For the present he triumphed. Joseph
+Bonaparte invaded Naples in force, and on January 13th the King,
+Queen, and Court set sail for Palermo. The Anglo-Russian divisions
+re-embarked and sailed away for Malta and Corfu. One of the Neapolitan
+strongholds, Gaeta, held out till the middle of July. Elsewhere the
+Bourbon troops gave little trouble.
+
+The conquest of Naples enabled Napoleon to extend his experiment of a
+federation of Bonapartist Kings. He announced to Miot de Melito, now
+appointed one of Joseph's administrators, his intentions in an
+interview at the Tuileries on January 28th. Joseph was to be King of
+Naples, if he accepted the honour quickly. If not, the Emperor would
+adopt a son, as in the case of Eugene, and make him King.--"I don't
+need a wife to have an heir. It is by my pen that I get
+children."--But Joseph must also show himself worthy of the honour.
+Let him despise fatigue, get wounded, break a leg.
+
+    "Look at me. The recent campaign, agitation, and movement have
+    made me fat. I believe that if all the kings coalesced against me,
+    I should get a quite ridiculous stomach.... You have heard my
+    words. I can no longer have relatives in obscurity. Those who will
+    not rise with me, shall no longer be of my family. I am making a
+    family of kings attached to my federative system."[67]
+
+The threat having had its effect, Joseph was proclaimed King of Naples
+by a decree of Napoleon. "Keep a firm hand: I only ask one thing of
+you: be entirely the master there."[68] Such was the advice given to
+his amiable brother, who after enjoying a military promenade
+southwards was charged to undertake the conquest of Sicily. It
+mattered little that the overthrow of the Neapolitan Bourbons offended
+the Czar, who had undertaken the protection of that House.
+
+As though intent on browbeating Alexander by an exhibition of his
+power, Napoleon lavished Italian titles on his Marshals and statesmen.
+Talleyrand became Prince of Benevento; and Bernadotte, Prince of
+Ponte-Corvo (two Papal enclaves in Neapolitan soil). To these and
+other titles were attached large domains (not divisible at death),
+which enabled his paladins and their successors to support their new
+dignities with pomp and splendour; especially was this so with the two
+titles which his bargains with Prussia and Bavaria enabled him to
+bestow. Thanks to the complaisance of their Kings, the Grand Duchy of
+Berg and Cleves was granted to Murat, while the energetic and trusty
+Berthier was rewarded with the Principality of Neufchatel and a truly
+princely fortune.[69]
+
+Thus was founded the Napoleonic nobility; and thus was fulfilled Mme.
+de Stael's prophecy that the priests and nobles would be the
+_caryatides_ of the future throne. The change was brought about
+skilfully. It took place when pride in Napoleon's exploits was at its
+height, and when the "Gazette de France" asserted:
+
+    "France is henceforth the arbitress of Europe.... Civilization
+    would have perished in Europe, if forth from the ruins there had
+    not arisen one of these men before whom the world keeps silence,
+    and to whom Providence seems to intrust its destinies."[70]
+
+This adulation, which recalls that of the Court of Augustus or
+Tiberius, gives the measure of French thought. In truth, Napoleon
+showed profound insight into human nature when he judged the hatred of
+an order of nobility to be a mere passing spasm of revolutionary
+fever; and he evinced equal good sense in restoring that order through
+the chiefs of the one truly popular institution in France, the army.
+Besides, the new titles were not taken from French domains, which
+would have revived the idea of feudal dependence in France: they were
+the fruit of Napoleon's great victory; and the sound of distant names
+like Benevento, Berg, and Dalmatia skilfully flattered the pride of
+_la grande nation_.
+
+It is now time to return to the affairs of Prussia and to point out
+the chief stages in her downward course. On January 3rd, 1806, an
+important State Council was held at Berlin in order to decide on
+certain modifications to the Schoenbrunn Treaty with Napoleon. The
+chief change resolved on was as follows: Instead of the cessions of
+territory being immediate and absolute, as proposed by Napoleon, they
+were not to take effect before the general peace. Until that took
+place, Frederick William resolved to occupy Hanover provisionally,
+meanwhile answering to France for the tranquillity of the north of
+Germany.[71] The Prussian Government therefore gave strong hints that
+the presence of a British force there was objectionable, and the
+troops were withdrawn.[72]
+
+Napoleon was to be less pliable. And yet Haugwitz assured the Prussian
+King and council that he had looked Napoleon through and through, and
+had discerned an unexpressed wish to deal easily with Prussia. As to
+his acceptance of these changes in the Schoenbrunn Treaty, Haugwitz
+felt no doubt whatever, at least so his foe, Hardenberg, states. But
+the Prussian Ministers were now proposing, not the offensive and
+defensive treaty of alliance that Napoleon required, but rather a
+mediation for peace between France and England. They were, in fact,
+striving to steer halfway between Napoleon and George III.--and gain
+Hanover. Verily, here was a belief in half measures passing that of
+women.
+
+The envoy despatched to assure Napoleon's assent to these new
+conditions was the very man who had quailed before the Emperor at
+Schoenbrunn. Count Haugwitz set out on January 14th for Munich and
+thence for Paris; but long before any definite news was received from
+him, the Court of Berlin decided, on the strength of a few oily
+compliments from the French ambassador, Laforest, to regard the
+acceptance of Napoleon as fully assured. Accordingly, on January 24th,
+the Government resolved to place the Prussian army on a peace-footing
+and recall the troops from Franconia, as a daily saving of 100,000
+thalers might thereby be effected. Never was there a greater act of
+extravagance. As soon as the retreat and demobilizing of the Prussian
+forces was announced, the French troops in Bavaria and Franconia began
+to press forward, while others poured across the Rhine. Affecting to
+ignore these threatening moves, the Prussian Court strove peaceably to
+acquire Hanover by secretly offering George III. a re-arrangement of
+territories, whereby the Hanoverian lands east of the Weser, along
+with a few districts west of Hameln and Nienburg, should pass to
+Prussia. Frederick William proposed to keep Minden and Ravensburg, but
+to cede East Frisia and all the rest of his Westphalian possessions to
+King George, who would retain the electoral dignity for these new
+lands.[73] The only reply that our ruler deigned to this offer was
+that he trusted:
+
+    "His Prussian Majesty will follow the honourable dictates of his
+    own heart, and will demonstrate to the world that he will not set
+    the dreadful example of indemnifying himself at the expense of a
+    third party, whose sentiments and conduct towards him and his
+    subjects have been uniformly friendly and pacifick."[74]
+
+But by the close of February this appeal fell on deaf ears. Frederick
+William had decided to comply with Napoleon's terms and was about to
+take formal possession of Hanover.
+
+The conqueror was far from taking that easy view of the changes made
+in the Schoenbrunn Treaty which the discerning Haugwitz had trustfully
+expected. At first, every effort was made by Talleyrand to delay his
+interview with the Emperor, evidently in the hope that the subtle
+flattery of Laforest at Berlin would lead to the demobilization of the
+Prussian forces. This fatal step was known at Paris before February
+6th, when Haugwitz was received by the Emperor; and the knowledge that
+Prussia was at his mercy decided the conqueror's tone. He began by
+some wheedling words as to the ability shown by Haugwitz in the
+Schoenbrunn negotiation:
+
+    "If anyone but myself had treated with you I should have thought
+    him bought over by you; but, let me confess to you, the treaty was
+    due to your talents and merit. You were in my eyes the first
+    statesman in Europe, and covered yourself with immortal glory."
+
+Before that interview, forsooth, he had decided to make war on
+Prussia; and only Haugwitz had induced him to offer her peace and the
+gift of Hanover. Why, then, had that treaty been so criticised at
+Berlin? Why had the French ambassador been slighted? Why was
+Hardenberg high in favour? Why had not the King dismissed that tool of
+England? Here the envoy strove to stem the rising torrent of the
+Emperor's wrath; his words were at once swept aside; and the deluge
+flowed on. As Prussia had not ratified the treaty pure and simple, she
+was in a state of war with France; for she still had Russian and
+English troops on her soil. Here again Haugwitz observed that those
+forces were withdrawing, and that the Prussians were entering Hanover
+in force. The storm burst forth anew. What right had Prussia thus to
+carry into effect a treaty which she had not ratified? If her forces
+entered Hanover, his troops should forthwith occupy Ansbach, Cleves,
+and Neufchatel: if Frederick William meant to have Hanover, he should
+pay dearly for it. But he would allow Haugwitz to see Talleyrand, so
+as to prevent an immediate war.[75]
+
+The calm of the Foreign Minister was as dangerous as the bluster of
+the Emperor. Talleyrand was no friend to Prussia. He had long known
+Napoleon's determination to press on a war between England and
+Prussia, and he lent himself to the plan of undermining the
+Hohenzollerns. The scales now fell from the envoy's eyes. He saw that
+his country stood friendless before an exacting creditor, who now
+claimed further sacrifices--or Prussia's life-blood. The Emperor's
+threats were partly fictitious; and when Haugwitz was thoroughly
+frightened and ready to concede almost anything, Napoleon came to the
+real point at issue, and demanded that the whole of the German
+coast-line on the North Sea should be closed to English commerce. With
+this stringent clause superadded, Hanover was now handed over to
+Prussia. Never was a Greek gift more skilfully offered. The present of
+Hanover on those terms implied for the recipient Russia's disapproval
+and the hostility of England.[76]
+
+This was the news brought by Haugwitz to Berlin. Frederick William was
+now on the horns of the very dilemma which he had sought to avoid.
+Either he must accept Napoleon's terms, or defy the conqueror to
+almost single combat. The irony of his position was now painfully
+apparent. In his longing for peace and retrenchment he had dismissed
+his would-be allies, and had sent his own soldiers grumbling to their
+homes. Moreover, he was tied by his previous action. If he accepted
+peace from Napoleon at Christmas, when 300,000 men could have disputed
+the victor's laurels, how much more must he accept it now! He not only
+gave way on this point: he even complied with Napoleon's wishes by
+keeping Hardenberg at a distance. He did not dismiss him--the
+friendship of the spirited Queen Louisa forbade that: but Hardenberg
+yielded up to Haugwitz the guidance of foreign affairs, and was
+granted unlimited leave of absence.
+
+Popular feeling was deeply moved by this craven compliance with French
+behests. The officers of the Berlin garrison serenaded the patriotic
+statesman, while Haugwitz twice had his windows smashed. Public
+opinion, it is true, counted for little in Prussia. The rigorous
+separation of classes, the absence of popular education, the complete
+subjection of the journals to Government, and the mutual jealousy of
+soldiers and civilians, prevented any general expression of opinion in
+that almost feudal society.
+
+But when the people of Ansbach piteously begged not to be handed over
+to Bavaria, and forthwith saw their land occupied by the French before
+Prussia had ratified the cession of that principality; when the North
+Germans found that the gain of Hanover by Prussia was at the price of
+war with England and the ruin of their commerce; when it was seen that
+Frederick William and Haugwitz had clipped the wings of the Prussian
+eagle till it shunned a fight with the Gallic cock, a feeling of shame
+and indignation arose which proved that the limits of endurance had
+been reached. Observers saw that, after all, the old German feeling
+was not dead; it was only torpid; and forces were beginning to work
+which threatened ruin to the Hohenzollerns if they again tarnished the
+national honour.[77]
+
+Meanwhile the first overtures for peace were exchanged between Paris,
+London, and St. Petersburg. In the spring of 1806 there seemed some
+ground for hope that Europe might find repose, at least on land, after
+fourteen years of almost constant war. France was no longer
+Jacobinical. Under Napoleon she had quickly fallen into line with the
+monarchical States, and the questions now at stake merely related to
+boundaries and the balance of power. The bellicose ardour of the Czar
+had melted away at Austerlitz. The seizure of Hanover by Prussia moved
+him but little, and he sought to compose the resulting strife. As for
+the other Powers, they were either helpless or torpid. The King of
+Sweden was venting his spleen upon Prussia. Italy, South Germany,
+Holland, and Spain were at Napoleon's beck; and the policy of England
+under the new Grenville-Fox Ministry inclined strongly towards peace.
+There seemed, then, every chance of founding the supremacy of France
+upon lasting foundations, if the claims of Britain and Austria
+received reasonable satisfaction. Napoleon also seems to have wanted
+peace for the consolidation of his power in Europe and the extension
+of his colonies and commerce. As at the close of all his land
+campaigns, his thoughts turned to the East, and on January 31st, 1806,
+he issued orders to Decres which, far from showing any despair as to
+the French navy, foreshadowed a vigorous naval and colonial policy;
+while his moves on the Dalmatian coast, and the despatch of Sebastiani
+on a mission to the Porte, revealed the magnetic attraction which the
+Levant still had for him.
+
+A peculiar interest therefore attaches to the negotiations for peace
+in 1806, especially as they were pushed on by that generous orator,
+Fox, who had so long pleaded for a good understanding with France. On
+February 20th, 1806, he disclosed to Talleyrand the details of a
+supposed plot for the murder of the French Emperor, which some person
+had proposed to him, an offer which he rejected with horror, at the
+same time ordering the man to be expelled from the kingdom. It is more
+than probable that the whole thing was got up by the French police as
+a test of the esteem which Fox had always expressed for Bonaparte.
+
+The experiment having turned out well, Talleyrand assured Fox of the
+pacific desires of the French Emperor as recently stated to the Corps
+Legislatif, namely, that peace could be had on the terms of the Treaty
+of Amiens. Fox at once clasped the outstretched hand, but stated that
+the negotiations must be in concert with Russia, and the treaty such
+as our allies could honourably accept. To this Talleyrand, on April
+1st, gave a partial assent, adding that Napoleon was convinced that
+the rupture of the Peace of Amiens was due solely to the refusal of
+France to grant a treaty of commerce. France and England could now
+come to satisfactory terms, if England would be content with the
+sovereignty of the seas, and not interfere with Continental
+affairs.[78] France desired, not a truce, but a durable peace.
+
+To this Fox assented, but traversed the French claim that Russia's
+participation would imply her mediation. Peace could only come from an
+honourable understanding between all the Powers actually at war.
+Talleyrand denied that Russia was at war with France, as the Third
+Coalition had lapsed; but Fox held his ground, and declared there must
+be peace with England _and Russia_, or not at all: otherwise France
+would be seen to aim at "excluding us from any connection with the
+Continental Powers of Europe."[79]
+
+Such a beginning was disappointing: it showed that Napoleon and
+Talleyrand were intent on sowing distrust between England and Russia,
+who were mutually pledged not to make peace separately; and for a time
+all overtures ceased between London and Paris, until it was known that
+a Russian envoy was going to Paris. Hitherto the French Foreign Office
+had won brilliant successes by skilfully separating and embittering
+allies. But now it seemed that their tactics were foiled. Two firm and
+trusty allies yet remained, Britain and Russia. To Czartoryski our
+Foreign Minister had expressed his desire that the former offensive
+alliance should now take a solely defensive character: "If we cannot
+reduce the enormous power of France, it will always be something to
+stop its progress." To these opinions the Russian Minister gave a
+cordial assent, and despatched a special envoy to London to concert
+terms of peace along with the British Ministry, while Oubril, "a safe
+man on whose prudence and principles the two allied Courts may safely
+rely," was despatched to Vienna and Paris.[80]
+
+Oubril proceeded to Vienna, where he had long discussions with the
+British and French ambassadors: Fox also requested that Lord Yarmouth,
+one of the many hundreds of Englishmen still kept under restraint in
+France, might have his freedom and repair at once to Paris for a
+preliminary discussion with Talleyrand. The request being granted, the
+prisoner left the depot at Verdun, and, early in June, saw that
+Minister in his first flush of pride at the new title of Prince of
+Benevento. At that time Paris was intoxicated with Napoleon's glory.
+The French were lords of Franconia, whence they levied heavy
+exactions: in Italy they defied the Pope's authority.[81] They were
+firmly installed at Ancona, despite repeated protests of Pius VII.
+King Joseph with an army of 45,000 men was planning the expulsion of
+the Bourbons from Sicily. And in these early days of June, Louis
+Bonaparte was declared King of Holland.
+
+Yet Talleyrand was not so dazzled by this splendour as to slight the
+idea of peace with England; and when Lord Yarmouth stated that George
+III. would above all things require the restoration of Hanover, the
+Minister, after a delay in which he consulted his master, stated that
+that would make no difficulty. As to the other questions, namely,
+Sicily and the maintenance of the Turkish Empire, he replied: "You
+hold Sicily, we do not ask it of you: if we possessed it, it might
+much increase our difficulties"; and as regards Turkey he advised
+that England should speedily gain the guarantee of its integrity from
+France--"for much is being prepared, but nothing is yet done." After
+reporting these views at Downing Street, Lord Yarmouth returned to
+Paris for further discussions, with the general understanding that the
+principle of _uti possidetis_ should form their basis--except as
+regards Hanover. He now was informed by Talleyrand that the
+negotiations with Russia were to be kept separate, and that Napoleon
+had other views about Sicily, as he looked on its conquest as
+necessary for Joseph's security on the mainland.
+
+Surprised at this change, our envoy stated that he could not discuss
+any terms of peace in which Sicily was not kept for the Bourbons;
+whereupon Talleyrand replied that things were altered, and that we
+ought to be content with regaining Hanover from Prussia and keeping
+Malta and the Cape of Good Hope. On Lord Yarmouth declining to proceed
+further until the French claims to Sicily were renounced, the offer of
+the Hanse Towns (Luebeck, Hamburg, and Bremen) was made for his
+Sicilian Majesty; and on the refusal of that bait, Dalmatia, Ragusa,
+and Albania were proposed.
+
+As Napoleon had offered to guarantee the integrity of the Turkish
+Empire, Lord Yarmouth showed some indignation at a proposal which
+would have begun its partition; and, but for the expected arrival of
+Oubril, would have broken off the negotiation. On July 8th he saw the
+Russian envoy and found him a man of straw. Oubril approved
+everything. He was glad that France would give back Hanover to
+England, because that would sever the Franco-Prussian union and make
+the Court of Berlin dependent on Russia. He even thought it might be
+well for the Hanse Towns to go to the Neapolitan Bourbons, provided
+those towns were placed under the Czar's protection. But even better
+was the proposal that those Bourbons should have Dalmatia and
+neighbouring lands; for that would drive a wedge between Napoleon and
+Turkey. Such was the gist of this curious interview. Desirous of
+testing the accuracy of his account of it, Lord Yarmouth read it over
+to Oubril at their next interview, when the Russian envoy added the
+following written corrections:
+
+    "N.B.M. d'Oubril believes, though he has no directions on this
+    subject, that it would be suitable to Russia, and even
+    advantageous for the assuring their own independence, that Hamburg
+    and Luebeck should pass under the suzerainty of Russia.--N.B.
+    Although M. d'Oubril has a positive order to insist on the
+    preservation of Sicily for the King of Naples, yet he is of
+    opinion that the acquisition of Venetia, Istria, Dalmatia, and
+    Albania" [should be an establishment for his Sicilian
+    Majesty].[82]
+
+That a reed shaken by every breeze should bow before Napoleon's will
+was not surprising; and late at night on July 20th Lord Yarmouth heard
+that the Russian envoy had just signed a separate peace with France,
+whereby the independence of the Ionian Isles was recognized (Russia
+keeping only 4,000 troops in Corfu), and Germany was to be evacuated
+by the French. But the sting was in the tail: for a secret article
+stipulated that Ferdinand IV. should cede Sicily to Joseph Bonaparte
+and receive the Balearic Isles from Napoleon's ally, Spain.
+
+Such was the news which our envoy heard, after forcing his way to
+Oubril's presence, just as the latter was hurrying off to St.
+Petersburg. At that city an important change had taken place;
+Czartoryski had retired in favour of Baron Budberg, who was less
+favourable to a close alliance with England; and it appears certain
+that Oubril would not have broken through his instructions had he not
+known of this change. What other motives led him to break faith with
+England, Sicily, and Spain are not clearly known. He claimed that the
+new order of things in Germany rendered it highly important to get the
+French troops out of that land. Doubtless this was so; but even that
+benefit would have been dearly bought at the price of disgrace to the
+Czar.[83]
+
+Leaving for the present Oubril to face his indignant master, we turn
+to notice an epoch-making change, the details of which were settled at
+Paris in the midst of the negotiations with England and Russia. On
+July 17th was quietly signed the Act of the Confederation of the
+Rhine, that destroyed the old Germanic Empire.
+
+Some such event had long been expected. The Holy Roman Empire, after a
+thousand years of life, had been stricken unto death at Austerlitz.
+The seizure of Hanover by Prussia had led the King of Sweden to
+declare that he, for his Pomeranian lands, would take no more share in
+the deliberations of the senile Diet at Ratisbon which took no notice
+of that outrage. Moreover, Ratisbon was now merely the second city of
+Bavaria, whose King might easily deny to that body its local
+habitation; and the use of the term Germanic Confederation in the
+Treaty of Pressburg sounded the death-knell of an Empire which
+Voltaire with equal wit and truth had described as neither holy, nor
+Roman, nor an Empire. In the new age of trenchant realities how could
+that venerable figment survive--where the election of the Emperor was
+a sham, his coronation a mere parade of tattered robes before a crowd
+of landless Serenities, and where the Diet was largely concerned with
+regulating the claims of the envoys of princes to sit on seats of red
+cloth or on the less honourable green cloth, or with apportioning the
+traditional thirty-seven dishes of the imperial banquet so that the
+last should be borne by a Westphalian envoy?[84]
+
+Among these spectral survivals of an outworn life the incursion of
+Napoleon across the Rhine had aroused a panic not unlike that which
+the sturdy form of AEneas cast on the gibbering shades of the Greeks in
+the mourning fields of Hades. And when, on August 1st, 1806, the heir
+to the Revolution notified to the Diet at Ratisbon that neither he nor
+the States of South and Central Germany any longer recognized the
+existence of the old Empire, feebler protests arose than came from the
+straining throats of the scared comrades of Agamemnon. The Diet itself
+uttered no audible sound. The Emperor, Francis II., forthwith declared
+that he laid down his crown, absolved all the electors and princes
+from their allegiance, and retired within the bounds of the Austrian
+Empire.
+
+Thus feebly flickered out the light which had shed splendour on
+mediaeval Christendom. Kindled in the basilica of St. Peter's on
+Christmas Day of the year 800 in an almost mystical union of spiritual
+and earthly power, by the blessing of Pope Leo on Karl the Great, it
+was now trodden under foot by the chief of a more than Frankish State,
+who aspired to unquestioned sway over a dominion as great as that of
+the mediaeval hero. For Napoleon, as Protector of the Rhenish
+Confederation, now controlled most of the German lands that
+acknowledged Charlemagne, while his hold on Italy was immeasurably
+stronger. Further parallels between two ages and systems so unlike as
+those of Charlemagne and his imitator are of course superficial; and
+Napoleon's attempt at impressing the imagination of the Germans seems
+to us to smack of unreality. Yet we must remember that they were then
+the most impressionable and docile of nations, that his attempt was
+made with much skill, and that none of the appointed guardians of the
+old Empire raised a voice in protest while he imposed a constitution
+on the fifteen Princes of the new Confederation.
+
+They included the rulers of South Germany, as well as Dalberg the
+Arch-Chancellor, who now took the title of Prince Primate, the
+Grand-Duke of Berg, the Landgrave, now Grand-Duke, of Hesse-Darmstadt,
+two Princes of the House of Nassau, and seven lesser potentates. In
+some cases German laws were abolished in favour of the _Code
+Napoleon_. A close offensive and defensive alliance was framed between
+France and these States, that were to furnish in all 63,000 troops at
+the bidding of the Protector. Napoleon also gained some control over
+their fiscal and commercial codes--an important advantage, in view of
+the Continental System, that was soon to take definite form.[85]
+
+As a set-off to this surrender of all questions of foreign policy and
+many internal rights, what did these rulers receive? As happened
+almost uniformly in Napoleon's aggrandizements, he struck a bargain
+extremely serviceable to himself, less so to those whose support he
+sought, and in which the losses fell crushingly on the weak. His
+statecraft in this respect was more cynical than that of the crowned
+robbers who had degraded eighteenth-century politics into a game of
+grab. Their robberies were at least direct and straightforward. It was
+reserved for Napoleon at the Treaty of Campo Formio to win huge gains
+mostly at the expense of a weak third party, namely, Venice. He
+pursued the same profitable tactics in the Secularizations, when
+France and the greater German Powers gained enormously at the final
+cost of the Church lands and the little States; and now he ground up
+the German domains that were to cement his new Rhenish system.
+
+There were still numbers of Imperial Counts and Knights, as well as
+free cities, that had not been absorbed in 1803. The survivors were
+now wiped out by Napoleon for the benefit of his Rhenish underlings,
+the spoliation being veiled under the term _Mediatization_. The
+euphemism claims a brief explanation. In old German law the nobles and
+cities that gained local independence by shaking off the control of
+the local potentate were termed _immediate_, because they owed
+allegiance directly to the Emperor, without any feudal intermediary:
+if by mischance they fell under that hated control they were said to
+be _mediatized_. This term was now applied to acts that subjected the
+knight, or city, not to feudal control, but to complete absorption by
+the king or prince of Napoleon's creation. Six Imperial or Free Cities
+survived the Secularizations, namely, the three Hanse towns, and
+Augsburg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg. The northern towns still held
+their ancient rights; but Augsburg and Nuremberg now fell to the King
+of Bavaria, and Frankfurt was bestowed by Napoleon on Dalberg, the
+Prince Primate of the Confederation.
+
+German life began to lose much of the quaint diversity beloved of
+artists and poets; but it also gained much. No longer did the Count of
+Limburg-Styrum parade his army of one colonel, six officers, and two
+privates in the valley of the Roehr: he and his passed under the sway
+of Murat, and the lapse of these pigmy forces made a national army
+possible in the dim future. No more did the Imperial lawyers at
+Wetzlar browse on evergreen lawsuits: justice was administered after
+the concise methods of Napoleon. The crops of the Swabian peasant were
+now comparatively safe from the deer of His Translucency of the castle
+hard by; for the spirit of the French Revolution breathed upon the old
+game laws and robbed them of their terrors. And the German patriot of
+to-day must still confess that the first impulse for reform, however
+questionable its motives and brutal its application, came from the new
+Charlemagne.
+
+    NOTE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.--In a volume of Essays entitled
+    "Napoleonic Studies" (George Bell and Sons, 1904) I have treated
+    somewhat fully the questions of Pitt's Continental policy, and of
+    Napoleon's relations to the new thought of the age, in two Essays,
+    entitled "Pitt's Plans for the Settlement of Europe" and
+    "Wordsworth, Schiller, Fichte, and the Idealist Revolt against
+    Napoleon."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE FALL OF PRUSSIA
+
+
+We now turn to consider the influence which the founding of the
+Rhenish Confederation exerted on the international problems which were
+being discussed at Paris. Having gained this diplomatic victory,
+Napoleon, it seems, might well afford to be lenient to Prussia, to the
+Czar, even to England. Would he seize this opportunity, and soothe the
+fears of these Powers by a few timely concessions, or would he press
+them all the harder because the third of Germany was now under his
+control? Here again he was at the parting of the ways.
+
+As the only obstacles to the conclusion of a durable peace with
+England were Sicily and Hanover, it may be well to examine here the
+bearing of these questions on the peace of Europe and Napoleon's
+future.
+
+It is clear from his letters to Joseph that he had firmly resolved to
+conquer Sicily. Before his brother had reached Naples he warned him to
+prepare for the expulsion of the Bourbons from that island. For that
+purpose the French pushed on into Calabria and began to make extensive
+preparations--at the very time when Talleyrand stated to Lord Yarmouth
+that the French did not want Sicily. But the English forces defending
+that island prepared to deal a blow that would prevent a French
+descent. A force of about 5,000 men under Sir John Stuart landed in
+the Bay of St. Euphemia: and when, on the 4th of July, 1806, Reynier
+led 7,000 troops against them in full assurance of victory, his
+choicest battalions sank before the fierce bayonet charge of the
+British: in half an hour the French were in full retreat, leaving half
+their numbers on the field.
+
+The moral effect of this victory was very great. Hitherto our troops,
+except in Egypt, had had no opportunity of showing their splendid
+qualities. More than half a century had passed since at Minden a
+British force had triumphed over a French force in Europe; and
+Napoleon expressed the current opinion when he declared to Joseph his
+joy that at last the _slow and clumsy English_ had ventured on the
+mainland.[86] Moreover, the success at Maida, the general rising of
+the Calabrias that speedily followed, and Stuart's capture of Reggio,
+Cortone, and other towns, with large stores and forty cannon destined
+for the conquest of Sicily, scattered to the winds the French hope of
+carrying Sicily by a _coup de main_.
+
+If there was any chance of the Russian and British Governments
+deserting the cause of the Bourbons, it was ended by the news from the
+Mediterranean; and Napoleon now realized that the mastery of that
+sea--"_the principal and constant aim of my policy_"--had once more
+slipped from his grasp! On their side the Bourbons were unduly elated
+by a further success which was more brilliant than solid. Queen
+Caroline, excited at the capture of Capri by Sir Sidney Smith, sought
+to rouse all her lost provinces: she intrigued behind the back of the
+King and of General Acton, while the knight-errant succeeded in
+paralyzing the plans of Sir John Stuart.[87] Meanwhile Massena, after
+reducing the fortress of Gaeta to surrender, marched southward with a
+large force, and the British and Bourbon forces re-embarked for
+Sicily, leaving the fierce peasants and bandits of Calabria to the
+mercies of the conquerors. But Maida was not fought in vain. Sicily
+thenceforth was safe, the British army regained something of its
+ancient fame, and the hope of resisting Napoleon was strengthened both
+at St. Petersburg and London.
+
+Peace can rarely be attained unless one of the combatants is overcome
+or both are exhausted. But neither Great Britain nor France was in
+this position. By sea our successes had been as continuous as those of
+Napoleon over our allies on land. In January we captured the Cape from
+the Dutch: in February the French force at St. Domingo surrendered to
+Sir James Duckworth: Admiral Warren in March closed the career of the
+adventurous Linois; and early in July a British force seized great
+treasure at Buenos Ayres, whence, however, it was soon obliged to
+retire. After these successes Fox could not but be firm. He refused to
+budge from the standpoint of _uti possidetis_ which our envoy had
+stated as the basis of negotiations: and the Earl of Lauderdale, who
+was sent to support and finally to supersede the Earl of Yarmouth, at
+once took a firm tone which drew forth a truculent rejoinder. If that
+was to be the basis, wrote Clarke, the French plenipotentiary, then
+France would require Moravia, Styria, the whole of Austria (Proper),
+and Hanover, and in that case leave England her few colonial
+conquests.
+
+This reply of August 8th nearly severed the negotiations on the spot:
+but Talleyrand persistently refused to grant the passports which
+Lauderdale demanded--evidently in the hope that the Czar's
+ratification of Oubril's treaty would cause us to give up Sicily.[88]
+He was in error. On September 3rd the news reached Paris that
+Alexander scornfully rejected his envoy's handiwork. Nevertheless,
+Napoleon refused to forego his claims to Sicily; and the closing days
+of Fox were embittered by the thought that this negotiation, the last
+hope of a career fruitful in disappointments, was doomed to failure.
+After using his splendid eloquence for fifteen years in defence of the
+Revolution and its "heir," he came to the bitter conclusion that
+liberty had miscarried in France, and that that land had bent beneath
+the yoke in order the more completely to subjugate the Continent. He
+died on September 13th.
+
+French historians, following an article in the "Moniteur" of November
+26th, have often asserted that the death of Fox and the accession to
+power of the warlike faction changed the character of the
+negotiations.[89] Nothing can be further from the truth. Not long
+before his end, Fox thus expressed to his nephew his despair of peace:
+
+    "We can in honour do nothing without the full and _bona fide_
+    consent of the Queen and Court of Naples; but, even exclusive of
+    that consideration and of the great importance of Sicily, it is
+    not so much the value of the point in dispute as the manner in
+    which the French fly from their word that disheartens me. It is
+    not Sicily, but the shuffling, insincere way in which they act,
+    that shows me that they are playing a false game; and in that case
+    it would be very imprudent to make any concessions, which by any
+    possibility could be thought inconsistent with our honour, or
+    could furnish our allies with a plausible pretence for suspecting,
+    reproaching, or deserting us."
+
+It is further to be noted that Lauderdale stayed on at Paris three
+weeks after the death of Fox; that he put forward no new demand, but
+required that Talleyrand should revert to his first promise of
+renouncing all claim to Sicily, and should treat conjointly with
+England and Russia. It was in vain. Napoleon's final concessions were
+that the Bourbons, after losing Sicily, should have the Balearic Isles
+and be pensioned _by Spain_; that Russia should hold Corfu (as she
+already did); and that we should recover Hanover from Prussia, and
+keep Malta, the Cape, Tobago, and the three French towns in India;
+but, except Hanover, all of these were in our power. On Sicily he
+would not bate one jot of his pretensions. The negotiations were
+therefore broken off on October 6th, twelve days after Napoleon left
+Paris to marshal his troops against Prussia.[90] The whole affair
+revealed Napoleon's determination to trick the allies into signing
+separate and disadvantageous treaties, and thus to regain by craft the
+ground which he had lost in fair fight at Maida.
+
+If Sicily was the rock of stumbling between us and Napoleon, Hanover
+was the chief cause of the war between France and Prussia. During the
+negotiations at Paris, Lord Yarmouth privately informed Lucchesini,
+the Prussian ambassador, that Talleyrand made no difficulty about the
+restitution of Hanover to George III. The news, when forwarded to
+Berlin at the close of July, caused a nervous flutter in ministerial
+circles, where every effort was being made to keep on good terms with
+France.
+
+Even before this news arrived, the task was far from easy. Murat, when
+occupying his new Duchy of Berg, pushed on his troops into the old
+Church lands of Essen and Werden. Prussia looked on these districts as
+her own, and the sturdy patriot Bluecher at once marched in his
+soldiers, tore down Murat's proclamations, and restored the Prussian
+eagle with blare of trumpet and beat of drum.[91] A collision was with
+difficulty averted by the complaisance of Frederick William, who
+called back his troops and referred the question to lawyers; but even
+the King was piqued when the Grand-Duke of Berg sent him a letter of
+remonstrance on Bluecher's conduct, commencing with the familiar
+address, _Mon frere_.
+
+Bluecher meanwhile and the soldiery were eating out their hearts with
+rage, as they saw the French pouring across the Rhine, and
+constructing a bridge of boats at Wesel; and had they known that that
+important stronghold, the key of North Germany, was quietly declared
+to be a French garrison town, they would probably have forced the
+hands of the King.[92] For at this time Frederick William and Haugwitz
+were alarmed by the formation of the Rhenish Confederation, and were
+not wholly reassured by Napoleon's suggestion that the abolition of
+the old Empire must be an advantage to Prussia. They clutched eagerly,
+however, at his proposal that Prussia should form a league of the
+North German States, and made overtures to the two most important
+States, Saxony and Hesse-Cassel. During a few halcyon days the King
+even proposed to assume the title _Emperor of Prussia_, from which,
+however, the Elector of Saxony ironically dissuaded him. This castle
+in the air faded away when news reached Berlin at the beginning of
+August that Napoleon was seeking to bring the Elector of Hesse-Cassel
+into the Rhenish Confederation, and was offering as a bait the domains
+of some Imperial Knights and the principality of Fulda, now held by
+the Prince of Orange, a relative of Frederick William. Moreover, the
+moves of the French troops in Thuringia were so threatening to Saxony
+that the Court of Dresden began to scout the project of a North German
+Confederation.
+
+Still, the King and Haugwitz tried to persuade themselves that
+Napoleon meant well for Prussia, that England had been doing her
+utmost to make bad blood between the two allies, and that "great
+results could not be attained without some friction." In this hope
+they were encouraged by the French ambassador, the man who had enticed
+Prussia to her demobilization. He was charged by Talleyrand to report
+at Berlin that "peace with England would be made, as well as with
+Russia, if France had consented to the restitution of Hanover.--I have
+renewed," added Laforest, "the assurance that the Emperor [Napoleon]
+would never yield on this point."
+
+And yet at that very time the French Foreign Office was at work upon a
+Project of a Treaty in which the restitution of Hanover to George III.
+was expressly named and received the assent of Napoleon.[93] The
+Prussian ambassador, Lucchesini, had some inkling of this from French
+sources,[94] as well as from Lord Yarmouth, and on July 28th penned a
+despatch which fell like a thunderbolt on the optimists of Berlin. It
+crossed on the way--such is the irony of diplomacy--a despatch from
+Berlin that required him to show unlimited confidence in Napoleon.
+From confidence the King now rushed to the opposite extreme, and saw
+Napoleon's hand in all the friction of the last few weeks.
+
+Here again he was wrong; for the French Emperor had held back Murat
+and the other hot-bloods of the army who were longing to measure
+swords with Prussia.[95] His correspondence proves that his first
+thoughts were always in the Mediterranean. For one page that he wrote
+about German affairs he wrote twenty to Joseph or Eugene on the need
+of keeping a firm hand and punishing Calabrian rebels--"shoot three
+men in every village"--above all, on the plans for conquering Sicily.
+It was therefore with real surprise that on August 16th-18th he learnt
+from a purloined despatch of Lucchesini that the latter suspected him
+of planning with the Czar the partition of Prussian Poland. He treated
+the matter with contempt, and seems to have thought that Prussia would
+meekly accept the morsels which he proposed to throw to her in place
+of Hanover. But he misread the character of Frederick William, if he
+thought so grievous an insult would be passed over, and he knew not
+the power of the Prussian Queen to kindle the fire of patriotism.
+
+Queen Louisa was at this time thirty years of age and in the flower of
+that noble matronly beauty which bespoke a pure and exalted being. As
+daughter of a poverty-stricken prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, her
+youth had been spent in the homeliest fashion, until her charms won
+the heart of the Crown Prince of Prussia. Her first entry into Berlin
+was graced by an act that proclaimed a loving nature. When a group of
+children dressed in white greeted her with verses of welcome, she
+lifted up and kissed their little leader, to the scandal of stiff
+dowagers, and the joy of the citizens. The incident recalls the easy
+grace and disregard of etiquette shown by Marie Antoinette at
+Versailles in her young bridal days; and, in truth, these queens have
+something in common, besides their loveliness and their misfortunes.
+Both were mated with cold and uninspiring consorts. Destiny had
+refused both to Frederick William and to Louis XVI. the power of
+exciting feelings warmer than the esteem and respect due to a worthy
+man; and all the fervour of loyalty was aroused by their queens.
+
+Louisa was a North German Marie Antoinette, but more staid and homely
+than the vivacious daughter of Maria Theresa. Neither did she
+interfere much in politics, until the great crash came: even when the
+blow was impending, and the patriotic statesmen, with whom she
+sympathized, begged the King to remove Haugwitz, she disappointed them
+by withholding the entreaties which her instincts urged but her wifely
+obedience restrained. Her influence as yet was that of a noble,
+fascinating woman, who softened the jars occasioned by the King's
+narrow and pedantic nature, and purified the Court from the grossness
+of the past. But in the dark days that were to come, her faith and
+enthusiasm breathed new force into a down-trodden people; and where
+all else was shattered, the King and Queen still held forth the ideal
+of that first and strongest of Teutonic institutions, a pure family
+life.
+
+The "Memoirs" of Hardenberg show that the Queen quietly upheld the
+patriotic cause;[96] and in the tone of the letter that Frederick
+William wrote to the Czar (August 8th) there is something of feminine
+resentment against the French Emperor: after recounting his grievances
+at Napoleon's hands, he continued:
+
+    "If the news be true, if he be capable of perfidy so black, be
+    convinced, Sire, that it is not merely a question about Hanover
+    between him and me, but that he has decided to make war against me
+    at all costs. He wants no other Power beside his own.... Tell me,
+    Sire, I conjure you, if I may hope that your troops will be within
+    reach of succour for me, and if I may count on them in case of
+    aggression."
+
+Alexander wrote a cheering response, advising him to settle his
+differences with England and Sweden, and assuring him of help.
+Whereupon the King replied (September 6th) that he had reopened the
+North Sea rivers to British ships and hoped for peace and pecuniary
+help from London. He concluded thus:
+
+    "Meanwhile, Bonaparte has left me at my ease: for not only does he
+    not enter into any explanation about my armaments, but he has even
+    forbidden his Ministers to give and receive any explanations
+    whatever. It appears, then, that it is I who am to take the
+    initiative. My troops are marching on all sides to hasten that
+    moment."[97]
+
+These last sentences are the handwriting on the wall for the _ancien
+regime_ in Prussia. Taking the bland assurances of Talleyrand and the
+studied indifference of Laforest as signs that Napoleon might be
+caught off his guard, Prussia continued her warlike preparations; and
+in order to gain time Lucchesini was recalled and replaced by an envoy
+who was to enter into lengthy explanations. The trick did not deceive
+Napoleon, who on September 3rd had heard with much surprise that
+Russia meant to continue the war. At once he saw the germ of a new
+Coalition, and bent his energies to the task of conciliating Austria,
+and of fomenting the disputes between Russia and Turkey. Towards
+Frederick William his tone was that of a friend who grieves at an
+unexpected quarrel. How--he exclaimed to Lucchesini on the
+ambassador's departure--how could the King credit him with encouraging
+the intrigues of a fussy ambassador at Cassel or the bluster of Murat?
+
+As for Hanover, he had intended sending some one to Berlin to propose
+an equivalent for it in case England still made its restitution a
+_sine qua non_ of peace. "But," he added, "if your young officers and
+your women at Berlin want war, I am preparing to satisfy them. Yet my
+ambition turns wholly to Italy. She is a mistress whose favours I will
+share with no one. I will have all the Adriatic. The Pope shall be my
+vassal, and I will conquer Sicily. On North Germany I have no claims:
+I do not object to the Hanse towns entering your confederation. As to
+the inclusion of Saxony in it, my mind is not yet made up."[98]
+
+Indeed, the tenor of his private correspondence proves that before the
+first week of September he did not expect a new Coalition. He believed
+that England and Russia would give way before him, and that Prussia
+would never dare to stir. For the Court of Berlin he had a sovereign
+contempt, as for the "old coalition machines" in general. His conduct
+of affairs at this time betokens, not so much desire for war as lack
+of imagination where other persons' susceptibilities are concerned. It
+is probable that he then wanted peace with England and peace on the
+Continent; for his diplomacy won conquests fully as valuable as the
+booty of his sword, and only in a naval peace could he lay the
+foundations of that oriental empire which, he assured O'Meara at St.
+Helena, held the first place in his thoughts after the overthrow of
+Austria. But it was not in his nature to make the needful concessions.
+"_I must follow my policy in a geometrical line_" he said to
+Lucchesini. England might have Hanover and a few colonies if she would
+let Sicily go to a Bonaparte: as for Prussia, she might absorb
+half-a-dozen neighbouring princelings.
+
+That is the gist of Napoleon's European policy in the summer of 1806;
+and the surprise which he expressed to Mollien at the rejection of his
+offers is probably genuine. Sensitive to the least insult himself, his
+bluntness of perception respecting the honour of others might almost
+qualify him to rank with Aristotle's man devoid of feeling. It is
+perfectly true that he did not make war on Prussia in 1806 any more
+than on England in 1803. He only made peace impossible.[99]
+
+The condition on which Prussia now urgently insisted was the entire
+evacuation of Germany by French troops. This Napoleon refused to
+concede until Frederick William demobilized his army, a step that
+would have once more humbled him in the eyes of this people. It might
+even have led to his dethronement. For an incident had just occurred
+in Bavaria that fanned German sentiment to a flame. A bookseller of
+Nuremberg, named Palm, was proved by French officers to have sold an
+anonymous pamphlet entitled "Germany in her deep Humiliation." It was
+by no means of a revolutionary type, and the worthy man believed it to
+be a mistake when he was arrested by the military authorities. He was
+wrong. Napoleon had sent orders that a terrible example must be made
+in order to stop the sale of patriotic German pamphlets. Palm was
+therefore haled away to Braunau, an Austrian town then held by French
+troops, was tried by martial law and shot (August 25th). Never did the
+Emperor commit a greater blunder. The outrage sent a thrill of
+indignation through the length and breadth of Germany. Instead of
+quenching, it inflamed the national sentiment, and thus rendered
+doubly difficult any peaceful compromise between Frederick William and
+Napoleon. The latter was now looked upon as a tyrant by the citizen
+class which his reforms were designed to conciliate: and Frederick
+William became almost the champion of Germany when he demanded the
+withdrawal of the French troops.
+
+Unfortunately, the King refused to appoint Ministers who inspired
+confidence. With Hardenberg in place of Haugwitz, men would have felt
+sure that the sword would not again be tamely sheathed; great efforts
+were made to effect this change, but met with a chilling repulse from
+the King.[100] It is true that Haugwitz and Beyme now expressed the
+bitterest hatred of Napoleon, as well they might for a man who had
+betrayed their confidence. But, none the less, the King's refusal to
+change his men along with his policy was fatal. Both at St. Petersburg
+and London no trust was felt in Prussia as long as Haugwitz was at the
+helm. The man who had twice steered the ship of state under Napoleon's
+guns might do it again; and both England and Russia waited to see some
+irrevocable step taken before they again risked an army for that
+prince of waverers.
+
+Grenville rather tardily sent Lord Morpeth to arrange an alliance, but
+only after he should receive a solemn pledge that Hanover would be
+restored. That envoy approached the Prussian headquarters just in time
+to be swept away in the torrent of fugitives from Jena. As for Russia,
+she had awaited the arrival of a Prussian officer at St. Petersburg to
+concert a plan of campaign. When he arrived he had no plan; and the
+Czar, perplexed by the fatuity of his ally, and the hostility of the
+Turks, refused to march his troops forthwith into Prussia.[101]
+Equally disappointing was the conduct of Austria. This Power, bleeding
+from the wounds of last year and smarting under the jealousy of
+Russia, refused to move until the allies had won a victory. And so,
+thanks to the jealousies of the old monarchies, Frederick William had
+no Russian or Austrian troops at his side, no sinews of war from
+London to invigorate his preparations, when he staked his all in the
+high places of Thuringia. He gained, it is true, the support of Saxony
+and Weimar; but this brought less than 21,000 men to his side.
+
+On the other hand, Napoleon, as Protector of the Rhenish
+Confederation, secured the aid of 25,000 South Germans, as well as an
+excellent fortified base at Wuerzburg. His troops, holding the citadels
+of Passau and Braunau on the Austrian frontier, kept the Hapsburgs
+quiet; and 60,000 French and Dutch troops at Wesel menaced the
+Prussians in Hanover. Above all, his forces already in Germany were
+strengthened until, in the early days of October, some 200,000 men
+were marching from the Main towards the Duchy of Weimar. Soult and Ney
+led 60,000 men from Amberg towards Baireuth and Hof: Bernadotte and
+Davoust, with 90,000, marched towards Schleitz, while Lannes and
+Augereau, with 46,000, moved by a road further to the left towards
+Saalfeld.
+
+The progress of these dense columns near together and through a hilly
+country presented great difficulties, which only the experience of the
+officers, the energy and patience of the men, and the genius of their
+great leader could overcome. Meanwhile Napoleon had quietly left Paris
+on September 25th. Travelling at his usual rapid rate, he reached
+Mainz on the 28th: he was at Wuerzburg on October 2nd; there he
+directed the operations, confident that the impact of his immense
+force would speedily break the Prussians, drive them down the valley
+of the Saale and thus detach the Elector of Saxony from an alliance
+that already was irksome.
+
+The French, therefore, had a vast mass of seasoned fighters, a good
+base of operations, and a clear plan of attack. The Prussians, on the
+contrary, could muster barely 128,000 men, including the Saxons, for
+service in the field; and of these 27,000 with Ruechel were on the
+frontier of Hesse-Cassel seeking to assure the alliance of the
+Elector. The commander-in-chief was the septuagenarian Duke of
+Brunswick, well known for his failure at Valmy in 1792 and his recent
+support to the policy of complaisance to France. His appointment
+aroused anger and consternation; and General Kalckreuth expressed to
+Gentz the general opinion when he said that the Duke was quite
+incompetent for such a command: "His character is not strong enough,
+his mediocrity, irresolution, and untrustworthiness would ruin the
+best undertaking." The Duke himself was aware of his incompetence. Why
+then, we ask, did he accept the command? The answer is startling; but
+it rests on the evidence of General von Mueffling:
+
+    "The Duke of Brunswick had accepted the command _in order to avert
+    war_. I can affirm this with perfect certainty, since I have heard
+    it from his own lips more than once. He was fully aware of the
+    weaknesses of the Prussian army and the incompetence of its
+    officers."[102]
+
+Thus there was seen the strange sight of a diffident, peace-loving
+King accompanying the army and sharing in all the deliberations; while
+these were nominally presided over by a despondent old man who still
+intrigued to preserve peace, and shifted on to the King the
+responsibility of every important act. And yet there were able
+generals who could have acted with effect, even if they fell short of
+the opinion hopefully bruited by General Ruechel, that "several were
+equal to M. de Bonaparte." Events were to prove that Gneisenau,
+Scharnhorst, and Bluecher rivalled the best of the French Marshals; but
+in this war their lights were placed under bushels and only shone
+forth when the official covers had been shattered. Scharnhorst,
+already renowned for his strategic and administrative genius, took
+part in some of the many councils of war where everything was
+discussed and little was decided; but his opinion had no weight, for
+on October 7th he wrote: "What we ought to do I know right well, what
+we _shall_ do only the gods know."[103] He evidently referred to the
+need of concentration. At that time the thin Prussian lines were
+spread out over a front of eighty-five miles, the Saxons being near
+Gera, the chief army, under Brunswick, at Erfurth, while Ruechel was so
+far distant on the west that he could only come up at Jena just one
+hour too late to avert disaster.
+
+And yet with these weak and scattered forces, Prince Hohenlohe
+proposed a bold move forward to the Main. Brunswick, on the other
+hand, counselled a prudent defensive; but he could not, or would not,
+enforce his plan; and the result was an oscillation between the two
+extremes. Had he massed all his forces so as to command the valleys of
+the Saale and Elster near Jena and Gera, the campaign might possibly
+have been prolonged until the Russians came up. As it was, the allies
+dulled the ardour of their troops by marches, counter-marches, and
+interminable councils-of-war, while Napoleon's columns were threading
+their way along those valleys at the average rate of fifteen miles a
+day, in order to turn the allied left and cut the connection between
+Prussia and Saxony.[104]
+
+The first serious fighting was on October the 10th at Saalfeld, where
+Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia with a small force sought to protect
+Hohenlohe's flank march westwards on Jena. The task was beyond the
+strength even of this flower of Prussian chivalry. He was overpowered
+by the weight and vigour of Lannes' attack, and when already wounded
+in a cavalry _melee_ was pierced through the body by an officer to
+whom he proudly refused to surrender. The death of this hero, the
+"Alcibiades" of Prussia, cast a gloom over the whole army, and
+mournful faces at headquarters seemed to presage yet worse disasters.
+Perhaps it was some inkling of this discouragement, or a laudable
+desire to stop "an impolitic war," that urged Napoleon two days later
+to pen a letter to the King of Prussia urging him to make peace before
+he was crushed, as he assuredly would be. In itself the letter seems
+admirable--until one remembers the circumstances of the case. The King
+had pledged his word to the Czar to make war; if, therefore, he now
+made peace and sent the Russians back, he would once more stand
+condemned of preferring dishonourable ease to the noble hazards of an
+affair of honour. As Napoleon was aware of the union of the King and
+Czar, this letter must be regarded as an attempt to dissolve the
+alliance and tarnish Frederick William's reputation. It was viewed in
+that light by that monarch; and there is not a hint in Napoleon's
+other letters that he really expected peace.
+
+He was then at Gera, pushing forward his corps towards Naumburg so as
+to cut off the Prussians from Saxony and the Elbe. Great as was his
+superiority, these movements occasioned such a dispersion of his
+forces as to invite attack from enterprising foes; but he despised the
+Prussian generals as imbeciles, and endeavoured to unsteady their rank
+and file by seizing and burning their military stores at the latter
+town. He certainly believed that they were all in retreat northwards,
+and great was his surprise when he heard from Lannes early on October
+13th that his scouts, after scaling the hills behind Jena in a dense
+mist, had come upon the Prussian army. The news was only partly
+correct. It was only Hohenlohe's corps: for the bulk of that army,
+under Brunswick, was retreating northwards, and nearly stumbled upon
+the corps of Davoust and Bernadotte behind Naumburg.
+
+Lannes also was in danger on the Landgrafenberg. This is a lofty hill
+which towers above the town of Jena and the narrow winding vale of the
+Saale; while its other slopes, to the north and west, rise above and
+dominate the broken and irregular plateau on which Hohenlohe's force
+was encamped. Had the Prussians attacked his weary regiments in force,
+they might easily have hurled them into the Saale. But Hohenlohe had
+received orders to retire northwards in the rear of Brunswick, as soon
+as he had rallied the detachment of Ruechel near Weimar, and was
+therefore indisposed to venture on the bold offensive which now was
+his only means of safety. The respite thus granted was used by the
+French to hurry every available regiment up the slopes north and west
+of Jena. Late in the afternoon, Napoleon himself ascended the
+Landgrafenberg to survey the plateau; while a pastor of the town was
+compelled to show a path further north which leads to the same plateau
+through a gulley called the Rau-thal.[105]
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF JENA]
+
+On the south the heights sink away into a wider valley, the Muehl-thal,
+along which runs the road to Weimar; and on this side too their wooded
+brows are broken by gulleys, up one of which runs a winding track
+known as the Schnecke or Snail. Villages and woods diversified the
+plateau and hindered the free use of that extended line formation on
+which the Prussians relied, while favouring the operations of dense
+columns preceded by clouds of skirmishers by which Napoleon so often
+hewed his way to victory. His greatest advantage, however, lay in the
+ignorance of his foes. Hohenlohe, believing that he was confronted
+only by Lannes' corps, took little thought about what was going on in
+his front, and judging the Muehl-thal approach alone to be accessible,
+posted his chief force on this side. So insufficient a guard was
+therefore kept on the side of the Landgrafenberg that the French,
+under cover of the darkness, not only crowned the summit densely with
+troops, but dragged up whole batteries of cannon.
+
+The toil was stupendous: in one of the steep hollow tracks a number of
+cannon and wagons stuck fast; but the Emperor, making his rounds at
+midnight, brought the magic of his presence to aid the weary troops
+and rebuke the officers whose negligence had caused this block.
+Lantern in hand, he went up and down the line to direct the work; and
+Savary, who saw this scene, noted the wonder of the men, as they
+caught sight of the Emperor, the renewed energy of their blows at the
+rocks, and their whispers of surprise that _he_ should come in person
+when their officers were asleep. The night was far spent when, after
+seeing the first wagon right through the narrow steep, he repaired to
+his bivouac amidst his Guards on the summit, and issued further orders
+before snatching a brief repose. By such untiring energy did he assure
+victory. Apart from its immense effect on the spirits of his troops,
+his vigilance reaped a rich reward. Jena was won by a rapid
+concentration of troops, and the prompt seizure of a commanding
+position almost under the eyes of an unenterprising enemy. The corps
+of Soult and Ney spent most of the night and early morning in marching
+towards Jena and taking up their positions on the right or north wing,
+while Lannes and the Guard held the central height, and Augereau's
+corps in the Muehl-thal threatened the Saxons and Prussians guarding
+the Schnecke.[106]
+
+A dense fog screened the moves of the assailants early on the morrow,
+and, after some confused but obstinate fighting, the French secured
+their hold on the plateau not only above the town of Jena, where their
+onset took the Prussians by surprise, but also above the Muehl-thal,
+where the enemy were in force.
+
+By ten o'clock the fog lifted, and the warm rays of the autumn sun
+showed the dense masses of the French advancing towards the middle of
+the plateau. Hohenlohe now saw the full extent of his error and
+despatched an urgent message to Ruechel for aid. It was too late. The
+French centre, led by Lannes, began to push back the Prussian lines on
+the village named Vierzehn Heiligen. It was in vain that Hohenlohe's
+choice squadrons flung themselves on the serried masses in front: the
+artillery and musketry fire disordered them, while French dragoons
+were ready to profit by their confusion. The village was lost, then
+retaken by a rally of the Prussians, then lost again when Ney was
+reinforced; and when the full vigour of the French attack was
+developed by the advance of Soult and Augereau on either wing,
+Napoleon launched his reserves, his Guard, and Murat's squadrons on
+the disordered lines. The impact was irresistible, and Hohenlohe's
+force was swept away. Then it was that Ruechel's force drew near, and
+strove to stem the rout. Advancing steadily, as if on parade, his
+troops for a brief space held up the French onset; but neither the
+dash of the Prussian horse nor the bravery of the foot-soldiers could
+dam that mighty tide, which laid low the gallant leader and swept his
+lines away into the general wreck.[107]
+
+In the headlong flight before Murat's horsemen, the fugitives fell in
+with another beaten array, that of Brunswick. At Jena the Prussians,
+if defeated, were not disgraced: before the first shot was fired their
+defeat was a mathematical certainty. At the crisis of the battle they
+had but 47,400 men at hand, while Napoleon then disposed of 83,600
+combatants.[108] But at Auerstaedt they were driven back and disgraced.
+There they had a decided superiority in numbers, having more than
+35,000 of their choicest troops, while opposite to them stood only the
+27,000 men of Davoust's corps.
+
+Hitherto Davoust had been remarkable rather for his dog-like devotion
+to Napoleon than for any martial genius; and the brilliant Marmont had
+openly scoffed at his receiving the title of Marshal. But, under his
+quiet exterior and plodding habits, there lay concealed a variety of
+gifts which only needed a great occasion to shine forth and astonish
+the world.[109] The time was now at hand. Frederick William and
+Brunswick were marching from Auerstaedt to make good their retreat on
+the Elbe, when their foremost horsemen, led by the gallant Bluecher,
+saw a solid wall of French infantry loom through the morning fog. It
+was part of Davoust's corps, strongly posted in and around the village
+of Hassenhausen.
+
+At once Bluecher charged, only to be driven back with severe loss.
+Again he came on, this time supported by infantry and cannon: again he
+was repulsed; for Davoust, aided by the fog, had seized the
+neighbouring heights which commanded the high road, and held them with
+firm grip. Determined to brush aside or crush this stubborn foe, the
+Duke of Brunswick now led heavy masses along the narrow defile; but
+the steady fire of the French laid him low, with most of the officers;
+and as the Prussians fell back, Davoust swung forward his men to
+threaten their flanks. The King was dismayed at these repeated checks,
+and though the Prussian reserves under Kalckreuth could have been
+called up to overwhelm the hard-pressed French by the weight of
+numbers, yet he judged it better to draw off his men and fall back on
+Hohenlohe for support.
+
+But what a support! Instead of an army, it was a terrified mob flying
+before Murat's sabres, that met them halfway between Auerstaedt and
+Weimar. Threatened also by Bernadotte's corps on their left flank, the
+two Prussian armies now melted away in one indistinguishable torrent,
+that was stemmed only by the sheltering walls of Erfurt, Magdeburg,
+and of fortresses yet more remote.
+
+Of the twin battles of Jena and Auerstaedt, the latter was
+unquestionably the more glorious for the French arms. That Napoleon
+should have beaten an army of little more than half his numbers is in
+no way remarkable. What is strange is that so consummate a leader
+should have been entirely ignorant of the distribution of the enemy's
+forces, and should have left Davoust with only 27,000 men exposed to
+the attack of Brunswick with nearly 40,000.[110] In his bulletins, as
+in the "Relation Officielle," the Emperor sought to gloze over his
+error by magnifying Hohenlohe's corps into a great army and
+attenuating Davoust's splendid exploit, which in his private letters
+he warmly praised. The fact is, he had made all his dispositions in
+the belief that he had the main body of the Prussians before him at
+Jena.
+
+That is why, on the afternoon of the 13th, he hastily sent to recall
+Murat's horse and Bernadotte's corps from Naumburg and its vicinity;
+and in consequence Bernadotte took no very active part in the
+fighting. For this he has been bitterly blamed, on the strength of an
+assertion that Napoleon during the night of the 13th-14th sent him an
+order to support Davoust. This order has never been produced, and it
+finds no place in the latest and fullest collection of French official
+despatches, which, however, contains some that fully exonerate
+Bernadotte.[111] Unfortunately for Bernadotte's fame, the tattle of
+memoir writers is more attractive and gains more currency than the
+prosaic facts of despatches.
+
+Fortune plays an immense part in warfare; and never did she favour the
+Emperor more than on October the 14th, 1806. Fortune and the skill and
+bravery of Davoust and his corps turned what might have been an almost
+doubtful conflict into an overwhelming victory. Though Napoleon was as
+ignorant of the movements of Brunswick as he was of the flank march of
+Bluecher at Waterloo, yet the enterprise and tenacity of Davoust and
+Lannes yielded him, on the Thuringian heights, a triumph scarcely
+paralleled in the annals of war. It is difficult to overpraise those
+Marshals for the energy with which they clung to the foe and brought
+on a battle under conditions highly favourable to the French: without
+their efforts, the Prussian army could never have been shattered on a
+single day.
+
+The flood of invasion now roared down the Thuringian valleys and
+deluged the plains of Saxony and Brandenburg. Rivers and ramparts were
+alike helpless to stay that all-devouring tide. On October the 16th,
+16,000 men surrendered at Erfurt to Murat: then, spurring eastward,
+_le beau sabreur_ rushed on the wreck of Hohenlohe's force, and with
+the aid of Lannes' untiring corps compelled it to surrender at
+Prenzlau.[112] Bluecher meanwhile stubbornly retreated to the north;
+but, with Murat, Soult, and Bernadotte dogging his steps, he finally
+threw himself into Luebeck, where, after a last desperate effort, he
+surrendered to overpowering numbers (November 7th).
+
+Here the gloom of defeat was relieved by gleams of heroism; but before
+the walls of other Prussian strongholds disaster was blackened by
+disgrace. Held by timid old men or nerveless pedants, they scarcely
+waited for a vigorous attack. A few cannon-shots, or even a
+demonstration of cavalry, generally brought out the white flag. In
+quick succession, Spandau, Stettin, Kuestrin, Magdeburg, and Hameln
+opened their gates, the governor of the last-named being mainly
+concerned about securing his future retiring pension from the French
+as soon as Hanover passed into their keeping.
+
+Amidst these shameful surrenders the capital fell into the hands of
+Davoust (October 25th). Varnhagen von Ense had described his mingled
+surprise and admiration at seeing those "lively, impudent,
+mean-looking little fellows," who had beaten the splendid soldiers
+trained in the school of Frederick the Great. His wonder was natural;
+but all who looked beneath the surface well knew that Prussia was
+overthrown before the first shot was fired. She was the victim of a
+deadening barrack routine, of official apathy or corruption, and of a
+degrading policy which dulled the enthusiasm of her sons.
+
+Thirteen days after the great battle, Napoleon himself entered Berlin
+in triumph. It was the first time that he allowed himself a victor's
+privilege, and no pains were spared to impress the imagination of
+mankind by a parade of his choicest troops. First came the foot
+grenadiers and chasseurs of the Imperial Guard: behind the central
+group marched other squadrons and battalions of these veterans,
+already famed as the doughtiest fighters of their age. In their midst
+came the mind of this military machine--Napoleon, accompanied by three
+Marshals and a brilliant staff. Among them men noted the plain,
+soldierlike Berthier, the ever trusty and methodical chief of the
+staff. At his side rode Davoust, whose round and placid face gave
+little promise of his rapid rush to the front rank among the French
+paladins. There too was the tall, handsome, threatening form of
+Augereau, whose services at Jena, meritorious as they were, scarcely
+maintained his fame at the high level to which it soared at
+Castiglione. Then came Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp, Duroc, a
+short, stern, war-hardened man, well known in Berlin, where twice he
+had sought to rivet close the bonds of the French alliance.
+
+Above all, the gaze of the awe-struck crowd was fixed on the figure of
+the chief, now grown to the roundness of robust health amidst toils
+that would have worn most men to a shadow; and on the face, no longer
+thin with the unsatisfied longings of youth, but square and full with
+toil requited and ambition wellnigh sated--a visage redeemed from the
+coarseness of the epicure's only by the knitted brows that bespoke
+ceaseless thought, and by the keen, melancholy, unfathomable eyes.
+
+
+NOTE ADDED TO THE FOURTH EDITION
+
+    Several facts of considerable interest and importance respecting
+    the Anglo-French negotiations of 1806 have been brought to light
+    by M. Coquelle in his recently published work "Napoleon and
+    England, 1803-1813," chapters xi.-xvii. (George Bell and Sons,
+    1904).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM: FRIEDLAND
+
+    "I know full well that London is a corner of the world, and that
+    Paris is its centre."--_Letter of Napoleon_, August 18th, 1806.
+
+On the 21st of November, 1806, Napoleon issued at Berlin the decree
+which proclaimed open and unrelenting war on English industry and
+commerce, a war that was to embroil the whole civilized world and
+cease only with his overthrow. After reciting his complaints against
+the English maritime code, he declared the British Isles to be in a
+state of blockade, interdicted all commerce with them, threatened
+seizure and imprisonment to English goods and subjects wherever found
+by French or allied troops, forbade all trade in English and colonial
+wares, and excluded from French and allied ports any ship that had
+touched at those of Great Britain; while any ship that connived at the
+infraction of the present decree was to be held a good prize of
+war.[113] This ukase, which was binding for France, Italy,
+Switzerland, Holland, and the Rhenish Confederation, formed the
+foundation of the Continental System, a term applicable to the sum
+total of the measures that aimed at ruining England by excluding her
+goods from the Continent.
+
+The plan of strangling Britain by her own wealth was not peculiar to
+Napoleon. In common with much of his political stock-in-trade he had
+it from the Jacobins, who stoutly maintained that England's wealth was
+fictitious and would collapse as soon as her commerce was attacked in
+the Indies and excluded from the Rhine and Elbe. At first the
+fulminations of Parisian legislators fell idly on the stately pile of
+British industry; but when the young Bonaparte appeared on the scene,
+the commercial warfare became serious. As soon as his victories in
+Italy widened the sphere of French influence, the Directory banned the
+entry of all our products, counting all cotton and woollen goods as
+English unless the contrary could be proved by certificates of
+origin.[114] Public opinion in France, which, unless held in by an
+intelligent monarch, has always swung towards protection or
+prohibition, welcomed that vigorous measure; and great was the outcry
+of manufacturers when it was rumoured in 1802 that Napoleon was about
+to make a commercial treaty with the national enemy. Tradition and
+custom, therefore, were all on his side, when, after Trafalgar, he
+concentrated all his energy on his "coast-system."[115]
+
+Ostensibly the Berlin Decree was a retort to our Order in Council of
+May 16th, 1806, which declared all the coast between Brest and the
+Elbe in a state of blockade; and French historians have defended it on
+this ground, asserting that it was a necessary reply to England's
+aggressive action.[116] But this plea can scarcely be maintained. The
+aggressor, surely, was the man who forced Prussia to close the neutral
+North German coast to British goods (February, 1806). Besides, there
+is indirect proof that Napoleon looked on our blockade of the northern
+coasts as not unreasonable. In his subsequent negotiations with us, he
+raised no protest against it, and made no difficulty about our
+maritime code: if we would let him seize Sicily, we might, it seems,
+have re-enacted that code in all its earlier stringency. Far from
+doing so, Fox and his successors relaxed the blockade of North
+Germany; and by an order dated September 25th, the coast between the
+Elbe and the Ems was declared free.
+
+Napoleon's grievance against us was thereby materially lessened, and
+his protest against fictitious blockades in the preamble of the Berlin
+Decree really applied only to our action on the coast between the
+Helder and Brest, where our cruisers were watching the naval
+preparations still going on. His retort in the interests of outraged
+law was certainly curious; he declared our 3,000 miles of coast in a
+state of blockade--a mere _brutum fulmen_ in point of fact, but
+designed to give a show of legality to his Continental System. Yet,
+apart from this thin pretext, he troubled very little about law.
+Indeed, blockade is an act of war; and its application to this or that
+part or coast depends on the will and power of the belligerents.
+Napoleon frankly recognized that fact; and, however much his preambles
+appealed to law, his conduct was decided solely by expediency. When he
+wanted peace (along with Sicily) he said nothing about our maritime
+claims: when the war went on, he used them as a pretext for an action
+that was ten times as stringent.
+
+The gauntlet thrown down by him at Berlin was promptly taken up by
+Great Britain. An Order in Council of January 7th, 1807, forbade
+neutrals to trade between the ports of France and her allies, or
+between ports that observed the Berlin Decree, under pain of seizure
+and confiscation of the ship and cargo. In return Napoleon issued from
+Warsaw (January 27th) a decree, ordering the seizure in the Hanse
+Towns of all English goods and colonial produce. By way of reprisal
+England reimposed a strict blockade on the North German coast (March
+11th); and after the Peace of Tilsit laid the Continent at the feet of
+Napoleon, he frankly told the diplomatic circle at Fontainebleau that
+he would no longer allow any commercial or political relations between
+the Continent and England. "The sea must be subdued by the land." In
+these words Napoleon pithily summed up his enterprise; and whatever
+may be thought of the means which he adopted, the design is not
+without grandeur. Granted that Britannia ruled the waves, yet he ruled
+the land; and the land, as the active fruitful element, must overpower
+the barren sea. Such was the notion: it was fallacious, as will appear
+later on; but it appealed strongly to the French imagination as
+providing an infallible means of humbling the traditional foe.
+Furthermore, it placed in Napoleon's hands a potent engine of
+government, not only for assuring his position in France, but for
+extending his sway over North Germany and all coasts that seemed
+needful to the success of the experiment.
+
+Indirectly also it seems to have fed, without satisfying, his
+ever-growing love of power. Here we touch on the difficult question of
+motive; and it is perhaps impossible, except for dogmatists, to
+determine whether the enterprises that led to his ruin--the partition
+of Portugal, which slid easily into the occupation of Spain, together
+with his Moscow adventure--were prompted by ambition or by a
+semi-fatalistic feeling that they were necessary to the complete
+triumph of his Continental System. He himself, with a flash of almost
+uncanny insight, once remarked to Roederer that his ambition was
+different from that of other men: for they were slaves to it, whereas
+it was so interwoven with the whole texture of his being as to
+interfere with no single process of thought and will. Whether that is
+possible is a question for psychologists and casuists; but every
+open-minded student of Napoleon's career must at times pause in utter
+doubt, whether this or that act was prompted by mad ambition, or
+followed naturally, perhaps inevitably, from that world-embracing
+postulate, the Continental System.
+
+England also derived some secondary advantages from this war of the
+elements. In order to stalemate her mighty foe, she pushed on her
+colonial conquests so as to control the resources of the tropics, and
+thus prevent that deadly tilting of the balance landwards which
+Napoleon strove to effect. And fate decreed that the conquests of
+English seamen and settlers were to be more enduring than those of
+Napoleon's legions. While the French were gaining barren victories
+beyond the Vistula and Ebro, our seamen seized French and Dutch
+colonies and our pioneers opened up the interior of Australia and
+South Africa.
+
+We also used our maritime monopoly to depress neutral commerce. We
+have not space to discuss the complex question of the rights of
+neutrals in time of war, which would involve an examination of the
+"rule of 1756" and the compromises arrived at after the two Armed
+Neutrality Leagues. Suffice it to say that our merchants had recently
+been indignant at the comparative immunity enjoyed by neutral ships,
+and had pressed for more vigorous action against such as traded to
+French ports.[117] Yet the statement that our Orders in Council were
+determined by the clamour of the mercantile class is an exaggeration:
+they were reprisals against Napoleon's acts, following them in almost
+geometrical gradations. To his domination over the industrial
+resources of the Continent we had nothing to oppose but our
+manufacturing skill, our supremacy in the tropics, and our control of
+the sea. The methods used on both sides were alike brutal, and, when
+carried to their logical conclusion at the close of the year, crushed
+the neutrals between the upper and the nether millstone. But it is
+difficult to see what other alternative was open to an insular State
+that was all-powerful at sea and weak on land. Our very existence was
+bound up with maritime commerce; and an abandonment of the carrying
+trade to neutrals would have been the tamest of surrenders, at a time
+when surrender meant political extinction.
+
+We turn now to follow the chief steps in Napoleon's onward march,
+which enabled him to impose his system on nearly the whole of the
+Continent. While encamped in the Prussian capital he decreed the
+deposition of the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, and French and Dutch troops
+forthwith occupied that Electorate. Towards Saxony he acted with
+politic clemency; and on December 11th, 1806, the Elector accepted the
+French alliance, entered the Confederation of the Rhine, and received
+the title of King.[118]
+
+Meanwhile Frederick William, accompanied by his grief-stricken
+consort, was striving to draw together an army in his eastern
+provinces. Some overtures with a view to peace had been made after
+Jena; but Napoleon finally refused to relax his pursuit unless the
+Prussians retired beyond the Vistula, and yielded up to him all the
+western parts of the kingdom, with their fortresses. Besides, he let
+it be known that Prussia must join him in a close alliance against
+Russia, with a view to checking her ambitious projects against Turkey;
+for the Czar, resenting the Sultan's deposition of the hospodars of
+the Danubian Principalities, an act suggested by the French, had sent
+an army across the River Pruth, even when the Porte timidly revoked
+its objectionable firman.[119] The Eastern Question having been thus
+reopened, Napoleon suggested a Franco-Prussian alliance so as to avert
+a Russian conquest of the Balkan Peninsula. But now, as ever, his
+terms to Prussia were too exacting. The King deigned not to stoop to
+such humiliation, but resolved to stake his all on the courage of his
+troops and the fidelity of the Czar.
+
+The Russians, though delayed by their distrust of Haugwitz, and by
+their insensate war with Turkey, were now marching, 73,000 strong,
+into Prussian Poland, but were too late to save the Silesian
+fortresses, most of which surrendered to the French. The fighting in
+the open also went against the allies, though at Pultusk, a town north
+of Warsaw, the Russians claimed that the contest had been drawn in
+their favour.
+
+At the close of the year the armies went into winter-quarters. It was
+high time. The French were ill supplied for a winter campaign amid the
+desolate wastes of Poland. Snow and rain, frosts and thaws had turned
+the wretched tracks into muddy swamps, where men sank to their knees,
+horses to their bellies, and carriages beyond their axles. The
+carriage conveying Talleyrand was a whole night stuck fast, in spite
+of the efforts of ten horses to drag it out. The opinion of the
+soldiery on Poland and the Poles is well expressed by that prince of
+_raconteurs_, Marbot: "Weather frightful, victuals very scarce, no
+wine, beer detestable, water muddy, no bread, lodgings shared with
+cows and pigs. 'And they call this their country,' said our soldiers."
+
+Yet Polish patriotism had been a mighty power in the world; and
+Napoleon, ever on the watch for the weak places of his foes, saw how
+effective a lever it might be. This had been his constant practice: he
+had pitted Italians against Austrians, Copts against Mamelukes, Druses
+against Turks, Irish against English, South Germans against the
+Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns, and for the most part with success. But,
+except in the case of the Italian people and the South German princes,
+he rarely, if ever, bestowed boons proportionate to the services
+rendered. It is very questionable whether he felt more warmly for
+Irish nationalists than for Copts and Druses.[120] Except in regard to
+his Italian kindred, none of the nationalist aspirations that were to
+mould the history of the century touched a responsive chord in his
+nature. In this, as in other affairs of state, he held "true policy"
+to be "nothing else than the calculation of combinations and chances."
+
+It was in this spirit that he surveyed the Polish Question. Arising
+out of the partitions of that unhappy land by Russia, Austria, and
+Prussia, it had distracted the repose of Europe scarcely less than the
+French Revolution; and now the heir to the Revolution, after hewing
+his way through the weak monarchies of Central Europe, was about to
+probe this ulcer of Christendom. As usual, nothing had been done to
+forestall him. Czartoryski had begged Alexander to declare Russian
+Poland an autonomous kingdom united with Russia only by the golden
+link of the crown, but this timely proposal was rejected;[121] and the
+Czar displayed the weakness of his judgment and the strength of his
+vanity by plunging into war with Turkey and Persia, at a time when
+Poland was opening her arms to the victor of a hundred fights. It was,
+therefore, easy for Napoleon to surround Russia with foes; and, as
+will shortly appear, he took steps to invigorate even the remote
+Persian Empire.
+
+But, above all, he spurred on the Poles to take up arms. His
+encouragements were discreetly vague. True, he countenanced Polish
+proclamations, which spoke grandiloquently of national liberty; but
+proclamations he ever viewed as the _ballons d'essai_ of politics. He
+also warned Murat not to promise the Poles too much: "My greatness
+does not depend on the aid of a few thousand Poles. Let them show a
+firm resolve to be independent: let them pledge themselves to support
+the King that will be given to them, and then I will see what is to be
+done."
+
+There were two reasons for this caution. His Marshals found no very
+general disposition among the Poles to take up arms for France; and he
+desired not to offend Austria by revolutionizing Galicia and her
+districts south and east of Warsaw. Already the Hapsburgs were
+nervously mustering their troops, and Napoleon had no wish to tempt
+fortune by warring against three Powers a thousand miles away from his
+own frontiers. He therefore calmed the Court of Vienna by promising
+that he would discourage any rising in Austrian Poland, and he held
+forth the prospect of regaining Silesia. This tempting offer was made
+secretly and conditionally; and evoked no expression of thanks, but
+rather a redoubling of precautions. Yet, despite the efforts of
+England and Russia, the Hapsburg ruler refused to join the allies: he
+preferred to play the waiting game which had ruined Prussia.[122]
+
+The campaign was reopened amidst terrible weather by a daring move of
+Bennigsen's Russians westwards, in the hope of saving Danzig and
+Graudenz from the French. At first a screen of forests well concealed
+his advance. But, falling in with Bernadotte near the River Passarge,
+his progress was checked and his design revealed. At once Napoleon
+prepared to march northwards and throw the Russians into the sea, a
+plan which in its turn was foiled by the seizure of a French despatch
+by Cossacks. Bennigsen, now aware of his danger, at once retreated
+towards Koenigsberg, but at Eylau turned on his pursuers and fought the
+bloodiest battle fought in Europe since Malplaquet. The numbers on
+both sides were probably about equal, numbering some 75,000 men, the
+Russians having a slight superiority in men and still more in
+artillery. Driven from Eylau on the night of February 7th after
+confused fighting, the Muscovite withdrew to a strong position formed
+by an irregular line of hills, which he crowned with cannon.
+
+As the dawn peered through the snow-laden clouds, guns began to deal
+death amongst the hostile masses, and heavy columns moved forward.
+Davoust, on the French right, began to push back the Russians on that
+side, whereupon Napoleon ordered Augereau's corps to complete the
+advantage by driving in the enemy's centre. Gallantly the French
+advanced. Their leading regiment, the 14th, had seized a hillock which
+commanded the enemy's lines,[123] when, amidst a whirlwind of snow
+that beat in their faces, a deadly storm of grape and canister almost
+annihilated the corps. Its shattered lines fell back, leaving the 14th
+to its fate. But a cloud of Cossacks now swept on the retiring
+companies, stabbing with their long spears; and it was a scanty band
+that found safety in their former position. Russian cannon and cavalry
+also stopped the advance of Davoust, and the fighting for a time
+resolved itself into confused but murderous charges at close quarters.
+As if to increase the horrors of the scene, snowstorms again swept
+over the field, dazing the French and shrouding with friendly wings
+the fierce charges of Cossacks. Yet the Grand Army fought on with
+devoted heroism; and the chief, determined to snatch at victory,
+launched eighty squadrons of horse against the Russian centre.
+Sweeping aside the Cossacks, and defying the cannon that riddled their
+files, they poured upon the first line of Russian infantry: for a time
+they were stemmed, but, finding some weaker places, the cuirassiers
+burst through, only to be thrown back by the second line; and, when
+furiously charged by Cossacks, they fell back in disorder. "These
+Russians fight like bulls," said the French. The simile was just. Even
+while Murat was hacking at their centre a column of 4,000 Russian
+grenadiers, detaching itself from their mangled line, marched straight
+forward on the village of Eylau. With the same blind courage that
+nerved Solmes' division at Steinkirk, they beat aside the French light
+horse and foot, and were now threatening the cemetery where Napoleon
+and his staff were standing.
+
+    "I never was so much struck with anything in my life," said
+    General Bertrand at St. Helena, "as by the Emperor at Eylau when
+    he was almost trodden under foot by the Russian column. He kept
+    his ground as the Russians advanced, saying frequently, 'What
+    boldness.'"
+
+But, when all around him trembled, and Berthier ordered up the horses
+as if for retreat, he himself quietly signalled for his Guards. These
+sturdy troops, long fuming at their inaction, marched forward with a
+stern joy. As at Steinkirk the French Household Brigade disdained to
+fire on the bull-dogs, so now the Guards rushed on the Muscovites with
+the cold steel. The shock was terrible; but the pent-up fury of the
+French carried all before it, and the grenadiers were wellnigh
+destroyed. The battle might still have ended in a French victory; for
+Davoust was obstinately holding the village which he had seized in the
+morning, and even threatened the rear of Bennigsen's centre. But when
+both sides were wellnigh exhausted, the Prussian General Lestocq with
+8,000 men, urged on by the counsels of Scharnhorst, hurried up from
+the side of Koenigsberg, marched straight on Davoust, and checked his
+forward movements. Ney followed Lestocq, but at so great a distance
+that his arrival at nightfall served only to secure the French left.
+
+Thus darkness closed over some 100,000 men, who wearily clung to their
+posts, and over snowy wastes where half that number lay dead, dying,
+or disabled. Well might Ney exclaim: "What a massacre, and without any
+issue!" Each side claimed the victory, and, as is usual in such cases,
+began industriously to minimize its own and to magnify the enemy's
+losses. The truth seems to be that both sides had about 25,000 men
+_hors de combat_; but, as Bennigsen lacked tents, supplies, and above
+all, the dauntless courage of Napoleon, he speedily fell back, and
+this enabled the Emperor to claim a decisive victory.[124]
+
+Exhausted by this terrific strife, the combatants now relaxed their
+efforts for a brief space; but while Napoleon used the time of respite
+in hurrying up troops from all parts of his vast dominions, the allies
+did little to improve their advantage. This inertness is all the more
+strange as Prussia and Russia came to closer accord in the Treaty of
+Bartenstein (April 26th, 1807).[125]
+
+The two monarchs now recur to the generous scheme of a European peace,
+for which the Czar and William Pitt had vainly struggled two years
+before. The present war is to be fought out to the end, not so as to
+humble France and interfere in her internal concerns, but in order to
+assure to Europe the blessings of a solid peace based on the claims of
+justice and of national independence. France must be satisfied with
+reasonable boundaries, and Prussia be restored to the limits of 1805
+or their equivalent. Germany is to be freed from the dictation of the
+French, and become a "constitutional federation," with a boundary
+"parallel to the Rhine." Austria is to be asked to join the present
+league, regaining Tyrol and the Mincio frontier. England and Sweden
+must be rallied to the common cause. The allies will also take steps
+to cause Denmark to join the league. For the rest, the integrity of
+Turkey is to be maintained, and the future of Italy decided in concert
+with Austria and England, the Kings of Sardinia and Naples being
+restored. Even should Austria, England, and Sweden not join them, yet
+Russia and Prussia will continue the struggle and not lay down their
+arms save by mutual consent.
+
+Had all the Powers threatened by Napoleon at once come forward and
+acted with vigour, these ends might, even now, have been attained. But
+Austria merely renewed her offers of mediation, a well-meaning but
+hopeless proposal. England, a prey to official incapacity, joined the
+league, promised help in men and money, and did little or nothing
+except send fruitless expeditions to Alexandria and the Dardanelles
+with the aim of forcing the Turks to a peace with Russia. In Sicily we
+held our own against Joseph's generals, but had no men to spare for a
+diversion against Marmont's forces in Dalmatia, which Alexander urged.
+Still less could we send from our own shores any force for the
+effective aid of Prussia. Though we had made peace with that Power,
+and ordinary prudence might have dictated the taking of steps to save
+the coast fortresses, Danzig and Colberg, from the French besiegers,
+yet our efforts were limited to the despatch of a few cruisers to the
+former stronghold. Even more urgent was the need of rescuing
+Stralsund, the chief fortress of Swedish Pomerania. Such an expedition
+clearly offered great possibilities with the minimum of risk. From the
+Isle of Ruegen Mortier's corps could be attacked; and when Stralsund
+was freed, a dash on Stettin, then weakly held by the French, promised
+an easy success that would raise the whole of North Germany in
+Napoleon's rear.[126]
+
+But arguments were thrown away upon the Grenville Ministry, which
+clung to its old plan of doing nothing and of doing it expensively.
+The Foreign Secretary, Lord Howick, replied that the allies must not
+expect any considerable aid from our land forces. Considering that the
+Income or War Tax of 2s. in the L had yielded close on L20,000,000,
+and that the army numbered 192,000 men (exclusive of those in India),
+this declaration did not shed lustre on the Ministry of all the
+Talents. That bankrupt Cabinet, however, was dismissed by George III.
+in March, 1807, because it declined to waive the question of Catholic
+Emancipation, and its place was filled by the Duke of Portland, with
+Canning as Foreign Minister. Soon it was seen that Pitt's cloak had
+fallen on worthy shoulders, and a new vigour began to inspirit our
+foreign policy. Yet the bad results of frittering away our forces on
+distant expeditions could not be wiped out at once. In fact, our
+military expert, Lord Cathcart, reported that only some 12,000 men
+could at present be spared for service in the Baltic; and, as it would
+be beneath our dignity to send so small a force, it would be better to
+keep it at home ready to menace any part of the French coast. As to
+Stralsund, he thought that plan was more feasible, but that, even
+there, the allies would not make head against Mortier's corps.[127]
+
+This is a specimen of the reasoning that was fast rendering Britain
+contemptible alike to friends and foes. It is not surprising that such
+timorous selfishness should have at last moved the Czar to say to our
+envoy: "Act where you please, provided that you act at all."[128] In
+the end the new Ministry did venture to act: it engaged to send 20,000
+men to the succour of Stralsund; but, with the fatality that then
+dogged our steps, that decision was formed on June the 17th, three
+days after the Coalition was shattered by the mighty blow of
+Friedland.
+
+In striking contrast to the faint-hearted measures of the allies was
+the timely energy of Napoleon in bringing up reinforcements. These
+were drawn partly from Mortier's corps in Pomerania, now engaged in
+watching the Swedes, who made a truce; partly from the Bavarians and
+Saxons; but mostly from French troops already in Central Germany,
+their places being taken by Italians, Spaniards, Swiss, and Dutch. In
+France a new levy of conscripts was ordered--the third since the
+outbreak of war with Prussia. The Turks were encouraged to press on
+the war against Russia and England; and a mission was sent to the Shah
+of Persia to strengthen his arms against the Czar. To this last we
+will now advert.
+
+For some time past Napoleon had been coquetting with Persia, and an
+embassy from the Shah now came to the castle of Finkenstein, a
+beautiful seat not far from the Vistula, where the Emperor spent the
+months of spring. A treaty was drawn up, and General Gardane was
+deputed to draw closer the bonds of friendship with the Court of
+Teheran. The instructions secretly issued to this officer are of great
+interest. He is ordered to proceed to Persia by way of Constantinople,
+to concert an alliance between Sultan and Shah, to redouble Persia's
+efforts against her "natural enemy," Russia, and to examine the means
+of invading India. For this purpose a number of officers are sent with
+him to examine the routes from Egypt or Syria to Delhi, as also to
+report on the harbours in Persia with a view to a maritime expedition,
+either by way of Suez or the Cape of Good Hope. The Shah is to be
+induced to form a corps of 12,000 men, drilled on the European model
+and armed with weapons sold by France. This force will attack the
+Russians in Georgia and serve later in an expedition to India. With a
+view to the sending of 20,000 French troops to India, Gardane is to
+communicate with the Mahratta princes and prepare for this enterprise
+by every possible means.
+
+We may note here that Gardane proceeded to Persia and was urging on
+the Shah to more active measures against Russia when the news of the
+Treaty of Tilsit diverted his efforts towards the east. At the close
+of the year, he reported to Napoleon that, for the march overland from
+Syria to the Ganges, Cyprus was an indispensable base of supplies: he
+recommended the route Bir, Mardin, Teheran, Herat, Cabul, and
+Peshawur: forty to fifty thousand French troops would be needed, and
+thirty or forty thousand Persians should also be taken up. Nothing
+came of these plans; but it is clear that, even when Napoleon was face
+to face with formidable foes on the Vistula, his thoughts still turned
+longingly to the banks of the Ganges.[129]
+
+The result of Napoleon's activity and the supineness of his foes were
+soon apparent. Danzig surrendered to the French on May the 24th, and
+Neisse in Silesia a little later; and it was not till the besiegers of
+these fortresses came up to swell the French host that Bennigsen
+opened the campaign. He was soon to rue the delay. His efforts to
+drive the foe from the River Passarge were promptly foiled, and he
+retired in haste to his intrenched camp at Heilsberg. There, on June
+the 10th, he turned fiercely at bay and dealt heavy losses to the
+French vanguard. In vain did Soult's corps struggle up towards the
+intrenchments; his men were mown down by grapeshot and musketry: in
+vain did Napoleon, who hurried up in the afternoon, launch the
+fusiliers of the Guard and a division of Lannes' corps. The Muscovites
+held firm, and the day closed ominously for the French. It was Eylau
+over again on a small scale.
+
+But Bennigsen was one of those commanders who, after fighting with
+great spirit, suffer a relapse. Despite the entreaties of his
+generals, he had retreated after Eylau; and now, after a day of
+inaction, his columns filed off towards Koenigsberg under cover of the
+darkness. In excuse for this action it has been urged that he had but
+two days' supply of bread in the camp, and that a forward move of
+Davoust's corps round his right flank threatened to cut him off from
+his base of supplies, Koenigsberg.[130]
+
+The first excuse only exposes him to greater censure. The Russian
+habit at that time usually was to live almost from hand to mouth; but
+that a carefully-prepared position like that of Heilsberg should be
+left without adequate supplies is unpardonable. On the two next days
+the rival hosts marched northward, the one to seize, the other to
+save, Koenigsberg. They were separated by the winding vale of the Alle.
+But the course of this river favoured Napoleon as much as it hindered
+Bennigsen. The Alle below Heilsberg makes a deep bend towards the
+north-east, then northwards again towards Friedland, where it comes
+within forty miles of Koenigsberg, but in its lower course flows
+north-east until it joins the Pregel.
+
+An army marching from Heilsberg to the old Prussian capital by the
+right bank would therefore easily be outstripped by one that could
+follow the chord of the arc instead of the irregular arc itself.
+Napoleon was in this fortunate position, while the Russians plodded
+amid heavy rains over the semicircular route further to the east.
+Their mistake in abandoning Heilsberg was now obvious. The Emperor
+halted at Eylau on the 13th for news of the Prussians in front and of
+Bennigsen on his right flank. Against the former he hurled his chief
+masses under the lead of Murat in the hope of seizing Koenigsberg at
+one blow.[131] But, foreseeing that the Russians would probably pass
+over the Alle at Friedland he despatched Lannes to Domnau to see
+whether they had already crossed in force. Clearly, then, Napoleon did
+not foresee what the morrow had in store for him: his aim was to drive
+a solid wedge between Bennigsen and the defenders of Koenigsberg, to
+storm that city first, and then to turn on Bennigsen. The claim of
+some of Napoleon's admirers that he laid a trap for the Russians at
+Friedland, as he had done at Austerlitz, is therefore refuted by the
+Emperor's own orders.
+
+None the less did Bennigsen walk into a trap, and one of his own
+choosing. Anxious to thrust himself between Napoleon and the old
+Prussian capital, he crossed the river at Friedland and sought to
+strengthen his position on the left bank by driving Lannes' vanguard
+back on Domnau, by throwing three bridges over the stream, and by
+crowning the hills on the right bank with a formidable artillery. But
+he had to deal with a tough and daring opponent. Throughout the winter
+Lannes had been a prey to ill-health and resentment at his chief's
+real or fancied injustice: but the heats of summer re-awakened his
+thirst for glory and restored him to his wonted vigour. Calling up the
+Saxon horse, Grouchy's dragoons, and Oudinot's grenadiers, he held his
+ground through the brief hours of darkness. Before dawn he posted his
+10,000 troops among the woods and on the plateau of Posthenen that
+lies to the west of Friedland and strove to stop the march of 40,000
+Russians. After four hours of fighting, his men were about to be
+thrust back, when the divisions of Verdier and Dupas--the latter from
+Mortier's corps--shared the burden of the fight until the sun was at
+its zenith. When once more the fight was doubtful, the dense columns
+of Ney and Victor were to be seen, and by desperate efforts the French
+vanguard held its ground until this welcome aid arrived.
+
+Napoleon, having received Lannes' urgent appeals for help, now rode up
+in hot haste, and in response to the cheers of his weary troops
+repeatedly exclaimed: "Today is a lucky day, the anniversary of
+Marengo." Their ardour was excited to the highest pitch, Oudinot
+saluting his chief with the words: "Quick, sire! my grenadiers can
+hold no longer: but give me reinforcements and I'll pitch the Russians
+into the river."[132] The Emperor cautiously gave them pause: the
+fresh troops marched to the front and formed the first line, those who
+had fought for nine hours now forming the supports. Ney held the post
+of honour in the woods on the right flank, nearly above Friedland;
+behind him was the corps of Bernadotte, which, since the disabling of
+that Marshal by a wound had been led by General Victor: there too were
+the dragoons of Latour-Maubourg, and the imposing masses of the Guard.
+In the centre, but bending in towards the rear, stood the remnant of
+Lannes' indomitable corps, now condemned for a time to comparative
+inactivity; and defensive tactics were also enjoined on
+Mortier and Grouchy on the left wing, until Ney and Victor should
+decide the fortunes of the second fight. The Russians, as if bent on
+favouring Napoleon's design, continued to deploy in front of
+Friedland, keeping up the while a desultory fight; and Bennigsen,
+anxious now about his communications with Koenigsberg, detached 6,000
+men down the right bank of the river towards Wehlau. Only 46,000 men
+were thus left to defend Friedland against a force that now numbered
+80,000: yet no works were thrown up to guard the bridges--and this
+after the arrival of Napoleon with strong reinforcements was known by
+the excitement along the enemy's front.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND]
+
+Nevertheless, as late as 3 p.m., Napoleon was in doubt whether he
+should not await the arrival of Murat. At his instructions, Berthier
+ordered that Marshal to leave Soult at Koenigsberg and hurry back with
+Davoust and the cavalry towards Friedland: "If I perceive at the
+beginning of this fight that the enemy is in too great force, I might
+be content with cannonading to-day and awaiting your arrival." But a
+little later the Emperor decides for instant attack. The omens are all
+favourable. If driven back the Russians will fight with their backs to
+a deep river. Besides, their position is cut in twain by a mill-stream
+which flows in a gulley, and near the town is dammed up so as to form
+a small lake. Below this lies Friedland in a deep bend of the river
+itself. Into this _cul-de-sac_ he will drive the Russian left, and
+fling their broken lines into the lake and river.
+
+At five o'clock a salvo of twenty guns opened the second and greater
+battle of Friedland. To rush on the Muscovite van and clear it from
+the wood of Sortlack was for Ney's leading division the work of a
+moment; but on reaching the open ground their ranks were ploughed by
+the shot of the Russian guns ranged on the hills beyond the river.
+Staggered by this fire, the division was wavering, when the Russian
+Guards and their choicest squadrons of horse charged home with deadly
+effect. But Ney's second division, led by the gallant Dupont, hurried
+up to restore the balance, while Latour-Maubourg's dragoons fell on
+the enemy's horsemen and drove them pell-mell towards Friedland.
+
+The Russian artillery fared little better: Napoleon directed Senarmont
+with thirty-six guns to take it in flank and it was soon overpowered.
+Freed now from the Russian grapeshot and sabres, Ney held on his
+course like a torrent that masters a dam, reached the upper part of
+the lake, and threw the bewildered foe into its waters or into the
+town. Friedland was now a death-trap: huddled together, plied by
+shell, shot and bayonet, the Russians fought from street to street
+with the energy of despair, but little by little were driven back on
+the bridges. No help was to be found there; for Senarmont, bringing up
+his guns, swept the bridges with a terrific fire: when part of the
+Russian left and centre had fled across, they burst into flames, a
+signal that warned their comrades further north of their coming doom.
+On that side, too, a general advance of the French drove the enemy
+back towards the steep banks of the river. But on those open plains
+the devotion and prowess of the Muscovite cavalry bore ampler fruit:
+charging the foe while in the full swing of victory, these gallant
+riders gave time for the infantry to attempt the dangers of a deep
+ford: hundreds were drowned, but others, along with most of the guns,
+stole away in the darkness down the left bank of the river.
+
+On the morrow Bennigsen's army was a mass of fugitives straggling
+towards the Pregel and fighting with one another for a chance to cross
+its long narrow bridge. Even on the other side they halted not, but
+wandered on towards the Niemen, no longer an army but an armed mob. On
+its banks they were joined by the defenders of Koenigsberg, who after a
+stout stand cut their way through Soult's lines and made for Tilsit.
+There, behind the broad stream of the Niemen, the fugitives found
+rest.
+
+It will always be a mystery why Bennigsen held on to Friedland after
+French reinforcements arrived; and the feeling of wonder and
+exasperation finds expression in the report of our envoy, Lord
+Hutchinson, founded on the information of two British officers who
+were at the Russian headquarters:
+
+    "Many of the circumstances attending the Battle of Friedland are
+    unexampled in the annals of war. We crossed the River Alle, not
+    knowing whether we had to contend with a corps or the whole French
+    army. From the commencement of the battle it was manifest that we
+    had a great deal to lose and probably little to gain: ... General
+    Bennigsen would, I believe, have retired early in the day from
+    ground which he ought never to have occupied; but the corps in our
+    front made so vigorous a resistance that, though occasionally we
+    gained a little ground, yet we were never able to drive them from
+    the woods or the village of Heinrichsdorf."[133]
+
+This evidence shows the transcendent services of Lannes, Oudinot, and
+Grouchy in the early part of the day; and it is clear that, as at
+Jena, no great battle would have been fought at all but for the valour
+and tenacity with which Lannes clung to the foe until Napoleon came
+up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+TILSIT
+
+
+Even now matters were not hopeless for the allies. Crowds of
+stragglers rejoined the colours at Tilsit, and Tartar reinforcements
+were near at hand. The gallant Gneisenau was still holding out bravely
+at Kolberg against Brune's divisions; and two of the Silesian
+fortresses had not yet surrendered. Moreover, Austria seemed about to
+declare against Napoleon, and there were hopes that before long
+England would do something. But, above all, since the war was for
+Prussia solely an affair of honour,[134] it deeply concerned
+Alexander's good name not to desert an ally to whom he was now pledged
+by all the claims of chivalry until satisfactory terms could be
+gained.
+
+But Alexander's nature had not as yet been strengthened by misfortune
+and religious convictions: it was a sunny background of flickering
+enthusiasms, flecked now and again by shadows of eastern cunning or
+darkened by warlike ambitions--a nature in which the sentimentalism of
+Rousseau and the passions of a Boyar alternately gained the mastery.
+No realism is more crude than that of the disillusionized idealist;
+and for months the young Czar had seen his dream of a free and happy
+Europe fade away amidst the smoke of Napoleon's guns and the mists of
+English muddling. At first he blenched not even at the news of
+Friedland. In an interview with our ambassador, Lord Gower, on June
+the 17th, he bitterly upbraided him with our inactivity in the Baltic
+and the Mediterranean, and the non-fulfilment of our promise of a
+loan; as for himself, "he would never stoop to Bonaparte: he would
+rather retire to Kazan or even to Tobolsk." But five days later,
+acting under pressure from his despairing generals, some of whom
+reminded him of his father's fate, he arranged an armistice with the
+conqueror.[135] Five days only were allowed in which Prussia might
+decide to follow his example or proceed with the war alone. She
+accepted the inevitable on the following day.
+
+The international situation was now strangely like that which followed
+immediately upon the battle of Austerlitz. Then it was Prussia, now it
+was Austria, that played the part of the cautious friend at the very
+time when the beaten allies were meditating surrender. For some time
+past the Court of Vienna had been offering its services for mediation:
+they were well received at London, with open disappointment by
+Prussia, and with ill-concealed annoyance by Napoleon. As at the time
+when Haugwitz came to him to dictate Prussia's terms, so now the
+Emperor kept the Austrian envoy waiting without an answer, until the
+blow of Friedland was dealt.[136] Even then Austria seemed about to
+enter the lists, when news arrived of the conclusion of the armistice
+at Tilsit. This enabled her to sheathe her sword with no loss of
+honour; but, as was the case with Prussia at the close of 1805, her
+conduct was seen to be timid and time-serving; and it merited the
+secret rebuke of Canning that she "was (as usual) just ten days too
+late in her determination, or the world might have been saved."[137]
+
+Whether Austria had been beguiled by the recent diplomatic caresses of
+Napoleon may well be doubted; for they were obviously aimed at keeping
+her quiet until he had settled scores with Prussia and Russia. His
+advances only began on the eve of the last war, and the sharpness of
+the transition from threats to endearments could not be smoothed over
+even by Talleyrand's finesse.[138] When the slaughter at Eylau placed
+him in peril, he again bade Talleyrand soothe the Austrian envoy with
+assurances that, if his master was anxious to maintain the integrity
+of Turkey, France would maintain it; or if he desired to share in an
+eventual partition, France would also arrange that to his liking.[139]
+But as the prospects for the campaign improved, Napoleon's tone
+hardened. On March the 14th he states that he has enough men to keep
+Austria quiet and to "get rid of the Russians in a month." And now he
+looks on an alliance with the Hapsburgs merely as giving a short time
+of quiet, whereas an alliance with Russia would be "very
+advantageous."[140] He had also felt the value of alliance with
+Prussia, as his repeated overtures during the campaign testify; but
+when Frederick William persistently rejected all accommodation with
+the man who had so deeply outraged his kingly honour, he turned
+finally to Alexander.
+
+The Czar was made of more pliable stuff. Moreover, he now cherished
+one sentiment that brought him into sympathy with Napoleon, namely,
+hatred of England. He certainly had grave cause for complaint. We had
+done nothing to help the allies in the Polish campaign except to send
+a few cruisers and 60,000 muskets, which last did not reach the
+Swedish and Russian ports until the war was over. True, we had gone
+out of our way to attack Constantinople at his request; but that
+attack had failed; and our attitude towards his Turkish policy was one
+of veiled suspicion, varied with moral lectures.[141] As for the loan
+of five millions sterling which the Czar had asked us to guarantee, we
+had put him off, our envoy finally reminding him that it had been of
+the first importance to help Austria to move. Worst of all, our
+cruisers had seized some Russian merchantmen coming out of French
+ports, and despite protests from St. Petersburg the legality of that
+seizure was maintained. Thus, in a war which concerned our very
+existence we had not rendered him a single practical service, and yet
+strained the principles of maritime law at the expense of Russian
+commerce.[142]
+
+Over against our policy of blundering delay there was that of
+Napoleon, prompt, keen, and ever victorious. The whole war had arisen
+out of the conflict of these two Powers; and Napoleon had never ceased
+to declare that it was essentially a struggle between England and the
+Continent. After Eylau Alexander was proof against these arguments;
+but now the triumphant energy of Napoleon and the stolid apathy of
+England brought about a quite bewildering change in Russian policy.
+Delicate advances having been made by the two Emperors, an interview
+was arranged to take place on a raft moored in the middle of the River
+Niemen (June 25th).
+
+"I hate the English as much as you do, and I will second you in all
+your actions against them." Such are said to have been the words with
+which Alexander greeted Napoleon as they stepped on to the raft.
+Whereupon the conqueror replied: "In that case all can be arranged and
+peace is made."[143] As the two Emperors were unaccompanied at that
+first interview, it is difficult to see on what evidence this story
+rests. It is most unlikely that either Emperor would divulge the
+remarks of the other on that occasion; and the words attributed to
+Alexander seem highly impolitic. For what was his position at this
+time? He was striving to make the best of a bad case against an
+opponent whose genius he secretly feared. Besides, we know for certain
+that he was most anxious to postpone his rupture with England for some
+months.[144] All desire for an immediate break was on Napoleon's side.
+
+We can therefore only guess at what transpired, from the vague
+descriptions of the two men themselves. They are characteristic
+enough: "I never had more prejudices against anyone than against
+_him_," said Alexander afterwards; "but, after three-quarters of an
+hour of conversation, they all disappeared like a dream"; and later he
+exclaimed: "Would that I had seen him sooner: the veil is torn aside
+and the time of error is past." As for Napoleon, he wrote to
+Josephine: "I have just seen the Emperor Alexander: I have been very
+pleased with him: he is a very handsome, good, and young Emperor: he
+has an intellect above what is commonly attributed to him."[145] The
+tone of these remarks strikes the keynote of all the conversations
+that followed. At the next day's conference, also held in the
+sumptuous pavilion erected on the raft, the King of Prussia was
+present; but towards him Napoleon's demeanour was cold and
+threatening. He upbraided him with the war, lectured him on the duty
+of a king to his people, and bade him dismiss Hardenberg. Frederick
+William listened for the most part in silence; his nature was too
+stiff and straightforward to practise any Byzantine arts; but when his
+trusty Minister was attacked, he protested that he should not know how
+to replace him. Napoleon had foreseen the plea and at once named three
+men who would give better advice. Among them was the staunch patriot
+Stein!
+
+From the ensuing conferences the King was almost wholly excluded. They
+were held in a part of the town of Tilsit which was neutralized for
+that purpose, as also for the guards and diplomatists of the three
+sovereigns. There, too, lived the two Emperors in closest intercourse,
+while on most days the Prussian King rode over from a neighbouring
+village to figure as a sad, reproachful guest at the rides, parades,
+and dinners that cemented the new Franco-Russian alliance. Yet, amid
+all the melodious raptures of Alexander over Napoleon's newly
+discovered virtues, it is easy to detect the clinging ground-tone of
+Muscovite ambition. An event had occurred which excited the hopes of
+both Emperors. At the close of May, the Sultan Selim was violently
+deposed by the Janissaries who clamoured for more vigorous measures
+against the Russians. Never did news come more opportunely for
+Napoleon than this, which reached him at Tilsit on, or before, June
+the 24th. He is said to have exclaimed to the Czar with a flash of
+dramatic fatalism: "It is a decree of Providence which tells me that
+the Turkish Empire can no longer exist."[146]
+
+Certain it is that the most potent spell exerted by the great
+conqueror over his rival was a guarded invitation to share in some
+future partition of the Turkish Empire. That scheme had fascinated
+Napoleon ever since the year 1797, when he gazed on the Adriatic.
+Though laid aside for a time in 1806, when he roused the Turks against
+Russia, it was never lost sight of; and now, on the basis of a common
+hatred of England and a common desire to secure the spoils of the
+Ottoman Power, the stately fabric of the Franco-Russian alliance was
+reared.
+
+On his side, Alexander required some assurance that Poland should not
+be reconstituted in its integrity--a change that would tear from
+Russia the huge districts stretching almost up to Riga, Smolensk, and
+Kiev, which were still Polish in sympathy. Here Napoleon reassured
+him, at least in part. He would not re-create the great kingdom of
+Poland: he would merely carve out from Prussia the greater part of her
+Polish possessions.
+
+These two important questions being settled, it only remained for the
+Czar to plead for the King of Prussia, to acknowledge Napoleon's
+domination as Emperor of the West, while he himself, as autocrat of
+the East, secured a better western boundary for Russia. At first he
+strove to gain for Frederick William the restoration of several of his
+lands west of the Elbe. This championship was not wholly
+disinterested; for it is now known that the Czar had set his heart on
+a great part of Prussian Poland.
+
+In truth, he was a sufficiently good disciple of the French
+revolutionists to plead very cogently his claims to a "natural
+frontier." He disliked a "dry frontier": he must have a riverine
+boundary: in fact, he claimed the banks of the Lower Niemen, and,
+further south, the course of the rivers Wavre, Narew and Bug. To this
+claim he had perhaps been encouraged by some alluring words of
+Napoleon that thenceforth the Vistula must be the boundary of their
+empires. But his ally was now determined to keep Russia away from the
+old Polish capital; and in strangely prophetic words he pointed out
+that the Czar's claims would bring the Russian eagles within sight of
+Warsaw, which would be too clear a sign that that city was destined to
+pass under the Russian rule.[147] Divining also that Alexander's plea
+for the restoration by France of some of Prussia's western lands was
+linked with a plan which would give Russia some of her eastern
+districts,[148] Napoleon resolved to press hard on Prussia from the
+west. While handing over to the Czar only the small district around
+Bialystock, he remorselessly thrust Prussia to the east of the Elbe.
+
+From this neither the arguments of the Czar nor the entreaties of
+Queen Louisa availed to move him. And yet, in the fond hope that her
+tears might win back Magdeburg, that noble bulwark of North German
+independence, the forlorn Queen came to Tilsit to crave this boon
+(July 6th). It was a terrible ordeal to do this from the man who had
+repeatedly insulted her in his official journals, figuring her, first
+as a mailed Amazon galloping at the head of her regiment, and finally
+breathing forth scandals on her spotless reputation.
+
+Yet, for the sake of her husband and her people, she braced herself up
+to the effort of treating him as a gentleman and appealing to his
+generosity. If she was able to conceal her loathing, this was scarcely
+so with her devoted lady in waiting, the Countess von Voss, who has
+left us an acrid account of Napoleon's visit to the Queen at the
+miller's house at Tilsit.[149]
+
+    "He is excessively ugly, with a fat swollen sallow face, very
+    corpulent, besides short and entirely without figure. His great
+    eyes roll gloomily around; the expression of his features is
+    severe; he looks like the incarnation of fate: only his mouth is
+    well shaped, and his teeth are good. He was extremely polite,
+    talked to the Queen a long time alone.... Again, after dinner, he
+    had a long conversation with the Queen, who also seemed pretty
+    well satisfied with the result."[150]
+
+
+Queen Louisa's verdict about his appearance was more favourable; she
+admired his head "as that of a Caesar." With winsome boldness inspired
+by patriotism, she begged for Magdeburg. Taken aback by her beauty and
+frankness, Napoleon had recourse to compliments about her dress. "Are
+we to talk about fashion, at such a time?" was her reply. Again she
+pleaded, and again he fell back on vapidities. Nevertheless, her
+appeals to his generosity seemed to be thawing his statecraft, when
+the entrance of that unlucky man, her husband, gave the conversation a
+colder tone. The dinner, however, passed cheerfully enough; and,
+according to French accounts, Napoleon graced the conclusion of
+dessert by offering her a rose. Her woman's wit flew to the utterance:
+"May I consider it a token of friendship, and that you grant my
+request for Magdeburg?" But he was on his guard, parried her onset
+with a general remark as to the way in which such civilities should be
+taken, and turned the conversation. Then, as if he feared the result
+of a second interview, he hastened to end matters with the Prussian
+negotiators.[151]
+
+He thus described the interview in a letter to Josephine:
+
+    "I have had to be on my guard against her efforts to oblige me to
+    some concessions for her husband; but I have been gallant, and
+    have held to my policy."
+
+This was only too clear on the following day, when the Queen again
+dined with the sovereigns.
+
+    "Napoleon," says the Countess von Voss, "seemed malicious and
+    spiteful, and the conversation was brief and constrained. After
+    dinner the Queen again conversed apart with him. On taking leave
+    she said to him that she went away feeling it deeply that he
+    should have deceived her. My poor Queen: she is quite in despair."
+
+
+When conducted to her carriage by Talleyrand and Duroc, she sank down
+overcome by emotion. Yet, amid her tears and humiliation, the old
+Prussian pride had flashed forth in one of her replies as the rainbow
+amidst the rain-storm. When Napoleon expressed his surprise that she
+should have dared to make war on him with means so utterly inadequate,
+she at once retorted: "Sire, I must confess to Your Majesty, the glory
+of Frederick the Great had misled us as to our real strength"--a
+retort which justly won the praise of that fastidious connoisseur,
+Talleyrand, for its reminder of Prussia's former greatness and the
+transitoriness of all human grandeur.[152]
+
+On that same day (July 7th) the Treaty of Tilsit was signed. Its terms
+may be thus summarized. Out of regard for the Emperor of Russia,
+Napoleon consented to restore to the King of Prussia the province of
+Silesia, and the old Prussian lands between the Elbe and Niemen. But
+the Polish lands seized by Prussia in the second and third partitions
+were (with the exception of the Bialystock district, now gained by
+Russia) to form a new State called the Duchy of Warsaw. Of this duchy
+the King of Saxony was constituted ruler. Danzig, once a Polish city,
+was now declared a free city under the protection of the Kings of
+Prussia and Saxony, but the retention there of a French garrison until
+the peace made it practically a French fortress. Saxe-Coburg,
+Oldenburg, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin were restored to their dukes, but
+the two last were to be held by French troops until England made peace
+with France. With this aim in view, Napoleon accepted Alexander's
+mediation for the conclusion of a treaty of peace with England,
+provided that she accepted that mediation within one month of the
+ratification of the present treaty.
+
+On his side, the Czar now recognized the recent changes in Naples,
+Holland, and Germany; among the last of these was the creation of the
+Kingdom of Westphalia for Jerome Bonaparte out of the Prussian lands
+west of the Elbe, the Duchy of Brunswick, and the Electorate of
+Hesse-Cassel. Holland gained East Frisia at the expense of Prussia. As
+regards Turkey, the Czar pledged himself to cease hostilities at once,
+to accept the mediation of Napoleon in the present dispute, and to
+withdraw Russian troops from the Danubian Provinces as soon as peace
+was concluded with the Sublime Porte. Finally, the two Emperors
+mutually guaranteed the integrity of their possessions and placed
+their ceremonial and diplomatic relations on a footing of complete
+equality.
+
+Such were the published articles of the Treaty of Tilsit. Even if this
+had been all, the European system would have sustained the severest
+blow since the Thirty Years' War. The Prussian monarchy was suddenly
+bereft of half its population, and now figured on the map as a
+disjointed land, scarcely larger than the possessions of the King of
+Saxony, and less defensible than Jerome Bonaparte's Kingdom of
+Westphalia; while the Confederation of the Rhine, soon to be
+aggrandized by the accession of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg, seemed to
+doom the House of Hohenzollern to lasting insignificance.[153]
+
+But the published treaty was by no means all. There were also secret
+articles, the chief of which were that the Cattaro district--to the
+west of Montenegro--and the Ionian Islands should go to France, and
+that the Czar would recognize Joseph Bonaparte as King of Sicily when
+Ferdinand of Naples should have received "an indemnity such as the
+Balearic Isles, or Crete, or their equivalent." Also, if Hanover
+should eventually be annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia, a
+Westphalian district with a population of from three to four hundred
+thousand souls would be retroceded to Prussia. Finally, the chiefs of
+the Houses of Orange-Nassau, Hesse-Cassel, and Brunswick were to
+receive pensions from Murat and Jerome Bonaparte, who dispossessed
+them.
+
+Most important of all was the secret treaty of alliance with Russia,
+also signed on July 7th, whereby the two Emperors bound themselves to
+make common cause in any war that either of them might undertake
+against any European Power, employing, if need be, the whole of their
+respective forces. Again, if England did not accept the Czar's
+mediation, or if she did not, by the 1st of December, 1807, recognize
+the perfect equality of all flags at sea, and restore her conquests
+made from France and her allies since 1805, then Russia would make war
+on her. In that case, the present allies will "summon the three Courts
+of Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Lisbon to close their ports against the
+English and declare war against England. If any one of the three
+Courts refuse, it shall be treated as an enemy by the high contracting
+parties, and if Sweden refuse, _Denmark shall be compelled to declare
+war on her_." Pressure would also be put on Austria to follow the same
+course. But if England made peace betimes, she might recover Hanover,
+on restoring her conquests in the French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies.
+Similarly, if Turkey refused the mediation of Napoleon, he would in
+that case help Russia to drive the Turks from Europe--"the city of
+Constantinople and the province of Roumelia alone excepted."[154]
+
+The naming of the city of Constantinople, which is in Roumelia,
+betokens a superfluity of prudence. But it helps to confirm the
+statement of Napoleon's secretary, M. Meneval, that the future of that
+city led to a decided difference of opinion between the Emperors.
+After one of their discussions, Napoleon stayed poring over a map, and
+finally exclaimed, "Constantinople! Never! It is the empire of the
+world." Doubtless it was on this subject that Alexander cherished some
+secret annoyance. Certain it is that, despite all his professions of
+devotion to Napoleon, he went back to St. Petersburg ill at ease and
+possessed with a certain awe of the conqueror. For what had he gained?
+He received a small slice of Prussian Poland, and the prospect of
+aggrandizement on the side of Turkey and Sweden, Finland being pointed
+out as an easy prey. For these future gains he was to close his ports
+to England and see his commerce, his navy, and his seaboard suffer. It
+is not surprising that before leaving Tilsit he remarked to Frederick
+William that "the most onerous condition imposed by Napoleon was
+common to Russia and Prussia."[155]
+
+This refers to the compulsion put upon them to join Napoleon's
+Continental System. In the treaty signed with Prussia on July 9th,
+Napoleon not only wrested away half her lands, but required the
+immediate closing of all her ports to British vessels. We may also
+note here that, by the extraordinary negligence of the Prussian
+negotiator, Marshal Kalckreuth, the subsequent convention as to the
+evacuation of Prussia by the French troops left open a loophole for
+its indefinite occupation. Each province or district was to be
+evacuated when the French requisitions had been satisfied.[156] The
+exaction of impossible sums would therefore enable the conquerors,
+quite legally, to keep their locust swarms in that miserable land. And
+that was the policy pursued for sixteen months.
+
+Why this refinement of cruelty to his former ally? Why not have
+annexed Prussia outright? Probably there were two reasons against
+annexation: first, that his army could live on her in a way that would
+not be possible with his own subjects or allies; second, that the army
+of occupation would serve as a guarantee both for Russia's good faith
+and for the absolute exclusion of British goods from Prussia.[157]
+This had long been his aim. He now attained it, but only by war that
+bequeathed a legacy of war, and a peace that was no peace.
+
+Napoleon's behaviour at Tilsit has generally been regarded, at least
+in England, as prompted by an insane lust of power; and the treaty has
+been judged as if its aim was the domination of the Continent. But
+another explanation, though less sweeping and attractive, seems more
+consonant with the facts of the case.
+
+He hoped that, before so mighty a confederacy as was framed at Tilsit,
+England would bend the knee, give up not only her maritime claims but
+her colonial conquests, and humbly take rank with Powers that had
+lived their day. The conqueror who had thrice crumpled up the Hapsburg
+States, and shattered Prussia in a day, might well believe that the
+men of Downing Street, expert only in missing opportunities and
+exasperating their friends, would not dare to defy the forces of
+united Europe, but would bow before his prowess and grant peace to a
+weary world. In his letter of July 6th, 1807, to the Czar, he advised
+the postponement of the final summons to the British Government,
+because it would "give five months in which the first exasperation
+will die down in England, and she will have time to understand the
+immense consequences that would result from so imprudent a struggle."
+Neither Napoleon nor Alexander was deaf to generous aspirations. They
+both desired peace, so that their empires might expand and
+consolidate. Above all, France was weary of war; and by peace the
+average Frenchman meant, not respite from Continental strifes that
+yielded a surfeit of barren glories, but peace with England. The words
+of Lucchesini, the former Prussian ambassador in Paris, on this
+subject are worth quoting:
+
+    "The war with England was at bottom the only one in which the
+    French public took much interest, since the evils it inflicted on
+    France were felt every moment: nothing was spoken of so decidedly
+    among all classes of the people as the wish to have done with that
+    war; and when one spoke of peace at Paris, one always meant peace
+    with England: peace with the others was as indifferent to the
+    public as the victories or the conquests of Bonaparte."[158]
+
+If the French middle classes longed for a maritime peace so that
+coffee and sugar might become reasonably cheap, how much more would
+their ruler, whose heart was set on colonies and a realm in the
+Orient? In Poland he had cheered his troops with the thought that they
+were winning back the French colonial empire; and, as we have seen, he
+was even then preparing the ground in Persia for a future invasion of
+India. These plans could only be carried out after a time of peace
+that should rehabilitate the French navy. Humanitarian sentiment,
+patriotism, and even the promptings of a wider ambition, therefore
+bade him strive for a general pacification, such as he seemed to have
+assured at Tilsit.
+
+But the means which he adopted were just those that were destined to
+defeat this aim. Where he sought to intimidate, he only aroused a more
+stubborn resistance: where he should have allayed national fears, he
+redoubled them. He did not understand our people: he saw not that,
+behind our official sluggishness and muddling, there was a quenchless
+national vitality, which, if directed by a genius, could defy a
+world-wide combination. If, instead of making secret compacts with the
+Czar and trampling on Prussia; if, instead of intriguing with the
+Sultan and the Shah, and thus reawakening our fears respecting Egypt
+and India, he had called a Congress and submitted all the present
+disputes to general discussion, there is reason to think that Great
+Britain would have received his overtures. George III.'s Ministers had
+favoured the proposal of a Congress when put forward by Austria in the
+spring;[159] and they would doubtless have welcomed it from Napoleon
+after Friedland, had they not known of far-reaching plans which
+rendered peace more risky than open war. This great genius had, in
+fact, one fatal defect; he had little faith except in outward
+compulsion; and his superabundant energy of menace against England
+blighted the hopes of peace which he undoubtedly cherished.
+
+Long before Alexander's offer of mediation was forwarded to London,
+our Ministers had taken a sudden and desperate resolution. They
+determined to compel Denmark to join England and Sweden, and to hold
+the fleet at Copenhagen as a gauge of Danish fidelity.
+
+That momentous resolve was formed on or just before July the 16th, in
+consequence of news that had arrived from Memel and Tilsit. The exact
+purport of that news, and the manner of its acquisition, have been one
+of the puzzles of modern history. But the following facts seem to
+furnish a solution. Our Foreign Office Records show that our agent at
+Tilsit, Mr. Mackenzie, who was on confidential terms with General
+Bennigsen, left post haste for England immediately after the first
+imperial interview; and the news which he brought, together with
+reports of the threatening moves of the French on Holstein, clinched
+the determination of our Government to checkmate the Franco-Russian
+aims by bringing strong pressure to bear on Denmark. To keep open the
+mouth of the Baltic was an urgent necessity, otherwise we should lose
+touch with the Anglo-Swedish forces campaigning against the French
+near Stralsund.[160] Furthermore, it should be noted that Denmark held
+the balance in naval affairs. France and her allies now had fifty-nine
+sail of the line ready for sea: the compact with the Czar would give
+her twenty-four more; and if Napoleon seized the eighteen Danish and
+nine Portuguese battleships, his fighting strength would be nearly
+equal to our own.[161] Canning therefore determined, on July 16th, to
+compel Denmark to side with us, or at least to observe a neutrality
+favourable to the British cause; and, to save her honour, he proposed
+to send an irresistible naval force.
+
+    "Denmark's safety," he wrote on July 16th, "is to be found, under
+    the present circumstances of the world, only in a balance of
+    opposite dangers. For it is not to be disguised that the influence
+    which France has acquired from recent events over the North of
+    Europe, might, unless balanced by the naval power of Great
+    Britain, leave to Denmark no other option than that of compliance
+    with the demands of Bonaparte."[162]
+
+_A balance of opposite dangers!_ In this phrase Canning summed up his
+policy towards Denmark. Threatened by Napoleon on the land, she was to
+be threatened by us from the sea; and Canning hoped that these
+opposite forces would, at least, secure Danish neutrality, without
+which Sweden must succumb in her struggle against France. That some
+compulsion would be needed had long been clear. In fact, the use of
+compulsion had first been recommended by the Russian and Prussian
+Governments, which had gone so far as to include in the Treaty of
+Bartenstein a proposal of common action, along with England, Austria
+and Sweden, _to compel Denmark to side with the allies against
+Napoleon_.[163] To this resolve England still clung, despite the
+defection of the Czar. In truth, his present conduct made the case for
+the coercion of Denmark infinitely more urgent.
+
+As to the reality of Napoleon's designs on Denmark, there can be no
+doubt. After his return to France, he wrote from St. Cloud, directing
+Talleyrand to express his displeasure that Denmark had not fulfilled
+her _promises_: "Whatever my desire to treat Denmark well, I cannot
+hinder her suffering from having allowed the Baltic to be violated [by
+the English expedition to Stralsund]; and, if England refuses Russia's
+mediation, Denmark must choose either to make war against England, or
+against me."[164] Whence it is clear that Denmark had given Napoleon
+grounds for hoping that she would declare the Baltic a _mare clausum_.
+
+The British Government had so far fathomed these designs as to see the
+urgency of the danger. Accordingly it proposed to Denmark a secret
+defensive alliance, the chief terms of which were the handing over of
+the Danish fleet, to be kept as a "sacred pledge" by us till the
+peace, a subsidy of L100,000 paid to Denmark for that fleet, and the
+offer of armed assistance in case she should be attacked by France.
+This offer of defensive alliance was repulsed, and the Danish Prince
+Royal determined to resist even the mighty armada which was now
+nearing his shores. Towards the close of August, eighty-eight British
+ships were in the Sound and the Belt; and when the transports from
+Ruegen and Stralsund joined those from Yarmouth, as many as 15,400
+troops were at hand, under the command of Lord Cathcart. A landing was
+effected near Copenhagen, and offers of alliance were again made,
+including the deposit of the Danish fleet; "but if this offer is
+rejected now, it cannot be repeated. The captured property, public and
+private, must then belong to the captors: and the city, when taken,
+must share the fate of conquered places." The Danes stoutly repelled
+offers and threats alike: the English batteries thereupon bombarded
+the city until the gallant defenders capitulated (September 7th). The
+conditions hastily concluded by our commanders were that the British
+forces should occupy the citadel and dockyard for six weeks, should
+take possession of the ships and naval stores, and thereupon evacuate
+Zealand.
+
+These terms were scrupulously carried out; and at the close of six
+weeks our forces sailed away with the Danish fleet, including fifteen
+sail of the line, fifteen frigates, and thirty-one small vessels. This
+end to the expedition was keenly regretted by Canning. In a lengthy
+Memorandum he left it on record that he desired, not merely Denmark's
+fleet, but her alliance. In his view nothing could save Europe but a
+firm Anglo-Scandinavian league, which would keep open the Baltic and
+set bounds to the designs of the two Emperors. Only by such an
+alliance could Sweden be saved from Russia and France. Indeed,
+foreseeing the danger to Sweden from a French army acting from Zealand
+as a base, Canning proposed to Gustavus that he should occupy that
+island, or, failing that, receive succour from a British force on his
+own shore of the Sound. But both offers were declined. The final
+efforts made to draw Denmark into our alliance were equally futile,
+and she kept up hostilities against us for nearly seven years. Thus
+Canning's scheme of alliance with the Scandinavian States failed.
+Britain gained, it is true, a further safeguard against invasion; but
+our statesman, while blaming the precipitate action of our commanders
+in insisting solely upon the surrender of the fleet, declared that
+that action, apart from an Anglo-Danish alliance, was "an act of great
+injustice."[165]
+
+And as such it has been generally regarded, that is, by those who did
+not, and could not, know the real state of the case. In one respect
+our action was unpardonable: it was not the last desperate effort of a
+long period of struggle: it came after a time of selfish torpor fatal
+alike to our reputation and the interests of our allies. After
+protesting their inability to help them, Ministers belied their own
+words by the energy with which they acted against a small State. And
+the prevalent opinion found expression in the protests uttered in
+Parliament that it would have been better to face the whole might of
+the French, Russian, and Danish navies than to emulate the conduct of
+those who had overrun and despoiled Switzerland.
+
+Moreover, our action did not benefit Sweden, but just the reverse.
+Cathcart's force, that had been helping the Swedes in the defence of
+their Pomeranian province, was withdrawn in order to strengthen our
+hands against Copenhagen. Thereupon the gallant Gustavus, overborne by
+the weight of Marshal Brune's corps, sued for an armistice. It was
+granted only on the condition that Stralsund should pass into Brune's
+hands (August 20th); and the Swedes, unable even to hold Ruegen, were
+forced to give up that island also. Sick in health and weary of a
+world that his chivalrous instincts scorned, Gustavus withdrew his
+forces into Sweden. Even there he was menaced. The hostilities which
+Denmark forthwith commenced against England and Sweden exposed his
+southern coasts; but he now chose to lean on the valour of his own
+subjects rather than on the broken reed of British assistance, and
+awaited the attacks of the Danes on the west and of the Russians on
+his province of Finland.
+
+The news from Copenhagen also furnished the Czar with a good excuse
+for hostilities with England. For such an event he had hitherto been
+by no means desirous. On his return from Tilsit to St. Petersburg he
+found the nobility and merchants wholly opposed to a rupture with the
+Sea Power, the former disdaining to clasp the hand of the conqueror of
+Friedland, the latter foreseeing ruin from the adoption of the
+Continental System; and when Napoleon sent Savary on a special mission
+to the Czar's Court, the Empress-Mother and nobles alike showed their
+abhorrence of "the executioner of the Duc d'Enghien." In vain were
+imperial favours lavished on this envoy. He confessed to Napoleon that
+only the Czar and the new Foreign Minister, Romantzoff, were
+favourable to France; and it was soon obvious that their ardour for a
+partition of Turkey must disturb the warily balancing policy which
+Napoleon adopted as soon as the Czar's friendship seemed assured.
+
+The dissolution of this artificial alliance was a task far beyond the
+powers of British statesmanship. To Alexander's offer of mediation
+between France and England Canning replied that we desired first to
+know what were "the just and equitable terms on which France intended
+to negotiate," and secondly what were the secret articles of the
+Treaty of Tilsit. That there were such was obvious; for the published
+treaty made no mention of the Kings of Sardinia and of the two
+Sicilies, in whom Alexander had taken so deep an interest. But the
+second request annoyed the Czar; and this feeling was intensified by
+our action at Copenhagen. Yet, though he pronounced it an act of
+"unheard-of violence," the Russian official notes to our Government
+were so far reassuring that Lord Castlereagh was able to write to Lord
+Cathcart (September 22nd): "Russia does not show any disposition to
+resent or to complain of what we have done at Copenhagen.... The tone
+of the Russian cabinet has become much more conciliatory to us since
+they heard of your operations at Copenhagen."[166] It would seem,
+however, that this double-dealing was prompted by naval
+considerations. The Czar desired to temporize until his Mediterranean
+squadron should gain a place of safety and his Baltic ports be encased
+in ice; but on 27th October (8th November, N.S.) he broke off all
+communications with us, and adopted the Continental System.
+
+Meanwhile, at the other extremity of Europe, events were transpiring
+that served as the best excuse for our harshness towards Denmark. Even
+before our fleet sailed for the Sound, Napoleon was weaving his plans
+for the destruction of Portugal. It is clear that he designed to
+strike her first before taking any action against Denmark. During his
+return journey from Tilsit to Paris, he directed Talleyrand to send
+orders to Lisbon for the closing of all Portuguese ports against
+British goods by September the 1st--"in default of which I declare war
+on Portugal." He also ordered the massing of 20,000 French troops at
+Bayonne in readiness to join the Spanish forces that were to threaten
+the little kingdom.[167]
+
+What crime had Portugal committed? She had of late been singularly
+passive: anxiously she looked on at the gigantic strifes that were
+engulfing the smaller States one by one. Her conduct towards Napoleon
+had been far less provocative than that of Denmark towards England.
+Threatened with partition by him and Spain in 1801, she had eagerly
+snatched at peace, and on the rupture of the Peace of Amiens was fain
+to purchase her neutrality at the cost of a heavy subsidy to France,
+which she still paid in the hope of prolonging her "existence on
+sufferance."[168] That hope now faded away.
+
+As far back as February, 1806, Napoleon had lent a ready ear to the
+plans which Godoy, the all-powerful Minister at Madrid, had proposed
+for the partition of Portugal; and, in the month of July following,
+Talleyrand held out to our plenipotentiary at Paris the threat that,
+unless England speedily made peace with France, Napoleon would annex
+Switzerland--"but still less can we alter, for any other
+consideration, our intention of invading Portugal. The army destined
+for that purpose is already assembling at Bayonne." A year's respite
+was gained for the House of Braganza by the campaigns of Jena and
+Friedland. But now, with the tenacity of his nature, the Emperor
+returned to the plan, actually tried in 1801 and prepared for in 1806,
+of crushing our faithful ally in order to compel us to make peace. On
+this occasion he counted on certain success, as may be seen by the
+following extract from the despatch of the Portuguese ambassador at
+Paris to his Government:
+
+    "On Sunday afternoon [August 2nd] there was a diplomatic Levee.
+    The Emperor came up to me as I stood in the circle, and in a low
+    voice said: 'Have you written to your Court? Have you despatched a
+    courier with my final determination?'--I replied in the
+    affirmative.--'Very well,' said the Emperor, 'then by this time
+    your Court knows that she must break with England before the 1st
+    of September. It is the only way to accelerate peace.'--As the
+    place did not permit discussion on my part, I answered: 'I should
+    think, Sire, that England must now be sincerely anxious to make
+    peace.'--'Oh,' replied the Emperor, 'we are very certain of that:
+    however, in all cases, you must break either with England or
+    France before the 1st of September.'--He then turned about and
+    addressed himself to the Danish Minister, as far as I could judge
+    to the same purport."[169]
+
+Equally confident is Napoleon's tone in the lately published letter of
+September 7th:
+
+    "As soon as I received news of the English expedition against
+    Copenhagen,[170] I caused Portugal to be informed that all her
+    ports must be closed to England, and I massed an army of 40,000
+    men at Bayonne to join the Spaniards in enforcing this action, if
+    necessary. But a letter I have just received from the Prince
+    Regent [of Portugal] leads me to presume that this last measure
+    will not be necessary, that the Portuguese ports will be closed to
+    the English by the time this is read, and that Portugal will have
+    declared war against England. On the other hand, my flotilla will
+    be ready for action on 1st October, and I shall have a large army
+    at Boulogne, ready to attempt a _coup de main_ on England."
+
+The letter concludes by ordering that all British diplomatists are to
+be driven _out of Europe_, and that Sweden must make common cause with
+France and Russia. Such were the means to be used for forcing
+affrighted Peace again to visit this distracted earth.
+
+In truth, the fate of the British race seemed for the time to hang
+upon the events at Copenhagen and Lisbon. Very much depended on the
+action of the Prince Regent of Portugal. Had he tamely submitted to
+Napoleon's ukase and placed his fleet and his vast colonial empire at
+the service of France, it is doubtful whether even the high-souled
+Canning would not have stooped to surrender in face of odds so
+overwhelming. The young statesman's anxiety as to the action of
+Portugal is attested by many a long and minutely corrected despatch to
+Viscount Strangford, our envoy at Lisbon. But, fortunately for us,
+Napoleon committed the blunder which so often marred his plans: he
+pushed them too far: he required the Prince Regent to adopt a course
+of conduct repellent to an honourable man, namely, to confiscate the
+merchandise and property of British merchants who had long trusted the
+good faith of the House of Braganza. To this last demand the prince
+opposed a dignified resistance, though on all other points he gave
+way. This will appear from Lord Strangford's despatch of August 13th:
+
+    " ... The Portuguese Ministers place all their hopes of being able
+    to ward off this terrible blow in the certainty which they
+    entertain of England being obliged to enter into negotiations for
+    a general peace.... The very existence of the Portuguese Monarchy
+    depends on the celerity with which England shall meet the pacific
+    interference of the Emperor of Russia. The Prince Regent gives the
+    most solemn promise that he will not on any account consent to the
+    measure of confiscating the property of British subjects residing
+    under his protection. But I think that if France could be induced
+    to give up this point, and limit her demands to the exclusion of
+    British commerce from Portugal, the Government of this country
+    would accede to them...."
+
+A week later he states that Portugal begged England to put up with a
+temporary rupture, and reports that a quantity of diamonds had been
+taken out of the Treasury and sent to Paris to be distributed in
+presents to persons supposed to possess influence over the minds of
+Bonaparte and Talleyrand. It would be interesting to trace the history
+of these diamonds. But, as Napoleon had recently awarded sums
+amounting in all to 26,582,000 francs from out of the estates
+confiscated in Poland,[171] signs of sudden affluence were widespread
+in Paris and rendered it difficult to detect the receivers of the
+gems. Talleyrand was the usual recipient of such _douceurs_. But on
+August the 14th he had retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
+gaining the title of Vice Grand-Elector; and, if we are to be guided,
+not by the statements of his personal foes, Hauterive and Pasquier,
+but by the determination which he is known to have formed at Tilsit,
+that he would not be "the executioner of Europe," we may judge that he
+disapproved of the barbarous treatment meted out to Prussia and now
+planned against Portugal.[172]
+
+As has been stated above, the partition of this kingdom had been
+planned by Godoy in concert with Napoleon early in 1806. That pampered
+minion of the Spanish Court, angry at the shelving of plans which
+promised to yield him a third of Portugal, called Spain to arms while
+Napoleon was marching to Jena, an affront which the conqueror seemed
+to overlook but never really forgave. Now, however, he appeared wholly
+to enter into Godoy's scheme; and, while the Prince Regent of Portugal
+was appealing to his pity, the Emperor (September 25th, 1807) charged
+Duroc to confer with Godoy's confidential agent at Paris, Don
+Izquierdo. " ...As for Portugal, I make no difficulty about granting to
+the King of Spain a suzerainty over Portugal, and even taking part of
+it away for the Queen of Etruria and the Prince of the Peace [Godoy]."
+Duroc was also to point out the difficulty, now that "all Italy"
+belonged to Napoleon, of allowing "that deformity," the kingdom of
+Etruria, to disfigure the peninsula. The change would in fact, doubly
+benefit the French Emperor. It would enable him completely to exclude
+British commerce from the port of Leghorn, where it was trickling in
+alarmingly, and also to place the mouths of the Tagus and Douro in the
+hands of obedient vassals.
+
+Such was the scheme in outline. Despite the offer of the Prince Regent
+to obey all Napoleon's behests except that relating to the seizure of
+British subjects and their property, war was irrevocably resolved on
+by October the 12th.[173] And on October the 27th a secret convention
+was signed at the Palace of Fontainebleau for arranging "the future
+lot of Portugal by a healthy policy and conformably to the interests
+of France and Spain." Portugal was now to be divided into three very
+unequal parts: the largest portion, comprising Estremadura, Beira, and
+Tras-os Montes, was reserved for a future arrangement at the general
+peace, but meanwhile was to be held by France: Algarve and Alemtejo
+were handed over to Godoy; while the diminutive province of Entre
+Minho e Douro was flung as a sop to the young King of Etruria and his
+mother, a princess of the House of Spain, to console them for the loss
+of Etruria. A vague promise was made that the House of Braganza might
+be reinstated in the first of these three portions, in case England
+restored Gibraltar, Trinidad, and other colonies taken by her from
+Spain or her allies; and Napoleon guaranteed to the King of Spain his
+possessions in Europe, exclusive of the Balearic Isles, offering also
+to recognize him as Emperor of the Two Americas.
+
+Meanwhile Junot was leading his army corps from Bayonne towards
+Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, to give effect to this healthful
+arrangement. This general, whom it was desirable to remove from Paris
+on account of his rather too open _liaison_ with one of the Bonaparte
+princesses, was urged to the utmost speed and address by the Emperor.
+He must cover the whole 200 leagues in thirty-five days; lack of
+provisions must not hinder the march, for "20,000 men can live
+anywhere, even in a desert"; and, above all, as the Prince Regent had
+again offered to declare war on England, he (Junot) could represent
+that he came as an ally: "I have already informed you that my
+intention in authorizing you to enter that land as an ally was to
+enable you to seize its fleet, but that my mind was fully made up to
+take possession of Portugal."[174] Lisbon, in fact, was to be served
+as Venice was ten years before, the lion donning the skin of the fox
+so as to effect a peaceful seizure. But that ruse could hardly succeed
+twice. The Prince Regent had his ships ready for flight. The bluff and
+headstrong Junot, nicknamed "the tempest" by the army, was too artless
+to catch the prince by guile; but he hurried his soldiers over
+mountains and through flooded gorges until, on November 30th, 1,500
+tattered, shoeless, famished grenadiers straggled into Lisbon--to find
+that the royal quarry had flown.
+
+The Prince Regent took this momentous resolve with the utmost
+reluctance. For many weeks he had clung to the hope that Napoleon
+would spare him; and though he accepted a convention with England,
+whereby he gained the convoy of our men-of-war across the Atlantic and
+the promise of aggrandizement in South America, he still continued to
+temporize, and that too, when a British fleet was at hand in the Tagus
+strong enough to thwart the designs of the Russian squadron there
+present to prevent his departure. When the French were within two
+days' march of Lisbon, Lord Strangford feared that the Portuguese
+fleet would be delivered into their hands; and only after a trenchant
+declaration that further vacillation would be taken as a sign of
+hostility to Great Britain, did the Prince Regent resolve to seek
+beyond the seas the independence which was denied to him in his own
+realm.[175]
+
+Few scenes are more pathetic than the departure of the House of
+Braganza from the cradle of its birth. Love for the Prince Regent as a
+man, mingled with pity for the demented Queen, held the populace of
+Lisbon in tearful silence as the royal family and courtiers filed
+along the quays, followed by agonized groups of those who had decided
+to share their trials. But silence gave way to wails of despair as the
+exiles embarked on the heaving estuary and severed the last links with
+Europe. Slowly the fleet began to beat down the river in the teeth of
+an Atlantic gale. Near the mouth the refugees were received with a
+royal salute by the British fleet, and under its convoy they breasted
+the waves of the ocean and the perils of the future.
+
+The conduct of England towards Denmark and that of Napoleon towards
+Portugal call for a brief comparison. Those small kingdoms were the
+victims of two powerful States whose real or fancied interests
+prompted them to the domination of the land and of the sea. But when
+we compare the actions of the two Great Powers, important differences
+begin to reveal themselves. England had far more cause for complaint
+against Denmark than Napoleon had against Portugal. The hostility of
+the Danes to the recent coalition was notorious. To compel them to
+change their policy without loss of national honour, we sent the most
+powerful armada that had ever left our shores, with offers of alliance
+and a demand that their fleet, the main object of Napoleon's designs,
+should be delivered up to be held in deposit. The offer was refused,
+and we seized the fleet. The act was brutal, but it was at least open
+and above board, and the capitulation of September 7th was
+scrupulously observed, even when the Danes prepared to renew
+hostilities.
+
+On the other hand, the demands of Napoleon on the Court of Lisbon were
+such as no honourable prince could accept; they were relentlessly
+pressed on in spite of the offer of the Prince Regent to meet him in
+every particular save one; the appeals of the victim were deliberately
+used by the aggressor to further his own rapacious designs; and the
+enterprise fell short of ending in a massacre only because the glamour
+of the French arms so dazzled the susceptible people of the south
+that, for the present, they sank helplessly away at the sight of two
+battalions of spectres. Finally, Portugal was partitioned--or rather
+it was kept entirely by Napoleon; for, after the promises of partition
+had done their work, the sleeping partners in the transaction were
+quietly shelved, and it was then seen that Portugal had finally served
+as the bait for ensnaring Spain. To this subject we shall return in
+the next chapter.
+
+In Italy also, the Juggernaut car of the Continental System rolled
+over the small States. The Kingdom of Etruria, which in 1802 had
+served as an easy means of buying the whole of Louisiana from the
+Spanish Bourbons, was now wrested from that complaisant House, and in
+December was annexed to the French Empire.
+
+The Pope also passed under the yoke. For a long time the relations
+between Pius VII. and Napoleon had been strained. Gentle as the
+Pontiff was by nature, he had declined to exclude all British
+merchandise from his States, or to accept an alliance with Eugene and
+Joseph. He also angered Napoleon by persistently refusing to dissolve
+the marriage of Jerome Buonaparte with Miss Paterson; and an
+interesting correspondence ensued, culminating in a long diatribe
+which Eugene was charged to forward to the Vatican as an extract from
+a private letter of Napoleon to himself.[176] Pius VII. was to be
+privately warned that Napoleon had done more good to religion than the
+Pope had done harm. Christ had said that His Kingdom was not of this
+world. Why then did the Pope set himself above Christ? Why did he
+refuse to render to Caesar that which was Caesar's?--A fortnight later
+the Emperor advised Eugene to despatch troops in the direction of
+Bologna--"and if the Pope commits an imprudence, it will be a fine
+opportunity for depriving him of the Roman States."
+
+No imprudence was committed. Yet, in the following January, Napoleon
+ordered his troops to occupy Rome, alleging that the Eternal City was
+a hotbed of intrigues fomented by England and the ex-Queen of Naples,
+that Neapolitan rebels had sought an asylum in the Papal States, and
+that, though he had no wish to deprive the Pope of his territories,
+yet he must include him in his "system." When Pius VII. refused to
+commit himself to a policy which would involve war with England,
+Napoleon ordered that his lands east of the Apennines should be
+annexed to the Kingdom of Italy (April 2nd, 1808). Napoleon thus
+gained complete control over the Adriatic coasts, which, along with
+the island of Corfu, had long engaged his most earnest attention.[177]
+
+True to his aim of forcing or enticing all maritime States into a
+mighty confederacy for the humiliation of England, Napoleon had given
+most heed to lands possessing extensive seaboards. Northern Italy,
+Holland, Naples, North Germany, Prussia, Russia, Portugal, Spain,
+Denmark, and Central Italy had, in turn, adopted his system. On
+Austria he exerted a less imperious pressure; for her coast-line of
+Trieste and Croatia was so easily controlled by his Italian and
+Dalmatian territories that English merchandise with difficulty found
+admittance. Yet, in order to carry out there also his policy of
+"Thorough," he brought the arguments of Paris and St. Petersburg to
+bear on the Court of Vienna; and on February 18th, 1808, Austria was
+enrolled in a league that might well be called continental; for in the
+spring of that year it embraced every land save Sweden and Turkey.
+
+His activity at this time almost passes belief. While he fastened his
+grip on the Continent, gallicized the institutions of Italy and
+Germany, and almost daily instructed his brothers in the essentials of
+successful statecraft, he found time to turn his thoughts once more to
+the East, and to mark every device of England for lengthening her
+lease of life. Noticing that we had annulled our blockade of the Elbe
+and Weser, with the aim of getting our goods introduced there by
+neutral ships, Napoleon charged his Finance Minister, Gaudin, to
+prepare a decree for pressing hard on neutrals who had touched at any
+of our ports or carried wares that could be proved to be of British
+origin.[178]
+
+He was perfectly correct in his surmise that English goods were about
+to be sent into the Continent extensively on neutral vessels. After
+the consequences of the Treaty of Tilsit had been fully developed,
+that was almost their only means of entry. "In August, September and
+October, British commerce lay prostrate and motionless until a
+protecting and self-defensive system was interposed by our Orders in
+Council."[179] The first of these ordered reprisals against the new
+Napoleonic States (November 4th): a week later came a second which
+declared that, as the Orders of January had not induced the enemy to
+relax his commercial hostilities, but these were now enforced with
+increased rigour, any port whence the British flag was excluded would
+be treated as if it were actually blockaded; that is, the principle of
+the legality of a nominal blockade, abandoned in 1801, was now
+reaffirmed. The carriage of hostile colonial products was likewise
+prohibited to neutrals, though certain exceptions were allowed. Also
+any neutral vessel carrying "certificates of origin"--a device for
+distinguishing between British and neutral goods--was to be considered
+a lawful prize of war. A third Order in Council of the same date
+allowed goods to be imported into the United Kingdom from a hostile
+port in neutral ships, subject to the ordinary duties, and bonding
+facilities were granted for the re-exportation of such goods to any
+friendly or neutral port.[180] These orders were designed to draw
+neutral commerce through our ports, and to give secret facilities for
+the carriage of our goods by neutrals, while pressing upon those that
+obeyed Napoleon's system.
+
+The harshest of them was that which encouraged the searching of
+neutral vessels for certificates of origin--a measure as severe as the
+confiscation of British property by Napoleon, which it was designed to
+defeat. And we may note here that the friction resulting from our
+Orders in Council and our enforcement of the right of search led to
+the United States passing a Non-Intercourse Act (December 23rd, 1807)
+that preluded active hostilities against us. It also led Napoleon to
+confiscate all American ships in his harbours after April 17th, 1808.
+
+The November Orders in Council soon drew a reply from Napoleon. He
+heard of them during a progress through the north of Italy, and from
+Milan he flung back his retort, the famous Milan Decrees of November
+23rd and December 17th. He thereby declared every neutral ship, which
+submitted to those orders, to be denationalized and good prize of war;
+and the same doom was pronounced against every vessel sailing to or
+from any port in the United Kingdom or its colonies or possessions.
+But these measures were not to affect ships of those States that
+compelled Great Britain to respect their flag. The islanders might
+well be dismayed at the prospect of a seclusion which promised to
+recall the Virgilian line:
+
+  "penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos."
+
+Yet they resolved to pit the resources of the outer world against the
+militarism of Napoleon; and, drawing the resources of the tropics to
+the new power-looms of Lancashire and Yorkshire, they might well hope
+to pour their unequalled goods into Europe from points of vantage such
+as Sicily, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and Heligoland. There were
+many Englishmen who believed that the November Orders in Council
+brought nothing but harm to our cause. They argued that our
+manufactured goods must find their way into the Continent in spite of
+the Berlin Decrees; and they could point to the curious fact that
+Bourrienne, Napoleon's agent at Hamburg, when charged to procure
+50,000 overcoats for the French army during the Eylau campaign, was
+obliged to buy them from England.[181]
+
+The incident certainly proves the folly of the Continental System. And
+if we had had to consult our manufacturing interests alone, a policy
+of _laisser faire_ would doubtless have been the best. England,
+however, prided herself on her merchant service: to that she looked as
+the nursery for the royal navy: and the abandonment of the world's
+carrying trade to neutrals would have seemed an act of high treason.
+Her acts of retaliation against the Berlin Decrees and the policy of
+Tilsit were harsh and high-handed. But they were adopted during a
+pitiless commercial strife; and, in warfare of so novel and desperate
+a kind, acts must unfortunately be judged by their efficacy to harm
+the foe rather than by the standards of morality that hold good during
+peace. Outwardly, it seemed as if England were doomed. She had lost
+her allies and alienated the sympathies of neutrals. But from the sea
+she was able to exert on the Napoleonic States a pressure that was
+gradual, cumulative, and resistless; and the future was to prove the
+wisdom of the words of Mollien: "England waged a warfare of modern
+times; Napoleon, that of ancient times. There are times and cases when
+an anachronism is fatal."
+
+Moreover, at the very time when the Emperor was about to complete his
+great experiment by subduing Sweden and preparing for the partition of
+Turkey, it sustained a fatal shock by the fierce rising of the Spanish
+people against his usurped authority.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+THE SPANISH RISING
+
+
+The relations of Spain to France during the twelve years that preceded
+the rising of 1808 are marked by acts of folly and unmanly
+complaisance that promised utterly to degrade a once proud and
+sensitive people. They were the work of the senile and spiritless
+King, Charles IV., of his intriguing consort, and, above all, of her
+paramour, the all-powerful Minister Godoy. Of an ancient and
+honourable family, endowed with a fine figure, courtly address, and
+unscrupulous arts, this man had wormed himself into the royal
+confidence; and after bringing about a favourable peace with France in
+1795, he was styled The Prince of the Peace.
+
+In the next year the meaning of the French alliance was revealed in
+the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, which required Spain to furnish troops,
+ships, and subsidies for the war against England, a state of vassalage
+which was made harder by Napoleon. The results are well known. After
+being forced by him to cede Trinidad to us at the Peace of Amiens, she
+sacrificed her navy at Trafalgar, saw her colonies and commerce decay
+and her finances shrivel for lack of the golden streams formerly
+poured in by Mexico and Peru.
+
+In the summer of 1806, while sinking into debt and disgrace, the Court
+of Madrid heard with indignation of Napoleon's design to hand over the
+Balearic Isles to the Spanish Bourbons whom he had driven from Naples
+and proposed to drive from Sicily. At once Spanish pride caught fire
+and clutched at means of revenge.[182] Godoy was further incensed by
+the sudden abandonment of the plans which he had long discussed with
+Napoleon for the partition of Portugal, plans which gave him the
+prospect of reigning as King over the southern portion of that
+realm.[183] Accordingly, when the Emperor was entering upon the Jena
+campaign, he summoned the Spanish people to arms in a most threatening
+manner. The news of the collapse of Prussia ended his bravado.
+Complaisance again reigned at Madrid, and 15,000 Spaniards were sent,
+at Napoleon's demand, to serve on the borders of Denmark, while the
+autocrat of the West perfected his plans against the Iberian
+Peninsula. As was noted in the previous chapter, the Emperor renewed
+his offers of a partition of Portugal in the early autumn of 1807; and
+in pursuance of the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, Junot's corps
+marched through Spain into Portugal, where they were helped by a
+Spanish corps.
+
+It is significant that, as early as October 17th, 1807, Napoleon
+ordered his general to send a detailed description of the country and
+of his line of march, the engineer officers being specially charged to
+send sketches, "_which it is important to have_." Other French
+divisions then crossed the Pyrenees, under plea of keeping open
+Junot's communications with France; and spies were sent to observe the
+state of the chief Spanish strongholds. Others were charged to report
+on the condition of the Spanish army and the state of public opinion;
+while Junot was cautioned to keep a sharp watch on the Spanish troops
+in Portugal, to allow no fortress to be in their hands, and to send
+all the Portuguese troops away to France. Thus, in the early days of
+1808, Napoleon had some 20,000 troops in Portugal, about 40,000 in the
+north of Spain, and 12,000 in Catalonia. By various artifices they
+gained admission into the strongholds of Pamplona, Monjuik, Barcelona,
+St. Sebastian, and Figueras, so that by the month of March the north
+and west of the peninsula had passed quietly into his hands, while the
+greater part of the Spanish army was doing his work in Portugal or on
+the shores of the Baltic.[184]
+
+These proceedings began to arouse alarm and discontent among the
+Spanish people; but on its Government their influence was as benumbing
+as that which the boa-constrictor exerts on its prey. In vain did
+Charles IV. and Godoy strive to set a limit to the numbers of the
+auxiliaries that poured across the Pyrenees to help them against
+fabled English expeditions. In vain did they beg that the partition of
+Portugal might now proceed in accordance with the terms of the secret
+Treaty of Fontainebleau. The King was curtly told that affairs were
+not yet ripe for the publication of that treaty.[185] And the growing
+conviction that he had been duped poured gall into the cup of family
+bitterness that had long been full to overflowing.
+
+The scandalous relations of the Queen with Godoy had deeply incensed
+the heir to the throne, Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias. His attitude of
+covert opposition to his parents and their minion was strengthened by
+the influence of his bride, a daughter of the ex-Queen of Naples, and
+their palace was the headquarters of all who hoped to end the
+degradation of the kingdom. As later events were to prove, Ferdinand
+had not the qualities of courage and magnanimity that command general
+homage; but it was enough for his countrymen that he opposed the
+Court. In 1806 his consort died; and on October 11th, 1807, without
+consulting his father, he secretly wrote to Napoleon, requesting the
+hand of a Bonaparte princess in marriage, and stating that such an
+alliance was the ardent wish of all Spaniards, while they would abhor
+his union with a sister of the Princess of the Peace. To this letter
+Napoleon sent no reply. But Charles IV. had some inkling of the fact
+that the prince had been treating direct with Napoleon; and this,
+along with another unfilial action of the prince, furnished an excuse
+for a charge of high treason. It was spitefully pressed home and was
+revoked only on his humble request for the King's pardon.
+
+Now, this "School for Scandal" was being played at Madrid at the time
+when Napoleon was arranging the partition of Portugal; and the schism
+in the Spanish royal House may well have strengthened his
+determination to end its miserable existence and give a good
+government to Spain. At the close of the so-called palace plot,
+Charles IV. informed his august ally of _that frightful attempt_, and
+begged him to _give the aid of his lights and his counsels_.[186] The
+craven-hearted King thus himself opened the door for that intervention
+which Napoleon had already meditated. His resolve now rapidly
+hardened. At the close of January, 1808, he wrote to Junot asking him:
+"If unexpected events occurred in Spain, what would you fear from the
+Spanish troops? Could you easily rid yourself of them?"[187] On
+February the 20th he appointed Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, to be his
+Lieutenant in Spain and commander of the French Forces. The choice of
+this bluff, headstrong cavalier, who had done so much to provoke
+Prussia in 1806, certainly betokened a forward policy. Yet the Emperor
+continued to smile on the Spanish Court, and gave a sort of half
+sanction to the union of Ferdinand with a daughter of Lucien
+Bonaparte.[188] In fact, the hope of this alliance was now used to
+keep quiet the numerous partisans of Ferdinand, while Murat advanced
+rapidly towards Madrid. To his Lieutenant the Emperor wrote (March
+16th): "Continue your kindly talk. Reassure the King, the Prince of
+the Peace, the Prince of Asturias, the Queen. The chief thing is to
+reach Madrid, to rest your troops and replenish your provisions. Say
+that I am about to come so as to arrange matters."
+
+As to Napoleon's real aims, Murat was in complete ignorance; and he
+repeatedly complained of the lack of confidence which a brother-in-law
+had a right to expect.[189] But while the Grand Duke of Berg beamed on
+the Spaniards with meaningless affability, Izquierdo, Godoy's secret
+agent at Paris, troubled his master with gloomy reports of the
+deepening reserve and lowering threats of Ministers at Paris. There
+was talk of requiring from Spain the cession of her lands between the
+Pyrenees and the Ebro: there were even dark suggestions as to the need
+of dethroning the Spanish Bourbons once for all. Interpreting these
+hints in the light of their own consciences, the King, Queen, and
+favourite saw themselves in imagination flung forth into the Atlantic,
+a butt to the scorn of mankind; and they prepared to flee to the New
+World betimes, with the needful treasure.
+
+But there, too, Napoleon forestalled them. On February 21st a secret
+order was sent to a French squadron to anchor off Cadiz and stop the
+King and Queen of Spain if they sought to "repeat the scene of
+Lisbon."[190] Their escape to America would be even more favourable to
+England than the flight of the Court of Lisbon had been; and Napoleon
+took good care that the King, to whom he had awarded the title of
+Emperor of the two Americas, should remain a prisoner in Europe.
+Scared, however, by the approach of Murat and the news from Paris,
+Charles still prepared for flight; and the Queen's anxiety to save her
+favourite from the growing fury of the populace also bent her desires
+seawards.
+
+The Court was at the palace of Aranjuez, not far from Madrid, and it
+seemed easy to escape into Andalusia, and to carry away, by guile or
+by force, the heir to the throne. But Ferdinand, who hoped for
+deliverance at the hands of the French, thwarted the scheme by a
+timely hint to his faithful guards. At once his partisans gathered
+round him; and the people, rushing to Godoy's residence, madly
+ransacked it in the hope of tearing to pieces the author of the
+nation's ruin. After thirty-six hours' concealment, Godoy ventured to
+steal forth; at once he was discovered, was kicked and beaten; and
+only the intervention of Ferdinand, prompted by the agonized
+entreaties of his mother, availed to save the dregs of that wretched
+life. The roars of the crowd around the palace, and the smashing of
+the royal carriage, now decided the King to abdicate; and he declared
+that his declining years and failing health now led him to yield the
+crown to Ferdinand (March 19th, 1808).
+
+Loud was the acclaim that greeted the young King when he entered
+Madrid; but the rejoicings were soon damped by the ambiguous behaviour
+of Murat, who, on entering Madrid at the head of his troops, skilfully
+evaded any recognition of Ferdinand as King. In fact, Murat had
+received (March 21st) a letter from Charles IV.'s daughter begging for
+his help to her parents at Aranjuez; and it soon transpired that the
+ex-King and Queen now repented of their abdication, which they
+represented as brought about by force and therefore null and void. The
+Grand Duke of Berg saw the advantage which this dispute might give to
+Napoleon; and he begged the Emperor to come immediately to Madrid for
+the settlement of matters on which he alone could decide. To this
+Napoleon replied (March 30th) commending his Lieutenant's prudence,
+and urging him to escort Charles IV. to the Escurial as King, while
+Godoy was also to be protected and sent to Bayonne.
+
+To this town the Emperor set out on April the 2nd, as though he would
+thence proceed to Madrid. Ferdinand, meanwhile, was treated with
+guarded courtesy that kept alive his hope of an alliance with a French
+princess. To favour this notion, Napoleon despatched the wariest of
+his agents, Savary, who artfully persuaded him to meet the Emperor at
+Burgos. He succeeded, and even induced him to continue his journey to
+Vittoria. At that place the citizens sought to cut the traces of the
+royal carriage, so much did they fear treachery if he proceeded
+further. Yet the young King, beguiled by the Emperor's letter of April
+16th, which offered the hand of a French princess, prolonged his
+journey, crossed the frontier, and was received by Napoleon at Bayonne
+(April 20th). His arguments, proving that his father's abdication had
+been voluntary, fell on deaf ears. The Emperor invited him to dinner,
+and afterwards sent Savary to inform him that he must hand back the
+crown to his father. To this Ferdinand returned a firm refusal; and
+his advisers, Escoiquiz and Labrador, ventured to warn the Emperor
+that the Spaniards would swear eternal hatred to France if he tampered
+with the crown of Spain. Napoleon listened good-humouredly, pulled
+Escoiquiz by the ear as a sign of his personal regard, and added: "You
+are a deep fellow; but, I tell you, the Bourbons will never let me
+alone." On the next day he offered Ferdinand the throne of Etruria. It
+was coldly declined.[191]
+
+Charles IV., his Queen, and Godoy, arrived at Bayonne at the close of
+April. The ex-King had offered to put himself and his claim in
+Napoleon's hands, which was exactly what the Emperor desired. The
+feeble creature now poured forth his bile on his disobedient son, and
+peevishly bade him restore the crown. Ferdinand assented, provided his
+father would really reign, and would dismiss those advisers who were
+hated by the nation; but the attempt to impose conditions called forth
+a flash of senile wrath, along with the remark that "one ought to do
+everything _for_ the people and nothing _by_ the people."
+
+Meanwhile the men of Madrid were not acting with the passivity desired
+by their philosophizing monarch. At first they had welcomed Murat as
+delivering them from the detested yoke of Godoy; but the conduct of
+the French in their capital, and the detention of Ferdinand at
+Bayonne, aroused angry feelings, which burst forth on May the 2nd, and
+long defied the grapeshot of Murat's guns and the sabres of his
+troopers. The news of this so-called revolt gave Napoleon another
+handle against his guests. He hurried to Charles and cowed him by
+well-simulated signs of anger, which that _roi faineant_ thereupon
+vented on his son, with a passion that was outdone only by the shrill
+gibes of the Queen. At the close of this strange scene, the Emperor
+interposed with a few stern words, threatening to treat the prince as
+a rebel if he did not that very evening restore the crown to his
+father. Ferdinand braved the parental taunts in stolid silence, but
+before the trenchant threats of Napoleon he quailed, and broke down.
+
+Resistance was now at an end. On that same night (May 5th) the Emperor
+concluded with Godoy a convention whereby Charles IV. agreed to hand
+over to Napoleon the crowns of Spain and the Indies, on consideration
+that those dominions should remain intact, should keep the Roman
+Catholic faith to the exclusion of all others, and that he himself
+should be pensioned off with the estates of Compiegne and Chambord,
+receiving a yearly income of seven and a half million francs, payable
+by the French treasury. The Spanish princes were similarly treated,
+Ferdinand signing away his rights for a castle and a pension. To crown
+the farce, Napoleon ordered Talleyrand to receive them at his estate
+of Valencay, and amuse them with actors and the charms of female
+society. Thus the choicest humorist of the age was told off to
+entertain three uninteresting exiles; and the ex-Minister of Foreign
+Affairs, who disapproved of the treachery of Bayonne, was made to
+appear the Emperor's accomplice.
+
+Such were the means whereby Napoleon gained the crowns of Spain and
+the Indies, without striking a blow.
+
+His excuse for the treachery as expressed at the time was as follows:
+"My action is not good from a certain point of view, I know. But my
+policy demands that I shall not leave in my rear, so near to Paris, a
+dynasty hostile to mine." From this and from other similar remarks, it
+would seem that his resolve to dethrone the Bourbons was taken while
+on his march to Jena, but was thrust down into the abyss of his
+inscrutable will for a whole year, until Junot's march to Lisbon
+furnished a safe means for effecting the subjugation of Spain. This
+end he thenceforth pursued unswervingly with no sign of remorse, or
+even of hesitation--unless we accept as genuine the almost certainly
+spurious letter of March 29th, 1808. That letter represents him as
+blaming Murat for entering Madrid, when he had repeatedly urged him to
+do so; as asking his advice after he had all along kept him in
+ignorance as to his aims; and as writing a philosophical homily on the
+unused energies of the Spanish people, for whom in his genuine letters
+he expressed a lofty contempt.[192]
+
+The whole enterprise is, indeed, a masterpiece of skill, but a
+masterpiece marred by ineffaceable stains of treachery. And at the
+close of his life, he himself said: "I embarked very badly on the
+Spanish affair, I confess: the immorality of it was too patent, the
+injustice too cynical, and the whole thing wears an ugly look since I
+have fallen; for the attempt is only seen in its hideous nakedness
+deprived of all majesty and of the many benefits which completed my
+intention."
+
+That he hoped to reform Spain is certain. Political and social reforms
+had hitherto consolidated the work of conquest; and those which he
+soon offered to the Spaniards might possibly have renovated that
+nation, had they not been handed in at the sword's point; but the
+motive was too obvious, the intervention too insulting, to render
+success possible with the most sensitive people in Europe. On May 2nd
+he wrote to Murat that he intended King Joseph of Naples to reign at
+Madrid, and offered to Murat either Portugal or Naples.[193] He chose
+the latter. Joseph was allowed no choice in the matter. He was
+summoned from Naples to Bayonne, and, on arriving at Pau, heard with
+great surprise that he was King of Spain.
+
+Napoleon's selection was tactful. At Naples, the eldest of the
+Bonapartes had effected many reforms and was generally popular; but
+the treachery of Bayonne blasted all hopes of his succeeding at
+Madrid. Though the grandees of Spain welcomed the new monarch with
+courtly grace, though Charles IV. gave him his blessing, though
+Ferdinand demeaned himself by advising his former subjects quietly to
+submit, the populace willed otherwise.
+
+Every instinct of the Spanish nature was aflame with resentment.
+Loathing for Charles IV., his Queen, and their favourite, whom
+Napoleon richly dowered, love of the young King whom he falsely
+filched away, detestation of the French troops who outraged the rights
+of hospitality, and zeal for the Roman Catholic Church, whose chief
+had just been robbed of half his States, goaded the Spaniards to
+madness. Their indignation rumbled hoarsely for a time, like a volcano
+in labour, and then burst forth in an explosion of fury. The
+constitution which Napoleon presented to the Spanish Notables at
+Bayonne was accepted by them, only to be flung back with scorn by the
+people. The men of enlightenment who counselled prudence and patience
+were slain by raging mobs or sought safety in flight. The rising was
+at once national in its grand spontaneity and local in its intensity.
+Province after province rose in arms, except the north and centre,
+where 80,000 French troops held the patriots in check. In the van of
+the movement was the rugged little province of Asturias, long ago the
+forlorn hope of the Christians in their desperate conflicts with the
+Moors. Intrenched behind their mountains and proud of their ancient
+fame, the Asturians ventured on the sublime folly of declaring war
+against the ruler of the West and the lord of 900,000 warriors.
+Swiftly Galicia and Leon in the north repeated the challenge; while in
+the south, the fertile lands of Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia
+flashed back from their mountains the beacon lights of a national war.
+The former dislike of England was forgotten. The Juntas of Asturias,
+Galicia, and Andalusia sent appeals to us for help, to which Canning
+generously responded; and, on July 4th, we passed at a single bound
+from war with the Spanish Bourbons to an informal alliance with the
+people of Spain.
+
+Napoleon now began to see the magnitude of his error. Instead of
+gaining control over Spain and the Indies, he had changed
+long-suffering allies into irreconcilable foes. He prepared to conquer
+Spain. While Joseph was escorted to his new capital by a small army,
+Napoleon from Bayonne directed the operations of his generals. Holding
+the northern road from Bayonne to Burgos and Madrid, they were to send
+out cautious feelers against the bands of insurgents; for, as Napoleon
+wrote to Savary (July 13th): "In civil wars it is the important posts
+that must be held: one ought not to go everywhere." Weighty words,
+which his lieutenants in Spain were often to disregard! Bessieres in
+the north gained a success at Medina de Rio Seco; but a signal
+disaster in the south ruined the whole campaign. Dupont, after beating
+the levies of Andalusia, penetrated into the heart of that great
+province, and, when cumbered with plunder, his divided forces were
+surrounded, cut off from their supplies, and forced to surrender at
+Baylen--in all about 20,000 men (July 19th). The news that a French
+army had laid down its arms caused an immense sensation in an age when
+Napoleon's troops were held to be invincible. Baylen was hailed
+everywhere by despairing patriots as the dawn of a new era. And such
+it was to be. If Valmy proclaimed the advent of militant democracy,
+the victory of Spaniards over one of the bravest of Napoleon's
+generals was felt to be an even greater portent. It ushered in the
+epoch of national resistance to the overweening claims of the Emperor
+of the West.
+
+That truth he seems dimly to have surmised. His rage on hearing of the
+capitulation was at first too deep for words. Then he burst out:
+"Could I have expected that from Dupont, a man whom I loved, and was
+rearing up to become a Marshal? They say he had no other way to save
+the lives of his soldiers. Better, far better, to have died with arms
+in their hands. Their death would have been glorious: we should have
+avenged them. You can always supply the place of soldiers. Honour
+alone, when once lost, can never be regained."
+
+Moreover, the material consequences were considerable. The Spaniards
+speedily threatened Madrid; and, on the advice of Savary, Joseph
+withdrew from his capital after a week's sojourn, and fell back
+hurriedly on the line of the Upper Ebro, where the French rallied for
+a second advance.
+
+Their misfortunes did not end here. In the north-east the hardy
+Catalans had risen against the invaders, and by sheer pluck and
+audacity cooped them up in their ill-gotten strongholds of Barcelona
+and Figueras. The men of Arragon, too, never backward in upholding
+their ancient liberties, rallied to defend their capital Saragossa.
+Their rage was increased by the arrival of Palafox, who had escaped in
+disguise from the suite of Ferdinand at Bayonne, and brought news of
+the treachery there perpetrated. Beaten outside their ancient city,
+and unable to hold its crumbling walls against the French cannon and
+columns of assault, the defenders yet fiercely turned to bay amidst
+its narrow lanes and massive monasteries. There a novel warfare was
+waged. From street to street and house to house the fight eddied for
+days, the Arragonese opposing to French valour the stubborn devotion
+ever shown by the peoples of the peninsula in defence of their walled
+cities, and an enthusiasm kindled by the zeal of their monks and the
+heroism of the Maid of Saragossa. Finally, on August 10th, the noble
+city shook off the grip of the 15,000 assailants, who fell back to
+join Joseph's forces higher up the Ebro.
+
+Even now the Emperor did not fully realize the serious nature of the
+war that was beginning. Despite Savary's warnings of the dangers to be
+faced in Spain, he persisted in thinking of it as an ordinary war that
+could be ended by good strategy and a few victories. He censured
+Joseph and Savary for giving up the line of the Upper Douro: he blamed
+them next for the evacuation of Tudela, and summed up the situation by
+stating that "all the Spanish forces are not able to overthrow 25,000
+French in a reasonable position"--adding, with stinging satire: "In
+war _men_ are nothing: it is _a man_ who is everything."
+
+When, at the close of August, Napoleon penned these memorable words in
+his palace of St. Cloud, he knew not that a _man_ had arrived on the
+scene of action. At the beginning of that month, Sir Arthur Wellesley
+with a British force of 12,300 men landed at the mouth of the River
+Mondego, and, aided by Portuguese irregulars, began his march on
+Lisbon. This is not the place for a review of the character and career
+of our great warrior: in truth, a volume would be too short for the
+task. With fine poetic insight, Lord Tennyson has noted in his funeral
+Ode the qualities that enabled him to overcome the unexampled
+difficulties caused by our own incompetent Government and by jealous,
+exacting, and slipshod allies:
+
+  "Mourn for the man of long-enduring blood,
+  The statesman-warrior, moderate, resolute,
+  Whole in himself, a common good."
+
+
+Glory and vexation were soon to be his. On the 17th he drove the
+French vanguard from Rolica; and when, four days later, Junot hurried
+up with all his force, the British inflicted on that presumptuous
+leader a signal defeat at Vimiero. So bad were Junot's tactics that
+his whole force would have been cut off from Torres Vedras, had not
+Wellesley's senior officer, Sir Harry Burrard, arrived just in time to
+take over the command and stop the pursuit. Thereupon Wellesley
+sarcastically exclaimed to his staff: "Gentlemen, nothing now remains
+to us but to go and shoot red-legged partridges." The peculiarities of
+our war administration were further seen in the supersession of
+Burrard by Sir Hew Dalrymple, whose chief title to fame is his signing
+of the Convention of Cintra.
+
+By this strange compact the whole of Junot's force was to be conveyed
+from Portugal to France on British ships, while the Russian squadron
+blockaded in the Tagus was to be held by us in pledge till the peace,
+the crews being sent on to Russia. The convention itself was violently
+attacked by the English public; but it has found a defender in Napier,
+who dwells on the advantages of getting the French at once out of
+Portugal, and thus providing a sure base for the operations in Spain.
+Seeing, however, that Junot's men were demoralized by defeat, and that
+the nearest succouring force was in Navarre, these excuses seem
+scarcely tenable, except on the ground that, with such commanders as
+Burrard and Dalrymple, it was certainly desirable to get the French
+speedily away.
+
+On his side, Napoleon showed much annoyance at Junot's acceptance of
+this convention, and remarked: "I was about to send Junot to a council
+of war: but happily the English got the start of me by sending their
+generals to one, and thus saved me from the pain of punishing an old
+friend." With his customary severity to those who had failed, he
+frowned on all the officers of the Army of Portugal, and, on landing
+in France, they were strictly forbidden to come to Paris. The fate of
+Dupont and of his chief lieutenants, who were released by the
+Spaniards, was even harder: on their return they were condemned to
+imprisonment. By such means did Napoleon exact the uttermost from his
+troops, even in a service so detested as that in Spain ever was.[194]
+
+Despite the blunderings of our War Office, the silly vapourings of the
+Spaniards, and the insane quarrels of their provincial juntas about
+precedence and the sharing of English subsidies, the summer of 1808
+saw Napoleon's power stagger under terrible blows. Not only did he
+lose Spain and Portugal and the subsidies which they had meekly paid,
+but most of the 15,000 Spanish troops which had served him on the
+shores of the Baltic found means to slip away on British ships and put
+a backbone into the patriotic movements in the north of Spain. But
+worst of all was the loss of that moral strength, which he himself
+reckoned as three-fourths of the whole force in war. Hitherto he had
+always been able to marshal the popular impulse on his side. As the
+heir to the Revolution he had appealed, and not in vain, to the
+democratic forces which he had hypnotized in France but sought to stir
+up in his favour abroad. Despite the efforts of Czartoryski and Stein
+to tear the democratic mask from his face, it imposed on mankind until
+the Spanish Revolution laid bare the truth; and at St. Helena the
+exile gave his own verdict on the policy of Bayonne: "It was the
+Spanish ulcer which ruined me."
+
+
+    NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--For a careful account of the
+    Convention of Cintra in its military and political aspects, see
+    Mr. Oman's recently published "History of the Peninsular War,"
+    vol. i., pp. 268-278, 291-300. I cannot, however, agree with the
+    learned author that that Convention was justifiable on military
+    grounds, after so decisive a victory as Vimiero.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+ERFURT
+
+    "At bottom the great question is--who shall have
+    Constantinople?"--NAPOLEON, May 31st, 1808.
+
+
+The Spanish Rising made an immense rent in Napoleon's plans. It opened
+valuable markets for British goods both in the Peninsula and in South
+and Central America, and that too at the very time when the
+Continental System was about to enfold us in its deadly grip.[195] And
+finally it disarranged schemes that reached far beyond Europe. To
+these we must now briefly recur.
+
+Even amidst his greatest military triumphs Napoleon's gaze turned
+longingly towards the East; and no sooner did he force peace on the
+conquered than his thoughts centred once more on his navy and
+colonies, on Egypt and India. The Treaty of Tilsit gave him leisure to
+renew these designs. The publication in 1807 of his official Atlas of
+Australia, in which he claimed nearly half that continent for France,
+proves that he never accepted Trafalgar as a death-blow to his
+maritime and colonial aspirations. And the ardour of his desire for
+the conquest of India is seen in the letter which he wrote to the Czar
+on February 2nd, 1808. After expressing his desire for the glory and
+expansion of Russia, and advising the Czar to conquer Finland, he
+proceeds:
+
+    "An army of 50,000 men, Russians, French, and perhaps a few
+    Austrians, that penetrated by way of Constantinople into Asia,
+    would not reach the Euphrates before England would tremble and bow
+    the knee before the Continent. I am ready in Dalmatia. Your
+    Majesty is ready on the Danube. A month after we came to an
+    agreement the army could be on the Bosphorus.... By the 1st of May
+    our troops can be in Asia, and at the same time those of Your
+    Majesty, at Stockholm. Then the English, threatened in the Indies,
+    and chased from the Levant, will be crushed under the weight of
+    events with which the atmosphere will be charged."[196]
+
+There were several reasons why Napoleon should urge on this scheme. He
+was irritated by the continued resistance of Great Britain, and
+thought to terrify us into surrender by means of those oriental
+enterprises which convinced our statesmen that we must fight on for
+dear life. He also desired to restore the harmony of his relations
+with Alexander. For, in truth, the rapturous harmonies of Tilsit had
+soon been marred by discord. Alexander did not withdraw his troops
+from the Danubian provinces; whereupon Napoleon declined to evacuate
+Silesia; and the friction resulting from this wary balancing of
+interests was increased, when, at the close of 1807, a formal proposal
+was sent from Paris that, if Russia retained those provinces, Silesia
+should be at the disposal of France.[197] The dazzling vistas opened
+up to Alexander's gaze at Tilsit were thus shrouded by a sordid and
+distasteful bargain, which he hotly repelled. To repair this false
+step, Napoleon now wrote the alluring letter quoted above; and the
+Czar exclaimed on perusing it: "Ah, this is the language of Tilsit."
+
+Yet, it may be questioned whether Napoleon desired to press on an
+immediate partition of the Ottoman Power. His letter invited the Czar
+to two great enterprises, the conquest of Finland and the invasion of
+Persia and India. The former by itself was destined to tax Russia's
+strength. Despite Alexander's offer of a perpetual guarantee for the
+Finnish constitution and customs, that interesting people opposed a
+stubborn resistance. Napoleon must also have known that Russia's
+forces were then wholly unequal to the invasion of India; and his
+invitation to Alexander to engage in two serious enterprises certainly
+had the effect of postponing the partition of Turkey. Delay was all in
+his favour, if he was to gain the lion's share of the spoils. Russian
+troops were ready on the banks of the Danube; but he was not as yet
+fully prepared. His hold on Dalmatia, Ragusa, and Corfu was not wholly
+assured. Sicily and Malta still defied him; and not until he seized
+Sicily could he gain the control of the Mediterranean--"the constant
+aim of my policy." Only when that great sea had become a French lake
+could he hope to plant himself firmly in Albania, Thessaly, Greece,
+Crete, Egypt, and Syria.
+
+For the present, then, the Czar was beguiled with the prospect of an
+eastern expedition; and, while Russian troops were overrunning
+Finland, Napoleon sought to conquer Sicily and reduce Spain to the
+rank of a feudatory State. From this wider point of view, he looked on
+the Iberian Peninsula merely as a serviceable base for a greater
+enterprise, the conquest of the East. This is proved by a letter that
+he wrote to Decres, Minister of Marine and of the Colonies, from
+Bayonne on May 17th, 1808, when the Spanish affair seemed settled:
+"There is not much news from India. England is in great penury there,
+and the arrival of an expedition [from France] would ruin that colony
+from top to bottom. The more I reflect on this step, the less
+inconvenience I see in taking it." Two days later he wrote to Murat
+that money must be found for naval preparations at the Spanish ports:
+"I must have ships, for I intend striking a heavy blow towards the end
+of the season." But at the close of June he warned Decres that as
+Spanish affairs were going badly, he must postpone his design of
+despatching a fleet far from European waters.[198]
+
+Spain having proved to be, not a meek purveyor of fleets, but a
+devourer of French armies, there was the more need of a close accord
+with the Czar. Napoleon desired, not only to assure a further
+postponement of the Turkish enterprise, but also to hold Austria and
+Germany in check. The former Power, seeing Napoleon in difficulties,
+pushed on apace her military organization; and Germany heaved with
+suppressed excitement at the news of the Spanish Rising. The dormant
+instinct of German nationality had already shown signs of awakening.
+In the early days of 1808 the once cosmopolitan philosopher, Fichte,
+delivered at Berlin within sound of the French drums his "Addresses to
+the German Nation," in which he dwelt on the unquenchable strength of
+a people that determined at all costs to live free.
+
+On the philosopher's theme the Spaniards now furnished a commentary
+written with their life-blood. Thinkers and soldiers were alike moved
+by the stories of Baylen and Saragossa. Varnhagen von Ense relates how
+deep was the excitement of the quaint sage, Jean Paul Richter, who
+"doubted not that the Germans would one day rise against the French as
+the Spaniards had done, and that Prussia would revenge its insults and
+give freedom to Germany.... I proved to him how hollow and weak was
+Napoleon's power: how deeply rooted was the opposition to it. The
+Spaniards were the refrain to everything, and we always returned to
+them."
+
+The beginnings of a new civic life were then being laid in Prussia by
+Stein. Called by the King to be virtually a civic dictator, this great
+statesman carried out the most drastic reforms. In October, 1807,
+there appeared at Memel the decrees of emancipation which declared the
+abolition of serfdom with all its compulsory and menial services. The
+old feudal society was further invigorated by the admission of all
+classes to the holding of land or to any employment, while trade
+monopolies were similarly swept away. Municipal self-government gave
+new zest and energy to civic life; and the principle that the army
+"ought to be the union of all the moral and physical energies of the
+nation" was carried out by the military organizer Scharnhorst, who
+conceived and partly realized the idea that all able-bodied men should
+serve their time with the colours and then be drafted into a reserve.
+This military reform excited Napoleon's distrust, and he forced the
+King to agree by treaty (September, 1808) that the Prussian army
+should never exceed 42,000 men, a measure which did not hinder the
+formation of an effective reserve, and was therefore complied with to
+the letter, if not in spirit.
+
+In fact, in the previous month a plan of a popular insurrection had
+been secretly discussed by Stein, Scharnhorst, and other patriotic
+Ministers. The example of the Spaniards was everywhere to be followed,
+and, if Austria sent forth her legions on the Danube and England
+helped in Hanover, there seemed some prospect of shaking off the
+Napoleonic yoke. The scheme miscarried, and largely owing to the
+interception of a letter in which Stein imprudently referred to the
+exasperation of public feeling in Germany and the lively hope excited
+by the events in Spain and the preparations of Austria. Napoleon
+caused the letter to be printed in the "Moniteur" of September 8th,
+and sequestered Stein's property in Westphalia. He also kept his grip
+on Prussia; for while withdrawing most of his troops from that
+exhausted land, he retained French garrisons in Stettin, Glogau, and
+Kuestrin. Holding these fortresses on the strong defensive line of the
+Oder, he might smile at the puny efforts of Prussian patriots and hope
+speedily to crush the Spanish rebels, provided he could count on the
+loyal support of Alexander in holding Austria in check.
+
+To gain this support and to clear away the clouds that bulked on their
+oriental horizon, Napoleon urgently desired an interview with his
+ally. For some months it had been proposed; but the Spanish Rising and
+the armaments of Austria made it essential.
+
+The meeting took place at Erfurt (September 27th). The Thuringian city
+was ablaze with uniforms, and the cannon thundered salvoes of welcome
+as the two potentates and their suites entered the ancient walls and
+filed through narrow streets redolent of old German calm, an abode
+more suited to the speculations of a Luther than to the
+world-embracing schemes of the Emperors of the West and East. With
+them were their chief warriors and Ministers, personages who now threw
+into the shade the new German kings. There, too, were the lesser
+German princes, some of them to grace the Court of the man who had
+showered lands and titles on them, others to hint a wish for more
+lands and higher titles. In truth, the title of king was tantalizingly
+common; and if we may credit a story of the time, the French soldiery
+had learnt to despise it. For, on one occasion, when the guard of
+honour, deceived by the splendour of the King of Wuertemberg's chariot,
+was about to deliver the triple salute accorded only to the two
+Emperors, the officer in command angrily exclaimed: "Be quiet: it's
+only a king."
+
+The Emperors at Erfurt devoted the mornings to personal interviews,
+the afternoons to politics, the evenings to receptions and the
+theatre. The actors of the Comedie Francaise had been brought from
+Paris, and played to the Emperors and a parterre of princes the
+masterpieces of the French stage, especially those which contained
+suitable allusions. A notable incident occurred on the recital of the
+line in the "Oedipe" of Voltaire:
+
+  "L'amitie d'un grand homme est un bienfait des dieux."
+
+As if moved by a sudden inspiration, Alexander arose and warmly
+pressed the hand of Napoleon, who was then half-dozing at his
+side.[199] On the surface, indeed, everything was friendship and
+harmony. With urbane facility, the Czar accompanied his ally to the
+battlefield of Jena, listened to the animated description of the
+victor, and then joined in the chase in a forest hard by.
+
+But beneath these brilliant shows there lurked suspicions and fears.
+Alexander was annoyed that Napoleon retained French garrisons in the
+fortresses on the Oder and claimed an impossible sum as indemnity from
+Prussia. This was not the restoration of Prussia's independence, for
+which he, Alexander, had pleaded; and while the French eagles were at
+Kuestrin, the Russian frontier could not be deemed wholly safe.[200]
+Then again the Czar had been secretly warned by Talleyrand against
+complaisance to the French Emperor. "Sire, what are you coming here
+for? It is for you to save Europe, and you will only succeed in that
+by resisting Napoleon. The French are civilized, their sovereign is
+not. The sovereign of Russia is civilized, her people are not.
+Therefore the sovereign of Russia must be the ally of the French
+people."[201] We may doubt whether this symmetrical proposition would
+have had much effect, if Alexander had not received similar warnings
+from his own ambassador at Paris; and it would seem that too much
+importance has been assigned to what is termed Talleyrand's
+_treachery_ at Erfurt.[202] Affairs of high policy are determined, not
+so much by the logic of words as by the sterner logic of facts. Ever
+since Tilsit, Napoleon had been prodigal of promises to his ally, but
+of little else. The alluring visions set forth in his letter of
+February 2nd were as visionary as ever; and Romantzoff expressed the
+wish of his countrymen in his remark to Champagny: "We have come to
+Erfurt to set a limit to this conduct." It was evident that if
+Napoleon had his way completely, the partition of Turkey would take
+place at the time and in the manner desired by him; this the Czar was
+determined to prevent, and therefore turned a deaf ear to his ally's
+proposal that they should summon Austria to explain her present
+ambiguous behaviour and frankly to recognize Joseph Bonaparte as King
+of Spain. If Austria put a stop to her present armaments, the
+supremacy of Napoleon in Central Europe would be alarmingly great.
+Clearly it was not to Russia's interest to weaken the only
+buffer-state that remained between her and the Empire of the West.
+
+These fears were quietly fed by a special envoy of the Court of
+Vienna, Baron Vincent, who brought complimentary notes to the two
+Emperors and remained to feel the pulse of European policy. It boded
+peace for Austria for the present. Despite Napoleon's eager arguments
+that England would never make peace until Austria accepted the present
+situation in Spain, Alexander quietly but firmly refused to take any
+steps to depress the Hapsburg Power. The discussions waxed warm; for
+Napoleon saw that, unless the Court of Vienna were coerced, England
+would persist in aiding the Spanish patriots; and Alexander showed an
+unexpected obstinacy. Napoleon's plea, that peace could only be
+assured by the entire discouragement of England, Austria, and the
+Spanish "rebels," had no effect on him: in fact, he began to question
+the sincerity of a peacemaker whose methods were war and intimidation.
+Finding arguments useless, Napoleon had recourse to anger. At the end
+of a lively discussion, he threw his cap on the ground and stamped on
+it. Alexander stopped, looked at him with a meaning smile, and said
+quietly: "You are violent: as for me, I am obstinate: anger gains
+nothing from me: let us talk, let us reason, or I go." He moved
+towards the door, whereupon Napoleon called him back--and they
+reasoned.
+
+It was of no avail. Though Alexander left his ally a free hand in
+Spain, he refused to join him in a diplomatic menace to Austria; and
+Napoleon saw that "those devilish Spanish affairs" were at the root of
+this important failure, which was to cost him the war on the Danube in
+the following year.
+
+As a set-off to this check, he disappointed Alexander respecting
+Prussia and Turkey. He refused to withdraw his troops from the
+fortresses on the Oder, and grudgingly consented to lower his
+pecuniary claims on Prussia from 140,000,000 francs to 120,000,000.
+Towards the Czar's Turkish schemes he showed little more complaisance.
+After sharp discussions it was finally settled that Russia should gain
+the Danubian provinces, but not until the following year. France
+renounced all mediation between Alexander and the Porte, but required
+him to maintain the integrity of all the other Turkish possessions,
+which meant that the partition of Turkey was to be postponed until it
+suited Napoleon to take up his oriental schemes in earnest. The golden
+visions of Tilsit were thus once more relegated to a distant future,
+and the keenness of the Czar's disappointment may be measured by his
+striking statement quoted by Caulaincourt in one of his earlier
+reports from St. Petersburg: "Let the world be turned upside down
+provided that Russia gains Constantinople and the Dardanelles."[203]
+
+The Erfurt interview left another hidden sore. It was there that the
+divorce from Josephine was officially discussed, with a view to a more
+ambitious alliance. Persistent as the rumours of a divorce had been
+for seven years past, they seem to have emanated, not from the
+husband, but from jealous sisters-in-law, intriguing relatives, and
+officious Ministers. To the most meddlesome of these satellites,
+Fouche, who had ventured to suggest to Josephine the propriety of
+sacrificing herself for the good of the State, Napoleon had lately
+administered a severe rebuke. But now he caused Talleyrand and
+Caulaincourt to sound the Czar as to the feasibility of an alliance
+with one of his sisters. The response was equally vague and discreet.
+Alexander expressed his gratification at the friendship which
+proffered such a request and his desire for the founding of a
+Napoleonic House. Further than this he did not go: and eight days
+after his return to St. Petersburg his only marriageable sister,
+Catherine, was affianced to the heir to the Duchy of Oldenburg. This
+event, it is true, was decided by the Dowager Empress; but no one,
+least of all Napoleon, could harbour any doubts as to its
+significance.
+
+In truth, Napoleon's chief triumphs at Erfurt were social and
+literary. His efforts to dazzle German princes and denationalize two
+of her leading thinkers were partly successful. Goethe and Wieland
+bowed before his greatness. To the former Napoleon granted a lengthy
+interview. He flattered the aged poet at the outset by the words, "You
+are a man": he then talked about several works in a way that Goethe
+thought very just; and he criticised one passage of the poet's
+youthful work, "Werther," as untrue to nature, with which Goethe
+agreed. On Voltaire's "Mahomet" he heaped censure, for its unworthy
+portraiture of the conqueror of the East and its ineffective fatalism.
+"These pieces belong to an obscure age. Besides, what do they mean
+with their fatalism? Politics is fatalism." The significance of this
+saying was soon to be emphasized, so that misapprehension was
+impossible. After witnessing Voltaire's "La Mort de Cesar," Napoleon
+suggested that the poet ought to write a tragedy in a grander style
+than Voltaire's, so as to show how the world would have benefited if
+the great Roman had had time to carry out his vast plans.
+
+Finally, Goethe was invited to come to Paris, where he would find
+abundant materials for his poetic creations. Fortunately, Goethe was
+able to plead his age in excuse; and the world was therefore spared
+the sight of a great genius saddled with an imperial commission and
+writing a Napoleonized version of Caesar's exploits and policy. But the
+pressing character of the invitation reveals the Emperor's
+dissatisfaction with his French poetasters and his intention to
+denationalize German literature. He had a dim perception that Teutonic
+idealism was a dangerous foe, inasmuch as it kept alive the sense of
+nationality which he was determined to obliterate. He was right. The
+last and most patriotic of Schiller's works, "Wilhelm Tell," the
+impassioned discourses of Fichte, the efforts of the new patriotic
+league, the Tugendbund, and last, but not least, the memory of the
+murdered Palm, all these were influences that baffled bayonets and
+diplomacy. Conquer and bargain as he might, he could not grapple with
+the impalpable forces of the era that was now dawning. The younger
+generation throbbed responsive to the teachings of Fichte, the appeals
+of Stein, and the exploits of the Spaniards; it was blind to the
+splendours of Erfurt: and it heard with grief, but with no change of
+conviction, that Goethe and Wieland had accepted from Napoleon the
+cross of the Legion of Honour, and that too on the anniversary of the
+Battle of Jena.
+
+After thus finally belittling the two poets, he shot a parting shaft
+at German idealism in his farewell to the academicians. He bade them
+beware of idealogues as dangerous dreamers and disguised materialists.
+Then, raising his voice, he exclaimed: "Philosophers plague themselves
+with weaving systems: they will never find a better one than
+Christianity, which, reconciling man with himself, also assures public
+order and repose. Your idealogues destroy every illusion; and the time
+of illusions is for peoples and individuals alike the time of
+happiness. I carry one away, that you will think kindly of me." He
+then mounted his carriage and drove away to Paris to resume his
+conquest of Spain.[204]
+
+The last diplomatic proceeding at Erfurt was the drawing up of a
+secret convention which assigned Finland and the Danubian Provinces to
+Russia, and promised Russia's help to Napoleon in case Austria should
+attack him. The Czar also recognized Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain
+and joined Napoleon in a joint note to George III. summoning him to
+make peace. On the same day (October 12th) that note was drawn up and
+despatched to London. In reply, Canning stated our willingness to
+treat for peace, provided that it should include all parties: that,
+although bound by no formal treaty to Ferdinand VII. and the Spanish
+people, yet we felt ourselves none the less pledged to them, and
+presumed that they, as well as our other allies, would be admitted to
+the negotiations. Long before this reply reached Paris, Napoleon had
+left for Spain. But on November 19th, he charged Champagny to state
+that the Spanish rebels could no more be admitted than the Irish
+insurgents: as for the other parties to the dispute he would not
+refuse to admit "either the King reigning in Sweden, or the King
+reigning in Sicily, or the King reigning in Brazil." This insulting
+reply sufficiently shows the insincerity of his overtures and the
+peculiarity of his views of monarchy. The Spaniards were rebels
+because they refused to recognize the forced abdication of their young
+King; and the rulers of Sweden, Naples and Portugal, were Kings as
+long as it suited Napoleon to tolerate them, and no longer. It is
+needless to add that our Government refused to desert the Spaniards;
+and in his reply to St. Petersburg, Canning expressed George III.'s
+deep regret that Alexander should sanction
+
+    "An usurpation unparalleled in the history of the world.... If
+    these be the principles to which the Emperor of Russia has
+    inviolably attached himself ... deeply does His Majesty [George
+    III.] lament a determination by which the sufferings of Europe
+    must be aggravated and prolonged. But not to His Majesty is to be
+    attributed the continuance of the calamities of war, by the
+    disappointment of all hope of such a peace as would be compatible
+    with justice and honour."[205]
+
+No open-minded person can peruse the correspondence on this subject
+without concluding that British policy, if lacking the breadth, grip
+and _finesse_ that marked that of France and Russia, yet possessed the
+sterling merits of manly truthfulness and staunch fidelity. The words
+quoted above were the words of Canning, but the spirit that animated
+them was that of George III. His storm-tossed life was now verging
+towards the dread bourne of insanity; but it was given to him to make
+this stern yet half-pleading appeal to the Czar's better nature. And
+who shall say that the example of constancy which the aged King
+displayed amidst the gathering gloom of his public and private life
+did not ultimately bear fruit in the later and grander phase of
+Alexander's character and career?
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon was bursting through the Spanish defence. The
+patriots, puffed up with their first successes, had been indulging in
+dreams of an invasion of France; and their provincial juntas
+quarrelled over the sharing of the future spoils as over the
+apportionment of English arms and money. Their awakening was terrible.
+With less than 90,000 raw troops they were attacked by 250,000 men led
+by the greatest warrior of the age. Everywhere they were routed, and
+at a last fight at the pass over the Somosierra mountain, the
+superiority of the French was strikingly shown. While the Spaniards
+were pouring down grapeshot on the struggling masses of the
+assailants, the Emperor resolved to hurl his light Polish horse uphill
+at the death-dealing guns. Dashingly was the order obeyed. Some forty
+or fifty riders bit the dust, but the rest swept on, sabred the
+gunners, and decided the day. The Spaniards, amazed at these
+unheard-of tactics, took to their heels, and nothing now stayed
+Napoleon's entry into Madrid (December 4th). There he strove to
+popularize Joseph's rule by offering several desirable reforms, such
+as the abolition of feudal laws and of the Inquisition. It was of no
+avail. The Spaniards would have none of them at his hands.
+
+After a brief stay in Madrid, he turned to crush Sir John Moore. That
+brave soldier, relying on the empty promises of the patriots, had
+ventured into the heart of Leon with a British force of 26,000 men. If
+he could not save Madrid, he could at least postpone a French conquest
+of the south. In this he succeeded; his chivalrous daring drew on him
+the chief strength of the invaders; and when hopelessly outnumbered he
+beat a lion-like retreat to Corunna. There he turned and dealt the
+French a blow that closed his own career with glory and gained time
+for his men to embark in safety.
+
+While the red-coats saw the snowy heights of Galicia fade into the
+sky, Napoleon was spurring back to the Pyrenees. He had received news
+that portended war with Austria; and, cherishing the strange belief
+that Spain was conquered, he rushed back to Paris to confront the
+Hapsburg Power. But Spain was not conquered. Scattered her armies were
+in the open, and even brave Saragossa fell in glorious ruins under
+Lannes' persistent attacks. But the patriots fiercely rallied in the
+mountains, and Napoleon was to find out the truth of the Roman
+historian's saying: "In no land does the character of the people and
+the nature of the country help to repair disasters more readily than
+in Spain."
+
+There was another reason for Napoleon's sudden return. Rumours had
+reached him as to the _rapprochement_ of those usually envious rivals,
+Talleyrand and Fouche, who now walked arm in arm, held secret
+conclaves, and seemed to have some understanding with Murat. Were they
+plotting to bring this ambitious man and his still more ambitious and
+vindictive consort from the despised throne at Naples to seize on
+power at Paris while the Emperor was engulfed in the Spanish quagmire?
+A story ran that Fouche had relays of horses ready between Naples and
+Paris for this enterprise.[206] But where Fouche and Talleyrand are
+concerned, truth lurks at the bottom of an unfathomable well.
+
+All that we know for certain is that Napoleon flew back to Paris in a
+towering rage, and that, after sharply rebuking Fouche, he subjected
+the Prince of Benevento to a violent tirade: just as he (Talleyrand)
+had first advised the death of the Duc d'Enghien and then turned that
+event to his sovereign's discredit, so now, after counselling the
+overthrow of the Spanish dynasty, he was making the same underhand use
+of the miscarriage of that enterprise. The Grand Chamberlain stood as
+if unmoved until the storm swept by, and then coldly remarked to the
+astonished circle: "What a pity that so great a man has been so badly
+brought up." Nevertheless, the insult rankled deep in his being, there
+to be nursed for five years, and then in the fullness of time to dart
+forth with a snake-like revenge. In 1814 and 1815 men saw that not the
+least serious result of Napoleon's Spanish policy was the envenoming
+of his relations with the two cleverest of living Frenchmen.
+
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--In the foregoing narrative, describing the
+battle of the Somosierra, I followed the usually accepted account,
+which assigns the victory solely to the credit of the Polish horsemen.
+But Mr. Oman has shown ("History of the Peninsular War," vol. i., pp.
+459-461) that their first charge failed, and that only when a brigade
+of French infantry skirmished right up to the crest, did a second
+effort of the Poles, supported by cavalry of the Guard, secure the
+pass. Napier's description (vol. i., p. 267), based on the French
+bulletin, is incorrect.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+NAPOLEON AND AUSTRIA
+
+
+"Never maltreat an enemy by halves": such was the sage advice of
+Prussia's warrior King Frederick the Great, who instinctively saw the
+folly of half measures in dealing with a formidable foe. The only
+statesmanlike alternatives were, to win his friendship by generous
+treatment, or to crush him to the earth so that he could not rise to
+deal another blow.
+
+As we have seen, Napoleon deliberately took the perilous middle course
+with the Hapsburgs after Austerlitz. He tore away from them their
+faithful Tyrolese along with all their Swabian lands, and he half
+crippled them in Italy by leaving them the line of the Adige instead
+of the Mincio. Later on, he compelled Austria to join the Continental
+System, to the detriment of her commerce and revenue; and his thinly
+veiled threats at Erfurt nerved her to strike home as soon as she saw
+him embarked on the Spanish enterprise. She had some grounds for
+confidence. The blows showered on the Hapsburg States had served to
+weld them more closely together; reforms effected in the
+administration under the guidance of the able and high-spirited
+minister, Stadion, promised to reinvigorate the whole Empire; and army
+reforms, championed by the Archduke Charles, had shelved the petted
+incapables of the Court and opened up undreamt-of vistas of hope even
+to the common soldier. Moreover, it was certain that the Tyrolese
+would revolt against the cast-iron Liberalism now imposed on them from
+Munich, which interfered with their cherished customs and church
+festivals.
+
+Throughout Germany, too, there were widespread movements for casting
+off the yoke of Napoleon. The benefits gained by the adoption of his
+laws were already balanced by the deepening hardships entailed by the
+Continental System; and the national German sentiment, which Napoleon
+ever sought to root out, persistently clung to Berlin and Vienna. A
+new thrill of resentment ran through Germany when Napoleon launched a
+decree of proscription against Stein, who had resigned office on
+November 24th. It was dated from Madrid (December 16th, 1808), and
+ordered that "the man named Stein," for seeking to excite troubles in
+Germany, should be held an enemy of France and the Confederation of
+the Rhine, and suffer confiscation of his property and seizure of his
+person, wherever he might be. The great statesman thereupon fled into
+Austria, where all the hopes of German nationalists now centred.[207]
+
+On April the 6th the Archduke Charles issued a proclamation in which
+the new hopes of reformed Austria found eloquent expression: "The
+freedom of Europe has sought refuge beneath your banners. Soldiers,
+your victories will break her chains: your German brothers who are now
+in the ranks of the enemy wait for their deliverance." These hopes
+were premature. Austria was too late or too soon: she was too late to
+overpower the Bavarians, or to catch the French forces leaderless, and
+too soon to gain the full benefit from her recent army reforms and
+from the diversion promised by England on the North Sea.[208] But our
+limits of space render it impossible adequately to describe the course
+of the struggle on the Danube or of the Tyrolese rising.
+
+Napoleon, hurrying from Paris, found his forces spread out over a
+front of sixty miles from Ratisbon to positions south of Augsburg, and
+it needed all his skill to mass them before the Archduke's blows fell.
+Thanks to Austrian slowness the danger was averted, and a difficult
+retrograde movement was speedily changed into a triumphant offensive.
+Five successive days saw as many French victories, the chief of which,
+at Eckmuehl (April 22nd), forced the Archduke with the Austrian right
+wing northwards towards Ratisbon, which was stormed on the following
+day, Charles now made for the Boehmer Wald, while his left wing on the
+south of the Danube fell back towards the Inn. Pushing his advantage
+to the utmost, the victor invaded Austria and forced Vienna to
+surrender (May 13th).
+
+At that city Napoleon issued (May 17th) a decree which reveals the
+excess of his confidence. It struck down the temporal power of the
+Pope, and annexed to the French Empire the part of the Papal States
+which he had spared the year before. The form of the decree was as
+remarkable as its substance. With an effrontery only equalled by its
+historical falsity, it cited the example of "Charlemagne, my august
+predecessor, Emperor of the French"; and, after exalting the Imperial
+dignity, it proceeded to lower the Popes to the position of Bishops of
+Rome. The subordination of the spiritual to the civil power was also
+assured by the assigning of a yearly stipend of 2,000,000 francs to
+the Pope.
+
+When Pius VII. protested against the seizure of his States, and hurled
+a bull of excommunication at the spoliator, Napoleon issued orders
+which led to his arrest; and shortly after midsummer the unfortunate
+pontiff was hurried away from Rome to Florence.
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had experienced an unlooked-for reverse. Though so
+far cowed by his defeats in Bavaria as to send Napoleon a cringing
+request for peace, to which the victor deigned no reply, the Archduke
+Charles obstinately clung to the northern bank of the Danube opposite
+the capital, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Emperor when the
+latter sought to drive him from Aspern-Essling (May 21st-22nd). Had
+the Austrian commander had that remorseless resolve which ever
+prompted Napoleon to wrest from Fortune her utmost favours, the
+white-coats might have driven their foes into the river; for at the
+close of both of those days of carnage they had a clear advantage. A
+French disaster was in fact averted only by the combined efforts of
+Napoleon, Massena, Lannes, and General Mouton; and even they were for
+a time dismayed by the frightful losses, and by the news that the
+bridges, over which alone they could retire, had been swept away by
+trees and barges sent down the flooded stream. But, as at Eylau,
+Napoleon's iron will imposed on his foes, and, under cover of
+darkness, the French were withdrawn into the island of Lobau, after
+losing some 25,000 men.[209]
+
+Among them was that prince of vanguard leaders, Lannes. On hearing
+that his old friend was mortally wounded, the Emperor hurried to him,
+and tenderly embraced him. The interview, says Marbot, who was
+supporting the Marshal's shoulders, was most affecting, both these
+stern warriors displaying genuine emotion. And yet, it is reported
+that, after Lannes was removed to Ebersdorf, his last words were those
+of reproach to the Emperor for his ambition. At that time, however,
+the patient was delirious, and the words, if really uttered, were
+meaningless; but the inventor of the anecdote might plead that it was
+consonant with the recent tenor of the Marshal's thoughts. Like all
+thoughtful soldiers, who placed France before Napoleon, Lannes was
+weary of these endless wars. After Jena his heart was not in the work;
+and he wrote thus about Napoleon during the siege of Danzig: "I have
+always been the victim of my attachment to him. He only loves you by
+fits and starts, that is, when he has need of you." His presentiment
+was true. He was a victim to a war that was the outcome solely of
+Napoleon's Continental System, and not of the needs of France. He
+passed away, leaving a brilliant military fame and a reputation for
+soldierly republican frankness which was fast vanishing from the camps
+and _salons_ of the Empire.[210]
+
+As yet, however, Napoleon's genius and the martial ardour of his
+soldiers sufficed to overbear the halting efforts of Austria and her
+well-wishers. On retiring into Lobau Island he put forth to the utmost
+his extraordinary powers of organization. Boats brought vast supplies
+of stores and ammunition from Vienna, which the French still held. The
+menacing front of Massena and Davoust imposed on the enemy.
+Reinforcements were hurried up from Bavaria. Tyrol was denuded of
+Franco-Bavarian troops, so that the peasants, under the lead of the
+brave innkeeper, Hofer, were able to organize a systematic defence.
+And a French army which had finally beaten the Austrians in Venetia,
+now began to drive them back into Hungary. In Poland the white-coats
+were held in check, and the Franco-Russian compact deterred Frederick
+William from making any move against France such as Prussian patriots
+ardently counselled.
+
+To have done so would have been madness, unless England sent powerful
+aid on the side of Hanover; and that aid was not forthcoming. Yet the
+patriotic ardour of the Germans led to two daring efforts against the
+French. Schill, with a Prussian cavalry regiment, sought to seize
+Magdeburg, and failing there moved north in hopes of British help. His
+adventurous ride was ended by Napoleon's Dutch and North German
+troops, who closed in on him at Stralsund, and, on May 31st, cut to
+pieces his brave troop. Schill met a warrior's death: most of the
+survivors were sent to the galleys in France. Undeterred by this
+failure, the young Duke of Brunswick sought to rouse Saxony and
+Westphalia by a dashing cavalry raid (June); but, beyond showing the
+weakness of Jerome Bonaparte's rule and the general hatred of the
+French, he effected little: with his 2,000 followers he was finally
+saved by British cruisers (August). Had the British expedition, which
+in the ensuing autumn rotted away on Walcheren, been landed at
+Stralsund, or in Hanover during the spring, it is certain that Germany
+would have risen in Napoleon's rear; and in that case, the doubtful
+struggle which closed at Wagram might have ended very
+differently.[211]
+
+All hopes for European independence centred in Wellesley and the
+Archduke Charles. Although there was no formal compact between England
+and Austria, yet the Hapsburgs rested their hopes largely on the
+diversions made by our troops. In the early part of the Peninsular
+campaign of 1809, these hopes were brilliantly fulfilled. Wellesley
+moved against Soult at Oporto, and, by a dextrous crossing of that
+river in his rear, compelled him to beat a calamitous retreat on
+Spain, with the loss of all his cannon and stores. The French reached
+Lugo an armed rabble, and were greeted there with jeers and
+execrations by the men of Ney's corps. The two Marshals themselves
+took up the quarrel, and so fierce were the taunts of Ney that Soult
+drew his sword and a duel was barely averted.[212] An appearance of
+concord was restored during their operations in Galicia and Asturias:
+but no opportunity was missed of secretly thwarting the hated rival;
+and here, as all through the Peninsular War, the private jealousies of
+the French leaders fatally compromised the success of their arms.
+Wellesley, seeing that the operations in Galicia would never decide
+the war, began to prepare a deadly blow at the centre of French
+authority, Madrid.
+
+While Wellesley thrust a thin wedge into the heart of Spain, the
+Archduke Charles was overthrown on the banks of the Danube. After
+drawing in reinforcements from France, the Rhenish Confederation, and
+Eugene's army of Italy, the French Emperor disposed of 180,000
+highly-trained troops, whom he massed in the Lobau Island, or on the
+right shore of the Danube. Every preparation was made for deceiving
+the Austrians as to the point of crossing and with complete success.
+With great labour the defenders threw up intrenchments facing the
+north side of the island. But, on a thick stormy night (July 4th), six
+bridges of boats were quickly swung across the stream lower down, that
+is, on the east side of Lobau, while a furious cannonade on the north
+side misled their foes. The crossing was effected without loss by
+Oudinot and Massena; and sunrise saw the whole French army advancing
+rapidly northwards, thereby outflanking the Austrian earthworks, which
+were now evacuated.
+
+Charles was outmanoeuvred and outnumbered. His brother, the Archduke
+John, was at Pressburg with 20,000 men, watched hitherto by Davoust.
+But the French Marshal cleverly withdrew his corps, leaving only
+enough men to impose on that unenterprising leader. Other Austrian
+detachments were also far away at the critical time, and thus Napoleon
+had a superiority of force of about 50,000 men. Nevertheless, the
+defence at Wagram was most obstinate (July 6th). Holding his own on
+the hills behind the Russbach, the Archduke swung forward his right in
+such strength as to drive back Massena on Aspern; but his weakened
+centre was now pushed back and endangered by the persistent vigour of
+Macdonald's onset. This success at the centre gave time for Davoust to
+wrest Neusiedel from the white-coats, a movement which would have been
+stopped or crushed, had the Archduke John obeyed his brother's orders
+and marched from the side of Pressburg on Napoleon's unguarded right
+flank. Finally, after an obstinate stand, the Austrians fell back in
+good order, effectively covering their retreat by a murderous
+artillery fire. A total loss of some 50,000 men, apportioned nearly
+equally on either side, was the chief result of this terrible day. It
+was not remarkable for brilliant tactics; and, as at Aspern, the
+Austrians fully equalled their foes in courage.
+
+[Illustration: WAGRAM]
+
+Such was the battle of Wagram, one of the greatest of all time, if the
+number of combatants be counted, but one of the least decisive in its
+strictly military results. If we may compare Austerlitz with Blenheim,
+Wagram may with equal fitness be matched with the vast slaughter of
+Malplaquet exactly a century before. The French now felt the hardening
+of the national defence of Austria and the falling off in their own
+fighting powers. Marmont tells how, at the close of the day, the
+approach of the Archduke John's scouts struck panic into the
+conquerors, so that for a time the plain on the east was covered with
+runaway conscripts and disconcerted plunderers. The incident proved
+the deterioration of the Grand Army from the times of Ulm and Jena.
+Raw conscripts raised before their time and hurriedly drafted into the
+line had impaired its steadiness, and men noted as another ominous
+fact that few unwounded prisoners were taken from the Austrians, and
+only nine guns and one colour. In fact, the only reputation enhanced
+was that of Macdonald, who for his great services at the centre
+enjoyed the unique honour of receiving a Marshal's baton from Napoleon
+on the field of battle.
+
+Had the Archduke Charles been made of the same stuff as Wellington,
+the campaign might still have been retrieved. But softness and
+irresolution were the characteristics of Austria's generals no less
+than of her rulers.[213] The Hapsburg armies were still led with the
+old leisurely _insouciance_; and their counsels swayed to and fro
+under the wavering impulses of a seemingly decrepit dynasty. Francis
+had many good qualities: he was a good husband and father, and his
+kindly manners endeared him to the Viennese even in the midst of
+defeat. But he was capricious and shortsighted; anything outside of
+the well-worn ruts of routine vexed and alarmed him; and it is a
+supreme proof of the greatness and courage of his reforming Minister,
+Stadion, that his innovations should have been tolerated for so long.
+Now that disasters were shaking his throne he began to suspect the
+reformer; and Stadion confessed to the publicist, Gentz, that it was
+impossible to reckon on the Emperor for a quarter of an hour together,
+unless one stayed by him all the twenty-four hours.--"After a great
+defeat, he will take himself off at once and will calmly commend us to
+God."--This was what now happened. Another failure at Znaim so daunted
+the Archduke that he sued for an armistice (July 12th). For this there
+was some excuse. The latest news both from Spain and Prussia inspired
+the hope that, if time were gained, important diversions might be made
+in both quarters.
+
+As we have seen, Sir Arthur Wellesley opened the campaign with a
+brilliant success, and then prepared to strike at the heart of the
+French power. The memorable campaign of Talavera was the result.
+Relying on promises of aid from the Spanish Junta and from their
+cross-grained commander, Cuesta, he led a small British force up the
+valley of the Tagus to seize Madrid, while the chief French armies
+were engaged in distant provinces. In one sense he achieved his aim.
+He compelled the enemy to loose their hold on those provinces and
+concentrate to save the capital. And before they fully effected their
+concentration, he gave battle to King Joseph and Marshals Jourdan and
+Victor at Talavera (July 28th). Skilfully posting the Spaniards behind
+intrenchments and in gardens where their raw levies could fight with
+every advantage, he extended his thin red lines--he had only 17,000
+British troops--along a ridge stretching up to a plateau that
+dominated the broken ground north of the town. On that hill Wellesley
+planted his left: and all the efforts of Victor to turn that wing or
+to break it by charges across the intervening ravine were bloodily
+beaten off.
+
+The fierce heat served but to kindle French and British to greater
+fury. Finally, the dashing charge of our 23rd dragoons and the
+irresistible advance of the 48th regiment of foot overthrew the
+enemy's centre; and as the day waned, the 30,000 French retired, with
+a loss of 17 cannon and of 7,000 men in killed, wounded, and
+prisoners. Had the other Spanish armies now offered the support which
+Wellesley expected, he would doubtless have seized Madrid. He had
+written three days before Talavera: "With or without a battle we shall
+be at Madrid soon." But his allies now failed him utterly: they did
+not hold the mountain passes which confronted Soult in his march from
+Salamanca into the valley of the Tagus; and they left the British
+forces half starving.--"We are here worse off than in a hostile
+country," wrote our commander; "never was an army so ill used: we had
+no assistance from the Spanish army: we were obliged to unload our
+ammunition and our treasure in order to employ the cars in the removal
+of our sick and wounded." Meanwhile Soult, with 50,000 men, was
+threading his way easily through the mountains and threatened to cut
+us off from Portugal: but by a rapid retreat Wellesley saved his army,
+vowing that he would never again trust Spanish offers of help.[214]
+
+Far more dispiriting was the news that reached the Austrian
+negotiators from the North Sea. There the British Government succeeded
+in eclipsing all its former achievements in forewarning foes and
+disgusting its friends. Very early in the year, the men of Downing
+Street knew that Austria was preparing to fight Napoleon and built her
+hopes of success, partly on the Peninsular War, partly on a British
+descent in Hanover, where everything was ripe for revolution.
+Unfortunately, we were still, formally, at war with her: and the
+conclusion of the treaty of peace was so long delayed at Vienna that
+July was almost gone before the Austrian ratification reached London,
+and our armada set sail from Dover.[215] The result is well known.
+Official favouritism handed over the command of 40,000 troops to the
+Earl of Chatham, who wasted precious days in battering down the walls
+of Flushing when he should have struck straight at the goal now aimed
+at, Antwerp. That fortress was therefore ready to beat him off; and he
+finally withdrew his army into the Isle of Walcheren, into whose
+fever-laden swamps Napoleon had refused to send a single French
+soldier. A tottering remnant was all that survived by the close of the
+year: and the climax of our national disgrace was reached when a
+court-martial acquitted the commanders. Napoleon would have had them
+shot.
+
+Helpless as the old monarchies were to cope with Napoleon, a wild
+longing for vengeance was beginning to throb among the peoples. It
+showed itself in a remarkable attempt on his life during a review at
+Schoenbrunn. A delicate youth named Staps, son of a Thuringian pastor,
+made his way to the palace, armed with a long knife, intending to stab
+him while he read a petition (October 12th). Berthier and Rapp, noting
+the lad's importunity, had him searched and brought before Napoleon.
+"What did you mean to do with that knife?" asked the Emperor. "Kill
+you," was the reply. "You are an idiot or an Illuminat." "I am not an
+idiot and do not know what an Illuminat is." "Then you are diseased."
+"No, I am quite well." "Why do you wish to kill me?" "Because you are
+the curse of my Fatherland." "You are a fanatic; I will forgive you
+and spare your life." "I want no forgiveness." "Would you thank me if
+I pardoned you?" "I would seek to kill you again." The quiet firmness
+with which Staps gave these replies and then went to his doom made a
+deep impression on Napoleon; and he sought to hurry on the conclusion
+of peace with these odd Germans whom he could conquer but not
+convince.
+
+The Emperor Francis was now resigned to his fate, but he refused to
+hear of giving up his remaining sea-coast in Istria. On this point
+Metternich strove hard to bend Napoleon's will, but received as a
+final answer: "Then war is unavoidable."[216] In fact, the victor knew
+that Austria was in his power. The Archduke Charles had thrown up his
+command, the soldiery were depressed, and a great part of the Empire
+was in the hands of the French. England's efforts had failed; and of
+all the isolated patriotic movements in Germany only that of the
+Tyrolese mountaineers still struggled on. Napoleon could therefore
+dictate his own terms in the Treaty of Schoenbrunn (October 14th),
+which he announced as complete, when as yet Francis had not signed
+it.[217] Austria thereby recognized Joseph as King of Spain, and ceded
+Salzburg and the Inn-viertel to Napoleon, to be transferred by him to
+Bavaria. To the French Empire she yielded up parts of Austrian Friuli
+and Carinthia, besides Carniola, the city and district of Trieste, and
+portions of Croatia and Dalmatia to the south of the River Save. Her
+spoils of the old Polish lands now went to aggrandize the Duchy of
+Warsaw, a small strip of Austrian Gallicia also going to Russia.
+Besides losing 3,500,000 subjects, Austria was mulcted in an indemnity
+of L3,400,000, and again bound herself to exclude all British
+products. By a secret clause she agreed to limit her army to 150,000
+men.
+
+Perhaps the severest loss was the abandonment of the faithful
+Tyrolese. After Aspern, the Emperor Francis promised that he would
+never lay down his arms until they were re-united with his Empire.
+This promise now went the way of the many fond hopes of reform and
+championship of German nationality which her ablest men had lately
+cherished, and the Empire settled down in torpor and bankruptcy. In
+dumb wrath and despair Austrian patriots looked on, while the Tyrolese
+were beaten down by French, Bavarian, and Italian forces. Hofer
+finally took to the hills, was betrayed by a friend, and was taken to
+Mantua. Some of the officers who there tried him desired to spare his
+life, but a special despatch of Napoleon[218] ordered his execution,
+and the brave mountaineer fell, with the words on his lips: "Long live
+the Emperor Francis." Tyrol, meanwhile, was parcelled out between
+Bavaria, Illyria, and the Kingdom of Italy; but bullets and partitions
+were of no avail against the staunch patriotism of her people, and the
+Tyrolese campaign boded ill for Napoleon if monarchs, generals, and
+statesmen should ever be inspired by the sturdy faith and hardihood of
+that noble peasantry.
+
+As yet, however, prudence and timidity reigned supreme. Though the
+Czar uttered some snappish words at the threatening increase to the
+Duchy of Warsaw, he still posed as Napoleon's ally. The Swedes, weary
+of their hopeless strifes with France, Russia, and Denmark, deposed
+the still bellicose Gustavus IV.; and his successor, Charles XIII.,
+made peace with those Powers, retaining Swedish Pomerania, but only at
+the cost of submitting to the Continental System. Prussia seemed, to
+official eyes, utterly cowed. The Hapsburgs, having failed in their
+bold championship of the cause of reform and of German nationality,
+now fell back into a policy marked by timid opportunism and decorously
+dull routine.
+
+The change was marked by the retirement of Stadion, a man whose
+enterprising character, no less than his enthusiasm for reform, ill
+fitted him for the time of compromise and subservience now at hand. He
+it was who had urged Austria forward in the paths of progress and had
+sought safety in the people: he was the Stein of Austria. But now, on
+the eve of peace, he earnestly begged to be allowed to resign the
+Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Emperor Francis thereupon
+summoned to that seemingly thankless office a young diplomatist, who
+was destined to play a foremost part in the mighty drama of Napoleon's
+overthrow, and thereafter to wield by his astute policy almost as
+great an influence in Central and Southern Europe as the autocrat
+himself.
+
+Metternich was born at Coblentz in 1773, and was therefore four years
+the junior of Napoleon. He came of an old family of the Rhineland, and
+his father's position in the service of the old Empire secured him
+early entrance into the diplomatic circle. After acting as secretary
+to the Imperial delegates at the Congress of Rastatt, he occupied the
+post of Austrian ambassador successively at the Courts of Dresden and
+Berlin; and in 1806 he was suddenly called to take up the embassy in
+Paris. There he displayed charms of courtly tact, and lively and
+eloquent conversation, which won Napoleon's admiration and esteem. He
+was looked on as a Gallophil; and, like Bismarck at a later crisis, he
+used his social gifts and powers of cajolery so as to gain a correct
+estimate of the characters of his future opponents.
+
+Yet, besides these faculties of finesse and intrigue--and the Miltonic
+Belial never told lies with more winsome grace--Metternich showed at
+times a manly composure and firmness, even when Napoleon unmasked a
+searching fire of diplomatic questions and taunts. Of this he had
+given proof shortly before the outbreak of the late war, and his
+conduct had earned the thanks of the other ambassadors for giving the
+French Emperor a lesson in manners, while the autocrat liked him none
+the less, but rather the more, for standing up to him. But now, after
+the war, all was changed; craft was more serviceable than fortitude;
+and the gay Rhinelander brought to the irksome task of subservience to
+the conqueror a courtly _insouciance_ under which he nursed the hope
+of ultimate revenge.--"From the day when peace is signed," he wrote to
+the Emperor Francis on August 10th, 1809, "we must confine our system
+to tacking and turning, and flattering. Thus alone may we possibly
+preserve our existence, till the day of general deliverance."[219]
+This was to be the general drift of Austrian policy for the next four
+years; and it may be granted that only by bending before the blast
+could that sore-stricken monarchy be saved from destruction. An
+opportunity soon occurred of carrying the new system into effect.
+Metternich offered the conqueror an Austrian Archduchess as a bride.
+
+After the humiliation of the Hapsburgs and of the Spanish patriots,
+nothing seemed wanting to Napoleon's triumph but an heir who should
+found a durable dynasty. This aim was now to be reached. As soon as
+the Emperor returned to Paris, his behaviour towards Josephine showed
+a marked reserve. The passage communicating between their private
+apartments was closed, and the gleams of triumphant jealousy that
+flashed from her sisters-in-law warned Josephine of her approaching
+doom. The divorce so long bruited by news-mongers was at hand. The
+Emperor broke the tidings to his consort in the private drawing-room
+of the Tuileries on November 30th, and strove to tone down the
+harshness of his decision by basing it on the imperative needs of the
+State. But she spurned the dictates of statecraft. With all her
+faults, she was affectionate and tender; she was a woman first and an
+Empress afterwards; she now clung to Napoleon, not merely for the
+splendour of the destiny which he had opened to her, but also from
+genuine love.
+
+Their relations had curiously changed. At the outset she had slighted
+his mad devotion by her shallow coldness and occasional infidelities,
+until his lava-like passion petrified. Thenceforth it was for her to
+woo, and woo in vain. For years past she had to bemoan the waning of
+his affection and his many conjugal sins. And now the chasm, which she
+thought to have spanned by the religious ceremony on the eve of the
+coronation, yawned at her feet. The woman and the Empress in her
+shrank back from the black void of the future; and with piteous
+reproaches she flung back the orders of the Emperor and the soothings
+of the husband. Napoleon, it would seem, had nerved himself against
+such an outbreak. In vain did Josephine sink down at his feet with
+heart-rending cries that she would never survive the disgrace: failing
+to calm her himself, he opened the door and summoned the prefect of
+the palace, Bausset, and bade him bear her away to her private
+apartments. Down the narrow stairs she was borne, the Emperor lifting
+her feet and Bausset supporting her shoulders, until, half fainting,
+she was left to the sympathies of her women and the attentions of
+Corvisart. But hers was a wound that no sympathy or skill could
+cure.[220]
+
+On his side, Napoleon felt the wrench. Not only the ghost of his early
+love, but his dislike of new associates and novel ways cried out
+against the change. "In separating myself from my wife," Napoleon once
+said to Talleyrand, "I renounce much. I should have to study the
+tastes and habits of a young woman. Josephine accommodates herself to
+everything: she understands me perfectly."[221] But his boundless
+triumphs, his alliance with the Czar and total overthrow of the
+Bourbons and the Pope, had fed the fires of his ambition. He aspired
+to give the _mot d'ordre_ to the universe; and he scrupled not to put
+aside a consort who could not help him to found a dynasty. Yet it was
+not without pangs of sorrow and remorse. His laboured, panting breath
+and almost gasping words left on Bausset the impression that he was
+genuinely affected; and, consummate actor though he was, we may well
+believe that he felt the parting from his early associations.
+Underneath his generally cold exterior he hid a nervous nature,
+dominated by an inflexible will, but which now and again broke through
+all restraint, bathing the beloved object with sudden tenderness or
+blasting a foe with fiery passion. And it would seem that Josephine's
+pangs had power to reawaken the feelings of his more generous youth.
+The ceremony of divorce took place on December 15th Josephine
+declaring with agonized pride that she gave her assent for the welfare
+of France.
+
+Already the new marriage negotiations had begun. They are unique even
+amidst the frigid annals of royal betrothals. The French ambassador,
+Caulaincourt, was charged to make definite overtures at St. Petersburg
+for the hand of the Czar's younger sister; the conditions could easily
+be arranged; religion need be no difficulty; but time was pressing;
+the Emperor had need of an heir; "we are counting the minutes here,"
+ran the despatch; and an answer was expected from St. Petersburg after
+an interval of _two days_.[222] The request caused Alexander the
+greatest perplexity. He parried it with the reply, correct enough in
+form as in fact, that the disposal of his sister rested with the
+Dowager Empress. But her hostility to Napoleon was well known. After
+the half overtures of Erfurt she had at once betrothed her elder
+daughter to the Duke of Oldenburg. No similar escape was now possible
+for the younger one: but, after leaving Napoleon's request unanswered
+until February 4th, the reply was then despatched that the tender age
+of the princess, she being only twenty years old, formed an
+insuperable obstacle.
+
+Some such answer had long been expected at Paris. Metternich asserts
+in his "Memoirs" that Napoleon had caused Laborde, one of his
+diplomatic agents at Vienna, tentatively to sound that Court as to his
+betrothal with the Archduchess Marie Louise. But the French archives
+show that the first hint came from Metternich, who saw in it a means
+of weakening the Franco-Russian alliance and saving Austria from
+further disasters.[223] A little later the Countess Metternich was at
+Paris; and great was her surprise when, on January 2nd, 1810,
+Josephine informed her that she favoured a marriage between Napoleon
+and Marie Louise. "I spoke to him of it yesterday," she said; "his
+choice is not yet fixed; but he thinks that this would be his choice
+if he were sure of its being accepted." Thereafter the Countess
+received the most flattering attentions at Court, a proof that the
+Hapsburg match was now favoured, even though the coyness of the Czar
+was as yet unknown.
+
+At the close of January a Privy Council was held at the Tuileries to
+decide on the imperial bride. The votes were nearly equal: four voted
+for Austria, four for Saxony, and three for Russia. After listening
+quietly to the arguments, Napoleon summed up the discussion by
+pronouncing firmly and warmly in favour of Austria. The marriage
+contract was therefore drawn up on February 7th; and Berthier was
+despatched to Vienna to claim the hand of Marie Louise. He entered
+that city over the ruins of the old ramparts, which were now being
+dismantled in accordance with the French demands.
+
+The marriage took place at Vienna by proxy; the bride was conducted to
+Paris; and the final ceremony took place at Notre Dame on April 2nd,
+but not until the union had been consummated. Such were Napoleon's
+second wooing and wedding. Nevertheless, he showed himself an
+attentive and even indulgent spouse, and he remarked at St. Helena
+that if Josephine was all grace and charm, Marie Louise was innocence
+and nature herself.
+
+The Austrian marriage was an event of the first importance. It gained
+a few years' respite for the despairing Hapsburgs, and gave tardy
+satisfaction to Talleyrand's statesmanlike scheme of a Franco-Austrian
+alliance which should be in the best sense conservative. Had Napoleon
+taken this step after Austerlitz in the way that his counsellor
+advised, possibly Europe might have reached a condition of stable
+equilibrium, always provided that he gave up his favourite scheme of
+partitioning Turkey. But that was not to be; and when Austria finally
+yielded up Marie Louise as an unpicturesque Iphigenia on the marriage
+altar, she did so only as a desperate device for appeasing an
+inexorable destiny. And, strange to say, she succeeded. For Alexander
+took offence at the marriage negotiations; and thus was opened a
+breach in the Franco-Russian alliance which other events were rapidly
+to widen, until Western and Central Europe hurled themselves against
+the East, and reached Moscow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT
+
+
+Napoleon's star had now risen to its zenith. After his marriage with a
+daughter of the most ancient of continental dynasties, nothing seemed
+lacking to his splendour. He had humbled Pope and Emperor alike:
+Germany crouched at his feet: France, Italy, and the Confederation of
+the Rhine gratefully acknowledged the benefits of his vigorous sway:
+the Czar was still following the lead given at Erfurt: Sweden had
+succumbed to the pressure of the two Emperors: and Turkey survived
+only because it did not yet suit Napoleon to shear her asunder: he
+must first complete the commercial ruin of England and drive
+Wellington into the sea. Then events would at last be ripe for the
+oriental schemes which the Spanish Rising had postponed.
+
+He might well hope that England's strength was running out: near the
+close of 1810 the three per cent consols sank to sixty-five, and the
+declared bankruptcies averaged 250 a month. The failure of the
+Walcheren expedition had led to terrible loss of men and treasure, and
+had clouded over the reputation of her leaders. After mutual
+recriminations Canning and Castlereagh resigned office and fought a
+duel. Shortly afterwards the Premier, the Duke of Portland, fell ill
+and resigned: his place was taken by Mr. Perceval, a man whose sole
+recommendation for the post was his conscientious Toryism and powers
+of dull plodding. Ruled by an ill-assorted Ministry and a King whose
+reason was now hopelessly overclouded, weakened by the strangling grip
+of the Continental System, England seemed on the verge of ruin; and,
+encouraged alike by the factious conduct of our parliamentary
+Opposition and by Soult's recent conquest of Andalusia, Napoleon bent
+himself to the final grapple by extending his coast system, and by
+sending Massena and his choicest troops into Spain to drive the
+leopards into the sea.
+
+The limits of our space prevent any description of the ensuing
+campaign of Torres Vedras; and we must refer our readers to the ample
+canvas of Napier if they would realize the sagacity of Wellington in
+constructing to the north of Lisbon that mighty _tete de pont_ for the
+Sea Power against Massena's veteran army. After dealing the staggering
+blow of Busaco at that presumptuous Marshal, our great leader fell
+back, through a tract which he swept bare of supplies, on this sure
+bulwark, and there watched the French host of some 65,000 men waste
+away amidst the miseries of hunger and the rains and diseases of
+autumn. At length, in November, Massena drew off to positions near
+Santarem, where he awaited the succour which Napoleon ordered Soult to
+bring. It was in vain: Soult, puffed up by his triumphs in Andalusia,
+was resolved to play his own game and reduce Badajoz; he won his point
+but marred the campaign; and, at last, foiled by Wellington's skilful
+tactics, Massena beat a retreat northwards out of Portugal after
+losing some 35,000 men (March, 1811). Wellington's success bore an
+immeasurable harvest of results. The unmanly whinings of the English
+Opposition were stilled; the replies of the Czar to Napoleon's demands
+grew firmer; and the patriots of the Peninsula stiffened their backs
+in a resistance so stubborn, albeit unskilful, that 370,000 French
+troops utterly failed to keep Wellington in check, and to stamp out
+the national defence in the summer of 1811.
+
+In truth, Napoleon had exasperated the Spaniards no less than their
+_soi disant_ king, by a series of provocations extending over the year
+1810. On the plea that Spain must herself meet the expenses of the
+war, he erected the four northern provinces into commands for French
+generals, who were independent of his brother's authority and levied
+all the taxes over that vast area (February). On May 29th he withdrew
+Burgos and Valladolid from Joseph's control, and divided the greater
+part of Spain for military and administrative purposes into districts
+that were French satrapies in all but name. The decree was doubly
+disastrous: it gave free play to the feuds of the French chiefs; and
+it seemed to the Spaniards to foreshadow a speedy partition of Spain.
+The surmise was correct. Napoleon intended to unite to France the
+lands between the Pyrenees and the Ebro. Indeed, in his conception,
+the conquest of Portugal was mainly desirable because it would provide
+his brother with an indemnity in the west for the loss of his northern
+provinces. Joseph's protests against such a partition of the land,
+which Napoleon had sworn at Bayonne to keep intact, were disregarded;
+but letters on this subject fell into the hands of the Spanish
+guerillas and were published by order of the Regency at Cadiz.
+Despised by the Spaniards, flouted by Napoleon, set at defiance by the
+French satraps, and reduced wellnigh to bankruptcy, the puppet King
+felt his position insupportable, and, hurrying to Paris, tendered his
+resignation of the crown (May, 1811). In his anxiety to huddle up the
+scandal, Napoleon appeased his brother, promised him one-fourth of the
+taxes levied by the French commanders, and coaxed or drove him to
+resume his thankless task at Madrid. But the doggedness of the
+Emperor's resolve may be measured by the fact that, even when on the
+brink of war with Russia, he defied Spanish national sentiment by
+annexing Catalonia to France (March, 1812).
+
+It seems strange that Napoleon did not himself proceed to Spain in
+order to direct the operations in person and thus still the jealousies
+of the Marshals which so hampered his armies. Wellington certainly
+feared his coming. At a later date he told Earl Stanhope that Napoleon
+was vastly superior to any of his Marshals: "There was nothing like
+him. He suited a French army so exactly.... His presence on the field
+made a difference of 40,000 men."[224] That estimate is certainly
+modest if one looks not merely at tactics but at the strategy of the
+whole Peninsular War. But the Emperor did not again come into Spain.
+At the outset of 1810 he prepared to do so; but, as soon as the
+Austrian marriage was arranged, he abandoned this salutary project.
+
+There were thenceforth several reasons why he should remain in or near
+Paris. His attentions to his young wife, and his desire to increase
+the splendour of the Court, counted for much. Yet more important was
+it to curb the clericals (now incensed at the imprisonment of the
+Pope), and sharply to watch the intrigues of the royalists and other
+malcontents. Public opinion, also, still needed to be educated; the
+constant drain of men for the wars and the increase in the price of
+necessaries led to grumblings in the Press, which claimed the presence
+of his Argus eye and the adoption of a very stringent censorship.[225]
+But, above all, there was the commercial war with England. This could
+be directed best from Paris, where he could speedily hear of British
+endeavours to force goods into Germany, Holland, or Italy, and of any
+change in our maritime code.
+
+Important as was the war in Spain, it was only one phase of his
+world-wide struggle with the mistress of the seas; and he judged that
+if she bled to death under his Continental System, the Peninsular War
+must subside into a guerilla strife, Spain thereafter figuring merely
+as a greater Vendee. Accordingly, the year 1810 sees the climax of his
+great commercial experiment.
+
+The first land to be sacrificed to this venture was Holland. For many
+months the Emperor had been discontented with his brother Louis, who
+had taken into his head the strange notion that he reigned there by
+divine right. As Napoleon pathetically said at St. Helena, when
+reviewing the conduct of his brothers, "If I made one a king, he
+imagined that he was _King by the grace of God_. He was no longer my
+lieutenant: he was one enemy more for me to watch." A singular fate
+for this king-maker, that he should be forgotten and the holy oil
+alone remembered! Yet Louis probably used that mediaeval notion as a
+shield against his brother's dictation. The tough Bonaparte nature
+brooked not the idea of mere lieutenancy. He declined to obey orders
+from the brother whom he secretly detested. He flatly refused to be
+transferred from the Hague to Madrid, or to put in force the
+burdensome decrees of the Continental System.
+
+On his side, Napoleon upbraided him with governing too softly, and
+with seeking popularity where he should seek control. After the
+Walcheren expedition, he chid him severely for allowing the English
+fleet ever to show its face in the Scheldt; for "the fleets of that
+Power ought to find nothing but rocks of iron" in that river, "which
+was as important to France as the Thames to England."[226] But the
+head and front of his offending was that British goods still found
+their way into Holland. In vain did the Emperor forbid that American
+ships which had touched at English ports should be debarred from those
+of Holland. In vain did he threaten to close the Scheldt and Rhine to
+Dutch barges. Louis held on his way, with kindly patience towards his
+merchants, and with a Bonapartist obstinacy proof against fraternal
+advice or threats. At last, early in 1810, Napoleon sent troops to
+occupy Walcheren and neighbouring Dutch lands. It seemed for a time as
+though this was but a device to extort favourable terms of peace from
+England in return for an offer that France would not annex Holland.
+Negotiations to this effect were set on foot through the medium of
+Ouvrard and Labouchere, son-in-law of the banker Baring: Fouche also,
+without the knowledge of his master, ventured to put forth a
+diplomatic feeler as to a possible Anglo-French alliance against the
+United States, an action for which he was soon very properly
+disgraced.[227]
+
+The negotiation failed, as it deserved to do. Our objections were, not
+merely to the absurd proposal that we should give up our maritime code
+if Napoleon would abstain from annexing Holland and the Hanseatic
+towns, but still more against the man himself and his whole policy. We
+had every reason to distrust the good faith of the man who had
+betrayed the Turks at Tilsit, Portugal at Fontainebleau, and the
+Spaniards at Bayonne. To pause in the strife, to relax our hold on our
+new colonies, and to desert the Spaniards, in order to preserve the
+merely titular independence of Holland and the Hanse Towns, would have
+been an act of singular simplicity. Nor does Napoleon seem to have
+expected it. He wrote to his Foreign Minister, Champagny, on March
+20th, 1810: "From not having made peace sooner, England has lost
+Naples, Spain, Portugal, and the market of Trieste. If she delays much
+longer, she will lose Holland, the Hanse Towns, and Sicily." And
+surely this Sibylline conduct of his required that he should annex
+these lands and all Europe in order to exact a suitable price from the
+exhausted islanders. Such was the corollary of the Continental System.
+
+Meanwhile Louis, nettled by the inquisitions of the French
+_douaniers_, and by the order of his brother to seize all American
+ships in Dutch ports, was drawing on himself further reproaches and
+threats: "Louis, you are incorrigible ... you do not want to reign for
+any length of time. States are governed by reason and policy, and not
+by acrimony and weakness." Twenty thousand French troops were
+approaching Amsterdam to bring him to reason, when the young ruler
+decided to be rid of this royal mummery. On the night of July 1st he
+fled from Haarlem, and travelled swiftly and secretly eastwards until
+he reached Teplitz, in Bohemia. The ignominy of this flight rested on
+the brother who had made kingship a mockery. The refugee left behind
+him the reputation of a man who, lovable by nature but soured by
+domestic discords, sought to shield his subjects from the ruin into
+which the rigid application of the Continental System was certain to
+plunge them. That fate now befell the unhappy little land. On July 9th
+it was annexed to the French Empire, and all the commercial decrees
+were carried out as rigidly at Rotterdam as at Havre.
+
+At the close of the year, Napoleon's coast system was extended to the
+borders of Holstein by the annexation of Oldenburg, the northern parts
+of Berg, Westphalia, and Hanover, along with Lauenburg and the Hanse
+Towns, Bremen, Hamburg, and Luebeck. The little Swiss Republic of
+Valais was also absorbed in the Empire.
+
+This change in North Germany, which carried the French flag to the
+shores of the Baltic, was his final expedient for assuring England's
+commercial ruin. As far back as February, 1798, he had recommended the
+extension of French influence over the Hanse Towns as a means of
+reducing his most redoubtable foe to surrender, and now there were two
+special reasons for this annexation. First, the ships of Oldenburg had
+been largely used for conveying British produce into North
+Germany;[228] and secondly, the French commercial code was so rigorous
+that no officials with even the semblance of independence could be
+trusted with its execution. On August 5th a decree had been
+promulgated at the Trianon, near Versailles, which imposed enormous
+duties on every important colonial product. Cotton--especially that
+from America--sugar, tea, coffee, cocoa, and other articles were
+subjected to dues, generally of half their value and irrespective of
+their place of production.
+
+[Illustration: CENTRAL EUROPE AFTER 1810]
+
+Traders were ordered to declare their possession of all colonial wares
+and to pay the duty, under pain of confiscation. Depots of such goods
+within four days' distance from the frontiers of the Empire were held
+to be clandestine; and troops were sent forthwith into Germany,
+Switzerland, and Spain to seize such stores, a proceeding which
+aroused the men of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and Berne to almost open
+resistance. It is difficult to see the reason for this decree, except
+on the supposition that the Continental System did not stop British
+imports, and that all tropical products were British.
+
+Napoleon's own correspondence shows that he believed this to be so. At
+that same time he issued orders that all colonial produce found at
+Stettin should be confiscated because it was evidently English
+property brought on American ships. He further recommended Murat and
+Eugene to press hard on such wares in order to replenish their
+exchequers and raise funds for restoring their commerce. Eugene must,
+however, be careful to tax American and colonial cotton most heavily,
+while letting in that of the Levant on favourable terms.
+
+Jerome, too, was bidden rigorously to enforce the Trianon tariff in
+Westphalia; and the hint was to be passed on to Prussia and the
+Rhenish Confederation that, by subjecting colonial goods to these
+enormous imposts, those States would gain several millions of francs
+"and the loss would fall partly on English commerce and partly on the
+smugglers."[229] In fact, all his acts and words at this time reveal
+the densest ignorance, not only of political economy, but of the
+elementary facts of commerce, as when he imagined that officials, who
+were sufficiently hard worked with watching a nimble host of some
+100,000 smugglers along an immense frontier, would also be able to
+distinguish between Syrian and American cottons, and to exact 800
+francs from 100 kilogrammes of the latter, as against 400 francs from
+the former, or that six times as much could ever be levied on Chinese
+teas as on other teas! Such a tariff called for a highly drilled army
+of those sufficiently rare individuals, honest _douaniers_, endowed
+also with Napoleonic activity and omniscience. But, as Chaptal
+remarked, the Emperor had never thought much about the needs of
+commerce, and he despised merchants as persons who had "neither a
+faith nor a country, whose sole object was gain." His own notion about
+commerce was that he could "make it manoeuvre like a regiment"; and
+this military conception of trade led him to entertain the fond hope
+that exchequers benefited by confiscation and prohibitive tariffs,
+that a "national commerce" could be speedily built up by cutting off
+imports, and that the burden of loss in the present commercial war
+fell on England and not on the continental consumer.
+
+Such was the penalty which the great man paid for scorning all new
+knowledge as _idealogie_. The principles set forth by Quesnay, Turgot,
+and Adam Smith were to him mere sophistical juggling. He once said to
+Mollien: "I seek the good that is practical, not the ideal best: the
+world is very old: we must profit by its experience: it teaches that
+old practices are worth more than new theories: you are not the only
+one who knows trade secrets."[230] This was his general attitude
+towards the exponents of new financial or commercial views. Indeed, we
+can hardly think of this great champion of external control and state
+intervention favouring the open-handed methods of _laisser faire_.
+Unhappy France, that gave this motto to the world but let her greatest
+ruler emphasize her recent reaction towards commercial mediaevalism!
+Luckless Emperor, who aspired to found the United States of Europe,
+but outraged the principle which most surely and lastingly works for
+international harmony, that of Free Trade!
+
+While the Trianon tariff sought to hinder the import of England's
+colonial products, or, failing that, to reap a golden harvest from
+them, Napoleon further endeavoured to terrify continental dealers from
+accepting any of her manufactures. His Fontainebleau decree of October
+18th, 1810, ordered that all such goods should be seized and publicly
+burnt; and five weeks later special tribunals were instituted for
+enforcing these ukases and for trying all persons, whether smugglers
+caught red-handed or shopkeepers who inadvertently offered for sale
+the cottons of Lancashire or the silks of Bengal.
+
+The canon was now complete. It only remained to convert the world to
+the new gospel of pacific war. The results were soon clearly visible
+in a sudden rise of prices throughout France, Germany, and Italy. Raw
+cotton now fetched 10 to 11 francs, sugar 6 to 7 francs, coffee 8
+francs, and indigo 21 francs, per pound, or on the average about ten
+times the prices then ruling at London.[231] The reason for this
+advantage to the English consumer and manufacturer is clear. England
+swayed the tropics and held the seas; and, having a monopoly of
+colonial produce, she could import it easily and abundantly, while the
+continental purchaser had ultimately to pay for the risks incurred by
+his shopkeeper, by British merchants, and by their smugglers, who "ran
+in" from Heligoland, Jersey, or Sicily. These classes vied in their
+efforts to prick holes in the continental decrees. Bargees and women,
+dogs and hearses, were pressed into service against Napoleon. The
+last-named device was for a time tried with much success near Hamburg,
+until the French authorities, wondering at the strange increase of
+funerals in a river-side suburb, peered into the hearses, and found
+them stuffed full with bales of British merchandise. This gruesome
+plan failing, others were tried. Large quantities of sand were brought
+from the seashore, until, unfortunately for the housewives, some
+inquisitive official found that it hailed from the West Indies.
+
+Or again, devious routes were resorted to. Sugar was smuggled from
+London into Germany by way of Salonica, that being now almost the only
+neutral port open to British commerce. Thence it was borne in panniers
+on the backs of mules over the Balkans to Belgrade, where it was
+transferred to barges and carried up the Danube. Another illicit trade
+route was from the desolate shores of Dalmatia through Hungary. The
+writer of a pamphlet, "England, Ireland, and America," states that his
+firm then employed 500 horses on and near that coast in carrying
+British goods into Central Europe, and that the cost of getting them
+into France was "about L28 per cwt., or more than fifty times the
+present freight to Calcutta." In fact, the result of the Emperor's
+economic experiments may be summed up in the statement of Chaptal that
+the general run of prices in France was higher by one-third than it
+was before 1789.
+
+Now the merest tyro might see that the difference in price above the
+normal level was paid by the consumer. The colonial producer, the
+British merchant and shipper were certainly harassed, and trade was
+dislocated; but, as Mollien observed, commerce soon adapted itself to
+altered conditions; and merchants never parted with their wares
+without getting hard cash or resorting to the primitive method of
+barter. Money was also frequently melted down in France and Germany so
+as to effect bargains with England in bars of metal. And so, in one
+way or another, trade was carried on, with infinite discomfort and
+friction, it is true; but it never wholly ceased even between England
+and France direct.
+
+In fact, Napoleon so clung to the old mercantilist craze of
+stimulating exports in order that they might greatly exceed the
+imports, as to favour the sending of agricultural produce to England,
+provided that such cargoes comprised manufactured goods. He allowed
+this privilege not only to his Empire but also to the Kingdom of
+Italy.[232] The difficulty was that England would not receive the
+manufactured goods of her enemies; and, as corn and cheese could not
+be exported to England, unless a certain proportion of silk and cloths
+went with them, the latter were got up so as to satisfy the French
+customs officers and then cast into the sea. It is needless to add
+that this export of manufactures to England, on which Napoleon prided
+himself, was limited to showy but worthless articles, which were made
+solely _ad usum delphinorum_.
+
+It was fortunate for us that Napoleon entertained these crude ideas on
+political economy; for his action opened for us a loophole of escape
+from a very serious difficulty. At that time our fast growing
+population was barely fed by our own wheat even after good seasons;
+and Providence afflicted us in 1809 and 1810 with very poor harvests.
+In 1810 the average price was 103 shillings the quarter, the highest
+ever known except in 1800 and 1801; and as commerce was dislocated by
+the Continental System and hand-labour was being largely replaced by
+the new power-looms and improved spinning machinery, the outlook would
+have been hopeless, had not our great enemy allowed us to import
+continental corn. This device, which he imagined would impoverish us
+to enrich his own States, was the greatest aid that he could have
+rendered to our hard-pressed social system; and readers of Charlotte
+Bronte's realistic sketches of the Luddite rioting in Yorkshire may
+imagine what would have befallen England if, besides lack of work and
+low wages, there had been the added horrors of a bread famine. But
+fortunately the curious commercial notions harboured by our foe
+enabled us in the winter of 1810-11 to get supplies of corn not only
+from Prussia and Poland but even from Italy and France.
+
+In one sense this incident has been misunderstood. It has been
+referred to by Porter[233] and other hopeful persons as proof positive
+that as long as we can buy corn we shall get it, even from our
+enemies. It proves nothing of the sort. Napoleon's correspondence and
+his whole policy with regard to licences, which we shall presently
+examine, shows clearly that he believed he would greatly benefit his
+own States and impoverish our people by selling us large stores of
+corn at a very high price. There is no hint in any of his letters that
+he ever framed the notion of _starving_ us into surrender. All that he
+looked to was the draining away of our wealth by cutting off our
+exports, and by allowing imports to enter our harbours much as usual.
+As long as he prevented us selling our produce, he heeded little how
+much we bought from his States: in fact, the more we bought, the
+sooner we should be bankrupt--such was his notion.
+
+It is strange that he never sought to cut off our corn-supplies. They
+were then drawn almost entirely from the Baltic ports. The United
+States and Canada had as yet only sent us a few driblets of corn. La
+Plata and the Cape of Good Hope were quite undeveloped; and our
+settlements in New South Wales were at that time often troubled by
+dearth. The plan of sealing up the cornfields of Europe from Riga to
+Trieste would have been feasible, at least for a few weeks; French
+troops held Danzig and Stettin; Russia, Prussia, and Denmark were at
+his beck and call; and an imperial decree forbidding the export of
+corn from France and her allied States to the United Kingdom could
+hardly have failed to reduce us to starvation and surrender in the
+very critical winter of 1810-11. But that strange mental defect of
+clinging with ever increasing tenacity to preconceived notions led
+Napoleon to allow and even to favour exports of corn to us in the time
+of our utmost need; and Britain survived the strain.[234]
+
+What folly, however, to refer to the action of this man of one
+economic idea as being likely to determine the conduct of continental
+statesmen in some future naval war with England. In truth, the urgency
+of the problem of our national food-supply in time of a great war can
+only be fully understood by those who have studied the Napoleonic era.
+England then grew nearly enough corn for her needs; her fleets swept
+the seas; and Napoleon's economic hobby left her foreign food-supply
+unhampered at the severest crisis. Yet, even so, the price of the
+quartern loaf rose to more than fifteenpence, and we were brought to
+the verge of civil war. A comparison of that time with the conditions
+that now prevail must yield food for reflection to all but the
+case-hardened optimists.
+
+But already Napoleon was convinced that the Continental System must be
+secretly relaxed in special cases. Despite the fulsome addresses which
+some Chambers of Commerce sent up, he knew that his seaports were in
+the depths of distress, and that French cotton manufacturers could not
+hope to compete with those of Lancashire now that his own tariff had
+doubled the price of raw cotton and dyes in France. He therefore hit
+upon the curious device of allowing continental merchants to buy
+licences for the privilege of secretly evading his own decrees. The
+English Government seems to have been the first to issue similar
+secret permits; but Napoleon had scarcely signed his Berlin Decree for
+the blockade of England before he connived at its infraction. When
+sugar, coffee, and other comforts became scarce, they were secretly
+imported from perfidious Albion for the imperial table. The final
+stage was reached in July, 1810, when licences to import forbidden
+goods were secretly sold to favoured merchants, and many
+officials--among them Bourrienne--reaped a rich harvest from the sale
+of these imperial indulgences. Merchants were so eager to evade the
+hated laws that they offered high prices to the treasury and
+_douceurs_ to officials for the coveted boon; and as much as L40,000
+is said to have been paid for a single licence.
+
+On both sides of the Channel this device was abhorred, but its results
+were specially odious in Napoleon's States, where the burdens to be
+evaded were far heavier than those entailed by the Orders in Council.
+In fact, the Continental System was now seen to be an organized
+hypocrisy, which, in order to ruin the mistress of the seas, exposed
+the peoples to burdens more grievous than those borne by England, and
+left all but the wealthiest merchants a prey to a grinding fiscal
+tyranny. And the sting of it all was its social injustice; for while
+the poor were severely punished, sometimes with death, for smuggling
+sugar or tobacco, Napoleon and the favoured few who could buy licences
+often imported these articles in large quantities. What wonder, then,
+that Russia and Sweden should decline long to endure these gratuitous
+hardships, and should seek to evade the behests of the imperial
+smuggler of the Tuileries!
+
+Nevertheless, as no inventive people can ever be thrown wholly on its
+own resources without deriving some benefit, we find that France met
+the crisis with the cheery patience and unflagging ingenuity which she
+has ever evinced. In a great Empire which embraced all the lands
+between Hamburg, Bayonne, and Rome, not to mention Illyria and
+Dalmatia, a great variety of products might readily reward the
+inventor and the husbandman. Tobacco, rice, and cotton could be reared
+in the southern portions. Valiant efforts were also made to get
+Asiatic produce overland, so as to disappoint the English cruisers;
+and the coffee of Arabia was taxed very lightly, so as to ruin the
+American producer. When the fragrant berry became more and more
+scarce, chicory was discovered by good patriots to be a palatable
+substitute, and scientific men sought to induce French manufacturers
+to use the isatis plant instead of indigo. Prizes were offered by the
+State and by local Chambers of Commerce to those who should make up
+for the lack of tropical goods and dyes.
+
+A notable discovery was made by Chaptal and Delessert, who improved on
+Markgraf's process of procuring sugar from beetroot and made it a
+practical success. Napoleon also hoped that a chemical substitute for
+indigo had been found, and exclaimed to a doleful deputation of
+merchants, who came to the Tuileries in the early summer of 1811, that
+chemistry would soon revolutionize commerce as completely as the
+discovery of the compass had done. Besides, the French Empire was the
+richest country in the world, and could almost do without foreign
+commerce, at least until England had given way; and that would soon
+come to pass; for the pressure of events would soon compel London
+merchants to throw their sugar and indigo into the Thames.[235]
+
+In reality, he placed commerce far behind agriculture, which he
+considered to be the basis of a nation's wealth and a nation's health.
+But he also took a keen interest in manufactures. The silk industry at
+Lyons found in him a generous patron. He ordered that the best
+scientific training should there be given, so as to improve the
+processes of manufacture; and, as silk of nearly all kinds could be
+produced in France and Italy, Lyons was comparatively prosperous.
+When, however, it suffered from the general rise of prices and from
+the impaired buying power of the community, he adopted heroic
+remedies. He ordered that all ships leaving France should carry silk
+fabrics equal in value to one-fourth of the whole freight; but whether
+these stuffs went to adorn women or mermaids seems an open question.
+Or again, on the advice of Chaptal, the Emperor made large purchases
+of surplus stocks of Lyons silk, Rouen cottons, and Ste. Antoine
+furniture, so as to prevent an imminent collapse of credit and a
+recrudescence of Jacobinism in those industrial centres; for as he
+said: "I fear a rising brought about by want of bread: I had rather
+fight an army of 200,000 men than that."[236]
+
+In the main, this policy of giving _panem et circenses_ was successful
+in France; at least, it kept her quiet. The national feeling ran
+strongly in favour of commercial prohibition. In 1787 Arthur Young
+found the cotton-workers of the north furious at the recent inroads of
+Lancashire cottons, while the wine-growers of the Garonne were equally
+favourable to the enlightened Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1786.
+It was Napoleon's lot to win the favour of the rigid protectionists,
+while not alienating that of the men of the Gironde, who saw in him
+the champion of agrarian liberty against the feudal nobles. Moreover,
+the nation still cherished the pathetic belief that the war was due to
+Albion's perfidy respecting Malta, and burned with a desire to
+chastise the recreant islanders. For these reasons, Frenchmen endured
+the drain of men and money with but little show of grumbling.
+
+They were tired of the wars. _We have had enough glory_, they said,
+even in the capital itself, and an acute German observer describes the
+feeling there as curiously mixed. Parisian gaiety often found vent in
+lampoons against the Emperor; and much satire at his expense might
+with safety be indulged in among a crowd, provided it were seasoned
+with wit. The people seemed not to fear Napoleon, as he was feared in
+Germany: the old revolutionary party was still active and might easily
+become far more dangerous than the royalist coteries of the Boulevard
+St. Germain. For the rest, they were all so accustomed to political
+change that they looked on his government as provisional, and put up
+with him only as long as the army triumphed abroad and he could make
+his power felt at home. Such was the impression of Paris gained by
+Varnhagen von Ense. Public opinion in the provinces seems to have been
+more favourable to Napoleon; and, on the whole, pride in the army and
+in the vigorous administration which that nation loves, above all,
+hatred of England and the hope of wresting from her the world's
+empire, led the French silently to endure rigorous press laws,
+increased taxes, war prices, licences, and chicory.
+
+For Germans the hardships were much greater and the alleviations far
+less. They had no deep interest in Malta or in the dominion of the
+seas; and political economy was then only beginning to dawn on the
+Teutonic mind. The general trend of German thought had inclined
+towards the _Everlasting Nay_, until Napoleon flashed across its ken.
+For a time he won the admiration of the chief thinkers of Germany by
+brushing away the feudal cobwebs from her fair face. He seemed about
+to call her sons to a life of public activity; and in the famous
+soliloquy of Faust, in which he feels his way from word to thought,
+from thought to might, and from might to action, we may discern the
+literary projection of the influence exerted by the new Charlemagne on
+that nation of dreamers.[237] But the promise was fulfilled only in
+the most harshly practical way, namely, by cutting off all supplies of
+tobacco and coffee; and when Teufelsdroeckh himself, admirer though he
+was of the French Revolution, found that the summons for his favourite
+beverage--the "dear melancholy coffee, that begets fancies," of
+Lessing--produced only a muddy decoction of acorns, there was the risk
+of his tendencies earthwards taking a very practically revolutionary
+turn.
+
+In truth, the German universities were the leaders of the national
+reaction against the Emperor of the West. Fichte's pleading for a
+truly national education had taken effect. Elementary instruction was
+now being organized in Prussia; and the divorce of thought from
+action, which had so long sterilized German life, was ended by the
+foundation of the University of Berlin by Humboldt. Thus, in 1810, the
+year of Prussia's deepest woe, when her brave Queen died of a stricken
+heart, when French soldiers and _douaniers_ were seizing and burning
+colonial wares, her thinkers came into closer touch with her men of
+action, with mutually helpful results. Thinkers ceased to be mere
+dreamers, and Prussian officials gained a wider outlook on life. The
+life of beneficent activity, to which Napoleon might have summoned the
+great majority of Germans, dawned on them from Berlin, not from Paris.
+
+His influence was more and more oppressive. The final results of his
+commercial decrees on the trade of Hamburg were thus described by
+Perthes, a well-known writer and bookseller of that town: "Of the 422
+sugar-boiling houses, few now stood open: the printing of cottons had
+ceased entirely: the tobacco-dressers were driven away by the
+Government. The imposition of innumerable taxes, door and window,
+capitation and land taxes, drove the inhabitants to despair." But the
+same sagacious thinker was able to point the moral of it all, and
+prove to his friends that their present trials were due to the selfish
+particularism of the German States: "It was a necessity that some
+great power should arise in the midst of the degenerate selfishness of
+the times and also prove victorious, for there was nothing vigorous to
+oppose it. Napoleon is an historical necessity."[238]
+
+Thus, both in the abodes of learning and in the centres of industry
+men were groping after a higher unity and a firmer political
+organization, which, after the Napoleonic deluge had swept by, was to
+lay the foundation of a New Germany.
+
+To all appearances, however, Napoleon's power seemed to be more firmly
+established than ever in the ensuing year. On March 20th, 1811, a son
+was born to him. At the crisis of this event, he revealed the warmth
+of his family instincts. On hearing that the life of mother or infant
+might have to be sacrificed, he exclaimed at once, "Save the
+mother."[239] When the danger was past, he very considerately informed
+Josephine, stating, "he has my chest, my mouth and my eyes. I trust
+that he will fulfil his destiny." That destiny was mapped out in the
+title conferred on the child, "King of Rome," which was designed to
+recall the title "King of the Romans," used in the Holy Roman Empire.
+
+Napoleon resolved that the old elective dignity should now be renewed
+in a strictly hereditary Empire, vaster than that of Charlemagne.
+Paris was to be its capital, Rome its second city, and the future
+Emperors were always to be crowned a second time at Rome. Furthermore,
+lest the mediaeval dispute as to the supremacy of Emperor or Pope in
+Rome should again vex mankind, the Papacy was virtually annexed: the
+status of the pontiff was defined in the most Erastian sense, imperial
+funds were assigned for his support, and he was bidden to maintain two
+palaces, "the one necessarily at Paris, the other at Rome."
+
+It is impossible briefly to describe the various conflicts between
+Pius VII. and Napoleon. Though now kept in captivity by Napoleon, the
+Pope refused to ratify these and other ukases of his captor; and the
+credit which Napoleon had won by his wordly-wise Concordat was now lost
+by his infraction of many of its clauses and by his harsh treatment of
+a defenceless old man. It is true that Pius had excommunicated
+Napoleon; but that was for the crime of annexing the Papal States, and
+public opinion revolted at the spectacle of an all-powerful Emperor now
+consigning to captivity the man who in former years had done so much to
+consolidate his authority. After the disasters of the Russian campaign,
+he sought to come to terms with the pontiff; but even then the bargain
+struck at Fontainebleau was so hard that his prisoner, though unnerved
+by ill-health, retracted the unholy compromise. Whereupon Napoleon
+ordered that the cardinals who advised this step should be seized and
+carried away from Fontainebleau. Few of Napoleon's actions were more
+harmful than this series of petty persecutions; and among the
+influences that brought about his fall, we may reckon the dignified
+resistance of the pontiff, whose meekness threw up in sharp relief the
+pride and arrogance of his captor. The Papacy stooped, but only to
+conquer.
+
+For the present, everything seemed to favour the new Charlemagne.
+Never had the world seen embodied might like that of Napoleon's
+Empire; and well might he exclaim at the birth of the King of Rome,
+"Now begins the finest epoch of my reign." All the auguries seemed
+favourable. In France, the voice of opposition was all but hushed.
+Italians, Swiss, and even some Spaniards, helped to keep down Prussia.
+Dutchmen and Danes had hunted down Schill for him at Stralsund. Polish
+horsemen had charged up the Somosierra Pass against the Spanish guns,
+and did valiant service on the bloody field of Albuera. The
+Confederation of the Rhine could send forth 150,000 men to fight his
+battles. The Hapsburgs were his vassals, and only faint shadows of
+discord as yet clouded his relations with Alexander. One of his
+Marshals, Bernadotte, had been chosen to succeed to the crown of
+Sweden; and at the other end of Europe, it seemed that Wellington and
+the Spanish patriots must ultimately succumb to superior numbers.
+
+Surely now was the time for the fulfilment of those glowing oriental
+designs beside which his European triumphs seemed pale. In the autumn
+of 1810 he sent agents carefully to inspect the strongholds of Egypt
+and Syria, and his consuls in the Levant were ordered to send a report
+every six months on the condition of the Turkish Empire.[240] Above
+all, he urged on the completion of dockyards and ships of war. Vast
+works were pushed on at Antwerp and Cherbourg: ships and gunboats were
+to be built at every suitable port from the Texel to Naples and
+Trieste; and as the result of these labours, the Emperor counted on
+having 104 ships of the line, which would cover the transports from
+the Mediterranean, Cherbourg, Boulogne and the Scheldt, and threaten
+England with an array of 200,000 fighting men.[241]
+
+In March, 1811, this plan was modified, possibly because, as in 1804,
+he found the difficulties of a descent on our coasts greater than he
+first imagined. He now seeks merely to weary out the English in the
+present year. But in the next year, or in 1813, he will send an
+expedition of 40,000 men from the Scheldt, as if to menace Ireland;
+and, having thrown us off our guard, he will divide that force into
+four parts for the recovery of the French and Dutch colonies in the
+West Indies. He counts also on having a part of his army in Spain free
+for service elsewhere: it must be sent to seize Sicily or Egypt.
+
+But this was not all. His thoughts also turn to the Cape of Good Hope.
+Eight thousand men are to sail from Brest to seize that point of
+vantage at which he had gazed so longingly in 1803. Of these plans,
+the recovery of Egypt evidently lay nearest to his heart. He orders
+the storage at Toulon of everything needful for an Egyptian
+expedition, along with sixty gun-vessels of light draught suitable for
+the navigation of the Nile or of the lakes near the coast.[242] Decres
+is charged to send models of these craft; and we may picture the eager
+scrutiny which they received. For the Orient was still the pole to
+which Napoleon's whole being responded. Turned away perforce by wars
+with Austria, Russia, Prussia, and Spain, it swung round towards Egypt
+and India on the first chance of European peace, only to be driven
+back by some untoward shock nearer home. In 1803 he counted on the
+speedy opening of a campaign on the Ganges. In 1811 he proposes that
+the tricolour shall once more wave on the citadel of Cairo, and
+threaten India from the shores of the Red Sea. But a higher will than
+his disposed of these events, and ordained that he should then be
+flung back from Russia and fight for his Empire in the plains of
+Saxony.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
+
+
+Two mighty and ambitious potentates never fully trust one another.
+Under all the shows of diplomatic affection, there remains a thick
+rind of reserve or fear. Especially must that be so with men who
+spring from a fierce untamed stock. Despite the training of Laharpe,
+Alexander at times showed the passions and finesse of a Boyar. And who
+shall say that the early Jacobinism and later culture of Napoleon was
+more than a veneer spread all too thinly over an Italian _condottiere_
+of the Renaissance age? These men were too expert at wiles really to
+trust to the pompous assurances of Tilsit and Erfurt. De Maistre tells
+us that Napoleon never partook of Alexander's repasts on the banks of
+the Niemen. For him Muscovite cookery was suspect.
+
+Amidst the glories of Erfurt, Oudinot saw an incident that revealed
+the Czar's hidden feelings. During one of their rides, the Emperors
+were stopped by a dyke, which Napoleon's steed refused to take;
+accordingly the Marshal had to help it across; but the Czar, proud of
+his horsemanship, finally cleared the obstacle with a splendid bound,
+though at the cost of a shock which broke his sword-belt. The sword
+fell to the ground, and Oudinot was about to hand it to Alexander,
+when Napoleon quickly said: "Keep that sword and bring it to me
+later": then, turning to the Czar, he added: "You have no objection,
+Sire?" A look of surprise and distrust flashed across the Czar's
+features; but, resuming his easy bearing, he gave his assent. Later in
+the day, Napoleon sent his own sword to Alexander, and thus came off
+easily best from an incident which threatened at first to throw him
+into the shade. The affair shows the ready wit and mental superiority
+of the one man no less than the veiled reserve and uneasiness of the
+other.
+
+At the close of 1809, Alexander confessed his inner feeling to
+Czartoryski. Napoleon, he said, was a man who would not scruple to use
+any means so long as he gained his end: his mental strength was
+unquestioned: in the worst troubles he was cool and collected: his
+fits of passion were only meant to intimidate: his every act was the
+result of calculation: it was absurd to say that his prodigious
+exertions would drive him mad: his health was splendid and was equal
+to any effort provided that he had eight hours' sleep every day. The
+impression left on the ex-Minister was that Alexander understood his
+ally thoroughly and _feared him greatly_.[243]
+
+A few days later came Napoleon's request for the hand of the Czar's
+sister, a request which Alexander declined with many expressions of
+goodwill and regret. What, then, was his surprise to find that, before
+the final answer had been returned, Napoleon was in treaty for the
+hand of an Austrian Archduchess.[244] This time it was for him to feel
+affronted. And so this breathless search for a bride left sore
+feelings at both capitals, at Paris because the Czar declined
+Napoleon's request, at St. Petersburg because the imperial wooer was
+off on another scent before the first had given out.
+
+Alexander's annoyance was increased by his ally's doubtful behaviour
+about Poland. After the recent increase of the Duchy of Warsaw he had
+urged Napoleon to make a declaration that "the Kingdom of Poland shall
+never be re-established." This matter was being discussed side by side
+with the matrimonial overtures; and, after their collapse, Napoleon
+finally declined to give this assurance which Alexander felt needful
+for checking the rising hopes of Poles and Lithuanians. The utmost the
+French Emperor would do was to promise, _in a secret clause_, that he
+would never aid any other Power or any popular movement that aimed at
+the re-establishment of that kingdom.[245] In fact, as the Muscovite
+alliance was on the wane, he judged it bad policy to discourage the
+Poles, who might do so much for him in case of a Franco-Russian war.
+He soon begins to face seriously the prospect of such an event. At the
+close of 1810 he writes that the Russians are intrenching themselves
+on the Dwina and Dniester, which "shows a bad spirit."
+
+But the great difficulty is Russia's imperfect observation of the
+Continental System. He begs the Czar to close his ports against
+English ships: 600 of them are wandering about the Baltic, after being
+repulsed from its southern shores, in the hope of getting into Russian
+harbours. Let Alexander seize their cargoes, and England, now at her
+last gasp, must give in. Five weeks later he returns to the charge. It
+is not enough to seize British ships; the hated wares get in under
+American, Swedish, Spanish, and Portuguese, _even under French flags_.
+Of the 2,000 ships that entered the Baltic in 1810, not one was really
+a neutral: they were all charged with English goods, with false papers
+and _forged certificates of origin manufactured in London_.[246] Any
+other unit among earth's millions would have been convinced of the
+futility of the whole enterprise, now that his own special devices
+were being turned against him. It was not enough to conquer and
+enchain the Continent. Every customs officer must be an expert in
+manufactures, groceries, documents, and the water-marks of paper, if
+he was to detect the new "frauds of the neutral flags."
+
+But Napoleon knew not the word impossible--"a word that exists only in
+the dictionary of fools." In fact, his mind, naturally unbending, was
+now working more and more in self-made grooves. Of these the deepest
+was his commercial warfare; and he pushed on, reckless of Europe and
+reckless of the Czar. In the middle of December he annexed the North
+Sea coast of Germany, including Oldenburg. The heir to this duchy had
+married Alexander's sister, whose hand Napoleon had claimed at Erfurt.
+The duke, it is true, was offered the district of Erfurt as an
+indemnity; but that proposal only stung the Czar the more. The
+deposition of the duke was not merely a personal affront; it was an
+infraction of the Treaty of Tilsit which had restored him to his
+duchy.
+
+A fortnight later, when as yet he knew not of the Oldenburg incident,
+Alexander himself broke that treaty.[247] At the close of 1810 he
+declined to admit land-borne goods on the easy terms arranged at
+Tilsit, but levied heavy dues on them, especially on the _articles de
+luxe_ that mostly hailed from France. Some such step was inevitable.
+Unable to export freely to England, Russia had not money enough to buy
+costly French goods without disordering the exchange and ruining her
+credit. While seeking to raise revenue on French manufactures, the
+Czar resolved to admit on easy terms all colonial goods, especially
+American. English goods he would shut out as heretofore; and he
+claimed that this new departure was well within the limits of the
+Treaty of Tilsit. Far different was Napoleon's view: "Here is a great
+planet taking a wrong direction. I do not understand its course at
+all."[248] Such were his first words on reading the text of the new
+ukase. A fatalistic tone now haunts his references to Russia's policy.
+On April 2nd he writes: "If Alexander does not quickly stop the
+impetus which has been given, he will be carried away by it next year;
+and thus war will take place in spite of him, _in spite of me_, in
+spite of the interests of France and Russia.... It is an operatic
+scene, of which the English are the shifters." What madness! As if
+Russia's craving for colonial wares and solvency were a device of the
+diabolical islanders.[249] As if his planetary simile were anything
+more than a claim that he was the centre of the universe and his will
+its guiding and controlling power.
+
+Nevertheless, Russia held on her way. In vain did Alexander explain to
+his ally the economic needs of his realm, protest his fidelity to the
+Continental System, and beg some consideration for the Duke of
+Oldenburg. It was evident that the Emperor of the West would make no
+real concession. In fact, the need of domination was the quintessence
+of his being. And Maret, Duc de Bassano, who was now his Foreign
+Minister, or rather, we should say, the man who wrote and signed his
+despatches, revealed the psychological cause of the war which cost the
+lives of nearly a million of men, in a note to Lauriston, the French
+ambassador at St. Petersburg. Napoleon, he wrote, cared little about
+interviews or negotiations unless the movements of his 450,000 men
+caused serious concern in Russia, recalled her to the Continental
+System as settled at Tilsit, and "brought her back to the state of
+inferiority in which she was then."[250]
+
+This was, indeed, the gist of the whole question. Napoleon saw that
+Alexander was slipping out of the leading strings of Tilsit, and that
+he was likely to come off best from that bargain, which was intended
+to confirm the supremacy of the Western Empire. For both potentates
+that treaty had been, at bottom, nothing more than a truce. Napoleon
+saw in it a means of subjecting the Continent to his commercial code,
+and of preparing for a Franco-Russian partition of Turkey. The Czar
+hailed it as a breathing space wherein he could reorganize his army,
+conquer Finland, and stride towards the Balkans. The Erfurt interview
+prolonged the truce; for Napoleon felt the supreme need of stamping
+out the Spanish Rising and of postponing the partition of Turkey which
+his ally was eager to begin. By the close of 1811 both potentates had
+exhausted all the benefits likely to accrue from their alliance.[251]
+Napoleon flattered himself that the conquest of Spain was wellnigh
+assured, and that England was in her last agonies. On the other hand,
+Russia had recovered her military strength, had gained Finland and
+planted her foot on the Lower Danube, and now sought to shuffle off
+Napoleon's commercial decrees. In fine, the monarch, who at Tilsit had
+figured as mere clay in the hands of the Corsican potter, had proved
+himself to be his equal both in cunning and tenacity. The seeming dupe
+of 1807 now promised to be the victor in statecraft.
+
+Then there was the open sore of Poland. The challenge, on this
+subject, was flung down by Napoleon at a diplomatic reception on his
+birthday, August 15th, 1811. Addressing the Russian envoy, he
+exclaimed: "I am not so stupid as to think that it is Oldenburg which
+troubles you. I see that Poland is the question: you attribute to me
+designs in favour of Poland. I begin to think that you wish to seize
+it. No: if your army were encamped on Montmartre, I would not cede an
+inch of the Warsaw territory, not a village, not a windmill." His
+fears as to Russia's designs were far-fetched. Alexander's sounding of
+the Poles was a defensive measure, seriously undertaken only after
+Napoleon's refusal to discourage the Polish nationalists. But it
+suited the French Emperor to aver that the quarrel was about Poland
+rather than the Continental System, and the scene just described is a
+good specimen of his habit of cool calculation even in seemingly
+chance outbursts of temper. His rhapsody gained him the ardent support
+of the Poles, and was vague enough to cause no great alarm to Austria
+and Prussia.[252]
+
+On the next day Napoleon sketched to his Ministers the general plan of
+campaign against Russia. The whole of the Continent was to be
+embattled against her. On the Hapsburg alliance he might well rely.
+But the conduct of Prussia gave him some concern. For a time she
+seemed about to risk a war _a outrance_, such as Stein, Fichte, and
+the staunch patriots of the Tugendbund ardently craved. Indeed,
+Napoleon's threats to this hapless realm seemed for a time to portend
+its annihilation. The King, therefore, sent Scharnhorst first to St.
+Petersburg and then to Vienna with secret overtures for an alliance.
+They were virtually refused. Prudence was in the ascendant at both
+capitals; and, as will presently appear, the more sagacious Prussians
+soon came to see that a war, in which Napoleon could be enticed into
+the heart of Russia, might deal a mortal blow at his overgrown Empire.
+Certainly it was quite impossible for Prussia to stay the French
+advance. A guerilla warfare, such as throve in Spain, must surely be
+crushed in her open plains; and the diffident King returned
+Gneisenau's plan of a rising of the Prussian people against Napoleon
+with the chilling comment, "Very good as poetry."
+
+Thus, when Napoleon wound up his diplomatic threats by an imperious
+summons to side with him or against him, Frederick William was fain to
+abide by his terms, sending 20,000 troops against Russia, granting
+free passage to Napoleon's army, and furnishing immense supplies of
+food and forage, the payment of which was to be settled by some future
+arrangement (February, 1812). These conditions seemed to thrust
+Prussia down to the lowest circle of the Napoleonic Inferno; and great
+was the indignation of her patriots. They saw not that only by
+stooping before the western blast could Prussia be saved. To this
+topic we shall recur presently, when we treat of the Russian plan of
+campaign.
+
+Sweden was less tractable than Napoleon expected. He had hoped that
+the deposition of his personal enemy, Gustavus IV., the enthronement
+of a feeble old man, Charles XIII., and the choice of Bernadotte as
+heir to the Swedish crown, would bring that land back to its
+traditional alliance with France. But, on accepting his new dignity,
+Bernadotte showed his customary independence of thought by refusing to
+promise that he would never bear arms against France--a refusal that
+cost him his principality of Ponte Corvo. He at once adopted a forward
+Scandinavian policy; and, as the Franco-Russian alliance waned, he
+offered Swedish succour to Napoleon if he would favour the acquisition
+of Norway by the Court of Stockholm.
+
+The Emperor had himself mooted this project in 1802, but he now
+returned a stern refusal (February 25th, 1811), and bade Sweden
+enforce the Continental System under pain of the occupation of Swedish
+Pomerania by French troops. Even this threat failed to bend the will
+of Bernadotte, and the Swedes preferred to forego their troublesome
+German province rather than lose their foreign commerce. In the
+following January, Napoleon carried out his threat, thereby throwing
+Sweden into the arms of Russia. By the treaty of March-April, 1812,
+Bernadotte gained from Alexander the prospect of acquiring Norway, in
+return for the aid of Sweden in the forthcoming war against Napoleon.
+This was the chief diplomatic success gained by Alexander; for though
+he came to terms with Turkey two months later (retaining Bessarabia),
+the treaty was ratified too late to enable him to concentrate all his
+forces against the Napoleonic host that was now flooding the plains of
+Prussia.[253]
+
+The results of this understanding with the Court of Stockholm were
+seen in the Czar's note presented at Paris at the close of April. He
+required of Napoleon the evacuation of Swedish Pomerania by French
+troops and a friendly adjustment of Franco-Swedish disputes, the
+evacuation of Prussia by the French, the reduction of their large
+garrison at Danzig, and the recognition of Russia's right to trade
+with neutrals. If these terms were accorded by France, Alexander was
+ready to negotiate for an indemnity for the Duke of Oldenburg and a
+mitigation of the Russian customs dues on French goods.[254] The
+reception given by Napoleon to these reasonable terms was unpromising.
+"You are a gentleman," he exclaimed to Prince Kurakin, "--and yet you
+dare to present to me such proposals?--You are acting as Prussia did
+before Jena." Alexander had already given up all hope of peace. A week
+before that scene, he had left St. Petersburg for the army, knowing
+full well that Napoleon's cast-iron will might be shivered by a mighty
+blow, but could never be bent by diplomacy.
+
+On his side, Napoleon sought to overawe his eastern rival by a display
+of imposing force. Lord of a dominion that far excelled that of the
+Czar in material resources, suzerain of seven kingdoms and thirty
+principalities, he called his allies and vassals about him at Dresden,
+and gave to the world the last vision of that imperial splendour which
+dazzled the imagination of men.
+
+It was an idle display. In return for secret assurances that he might
+eventually regain his Illyrian provinces, the Emperor Francis had
+pledged himself by treaty to send 30,000 men to guard Napoleon's flank
+in Volhynia. But everyone at St. Petersburg knew that this aid, along
+with that of Prussia, was forced and hollow.[255] The example of Spain
+and the cautious strategy of Wellington had dissolved the spell of
+French invincibility; and the Czar was resolved to trust to the
+toughness of his people and the defensive strength of his boundless
+plains. The time of the Macks, the Brunswicks, the Bennigsens was
+past: the day of Wellington and of truly national methods of warfare
+had dawned.
+
+Yet the hosts now moving against Alexander bade fair to overwhelm the
+devotion of his myriad subjects and the awful solitudes of his
+steppes. It was as if Peter the Hermit had arisen to impel the peoples
+of Western and Central Europe once more against the immobile East.
+Frenchmen to the number of 200,000 formed the kernel of this vast
+body: 147,000 Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine followed the
+new Charlemagne: nearly 80,000 Italians under Eugene formed an Army of
+Observation: 60,000 Poles stepped eagerly forth to wrest their
+nation's liberty from the Muscovite grasp; and Illyrians, Swiss, and
+Dutch, along with a few Spaniards and Portuguese, swelled the Grand
+Army to a total of 600,000 men. Nor was this all. Austria and Prussia
+sent their contingents, amounting in all to 50,000 men, to guard
+Napoleon's flanks on the side of Volhynia and Courland. And this
+mighty mass, driven on by Napoleon's will, gained a momentum which was
+to carry its main army to Moscow.
+
+After reviewing his vassals at Dresden, and hurrying on the
+arrangements for the transport of stores, Napoleon journeyed to the
+banks of the Niemen. On all sides were to be seen signs of the passage
+of a mighty host, broken-down carts, dead horses, wrecked villages,
+and dense columns of troops that stripped Prussia wellnigh bare. Yet,
+despite these immense preparations, no hint of discouragement came
+from the Czar's headquarters. On arriving at the Niemen, Napoleon
+issued to the Grand Army a proclamation which was virtually a
+declaration of war. In it there occurred the fatalistic remark:
+"Russia is drawn on by fate: her destinies must be fulfilled."
+Alexander's words to his troops breathed a different spirit: "God
+fights against the aggressor."
+
+Much that is highly conjectural has been written about the plans of
+campaign of the two Emperors. That of Napoleon may be briefly stated:
+it was to find out the enemy's chief forces, divide them, or cut them
+from their communications, and beat them in detail. In other words, he
+never started with any set plan of campaign, other than the
+destruction of the chief opposing force. But, in the present instance,
+it may be questioned whether he had not sought by his exasperating
+provocations to drive Prussia into alliance with the Czar. In that
+case, Alexander would have been bound in honour to come to the aid of
+his ally. And if the Russians ventured across the Niemen, or the
+Vistula, as Napoleon at first believed they would,[256] his task would
+doubtless have been as easy as it proved at Friedland. Many Prussian
+officers, so Mueffling asserts, believed that this was the aim of
+French diplomacy in the early autumn of 1811, and that the best reply
+was an unconditional surrender. On the other hand, there is the fact
+that St. Marsan, Napoleon's ambassador at Berlin, assured that
+Government, on October 29th, that his master did not wish to destroy
+Prussia, but laid much stress on the supplies which she could furnish
+him--a support that would enable the Grand Army to advance on the
+Niemen _like a rushing stream_.
+
+The metaphor was strangely imprudent. It almost invited Prussia to
+open wide her sluices and let the flood foam away on to the sandy
+wastes of Lithuania; and we may fancy that the more discerning minds
+at Berlin now saw the advantage of a policy which would entice the
+French into the wastes of Muscovy. It is strange that Napoleon's
+Syrian adage, "Never make war against a desert," did not now recur to
+his mind. But he gradually steeled himself to the conviction that war
+with Alexander was inevitable, and that the help of Austria and
+Prussia would enable him to beat back the Muscovite hordes into their
+eastern steppes. For a time he had unquestionably thought of
+destroying Prussia before he attacked the Czar; but he finally decided
+to postpone her fate until he had used her for the overthrow of
+Russia.[257]
+
+After the experiences of Austerlitz and Friedland, the advantages of a
+defensive campaign could not escape the notice of the Czar. As early
+as October, 1811, when Scharnhorst was at St. Petersburg, he discussed
+these questions with him; and not all that officer's pleading for the
+cause of Prussian independence induced Alexander to offer armed help
+unless the French committed a wanton aggression on Koenigsberg. Seeing
+that there was no hope of bringing the Russians far to the west,
+Scharnhorst seems finally to have counselled a Fabian strategy for the
+ensuing war; and, when at Vienna, he drew up a memoir in this sense
+for the guidance of the Czar.[258]
+
+Alexander was certainly much in need of sound guidance. Though
+Scharnhorst had pointed out the way of salvation, a strategic tempter
+was soon at hand in the person of General von Phull, an uncompromising
+theorist who planned campaigns with an unquestioning devotion to
+abstract principles. Untaught by the catastrophes of the past,
+Alexander once more let his enthusiasm for theories and principles
+lead him to the brink of the abyss. Phull captivated him by setting
+forth the true plan of a defensive campaign which he had evolved from
+patient study of the Seven Years' War. Everything depended on the
+proper selection of defensive positions and the due disposition of the
+defending armies. There must be two armies of defence, and at least
+one great intrenched camp. One army must oppose the invader on a line
+near, or leading up to, the camp; while the other army must manoeuvre
+on his rear or flanks. And the camp must be so placed as to stretch
+its protecting influence over one, or more, important roads. It need
+not be on any one of them: in fact, it was better that it should be
+some distance away; for it thus fulfilled better the all-important
+function of a "flanking position."
+
+Such a position Phull had discovered at Drissa in a curve of the River
+Dwina. It was sufficiently far from the roads leading from the Niemen
+to St. Petersburg and to Moscow efficiently to protect them both.
+There, accordingly, he suggested that vast earthworks should be
+prepared; for there, at that artificial Torres Vedras, Russia's chief
+force might await the Grand Army, while the other force harassed its
+flank or rear.[259]
+
+Napoleon had not probed this absurdity to its inmost depths: but he
+early found out that the Russians were in two widely separated armies;
+and this sufficed to decide his movements and the early part of the
+campaign. Having learnt that one army was near Vilna, and the other in
+front of the marshes of the Pripet, he sought to hold them apart by a
+rapid irruption into the intervening space, and thereafter to destroy
+them piecemeal. Never was a visionary theory threatened by a more
+terrible realism. For Napoleon at midsummer was mustering a third of a
+million of men on the banks of the Niemen, while the Russians, with
+little more than half those numbers as yet available for the
+fighting-line, had them spread out over an immense space, so as to
+facilitate those flanking operations on which Phull set such
+store.[260]
+
+On the morn of June 23rd, three immense French columns wound their way
+to the pontoon bridges hastily thrown over the Niemen near Kovno; and
+loud shouts of triumph greeted the great leader as the vanguard set
+foot on Lithuanian soil. No Russians were seen except a few light
+horsemen, who galloped up, inquired of the engineers why they were
+building the bridges, and then rode hastily away. During three days
+the Grand Army filed over the river and melted away into the sandy
+wastes. No foe at first contested their march, but neither were they
+met by the crowds of downtrodden natives whom their fancy pictured as
+thronging to welcome the liberators. In truth, the peasants of
+Lithuania had no very close racial affinity to the Poles, whose
+offshoots were found chiefly among the nobles and the wealthier
+townsfolk. Solitude, the sultry heat of a Russian mid-summer, and
+drenching thunderstorms depressed the spirits of the invaders. The
+miserable cart tracks were at once cut up by the passage of the host,
+and 10,000 horses perished of fatigue or of disease caused by the rank
+grass, in the fifty miles' march from the Niemen to Vilna.
+
+The difficulties of the transport service began at once, and they were
+to increase with every day's march. With his usual foresight, Napoleon
+had ordered the collection of immense stores of all kinds at Danzig,
+his chief base of supplies. Two million pairs of boots were required
+for the wear and tear of a long campaign, and all preparations were on
+the same colossal scale. In this connection it is noteworthy that no
+small proportion of the cloaks and boots came from England, as the
+industrial resources of the Continent were wholly unequal to supplying
+the crusaders of the Continental System.
+
+A great part of those stores never reached the troops in Russia. The
+wherries sent from Danzig to the Niemen were often snapped up by
+British cruisers, and the carriage of stores from the Niemen entailed
+so frightful a waste of horseflesh that only the most absolute
+necessaries could keep pace with the army in its rapid advance. The
+men were thus left without food except such as marauding could extort.
+In this art Napoleon's troops were experts. Many miles of country were
+scoured on either side of the line of march, and the Emperor, on
+reaching Vilna, had to order Ney to send out cavalry patrols to gather
+in the stragglers, who were committing "horrible devastations" and
+would "fall into the hands of the Cossacks."
+
+At Vilna the Grand Army met with a more cheering reception than
+heretofore. Deftly placing his Polish regiments in front and chasing
+the retiring Russians beyond the town, Napoleon then returned to find
+a welcome in the old Lithuanian capital. The old men came forth clad
+in the national garb, and it seemed that that province, once a part of
+the great Polish monarchy, would break away from the empire of the
+Czars and extend Napoleon's influence to within a few miles of
+Smolensk.[261] The newly-formed Diet at Warsaw also favoured this
+project: it constituted itself into a general confederation, declared
+the Kingdom of Poland to be restored, and sent a deputation to
+Napoleon at Vilna begging him to utter the creative words: "Let the
+Kingdom of Poland exist." The Emperor gave a guarded answer. He
+declared that he loved the Poles, he commended them for their
+patriotism, which was "the first duty of civilized man," but added
+that only by a unanimous effort could they now compel their enemies to
+recognize their rights; and that, having guaranteed the integrity of
+the Austrian Empire, he could not sanction any movement which would
+disturb its remaining Polish provinces. This diplomatic reply chilled
+his auditors. But what would have been their feelings had they known
+that the calling of the Diet at Warsaw, and the tone of its address
+to Napoleon; had all been sketched out five weeks before by the
+imperial stage manager himself? Yet such was the case.
+
+The scene-shifter was the Abbe de Pradt, Archbishop of Malines, whom
+Napoleon sent as ambassador to Warsaw, with elaborate instructions as
+to the summoning of the Diet, the whipping-up of Polish enthusiasm,
+the revolutionizing of Russian Poland, and the style of the address to
+him. Nay, his passion for the regulation of details even led him to
+inform the ambassador that the imperial reply would be one of praise
+of Polish patriotism and of warning that Polish liberty could only be
+won by their "zeal and their efforts." The trickery was like that
+which he had played upon the Poles shortly before Eylau. In effect, he
+said now, as then: "Pour out your blood for me first, and I will do
+something for you." But on this occasion the scenic setting was more
+impressive, the rush of the Poles to arms more ardent, the diplomatic
+reply more astutely postponed, and the finale more awful.[262]
+
+Still, the Poles marched on; but their devotion became more
+questioning. The feelings of the Lithuanians were also ruffled by
+Napoleon's reply to the Polish deputies: nor were they consoled by his
+appointment of seven magnates to regulate the affairs of the districts
+of Lithuania, under the aegis of French commissioners, who proved to be
+the real governors. Worst of all was the marauding of Napoleon's
+troops, who, after their long habituation to the imperial maxim that
+"war must support war," could not now see the need of enduring the
+pangs of hunger in order that Lithuanian enthusiasm might not cool.
+
+[Illustration: COMPAIGN IN RUSSIA]
+
+Meanwhile the war had not progressed altogether as he desired. His aim
+had been to conceal his advance across the Niemen, to surprise the two
+chief Russian armies while far separated, and thus to end the war on
+Lithuanian soil by a blow such as he had dealt at Friedland. The
+Russian arrangements seemed to favour his plan. Their two chief
+arrays, that led by the Czar and by General Barclay de Tolly, some
+125,000 strong north of Vilna, and that of Prince Bagration mustering
+now about 45,000 effectives, in the province of Volhynia, were
+labouring to carry out the strategy devised by Phull. The former was
+directly to oppose the march of Napoleon's main army, while the
+smaller Russian force was to operate on its flanks and rear. Such a
+plan could only have succeeded in the good old times when war was
+conducted according to ceremonious etiquette; it courted destruction
+from Napoleon. At Vilna the Emperor directed the movements that were
+to ensnare Bagration. Already he had urged on the march of Davoust,
+who was to circle round from the north, and the advance of Jerome
+Bonaparte's Westphalians, who were bidden to hurry on eastwards from
+the town of Grodno on the Upper Niemen. Their convergence would drive
+Bagration into the almost trackless marshes of the Pripet, whence his
+force would emerge, if at all, as helpless units.
+
+Such was Napoleon's plan, and it would have succeeded but for a
+miscalculation in the time needed for Jerome's march. Napoleon
+underrated the difficulties of his advance or else overrated his
+brother's military capacity. The King of Westphalia was delayed a few
+days at Grodno by bad weather and other difficulties; thus Bagration,
+who had been ordered by the Czar to retire, was able to escape the
+meshes closing around him by a speedy retreat to Bobruisk, whence he
+moved northwards. Napoleon was enraged at this loss of a priceless
+opportunity, and addressed vehement reproaches to Jerome for his
+slowness and "small-mindedness." The youngest of the Bonapartes
+resented this rebuke which ignored the difficulties besetting a rapid
+advance. The prospect of being subjected to that prince of martinets,
+Davoust, chafed his pride; and, throwing up his command, he forthwith
+returned to the pleasures of Cassel.
+
+By great good fortune, Bagration's force had escaped from the snares
+strewn in its path by the strategy of Phull and the counter-moves of
+Napoleon. The fickle goddess also favoured the rescue of the chief
+Russian army from imminent peril at Drissa. In pursuance of Phull's
+scheme, the Czar and Barclay de Tolly fell back with that army towards
+the intrenched camp on the Dwina. But doubts had already begun to
+haunt their minds as to the wisdom of Phull's plans. In fact, the bias
+of Barclay's nature was towards the proven and the practical. He came
+of a Scottish family which long ago had settled in Livonia, and had
+won prosperity and esteem in the trade of Riga. His ancestry and his
+early surroundings therefore disposed him to the careful weighing of
+evidence and distrust of vague theories. His thoroughness in military
+organization during the war in Finland and his unquestioned probity
+and open-mindedness, had recently brought him high into favour with
+the Czar, who made him War Minister. He had no wide acquaintance with
+the science of warfare, and has been judged altogether deficient in a
+wide outlook on events and in those masterly conceptions which mark
+the great warrior.[263] But nations are sometimes ruined by lofty
+genius, while at times they may be saved by humdrum prudence; and
+Barclay's common sense had no small share in saving Russia.
+
+Two months before the Grand Army passed the Niemen, he had expressed
+the hope that God would send retreat to the Russian armies; and we may
+safely attribute to his influence with the Czar the timely order to
+Bagration to desist from flanking tactics and beat a retreat while yet
+there was time. That portion of Phull's strategy having signally
+failed, Alexander naturally became more suspicious about the Drissa
+plan; and during the retirement from Vilna, he ordered a survey of the
+works to be made by Phull's adjutant, a young German named Clausewitz,
+who was destined to win a name as an authority in strategy. This
+officer was unable conscientiously to present a cheering report. He
+found the camp deficient in many respects. Nevertheless, Alexander
+still clung to the hope of checking the French advance before these
+great intrenchments.
+
+On his arrival there, on July 8th, this hope also was dashed. Michaud,
+a young Sardinian engineer, pointed out several serious defects in
+their construction. Barclay also protested against shutting up a large
+part of the defending army in a camp which could easily be blockaded
+by Napoleon's vast forces. Finally, as the Russian reserves stationed
+there proved to be disappointingly weak both in numbers and
+efficiency, the Czar determined to evacuate the camp, intrust the sole
+command to Barclay, and retire to his northern capital. It is said
+that, before he left the army, the Grand Duke Constantine, a friend of
+the French cause, made a last effort to induce him to come to terms
+with Napoleon, now that the plan of campaign had failed. If so,
+Alexander repelled the attempt. Pride as a ruler and a just resentment
+against Napoleon prevented any compromise; and probably he now saw
+that safety for himself and ruin for his foe lay in the firm adoption
+of that Fabian policy of retreat and delay, which Scharnhorst had
+advocated and Barclay was now determined to carry out.
+
+Though still hampered by the intrigues of Constantine, Bennigsen, and
+other generals, who hated him as a foreigner and feigned to despise
+him as a coward, Barclay at once took the step which he had long felt
+to be necessary; he ordered a retreat which would bring him into touch
+with Bagration. Accordingly, leaving Wittgenstein with 25,000 men to
+hold Oudinot's corps in check on the middle Dwina, he marched
+eastwards towards Vitepsk. True, he left St. Petersburg open to
+attack; but it was not likely that Napoleon, when the summer was far
+spent, would press so far north and forego his usual plan of striking
+at the enemy's chief forces. He would certainly seek to hinder the
+junction of the two Russian armies, as soon as he saw that this was
+Barclay's aim. Such proved to be the case. Napoleon soon penetrated
+his design, and strove to frustrate it by a rapid move from Vilna
+towards Polotsk on Barclay's flank, but he failed to cut into his line
+of march, and once more had to pursue.
+
+Despite the heavy shrinkage in the Grand Army caused by a remorseless
+rush through a country wellnigh stripped of supplies, the Emperor
+sought to force on a general engagement. He hoped to catch Barclay at
+Vitepsk. "The whole Russian army is at Vitepsk--we are on the eve of
+great events," he writes on July 25th. But the Russians skilfully
+withdrew by night from their position in front of that town, which he
+entered on July 28th. Chagrined and perplexed, the chief stays a
+fortnight to organize supplies and stores, while his vanguard presses
+on to envelop the Russians at Smolensk. Again his hopes revive when he
+hears that Barclay and Bagration are about to join near that city. In
+fact, those leaders there concluded that strategic movement to the
+rear which was absolutely necessary if they were not to be overwhelmed
+singly. They viewed the retreat in a very different light. To the
+cautious Barclay it portended a triumph long deferred, but sure: while
+the more impulsive Muscovite looked upon the constant falling back as
+a national disgrace.
+
+The feelings of the soldiery also forbade a spiritless abandonment of
+the holy city of the Upper Dnieper that stands as sentinel to Russia
+Proper. On these feelings Napoleon counted, and rightly. He was now in
+no haste to strike: the blow must be crushing and final. At last he
+hears that Davoust, the leader whose devotion and methodical
+persistence merit his complete trust, has bridged the River Dnieper
+below the city, and has built ovens for supplying the host with bread.
+And having now drawn up troops and supplies from the rear, he pushes
+on to end the campaign.
+
+Barclay was still for retreat; but religious sentiment and patriotism
+bade the defenders stand firm behind those crumbling walls, while
+Bagration secured the line of retreat. The French, ranged
+around on the low hills which ring it on the south, looked for an easy
+triumph, and Napoleon seems to have felt an excess of confidence. At
+any rate, his dispositions were far from masterly. He made no serious
+effort to threaten the Russian communications with Moscow, nor did he
+wait for his artillery to overwhelm the ramparts and their defenders.
+The corps of Ney, Davoust, and Poniatowski, with Murat's cavalry and
+the Imperial Guard posted in reserve, promised an easy victory, and
+the dense columns of foot moved eagerly to the assault. They were
+received with a terrific fire. Only after three hours' desperate
+fighting did they master the southern suburbs, and at nightfall the
+walls still defied their assaults. Yet in the meantime Napoleon's
+cannon had done their work. The wooden houses were everywhere on fire;
+a speedy retreat alone could save the garrison from ruin; and amidst a
+whirlwind of flame and smoke Barclay drew off his men to join
+Bagration on the road to Moscow (August 17th).
+
+Once more, then, the Russian army had slipped from Napoleon's grasp,
+though this time it dealt him a loss of 12,000 in killed or wounded.
+And the momentous question faced him whether he should halt, now that
+summer was on the wane, or snatch under the walls of Moscow the
+triumph which Vilna, Vitepsk, and Smolensk had promised and denied. It
+is stated by that melodramatic narrator, Count Philip Segur, that on
+entering Vitepsk, the Emperor exclaimed: "The campaign of 1812 is
+ended, that of 1813 will do the rest." But the whole of Napoleon's
+"Correspondence" refutes the anecdote. Besides, it was not Napoleon's
+habit to go into winter quarters in July, or to rest before he had
+defeated the enemy's main army.[264]
+
+At Smolensk the question wore another aspect. Napoleon told Metternich
+at Dresden that he would not in the present year advance beyond
+Smolensk, but would organize Lithuania during winter and advance again
+in the spring of 1813, adding: "My enterprise is one of those of which
+the solution is to be found in patience." A policy of masterly
+inactivity certainly commended itself to his Marshals. But the desire
+to crush the enemy's rear drew Ney and Murat into a sharp affair at
+Valutino or Lubino: the French lost heavily, but finally gained the
+position: and the hope that the foe were determined to fight the
+decisive battle at Dorogobuzh lured Napoleon on, despite his earlier
+decision.[265] Besides, his position seemed less hazardous than it was
+before Austerlitz. The Grand Army was decidedly superior to the united
+forces of Barclay and Bagration. On the Dwina, Oudinot held the
+Russians at bay; and when he was wounded, his successor, Gouvion St.
+Cyr, displayed a tactical skill which enabled him easily to foil a
+mere fighter like Wittgenstein. On the French right flank, affairs
+were less promising; for the ending of the Russo-Turkish war now left
+the Russian army of the Pruth free to march into Volhynia. But, for
+the present, Napoleon was able to summon up strong reserves under
+Victor, and assure his rear.
+
+With full confidence, then, he pressed onwards to wrest from Fortune
+one last favour. It was granted to him at Borodino. There the Russians
+made a determined stand. National jealousy of Barclay, inflamed by his
+protracted retreat, had at last led to his being superseded by
+Kutusoff; and, having about 110,000 troops, the old fighting general
+now turned fiercely to bay. His position on the low convex curve of
+hills that rise behind the village of Borodino was of great strength.
+On his right was the winding valley of the Kolotza, an affluent of the
+Moskwa, and before his centre and left the ground sloped down to a
+stream. On this more exposed side the Russians had hastily thrown up
+earthworks, that at the centre being known as the Great Redoubt,
+though it had no rear defences.
+
+Napoleon halted for two days, until his gathering forces mustered some
+125,000 men, and he now prepared to end the war at a blow. After
+surveying the Russian position, he saw Kutusoff's error in widely
+extending his lines to the north; and while making feints on that
+side, so as to prevent any concentration of the Muscovite array, he
+planned to overwhelm the more exposed centre and left, by the assaults
+of Davoust and Poniatowski on the south, and of Ney's corps and
+Eugene's Italians on the redoubts at the centre. Davoust begged to be
+allowed to outflank the Russian left; but Napoleon refused, perhaps
+owing to a fear that the Russians might retreat early in the day, and
+decided on dealing direct blows at the left and centre. As the 7th of
+September dawned with all the splendour of a protracted summer, cannon
+began to thunder against the serried arrays ranged along the opposing
+slopes, and Napoleon's columns moved against the redoubts and woods
+that sheltered the Muscovite lines. The defence was most obstinate.
+Time after time the smaller redoubts were taken and retaken; and
+while, on the French right centre, the tide of battle surged up and
+down the slope, the Great Redoubt dealt havoc among Eugene's Italians,
+who bravely but, as it seemed, hopelessly struggled up that fatal
+rise.
+
+Then was seen a soul-stirring sight. Of a sudden, a mass of
+Cuirassiers rushed forth from the invaders' ranks, flung itself
+uphill, and girdled the grim earthwork with a stream of flashing steel
+There, for a brief space, it was stayed by the tough Muscovite lines,
+until another billow of horsemen, marshalled by Grouchy and Chastel,
+swept all before it, took the redoubt on its weak reverse, and
+overwhelmed its devoted defenders.[266] In vain did the Russian
+cavalry seek to save the day: Murat's horsemen were not to be denied,
+and Kutusoff was at last fain to draw back his mangled lines, but
+slowly and defiantly, under cover of a crushing artillery fire.
+
+Thus ended the bloodiest fight of the century. For several hours 800
+cannon had dealt death among the opposing masses; the Russians lost
+about 40,000 men, and, whatever Napoleon said in his bulletins, the
+rents in his array were probably nearly as great. He has been censured
+for not launching his Guard at the wavering foe at the climax of the
+fight; and the soldiery loudly blamed its commander, Bessieres, for
+dissuading his master from this step. But to have sacrificed those
+veterans to Russian cannon would have been a perilous act.[267] His
+Guard was the solid kernel of his army: on it he could always rely,
+even when French regulars dissolved, as often happened after long
+marches, into bands of unruly marauders; and its value was to be found
+out during the retreat. More fitly may Napoleon be blamed for not
+seeking earlier in the day to turn the Russian left, and roll that
+long line up on the river. Here, as at Smolensk, he resorted to a
+frontal attack, which could only yield success at a frightful cost.
+The day brought little glory to the generals, except to Ney, Murat,
+and Grouchy. For his valour in the _melee_, Ney received the title of
+Prince de la Moskwa.
+
+A week before this Pyrrhic triumph, Napoleon had heard of a terrible
+reverse to French arms in Spain. His old friend, Marmont, who had won
+the Marshal's baton after Wagram, measured his strength with
+Wellington in the plains of Leon with brilliant success until a false
+move near Salamanca exposed him to a crushing rejoinder, and sent his
+army flying back towards Burgos. Madrid was now uncovered and was
+occupied for a time by the English army (August 13th). Thus while
+Napoleon was gasping at Moscow, his brother was expelled from Madrid,
+until the recall of Soult from Andalusia gave the French a superiority
+in the centre of Spain which forced Wellington to retire to Ciudad
+Rodrigo. He lost the fruits of his victory, save that Andalusia was
+freed: but he saved his army for the triumphant campaign of 1813. Had
+Napoleon shown the like prudence by beating a timely retreat from
+Moscow, who can say that the next hard-fought fights in Silesia and
+Saxony would not have once more crowned his veterans with decisive
+triumph?
+
+As it was, the Grand Army toiled on through heat, dust, and the smoke
+of burning villages, to gain peace and plenty at Moscow. But when, on
+September the 14th, the conqueror entered that city with his vanguard,
+solitude reigned almost unbroken. A few fanatics, clinging to the
+tradition that the Kremlin was impregnable, idly sought to defend it;
+but troops, officials, nobles, merchants, and the great mass of the
+people were gone, and the military stores had been burnt or removed.
+Rostopchin, the governor, had released the prisoners and broken the
+fire engines. Flames speedily burst forth, and Bausset, the Prefect of
+Napoleon's Palace, affirms that while looking forth from the Kremlin
+he saw the flames burst forth in several districts in quick
+succession; and that a careful examination of cellars often proved
+them to be stored with combustibles, vitriol in one case being
+swallowed by a French soldier who took it for brandy! If all this be
+true, it proves that the Muscovites were determined to fire their
+capital. But their writers have as stoutly affirmed that the fires
+were caused by French and Polish plunderers.[268] Three days later,
+the powers of the air and the demons of drink and frenzy raged
+uncontrolled; and Napoleon himself barely escaped from the whirlwinds
+of flame that enveloped the Kremlin and nearly scorched to death the
+last members of his staff. For several hours the conflagration was
+fanned by an equinoctial gale, and when, on the 20th, it died down,
+convicts or plunderers kindled it anew.
+
+Yet the army did not want for shelter, and, as Sergeant Bourgogne
+remarks, if every house had been gutted there were still the caves and
+cellars that promised protection from the cold of winter. The real
+problem was now, as ever, the food-supply. The Russians had swept the
+district wellnigh bare; and though the Grand Army feasted for a
+fortnight on dainties and drink, yet bread, flour, and meat were soon
+very scarce. In vain did the Emperor seek to entice the inhabitants
+back; they knew the habits of the invaders only too well; and despite
+several distant raids, which sometimes cost the French dear, the
+soldiery began to suffer.
+
+October wore on with delusive radiance, but brought no peace. Soon
+after the great conflagration at Moscow, Napoleon sent secret and
+alluring overtures to Alexander, offering to leave Russia a free hand
+in regard to Turkey, inclusive of Constantinople, which he had
+hitherto strictly reserved, and hinting that Polish affairs might also
+be arranged to the Czar's liking.[269] But Alexander refused tamely to
+accept the fruits of victory from the man who, he believed, had burnt
+holy Moscow, and clung to his vow never to treat with his rival as
+long as a single French soldier stood on Russian soil. His resolve
+saved Europe. Yet it cost him much to defy the great conqueror to the
+death: he had so far feared the capture of St. Petersburg as to
+request that the Cronstadt fleet might be kept in safety in
+England.[270] But gradually he came to see that the sacrifice of
+Moscow had saved his empire and lured Napoleon to his doom. Kutusoff
+also played a waiting game. Affecting a wish for peace, he was about
+secretly to meet Napoleon's envoy, Lauriston, when the Russian
+generals and our commissioner, Sir R. Wilson, intervened, and required
+that it should be a public step. It seems likely, however, that
+Kutusoff was only seeking to entrap the French into barren
+negotiations; he knew that an answer could not come from the banks of
+the Neva until winter began to steal over the northern steppes.
+
+Slowly the truth begins to dawn on Napoleon that Moscow is not _the
+heart of Russia_, as he had asserted to De Pradt that it was.
+Gradually he sees that that primitive organism had no heart, that its
+almost amorphous life was widespread through myriads of village
+communes, vegetating apart from Moscow or Petersburg, and that his
+march to the old capital was little more than a sword-slash through a
+pond.[271] Had he set himself to study with his former care the real
+nature of the hostile organism, he would certainly never have ventured
+beyond Smolensk in the present year. But he had now merged the thinker
+in the conqueror, and--sure sign of coming disaster--his mind no
+longer accurately gauged facts, it recast them in its own mould.
+
+By long manipulation of men and events, it had framed a dogma of
+personal infallibility. This vice had of late been growing on him
+apace. It was apparent even in trifles. The Countess Metternich
+describes how, early in 1810, he persisted in saying that Kaunitz was
+her brother, in spite of her frequent disclaimers of that honour; and,
+somewhat earlier, Marmont noticed with half-amused dismay that when
+the Emperor gave a wrong estimate of the numbers of a certain corps,
+no correction had the slightest effect on him; his mind always
+reverted to the first figure. In weightier matters this peculiarity
+was equally noticeable. His clinging to preconceived notions, however
+unfair or burdensome they were to Britain, Prussia, or Austria, had
+been the underlying cause of his wars with those Powers. And now this
+same defect, burnt into his being by the blaze of a hundred victories,
+held him to Moscow for five weeks, in the belief that Russia was
+stricken unto death, and that the facile Czar whom he had known at
+Tilsit would once more bend the knee. An idle hope. "I have learnt to
+know him now," said the Czar, "Napoleon or I; I or Napoleon; we cannot
+reign side by side." Buoyed up by religious faith and by his people's
+heroism, Alexander silently defied the victor of Moscow and rebuked
+Kutusoff for receiving the French envoy.
+
+At last, on October 18th, the Russians threw away the scabbard and
+surprised Murat's force some forty miles south of Moscow, inflicting a
+loss of 3,000 men. But already, a day or two earlier, Napoleon had
+realized the futility of his hope of peace and had resolved to
+retreat. The only alternative was to winter at Moscow, and he judged
+that the state of French and Spanish affairs rendered such a course
+perilous. He therefore informed Maret that the Grand Army would go
+into winter quarters between the Dnieper and the Dwina.[272]
+
+There is no hint in his letters that he anticipated a disastrous
+retreat. The weather hitherto had been "as fine as that at
+Fontainebleau in September," and he purposed retiring by a more
+southerly route which had not been exhausted by war. Full of
+confidence, then, he set out on the 19th, with 115,000 men, persuaded
+that he would easily reach friendly Lithuania and his winter quarters
+"before severe cold set in." The veil was rudely torn from his eyes
+when, south of Malo-Jaroslavitz, his Marshals found the Russians so
+strongly posted that any further attack seemed to be an act of folly.
+Eugene's corps had suffered cruelly in an obstinate fight in and
+around that town, and the advice of Berthier, Murat, and Bessieres was
+against its renewal. For an hour or more the Emperor sat silently
+gazing at a map. The only prudent course now left was to retreat north
+and then west by way of Borodino, _over his devastated line of
+advance_.[273] Back, then, towards Borodino the army mournfully
+trudged (October 26th):
+
+    "Everywhere (says Labaume) we saw wagons abandoned for want of
+    horses to draw them. Those who bore along with them the spoils of
+    Moscow trembled for their riches; but we were disquieted most of
+    all at seeing the deplorable state of our cavalry. The villages
+    which had but lately given us shelter were level with the ground:
+    under their ashes were the bodies of hundreds of soldiers and
+    peasants.... But most horrible was the field of Borodino, where we
+    saw the forty thousand men, who had perished there, yet lying
+    unburied."
+
+For a time, Kutusoff forbore to attack the sore-stricken host; but,
+early in November, the Russian horse began to infest the line of
+march, and at Viasma their gathering forces were barely held off: had
+Kutusoff aided his lieutenants, he might have decimated his famished
+foes.
+
+Hitherto the weather had been singularly mild and open, so much so
+that the superstitious peasants looked on it as a sign that God was
+favouring Napoleon. But, at last, on November the 6th, the first storm
+of winter fell on the straggling array, and completed its miseries.
+The icy blasts struck death to the hearts of the feeble; and the puny
+fighting of man against man was now merged in the awful struggle
+against the powers of the air. Drifts of snow blotted out the
+landscape; the wandering columns often lost the road and thousands
+forthwith ended their miseries. Except among the Old Guard all
+semblance of military order was now lost, and battalions melted away
+into groups of marauders.
+
+The search for food and fuel became furious, even when the rigour of
+the cold abated. The behaviour of Bourgogne, a sergeant in the
+Imperial Guard, may serve to show by what shifts a hardy masterful
+nature fought its way through the wreckage of humanity around: "If I
+could meet anybody in the world with a loaf, I would make him give me
+half--nay, I would kill him so as to get the whole." These were his
+feelings: he acted on them by foraging in the forest and seizing a pot
+in which an orderly was secretly cooking potatoes for his general.
+Bourgogne made off with the potatoes, devoured most of them
+half-boiled, returned to his comrades and told them he had found
+nothing. Taking his place near their fire, he scooped out his bed in
+the snow, lay under his bearskin, and clasped his now precious
+knapsack, while the others moaned with hunger. Yet, as his narrative
+shows, he was not naturally a heartless man: in such a situation man
+is apt to sink to the level of the wolf. The best food obtainable was
+horseflesh, and hungry throngs rushed at every horse that fell,
+disputing its carcass with the packs of dogs or wolves that hung about
+the line of march.[274]
+
+Smolensk was now the thought dearest to every heart; and, buoyed with
+the hope of rest and food, the army tottered westwards as it had
+panted eastwards through the fierce summer heats with Moscow as its
+cynosure. The hope that clung about Smolensk was but a cruel mirage.
+The wreck of that city offered poor shelter; the stores were exhausted
+by the vanguard; and, to the horror of Eugene's Italians, men swarmed
+out of that fancied abode of plenty and pounced on every horse that
+stumbled to its doom on the slippery banks of the Dnieper. With
+inconceivable folly, Napoleon, or his staff, had provided no means for
+roughing the horses' shoes. The Cossacks, when they knew this,
+exclaimed to Wilson: "God has made Napoleon forget that there was a
+winter here."
+
+Disasters now thickened about the Grand Army. During his halt at
+Smolensk (November 9th-14th), Napoleon heard that Victor's force on
+the Dwina had been worsted by the Russians, and there was ground for
+fearing that the Muscovite army of the Ukraine would cut into the line
+of retreat. The halt at Smolensk also gave time for Kutusoff to come
+up parallel with the main force, and had he pressed on with ordinary
+speed and showed a tithe of his wonted pugnacity, he might have
+captured the Grand Army and its leader. As it was, his feeble attack
+on the rearguard at Krasnoe only gave Ney an opportunity of showing
+his dauntless courage. The "bravest of the brave" fought his way
+through clouds of Cossacks, crossed the Dnieper, though with the loss
+of all his guns, and rejoined the main body. Napoleon was greatly
+relieved on hearing of the escape of this Launcelot of the Imperial
+chivalry. He ordered cannon to be fired at suitable intervals so as to
+forward the news if it were propitious; and on hearing their distant
+boomings, he exclaimed to his officers: "I have more than 400,000,000
+francs in the cellars of the Tuileries, and would gladly have given
+the whole for the ransom of my faithful companion in arms."[275]
+
+Far greater was the danger at the River Beresina. The Russian army of
+the south had seized the bridge at Borisoff on which Napoleon's safety
+depended, and Oudinot vainly struggled to wrest it back. The
+Muscovites burnt it under his eyes. Such was the news which Napoleon
+heard at Bobr on November 24th. It staggered him; for, with his usual
+excess of confidence, he had destroyed his pontoons on the banks of
+the Dnieper; and now there was no means of crossing a river, usually
+insignificant, but swollen by floods and bridged only by half-thawed
+ice. Yet French resource was far from vanquished. General Corbineau,
+finding from some peasants that the river was fordable three leagues
+above Borisoff, brought the news to Oudinot, who forthwith prepared to
+cross there. Napoleon, coming up on the 26th, approved the plan, and
+cheeringly said to his Marshal, "Well, you shall be my locksmith and
+open that passage for me."[276]
+
+To deceive the foe, the Emperor told off a regiment or two southwards
+with a long tail of camp-followers that were taken to be an army. And
+this wily move, harmonizing with recent demonstrations of the
+Austrians on the side of Minsk, convinced the Muscovite leader that
+Napoleon was minded to clasp hands with them.[277] While the Russians
+patrolled the river on the south, French sappers were working, often
+neck deep in the water, to throw two light bridges across the stream
+higher up. By heroic toil, which to most of them brought death, the
+bridges were speedily finished, and, as the light of November 26th was
+waning Oudinot's corps of 7,000 men gained a firm footing on the
+homeward side. But they were observed by Russian scouts, and when on
+the next day Napoleon and other corps had struggled across, the enemy
+came up, captured a whole division, and on the morrow strove to hurl
+the invaders into the river. Victor and the rearguard staunchly kept
+them at bay; but at one point the Russian army of the Dwina
+temporarily gained ground and swept the bridges and their approaches
+with artillery fire.
+
+Then the panic-stricken throngs of wounded and stragglers, women and
+camp-followers, writhed and fought their way until the frail planks
+were piled high with living and dead. To add to the horrors, one
+bridge gave way under the weight of the cannon. The rush for the one
+remaining bridge became yet more frantic and the day closed amidst
+scenes of unspeakable woe. Stout swimmers threw themselves into the
+stream, only to fall victims to the ice floes and the numbing cold. At
+dawn of the 29th, the French rearguard fired the bridge to cover the
+retreat. Then a last, loud wail of horror arose from the farther bank,
+and despair or a loathing of life drove many to end their miseries in
+the river or in the flames.
+
+Such was the crossing of the Beresina. The ghastly tale was told once
+more with renewed horrors when the floods of winter abated and laid
+bare some 12,000 corpses along the course of that fatal stream. It
+would seem that if Napoleon, or his staff, had hurried on the
+camp-followers to cross on the night of the 27th to the 28th, those
+awful scenes would not have happened, for on that night the bridges
+_were not used at all_. Grosser carelessness than this cannot be
+conceived; and yet, even after this shocking blunder, the devotion of
+the soldiers to their chief found touching expression. When he was
+suffering from cold in the wretched bivouac west of the river,
+officers went round calling for dry wood for his fire; and shivering
+men were seen to offer precious sticks, with the words, "Take it for
+the Emperor."[278]
+
+On that day Napoleon wrote to Maret that possibly he would leave the
+army and hurry on to Paris. His presence there was certainly needed,
+if his crown was to be saved. On November 6th, the day of the first
+snowstorm, he heard of the Quixotic attempt of a French republican,
+General Malet, to overthrow the Government at Paris. With a handful of
+followers, but armed with a false report of Napoleon's capture in
+Russia, this man had apprehended several officials, until the scheme
+collapsed of sheer inanity.[279] "How now, if we were at Moscow,"
+exclaimed the Emperor, on hearing this curious news; and he saw with
+chagrin that some of his generals merely shrugged their shoulders.
+After crossing the Beresina, he might hope that the worst was over and
+that the stores at Vilna and Kovno would suffice for the remnant of
+his army. The cold for a time had been less rigorous. The behaviour of
+Prussia and Austria was, in truth, more important than the conduct of
+the retreat. Unless those Powers were kept to their troth, not a
+Frenchman would cross the Elbe.
+
+At Smorgoni, then, on December the 5th, he informed his Marshals that
+he left them in order to raise 300,000 men; and, intrusting the
+command to Murat, he hurried away. His great care was to prevent the
+extent of the disaster being speedily known. "Remove all strangers
+from Vilna," he wrote to Maret: "the army is not fine to look upon
+just now." The precaution was much needed. Frost set in once more, and
+now with unending grip. Vilna offered a poor haven of refuge. The
+stores were soon plundered, and, as the Cossacks drew near, Murat and
+the remnant of the Grand Army decamped in pitiable panic. Amidst ever
+deepening misery they struggled on, until, of the 600,000 men who had
+proudly crossed the Niemen for the conquest of Russia, only 20,000
+famished, frost-bitten, unarmed spectres staggered across the bridge
+of Kovno in the middle of December. The auxiliary corps furnished by
+Austria and Prussia fell back almost unscathed. But the remainder of
+that mighty host rotted away in Russian prisons or lay at rest under
+Nature's winding-sheet of snow.[280]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+THE FIRST SAXON CAMPAIGN
+
+
+Despite the loss of the most splendid army ever marshalled by man,
+Napoleon abated no whit of his resolve to dominate Germany and dictate
+terms to Russia. At Warsaw, in his retreat, he informed De Pradt that
+there was but one step from the sublime _to the ridiculous_, that is,
+from the advance on Moscow to the retreat. At Dresden he called on his
+allies, Austria and Prussia, to repel the Russians; and at Paris he
+strained every nerve to call the youth of the Empire to arms. The
+summons met with a ready response: he had but to stamp his foot when
+the news from East Prussia looked ominous, and an array of 350,000
+conscripts was promised by the Senate (January 10th).
+
+In truth, his genius had enthralled the mind of France. The
+magnificence of his aims, his hitherto triumphant energy, and the
+glamour of his European supremacy had called forth all the faculties
+of the French and Italian peoples, and set them pulsating with
+ecstatic activity. He knew by instinct all the intricacies of their
+being, which his genius controlled with the easy decisiveness of a
+master-key. The rude shock of the Russian disaster served but to
+emphasize the thoroughness of his domination, and the dumb
+trustfulness of his forty-three millions of subjects.
+
+And yet their patience might well have been exhausted. His military
+needs had long ago drawn in levies the year before they were legally
+liable; but the mighty swirl of the Moscow campaign now sucked 150,000
+lads of under twenty years of age into the devouring vortex. In the
+Dutch and German provinces of his Empire the number of those who
+evaded the clutches of the conscription was very large. In fact, the
+number of "refractory conscripts" in the whole realm amounted to
+40,000. Large bands of them ranged the woods of Brittany and La
+Vendee, until mobile columns were sent to sweep them into the
+barracks.
+
+But in nearly the whole of France (Proper), Napoleon's name was still
+an unfailing talisman, appealing as it did to the two strongest
+instincts of the Celt, the clinging to the soil and the passion for
+heroic enterprise. Thus it came about that the peasantry gave up their
+sons to be "food for cannon" with the same docility that was shown by
+soldiers who sank death-stricken into a snowy bed with no word of
+reproach to the author of their miseries. A like obsequiousness was
+shown by the officials and legislators of France, who meekly listened
+to the Emperor's reproaches for their weakness in the Malet affair,
+and heard with mild surprise his denunciation against republican
+idealogy--_the cloudy metaphysics to which all the misfortunes of our
+fair France may be attributed_. No tongue dared to utter the retort
+which must have fermented in every brain.[281]
+
+But his explanations and appeals did not satisfy every Frenchman. Many
+were appalled at the frightful drain on the nation's strength. They
+asked in private how the deficit of 1812 and the further expenses of
+1813 were to be met, even if he allotted the communal domains to the
+service of the State. They pointed to allies ruined or lost; to Spain,
+where Joseph's throne still tottered from the shock of Salamanca; to
+Poland, lying mangled at the feet of the Muscovites; to Italy,
+desolated by the loss of her bravest sons; to the Confederation of the
+Rhine, equally afflicted and less resigned; to Austria and Prussia,
+where timid sovereigns and calculating Courts alone kept the peoples
+true to the hated French alliance. Only by a change of system, they
+averred, could the hatred of Europe be appeased, and the formation of
+a new and vaster Coalition avoided. Let Napoleon cease to force his
+methods of commercial warfare on the Continent: let him make peace on
+honourable terms with Russia, where the chief Minister, Romantzoff,
+was ready to meet him halfway: let him withdraw his garrisons from
+Prussian fortresses, soothe the susceptibilities of Austria--and
+events would tend to a solid and honourable peace.
+
+To all promptings of prudence Napoleon was deaf. His instincts and his
+experience of the Kings prevented him yielding on any important point.
+He determined to carry on the war from the Tagus to the Vistula, to
+bolster up Joseph in Spain, to keep his garrisons fast rooted in every
+fortress as far east as Danzig. Russia and Prussia, he said, had more
+need of peace than France. If he began by giving up towns, they would
+demand kingdoms, whereas by yielding nothing he would intimidate them.
+And if they did form a league, their forces would be thinly spread out
+over an immense space; he would easily dispose of their armies when
+they were not aided by the climate; and a single victory would undo
+the clumsy knot (_ce noeud mal assorti_).[282]
+
+In truth, if he left Spain out of his count, the survey of the
+military position was in many ways reassuring. England's power was
+enfeebled by the declaration of war by the United States. In Central
+Europe his position was still commanding. He held nearly all the
+fortresses of Prussia, and though he had lost a great army, that loss
+was spread out very largely over Poles, Germans, Italians, and smaller
+peoples. Many of the best French troops and all his ablest generals
+had survived. His Guard could therefore be formed again, and the
+brains of his army were also intact. The war had brought to light no
+military genius among the Russians; and all his past experience of the
+"old coalition machines" warranted the belief that their rusty
+cogwheels, even if oiled by English subsidies, would clank slowly
+along and break down at the first exceptional strain. Such had been
+the case at Marengo, at Austerlitz, at Friedland. Why should not
+history repeat itself?
+
+While he was guiding his steps solely by the light of past experience,
+events were occurring that heralded the dawn of a new era for Central
+Europe. On the 30th of December, the Prussian General Yorck, who led
+the Prussian corps serving previously under Macdonald in Courland,
+concluded the Convention of Tauroggen with the Russians, stipulating
+that this corps should hold the district around Memel and Tilsit as
+neutral territory, until Frederick William's decision should be known.
+Strictly considered, this convention was a grave breach of
+international law and an act of treachery towards Napoleon. The King
+at first viewed it in that light; but to all his subjects it seemed a
+noble and patriotic action. To continue the war with Russia for the
+benefit of Napoleon would have been an act of political suicide.
+
+Yet, for some weeks, Frederick William waited on events; and these
+events decided for war, not against Russia, but against France. The
+Prussian Chancellor, Hardenberg, did his best to hoodwink the French
+at Berlin, and quietly to play into the hands of the ardent German
+patriots. After publishing an official rebuke to Yorck, he secretly
+sent Major Thile to reassure him. He did more: in order to rescue the
+King from French influence, still paramount at Berlin, he persuaded
+him to set out for Breslau, on the pretext of raising there another
+contingent for service under Napoleon. The ruse completely succeeded:
+it deceived the French ambassador, St. Marsan: it fooled even Napoleon
+himself. With his now invariable habit of taking for granted that
+events would march according to his word of command, the Emperor
+assumed that this was for the raising of the corps of 30,000 men which
+he had requested Frederick William to provide, and said to Prince
+Hatzfeld (January 29th): "Your King is going to Breslau: I think it a
+timely step." Such was Napoleon's frame of mind, even after he heard
+of Yorck's convention with the Russians. That event he considered "the
+worst occurrence that could happen." Yet neither that nor the
+patriotic ferment in Prussia reft the veil from his eyes. He still
+believed that the Prussians would follow their King, and that the King
+would obey him. On February the 3rd he wrote to Maret, complaining
+that 2,000 Prussian horsemen were shutting themselves up in Silesian
+towns, "as if they were afraid of us, instead of helping us and
+covering their country."
+
+Once away from Berlin, Frederick William found himself launched on a
+resistless stream of national enthusiasm. At heart he was no less a
+patriot than the most ardent of the university students; but he knew
+far better than they the awful risks of war with the French Empire.
+His little kingdom of 4,700,000 souls, with but half-a-dozen
+strongholds it could call its own, a realm ravaged by Napoleon's
+troops alike in war and peace until commerce and credit were but a dim
+memory--such a land could ill afford to defy an empire ten times as
+populous and more than ten times as powerful. True, the Russians were
+pouring in under the guise of friendship; but the bitter memories of
+Tilsit forbade any implicit trust in Alexander. And, if the dross had
+been burnt out of his nature by a year of fiery trial, could his army,
+exhausted by that frightful winter campaign and decimated by the
+diseases which Napoleon's ghastly array scattered broadcast in its
+flight, ever hope, even with the help of Prussia's young levies, to
+cope with the united forces of Napoleon and Austria?
+
+For at present it seemed that the Court of Vienna would hold fast to
+the French alliance. There Metternich was all-powerful, and the
+keystone of his system was a guarded but profit-seeking subservience
+to Napoleon. Not that the Emperor Francis and he loved the French
+potentate; but they looked on him now as a pillar of order, as a
+barrier against Jacobinism in France, against the ominous
+pan-Germanism preached by Prussian enthusiasts, and against Muscovite
+aggandizement in Turkey and Poland. Great was their concern, first at
+the Russo-Turkish peace which installed the Muscovites at the northern
+mouth of the Danube, and still more at the conquering swoops of the
+Russian eagle on Warsaw and Posen. How could they now hope to gain
+from Turkey the set-off to the loss of Tyrol and Illyria on which they
+had recently been counting, and how save any of the Polish lands from
+the grip of Russia? For the present Russia was more to be feared than
+Napoleon. Her influence seemed the more threatening to the policy of
+balance on which the fortunes of the Hapsburgs were delicately poised.
+
+Only by degrees were these fears and jealousies laid to rest. It
+needed all the address of a British envoy, Lord Walpole, who repaired
+secretly to Vienna and held out the promise of tempting gains, to
+assuage these alarms, and turn Austria's gaze once more on her lost
+provinces, Tyrol, Illyria, and Venetia. For the present, however,
+nothing came of these overtures; and when the French discovered
+Walpole's presence at Vienna, Metternich begged him to leave.[283]
+
+For the present, then, Austria assumed a neutral attitude. A truce was
+concluded with Russia, and a special envoy was sent to Paris to
+explain the desire of the Emperor Francis to act as mediator, with a
+view to the conclusion of a general peace. The latest researches into
+Austrian policy show that the Kaiser desired an honourable peace for
+all parties concerned, and that Metternich may have shared his views.
+But, early in the negotiations, Napoleon showed flashes of distrust as
+to the sincerity of his father-in-law, and Austria gradually changed
+her attitude. The change was to be fatal to Napoleon. But the question
+whether it was brought about by Napoleon's obstinacy, or Metternich's
+perfidy, or the force of circumstances, must be postponed for the
+present, while we consider events of equal importance and of greater
+interest.
+
+While Austria balanced and Frederick William negotiated, the sterner
+minds of North Germany rushed in on the once sacred ground of
+diplomacy and statecraft. The struggle against Napoleon was prepared
+for by the exile Stein, and war was first proclaimed by a professor.
+
+Among the many influences that urged on the Czar to a war for the
+liberation of Prussia and Europe, not the least was that wielded at
+his Court in the latter half of 1812 by the staunch German patriot,
+Stein. His heroic spirit never quailed, even in the darkest hour of
+Prussia's humiliation; and he now pointed out convincingly that the
+only sure means of overthrowing Napoleon was to raise Germany against
+him. To remain on a tame defensive at Warsaw would be to court another
+French invasion in 1813. The safety of Russia called for a pursuit of
+the French beyond the Elbe and a rally of the Germans against the man
+they detested. The appeal struck home. It revived Alexander's longings
+for the liberation of Europe, which he had buried at Tilsit; and it
+agreed with the promptings of an ambitious statecraft. Only by
+overthrowing Napoleon's supremacy in Germany could the Czar gain a
+free hand for a lasting settlement of the Polish Question. The eastern
+turn given to his policy in 1807 was at an end--but not before Russia
+had taken another step towards the Bosphorus. With one leg planted at
+the mouth of the Danube, the Colossus now prepared to stride over
+Central Europe. The aims of Catherine II. in 1792 were at last to be
+realized. While Europe was wrestling with Revolutionary France, the
+Muscovite grasp was to tighten on Poland. It is not surprising that
+Alexander, on January 13th, commented on the "brilliance of the
+present situation," or that he decided to press onward. He gave little
+heed to the Gallophil counsels of Romantzoff or the dolorous warnings
+of the German-hating Kutusoff; and, on January 18th, he empowered
+Stein provisionally to administer in his name the districts of Prussia
+(Proper) when occupied by Russian troops.
+
+So irregular a proceeding could only be excused by dire necessity and
+by success. It was more than excused; it was triumphantly justified.
+Four days later Stein arrived at Koenigsberg, in company with the
+patriotic poet, Arndt. The Estates, or Provincial Assemblies, of East
+and West Prussia were summoned, and they heartily voted supplies for
+forming a Landwehr or militia, as well as a last line of defence
+called the Landsturm. This step, unique in the history of Prussia, was
+taken apart from, almost in defiance of, the royal sanction: it was,
+in fact, due to the masterful will of Stein, who saw that a great
+popular impulse, and it alone, could overcome the inertia of King and
+officials. That impulse he himself originated, and by virtue of powers
+conferred on him by the Emperor Alexander. And the ball thus set
+rolling at Koenigsberg was to gather mass and momentum until, thanks to
+the powerful aid of Wellington in the South, it overthrew Napoleon at
+Paris.
+
+The action of the exile was furthered by the word of a thinker and
+seer. A worthy professor at the University of Breslau, named Steffens,
+had long been meditating on some means of helping his country. The
+arrival of Frederick William had kindled a flame of devotion which
+perplexed that modest and rather pedantic ruler. But he so far
+responded to it as to allow Hardenberg to issue (February 3rd) an
+appeal for volunteers to "reinforce the ranks of the old defenders of
+the country." The appeal was entirely vague: it did not specify
+whether they would serve against the nominal enemy, Russia, or the
+real enemy, Napoleon. Pondering this weighty question, as did all good
+patriots, Steffens heard, in the watches of the night, the voice of
+conscience declare: "Thou must declare war against Napoleon." At his
+early morning lecture on Physics, which was very thinly attended, he
+told the students that he would address them at eleven on the call for
+volunteers. That lecture was thronged; and to the sea of eager faces
+Steffens spoke forth the thought that simmered in every brain, the
+burning desire for _war with Napoleon_. He offered himself as a
+recruit: 200 students from Breslau and 258 from the University of
+Berlin soon flocked to the colours, and that, too, chiefly from the
+classes which of yore had detested the army. Thanks to the teachings
+of Fichte and the still deeper lessons of adversity, the mind of
+Germany was now ranged on the side of national independence and
+against an omnivorous imperialism.
+
+Where the mind led the body followed, yet still somewhat haltingly. In
+truth, the King and his officials were in a difficult position. They
+distrusted the Russians, who seemed chiefly eager to force Frederick
+William into war with France and to arrange the question of a frontier
+afterwards. But the eastern frontier was a question of life and death
+for Prussia. If Alexander kept the whole of the great Duchy of Warsaw,
+the Hohenzollern States would be threatened from the east as
+grievously as ever they were on the west by the French at Magdeburg.
+And the Czar seemed resolved to keep the whole of Poland. He told the
+Prussian envoy, Knesebeck, that, while handing over to Frederick
+William the whole of Saxony, Russia must retain all the Polish lands,
+a resolve which would have planted the Russian standards almost on the
+banks of the Oder. Nay, more: Knesebeck detected among the Russian
+officials a strong, though as yet but half expressed, longing for the
+whole of Prussia east of the lower Vistula.
+
+For his part, Frederick William cherished lofty hopes. He knew that
+the Russian troops had suffered horribly from privations and disease,
+that as yet they mustered only 40,000 effectives on the Polish
+borders, and that they urgently needed the help of Prussia. He
+therefore claimed that, if he joined Russia in a war against Napoleon,
+he must recover the whole of what had been Prussian Poland, with the
+exception of the district of Bialystock ceded at Tilsit.[284] It
+seemed, then, that the Polish Question would once more exert on the
+European concert that dissolving influence which had weakened the
+Central Powers ever since the days of Valmy. Had Napoleon now sent to
+Breslau a subtle schemer like Savary, the apple of discord might have
+been thrown in with fatal results. But the fortunes of his Empire then
+rested on a Piedmontese nobleman, St. Marsan, who showed a singular
+credulity as to Prussia's subservience. He accepted all Hardenberg's
+explanations (including a thin official reproof to Steffens), and did
+little or nothing to countermine the diplomatic approaches of Russia.
+The ground being thus left clear, it was possible for the Czar to
+speak straight to the heart of Frederick William. This he now did.
+Knesebeck was set aside; and Alexander, meeting the Prussian demands
+halfway, promised in a treaty, signed at Kalisch on February 27th, to
+leave Prussia all her present territories, and to secure for her the
+equivalent, in a "statistical, financial, and geographical sense," of
+the lands which she had lost since 1806, along with a territory
+adapted to connect Prussia Proper with the province of Silesia.[285]
+
+It seems certain that Stein's influence weighed much with Alexander in
+this final compromise, which postponed the irritating question of the
+eastern frontier and bent all the energies of two great States to the
+War of Liberation. Stein was sent to Frederick William at Breslau; but
+the King hardly deigned to see him, and the greatest of German
+patriots was suffered to remain in a garret of that city during a
+wearisome attack of fever. But he lived through disease and official
+neglect as he triumphed over Slavonic intrigues; and he had at hand
+that salve of many an able man--the knowledge that, even while he
+himself was slighted, his plans were adopted with beneficent and
+far-reaching results.
+
+The Russo-Prussian alliance was firmly upheld by Lord Cathcart, the
+British ambassador to Russia, who reached headquarters on March the
+2nd. For the present, Great Britain did not definitely join the
+allies; but the discussions on the Hanoverian Question, which had
+previously sundered us from Prussia, soon proved that wisdom had been
+learnt in the school of adversity. The Hohenzollerns now renounced all
+claims to Hanover, though they showed some repugnance to our
+Prince-Regent's demand that the Electorate should receive some
+territorial gain.
+
+Thus the two questions on which Napoleon had counted as certain to
+clog the wheels of the Coalition, as they had done in the past, were
+removed, and the way was cleared for a compact firmer than any which
+Europe had hitherto known. On March 17th a Russo-Prussian Convention
+was concluded at Breslau whereby those Powers agreed to deliver
+Germany from France, to dissolve the Confederation of the Rhine, and
+to summon the German princes and people to help them; every prince
+that refused would suffer the loss of his States; and arrangements
+were made for the provisional administration of the lands which the
+allies should occupy. Frederick William also appealed to his people
+and to his army, and instituted that coveted order of merit, the Iron
+Cross.
+
+But there was small need of appeals and decorations. The people rushed
+to arms with an ardour that rivalled the _levee en masse_ of France in
+1793. Nobles and students, professors and peasants, poets and
+merchants, shouldered their muskets. Housewives and maidens brought
+their scanty savings or their treasured trinkets as offerings for the
+altar of the Fatherland. One incident deserves special notice. A girl,
+Nanny by name, whose ringlets were her only wealth, shore them off,
+sold them, and brought the price of them, two thalers, for the sacred
+cause. A noble impulse thrilled through Germany. Volunteers came from
+far, many of whom were to ride with Luetzow's irregular horse in his
+wild ventures. Most noteworthy of these was the gifted young poet,
+Korner, a Saxon by birth, who now forsook a life of ease, radiant with
+poetic promise, at the careless city of Vienna, to follow the Prussian
+eagle. "A great time calls for great hearts," he wrote to his father:
+"am I to write vaudevilles when I feel within me the courage and
+strength for joining the actors on the stage of real life?" Alas! for
+him the end was to be swift and tragic. Not long after inditing an ode
+to his sword, he fell in a skirmish near Hamburg.
+
+Germany mourned his loss; but she mourned still more that her greatest
+poet, Goethe, felt no throb of national enthusiasm. The great Olympian
+was too much wrapped up in his lofty speculations to spare much
+sympathy for struggling mortals below: "Shake your chains, if you
+will: the man (Napoleon) is too strong for you: you will not break
+them." Such was his unprophetic utterance at Dresden to the elder
+Korner. Men who touched the people's pulse had no such doubts. "Ah!
+those were noble times," wrote Arndt: "the fresh young hope of life
+and honour sang in all hearts; it echoed along every street; it rolled
+majestically down every chancel." The sight of Germans thronging from
+all parts into Silesia to fight for their Prussian champions awakened
+in him the vision of a United Germany, which took form in the song,
+"What is the German's Fatherland?"[286]
+
+Against this ever-rising tide of national enthusiasm Napoleon pitted
+the resources which Gallic devotion still yielded up to his demands.
+They were surprisingly great. In less than half a year, after the loss
+of half a million of men, a new army nearly as numerous was marshalled
+under the imperial eagles. Thirty thousand tried troops were brought
+from Spain, thereby greatly relieving the pressure on Wellington.
+Italy and the garrison towns of the Empire sent forth a vast number.
+But the majority were young, untrained troops; and it was remarked
+that the conscripts born in the years of the Terror, 1793-4, had not
+the stamina of the earlier levies. Brave they were, superbly brave;
+and the Emperor sought by every means to breathe into them his own
+indomitable spirit. One of them has described how, on handing them
+their colours, he made a brief speech; and, at the close, rising in
+his stirrups and stretching forth his hand, he shot at them the
+question: "'You swear to guard them?' I felt, as we all felt, that he
+snatched from our very navel the cry, 'Yes, we swear.'" Truly, the
+Emperor could make boys heroes, but he could never repair the losses
+of 1812. Guns he possessed to the number of a thousand in his
+arsenals; but he lacked the thousands of skilled artillerymen: youths
+he could find and horses he could buy: but not for many a month had he
+the resistless streams of horsemen that poured over Prussia after
+Jena, or swept into the Great Redoubt at Borodino. Nevertheless, the
+energy which embattled a new host within five months of a seemingly
+overwhelming disaster, must be considered the most extraordinary event
+of an age fertile in marvels. "The imagination sinks back confounded,"
+says Pasquier, "when one thinks of all the work to be done and the
+resources of all kinds to be found, in order to raise, clothe, and
+equip such an army in so short a time."
+
+While immersed in this prodigious task, the Emperor heard, with some
+surprise but with no dismay, the news of Prussia's armaments and
+disaffection. At first he treats it as a passing freak which will
+vanish with firm treatment. "Remain at Berlin as long as you can," he
+writes to Eugene, March 5th. "Make examples for the sake of
+discipline. At the least insult, whether from a village or a town,
+were it from Berlin itself, burn it down." The chief thing that still
+concerns him is the vagueness of Eugene's reports, which leave him no
+option but to get news about his troops in Germany from _the English
+newspapers_. "Do not forget," he writes again on March 14th, "that
+Prussia has only four millions of people. She never in her most
+prosperous times had more than 150,000 troops. She will not have more
+than 40,000 now." That, indeed, was the number to which he had limited
+her after Tilsit; and he was unable to conceive that Scharnhorst's
+plan of passing men into a reserve would send triple that force into
+the field.[287] As for the Russians, he writes, they are thinned by
+disease, and must spread out widely in order to besiege the many
+fortresses between the Vistula and the Elbe. Indeed, he assures his
+ally, the King of Bavaria, that it will be good policy to let them
+advance: "The farther they advance, the more certain is their ruin."
+Sixty thousand troops were being led by Bertrand from Italy into
+Bavaria.[288] These, along with the corps of Eugene and Davoust, would
+crush the Russian columns. And, while the allies were busy in Saxony,
+Napoleon proposed to mass a great force under the shelter of the Harz
+Mountains, cross the Elbe near Havelberg, make a rush for the relief
+of Stettin, and stretch a hand to the large French force beleaguered
+at Danzig.
+
+Such was his first plan. It was upset by the rapidity of the Cossacks
+and the general uprising of Prussia. Augereau's corps was driven from
+Berlin by a force of Cossacks led by Tettenborn; and this daring free
+lance, a native of Hamburg, thereupon made a dash for the liberation
+of his city. For the time he was completely successful: the fury of
+the citizens against the French _douaniers_ gave the Cossacks and
+patriots an easy triumph there and throughout Hanover. This news
+caused Napoleon grave concern. The loss of the great Hanse Town opened
+a wide door for English goods, English money, and English troops into
+Germany. It must be closed at all costs: and, with severe rebukes to
+Eugene and Lauriston, who were now holding the line of the middle
+Elbe, he charged Davoust (March 18th) to hold the long winding course
+of that river between Magdeburg and Hamburg. The advance of this
+determined leader was soon to change the face of affairs in North
+Germany.
+
+Shortly before Napoleon left Paris for the seat of war, he received
+the new Austrian ambassador, Prince Schwarzenberg (April 9th). With a
+jocular courtesy that veiled the deepest irony, he complimented him on
+having waged _a fine campaign in_ 1812. Austria's present requests
+were not reassuring. While professing the utmost regard for the
+welfare of Napoleon, she renewed her offer of mediation in a more
+pressing way. In fact, Metternich's aim now was to free Austria from
+the threatening pressure of Napoleon on the west and of Russia on the
+east. She must now assure to Europe a lasting peace--"not a mere truce
+in disguise, like all former treaties with Napoleon"--but a peace that
+would restrict the power of France and "establish a balance of power
+among the chief States."[289] Such was the secret aim of Austria's
+mediation. Obviously, it gave her many advantages. While posing as
+mediator, she could claim her share in the territorial redistribution
+which must accompany the peace. The blessing awarded to the peacemaker
+must be tangible and immediate.
+
+Napoleon's reply to the ambassador was carefully guarded. War was not
+to his interest. It would cost more blood than the Moscow campaign.
+The great hindrance to any settlement would be England. Russia also
+seemed disposed to a fight _a outrance_; but if the Czar wanted peace,
+it was for him, not for France, to take the initiative: "I cannot take
+the initiative: that would be like capitulating as if I were in a
+fort: it is for the others to send me their proposals." And he
+expressed his resolve to accept no disadvantageous terms in these
+notable words: "If I concluded a dishonourable peace, it would be my
+overthrow. I am a new man; I must pay the more heed to public opinion,
+because I stand in need of it. The French have lively imaginations:
+they love fame and excitement, and are nervous. Do you know the prime
+cause of the fall of the Bourbons? It dates from Rossbach." Benevolent
+assurances as to Napoleon's desire for peace and for the assembly of a
+Congress were all that Schwarzenberg could gain; and his mission was
+barren of result, except to increase suspicions on both sides.
+
+In fact, Napoleon was playing his cards at Vienna. He had sent Count
+Narbonne thither on a special mission, the purport of which stands
+revealed in the envoy's "verbal note" of April 7th. In that note
+Austria was pressed to help France with 100,000 men, against Russia
+and Prussia, in case they should open hostilities; her reward was to
+be the rich province of Silesia. As for the rest of Prussia, two
+millions of that people were to be assigned to Saxony, Frederick
+William being thrust to the east of the lower Vistula, and left with
+one million subjects.[290] Such was the glittering prize dangled
+before Metternich. But even the prospect of regaining the province
+torn away by the great Frederick moved him not. He judged the
+establishment of equilibrium in Europe to be preferable to a mean
+triumph over Prussia. To her and to the Czar he had secretly held out
+hopes of succour in case Napoleon should prove intractable: and to
+this course of action he still clung. True, he trampled on _la petite
+morale_ in neglecting to aid his nominal ally, Napoleon. But to
+abandon him, if he remained obdurate, was, after all, but an act of
+treachery to an individual who had slight claims on Austria, and whose
+present offer was alike immoral and insulting. Four days later
+Metternich notified to Russia and Prussia that the Emperor Francis
+would now proceed with his task of armed mediation.[291]
+
+Austria's overtures for a general peace met with no encouragement at
+London. Her envoy, Count Wessenberg, was now treated with the same
+cold reserve that had been accorded to Lord Walpole at Vienna early in
+the year. On April 9th Castlereagh informed him that all hope of peace
+had failed since the "Ruler of France" had declared to the Legislative
+Body that _the French Dynasty reigned and would continue to reign in
+Spain, and that he had already stated all the sacrifices that he could
+consent to make for peace_.
+
+    "Whilst he [Napoleon] shall continue to declare that none of the
+    territories arbitrarily incorporated into the French Empire shall
+    become matter of negotiation, it is in vain to hope that His
+    Imperial Majesty's beneficent intentions can by negotiation be
+    accomplished. It is for His Imperial Majesty to consider, after a
+    declaration in the nature of a defiance from the Ruler of France,
+    a declaration highly insulting to His Imperial Majesty when his
+    intervention for peace had been previously accepted, whether the
+    moment is not arrived for all the Great Powers of Europe to act in
+    concert for their common interests and honour. To obtain for their
+    States what may deserve the name of peace they must look again to
+    establish an Equilibrium in Europe."
+
+Finally, the British Government refused to lend itself to a
+negotiation which must weaken and distract the efforts of Russia and
+Prussia.[292]
+
+For the present Napoleon indulged the hope that the bribe of Silesia
+would range Austria's legions side by side with his own, and with
+Poniatowski's Poles. Animated with this hope, he left Paris before the
+dawn of April 15th; and, travelling at furious speed, his carriage
+rolled within the portals of Mainz in less than forty hours. There he
+stayed for a week, feeling every throb of the chief arteries of his
+advance. They beat full and fast; the only bad symptom was the refusal
+of Saxony to place her cavalry at his disposal. But, at the close of
+the week, Austria's attitude gave him concern. It was clear that she
+had not swallowed the bait of Silesia, and that her troops could not
+be counted on.
+
+At once he takes precautions. His troops in Italy are to be made
+ready, the strongholds of the Upper Danube strengthened, and his
+German vassals are closely to watch the policy of Vienna.[293] He then
+proceeds to Weimar. There, on April 29th, he mounts his war-horse and
+gazes with searching eyes into the columns that are winding through
+the Thuringian vales towards Leipzig. The auguries seem favourable.
+The men are full of ardour: the line of march is itself an
+inspiration; and the veterans cheer the young conscripts with tales of
+the great day of Jena and Auerstadt.
+
+At the close of April the military situation was as follows. Eugene
+Beauharnais, who commanded the relics of the Grand Army, after
+suffering a reverse at Mockern, had retired to the line of the Elbe;
+and French garrisons were thus left isolated in Danzig, Modlin,
+Zamosc, Glogau, Kuestrin, and Stettin.[294] Napoleon's first plan of an
+advance direct to Stettin and Danzig having miscarried, he now sought
+to gather an immense force as secretly as possible near the Main,
+speedily to reinforce Eugene, crush the heads of the enemy's columns,
+and, rolling them up in disorder, carry the war to the banks of the
+Oder, and relieve his beleaguered garrisons by way of Leipzig and
+Torgau. The plan would have the further advantage of bringing a
+formidable force near to the Austrian frontier, and holding fast the
+Hapsburgs and Saxons to the French alliance.
+
+Meanwhile the allied army was pressing westwards with no less
+determination. The Czar and King had addressed a menacing summons to
+the King of Saxony to join them, but, receiving no response, invaded
+his States. Thereupon Frederick Augustus fled into Bohemia, relying on
+an offer from Vienna which guaranteed him his German lands if he would
+join the Hapsburgs in their armed mediation.[295] For the present,
+however, Saxony was to be the battlefield of the two contending
+principles of nationality and Napoleonic Imperialism.
+
+They clashed together on the historic ground of Luetzen. Not only the
+associations of the place, but the reputation of the leaders helped to
+kindle the enthusiasm of the rank and file. On the one side was the
+great conqueror himself, with faculties and prestige undimmed even by
+the greatest disaster recorded in the annals of civilized nations. He
+was opposed by men no less determined than himself. The illness and
+finally the death of the obstinate old Kutusoff had stopped the
+intrigues of the Slav peace party, hitherto strong in the Russian
+camp: and the command now devolved on Wittgenstein, a more energetic
+man, whose heart was in his work.
+
+But the most inspiring influence was that of Bluecher. The staunch
+patriot seemed to embody the best qualities of the old _regime_ and of
+the new era. The rigour learnt in the school of Frederick the Great
+was vivified by the fresh young enthusiasm of the dawning age of
+nationality. Not that the old soldier could appreciate the lofty
+teachings of Fichte the philosopher and Schleiermacher the preacher.
+But his lack of learning--he could never write a despatch without
+strange torturings of his mother-tongue--was more than made up by a
+quenchless love of the Fatherland, by a robust common sense, which hit
+straight at the mark where subtler minds strayed off into side issues,
+by a comradeship that endeared him to every private, and by a courage
+that never quailed. And all these gifts, homely but invaluable in a
+people's war, were wrought to utmost tension by an all-absorbing
+passion, hatred of Napoleon. In the dark days after Jena, when,
+pressed back to the Baltic, his brave followers succumbed to the
+weight of numbers, he began to store up vials of fury against the
+insolent conqueror. Often he beguiled the weary hours with lunging at
+an imaginary foe, calling out--_Napoleon_. And this almost Satanic
+hatred bore the old man through seven years of humiliation; it gave
+him at seventy-two years of age the energy of youth; far from being
+sated by triumphs in Saxony and Champagne, it nerved him with new
+strength after the shocks to mind and body which he sustained at
+Ligny; it carried him and his army through the miry lanes of Wavre on
+to the sunset radiance of Waterloo.
+
+What he lacked in skill and science was made up by his able
+coadjutors, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the former pre-eminent in
+organization, the latter in strategy. After organizing Prussia's
+citizen army, it was Scharnhorst's fate to be mortally wounded in the
+first battle; but his place, as chief of staff, was soon filled by
+Gneisenau, in whose nature the sternness of the warrior was happily
+blended with the coolness of the scientific thinker. The accord
+between him and Bluecher was close and cordial; and the latter, on
+receiving the degree of doctor of laws from the University of Oxford,
+wittily acknowledged his debt to the strategist. "Well," said he, "if
+I am to be a doctor, they must make Gneisenau an apothecary; for he
+makes up the pills and I then administer them."
+
+On these resolute chiefs and their 33,000 Prussians fell the brunt of
+the fighting near Luetzen. Wittgenstein, with his 35,000 Russians,
+showed less energy; but if a fourth Russian corps under Miloradovitch,
+then on the Elster, had arrived in time, the day might have closed
+with victory for the allies. Their plan was to cross a stream, called
+the Floss Graben, some five miles to the south of Luetzen, storm the
+villages of Gross Goerschen, Rahna, and Starsiedel, held by the French
+vanguard, and, cutting into Napoleon's line of march towards Luetzen
+and Leipzig, throw it into disorder and rout. But their great enemy
+had recently joined his array to that of Eugene: he was in force, and
+was then planning a turning movement on the north, similar to that
+which threatened his south flank. Ney, on whom fell Bluecher's first
+blows, had observed the preparations, and one of his divisions, that
+of Souham, had strengthened the village of Gross Goerschen for an
+obstinate defence. The French position is thus described by Lord
+Cathcart, who was then present at the allied headquarters:
+
+    "The country is uncovered and open, but with much variety of hill
+    and valley, and much intersected by hollow ways and millstreams,
+    the former not discernible till closely approached. The enemy,
+    placed behind a long ridge and in a string of villages, with a
+    hollow way in front, and a stream sufficient to float timber on
+    the left, waited the near approach of the allies. He had an
+    immense quantity of ordnance: the batteries in the open country
+    were supported by masses of infantry in solid squares. The plan of
+    our operations was to attack Gross Goerschen with artillery and
+    infantry, and meanwhile to pierce the line, to the enemy's right
+    of the villages, with a strong column of cavalry in order to cut
+    off the troops in the villages from support.... The cavalry of the
+    Prussian Reserve, to whose lot this attack fell, made it with
+    great gallantry; but the showers of grapeshot and musketry to
+    which they were exposed in reaching the hollow way made it
+    impracticable for them to penetrate; and, the enemy appearing
+    determined to hold the villages at any expense, the affair assumed
+    the most expensive character of attack and defence of a post
+    repeatedly taken, lost, and retaken. The cavalry made several
+    attempts to break the enemy's line, and in some of their attacks
+    succeeded in breaking into the squares and cutting down the
+    infantry. Late in the evening, Bonaparte, having called in the
+    troops from [the side of] Leipzig and collected all his reserves,
+    made an attack on the right of the allies, supported by the fire
+    of several batteries advancing. The vivacity of this movement made
+    it expedient to change the front of our nearest brigades on our
+    right; and, as the whole cavalry from our left was ordered to the
+    right to turn this attack, I was not without hopes of witnessing
+    the destruction of Bonaparte and of all his army; but before the
+    cavalry could arrive, it became so dark that nothing could be seen
+    but the flashes of the guns."[296]
+
+The desperate fight thus closed with a slight advantage to the French,
+due to the timely advance of Eugene with Macdonald's corps against the
+right flank of the wearied allies, when it was too late for them to
+make any counter-move. These had lost severely, and among the fallen
+was Scharnhorst, whose wound proved to be mortal. But Bluecher, far
+from being daunted by defeat or by a wound, led seven squadrons of
+horse against the victors after nightfall, threw them for a brief
+space into a panic, and nearly charged up to the square which
+sheltered Napoleon. The Saxon Captain von Odeleben, who was at the
+French headquarters, states that the Emperor was for a few minutes
+quite dazed by the daring of this stroke; and he now had too few
+squadrons to venture on any retaliation. Both sides were, in fact,
+exhausted. The allies had lost 10,000 men killed and wounded, but no
+prisoners or guns: the French losses were nearly as heavy, and five
+guns and 800 prisoners fell into Bluecher's hands. Both armies camped
+on the field of battle; but, as the supplies of ammunition of the
+allies had run low, and news came to hand that Lauriston had dislodged
+Kleist from Leipzig, it was decided to retreat towards Dresden.
+
+Napoleon cautiously followed them, leaving behind Ney's corps, which
+had suffered frightfully at Gross Goerschen; and he strove to inspirit
+the conscripts, many of whom had shown unsteadiness, by proclaiming to
+the army that the victory of Luetzen would rank above Austerlitz, Jena,
+Friedland, and Borodino.
+
+Far from showing dejection, Alexander renewed to Cathcart his
+assurance of persevering in the war. At Dresden our envoy was again
+assured (May 7th) that the allies would not give in, but that "Austria
+will wear the cloak of mediation till the time her immense force is
+ready to act, the 24th instant. Count Stadion is hourly expected here:
+he will bring proposals of terms of peace and similar ones will be
+sent to the French headquarters. Receiving and refusing these
+proposals will occupy most of the time." In fact, Metternich was on
+the point of despatching from Vienna two envoys, Stadion to the
+allies, Count Bubna to Napoleon, with the offer of Austria's armed
+mediation.
+
+It found him in no complaisant mood. He had entered Dresden as a
+conqueror: he had bitterly chidden the citizens for their support of
+the Prussian volunteers, and ordered them to beg their own King to
+return from Bohemia. To that hapless monarch he had sent an imperious
+mandate to come back and order the Saxon troops, who obstinately held
+Torgau, forthwith to hand it over to the French. On all sides his
+behests were obeyed, the Saxon troops grudgingly ranging themselves
+under the French eagles. And while he was tearing Saxony away from the
+national cause, he was summoned by Austria to halt. The victor met the
+request with a flash of defiance. After a reproachful talk with Bubna,
+on May 17th, he wrote two letters to the Emperor Francis. In the more
+official note he assured him that he desired peace, and that he
+assented to the opening of a Congress with that aim in view, in which
+England, Russia, Prussia, and even the Spanish insurgents might take
+part. He therefore proposed that an armistice should be concluded for
+the needful preparations. But in the other letter he assured his
+father-in-law that he was ready to die at the head of all the generous
+men of France rather than become the sport of England. His resentment
+against Austria finds utterance in his despatch of the same day, in
+which he bids Caulaincourt seek an interview at once with the Czar:
+"The essential thing is to have a talk with him.... My intention is to
+build him a golden bridge so as to deliver him from the intrigues of
+Metternich. If I must make sacrifices, I prefer to make them to a
+straightforward enemy, rather than to the profit of Austria, which
+Power has betrayed my alliance, and, under the guise of mediator,
+means to claim the right of arranging everything." Caulaincourt is to
+remind Alexander how badly Austria behaved to him in 1812, and to
+suggest that if he treats at once before losing another battle, he can
+retire with honour and _with good terms for Prussia, without any
+intervention from Austria_.
+
+His other letters of this time show that it is on the Hapsburgs that
+his resentment will most heavily fall. Eugene, who had recently
+departed to organize the forces in Italy, is urged to threaten Austria
+with not fewer than 80,000 men, and to give out that he will soon have
+150,000 men under arms. And, while straining every nerve in Germany,
+France, and Italy, Napoleon asserts that there will be an armistice
+for the conclusion of a general peace.[297] But the allies were not to
+be duped into a peace that was no peace. They had good grounds for
+expecting the eventual aid of Austria; and when Caulaincourt craved an
+interview, the Czar refused his request, thus bringing affairs once
+more to the arbitrament of the sword. The only effect of
+Caulaincourt's mission, and of Napoleon's bitter words to Bubna, was
+to alarm Austria.
+
+On their side, the allies desired to risk no further check; and they
+had therefore taken up a strong position near Bautzen, where they
+could receive reinforcements and effectually cover Silesia. Their
+extreme left rested on the spurs of the Lusatian mountains, while
+their long front of some four miles in extent stretched northwards
+along a ridge that rose between the River Spree and an affluent, and
+bent a convex threatening brow against that river and town. There they
+were joined by Barclay, whose arrival brought their total strength to
+82,000 men. But again Napoleon had the advantage in numbers. Suddenly
+calling in Ney's and Lauriston's force of 60,000 men, which had been
+sent north so as to threaten Berlin, he confronted the allies with at
+least 130,000 men.[298]
+
+On the first day of fighting (May 20th) the French seized the town of
+Bautzen, but failed to drive the allies from the hilly, wooded ground
+on the south. The fighting on the next day was far more serious. At
+dawn of a beautiful spring morning, in a country radiant with verdure
+and diversified by trim villages, the thunder of cannon and the
+sputter of skirmishers' lines presaged a stubborn conflict. The allied
+sovereigns from the commanding ridge at their centre could survey all
+the enemy's movements on the hills opposite; and our commissary,
+Colonel (afterwards Sir Hudson) Lowe, has thus described his view of
+Napoleon, who was near the French centre:
+
+    "He was about fifty paces in front of the others, accompanied by
+    one of his marshals, with whom he walked backwards and forwards
+    for nearly an hour. He was dressed in a plain uniform coat and a
+    star [_sic_], with a plain hat, different from that of his
+    marshals and generals, which was feathered. In the rear, and to
+    the left of the ridge on which he stood, were his reserves. They
+    were formed in lines of squadrons and battalions, appearing like a
+    large column of battalions: their number must have been between
+    15,000 and 20,000.
+
+    After he had retired from the eminence, several of the battalions
+    were observed to be drawn off to his left, and to be replaced by
+    others from the rear: the masses of his reserves appeared to
+    suffer scarcely any diminution.... Those troops which were to act
+    against our right continued their march: the others, opposite our
+    centre, planted themselves about midway on the slope, which
+    descended from the ridge towards our position; and, under the
+    protection of the guns that crowned the ridge, they appeared to
+    set our cavalry at defiance.... Yet there was no forward movement
+    in that part. To turn and overthrow our flanks, particularly the
+    right one, appeared now to be their main object."
+
+This was the case. Napoleon was employing his usual tactics of
+assailing the allies everywhere by artillery and musketry fire, so as
+to keep them in their already very extended position until he could
+deliver a decisive blow. This was dealt, though somewhat tardily, by
+Ney with his huge corps at the allied right, where Barclay's 5,000
+Russians were outmatched and driven back. The village of Preititz was
+lost, and with it the allies' communications were laid bare. It was of
+the utmost importance to recover the village; and Bluecher, at the
+right centre, hard pressed though he was, sent down Kleist's brigade,
+which helped to wrench the prize from that Marshal's grasp. But Ney
+was too strong to be kept off, even by the streams of cannon-shot
+poured upon his dense columns. With the help of Lauriston's corps, he
+again slowly pressed on, began to envelop the allies' right, and
+threatened to cut off their retreat. Bluecher was also furiously
+assailed by Marmont and Bertrand. On the left, it is true, the
+Russians had beaten back Oudinot with heavy loss; but, as Napoleon had
+not yet seriously drawn on his reserves, the allied chiefs decided to
+draw off their hard-pressed troops from this unequal contest, where
+victory was impossible and delay might place everything in jeopardy.
+
+The retirement began late in the afternoon. Covered by the fire of a
+powerful artillery from successive crests, and by the charges of their
+dauntless cavalry, the allies beat off every effort of the French to
+turn the retreat into a rout. In vain did Napoleon press the pursuit.
+As at Luetzen, he had cause to mourn the loss in the plains of Russia
+of those living waves that had swept his enemies from many a
+battlefield. But now their columns refused to melt away. They filed
+off, unbroken and defiant, under the covering wings of Uhlans and
+Cossacks.[299]
+
+The next day witnessed the same sight, the allies drawing steadily
+back, showering shot from every post of vantage, and leaving not a
+prisoner or a caisson in the conquerors' hands. "What!" said Napoleon,
+"after such a butchery, no results? no prisoners?" Scarcely had he
+spoken these words, when a cannon-ball tore through his staff, killing
+one general outright, wounding another, and shattering the frame of
+Duroc, Duc de Friuli. Napoleon was deeply affected by this occurrence.
+He dismounted, went into the cottage where Duroc was taken, and for
+some time pressed his hand in silence. Then he uttered the words:
+"Duroc, there is another world where we shall meet again." To which
+the Grand Marshal made reply: "Yes, sire; but it will be in thirty
+years, when you have triumphed over your enemies and realized all the
+hopes of your country." After a long pause of painful silence, the
+Emperor mournfully left the man for whom he felt, perhaps, the
+liveliest sympathy and affection he ever bestowed. Under Duroc's cold,
+reserved exterior the Emperor knew that there beat a true heart,
+devoted and loyal ever since they had first met at Toulon. He received
+no one else for the rest of that night, and a hush of awe fell on the
+camp at the unwonted signs of grief of their great leader.
+
+Possibly this loss strengthened the Emperor's desire for a truce, a
+feeling not lessened by a mishap befalling one of his divisions, which
+fell into an ambush laid by the Prussians at Hainau, and lost 1,500
+men and 18 guns.
+
+For their part, the allies equally desired a suspension of arms. Their
+forces were in much confusion. Alexander had superseded Wittgenstein
+by Barclay, who now insisted on withdrawing the Russians into Poland.
+To this the Prussian staff offered the most strenuous resistance. Such
+a confession of weakness, urged Mueffling, would dishearten the troops
+and intimidate the Austrian statesmen who had promised speedy succour.
+Let the allies cling to the sheltering rampart of the Riesengebirge,
+where they might defy Napoleon's attacks and await the white-coats.
+The fortress of Schweidnitz would screen their retreat, and the
+Landwehr of Silesia would make good the gaps in their ranks. Towards
+Schweidnitz, then, the Czar ordered Barclay to retreat.
+
+There two disappointments awaited them. The fortifications, dismantled
+by the French in 1807, were still in disrepair, and the 20,000 muskets
+bought in Austria for the Silesian levies were without touch-holes!
+Again Barclay declared that he must retreat into Poland, and only the
+offer of a truce by Napoleon deterred him from that step, which must
+have compromised the whole military and political situation. What
+would not Napoleon have given to know the actual state of things at
+the allied headquarters?[300] But no spy warned him of the truth; and
+as his own instincts prompted him to turn aside, so as to prepare
+condign chastisement for Austria, he continued to treat for an
+armistice.
+
+"Nothing," he wrote to Eugene on June 2nd, "can be more perfidious
+than that Court. If I granted her present demands, she would
+afterwards ask for Italy and Germany. Certainly she shall have nothing
+from me." Events served to strengthen his resolve. The French entered
+Breslau in triumph, and raised the siege of Glogau. The coalition
+seemed to be tottering. That the punishment dealt to the allies and
+Austria might be severe and final, he only needed a few weeks for the
+reorganization of his once formidable cavalry. Then he could vent his
+rage upon Austria. Then he could overthrow the Hungarian horse, and
+crumple up the ill-trained Austrian foot. A short truce, he believed,
+was useless: it would favour the allies more than the French. And,
+under the specious plea that the discussion of a satisfactory peace
+must take up at least forty days, he ordered his envoy, Caulaincourt,
+to insist on a space of time which would admit of the French forces
+being fully equipped in Saxony, Bavaria, and Illyria. "If," he wrote
+to Caulaincourt on June 4th, "we did not wish to treat with a view to
+peace, we should not be so stupid as to treat for an armistice at the
+present time." And he urged him to insist on the limit of July 20th,
+"always on the same reasoning, namely, that we must have forty full
+days to see if we can come to an understanding." Far different was his
+secret warning to General Clarke, the Minister of War. To him he wrote
+on June 2nd:
+
+    "If I can, I will wait for the month of September to deal great
+    blows. I wish then to be in a position to crush my enemies, though
+    it is possible that, when Austria sees me about to do so, she may
+    make use of her pathetic and sentimental style, in order to
+    recognize the chimerical and ridiculous nature of her pretensions.
+    I have wished to write you this letter so that you may thoroughly
+    know my thoughts once for all."
+
+And to Maret, his Minister for Foreign Affairs, he wrote on the same
+day:
+
+    "We must gain time, and to gain time without displeasing Austria,
+    we must use the same language we have used for the last six
+    months--that we can do everything if Austria is our ally.... Work
+    on this, beat about the bush, and gain time.... You can embroider
+    on this canvas for the next two months, and find matter for
+    sending twenty couriers."[301]
+
+In such cases, where Napoleon's diplomatic assurances are belied by
+his secret military instructions, no one who has carefully studied his
+career can doubt which course would be adopted. The armistice was
+merely the pause that would be followed by a fiercer onset, unless the
+allies and Austria bent before his will. Of this they gave no sign
+even after the blow of Bautzen. In the negotiations concerning the
+armistice they showed no timidity; and when, on June 4th, it was
+signed at Poischwitz up to July 20th, Napoleon felt some doubts
+whether he had not shown too much complaisance.
+
+It was so: in granting a suspension of arms he had signed his own
+death warrant.
+
+The news that reached him at Dresden in the month of June helped to
+stiffen his resolve once more. Davoust and Vandamme had succeeded in
+dispersing the raw levies of North Germany and in restoring Napoleon's
+authority at the mouths of the Elbe and Weser; and in this they now
+had the help of the Danes.
+
+For some time the allies had been seeking to win over Denmark. But
+there was one insurmountable barrier in the way, the ambition of
+Bernadotte. As we have seen, he was desirous of signalizing his
+prospective succession to the Swedish throne by bringing to his
+adopted country a land that would amply recompense it for the loss of
+Finland.[302] This could only be found in Norway, then united with
+Denmark; and this was the price of Swedish succour, to which the Czar
+had assented during the war of 1812. For reasons which need not be
+detailed here, Swedish help was not then forthcoming. But early in
+1813 it was seen that a diversion caused by the landing of 30,000
+Swedes in North Germany might be most valuable, and it was especially
+desired by the British Government. Still, England was loth to gain the
+alliance of Bernadotte at the price of Norway, which must drive
+Denmark into the arms of France. Castlereagh, therefore, sought to
+tempt him by the offer of our recent conquest of Guadeloupe. Or, if he
+must have Norway, would not Denmark give her assent if she received
+Swedish Pomerania and Luebeck? Bernadotte himself once suggested that
+he would be satisfied with the Bishopric of Trondjem, the northern
+part of Norway, if he could gain no compensation for Denmark in
+Germany.[303]
+
+This offer was tentatively made. It was all one. Denmark would not
+hear of the cession of Norway or any part of it; and in the course of
+the negotiations with England she even put in a claim to the Hanse
+Towns, which was at once rejected. As Denmark was obdurate, Bernadotte
+insisted that Sweden should gain the whole of Norway as the price of
+her help to the allies. By the treaty of Stockholm (March 3rd, 1813)
+we acceded to the Russo-Swedish compact of the previous year, which
+assigned Norway to Sweden: we also promised to cede Guadeloupe to
+Bernadotte, and to pay L1,000,000 towards the support of the Swedish
+troops serving against Napoleon.[304] In the middle of May it was
+known at Copenhagen that nothing was to be hoped for from Russia and
+England. The Danes, therefore, ranged themselves on the French side,
+with results that were to prove fatal to the welfare of their kingdom.
+
+Thus the bargain which Bernadotte drove with the allies leagued
+Denmark against them, and thereby hindered the liberation of North
+Germany. But, such is the irony of fate, the transfer of Norway from
+Denmark to Sweden has had a permanence in which Napoleon's territorial
+arrangements have been signally lacking.
+
+Bernadotte landed at Stralsund with 24,000 men, on May 18th. But the
+organization of his troops for the campaign was so slow that he could
+send no effective help to the Cossacks and patriots at Hamburg. His
+seeming lethargy at once aroused the Czar's suspicions. This the
+Swedish Prince Royal speedily detected; and, on hearing of the
+armistice, he feared that another Tilsit would be the result. In a
+passionate letter, of June 10th, he begged Alexander not to accept
+peace: "To accept a peace dictated by Napoleon is to rear a sepulchre
+for Europe: and if this misfortune happens, only England and Sweden
+can remain intact."
+
+This was the real Bernadotte. Those who called him a disguised friend
+of Napoleon little knew the depth of his hatred for the Emperor, a
+hatred which was even then compassing the earth for means of
+overthrowing him, and saw in the person of a lonely French exile
+beyond the Atlantic an instrument of vengeance. Already he had bidden
+his old comrade in arms, Moreau, to come over and direct the people's
+war against the tyrant who had exiled him; and the victor of
+Hohenlinden was soon to land at Stralsund and spend his last days in
+serving against the tricolour.
+
+For the present the prospects of the allies seemed gloomy indeed. In
+the south-east they had lost all the land up to Breslau and Glogau;
+and in North Germany Davoust began to turn Hamburg into a great
+fortress. This was in obedience to Napoleon's orders. "I shall never
+feel assured," the Emperor wrote to his Marshal, "until Hamburg can be
+looked on as a stronghold provisioned for several months and prepared
+in every way for a long defence."--The ruin of commercial interests
+was nought to him; and when Savary ventured to hint at the discontent
+caused in French mercantile circles by these steps, he received a
+sharp rebuke: " ... The cackling of the Paris bankers matters very
+little to me. I am having Hamburg fortified. I am having a naval
+arsenal formed there. Within a few months it will be one of my
+strongest fortresses. I intend to keep a standing army of 15,000 men
+there."[305] His plan was ruthlessly carried out. The wealth of
+Hamburg was systematically extorted in order to furnish means for a
+completer subjection. Boundless exactions, robbery of the bank, odious
+oppression of all classes, these were the first steps. Twenty thousand
+persons were thereafter driven out, first the young and strong as
+being dangerous, then the old and weak as being useless; and a once
+prosperous emporium of trade became Napoleon's chief northern
+stronghold, a centre of hope for French and Danes, and a stimulus to
+revenge for every patriotic Teuton.[306]
+
+Yet the patriots were not cast down by recent events. Their one desire
+was for the renewal of war: their one fear was that the diplomatists
+would once more barter away German independence. "Our people," cried
+Karl Mueller, "is still too lazy because it is too wealthy. Let us
+learn, as the Russians did, to go round and burn, and then find
+ourselves dagger and poison, as the Spaniards did. Against those two
+peoples Napoleon's troops could effect nothing." And while gloom and
+doubt hung over Germany, a cheering ray shot forth once more from the
+south-west. At the close of June came the news that Wellington had
+utterly routed the French at Vittoria.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+VITTORIA AND THE ARMISTICE
+
+
+It would be beyond the scope of this work to describe in detail the
+campaign that culminated at Vittoria. Our task must be limited to
+showing what was the position of affairs at the close of 1812, what
+were the Emperor's plans for holding part, at least, of Spain, and why
+they ended in utter failure.
+
+The causes, which had all along weakened the French operations in
+Spain, operated in full force during the campaign of 1812. The
+jealousy of the Marshals, and, still more, their insubordination to
+King Joseph, prevented that timely concentration of force by which the
+Emperor won his greatest triumphs. Discordant aims and grudging
+co-operation marked their operations. Military writers have often been
+puzzled to account for the rash moves of Marmont, which brought on him
+the crushing blow of Salamanca. Had he waited but a few days before
+pressing Wellington hard, he would have been reinforced by King Joseph
+with 14,000 men.[307] But he preferred to risk all on a last dashing
+move rather than to wait for the King and contribute, as second in
+command, to securing a substantial success.
+
+The correspondence of Joseph before and after Salamanca is
+instructive. We see him unable to move quickly to the support of
+Marmont, because the French Army of the North neglects to send him the
+detachment needed for the defence of Madrid; and when, on hearing the
+news of Salamanca, he orders Soult to evacuate Andalusia so as to
+concentrate forces for the recovery of the capital, his command is for
+some time disobeyed. When, at last, Joseph, Soult, and Suchet
+concentrate their forces for a march on Madrid, Wellington is
+compelled to retire. Pushing on his rear with superior forces, Joseph
+then seeks to press on a battle; but again Soult moves so slowly that
+Wellington is able to draw off his men and make good his retreat to
+Ciudad Rodrigo.[308]
+
+Apparently Joseph came off victor from the campaign of 1812; but the
+withdrawal of French troops towards Madrid and the valley of the Douro
+had fatal consequences. The south was at once lost to the French; and
+the sturdy mountaineers of Biscay, Navarre, and Arragon formed large
+bands whose persistent daring showed that the north was far from
+conquered. Encouraged by the presence of a small British force, they
+seized on most of the northern ports; and their chief, Mina, was able
+to meet the French northern army on almost equal terms. In the east,
+Suchet held his own against the Spaniards and an Anglo-Sicilian
+expedition. But in regard to the rest of Spain, Soult's gloomy
+prophecy was fulfilled: "The loss of Andalusia and the raising of the
+siege of Cadiz are events whose results will be felt throughout the
+whole of Europe."
+
+The Spanish Cortes, or Parliament, long cooped up in Cadiz, now sought
+to put in force the recently devised democratic constitution. It was
+hailed with joy by advanced thinkers in the cities, and with loathing
+by the clergy, the nobles, the wealthy, and the peasants. But, though
+the Cortes sowed the seeds of political discord, they took one very
+commendable step. They appointed Wellington generalissimo of all the
+Spanish armies; and, in a visit which he paid to the Cortes at
+Christmastide, he prepared for a real co-operation of Spanish forces
+in the next campaign.
+
+At that time Napoleon was uneasily looking into the state of Spanish
+affairs. As soon as he mastered the contents of the despatches from
+Madrid he counselled a course of action that promised, at any rate, to
+postpone the overthrow of his power. The advice is set forth in
+letters written on January 4th and February 12th by the Minister of
+War, General Clarke; for Napoleon had practically ceased to correspond
+with his brother. In the latter of these despatches Clarke explained
+in some detail the urgent need of acting at once, while the English
+were inactive, so as to stamp out the ever-spreading flame of revolt
+in the northern provinces. Two French armies, that of the North and
+the so-called "Army of Portugal," were to be told off for this duty;
+and Joseph was informed that his armies of the south and of the centre
+would for the present suffice to hold the British in check. As to
+Joseph's general course of action, it was thus prescribed:
+
+    "The Emperor commands me to reiterate to your Majesty that the use
+    of Valladolid as a residence and as headquarters is an
+    indispensable preliminary. From that place must be sent out on the
+    Burgos road, and on other fit points, the troops which are to
+    strengthen or to second the army of the north. Madrid, and even
+    Valencia, form parts of this system only as posts to be held by
+    your extreme left, not as places to be kept by a concentration of
+    forces.... To occupy Valladolid and Salamanca, to use the utmost
+    exertion to pacify Navarre and Arragon to keep the communication
+    with France rapid and safe, to be always ready to take the
+    offensive--these are the Emperor's instructions for the campaign,
+    and the principles on which all its operations ought to be
+    founded...."[309]
+
+A fortnight later, Clarke bade the King threaten Ciudad Rodrigo so as
+to make Wellington believe that the French would invade Portugal. He
+was also to lay heavy contributions on Madrid and Toledo. In fact, the
+capital was to be held only as long as it could be squeezed.
+
+Such were the plans. They show clearly that the Emperor was impressed
+with the need of crushing the rising in the north of Spain; for he
+ordered as great a force against Mina and his troublesome bands as he
+deemed necessary to watch the Portuguese frontier. Clausel was charged
+to stamp out the northern rising, and Napoleon seems to have judged
+that this hardy fighter would end this tedious task before Wellington
+dealt any serious blows. The miscalculation was to be fatal. Mina was
+not speedily to be beaten, nor was the British general the slow
+unenterprising leader that the Emperor took him to be. And then again,
+in spite of all the experiences of the past, Napoleon failed to allow
+for the delays caused by the capture of his couriers, or by their long
+detours. Yet, never were these more serious. Clarke's first urgent
+despatch, that of January 4th, did not reach the King until February
+16th.[310] When its directions were being doubtfully obeyed, those
+quoted above arrived on March 12th, and led to changes in the
+disposition of the troops. Thus the forces opposed to Wellington were
+weakened in order to crush the northern revolt, and yet these
+detachments were only sent north at the close of March for a difficult
+enterprise which was not to be completed before the British leader
+threw his sword decisively into the scales of war.
+
+Joseph has been severely blamed for his tardy action: but, in truth,
+he was in a hopeless _impasse_: on all sides he saw the walls of his
+royal prison house closing in. The rebels in the north cut off the
+French despatches, thus forestalling his movements and delaying by
+some weeks his execution of Napoleon's plans. Worst of all, the
+Emperor withdrew the pith and marrow of his forces: 1,200 officers,
+6,000 non-commissioned officers, and some 24,000 of the most seasoned
+soldiers filed away towards France to put strength and firmness into
+the new levies of the line, or to fill out again the skeleton
+battalions and squadrons of the Imperial Guard.[311]
+
+It is strange that Napoleon did not withdraw all his troops from
+Spain. They still exceeded 150,000 men; and yet, after he had flung
+away army after army, the Spaniards were everywhere in arms, except in
+Valencia. The north defied all the efforts of Clausel for several
+weeks, until he declared that it would take 50,000 men three months to
+crush the mountaineers.[312] Above all, Wellington was known to be
+mustering a formidable force on the Portuguese borders. In truth,
+Napoleon seems long to have been afflicted with political colour
+blindness in Spanish affairs. Even now he only dimly saw the
+ridiculous falsity of his brother's position--a parvenu among the
+proudest nobility in the world, a bankrupt King called upon to keep up
+regal pomp before a ceremonious race, a benevolent ruler forced to
+levy heavy loans and contributions on a sensitive populace whose
+goodwill he earnestly strove to gain, an easy-going epicure spurred on
+to impetuous action by orders from Paris which he dared not disregard
+and could not execute, a peace-loving valetudinarian upon whom was
+thrust the task of controlling testy French Marshals, and of holding a
+nation in check and Wellington at bay.
+
+The concentration on which Napoleon laid such stress would doubtless
+have proved a most effective step had the French forces on the Douro
+been marshalled by an able leader. But here, again, the situation had
+been fatally compromised by the recall of the ablest of the French
+commanders in Spain. Wellington afterwards said that Soult was second
+only to Massena among the French Marshals pitted against him. He had
+some defects. "He did not quite understand a field of battle: he was
+an excellent tactician, knew very well how to bring his troops up to
+the field, but not so well how to use them when he had brought them
+up."[313] But the fact remains that, with the exception of his Oporto
+failure, Soult came with credit, if not glory, out of every campaign
+waged against Wellington. Yet he was now recalled.
+
+Indeed, this vain and ambitious man had mortally offended King Joseph.
+After Salamanca he had treated him with gross disrespect. Not only did
+he, at first, refuse to move from Andalusia, but he secretly revealed
+to six French generals his fears that Joseph was betraying the French
+cause by treating with the Spanish national government at Cadiz. He
+even warned Clarke of the King's supposed intentions, in a letter
+which by chance fell into Joseph's hands.[314] The hot blood of the
+Bonapartes boiled at this underhand dealing, and he at once despatched
+Colonel Desprez to Napoleon to demand Soult's instant recall. The
+Emperor, who was then at Moscow, temporized. Perhaps he was not sorry
+to have in Spain so vigilant an informer; and he made the guarded
+reply that Soult's suspicions did not much surprise him, that they
+were shared by many other French generals, who thought King Joseph
+preferred Spain to France, and that he could not recall Soult, as he
+had "the only military head in Spain." The threatening war-cloud in
+Central Europe led Napoleon to change his resolve. Soult was recalled,
+but not disgraced, and, after the death of Bessieres, he received the
+command of the Imperial Guard.
+
+The commander who now bore the brunt of responsibility was Jourdan,
+who acted as major-general at the King's side, a post which he had
+held once before, but had forfeited owing to his blunders in the
+summer of 1809. The victor of Fleurus was now fifty-one years of age,
+and his failing health quite unfitted him for the Herculean tasks of
+guiding refractory generals, and of propping up a tottering monarchy.
+For Jourdan's talents Napoleon had expressed but scanty esteem,
+whereas on many occasions he extolled the abilities of Suchet, who was
+now holding down Valencia and Catalonia. Certainly Suchet's tenacity
+and administrative skill rendered his stay in those rich provinces
+highly desirable. But the best talent was surely needed on
+Wellington's line of advance, namely, at Valladolid. To the
+shortcomings and mishaps of Joseph and Jourdan in that quarter may be
+chiefly ascribed the collapse of the French power.
+
+In fact, the only part of Spain that now really interested Napoleon
+was the north and north-east. So long as he firmly held the provinces
+north of the Ebro, he seems to have cared little whether Joseph
+reigned, or did not reign, at Madrid. All that concerned him was to
+hold the British at bay from the line of the Douro, while French
+authority was established in the north and north-east. This he was
+determined to keep; and probably he had already formed the design,
+later on to be mooted to Ferdinand VII. at Valencay, of restoring him
+to the throne of Spain and of indemnifying him with Portugal for the
+loss of the north-eastern provinces. This scheme may even have formed
+part of a plan of general pacification; for at Dresden, on May 17th,
+he proposed to Austria the admission of representatives of the Spanish
+_insurgents_ to the European Congress. But it is time to turn from the
+haze of conjecture to the sharp outlines of Wellington's
+campaign.[315]
+
+While the French cause in Spain was crumbling to pieces, that of the
+patriots was being firmly welded together by the organizing genius of
+Wellington. By patient efforts, he soon had the Spanish and Portuguese
+contingents in an efficient condition: and, as large reinforcements
+had come from England, he was able early in May to muster 70,000
+British and Portuguese troops and 30,000 Spaniards for a move
+eastwards. Murray's force tied Suchet fast to the province of
+Valencia; Clausel was fully employed in Navarre, and thus Joseph's
+army on the Douro was left far too weak to stem Wellington's tide of
+war. Only some 45,000 French were ready in the districts between
+Salamanca and Valladolid. Others remained in the basin of the Tagus in
+case the allies should burst in by that route.
+
+Wellington kept up their illusions by feints at several points, while
+he prepared to thrust a mighty force over the fords of the Tormes and
+Esla. He completely succeeded. While Joseph and Jourdan were haltingly
+mustering their forces in Leon, the allies began that series of rapid
+flanking movements on the north which decided the campaign. Swinging
+forward his powerful left wing he manoeuvred the French out of one
+strong position after another. The Tormes, the Esla, the Douro, the
+Carrion, the Pisuerga, none of these streams stopped his advance.
+Joseph nowhere showed fight; he abandoned even the castle of Burgos,
+and, fearing to be cut off from France, retired behind the upper Ebro.
+
+The official excuse given for this rapid retreat was the lack of
+provisions: but the diaries of two British officers, Tomkinson and
+Simmons, show that they found the country between the Esla and the
+Ebro for the most part well stocked and fertile. Simmons, who was with
+the famous Light Division, notes that the Rifles did not fire a shot
+after breaking up their winter quarters, until they skirmished with
+the French in the hills near the source of the Ebro. The French
+retreat was really necessary in order to bring the King's forces into
+touch with the corps of Generals Clausel and Foy, in Navarre and
+Biscay respectively. Joseph had already sent urgent orders to call in
+these corps; for, as he explained to Clarke, the supreme need now was
+to beat Wellington; that done, the partisan warfare would collapse.
+
+But Clausel and Foy took their orders, not from the King, but from
+Paris; and up to June 5th, Joseph heard not a word from Clausel. At
+last, on June 15th, that general wrote from Pamplona that he had
+received Joseph's commands of May 30th and June 7th, and would march
+to join him. Had he at once called in his mobile columns and covered
+with all haste the fifty miles that separated him from the King, the
+French army would have been the stronger by at least 14,000 men. But
+his concentration was a work of some difficulty, and he finally drew
+near to Vittoria on June 22nd, when the French cause was irrecoverably
+lost.[316]
+
+Wellington, meanwhile, had foreseen the supreme need of despatch.
+Early in the year he had urged our naval authorities to strengthen our
+squadron on the north of Spain, so that he might in due course make
+Santander his base of supplies. Naval support was not forthcoming to
+the extent that he expected;[317] but after leaving Burgos he was able
+to make some use of the northern ports, thereby shortening his line of
+communications. In fact, the Vittoria campaign illustrates the immense
+advantages gained by a leader, who is sure of his rear and of one
+flank, over an enemy who is ever nervous about his communications. The
+British squadron acted like a covering force on the north to
+Wellington: it fed the guerilla warfare in Biscay, and menaced Joseph
+with real though invisible dangers. This explains, in large measure,
+why our commander moved forward so rapidly, and pushed forward his
+left wing with such persistent daring. Mountain fastnesses and roaring
+torrents stayed not the advance of his light troops on that side. Near
+the sources of the Ebro, the French again felt their communications
+with France threatened, and falling back from the main stream, up the
+defile carved out by a tributary, the Zadora, they halted wearily in
+the basin of Vittoria.
+
+There Joseph and Jourdan determined to fight. As usual, there had been
+recriminations at headquarters. "Jourdan, ill and angry, kept his
+room; and the King was equally invisible."[318] Few orders were given.
+The town was packed with convoys and vehicles of all kinds, and it was
+not till dawn of that fatal midsummer's day that the last convoy set
+out for France, under the escort of 3,000 troops. Nevertheless, Joseph
+might hope to hold his own. True, he had but 70,000 troops at hand, or
+perhaps even fewer; yet on the evening of the 19th he heard that
+Clausel had set out from Pamplona.
+
+At once he bade him press on his march, but that message fell into the
+enemy's hands.[319] Relying, then, on help which was not to arrive,
+Joseph confronted the allied army. It numbered, in all, 83,000 men,
+though Napier asserts that not more than 60,000 took part in the
+fighting. The French left wing rested on steep hills near Puebla,
+which tower above the River Zadora, and leave but a narrow defile.
+Their centre held a less precipitous ridge, which trends away to the
+north parallel to the middle reaches of that stream. Higher up its
+course, the Zadora describes a sharp curve that protects the ridge on
+its northern flank; and if a daring foe drove the defenders away from
+these heights, they could still fall back on two lower ridges nearer
+Vittoria. But these natural advantages were not utilized to the full.
+The bridges opposite the French front were not broken, and the
+defenders were far too widely spread out. Their right wing, consisting
+of the "Army of Portugal" under General Reille, guarded the bridge
+north of Vittoria, and was thus quite out of touch with the main force
+that held the hills five miles away to the west.
+
+The dawn broke heavily; the air was thick with rain and driving mists,
+under cover of which Hill's command moved up against the steeps of
+Puebla. A Spanish brigade, under General Morillo, nimbly scaled those
+slopes on the south-west, gained a footing near the summit, and, when
+reinforced, firmly held their ground. Meanwhile the rest of Hill's
+troops threaded their way beneath through the pass of Puebla, and,
+after a tough fight, wrested the village of Subijana from the foe. In
+vain did Joseph and Jourdan bring up troops from the centre; the
+British and Spaniards were not to be driven either from the village or
+from the heights. Wellington's main array was also advancing to attack
+the French centre occupying the ridge behind the Zadora; and Graham,
+after making a long detour to the north through very broken country,
+sought to surprise Reille and drive him from the bridge north of
+Vittoria. In this advance the guidance of the Spanish irregulars,
+under Colonel Longa, was of priceless value. So well was Graham
+covered by their bands, that, up to the moment of attack, Reille knew
+not that a British division was also at hand. At the centre, too, a
+Spanish peasant informed Wellington that the chief bridge of Tres
+Puentes was unguarded, and guided Kempt's brigade through rocky
+ground to within easy charging distance.
+
+ [Illustration: BATTLE OF VITTORIA]
+
+The bridge was seized, Joseph's outposts were completely turned, and
+time was given for the muster of Picton's men. Stoutly they breasted
+the slopes, and unsteadied the weakened French centre, which was also
+assailed on its northern flank. At the same time Joseph's left wing
+began to waver under Hill's repeated onslaughts; and, distracted by
+the distant cannonade, which told of a stubborn fight between Graham
+and Reille, the King now began to draw in his lines towards Vittoria.
+For a time the French firmly held the village of Arinez, but Picton's
+men were not to be denied. They burst through the rearguard, and the
+battle now became a running fight, extending over some five miles of
+broken country. At the last slopes, close to Vittoria, the defenders
+made a last heroic stand, and their artillery dealt havoc among the
+assailants; but our fourth division, rushing forward into the smoke,
+carried a hill that commanded their left, and the day was won. Nothing
+now remained for the French but a speedy retreat, while the gallant
+Reille could still hold Graham's superior force at bay.
+
+There, too, the fight at last swirled back, albeit with many a
+rallying eddy, into Vittoria. That town was no place of refuge, but a
+death-trap; for Graham had pushed on a detachment to Durana, on the
+high-road leading direct to France, and thus blocked the main line of
+retreat. Joseph's army was now in pitiable plight. Pent up in the
+choked streets of Vittoria, torn by cannon-shot from the English
+lines, the wreckage of its three armies for a time surged helplessly
+to and fro, and then broke away eastwards towards Pamplona. On that
+side only was safety to be found, for British hussars scoured the
+plain to the north-east, lending wings to the flight. The narrow
+causeway, leading through marshes, was soon blocked, and panic seized
+on all: artillerymen cut their traces and fled; carriages crowded with
+women, once called gay, but now frantic with terror, wagons laden with
+ammunition, stores, treasure-chests, and the booty amassed by generals
+and favourites during five years of warfare and extortion, all were
+left pell-mell. Jourdan's Marshal's baton was taken, and was sent by
+Wellington to the Prince Regent, who acknowledged it by conferring on
+the victor the title of Field-Marshal.
+
+Richly was the title deserved. After four years of battling with
+superior numbers, the British leader at last revealed the full majesty
+of his powers now that the omens were favourable. In six weeks he
+marched more than five hundred miles, crossed six rivers, and, using
+the Navarrese revolt as the anvil, dealt the hammer-stroke of
+Vittoria. It cost Napoleon 151 pieces of cannon, nearly all the stores
+piled up for his Peninsular campaigns--and Spain itself.[320]
+
+As for Joseph, he left his carriage and fled on horseback towards
+France, reaching St. Jean de Luz "with only a napoleon left." He there
+also assured his queen that he had always preferred a private station
+to the grandeur and agitations of public life.[321] This, indeed, was
+one of the many weak points of his brother's Spanish policy. It rested
+on the shoulders of an amiable man who was better suited to the ease
+of Naples than to the Herculean toils of Madrid. Napoleon now saw the
+magnitude of his error. On July 1st he bade Soult leave Dresden at
+once for Paris. There he was to call on Clarke, with him repair to
+Cambaceres; and, as Lieutenant-General, take steps to re-establish the
+Emperor's affairs in Spain. A Regency was to govern in place of
+Joseph, who was ordered to remain, according to the state of affairs,
+either at Burgos(!) or St. Sebastian or Bayonne.
+
+    "All the follies in Spain" (he wrote to Cambaceres on that day)
+    "are due to the mistaken consideration I have shown the King, who
+    not only does not know how to command, but does not even know his
+    own value enough to leave the military command alone."
+
+And to Savary he wrote two days later:
+
+    "It is hard to imagine anything so inconceivable as what is now
+    going on in Spain. The King could have collected 100,000 picked
+    men: _they might have beaten the whole of England_."
+
+Reflection, however, showed him that the fault was his own; that if,
+as had occurred to him when he left Paris, he had intrusted the
+supreme command in Spain to Soult, the disaster would never have
+happened.[322] His belief in Soult's capacity was justified by the
+last events of the Peninsular War. But neither his splendid rally of
+the scattered French forces, nor the skilful movements of Clausel and
+Suchet, nor the stubborn defence of Pamplona and San Sebastian, could
+now save the French cause. The sole result of these last operations
+was to restore the lustre of the French arms and to keep 150,000 men
+in Spain when the scales of war were wavering in the plains of Saxony.
+
+Napoleon's letters betray the agitation which he felt even at the
+first vague rumours of the disaster of Vittoria. On the first three
+days of July he penned at Dresden seven despatches on that topic in a
+style so vehement that the compilers of the "Correspondance de
+Napoleon" have thought it best to omit them. He further enjoined the
+utmost reserve, and ordered the official journals merely to state
+that, after a brisk engagement at Vittoria, the French army was
+concentrating in Arragon, and that the British had captured about a
+hundred guns and wagons left behind in the town for lack of horses.
+
+There was every reason for hiding the truth. He saw how seriously it
+must weaken his chances of browbeating the Eastern Powers, and of
+punishing Austria for her armed mediation. Hitherto there seemed every
+chance of his succeeding. The French standards flew on all the
+fortresses of the Elbe and Oder. Hamburg was fast becoming a great
+French camp, and Denmark was ranged on the side of France.
+
+Indeed, on reviewing the situation on June 4th, the German publicist,
+Gentz, came to the conclusion that the Emperor Francis would probably
+end his vacillations by some inglorious compromise. The Kaiser desired
+peace; but he also wished to shake off the irksome tutelage of his
+son-in-law, and regain Illyria. For the present he wavered. Before the
+news of Luetzen reached him, he undoubtedly encouraged the allies: but
+that reverse brought about a half left turn towards Napoleon. "Boney's
+success at Luetzen," wrote Sir G. Jackson in his Diary, "has made
+Francis reconsider his half-formed resolutions." Here was the chief
+difficulty for the allies. Their fortunes, and the future of Europe,
+rested largely on the decision of a man whose natural irresolution of
+character had been increased by adversity. Fortunately, the news from
+Spain finally helped to incline him towards war; but for some weeks
+his decision remained the unknown quantity in European politics.
+Fortunately, too, he was amenable to the gentle but determining
+pressure of the kind which Metternich could so skilfully exert. That
+statesman, as usual, schemed and balanced. He saw that Austria had
+much to gain by playing the waiting game. Her forces were improving
+both in numbers and efficiency, and under cover of her offer of armed
+mediation were holding strong positions in Bohemia. In fact, she was
+regaining her prestige, and might hope to impose her will on the
+combatants at the forthcoming European Congress at Prague. Metternich,
+therefore, continued to pose as the well-wisher of both parties and
+the champion of a reasonable and therefore durable compromise.
+
+He had acted thus, not only in his choice of measures, but in his
+selection of men. He had sent to Napoleon's headquarters at Dresden
+Count Bubna, whose sincere and resolute striving for peace served to
+lull animosity and suspicions in that place. But to the allied
+headquarters, now at Reichenbach, he had despatched Count Stadion, who
+worked no less earnestly for war. While therefore the Courts of St.
+Petersburg, Berlin, and London hoped, from Stadion's language, that
+Austria meant to draw the sword, Napoleon inclined to the belief that
+she would never do more than rattle her scabbard, and would finally
+yield to his demands.
+
+Stadion's letters to Metternich show that he feared this result. He
+pressed him to end the seesaw policy of the last six months. "These
+people are beaten owing to our faults, our half wishes, our half
+measures, and presently they will get out of the scrape and leave us
+to pay the price." As for Austria's forthcoming demand of Illyria, who
+would guarantee that the French Emperor would let her keep it six
+months, if he remained master of Germany and Italy? Only by a close
+union with the allies could she be screened from Napoleon's vengeance,
+which must otherwise lead to her utter destruction. Let, then, all
+timid counsellors be removed from the side of the Emperor Francis. "I
+cling to my oft-expressed conviction that we are no longer masters of
+our own affairs, and that the tide of events will carry us
+along."[323] If we may judge from Metternich's statements in his
+"Memoirs," written many years later, he was all along in secret
+sympathy with these views. But his actions and his official despatches
+during the first six weeks of the armistice bore another complexion;
+they were almost colourless, or rather, they were chameleonic. At
+Dresden they seemed, on the whole, to be favourable to France: at
+Reichenbach, when coloured by Stadion, they were thought to hold out
+the prospect of another European coalition.
+
+A new and important development was given to Austrian policy when, on
+June 7th, Metternich drew up the conditions on which Austria would
+insist as the basis of her armed mediation. They were as follows: (1)
+Dissolution of the Duchy of Warsaw; (2) A consequent reconstruction of
+Prussia, with the certainty of recovering Danzig; (3) Restitution of
+the Illyrian provinces, including Dalmatia, to Austria; (4)
+Re-establishment of the Hanse Towns, and an eventual arrangement as to
+the cession of the other parts of the 32nd military division [the part
+of North Germany annexed by Napoleon in 1810]. To these were added two
+other conditions on which Austria would lay great stress, namely: (5)
+Dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine; (6) Reconstruction of
+Prussia conformably with her territorial extent previous to 1805.
+
+At first sight these terms seem favourable to the allied cause; but
+they were much less extensive than the proposals submitted by
+Alexander in the middle of May. Therefore, when they were set forth to
+the allies at Reichenbach, they were unfavourably received, and for
+some days suspicion of Austria overclouded the previous goodwill. It
+was removed only by the labours of Stadion and by the tact which
+Metternich displayed during an interview with the Czar at Opotschna
+(June 17th).
+
+Alexander came there prejudiced against Metternich as a past master in
+the arts of double-dealing: he went away convinced that he meant well
+for the allies. "What will become of us," asked the Czar, "if Napoleon
+accepts your mediation?" To which the statesman replied: "If he
+refuses it, the truce will be at an end, and you will find us in the
+ranks of your allies. If he accepts it, the negotiations will prove to
+a certainty that Napoleon is neither wise nor just; and the issue will
+be the same." Alexander knew enough of his great enemy's character to
+discern the sagacity of Metternich's forecast; and both Frederick
+William and he agreed to the Austrian terms.[324] Accordingly, on June
+27th, a treaty was secretly signed at Reichenbach, wherein Austria
+pledged herself to an active alliance with Russia and Prussia in case
+Napoleon should not, by the end of the armistice, have acceded to her
+four _conditiones sine quibus non._ To these was now added a demand
+for the evacuation of all Polish and Prussian fortresses by French
+troops, a stipulation which it was practically certain that Napoleon
+would refuse.[325]
+
+The allies meanwhile were gaining the sinews of war from England. The
+Czar had informed Cathcart at Kalisch that, though he did not press
+our Government for subsidies, yet he would not be able to wage a long
+campaign without such aid. On June 14th and 15th, our ambassador
+signed treaties with Russia and Prussia, whereby we agreed to aid the
+former by a yearly subsidy of L1,133,334, and the latter by a sum of
+half that amount, and to meet all the expenses of the Russian fleet
+then in our harbours. The Czar and the King of Prussia bound
+themselves to maintain in the field (exclusive of garrisons) 160,000
+and 80,000 men respectively.[326]
+
+There was every reason for these preparations. Everything showed that
+Napoleon was bent on browbeating the allies. On June 17th Napoleon's
+troops destroyed or captured Luetzow's volunteers at Kitzen near
+Leipzig. The excuse for this act was that Luetzow had violated the
+armistice; but he had satisfied Nisas, the French officer there in
+command, that he was loyally observing it. Nevertheless, his brigade
+was cut to pieces. The protests of the allies received no response
+except that Luetzow's men might be exchanged--as if they had been
+captured in fair fight. Finally, Napoleon refused to hear the
+statement of Nisas in his own justification, reproached him for
+casting a slur on the conduct of French troops, and deprived him of
+his command.[327]
+
+But it was Napoleon's bearing towards Metternich, in an interview held
+on June 26th at the Marcolini Palace at Dresden, that most clearly
+revealed the inflexibility of his policy. Ostensibly, the interview
+was fixed in order to arrange the forms of the forthcoming Congress
+that was to insure the world's peace. In reality, however, Napoleon
+hoped to intimidate the Austrian statesman, and to gather from him the
+results of his recent interview with the Czar. Carrying his sword at
+his side and his hat under his arm, he received Metternich in state.
+After a few studied phrases about the health of the Emperor Francis,
+his brow clouded and he plunged _in medias res_: "So you too want war:
+well, you shall have it. I have beaten the Russians at Bautzen: now
+you wish your turn to come. Be it so, the rendezvous shall be in
+Vienna. Men are incorrigible: experience is lost upon you. Three times
+I have replaced the Emperor Francis on his throne. I have promised
+always to live at peace with him: I have married his daughter. At the
+time I said to myself--you are perpetrating a folly; but it was done,
+and now I repent of it."
+
+Metternich saw his advantage: his adversary had lost his temper and
+forgotten his dignity. He calmly reminded Napoleon that peace depended
+on him; that his power must be reduced within reasonable limits, or he
+would fall in the ensuing struggle. No matador fluttered the cloak
+more dextrously. Napoleon rushed on. No coalition should daunt him: he
+could overpower any number of men--everything except the cold of
+Russia--and the losses of that campaign had been made good. He then
+diverged into stories about that war, varied by digressions as to his
+exact knowledge of Austria's armaments, details of which were sent to
+him daily. To end this wandering talk, Metternich reminded him that
+his troops now were not men but boys. Whereupon the Emperor
+passionately replied: "You do not know what goes on in the mind of a
+soldier; a man such as I does not take much heed of the lives of a
+million of men,"--and he threw aside his hat. Metternich did not pick
+it up.
+
+Napoleon noticed the unspoken defiance, and wound up by saying: "When
+I married an Archduchess I tried to weld the new with the old, Gothic
+prejudices with the institutions of my century: I deceived myself, and
+this day I see the whole extent of my error. It may cost me my throne,
+but I will bury the world beneath its ruins." In dismissing
+Metternich, the Emperor used the device which, shortly before the
+rupture with England in 1803, he had recommended Talleyrand to employ
+upon Whitworth, namely, after trying intimidation to resort to
+cajolery. Touching the Minister on the shoulder, he said quietly:
+"Well, now, do you know what will happen? You will not make war on
+me?" To which came the quick reply: "You are lost, Sire; I had the
+presentiment of it when I came: now, in going, I have the certainty."
+In the anteroom the generals crowded around the illustrious visitor.
+Berthier had previously begged him to remember that Europe, and
+France, urgently needed peace; and now, on conducting him to his
+carriage, he asked him whether he was satisfied with Napoleon. "Yes,"
+was the answer, "he has explained everything to me: it is all over
+with the man."[328]
+
+Substantially, this was the case. Napoleon's resentment against
+Austria, not unnatural under the circumstances, had hurried him into
+outbursts that revealed the inner fires of his passion. In a second
+interview, on June 30th, he was far more gracious, and allowed Austria
+to hope that she would gain Illyria. He also accepted Austria's
+mediation; and it was stipulated that a Congress should meet at Prague
+for the discussion of a general pacification. Metternich appeared
+highly pleased with this condescension, but he knew by experience that
+Napoleon's caresses were as dangerous as his wrath; and he remained on
+his guard. The Emperor soon disclosed his real aim. In gracious tones
+he added: "But this is not all: I must have a prolongation of the
+armistice. How can we between July 5th and 20th end a negotiation
+which ought to embrace the whole world?" He proposed August 20th as
+the date of its expiration. To this Metternich demurred because the
+allies already thought the armistice too long for their interests.
+August 10th was finally agreed on, but not without much opposition on
+the part of the allied generals, who insisted that such a prolongation
+would greatly embarrass them.
+
+Outwardly, this new arrangement seemed to portend peace: but it is
+significant that on June 28th Napoleon wrote to Eugene that all the
+probabilities appeared for war; and on June 30th he wrote his
+father-in-law a cold and almost threatening letter.[329]
+
+Late on that very evening came to hand the first report of the
+disaster of Vittoria. Despite all Napoleon's precautions, the news
+leaked out at Dresden. Bubna's despatches of July 5th, 6th, and 7th
+soon made it known to the Emperor Francis, then at Brandeis in
+Bohemia. Thence it reached the allied monarchs and Bernadotte on July
+12th at Trachenberg in the midst of negotiations which will be
+described presently. The effect of the news was very great. The Czar
+at once ordered a Te Deum to be sung: "It is the first instance,"
+wrote Cathcart, "of a Te Deum having been sung at this Court for a
+victory in which the forces of the Russian Empire were not
+engaged."[330] But its results were more than ceremonial: they were
+practical. Our envoy, Thornton, who followed Bernadotte to
+Trachenberg, states that Bubna had learnt that Wellington had
+completely routed three French corps with a _debandade_ like that of
+the retreat from Moscow. Thornton adds: "The Prince Royal [Bernadotte]
+thinks that the French army will be very soon withdrawn from Silesia
+and that Buonaparte must soon commence his retreat nearer the Rhine. I
+have no doubt of its effect upon Austria. This is visible in the
+answer of the Emperor [Francis] to the Prince, which came to-day from
+the Austrian head-quarters." That letter, dated July 9th, was indeed
+of the most cordial character. It expressed great pleasure at hearing
+that "the obstacles which seemed to hinder the co-operation of the
+forces under your Royal Highness are now removed. I regard this
+co-operation as one of the surest supports of the cause which the
+Powers may once more be called on to defend by a war which can only
+offer chances of success unless sustained by the greatest and most
+unanimous measures."[331] Further than this Francis could scarcely go
+without pledging himself unconditionally to an alliance; and doubtless
+it was the news of Vittoria that evoked these encouraging assurances.
+
+It is even more certain that the compact of Trachenberg also helped to
+end the hesitations of Austria. This compact arose out of the urgent
+need of adopting a general plan of campaign, and, above all, of ending
+the disputes between the allied sovereigns and Bernadotte. The Prince
+Royal of Sweden had lost their confidence through his failure to save
+Hamburg from the French and Danes. Yet, on his side, he had some cause
+for complaint. In the previous summer, Alexander led him to expect the
+active aid of 35,000 Russian troops for a campaign in Norway: but,
+mainly at the instance of England, he now landed in Pomerania and left
+Sweden exposed to a Danish attack on the side of Norway. He therefore
+suggested an interview with the allied sovereigns, a request which was
+warmly seconded by Castlereagh.[332] Accordingly it took place at
+Trachenberg, a castle north of Breslau, with the happiest results. The
+warmth of the great Gascon's manner cleared away all clouds, and won
+the approval of Frederick William.
+
+There was signed the famous compact, or plan, of Trachenberg (July
+12th). It bound the allies to turn their main forces against
+Napoleon's chief army, wherever it was: those allied corps that
+threatened his flanks or communications were to act on the line that
+most directly cut into them: and the salient bastion of Bohemia was
+expressly named as offering the greatest advantages for attacking
+Napoleon's main force. The first and third of these axioms were
+directly framed so as to encourage Austria: the second aimed at
+concentrating Bernadotte's force on the main struggle and preventing
+his waging war merely against Denmark.
+
+The plan went even further: 100,000 allied troops were to be sent into
+Bohemia, as soon as the armistice should cease, so as to form in all
+an army of 200,000 men. On the north, Bernadotte, after detaching a
+corps towards Hamburg, was to advance with a Russo-Prusso-Swedish army
+of 70,000 men towards the middle course of the Elbe, his objective
+being Leipzig; and the rest of the allied forces, those remaining in
+Silesia, were to march towards Torgau, and thus threaten Napoleon's
+positions in Saxony from the East. This plan of campaign was an
+immense advance on those of the earlier coalitions. There was no
+reliance here on lines and camps: the days of Mack and Phull were
+past: the allies had at last learnt from Napoleon the need of seeking
+out the enemy's chief army, and of flinging at it all the available
+forces. Politically, also, the compact deserves notice. In concerting
+a plan of offensive operations from Bohemia, the allies were going far
+to determine the conduct of Austria.
+
+On that same day the peace Congress was opened at Prague. Its
+proceedings were farcical from the outset. Only Anstett and Humboldt,
+the Russian and Prussian envoys, were at hand; and at the appointment
+of the former, an Alsatian by birth, Napoleon expressed great
+annoyance. The difficulties about the armistice also gave him the
+opportunity, which he undoubtedly sought, of further delaying
+negotiations. In vain did Metternich point out to the French envoy,
+Narbonne, at Prague, that these frivolous delays must lead to war if
+matters were not amicably settled by August 10th, at midnight.[333] In
+vain did Narbonne and Caulaincourt beg their master to seize this
+opportunity for concluding a safe and honourable peace. It was not
+till the middle of July that he appointed them his plenipotentiaries
+at the Congress; and, even then, he retained the latter at Dresden,
+while the former fretted in forced inaction at Prague. "I send you
+more _powers_ than _power_," wrote Maret to Narbonne with cynical
+jauntiness: "you will have your hands tied, but your legs and mouth
+free so that you may walk about and dine."[334] At last, on the 26th,
+Caulaincourt received his instructions; but what must have been the
+anguish of this loyal son of France to see that Napoleon was courting
+war with a united Europe. Austria, said his master, was acting as
+mediator: and the mediator ought not to look for gains: she had made
+no sacrifice and deserved to gain nothing at all: her claims were
+limitless; and every concession granted by France would encourage her
+to ask for more: he was disposed to make peace with Russia on
+satisfactory terms so as to punish Austria for her bad faith in
+breaking the alliance of 1812.[335]
+
+Such trifling with the world's peace seems to belong, not to the
+sphere of history, but to the sombre domain of Greek tragedy, where
+mortals full blown with pride rush blindly on the embossed bucklers of
+fate. For what did Austria demand of him? She proposed to leave him
+master of all the lands from the swamps of the Ems down to the Roman
+Campagna: Italy was to be his, along with as much of the Iberian
+Peninsula as he could hold. His control of Illyria, North Germany, and
+the Rhenish Confederation he must give up. But France, Belgium,
+Holland, and Italy would surely form a noble realm for a man who had
+lost half a million of men, and was even now losing Spain. Yet his
+correspondence proves that, even so, he thought little of his foes,
+and, least of all, of the Congress at Prague.
+
+Leaving his plenipotentiaries tied down to the discussion of matters
+of form, he set out from Dresden on July 24th for a visit to Mainz,
+where he met the Empress and reviewed his reserves. Every item of news
+fed his warlike resolve. Soult, with nearly 100,000 men, was about to
+relieve Pamplona (so he wrote to Caulaincourt): the English were
+retiring in confusion: 12,000 veteran horsemen from his armies in
+Spain would soon be on the Rhine; but they could not be on the Elbe
+before September. If the allies wanted a longer armistice, he
+(Napoleon) would agree to it: if they wished to fight, he was equally
+ready, even against the Austrians as well.[336]
+
+To Davoust, at Hamburg, he expressed himself as if war was certain;
+and he ordered Clarke, at Paris, to have 110,000 muskets made by the
+end of the year, so that, in all, 400,000 would be ready. Letters
+about the Congress are conspicuous by their absence; and everything
+proves that, as he wrote to Clarke at the beginning of the armistice,
+he purposed striking his great blows in September. Little by little we
+see the emergence of his final plan--_to overthrow Russia and Prussia,
+while, for a week or two, he amused Austria with separate overtures at
+Prague_.
+
+But, during eight years of adversity, European statesmen had learnt
+that disunion spelt disaster; and it was evident that Napoleon's
+delays were prompted solely by the need of equipping and training his
+new cavalry brigades. As for the Congress, no one took it seriously.
+Gentz, who was then in close contact with Metternich, saw how this
+tragi-comedy would end. "We believe that on his return to Dresden,
+Napoleon will address to this Court a solemn Note in which he will
+accuse everybody of the delays which he himself has caused, and will
+end up by proclaiming a sort of ultimatum. Our reply will be a
+declaration of war."[337]
+
+This was what happened. As July wore on and brought no peaceful
+overtures, but rather a tightening of Napoleon's coils in Saxony,
+Bavaria, and Illyria, the Emperor Francis inclined towards war. As
+late as July 18th he wrote to Metternich that he was still for peace,
+provided that Illyria could be gained.[338]
+
+But the French military preparations decided him, a few days later, to
+make war, unless every one of the Austrian demands should be conceded
+by August 10th. His counsellors had already come to that conclusion,
+as our records prove. On July 20th Stadion wrote to Cathcart urging
+him to give pecuniary aid to General Nugent, who would wait on him to
+concert means for rousing a revolt against Napoleon in Tyrol and North
+Italy; and our envoy agreed to give L5,000 a month for the "support of
+5,000 Austrians acting in communication with our squadron in the
+Adriatic." This step met with Metternich's approval; and, when writing
+to Stadion from Prague (July 25th), he counselled Cathcart to send a
+despatch to Wellington and urge him to make a vigorous move against
+the south of France. He (Metternich) would have the letter sent safely
+through Switzerland and the south of France direct to our
+general.[339]
+
+With the solemn triflings of the Congress we need not concern
+ourselves. The French plenipotentiaries saw clearly that their master
+"would allow of no peace but that which he should himself dictate with
+his foot on the enemy's neck." Yet they persevered in their thankless
+task, for "who could tell whether the Emperor, when he found himself
+placed between highly favourable conditions and the fear of having
+200,000 additional troops against him, might not hesitate; whether
+just one grain of common sense, one spark of wisdom, might not enter
+his head?" Alas! That brain was now impervious to advice; and the
+young De Broglie, from whom we quote this extract, sums up the opinion
+of the French plenipotentiaries in the trenchant phrase, "the devil
+was in him."[340]
+
+But there was method in his madness. In the Dresden interview he had
+warned Metternich that not till the eleventh hour would he disclose
+his real demands. And now was the opportunity of trying the effect of
+a final act of intimidation. On August 4th he was back again in
+Dresden: on the next day he dictated the secret conditions on which he
+would accept Austria's mediation; and, on August 6th, Caulaincourt
+paid Metternich a private visit to find out what Austria's terms
+really were. After a flying visit to the Emperor Francis at Brandeis,
+the Minister brought back as an ultimatum the six terms drawn up on
+June 7th (see p. 316); and to these he now added another which
+guaranteed the existing possessions of every State, great or small.
+
+Napoleon was taken aback by this boldness, which he attributed to the
+influence of Spanish affairs and to English intrigues.[341] On August
+9th he summoned Bubna and offered to give up the Duchy of
+Warsaw--provided that the King of Saxony gained an indemnity--also the
+Illyrian Provinces (but without Istria), as well as Danzig, if its
+fortifications were destroyed. As for the Hanse Towns and North
+Germany, he would not hear of letting them go. Bubna thought that
+Austria would acquiesce. But she had said her last word: she saw that
+Napoleon was trifling with her until he had disposed of Russia and
+Prussia. And, at midnight of August 10th, beacon fires on the heights
+of the Riesengebirge flashed the glad news to the allies in Silesia
+that they might begin to march their columns into Bohemia. The second
+and vaster Act in the drama of liberation had begun.
+
+Did Napoleon remember, in that crisis of his destiny, that it was
+exactly twenty-one years since the downfall of the old French
+monarchy, when he looked forth on the collapse of the royalist defence
+at the Tuileries and the fruitless bravery of the Swiss Guards?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG
+
+
+The militant Revolution had now attained its majority. It had to
+confront an embattled Europe. Hitherto the jealousies or fears of the
+Eastern Powers had prevented any effective union. The Austro-Prussian
+league of 1792 was of the loosest description owing to the astute
+neutrality of the Czarina Catherine. In 1798 and 1805 Prussia seemed
+to imitate her policy, and only after Austria had been crushed did the
+army of Frederick the Great try conclusions with Napoleon. In the Jena
+and Friedland campaigns, the Hapsburgs played the part of the sulking
+Achilles, and met their natural reward in 1809. The war of 1812
+marshalled both Austria and Prussia as vassal States in Napoleon's
+crusade against Russia. But it also brought salvation, and Napoleon's
+fateful obstinacy during the negotiations at Prague virtually
+compelled his own father-in-law to draw the sword against him.
+Ostensibly, the points at issue were finally narrowed down to the
+control of the Confederation of the Rhine, the ownership of North
+Germany, and a few smaller points. But really there was a deeper
+cause, the character of Napoleon.
+
+The vindictiveness with which he had trampled on his foes, his almost
+superhuman lust of domination, and the halting way in which he met all
+overtures for a compromise--this it was that drove the Hapsburgs into
+an alliance with their traditional foes. His conduct may be explained
+on diverse grounds, as springing from the vendetta instincts of his
+race, or from his still viewing events through the distorting medium
+of the Continental System, or from his ingrained conviction that, at
+bottom, rulers are influenced only by intimidation.
+
+In any case, he had now succeeded in bringing about the very thing
+which Charles James Fox had declared to be impossible. In opening the
+negotiations for peace with France in April, 1806, our Foreign
+Minister had declared to Talleyrand that "the project of combining the
+whole of Europe against France is to the last degree chimerical." Yet
+Great Britain and the Spanish patriots, after struggling alone against
+the conqueror from 1808 to 1812, saw Russia, Sweden, Prussia, and
+Austria, successively range themselves on their side. It is true, the
+Germans of the Rhenish Confederation, the Italians, Swiss, and Danes
+were still enrolled under the banners of the new Charlemagne; but,
+with the exception of the last, they fought wearily or questioningly,
+as for a cause that promised naught but barren triumphs and unending
+strife.
+
+Truly, the years that witnessed Napoleon's fall were fruitful in
+paradox. The greatest political genius of the age, for lack of the
+saving grace of moderation, had banded Europe against him: and the
+most calculating of commanders had also given his enemies time to
+frame an effective military combination. The Prussian General von
+Boyen has told us in his Memoirs how dismayed ardent patriots were at
+the conclusion of the armistice in June, and how slow even the wiser
+heads were to see that it would benefit their cause. If Napoleon
+needed it in order to train his raw conscripts and organize new
+brigades of cavalry, the need of the allies was even greater. Their
+resources were far less developed than his own. At Bautzen, their army
+was much smaller; and Boyen states that had the Emperor pushed them
+hard, driven the Russians back into Poland and called the Poles once
+more to arms, the allies must have been in the most serious
+straits.[342]
+
+Napoleon, it is true, gained much by the armistice. His conscripts
+profited immensely by the training of those nine weeks: his forces now
+threatened Austria on the side of Bavaria and Illyria, as well as from
+the newly intrenched camp south of Dresden: his cavalry was
+re-recovering its old efficiency: Murat, in answer to his imperious
+summons, ended his long vacillations and joined the army at Dresden on
+August 14th.
+
+Above all, the French now firmly held that great military barrier, the
+River Elbe. Napoleon's obstinacy during the armistice was undoubtedly
+fed by his boundless confidence in the strength of his military
+position. In vain did his Marshals remind him that he was dangerously
+far from France; that, if Austria drew the sword, she could cut him
+off from the Rhine, and that the Saale, or even the Rhine itself,
+would be a safer line of defence.--Ten battles lost, he retorted,
+would scarcely force him to that last step. True, he now exposed his
+line of communications with France; but if the art of war consisted in
+never running any risk, glory would be the prize of mediocre minds. He
+must have a complete triumph. The question was not of abandoning this
+or that province: his political superiority was at stake. At Marengo,
+Austerlitz, and Wagram, he was in greater danger. His forces now were
+not _in the air_; they rested on the Elbe, on its fortresses, and on
+Erfurt. Dresden was the pivot on which all his movements turned. His
+enemies were spread out on a circumference stretching from Prague to
+Berlin, while he was at the centre; and, operating on interior and
+therefore shorter lines, he could outmarch and outmanoeuvre them.
+"_But_," he concluded, "_where I am not my lieutenants must wait for
+me without trusting anything to chance_. The allies cannot long act
+together on lines so extended, and can I not reasonably hope sooner or
+later to catch them in some false move? If they venture between my
+fortified lines of the Elbe and the Rhine, I will enter Bohemia and
+thus take them in the rear."[343]
+
+The plan promised much. The central intrenched camps of Dresden and
+Pirna, together with the fortresses of Koenigstein above, and of Torgau
+below, the Saxon capital, gave great strategic advantages. The corps
+of St. Cyr at Koenigstein and those of Vandamme, Poniatowski, and
+Victor further to the east, watched the defiles leading from Bohemia.
+The corps of Macdonald, Lauriston, Ney, and Marmont held in check
+Bluecher's army of Silesia. On Napoleon's left, and resting on the
+fortresses of Wittenberg and Magdeburg, the corps of Oudinot,
+Bertrand, and Reynier threatened Berlin and Bernadotte's army of the
+north cantonned in its neighbourhood; while Davoust at Hamburg faced
+Bernadotte's northern detachments and menaced his communications with
+Stralsund. Davoust certainly was far away, and the loss of this ablest
+of Napoleon's lieutenants was severely to be felt in the subsequent
+complicated moves; with this exception, however, Napoleon's troops
+were well in hand and had the advantage of the central position, while
+the allies were, as yet, spread out on an extended arc.
+
+But Napoleon once more made the mistake of underrating both the
+numbers and the abilities of his foes. By great exertions they now had
+close on half a million of men under arms, near the banks of the Oder
+and the Elbe, or advancing from Poland and Hungary. True, many of
+these were reserves or raw recruits, and Colonel Cathcart doubted
+whether the Austrian reserves were then in existence.[344] But the
+best authorities place the total at 496,000 men and 1,443 cannon.
+Moreover, as was agreed on at Trachenberg, 77,000 Russians and 49,000
+Prussians now marched from Glatz and Schweidnitz into Bohemia, and
+speedily came into touch with the 110,000 Austrians now ranged behind
+the River Eger. The formation of this allied Grand Army was a masterly
+step. Napoleon did not hear of it before August 16th, and it was not
+until a week later that he realized how vast were the forces that
+would threaten his rear. For the present his plan was to hold the
+Bohemian passes south of Bautzen and Pirna, so as to hinder any
+invasion of Saxony, while he threw himself in great force on the Army
+of Silesia, now 95,000 strong, though he believed it to number only
+50,000.[345] While he was crushing Bluecher, his lieutenants, Oudinot,
+Reynier, and Bertrand, were charged to drive Bernadotte's scattered
+corps from Berlin; whereupon Davoust was to cut him off from the sea
+and relieve the French garrisons at Stettin and Kuestrin. Thus Napoleon
+proposed to act on the offensive in the open country towards Berlin
+and in Silesia, remaining at first on the defensive at Dresden and in
+the Lusatian mountains. This was against the advice of Marmont, who
+urged him to strike first at Prague, and not to intrust his
+lieutenants with great undertakings far away from Dresden. The advice
+proved to be sound; but it seems certain that Napoleon intended to
+open the campaign by a mighty blow dealt at Bluecher, and then to lead
+a great force through the Lusatian defiles into Bohemia and drive the
+allies before him towards Vienna.
+
+But what did he presume that the allied forces in Bohemia would be
+doing while he overwhelmed Bluecher in Silesia? Would not Dresden and
+his communications with France be left open to their blows? He decided
+to run this risk. He had 100,000 men among the Lusatian hills between
+Bautzen and Zittau. St. Cyr's corps was strongly posted at Pirna and
+the small fortress of Koenigstein, while his light troops watched the
+passes north of Teplitz and Karlsbad. If the allies sought to invade
+Saxony, they would, so Napoleon thought, try to force the Zittau road,
+which presented few natural difficulties. If they threatened Dresden
+by the passages further west, Vandamme would march from near Zittau to
+reinforce St. Cyr, or, if need be, the Emperor himself would hurry
+back from Silesia with his Guards. If the enemy invaded Bavaria,
+Napoleon wished them _bon voyage_: they would soon come back faster
+than they went; for, in that case, he would pour his columns down from
+Zittau towards Prague and Vienna. The thought that he might for a time
+be cut off from France troubled him not: "400,000 men," he said,
+"resting on a system of strongholds, on a river like the Elbe, are not
+to be turned." In truth, he thought little about the Bohemian army. If
+40,000 Russians had entered Bohemia, they would not reach Prague till
+the 25th; so he wrote to St. Cyr On the 17th, the day when hostilities
+could first begin; and he evidently believed that Dresden would be
+safe till September. Its defence seemed assured by the skill of that
+master of defensive warfare, St. Cyr, by the barrier of the Erz
+Mountains, and still more by Austrian slowness.
+
+Of this characteristic of theirs he cherished great hopes. Their
+finances were in dire disorder; and Fouche, who had just returned from
+a tour in the Hapsburg States, reported that the best way of striking
+at that Power would be "to affect its paper currency, on which all its
+armaments depend."[346] And truly if the transport of a great army
+over a mountain range had depended solely on the almost bankrupt
+exchequer at Vienna, Dresden would have been safe until Michaelmas;
+but, beside the material aid brought by the Russians and Prussians
+into Bohemia, England also gave her financial support. In pursuance of
+the secret article agreed on at Reichenbach, Cathcart now advanced
+L250,000 at once; and the knowledge that our financial support was
+given to the federative paper notes issued by the allies enabled the
+Court of Vienna privately to raise loans and to wage war with a vigour
+wholly unexpected by Napoleon.[347]
+
+Certainly the allied Grand Army suffered from no lack of advisers. The
+Czar, the Emperor Francis, and the King of Prussia were there; as a
+compliment to Austria, the command was intrusted to Field-Marshal
+Schwarzenberg, a man of diplomatic ability rather than of military
+genius. By his side were the Russians, Wittgenstein, Barclay, and
+Toll, the Prussian Knesebeck, the Swiss Jomini, and, above all,
+Moreau.
+
+The last-named, as we have seen, came over on the inducement of
+Bernadotte, and was received with great honour by the allied
+sovereigns. Jomini also was welcomed for his knowledge of the art of
+war. This great writer had long served as a French general; but the
+ill-treatment that he had lately suffered at Berthier's hands led him,
+on August 14th, to quit the French service and pass over to the
+allies. His account of his desertion, however, makes it clear that he
+had not penetrated Napoleon's designs, for the best of all reasons,
+because the Emperor kept them to himself to the very last moment.[348]
+
+The second part of the campaign opens with the curious sight of
+immense forces, commanded by experienced leaders, acting in complete
+ignorance of the moves of the enemy only some fifty miles away.
+Leaving Bautzen on August 17th, Napoleon proceeded eastwards to
+Goerlitz, turned off thence to Zittau, and hearing a false rumour that
+the Russo-Prussian force in Bohemia was only 40,000 strong, returned
+to Goerlitz with the aim of crushing Bluecher. Disputes about the
+armistice had given that enterprising leader the excuse for entering
+the neutral zone before its expiration; and he had had sharp affairs
+with Macdonald and Ney near Loewenberg on the River Bober. Napoleon
+hurried up with his Guards, eager to catch Bluecher;[349] the French
+were now 140,000 strong, while the allies had barely 95,000 at hand.
+But the Prussian veteran, usually as daring as a lion, was now wily as
+a fox. Under cover of stiff outpost affairs, he skilfully withdrew to
+the south-east, hoping to lure the French into the depths of Silesia
+and so give time to Schwarzenberg to seize Dresden.
+
+[Illustration: CAMPAIGN OF 1813]
+
+But Napoleon was not to be drawn further afield. Seeing that his foes
+could not be forced to a pitched battle, he intrusted the command to
+Macdonald, and rapidly withdrew with Ney and his Guard towards
+Goerlitz; for he now saw the possible danger to Dresden if
+Schwarzenberg struck home. If, however, that leader remained on the
+defensive, the Emperor determined to fall back on what had all along
+been his second plan, and make a rush through the Lusatian defiles on
+Prague.[350] But a despatch from St. Cyr, which reached him at Goerlitz
+late at night on the 23rd, showed that Dresden was in serious danger
+from the gathering masses of the allies. This news consigned his
+second plan to the limbo of vain hopes. Yet, as will appear a little
+later, his determination to defend by taking the offensive soon took
+form in yet a third design for the destruction of the allies.
+
+It is a proof of the quenchless pugnacity of his mind that he framed
+this plan during the fatigues of the long forced march back towards
+Dresden, amidst pouring rain and the discouragement of knowing that
+his raid into Silesia had ended merely in the fruitless wearying of
+his choicest troops. Accompanied by the Old Guard, the Young Guard, a
+division of infantry, and Latour-Maubourg's cavalry, he arrived at
+Stolpen, south-east of Dresden, before dawn of the 25th. Most of the
+battalions had traversed forty miles in little more than forty-eight
+hours, and that, too, after a partial engagement at Loewenberg, and
+despite lack of regular rations. Leaving him for a time, we turn to
+glance at the fortunes of the war in Brandenburg and Silesia.
+
+Napoleon had bidden Oudinot, with his own corps and those of Reynier
+and Bertrand, in all about 70,000 men, to fight his way to Berlin,
+disperse the Landwehr and the "mad rabble" there, and, if the city
+resisted, set it in flames by the fire of fifty howitzers. That
+Marshal found that a tough resistance awaited him, although the allied
+commander-in-chief, Bernadotte, moved with the utmost caution, as if
+he were bent on justifying Napoleon's recent sneer that he would "only
+make a show" (_piaffer_). It is true that the position of the Swedish
+Prince, with Davoust threatening his rear, was far from safe; but he
+earned the dislike of the Prussians by playing the _grand
+seigneur_.[351] Meanwhile most of the defence was carried out by the
+Prussians, who flooded the flat marshy land, thus delaying Oudinot's
+advance and compelling him to divide his corps. Nevertheless, it
+seemed that Bernadotte was about to evacuate Berlin.
+
+At this there was general indignation, which found vent in the retort
+of the Prussian General, von Buelow: "Our bones shall bleach in front
+of Berlin, not behind it." Seeing an opportune moment while Oudinot's
+other corps were as yet far off, Buelow sharply attacked Reynier's
+corps of Saxons at Grossbeeren, and gained a brilliant success, taking
+1,700 prisoners with 26 guns, and thus compelling Oudinot's scattered
+array to fall back in confusion on Wittenberg (August 23rd).[352]
+Thither the Crown Prince cautiously followed him. Four days later, a
+Prussian column of Landwehr fought a desperate fight at Hagelberg with
+Girard's conscripts, finally rushing on them with wolf-like fury,
+stabbing and clubbing them, till the foss and the lanes of the town
+were piled high with dead and wounded. Scarce 1,700 out of Girard's
+9,000 made good their flight to Magdeburg. The failures at Grossbeeren
+and Hagelberg reacted unfavourably on Davoust. That leader, advancing
+into Mecklenburg, had skirmished with Walmoden's corps of Hanoverians,
+British, and Hanseatics; but, hearing of the failure of the other
+attempts on Berlin, he fell back and confined himself mainly to a
+defensive which had never entered into the Emperor's designs on that
+side, or indeed on any side.
+
+Even when Napoleon left Macdonald facing Bluecher in Silesia, his
+orders were, not merely to keep the allies in check: if possible
+Macdonald was to attack him and drive him beyond the town of
+Jauer.[353] This was what the French Marshal attempted to do on the
+26th of August. The conditions seemed favourable to a surprise.
+Bluecher's army was stationed amidst hilly country deeply furrowed by
+the valleys of the Katzbach and the "raging Neisse."[354] Less than
+half of the allied army of 95,000 men was composed of Prussians: the
+Russians naturally obeyed his orders with some reluctance, and even
+his own countryman, Yorck, grudgingly followed the behests of the
+"hussar general."
+
+Macdonald also hoped to catch the allies while they were sundered by
+the deep valley of the Neisse. The Prussians with the Russian corps
+led by Sacken were to the east of the Neisse near the village of
+Eichholz, the central point of the plateau north of Jauer, which was
+the objective of the French right wing; while Langeron's Russian corps
+was at Hennersdorf, some three miles away and on the west of that
+torrent. On his side, Bluecher was planning an attack on Macdonald,
+when he heard that the French had crossed the Neisse near its
+confluence with the Katzbach, and were struggling up the streaming
+gullies that led to Eichholz.
+
+Driving rain-storms hid the movements on both sides, and as Souham,
+who led the French right, had neglected to throw out flanking scouts,
+the Prussian staff-officer, Muffling, was able to ride within a short
+distance of the enemy's columns and report to his chief that they
+could be assailed before their masses were fully deployed on the
+plateau. While Souham's force was still toiling up, Sacken's artillery
+began to ply it with shot, and had Yorck charged quickly with his
+corps of Prussians, the day might have been won forthwith. But that
+opinionated general insisted on leisurely deploying his men. Souham
+was therefore able to gain a foothold on the plateau: Sebastiani's men
+dragged up twenty-four light cannon: and at times the devoted bravery
+of the French endangered the defence. But the defects in their
+position slowly but surely told against them, and the vigour of their
+attack spent itself. Their cavalry was exhausted by the mud: their
+muskets were rendered wellnigh useless by the ceaseless rain; and when
+Bluecher late in the afternoon headed a dashing charge of Prussian and
+Russian horsemen, the wearied conscripts gave way, fled pell-mell down
+the slopes, and made for the fords of the Neisse and the Katzbach,
+where many were engulfed by the swollen waters. Meanwhile the Russians
+on the allied left barely kept off Lauriston's onsets, and on that
+side the day ended in a drawn fight. Macdonald, however, seeing
+Lauriston's rear threatened by the advance of the Prussians over the
+Katzbach, retreated during the night with all his forces. On the next
+few days, the allies, pressing on his wearied and demoralized troops,
+completed their discomfiture, so that Bluecher, on the 1st of
+September, was able thus to sum up the results of the battle and the
+pursuit--two eagles, 103 cannon, 18,000 men, and a vast quantity of
+ammunition and stores captured, and Silesia entirely freed from the
+foe.[355]
+
+We now return to the events that centred at Dresden. When, on August
+21st and 22nd, the allies wound their way through the passes of the
+Erz, they were wholly ignorant of Napoleon's whereabouts. The
+generals, Jomini and Toll, who were acquainted with the plan of
+operations agree in stating that the aim of the allies was to seize
+Leipzig. The latter asserts that they believed Napoleon to be there,
+while the Swiss strategist saw in this movement merely a means of
+effecting a junction with Bernadotte's army, so as to cut off Napoleon
+from the Rhine.[356] Unaware that the rich prize of Dresden was left
+almost within their grasp by Napoleon's eastward move, the allies
+plodded on towards Freiberg and Chemnitz, when, on the 23rd, the
+capture of one of St. Cyr's despatches flashed the truth upon them.
+
+At once they turned eastwards towards Dresden; but so slow was their
+progress over the wretched cross-roads now cut up by the rains, that
+not till the early morning of the 25th did the heads of their columns
+appear on the heights south-west of the Saxon capital. Yet, even so,
+the omens were all in their favour. On their right, Wittgenstein had
+already carried the French lines at Pirna, and was now driving in St.
+Cyr's outposts towards Dresden. The daring spirits at Schwarzenberg's
+headquarters therefore begged him to push on the advantage already
+gained, while Napoleon was still far away. Everything, they asserted,
+proved that the French were surprised; Dresden could not long hold out
+against an attack by superior numbers: its position in a river valley
+dominated by the southern and western slopes, which the allies
+strongly held, was fatal to a prolonged defence: the thirteen redoubts
+hastily thrown up by the French could not long keep an army at bay,
+and of these only five were on the left side of the Elbe on which the
+allies were now encamped.
+
+Against these manly counsels the voice of prudence pleaded for delay.
+It was not known how strong were St. Cyr's forces in Dresden and in
+the intrenched camp south of the city. Would it not therefore be
+better to await the development of events? Such was the advice of Toll
+and Moreau, the latter warning the Czar, with an earnestness which we
+may deem fraught with destiny for himself--"Sire, if we attack, we
+shall lose 20,000 men and break our nose."[357] The multitude of
+counsellors did not tend to safety. Distracted by the strife of
+tongues, Schwarzenberg finally took refuge in that last resort of weak
+minds, a tame compromise. He decided to wait until further corps
+reached the front, and at four o'clock of the following afternoon _to
+push forward five columns for a general reconnaissance in force_. As
+Jomini has pointed out, this plan rested on sheer confusion of
+thought. If the commander meant merely to find out the strength of the
+defenders, that could be ascertained at once by sending forward light
+troops, screened by skirmishers, at the important points. If he wished
+to attack in force, his movement was timed too late in the day safely
+to effect a lodgment in a large city held by a resolute foe. Moreover,
+the postponement of the attack for thirty hours gave time for the
+French Emperor to appear on the scene with his Guards.
+
+As we have seen, Napoleon reached Stolpen, a town distant some sixteen
+miles from Dresden, very early on the morning of the 25th. His plans
+present a telling contrast to the slow and clumsy arrangements of the
+allies. He proposed to hurl his Guards at their rear and cut them off
+from Bohemia. Crossing the Elbe at Koenigstein, he would recover the
+camp of Pirna, hold the plateau further west and intercept
+Schwarzenberg's retreat.[358] For the success of this plan he needed a
+day's rest for his wearied Guards and the knowledge that Dresden could
+hold out for a short time. His veterans could perhaps dispense with
+rest; where their Emperor went they would follow; but Dresden was the
+unknown quantity. Shortly after midnight of the 25th and 26th, he
+heard from St. Cyr that Dresden would soon be attacked in such force
+that a successful defence was doubtful.
+
+At once he changed his plan and at 1 a.m. sent off four despatches
+ordering his Guards and all available troops to succour St. Cyr.
+Vandamme's corps alone was now charged with the task of creeping round
+the enemy's rear, while the Guards long before dawn resumed their
+march through the rain and mud. The Emperor followed and passed them
+at a gallop, reaching the capital at 9 a.m. with Latour-Maubourg's
+cuirassiers; and, early in the afternoon, the bearskins of the Guards
+were seen on the heights east of Dresden, while the dark masses of the
+allies were gathering on the south and west for their reconnaissance
+in force.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF DRESDEN]
+
+Lowering clouds and pitiless rain robbed the scene of all brilliance,
+but wreathed it with a certain sombre majesty. On the one side was the
+fair city, the centre of German art and culture, hastily girdled with
+redoubts and intrenchments manned now by some 120,000 defenders. Fears
+and murmurings had vanished as soon as the Emperor appeared; and
+though in many homes men still longed for the triumph of the allies,
+yet loyalty to their King and awe of Napoleon held the great mass of
+the citizens true to his alliance. As for the French soldiery, their
+enthusiasm was unbounded. As regiment after regiment tramped in
+wearily from the east over the Elbe bridge and the men saw that
+well-known figure in the gray overcoat, fatigues and discomforts were
+forgotten; thunderous shouts of "Vive l'Empereur" rent the air and
+rolled along the stream, carrying inspiration to the defenders, doubt
+and dismay to the hostile lines. Yet these too were being
+strengthened, until they finally mustered close on 200,000 men, who
+crowned the slopes south of Dresden with a war-cloud that promised to
+sweep away its hasty defences--had not Napoleon been there.
+
+The news of his arrival shook the nerves of the Russian Emperor, and
+it was reserved for the usually diffident King of Prussia to combat
+all notion of retreat. Schwarzenberg's reconnaissance in force
+therefore took place punctually at four o'clock, when the French,
+after a brief rest, were well prepared to meet them. The Prussians had
+already seized the "Great Garden" which lines the Pirna road; and from
+this point of vantage they now sought to drive St. Cyr from the works
+thrown up on its flank and rear. But their masses were torn by a
+deadly fire and finally fell back shattered. The Russians, on their
+right, fared no better. At the allied centre and left, the attack at
+one time promised success. Under cover of a heavy cannonade from their
+slopes, the Austrians carried two redoubts: but, with a desperate
+charge, the Old Guard drove in through the gorges of these works and
+bayoneted the victors of an hour. As night fell, the assailants drew
+off baffled, after sustaining serious losses.
+
+Nevertheless, the miseries of the night, the heavy rains of the
+dawning day and the knowledge of the strength of the enemy's position
+in front and of Vandamme's movement in their rear, failed to daunt
+their spirits. If they were determined, Napoleon was radiant with
+hope. His force, though smaller, held the inner line and spread over
+some three miles; while the concave front of the allies extended over
+double that space, and their left wing was separated from the centre
+by the stream and defile of Plauen. From his inner position he could
+therefore readily throw an overpowering mass on any part of their
+attenuated array. He prepared to do so against their wings. At those
+points everything promised success to his methods of attack.
+
+Never, perhaps, in all modern warfare has the musket been so useless
+as amidst the drenching rains which beat upon the fighters at the
+Katzbach and before Dresden. So defective was its firing arrangement
+then that after a heavy storm only a feeble sputter came from whole
+battalions of foot: and on those two eventful days the honours lay
+with the artillery and _l'arme blanche_. As for the infantrymen, they
+could effect little except in some wild snatches of bayonet work at
+close quarters. This explains the course of events both at the
+Katzbach on the 26th, and at Dresden on the following day. The allied
+centre was too strongly posted on the slopes south of Dresden to be
+assailed with much hope of success. But, against the Russian vanguard
+on the allied right, Napoleon launched Mortier's corps and Nansouty's
+cavalry with complete success, until Wittgenstein's masses on the
+heights stayed the French onset. Along the centre, some thousand
+cannon thundered against one another, but with no very noteworthy
+result, save that Moreau had his legs carried away by a shot from a
+field battery that suddenly opened upon the Czar's suite. It was the
+first shot that dealt him this fatal wound, but several other balls
+fell among the group until Alexander and his staff moved away.
+
+Meanwhile the great blow was struck by Napoleon at the allied left.
+There the Austrian wing was sundered from the main force by the
+difficult defile of Plauen; and it was crushed by one of the Emperor's
+most brilliant combinations. Directing Victor with 20,000 men of all
+arms to engage the white-coats in front, he bade Murat, with 10,000
+horsemen, steal round near the bank of the Elbe and charge their flank
+and rear. The division of Count Metzko bore the brunt of this terrible
+onset. Nobly it resisted. Though not one musket in fifty would fire,
+the footmen in one place beat off two charges of Latour-Maubourg's
+cuirassiers, until he headed his line with lancers, who mangled their
+ranks and opened a way for the sword.[359] Then all was slaughter; and
+as Murat's squadrons raged along their broken lines, 10,000 footmen,
+cut off from the main body, laid down their arms. News of this
+disaster on the left and the sound of Vandamme's cannon thundering
+among the hills west of Pirna decided the allied sovereigns and
+Schwarzenberg to prepare for a timely retreat into Bohemia. Yet so
+bold a front did they keep at the centre and right that the waning
+light showed the combatants facing each other there on even terms.
+
+During the night, the rumbling of wagons warned Marmont's scouts that
+the enemy were retreating;[360] and the Emperor, coming up at break of
+day, ordered that Marshal and St. Cyr to press directly on their rear,
+while Murat pursued the fugitives along the Freiburg road further to
+the west. The outcome of these two days of fighting was most serious
+for the allies. They lost 35,000 men in killed, wounded and
+prisoners--a natural result of their neglect to seize Fortune's
+bounteous favours on the 25th; a result, too, of Napoleon's rapid
+movements and unerring sagacity in profiting by the tactical blunders
+of his foes.
+
+It was the last of his great victories. And even here the golden fruit
+which he hoped to cull crumbled to bitter dust in his grasp. As has
+been pointed out, he had charged General Vandamme, one of the sternest
+fighters in the French army, to undertake with 38,000 men a task which
+he himself had previously hoped to achieve with more than double that
+number. This was to seize Pirna and the plateau to the west, which
+commands the three roads leading towards Teplitz in Bohemia. The best
+of these roads crosses the Erzgebirge by way of Nollendorf and the
+gorge leading down to Kulm, the other by the Zinnwald pass, while
+between them is a third and yet more difficult track. Vandamme was to
+take up a position west or south-west of Pirna so as to cut off the
+retreat of the foe.
+
+Accordingly, he set out from Stolpen at dawn of the 26th, and on the
+next two days fought his way far round the rear of the allied Grand
+Army. A Russian force of 14,000 men, led by the young Prince Eugene of
+Wuertemberg and Count Ostermann, sought in vain to stop his progress:
+though roughly handled on the 28th by the French, the Muscovites
+disengaged themselves, fell back ever fighting to the Nollendorf pass,
+and took up a strong position behind the village of Kulm. There they
+received timely support from the forces of the Czar and Frederick
+William, who, after crossing by the Zinnwald pass, heard the firing on
+the east and divined the gravity of the crisis. Unless they kept
+Vandamme at bay, the Grand Army could with difficulty struggle through
+into Bohemia. But now, with the supports hastily sent him, Ostermann
+finally beat back Vandamme's utmost efforts. The defenders little knew
+what favours Fortune had in store.
+
+A Prussian corps under Kleist was slowly plodding up the middle of the
+three defiles, when, at noonday of the 29th, an order came from the
+King to hurry over the ridge and turn east to the support of
+Ostermann. This was impossible: the defile was choked with wagons and
+artillery: but one of Kleist's staff-officers proposed the daring plan
+of plunging at once into cross tracks and cutting into Vandamme's
+rear. This novel and romantic design was carried out. While, then, the
+French general was showering his blows against the allies below Kulm,
+the Prussians swarmed down from the heights of Nollendorf on his rear.
+Even so, the French struggled stoutly for liberty. Their leader,
+scorning death or surrender, flung himself with his braves on the
+Russians in front, but was borne down and caught, fighting to the
+last. Several squadrons rushed up the steeps against the Prussians and
+in part hewed their way through. Four thousand footmen held their own
+on a natural stronghold until their bullets failed, and the survivors
+surrendered. Many more plunged into the woods and met various fates,
+some escaping through to their comrades, others falling before
+Kleist's rearguard. Such was the disaster of Kulm. Apart from the
+unbending heroism shown by the conquered, it may be called the Caudine
+Forks of modern war. A force of close on 40,000 men was nearly
+destroyed: it lost all its cannon and survived only in bands of
+exhausted stragglers.[361]
+
+Who is to be blamed for this disaster? Obviously, it could not have
+occurred had Vandamme kept in touch with the nearest French divisions:
+otherwise, these could have closed in on Kleist's rear and captured
+him. Napoleon clearly intended to support Vandamme by the corps of St.
+Cyr, who, early on the 28th, was charged to co-operate with that
+general, while Mortier covered Pirna. But on that same morning the
+Emperor rode to Pirna, found that St. Cyr, Marmont, and Murat were
+sweeping in crowds of prisoners, and directed Berthier to order
+Vandamme to "penetrate into Bohemia and overwhelm the Prince of
+Wuertemberg."[362] Then, without waiting to organize the pursuit, he
+forthwith returned to Dresden, either because, as some say, the rains
+of the previous days had struck a chill to his system, or as Marmont,
+with more reason, asserts, because of his concern at the news of
+Macdonald's disaster on the Katzbach. Certain it is that he recalled
+his Old Guard to Dresden, busied himself with plans for a march on
+Berlin, and at 5.30 next morning directed Berthier to order St. Cyr to
+"pursue the foe to Maxen and in all directions that he has taken."
+This order led St. Cyr westwards, in pursuit of Barclay's Russians,
+who had diverged sharply in that direction in order to escape
+Vandamme.
+
+The eastern road to Teplitz was thus left comparatively clear, while
+the middle road was thronged with pursuers and pursued.[363] No
+directions were given by Napoleon to warn Vandamme of the gap thus
+left in his rear: neither was Mortier at Pirna told to press on and
+keep in touch with Vandamme now that St. Cyr was some eight miles away
+to the west. Doubtless St. Cyr and Mortier ought to have concerted
+measures for keeping in touch with Vandamme, and they deserve censure
+for their lack of foresight; but it was not usual, even for the
+Marshals, to take the initiative when the Emperor was near at hand. To
+sum up: the causes of Vandamme's disaster were, firstly, his rapid
+rush into Bohemia in quest of the Marshal's baton which was to be his
+guerdon of victory: secondly, the divergence of St. Cyr westward in
+pursuance of Napoleon's order of the 29th to pursue the enemy towards
+Maxen: thirdly, the neglect of St. Cyr and Mortier to concert measures
+for the support of Vandamme along the Nollendorf road: but, above all,
+the return of Napoleon to Dresden, and his neglect to secure a timely
+co-operation of his forces along the eastern line of pursuit.[364]
+
+The disaster at Kulm ruined Napoleon's campaign. While Vandamme was
+making his last stand, his master at Dresden was drawing up a long
+Note as to the respective advantages of a march on Berlin or on
+Prague. He decided on the former course, which would crush the
+national movement in Prussia, and bring him into touch with Davoust
+and the French garrisons at Kuestrin and Stettin. "Then, if Austria
+begins her follies again, I shall be at Dresden with a united army."
+
+He looked on Austria as cowed by the blows dealt her south of Dresden,
+which would probably bring her to sue for peace, and he hoped that one
+more great battle would end the war. The mishaps to Macdonald and
+Vandamme dispelled these dreams. Still, with indomitable energy, he
+charged Ney to take command of Oudinot's army (a post of which this
+unfortunate leader begged to be relieved) and to strike at Berlin. He
+ordered Friant with a column of the Old Guard to march to Bautzen and
+drive in Macdonald's stragglers with the butt ends of muskets.[365]
+Then, hearing how pressing was the danger of this Marshal, he himself
+set out secretly with the cavalry of the Guard in hope of crushing
+Bluecher. But again that leader retreated (September 4th and 5th), and
+once more the allied Grand Army thrust its columns through the Erz and
+threatened Dresden. Hurrying back in the worst of humours to defend
+that city, Napoleon heard bad news from the north. On September 6th
+Ney had been badly beaten at Dennewitz. In truth, that brave fighter
+was no tactician: his dispositions were worse than those of Oudinot,
+and the obstinate bravery of the Prussians, led by Buelow and
+Tauenzien, wrested a victory from superior numbers. Night alone saved
+Ney's army from complete dissolution: as it was, he lost some 9,000
+killed and wounded, 15,000 prisoners along with eighty cannon, and
+frankly summed up the situation thus to his master: "I have been
+totally beaten, and still do not know whether my army has
+reassembled."[366] Ultimately his army assembled and fell back behind
+the Elbe at Torgau.
+
+Thus, in a fortnight (August 23rd-September 6th), Napoleon had gained
+a great success at Dresden, while, on the circumference of operations,
+his lieutenants had lost five battles--Grossbeeren, Hagelberg,
+Katzbach, Kulm, and Dennewitz. The allies could therefore contract
+that circumference, come into closer touch, and threaten his central
+intrenched camps at Pirna and Dresden. Yet still, in pursuance of a
+preconcerted plan, they drew back where he advanced in person. Thus,
+when he sought to drive back Schwarzenberg's columns into Bohemia,
+that leader warily retired to the now impregnable passes; and the
+Emperor fell back on Dresden, wearied and perplexed. As he said to
+Marmont: "The chess-board is very confused: it is only I who can know
+where I am." Yet once more he plunged into the Erzgebirge, engaged in
+a fruitless skirmish in the defile above Kulm, and again had to lead
+his troops back to Pirna and Dresden. A third move against Bluecher led
+to the same wearisome result.
+
+The allies, having worn down the foe, planned a daring move. Bluecher
+persuaded the allied sovereigns to strike from Bohemia at Leipzig,
+thus turning the flank of the defensive works that the French had
+thrown up south of Dresden, and cutting their communications with
+France. He himself would march north-west, join the northern army, and
+thereafter meet them at Leipzig. This rendezvous he kept, as later he
+staunchly kept troth with Wellington at Waterloo; and we may detect
+here, as in 1815, the strategic genius of Gneisenau as the prime
+motive force.
+
+Leaving a small force to screen his former positions at Bautzen, the
+veteran, with 65,000 men, stealthily set out on his flank march
+towards Wittenberg, threw two pontoon bridges over the Elbe at
+Wartenburg, about ten miles above that fortress, drove away Bertrand's
+battalions who hindered the crossing, and threw up earthworks to
+protect the bridges (October 3rd). This done, he began to feel about
+for Bernadotte, and came into touch with him south of Dessau. By this
+daring march he placed two armies, amounting to 160,000 men, on the
+north of Napoleon's lines; and his personal influence checked, even if
+it did not wholly stop, the diplomatic loiterings of the Swedish Crown
+Prince.[368] Bernadotte's hesitations were finally overcome by the
+news that Bluecher was marching south towards Leipzig. Finally he gave
+orders to follow him; but we may judge how easy would have been the
+task of overthrowing Bernadotte's discordant array if Napoleon could
+have carried out his project of September 30th.
+
+As it was, the disaster of Kulm kept the Emperor tethered for some
+days within a few leagues of Dresden, while Buelow and Bluecher saved
+the campaign for the allies in the north, thereby exciting a patriotic
+ferment which drove Jerome Bonaparte from Cassel and kept Davoust to
+the defensive around Hamburg. There the skilful moves of Walmoden with
+a force of Russians, British, Swedes, and North Germans kept in check
+the ablest of the French Marshals, and prevented his junction with the
+Emperor, for which the latter never ceased to struggle.
+
+Meanwhile the Grand Army of the allies, strengthened by the approach
+from Poland of 50,000 Russians of the Army of Reserve, was creeping
+through the western passes of the Erz into the plains south of
+Leipzig. This move was not unexpected by Napoleon. The importance of
+that city was obvious. Situated in the midst of the fertile Saxon
+plain, the centre of a great system ofroads, its position and its
+wealth alike marked it out as the place likely to be seized by a
+daring foe who should seek to cut Napoleon off from France.
+
+As fortune turned against him, he became ever more nervous about
+Leipzig. Yet, for the present, the northward march of Bluecher rivetted
+his attention. It puzzled him. Even as late as October 2nd he had not
+fathomed Bluecher's real aim[369]. But four days later he heard that
+the Prussian leader had crossed the Elbe. At once he hurried
+north-west with the Guard to crush him, and to resume the favourite
+project of threatening Berllin and join hands with Davoust. Charging
+St-Cyr with the defence of Dresden, and Murat with the defence of
+Leipzig, he took his stand at Dueben, a small town on the Mulde, nearly
+midway between Leipzig and Wittenberg. Thence he reinforced Ney's
+army, and ordered that Marshal northwards to fall on the rear of
+Bernadotte and Bluecher; while he himself waited in a moated castle at
+Dueben to learn the issue of events.
+
+The saxon Colonel, von Odeleben, has left us a vivid picture of the
+great man's restlessness during those four days. Surrounded by maps
+and despatches, and waited on by watchful geographer and apprehensive
+secretary, he spent much of the time scrawling large letters on a
+sheet of paper, uneasily listening for the tramp of a courier. In
+truth, few days of his life were more critical that those spent amidst
+the rains, swamps, and fogs of Dueben. Could he have caught Bernadotte
+and Bluecher far apart, he might have overwhelmed them singly, and then
+have carried the war into the heart of Prussia. But he knows that
+Dresden and Leipzig are far from safe. The news from that side begins
+to alarm him: and though, on the north, Ney, Bertrand, and Reynier cut
+up the rearguard of the allies, he learns with some disquiet that
+Bluecher is withdrawing westwards behind the River Saale, a move which
+betokens a wish to come into touch with Schwarzenberg near Leipzig.
+
+Yet this disconcerting thought spurs him on to one of his most daring
+designs. "As a means of upsetting all their plans, I will march to the
+Elbe. There I have the advantage, since I have Hamburg, Magdeburg,
+Wittenberg, Torgau, and Dresden."[370] What faith he had in the
+defensive capacities of a great river line dotted with fortresses! His
+lieutenants did not share it. Caulaincourt tells us that his plan of
+dashing at Berlin roused general consternation at headquarters, and
+that the staff came in a body to beg him to give it up, and march back
+to protect Leipzig. Reluctantly he abandons it, and then only to
+change it for one equally venturesome. He will crush Bernadotte and
+Bluecher, or throw them beyond the Elbe, and then, himself crossing the
+Elbe, ascend its right bank, recross it at Torgau, and strike at
+Schwarzenberg's rear near Leipzig.
+
+The plan promised well, provided that his men were walking machines,
+and that Schwarzenberg did nothing in the interval. But gradually the
+truth dawns on him that, while he sits weaving plans and dictating
+despatches--he sent off six in the small hours of October
+12th--Bluecher and Schwarzenberg are drawing near to Leipzig. On that
+day he prepared to fall back on that city, a resolve strengthened on
+the morrow by the capture of one of the enemy's envoys, who reported
+that they had great hopes of detaching Bavaria from the French cause.
+
+The news was correct. Five days earlier, the King of Bavaria had come
+to terms with Austria, offering to place 36,000 troops at her
+disposal, while she, in return, guaranteed his complete sovereignty
+and a full territorial indemnity for any districts that he might be
+called on to restore to the Hapsburgs.[371] Napoleon knew not as yet
+the full import of the news, and it is quite incorrect to allege, as
+some heedless admirers have done, that this was the only thing that
+stayed his conquering march northwards.[372] His retreat to Leipzig
+was arranged before he heard the first rumour as to Bavaria's
+defection. But the tidings saddened his men on their miry march
+southwards; and, strange to say, the Emperor published it to all his
+troops at Leipzig on the 15th, giving it as the cause why they were
+about to fall back on the Rhine.
+
+There was much to depress the Emperor when, on the 14th, he drew near
+to Leipzig. With him came the King and Queen of Saxony, who during the
+last days had resignedly moved along in the tail of this comet, which
+had blasted their once smiling realm. Outside the city they parted,
+the royal pair seeking shelter under its roofs, while the Emperor
+pressed on to Murat's headquarters near Wachau. There, too the news
+was doubtful. The King of Naples had not, on that day, shown his old
+prowess. Though he disposed of larger masses of horsemen than those
+which the allies sent out to reconnoitre, he chose his ground of
+attack badly, and led his brigades in so loose an array that, after
+long swayings to and fro, the fight closed with advantage to the
+allies.[373] It was not without reason that Napoleon on that night
+received his Marshals rather coolly at his modest quarters in the
+village of Reudnitz. Leaning against the stove, he ran over several
+names of those who were now slack in their duty; and when Augereau was
+announced, he remarked that he was not the Augereau of Castiglione.
+"Ah! give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you that
+I am," retorted the testy veteran.
+
+As a matter of fact, Napoleon was not the old Napoleon, not even the
+Napoleon of Dresden. There he had overwhelmed the foe by a rapid
+concentration. Now nothing decisive was done on the 15th, and time was
+thereby given the allies to mature their plans. Early on that day
+Bluecher heard that on the morrow Schwarzenberg would attack Leipzig
+from the south-east, but would send a corps westwards to threaten it
+on the side of Lindenau. The Prussian leader therefore hurried on from
+the banks of the Saale, and at night the glare of his watch-fires
+warned Marmont that Leipzig would be assailed also from the
+north-west. Yet, despite the warnings which Napoleon received from his
+Marshal, he refused to believe that the north side was seriously
+threatened; and, as late as the dawn of the 16th, he bade his troops
+there to be ready to march through Leipzig and throw themselves on the
+masses of Schwarzenberg.[374] Had Napoleon given those orders on the
+15th, all might have gone well; for all his available forces, except
+Ney's and Reynier's corps, were near at hand, making a total of nearly
+150,000 men, while Schwarzenberg had as yet not many more. But those
+orders on the 16th were not only belated: they contributed to the
+defeat on the north side.
+
+The Emperor's thoughts were concentrated on the south. There his lines
+stretched in convex front along undulating ground near Wachau and
+Liebertwolkwitz, about a league to the south and south-east of the
+town. His right was protected by the marshy ground of the small river
+Pleisse; his centre stretched across the roads leading towards
+Dresden, while his left rested on a small stream, the Parthe, which
+curves round towards the north-west and forms a natural defence to the
+town on the north. Yet to cautious minds his position seemed unsafe;
+he had in his rear a town whose old walls were of no military value, a
+town on which several roads converged from the north, east, and south,
+but from which, in case of defeat, he could retire westward only by
+one road, that leading over the now flooded streams of the Pleisse and
+the Elster. But the great captain himself thought only of victory. He
+had charged Macdonald and Ney to march from Taucha to his support:
+Marmont was to do the same; and, with these concentrated forces acting
+against the far more extended array of Schwarzenberg, he counted on
+overthrowing him on the morrow, and then crushing the disunited forces
+of Bluecher and Bernadotte.[375]
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF LEIPZIG]
+
+The Emperor and Murat were riding along the ridge near
+Liebertwolkwitz, when, at nine o'clock, three shots fired in quick
+succession from the allies on the opposite heights, opened the series
+of battles fitly termed the Battle of the Nations. For six hours a
+furious cannonade shook the earth, and the conflict surged to and fro
+with little decisive result; but when Macdonald's corps struck in from
+the north-east, the allies began to give ground. Thereupon Napoleon
+launched two cavalry corps, those of Latour-Maubourg and Pajol,
+against the allied centre.
+
+Then was seen one of the most superb sights of war. Rising quickly
+from behind the ridge, 12,000 horsemen rode in two vast masses against
+a weak point in the opposing lines. They were led by the King of
+Naples with all his wonted dash. Panting up the muddy slopes opposite,
+they sabred the gunners, enveloped the Russian squares, and the three
+allied sovereigns themselves had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid
+capture. But the horses were soon spent by the furious pace at which
+Murat careered along; and a timely charge by Pahlen's Cossacks and the
+Silesian cuirassiers, brought up from the allied reserves beyond the
+Pleisse, drove the French brigades back in great disorder, with the
+loss of their able corps leaders. The allies by a final effort
+regained all the lost ground, and the day here ended in a drawn fight,
+with the loss of about 20,000 men to either side.
+
+Meanwhile, on the west side of Leipzig, Bertrand had beaten off the
+attack of Giulay's Austrian corps on the village of Lindenau. But,
+further north, Marmont sustained a serious reverse. In obedience to
+Napoleon's order, he was falling back towards Leipzig, when he was
+sharply attacked by Yorck's corps at Moeckern. Between that village and
+Eutritzsch further east the French Marshal offered a most obstinate
+resistance. Bluecher, hoping to capture his whole corps, begged Sir
+Charles Stewart to ride back to Bernadotte and request his succour.
+The British envoy found the Swedish Prince at Halle and conjured him
+to make every exertion not to be the only leader left out of the
+battle.[376] It was in vain: his army was too far away; and only after
+the village of Moeckern had been repeatedly taken and re-taken, was
+Marmont finally driven out by Yorck's Prussians.[377]
+
+In truth, Marmont lacked the support of Ney's corps, which Berthier
+had led him to expect if he were attacked in force. But the orders
+were vague or contradictory. Ney had been charged to follow Macdonald
+and impart irresistible momentum to the onset which was to have
+crushed Schwarzenberg's right wing. He therefore only detached one
+weak division to cover Marmont's right flank, and with the other
+divisions marched away south, when an urgent message from Moeckern
+recalled him to that side of Leipzig, with the result that his 15,000
+men spent the whole day in useless marches and counter-marches.[378]
+The mishap was most serious. Had he strengthened Macdonald's
+outflanking move, the right wing of the allied Grand Army might have
+been shattered. Had he reinforced Marmont effectively, the position on
+the north might have been held. As it was, the French fell back from
+Moeckern in confusion, losing 53 cannon; but they had inflicted on
+Yorck's corps a loss of 8,000 men out of 21,000. Relatively to the
+forces engaged, Albuera and Moeckern are the bloodiest battles of the
+Napoleonic wars.
+
+On the whole, Napoleon had dealt the allies heavier losses than he had
+sustained. But they could replace them. On the morrow Bennigsen was
+near at hand on the east with 41,000 Russians of the Army of Reserve;
+Colloredo's Austrian corps had also come up; and, in the north,
+Bernadotte's Army of the North, 60,000 strong, was known to be
+marching from Halle to reinforce Bluecher. Napoleon, however, could
+only count on Reynier's corps of 15,000 men, mostly Saxons, who
+marched in from Dueben. St. Cyr's corps of 27,000 men was too far away,
+at Dresden; and Napoleon must have bitterly rued his rashness in
+leaving that Marshal isolated on the south-east, while Davoust was
+also cut off at Hamburg. He now had scarcely 150,000 effectives left
+after the slaughter of the 16th; and of these, the German divisions
+were murmuring at the endless marches and privations. Everything
+helped to depress men's minds. On that Sabbath morning all was sombre
+desolation around Leipzig, while within that city naught was heard but
+the groans of the wounded and the lamentations of the citizens. Still
+Napoleon's spirit was unquenched. Amidst the steady rain he paced
+restlessly with Murat along the dykes of the Pleisse. The King assured
+him that the enemy had suffered enormous losses. Then, the dreary walk
+ended, the Emperor shut himself in his tent. His resolve was taken. He
+would try fortune once more.[379]
+
+Among the prisoners was the Austrian General Merveldt, over whom
+Napoleon had gained his first diplomatic triumph, that at Leoben. He
+it was, too, who had brought the first offers of an armistice after
+Austerlitz. These recollections touched the superstitious chords in
+the great Corsican's being; for in times of stress the strongest
+nature harks back to early instincts. This harbinger of good fortune
+the Emperor now summoned and talked long and earnestly with him.[380]
+First, he complimented him on his efforts of the previous day to turn
+the French left at Doelitz; next, he offered to free him on parole in
+order to return to the allied headquarters with proposals for an
+armistice. Then, after giving out that he had more than 200,000 men
+round Leipzig, he turned to the European situation. Why had Austria
+deserted him? At Prague she might have dictated terms to Europe. But
+the English did not want peace. To this Merveldt answered that they
+needed it sorely, but it must be not a truce, but a peace founded on
+the equilibrium of Europe.--"Well," replied Napoleon, "let them give
+me back my isles and I will give them back Hanover; I will also
+re-establish the Hanse Towns and the annexed departments [of North
+Germany].... But how treat with England, who wishes to bind me not to
+build more than thirty ships of the line in my ports?"[381]
+
+As for the Confederation of the Rhine, those States might secede that
+chose to do so: but never would he cease to protect those that wanted
+his protection. As to giving Holland its independence, he saw a great
+difficulty: that land would then fall under the control of England.
+Italy ought to be under one sovereign; that would suit the European
+system. As he had abandoned Spain, that question was thereby decided.
+Why then should not peace be the result of an armistice?--The allied
+sovereigns thought differently, and at once waved aside the proposal.
+No answer was sent.
+
+In fact, they had Napoleon in their power, as he surmised. Late on
+that Sunday, he withdrew his drenched and half-starved troops nearer
+to Leipzig; for Bluecher had gained ground on the north and threatened
+the French line of retreat. Why the Emperor did not retreat during the
+night must remain a mystery. All the peoples of Europe were now
+closing in on him. On the north were Prussians, Russians, Swedes, and
+a few British troops. To the south-east were the dense masses of the
+allied Grand Army drawn from all the lands between the Alps and the
+Urals; and among Bennigsen's array on the east of Leipzig were to be
+seen the Bashkirs of Siberia, whose bows and arrows gained them from
+the French soldiery the sobriquet of _les Amours_.
+
+To this ring of 300,000 fighters Napoleon could oppose scarcely half
+as many. Yet the French fought on, if not for victory, yet for honour;
+and, under the lead of Prince Poniatowski, whose valour on the 16th
+had gained him the coveted rank of a Marshal of France, the Poles once
+more clutched desperately at the wraith of their national
+independence. Napoleon took his stand with his staff on a hill behind
+Probstheyde near a half-ruined windmill, fit emblem of his fortunes;
+while, further south, the three allied monarchs watched from a higher
+eminence the vast horse-shoe of smoke slowly draw in towards the city.
+In truth, this immense conflict baffles all description. On the
+north-east, the Crown Prince of Sweden gradually drove his columns
+across the Parthe, while Bluecher hammered at the suburbs.
+
+Near the village of Paunsdorf, the allies found a weak place in the
+defence, where Reynier's Saxons showed signs of disaffection. Some few
+went over to the Russians in the forenoon, and about 3 p.m. others
+marched over with loud hurrahs. They did not exceed 3,000 men, with 19
+cannon, but these pieces were at once effectively used against the
+French. Napoleon hurried towards the spot with part of his Guards, who
+restored the fight on that side. But it was only for a time. The
+defence was everywhere overmatched.
+
+Even the inspiration of his presence and the desperate efforts of
+Murat, Poniatowski, Victor, Macdonald, and thousands of nameless
+heroes, barely held off the masses of the allied Grand Army. On the
+north and north-east, Marmont and Ney were equally overborne.[382]
+Worst of all, the supply of cannon balls was running low. With
+pardonable exaggeration the Emperor afterwards wrote to Clarke: "If I
+had then had 30,000 rounds, I should to-day be the master of the
+world."
+
+At nightfall, the chief returned weary and depressed to the windmill,
+and instructed Berthier to order the retreat. Then, beside a
+watch-fire, he sank down on a bench into a deep slumber, while his
+generals looked on in mournful silence. All around them there surged
+in the darkness the last cries of battle, the groans of the wounded,
+and the dull rumble of a retreating host. After a quarter of an hour
+he awoke with a start and threw an astonished look on his staff; then,
+recollecting himself, he bade an officer repair to the King of Saxony
+and tell him the state of affairs.
+
+Early next morning, he withdrew into Leipzig, and, after paying a
+brief visit to the King, rode away towards the western gate. It was
+none too soon. The conflux of his still mighty forces streaming in by
+three high roads, produced in all the streets of the town a crush
+which thickened every hour. The Prussians and Swedes were breaking
+into the northern suburbs, while the white-coats drove in the
+defenders on the south. Slowly and painfully the throng of fugitives
+struggled through the town towards the western gate. On that side the
+confusion became ever worse, as the shots of the allies began to whiz
+across the arches and causeway that led over the Pleisse and the
+Elster, while the hurrahs of the Russians drew near on the north.
+Ammunition wagons, gendarmes, women, grenadiers and artillery, cavalry
+and cattle, the wounded, the dying, Marshals and sutlers, all were
+wedged into an indistinguishable throng that fought for a foothold on
+that narrow road of safety; and high above the din came the clash of
+merry bells from the liberated suburbs, bells that three days before
+had rung forced peals of triumph at Napoleon's orders, but now bade
+farewell for ever to French domination. To increase the rout, a
+temporary bridge thrown over the Elster broke down under the crush;
+and the rush for the roadway became more furious. In despair of
+reaching it, hundreds threw themselves into the flooded stream, but
+few reached the further shore: among the drowned was that flower of
+Polish chivalry, Prince Poniatowski.
+
+But this mishap was soon to be outdone. A corporal of engineers, in
+the absence of his chief, had received orders to blow up the bridge
+outside the western gate, as soon as the pursuers were at hand; but,
+alarmed by the volleys of Sacken's Russians, whom Bluecher had sent to
+work round by the river courses north-west of the town, the bewildered
+subaltern fired the mine while the rearguard and a great crowd of
+stragglers were still on the eastern side.[383] This was the climax of
+this day of disaster, which left in the hands of the allies as many as
+thirty generals, including Lauriston and Reynier, and 33,000 of the
+rank and file, along with 260 cannon and 870 ammunition wagons. From
+the village of Lindenau Napoleon gazed back at times over the awesome
+scene, but in general he busied himself with reducing to order the
+masses that had struggled across. The Old Guard survived, staunch as
+ever, and had saved its 120 cannon, but the Young Guard was reduced to
+a mere wreck. Amidst all the horrors of that day, the Emperor
+maintained a stolid composure, but observers saw that he was bathed in
+sweat. Towards evening, he turned and rode away westwards; and from
+the weary famished files, many a fierce glance and muttered curse shot
+forth as he passed by. Men remembered that it was exactly a year since
+the Grand Army broke up from Moscow.
+
+Yet, despite the ravages of typhus, the falling away of the German
+States and the assaults of the allied horse, the retreating host
+struggled stoutly on towards the Rhine. At Hanau it swept aside an
+army of Bavarians and Austrians that sought to bar the road to France;
+and, early in November, 40,000 armed men, with a larger number of
+unarmed stragglers, filed across the bridge at Mainz. Napoleon had not
+only lost Germany; he left behind in its fortresses as many as 190,000
+troops, of whom nearly all were French; and of the 1,300 cannon with
+which he began the second part of the campaign, scarce 200 were now at
+hand for the defence of his Empire.
+
+The causes of this immense disaster are not far to seek. They were
+both political and military. In staking all on the possession of the
+line of the Elbe, Napoleon was engulfing himself in a hostile land. At
+the first signs of his overthrow, the national spirit of Germany was
+certain to inflame the Franconians and Westphalians in his rear, and
+imperil his communications. In regard to strategy, he committed the
+same blunder as that perpetrated by Mack in 1805. He trusted to a
+river line that could easily be turned by his foes. As soon as Austria
+declared against him, his position on the Elbe was fully as perilous
+as Mack's lines of the Iller at Ulm.
+
+And yet, in spite of the obvious danger from the great mountain
+bastion of Bohemia that stretched far away in his rear, the Emperor
+kept his troops spread out from Koenigstein to Hamburg, and ventured on
+long and wearying marches into Silesia, and north to Dueben, which left
+his positions in Saxony almost at the mercy of the allied Grand
+Army.[384] By emerging from the mighty barrier of the Erzgebirge, that
+army compelled him three times to give up his offensive moves and
+hastily to fall back into the heart of Saxony.
+
+The plain truth is that he was out-generalled by the allies. The
+assertion may seem to savour of profanity. Yet, if words have any
+meaning, the phrase is literally correct. His aim was primarily to
+maintain himself on the line of the Elbe, but also, though in the
+second place, to keep up his communication with France. Their aim was
+to leave him the Elbe line, but to cut him off from France. Even at
+the outset they planned to strike at Leipzig: their attack on Dresden
+was an afterthought, timidly and slowly carried out. As long, however,
+as their Grand Army clung to the Erz mountains, they paralyzed his
+movements to the east and north, which merely played into their hands.
+
+As regards the execution of the allied plans, the honours must
+unquestionably rest with Bluecher and Gneisenau. Their tactful retreats
+before Napoleon in Silesia, their crushing blow at Macdonald, above
+all, their daring flank march to Wartenburg and thence to Halle, are
+exploits of a very high order; and doubtless it was the emergence of
+this unsuspected volcanic force from the unbroken flats of continental
+mediocrity that nonplussed Napoleon and led to the results described
+above. Truly heroic was Bluecher's determination to push on to Leipzig,
+even when the enemy was seizing the Elbe bridges in his rear. The
+veteran saw clearly that a junction with Schwarzenberg near Leipzig
+was the all-important step, and that it must bring back the French to
+that point. His judgment was as sound as his strokes were trenchant;
+and, owing to the illusions which Napoleon still cherished as to the
+saving strength of the Elbe line, the French arrived on that mighty
+battlefield half-famished and wearied by fruitless marches and
+countermarches. Of all Napoleon's campaigns, that of the second part
+of 1813 must rank as by far the weakest in conception, the most
+fertile in blunders, and the most disastrous in its results for
+France.
+
+
+NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION.--In order not to overcrowd these chapters
+with diplomatic details, I have made only the briefest reference to
+the Treaties signed at Teplitz on Sept. 9th, 1813, with Russia and
+Prussia, which cemented the fourth great Coalition; but it will be
+well to describe them here.
+
+A way having been paved for a closer union by the Treaty of Kalisch
+(see p. 276) and by that of Reichenbach (see p. 317), it was now
+agreed (1) that Austria and Prussia should be restored as nearly as
+possible to the position which they held in 1805; (2) that the
+Confederation of the Rhine should be dissolved; (3) and that "full and
+unconditional independence" should be accorded to the princes of the
+other German States. This last clause was firmly but vainly opposed by
+Stein and the German Unionist party. Austria's help was so sorely
+needed that she could dictate her terms, and she began to scheme for
+the creation of a sort of _Fuerstenbund_, or League of Princes, under
+her hegemony. The result was seen in her Treaty of October 7th, 1813,
+with Bavaria, which detached that State from the French alliance and
+assured the success of Metternich's plans for Germany (see pp.
+354-355). The smaller States soon followed the lead given by Bavaria;
+and the reconstruction of Germany on the Austrian plan was further
+assured by the Treaty of Chaumont (see pp. 402-403). Thus the dire
+need of Austrian help felt by Russia and Prussia throughout the
+campaigns of 1813-1814 had no small share in moulding the future of
+Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI
+
+FROM THE RHINE TO THE SEINE
+
+
+"The Emperor Napoleon must become King of France. Up to now all his
+work has been done for the Empire. He lost the Empire when he lost his
+army. When he no longer makes war for the army, he will make peace for
+the French people, and then he will become King of France."--Such were
+the words of the most sagacious of French statesmen to Schwarzenberg.
+They were spoken on April 15th, 1813, when it still seemed likely that
+Napoleon would meet halfway the wishes of Austria. Such, at least, was
+Talleyrand's ardent hope. He saw the innate absurdity of attempting to
+browbeat Austria, and strangle the infant Hercules of German
+nationality, after the Grand Army had been lost in Russia.
+
+If this was reasonable in the spring of 1813, it was an imperative
+necessity at the close of the year. Napoleon had in the meantime lost
+400,000 men: and he could not now say, as he did to Metternich of his
+losses in Russia, that "nearly half were Germans." The men who had
+fallen in Saxony, or who bravely held out in the Polish, German, and
+Spanish fortresses, were nearly all French. They were, what the
+_triarii_ were to the Roman legion, the reserves of the fighting
+manhood of France. That unhappy land was growing restless under its
+disasters. In Spain, Wellington had blockaded Pamplona, stormed St.
+Sebastian, thrown Soult back on the Pyrenees in a series of desperate
+conflicts, and planted the British flag on the soil of France, eleven
+days before Napoleon was overthrown at Leipzig. Then, pressing
+northwards, in compliance with the urgent appeals of the allied
+sovereigns, our great commander assailed the lines south of the
+Nivelle, on which the French had been working for three months, drove
+the enemy out of them and back over the river, with a loss of 4,200
+men and 51 guns (November 10th).[385]
+
+The same tale was told in the north. The allies were welcomed by the
+secondary German princes, who, in return for compacts guaranteeing
+their sovereignty, promised to raise contingents that amounted in all
+to upwards of a quarter of a million of men. Bernadotte marched
+against the Danes and cut off Davoust in Hamburg, where that Marshal
+bravely held out to the end of the war. Elsewhere in the north
+Napoleon's domination quickly mouldered away. Buelow, aided by a small
+British force, invaded Holland early in November; and, with the old
+cry of _Orange boven_, the Dutch tore down the French tricolour and
+welcomed back the Prince of Orange. In Italy, Eugene remained faithful
+to his step-father and repulsed all the overtures of the allies: but
+Murat, whose allegiance had already been shaken by the secret offers
+of the allies, now began to show signs of going over to them, as he
+did at the dawn of the New Year.[386]
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had arrived at Paris (November 9th). He found his
+capital sunk in depression, and indignant at the author of its
+miseries. Peace was the dearest wish of all. Marie Louise confessed it
+by her tears, Cambaceres by his tactful reserve, and the people by
+their cries, while the sullen demeanour or bitter words of the
+Marshals showed that their patience was exhausted. Evidently a
+scapegoat was needed: it was found in the person of Maret, Duc de
+Bassano, whose devotion to Napoleon had reduced the Ministry of
+Foreign Affairs to a highly paid clerkship. For the crime of not
+bending his master's inflexible will at Dresden, he was now cast as a
+sop to the peace party; and his portfolio was intrusted to
+Caulaincourt, Duc de Vicenza (November 20th). The change was salutary.
+The new Minister, when ambassador at St. Petersburg, had been highly
+esteemed by the Czar for his frank, chivalrous demeanour. Our
+countrywoman, Lady Burghersh, afterwards testified to his personal
+charm: "I never saw a countenance so expressive of kindness,
+sweetness, and openness."[387] And these gifts were fortified by a
+manly intelligence, a profound love of France, and by devotion to her
+highest interests. The first of her interests was obviously peace; and
+there now seemed some chance of his conferring this boon on her and on
+the world at large.
+
+On November the 8th and 9th Metternich had two interviews at Frankfurt
+with Baron St. Aignan, a brother-in-law of Caulaincourt, and formerly
+the French envoy at Weimar. The Austrian Minister assured him of the
+moderation of the allies, especially of England, and of their wish for
+a lasting peace founded on the principle of the balance of power.
+France must give up all control of Spain, Italy, and Germany, and
+return to her natural frontiers, the Rhine, the Alps, and the
+Pyrenees. Lord Aberdeen, our ambassador to Austria, and Count
+Nesselrode, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, were present at
+the second interview, and assented to this statement, the latter
+pledging his word that it had the approval of Prussia. Aberdeen added
+his assurance that England was prepared to relax her maritime code and
+sacrifice many of her conquests in order to attain a durable peace. To
+these Frankfurt overtures Napoleon charged Maret to answer in vaguely
+favourable terms, and to suggest the meeting of a European Congress at
+Mannheim. The effect of this Note (November 16th) was marred by the
+strange statement--"a peace based on the independence of all nations,
+both from the continental and the maritime point of view, has always
+been the constant object of the desires and policy of the Emperor
+[Napoleon]."[388]
+
+Metternich in reply pointed out that the French Government had not
+accepted the proposed terms as a basis for negotiations. The new
+Foreign Minister, Caulaincourt, sent off (December 2nd) an acceptance
+which was far more frank and satisfactory; but the day before he
+penned it, the allies had virtually withdrawn their offer, as they had
+told him they would do if it was not speedily accepted. They had all
+along decided not to stay the military operations; and, as these were
+still flowing strongly in their favour, they could not be expected to
+keep open an offer which was exceedingly favourable to Napoleon even
+at the time when it was made, that is, before the support of the
+Dutch, of the Swiss, and of Murat was fully assured.
+
+It may be well to pause for a moment to inquire what were the views of
+the allied Governments, and of Napoleon himself, at this crisis when
+Europe was seething in the political crucible. Had Metternich the full
+assent of those Governments when he offered the French Emperor the
+natural frontiers? Here we must separate the views of Lord Aberdeen
+from those of the British Cabinet, as represented by its Foreign
+Minister, Lord Castlereagh: and we must also distinguish between the
+Emperor Alexander and his Minister, Nesselrode, a man of weak
+character, in whom he had little confidence. Certainly the British
+Cabinet was not disposed to leave Antwerp in Napoleon's hands.
+
+    "This nation," wrote Castlereagh to Aberdeen on November 13th, "is
+    likely to view with disfavour any peace which does not confine
+    France within her ancient limits.... We are still ready to
+    encounter, with our allies, the hazards of peace, if peace can be
+    made on the basis proposed, satisfactorily executed [_sic_]; and
+    we are not inclined to go out of our way to interfere in the
+    internal government of France, however much we might desire to see
+    it placed in more pacific hands. But I am satisfied we must not
+    encourage our allies to patch up an imperfect arrangement. If they
+    will do so, we must submit; but it should appear, in that case, to
+    be their own act, and not ours.... I must particularly entreat you
+    to keep your attention upon Antwerp. The destruction of that
+    arsenal is essential to our safety. To leave it in the hands of
+    France is little short of imposing upon Great Britain the charge
+    of a perpetual war establishment."[389]
+
+Thenceforth British policy inclined, though tentatively and with some
+hesitations, to the view that it was needful in the interests of peace
+to bring France back to the limits of 1791, that is, of withdrawing
+from her, not only Holland, the Rhineland and Italy, but also Belgium,
+Savoy, and Nice. The Prussian patriots were far more decided. They
+were determined that France should not dominate the Rhineland and
+overawe Germany from the fortresses of Mainz, Coblenz, and Wesel. On
+this subject Arndt spoke forth with no uncertain sound in a
+pamphlet--"The Rhine, Germany's river, not her boundary"--which proved
+that the French claim to the Rhine frontier was consonant neither with
+the teachings of history nor the distribution of the two peoples. The
+pamphlet had an immense effect in stirring up Germans to attack the
+cherished French doctrine of the natural frontiers, and it clinched
+the claim which he had put forward in his "Fatherland" song of the
+year before. It bade Germans strive for Treves and Cologne, aye, even
+for Strassburg and Metz. Hardenberg and Stein, differing on most
+points, united in praising this work. Even before it appeared, the
+former chafed at the thought of Napoleon holding the left bank of the
+Rhine. On hearing of Metternich's Frankfurt offer to the French
+Emperor, he wrote in his diary: "Propositions of peace without my
+assent--Rhine, Alps, Pyrenees: a mad business."[390]
+
+Frederick William's views were less pronounced: in fact, his proneness
+to see a lion in every path earned for him the _sobriquet_ of
+Cassandra in his Chancellor's diary. But in the main he was swayed by
+the Czar; and that autocrat was now determined to dictate at Paris a
+peace that would rid him of all prospect of his great rival's revenge.
+Vanity and fear alike prescribed such a course of action. He longed to
+lead his magnificent Guards to Paris, there to display his clemency in
+contrast to the action of the French at Moscow; and this sentiment was
+fed by fear of Napoleon. The latter motive was concealed, of course,
+but Lord Aberdeen gauged its power during a private interview that he
+had with Alexander at Freiburg (December 24th): "He talked with great
+freedom: he is more decided than ever as to the necessity of
+perseverance, and puts little trust in the fair promises of
+Bonaparte.--'_So long as he lives there can be no security_'--he
+repeated it two or three times."[391] We can therefore understand his
+concern lest the Frankfurt terms should be accepted outright by
+Napoleon. Metternich, however, assured him that the French Emperor
+would not assent;[392] and, as in regard to the Prague Congress, he
+was substantially correct.
+
+Here again we touch on the disputed question whether Metternich played
+a fair game against Napoleon, or whether he tempted him to play with
+loaded dice while his throne was at stake. The latter supposition for
+a long time held the field; but it is untenable. On several occasions
+the Austrian statesman warned Napoleon, or his trusty advisers, that
+the best course open to him was to sign peace at once. He did so at
+Dresden, and he did so now. On November 10th he sent Caulaincourt a
+letter, of which these are the most important sentences:
+
+    " ... M. de St. Aignan will speak to you of my conversations [with
+    him]. I expect nothing from them, but I shall have done my duty.
+    France will never sign a more fortunate peace than that which the
+    Powers will make to-day, and tomorrow if they have reverses. New
+    successes may extend their views.... I do not doubt that the
+    approach of the allied armies to the frontiers of France may
+    facilitate the formation of great armaments by her Government. The
+    questions will become problematical for the civilized world; but
+    the Emperor Napoleon will not make peace. There is my profession
+    of faith, and I shall never be happier than if I am wrong."
+
+The letter rings true in every part. Metternich made no secret of
+sending it, but allowed Lord Aberdeen to see it.[393] And by good
+fortune it reached Caulaincourt about the time when he assumed the
+portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Its substance must therefore have been
+known to Napoleon; and the tone of the Frankfurt proposals ought to
+have convinced him of the need of speedily making peace while Austria
+held out the olive branch from across the Rhine. But Metternich's
+gloomy forecast was only too true. During his sojourn at Paris he had
+tested the rigidity of that cast-iron will.
+
+In fact, no one who knew the Emperor's devotion to Italy could believe
+that he would give up Piedmont and Liguria. His own despatches show
+that he never contemplated such a surrender. On November 20th he gave
+orders for the enrolling of 46,000 Frenchmen _of mature age_--"not
+Italians or Belgians"--who were to reinforce Eugene and help him to
+defend Italy; that, too, at a time when the defence of Champagne and
+Languedoc was about to devolve on lads of eighteen.
+
+He was equally determined not to give up Holland. On the possession of
+this maritime and industrious community he had always laid great
+stress. He once remarked to Roederer that the ruin of the French
+Bourbons was due to three events--the Battle of Rossbach, the affair
+of the diamond necklace, and the victory of Anglo-Prussian influence
+over that of France in Dutch affairs (1787). He even appealed to
+Nature to prove that that land must form part of the French Empire.
+"Holland," said one of his Ministers in 1809, "is the alluvium of the
+Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt--in other words, one of the great arteries
+of the Empire." Before the last battle at Leipzig he told Merveldt
+that he could not grant Holland its independence, for it would fall
+under the tutelage of England. And even while his Empire was crumbling
+away after that disaster, he wrote to his mother: "Holland is a French
+country, _and will remain so for ever_."[394]
+
+Russia, Prussia, and Britain were equally determined that the Dutch
+should be independent; and if Metternich wavered on the subject of
+Dutch independence, his hesitation was at an end by the middle of
+December, for a memorandum of the Russian diplomatist, Pozzo di Borgo,
+states that Metternich then regarded the Rhine boundary as ending at
+Duesseldorf: "after that town the river takes the name of Waal."[395]
+Such juggling with geography was surely superfluous; for by that time
+the Frankfurt terms had virtually lapsed, owing to Napoleon's belated
+acceptance; and Metternich had joined the other allied Governments
+that now demanded a more thorough solution of the boundary question.
+
+In fact, the allies were now able to make political capital out of
+their recent moderation.[396] On December 1st they issued an appeal to
+the French nation to the following effect: "We do not make war on
+France, but we are casting off the yoke which your Government imposed
+on our countries. We hoped to have found peace before touching your
+soil: we now go to find it there."
+
+If the sovereigns hoped by means of this declaration to separate
+France from Napoleon, they erred. To cross the Rhine was to attack,
+not Napoleon, but the French Revolution. Belgium and the Rhine
+boundary had been won by Dumouriez, Jourdain, Pichegru, and Moreau, at
+a time when Bonaparte's name was unknown outside Corsica and Provence.
+France had looked on wearily at Napoleon's wars in Germany, Spain, and
+Russia: they concerned him, not her. But when the "sacred soil" was
+threatened, citizens began to close their ranks: they ceased their
+declamations against the crushing taxes and youth-slaying
+conscription: they submitted to heavier taxes and levies of still
+younger lads. In fact, by doffing the mask of Charlemagne, the Emperor
+became once more the Bonaparte of the days of Marengo.
+
+He counted on some such change in public opinion; and it enabled him
+to defy with impunity the beginnings of a Parliamentary opposition.
+The Senate had been puffily obsequious, as usual; but the Corps
+Legislatif had mistaken its functions. Summoned to vote new taxes, it
+presumed to give advice. A commission of its members agreed to a
+report on the existing situation, drawn up by Laine, which gave the
+Emperor great offence. Its crime lay in its outspoken requests that
+peace should be concluded on the basis of the natural frontiers, that
+the rigours of the conscription should be abated, and that the laws
+which guaranteed the free exercise of political rights should be
+maintained intact. The Emperor was deeply incensed, and, despite the
+advice of his Ministers, determined to dissolve the Chamber forthwith
+(December 31st). Not content with this exercise of arbitrary power, he
+subjected its members to a barrack-like rebuke at the official
+reception on New Year's Day.--He had convoked them to do good, and
+they had done evil. Two battles lost in Champagne would not have been
+so harmful as their last action. What was their mandate compared with
+his? France had twice chosen _him_ by some millions of votes: while
+_they_ were nominated only by a few hundreds apiece. They had flung
+mud at him: but he was a man who might be slain, never dishonoured. He
+would fight for the nation, hurl back the foe, and conclude an
+honourable peace. Then, for their shame, he would print and circulate
+their report.--Such was the gist of this diatribe, which he shot forth
+in strident tones and with flashing eyes. He had the copies of the
+report destroyed, and dismissed the deputies to their homes throughout
+France.
+
+The country, in the main, took his side; and doubtless the national
+instinct was sound; for the allies had crossed the Rhine, and France
+once more was in danger. As in 1793, when the nation welcomed the
+triumph of the dare-devil Jacobins over the respectable parliamentary
+Girondins, as promising a vigorous rule and the expulsion of the
+monarchical invaders, so now the soldiers and peasants, if not the
+middle classes, rejoiced at the discomfiture of the talkers by the one
+necessary man of action. The general feeling was pithily expressed by
+an old peasant: "It's no longer a question of Bonaparte. Our soil is
+invaded: let us go and fight."
+
+This was the feeling which the Emperor ruthlessly exploited. He
+decreed the enrolment of a great force of National Guards, exacted
+further levies for the regular army, and ordered a _levee en masse_
+for the eastern Departments. The difficulties in his way were
+enormous. But he flung himself at the task with incomparable _verve_.
+Soldiers were wanting: youths were dragged forth, even from the
+royalist districts of the extreme north and west and south. Money was
+wanting: it was extorted from all quarters, and Napoleon not only
+lavished 55,000,000 francs from his own private hoard, but seized that
+of his parsimonious mother.[397] Cannon, muskets, uniforms were
+wanting: their manufacture was pushed on with feverish haste: Napoleon
+ordered his War Office to "procure all the cloth in France, good and
+bad," so as to have 200,000 uniforms ready by the end of February; and
+he counted on having half a million of effectives in the field at the
+close of spring.
+
+Among these he reckoned--so, at least, he wrote to Melzi--"nearly
+200,000" French soldiers from Arragon, Catalonia, and at Bayonne. Even
+if we allow for his desire to encourage his officials in Italy, the
+estimate is curious. Wellington at that time, it is true, had lessened
+his numbers by sending back across the Pyrenees all his Spanish
+troops, whose atrocities endangered that good understanding with the
+French peasantry which our great leader, for political motives, was
+determined to cultivate.[398] Yet, despite the shrinkage in numbers,
+he drove the French from the banks of the River Nive, and inflicted on
+them severe losses in desperate conflicts near Bayonne (December
+9th-13th). In fact, the intrenched camp in front of that town was now
+the sole barrier to Wellington's advance northwards, and it was with
+difficulty that Soult clung to this position. The peasantry, too,
+finding that they were far better treated by Wellington's troops than
+by their own soldiers, began to favour the allied cause, with results
+that will shortly appear. Yet these disquieting symptoms did not daunt
+Napoleon; for he now based his hopes of resisting the British advance
+on a compact which he had concluded with Ferdinand VII., the rightful
+King of Spain.
+
+As soon as he returned to St. Cloud after the Leipzig campaign he made
+secret overtures to that unhappy exile;[399] and by the Treaty of
+Valencay (December 11th, 1813) he agreed to recognize him as King of
+the whole of Spain, provided that British and French troops evacuated
+that land. His imagination ran riot in picturing the results of this
+treaty. Ferdinand was to enter Spain; Suchet, then playing a losing
+game in Catalonia, was quietly to withdraw his columns through the
+Pyrenees, while Wellington would have his base of operations cut from
+under him, and thenceforth be a negligeable quantity.[400] These
+pleasing fancies all rested on the acceptance of the new treaty by the
+Spanish Regency and Cortes. But, alas for Napoleon! they at once
+rejected it, declaring null and void all acts of Ferdinand while he
+was a prisoner, and forbidding all negotiations with France while
+French troops remained in the Peninsula (January 8th).
+
+Equally disappointing were affairs in Italy. On the 11th of January,
+Murat made an alliance with Austria, and promised to aid her with a
+corps of 30,000 Neapolitans, while she guaranteed him his throne and a
+slice of the Roman territory. Napoleon directed Eugene, as soon as
+this bad news was confirmed, to prepare to fall back on the Alps. But,
+in order to clog Murat's movements, the Emperor resolved to make use
+of the spiritual power, which for six years he had slighted. He gave
+orders that the aged Pope should be released from his detention at
+Fontainebleau, and hurried secretly to Rome. "Let him burst on that
+place like a clap of thunder," he wrote to Savary (January 21st). But
+this stagey device was not to succeed. Even now Napoleon insisted on
+conditions with which Pius VII. could not conscientiously comply, and
+he was still detained at Tarrascon when his captor was setting out for
+Elba.
+
+Three days after Murat's desertion, Denmark fell away from Napoleon.
+Overborne by the forces of Bernadotte, the little kingdom made peace
+with England and Sweden, agreeing to yield up Norway to the latter
+Power in consideration of recovering an indemnity in Germany. To us
+the Danes ceded Heligoland. Thus, within three months of the disaster
+at Leipzig, all Napoleon's allies forsook him, and all but the Danes
+were now about to fight against him--a striking proof of the
+artificiality of his domination.
+
+By this time it was clear that even France would soon be stricken to
+the heart unless Napoleon speedily concentrated his forces. On the
+north and east the allies were advancing with a speed that nonplussed
+the Emperor. Accustomed to sluggish movements on their part, he had
+not expected an invasion in force before the spring, and here it was
+in the first days of January. Buelow and Graham had overrun Holland.
+The allies, with the exception of the Czar, had no scruples about
+infringing the neutrality of Switzerland, as Napoleon had consistently
+done, and the constitution, which he had imposed upon that land eleven
+years before, now straightway collapsed. Detaching a strong corps
+southwards to hold the Simplon and Great St. Bernard Passes and
+threaten Lyons, Schwarzenberg led the allied Grand Army into France by
+way of Basel, Belfort, and Langres. The prompt seizure of the Plateau
+of Langres was an important success. The allies thereby turned the
+strong defensive lines of the Vosges Mountains, and of the Rivers
+Moselle and Meuse, so that Bluecher, with his "Army of Silesia," was
+able rapidly to advance into Lorraine, and drive Victor from Nancy.
+Toul speedily surrendered, and the sturdy veteran then turned to the
+south-west, in order to come into touch with Schwarzenberg's columns.
+Neither leader delayed before the eastern fortresses. The allies had
+learnt from Napoleon to invest or observe them and press on, a course
+which their vast superiority of force rendered free from danger.
+Schwarzenberg, on the 25th, had 150,000 men between Langres, Chaumont,
+and Bar-sur-Aube; while Bluecher, with about half those numbers,
+crossed the Marne at St. Dizier, and was drawing near to Brienne. In
+front of them were the weak and disheartened corps of Marmont, Ney,
+Victor, and Macdonald, mustering in all about 50,000 men. Desertions
+to the allies were frequent, and Bluecher, wishing to show that the war
+was practically over, dismissed both deserters and prisoners to their
+homes.[401]
+
+But the war was far from over: it had not yet begun. Hitherto Napoleon
+had hurried on the preparations from Paris, but the urgency of the
+danger now beckoned him eastwards. As before, he left the Empress as
+Regent of France, but appointed King Joseph as Lieutenant-General of
+France. On Sunday, January 23rd, he held the last reception. It was in
+the large hall of the Tuileries, where the Parisian rabble had forced
+Louis XVI. to don the _bonnet rouge_. Another dynasty was now
+tottering to its fall; but none could have read its doom in the faces
+of the obsequious courtiers, or of the officers of the Parisian
+National Guards, who offered their homage to the heir of the
+Revolution.
+
+He came forward with the Empress and the King of Rome, a flaxen-haired
+child of three winters, clad in the uniform of the National Guard.
+Taking the boy by the hand into the midst of the circle, he spoke
+these touching words: "Gentlemen,--I am about to set out for the army.
+I intrust to you what I hold dearest in the world--my wife and my son.
+Let there be no political divisions." He then carried him amidst his
+dignitaries and officers, while sobs and shouts bespoke the warmth of
+the feelings kindled by this scene. And never, surely, since the young
+Maria Theresa appealed in person to the Hungarian magnates to defend
+her against rapacious neighbours, had any monarch spoken so straight
+to the hearts of his lieges. The secret of his success is not far to
+seek. He had not commanded as Emperor: he had appealed as a father to
+fathers and mothers.
+
+It is painful to have to add that many who there swore to defend him
+were even then beginning to plot his overthrow. Most painful of all is
+it to remember that when, before dawn of the 25th, Marie Louise bade
+him farewell, it was her last farewell: for she, too, deserted him in
+his misfortunes, refused to share his exile, and ultimately degraded
+herself by her connection with Count Neipperg.
+
+Heedless of all that the future might bring, and concentrating his
+thoughts on the problems of the present, the great warrior journeyed
+rapidly eastwards to Chalons-sur-Marne, and opened the most glorious
+of his campaigns. And yet it began with disaster. At Brienne, among
+the scenes of his school-days, he assailed Bluecher in the hope of
+preventing the junction of the Army of Silesia with that of
+Schwarzenberg further south (January 29th). After sharp fighting, the
+Prussians were driven from the castle and town. But the success was
+illusory. Bluecher withdrew towards Bar-sur-Aube, in order to gain
+support from Schwarzenberg, and, three days later, turned the tables
+on Napoleon while the latter was indulging in hopes that the allies
+were about to treat seriously for peace.[402] Nevertheless, though
+surprised by greatly superior numbers, the 40,000 French clung
+obstinately to the village of La Rothiere until their thin lines were
+everywhere driven in or outflanked, with the loss of 73 cannon and
+more than 3,000 prisoners. Each side lost about 5,000 killed and
+wounded--a mere trifle to the allies, but a grave disaster to the
+defenders.
+
+The Emperor was much discouraged. He had put forth his full strength,
+exposed his own person to the hottest fire, so as to encourage his
+men, and yet failed to prevent the union of the allied armies, or to
+hold the line of the River Aube. Early on the morrow he left the
+castle of Brienne, and took the road for Troyes; while Marmont, with a
+corps now reduced to less than 3,000 men, bravely defended the passage
+of the Voire at Rosnay, and, after delaying the pursuit, took post at
+Arcis-sur-Aube. The means of defence, both moral and material, seemed
+wellnigh exhausted. When, on February 3rd, Napoleon entered Troyes,
+scarcely a single _vivat_ was heard. Even the old troops were cast
+down by defeat and hunger, while as many as 6,000 conscripts are said
+to have deserted. The inhabitants refused to supply the necessaries of
+life except upon requisition. "The army is perishing of famine,"
+writes the Emperor at Troyes. Again at Nogent: "Twelve men have died
+of hunger, though we have used fire and sword to get food on our way
+here." And, now, into the space left undefended between the Marne and
+the Aube, Bluecher began to thrust his triumphant columns, with no
+barrier to check him until he neared the environs of Paris. Once more
+the Prussian and Russian officers looked on the war as over, and
+invited one another to dinner at the Palais-Royal in a week's
+time.[403]
+
+But it was on this confidence of the old hussar-general that Napoleon
+counted. He knew his proneness to daring movements, and the strong
+bias of Schwarzenberg towards delay: he also divined that they would
+now separate their forces, Bluecher making straight for Paris, while
+other columns would threaten the capital by way of Troyes and Sens.
+That was why he fell back on Troyes, so as directly to oppose the
+latter movement, "or so as to return and manoeuvre against Bluecher and
+stay his march."[404] Another motive was his expectation of finding at
+Nogent the 15,000 veterans whom he had ordered Soult to send
+northwards. And doubtless the final reason was his determination to
+use the sheltering curve of the Seine, which between Troyes and Nogent
+flows within twenty miles of the high-road that Bluecher must use if he
+struck at Paris. At many a crisis Napoleon had proved the efficacy of
+a great river line. From Rivoli to Friedland his career abounds in
+examples of riverine tactics. The war of 1813 was one prolonged
+struggle for the line of the Elbe. He still continued the war because
+he could not yet bring himself to sign away the Rhenish fortresses:
+and he now hoped to regain that "natural boundary" by blows showered
+on divided enemies from behind the arc of the Seine.
+
+With wonderful prescience he had guessed at the general plan of the
+allies. But he could scarcely have dared to hope that on that very day
+(February 2nd) they were holding a council of war at Brienne, and
+formally resolved that Bluecher should march north-west on Paris with
+about 50,000 men, while the allied Grand
+
+Army of nearly three times those numbers was to diverge south-west
+towards Bar-sur-Seine and Sens. So unequal a partition of forces
+seemed to court disaster. It is true that the allies had no magazines
+of supplies: they could not march in an undivided host through a
+hostile land where the scanty defenders themselves were nearly
+starving. If, however, they decided to move at all, it was needful to
+allot the more dangerous task to a powerful force. Above all, it was
+necessary to keep their main armies well in touch with one another and
+with the foe. Yet these obvious precautions were not taken. In truth,
+the separation of the allies was dictated more by political jealousy
+than by military motives. To these political affairs we must now
+allude; for they had no small effect in leading Napoleon on to an
+illusory triumph and an irretrievable overthrow. We will show their
+influence, first on the conduct of the allies, and then on the actions
+of Napoleon.
+
+The alarm of Austria at the growing power of Russia and Prussia was
+becoming acute. She had drawn the sword only because Napoleon's
+resentment was more to be feared than Alexander's ambition. But all
+had changed since then. The warrior who, five months ago, still had
+his sword at the throat of Germany, was now being pursued across the
+dreary flats of Champagne. And his eastern rival, who then plaintively
+sued for Austria's aid, now showed a desire to establish Russian
+control over all the Polish lands, indemnifying Prussia for losses in
+that quarter by the acquisition of Saxony. Both of these changes would
+press heavily on Austria from the north; and she was determined to
+prevent them as far as possible. Then there was the vexed question of
+the reconstruction of Germany to which we shall recur later on.
+Smaller matters, involving the relations of the allies to Bernadotte,
+Denmark, and Switzerland further complicated the situation: but, above
+all, there was the problem of the future limits and form of government
+of France.
+
+On that topic there were two chief parties: those who desired merely
+to clip Napoleon's wings, and those who sought to bring back France to
+her old boundaries. The Emperor Francis was still disposed to leave
+him the "natural frontiers," provided he gave up all control of
+Germany, Holland, and Italy. On the other side were the Czar and the
+forward wing of the Prussian patriots. Frederick William was more
+cautious, but in the main he deferred to the Czar's views on the
+boundary question. Still, so powerful was the influence of the Emperor
+Francis, Metternich, and Schwarzenberg, that the two parties were
+evenly balanced and beset by many suspicions and fears, until the
+arrival of the British Foreign Minister, Castlereagh, began to restore
+something like confidence and concord.
+
+The British Cabinet had decided that, as none of our three envoys then
+at the allied headquarters had much diplomatic experience, our
+Minister should go in person to supervise the course of affairs. He
+reached head-quarters in the third week of January, and what Thiers
+has called the proud simplicity of his conduct, contrasting as it did
+with the uneasy finesse of Metternich and Nesselrode, imparted to his
+counsels a weight which they merited from their disinterestedness.
+Great Britain was in a very strong position. She had borne the brunt
+of the struggle before the present coalition took shape: apart from
+some modest gains to Hanover, she was about to take no part in the
+ensuing territorial scramble: she even offered to give up many of her
+oceanic conquests, provided that the European settlement would be such
+as to guarantee a lasting peace.[405] And this, the British Minister
+came to see, could not be attained while Napoleon reigned over a Great
+France: the only sure pledge of peace would be the return of that
+country to its old frontiers, and preferably to its ancient dynasty.
+
+On the question of boundaries the Czar's views were not clearly
+defined; they were personal rather than territorial. He was determined
+to get rid of Napoleon; but he would not, as yet, hear of the
+re-establishment of the Bourbons. He disliked that dynasty in general,
+and Louis XVIII. in particular. Bernadotte seemed to him a far fitter
+successor to Napoleon than the gouty old gentleman who for three and
+twenty years had been morosely flitting about Europe and issuing
+useless proclamations.
+
+Here, indeed, was Napoleon's great chance: there was no man fit to
+succeed him, and he knew it. Scarcely anyone but Bernadotte himself
+agreed with the Czar as to the fitness of the choice just named. To
+the allies the Prince Royal of Sweden was suspect for his loiterings,
+and to Frenchmen he seemed a traitor. We find that Stein disagreed
+with the Czar on this point, and declared that the Bourbons were the
+only alternative to Napoleon. Assuredly, this was not because the
+great German loved that family, but simply because he saw that their
+very mediocrity would be a pledge that France would not again overflow
+her old limits and submerge Europe.
+
+Here, then, was the strength of Castlereagh's position. Amidst the
+warping disputes and underhand intrigues his claims were clear,
+disinterested, and logically tenable. Besides, they were so urged as
+to calm the disputants. He quietly assured Metternich that Britain
+would resist the absorption of the whole of Poland and Saxony by
+Russia and Prussia; and on his side the Austrian statesman showed that
+he would not oppose the return of the Bourbons to France "from any
+family considerations," provided that that act came as the act of the
+French nation.[406] And this was a proviso on which our Government and
+Wellington already laid great stress.
+
+Castlereagh's straightforward behaviour had an immense influence in
+leading Metternich to favour a more drastic solution of the French
+question than he had previously advocated. The Frankfurt proposals
+were now quietly waived, and Metternich came to see the need of
+withdrawing Belgium from France and intrusting it to the House of
+Orange. Still, the Austrian statesman was for concluding peace with
+Napoleon as soon as might be, though he confessed in his private
+letters that peace did not depend on the Chatillon parleys. Some
+persons, he wrote, wanted the Bourbons back: still more wished for a
+Regency (_i.e._, Marie Louise as Regent for Napoleon II.): others
+said: "Away with Napoleon, no peace is possible with him": the masses
+cried out for peace, so as to end the whole affair: but added
+Metternich: "The riddle will be solved before or in Paris."[407] There
+spoke the discreet opportunist, always open to the logic of facts and
+the persuasion of Castlereagh.
+
+Our Minister found the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia far less
+tractable; and he only partially succeeded in lulling their suspicions
+that Metternich was hand and glove with Napoleon. So deep was the
+Czar's distrust of the Austrian statesman and commander-in-chief that
+he resolved to brush aside Metternich's diplomatic _pourparlers_, to
+push on rapidly to Paris, and there dictate peace.[408]
+
+But it was just this eagerness of the Czar and the Prussians to reach
+Paris which kept alive Austrian fears. A complete triumph to their
+arms would seal the doom of Poland and Saxony; and it has been thought
+that Schwarzenberg, who himself longed for peace, not only sought to
+save Austrian soldiers by keeping them back, but that at this time he
+did less than his duty in keeping touch with Bluecher. Several times
+during the ensuing days the charge of treachery was hurled by the
+Prussians against the Austrians, and once at least by Frederick
+William himself. But it seems more probable that Metternich and
+Schwarzenberg held their men back merely for prudential motives until
+the resumption of the negotiations with France should throw more light
+on the tangled political jungle through which the allies were groping.
+It is significant that while Schwarzenberg cautiously felt about for
+Napoleon's rearguard, of which he lost touch for two whole days,
+Metternich insisted that the peace Congress must be opened.
+Caulaincourt had for several days been waiting near the allied
+head-quarters; and, said the Austrian Minister, it would be a breach
+of faith to put him off any longer now that Castlereagh had arrived.
+Only when Austria threatened to withdraw from the Coalition did
+Alexander concede this point, and then with a very bad grace; for the
+resumption of the negotiations virtually tied him to the neighbourhood
+of Chatillon-sur-Seine, the town fixed for the Congress, while Bluecher
+was rapidly moving towards Paris with every prospect of snatching from
+the imperial brow the coveted laurel of a triumphal entry.
+
+To prevent this interference with his own pet plans, the susceptible
+autocrat sent off from Bar-sur-Seine (February 7th) an order that
+Bluecher was not to enter Paris, but must await the arrival of the
+sovereigns. The order was needless. Napoleon, goaded to fury by the
+demands which the allies on that very day formulated at Chatillon,
+flung himself upon Bluecher and completely altered the whole military
+situation. But before describing this wonderful effort, we must take a
+glance at the diplomatic overtures which spurred him on.
+
+The Congress of Chatillon opened on February 5th, and on that day
+Castlereagh gained his point, that questions about our maritime code
+should be completely banished from the discussions. Two days later the
+allies declared that France must withdraw within the boundaries of
+1791, with the exception of certain changes made for mutual
+convenience and of some colonial retrocessions that England would
+grant to France. The French plenipotentiary, Caulaincourt, heard this
+demand with a quiet but strained composure: he reminded them that at
+Frankfurt they had proposed to leave France the Rhine and the Alps; he
+inquired what colonial sacrifices England was prepared to make if she
+cooped up France in her old limits in Europe. To this our
+plenipotentiaries Aberdeen, Cathcart, and Stewart refused to reply
+until he assented to the present demand of the allies. He very
+properly refused to do this; and, despite his eagerness to come to an
+arrangement and end the misfortunes of France, referred the matter to
+his master.[409]
+
+What were Napoleon's views on these questions? It is difficult to
+follow the workings of his mind before the time when Caulaincourt's
+despatch flashed the horrible truth upon him that he might, after all,
+leave France smaller and weaker than he found her. Then the lightnings
+of his wrath flash forth, and we see the tumult and anguish of that
+mighty soul: but previously the storm-wrack of passion and the
+cloud-bank of his clinging will are lit up by few gleams of the
+earlier piercing intelligence. On January the 4th he had written to
+Caulaincourt that the policy of England and the personal rancour of
+the Czar would drag Austria along. If Fortune betrayed him (Napoleon)
+he would give up the throne: never would he sign any shameful peace.
+But he added: "You must see what Metternich wants: it is not to
+Austria's interest to push matters to the end." In the accompanying
+instructions to his plenipotentiary, he seems to assent to the Alpine
+and Rhenish frontiers, but advises him to sign the preliminaries as
+vaguely as possible, "_as we have everything to gain by delay_." The
+Rhine frontier must be so described as to leave France the Dutch
+fortresses: and Savona and Spezzia must also count as on the French
+side of the Alps. These, be it observed, are his notions when he has
+not heard of the defection of Murat, or the rejection of his Spanish
+bargain by the Cortes.
+
+Twelve days later he proposes to Metternich an armistice, and again
+suggests that it is not to Austria's interest to press matters too
+far. But the allies are too wary to leave such a matter to Metternich:
+at Teplitz they bound themselves to common action; and the proposal
+only shows them the need of pushing on fast while their foe is still
+unprepared. Once more his old optimism asserts itself. The first
+French success, that at Brienne, leads him to hope that the allies
+will now be ready to make peace. Even after the disaster at La
+Rothiere, he believes that the mere arrival of Caulaincourt at the
+allied headquarters will foment the discords which there exist.[410]
+Then, writing amidst the unspeakable miseries at Troyes (February
+4th), he upbraids Caulaincourt for worrying him about "powers and
+instructions when it is still doubtful if the enemy wants to
+negotiate. His terms, it seems, are determined on beforehand. As soon
+as you have them, you have the power to accept them or to refer them
+to me within twenty-four hours."
+
+After midnight, he again directs him to accept the terms, if
+acceptable: "in the contrary case we will run the risks of a battle;
+even the loss of Paris, and all that will ensue." Later on that day he
+allows Maret to send a despatch giving Caulaincourt "carte blanche" to
+conclude peace.[411] But the plenipotentiary dared not take on himself
+the responsibility of accepting the terms offered by the allies two
+days later. The last despatch was too vague to enable him to sign away
+many thousands of square miles of territory: it contradicted the tenor
+of Napoleon's letters, which empowered him to assent to nothing less
+than the Frankfurt terms. And thus was to slip away one more chance of
+bringing about peace--a peace that would strip the French Empire of
+frontier lands and alien peoples, but leave it to the peasants' ruler,
+Napoleon.
+
+In truth, the Emperor's words and letters breathed nothing but warlike
+resolve. Famine and misery accompany him on his march to Nogent, and
+there, on the 7th, he hears tidings that strike despair to every heart
+but his. An Anglo-German force is besieging the staunch old Carnot in
+Antwerp; Buelow has entered Brussels; Belgium is lost: Macdonald's weak
+corps is falling back on Epernay, hard pressed by Yorck, while Bluecher
+is heading for Paris. Last of all comes on the morrow Caulaincourt's
+despatch announcing that the allies now insist on France returning to
+the limits of 1791.
+
+Never, surely, since the time of Job did calamity shower her blows so
+thickly on the head of mortal man: and never were they met with less
+resignation and more undaunted defiance. After receiving the black
+budget of news the Emperor straightway shut himself up. For some time
+his Marshals left him alone: but, as Caulaincourt's courier was
+waiting for the reply, Berthier and Maret ventured to intrude on his
+grief. He tossed them the letter containing the allied terms. A long
+silence ensued, while they awaited his decision. As he spoke not a
+word, they begged him to give way and grant peace to France. Then his
+pent-up feelings burst forth: "What, you would have me sign a treaty
+like that, and trample under foot my coronation oath! Unheard-of
+disasters may have snatched from me the promise to renounce my
+conquests: but, give up those made before me--never! God keep me from
+such a disgrace. Reply to Caulaincourt since you wish it, but tell him
+that I reject this treaty. I prefer to run the uttermost risks of
+war." He threw himself on his camp bed. Maret waited by his side, and
+gained from him in calmer moments permission to write to Caulaincourt
+in terms that allowed the negotiation to proceed. At dawn on the 9th
+Maret came back hoping to gain assent to despatches that he had been
+drawing up during the night. To his surprise he found the Emperor
+stretched out over large charts, compass in hand. "Ah, there you are,"
+was his greeting; "now it's a question of very different matters. I am
+going to beat Bluecher: if I succeed, the state of affairs will
+entirely change, and then we will see."
+
+The tension of his feelings at this time, when rage and desperation
+finally gave way to a fixed resolve to stake all on a blow at
+Bluecher's flank, finds expression in a phrase which has been omitted
+from the official correspondence.[412] In one of the five letters
+which he wrote to Joseph on the 9th, he remarked: "Pray the Madonna of
+armies to be for us: Louis, who is a saint, may engage to give her a
+lighted candle." A curiously sarcastic touch, probably due to his
+annoyance at the _Misereres_ and "prayers forty hours long" at Paris
+which he bade his Ministers curtail. Or was it a passing flash of that
+religious sentiment which he professed in his declining years?
+
+He certainly counted on victory over Bluecher. A week earlier, he had
+foreseen the chance that that leader would expose his flank: on the
+7th he charged Marmont to occupy Sezanne, where he would be strongly
+supported; on the afternoon of the 9th he set out from Nogent to
+reinforce his Marshal; and on the morrow Marmont and Ney fell upon one
+of Bluecher's scattered columns at Champaubert. It was a corps of
+Russians, less than 5,000 strong, with no horsemen and but twenty-four
+cannon; the Muscovites offered a stout resistance, but only 1,500
+escaped.[413] Bluecher's line of march was now cut in twain. He himself
+was at Vertus with the last column; his foremost corps, under Sacken,
+was west of Montmirail, while Yorck was far to the north of that
+village observing Macdonald's movements along the Chateau-Thierry
+road.
+
+The Emperor with 20,000 men might therefore hope to destroy these
+corps piecemeal. Leaving Marmont along with Grouchy's horse to hold
+Bluecher in check on the east, he struck westwards against Sacken's
+Russians near Montmirail. The shock was terrible; both sides were
+weary with night marches on miry roads, along which cannon had to be
+dragged by double teams: yet, though footsore and worn with cold and
+hunger, the men fought with sustained fury, the French to stamp out
+the barbarous invaders who had wasted their villages, the Russians to
+hold their position until Yorck's Prussians should stretch a
+succouring hand from the north. Many a time did the French rush at the
+village of Marchais held by Sacken: they were repeatedly repulsed,
+until, as darkness came on, Ney and Mortier with the Guard stormed a
+large farmhouse on their left. Then, at last, Sacken's men drew off in
+sore plight north-west across the fields, where Yorck's tardy advent
+alone saved them from destruction. The next day completed their
+discomfiture. Napoleon and Mortier pursued both allied corps to
+Chateau-Thierry and, after sharp fighting in the streets of that
+place, drove them across the Marne. The townsfolk hailed the advent of
+their Emperor with unbounded joy: they had believed him to be at
+Troyes, beaten and dispirited; and here he was delivering them from
+the brutal licence of the eastern soldiery. Nothing was impossible to
+him.
+
+Next it was Bluecher's turn. Leaving Mortier to pursue the fugitives of
+Sacken and Yorck along the Soissons road, Napoleon left
+Chateau-Thierry late at night on the 13th, following the mass of his
+troops to reinforce Marmont. That Marshal had yielded ground to
+Bluecher's desperate efforts, but was standing at bay at Vauchamps,
+when Napoleon drew near to the scene of the unequal fight. Suddenly a
+mighty shout of "Vive l'Empereur" warned the assailants that they now
+had to do with Napoleon. Yet no precipitation weakened the Emperor's
+blow: not until his cavalry greatly outnumbered that of the allies did
+he begin the chief attack. Stoutly it was beaten off by the allied
+squares: but Drouot's artillery ploughed through their masses, while
+swarms of horsemen were ready to open out those ghastly furrows. There
+was nothing for it but retreat, and that across open country, where
+the charges and the pounding still went on. But nothing could break
+that stubborn infantry: animated by their leader, the Prussians and
+Russians plodded steadily eastwards, until, as darkness drew on, they
+found Grouchy's horse barring the road before Etoges. "Forward" was
+still the veteran's cry: and through the cavalry they cut their way:
+through hostile footmen that had stolen round to the village they also
+burst, and at last found shelter near Bergeres. "Words fail me," wrote
+Colonel Hudson Lowe, "to express my admiration at their undaunted and
+manly behaviour."
+
+This gallant retreat shed lustre over the rank and file. But the sins
+of the commanders had cost the allies dear. In four days the army of
+Silesia lost fully 15,000 men, and its corps were driven far asunder
+by Napoleon's incursion. His brilliant moves and trenchant strokes
+astonished the world. With less than 30,000 men he had burst into
+Bluecher's line of march, and scattered in flight 50,000 warriors
+advancing on Paris in full assurance of victory. It was not chance,
+but science, that gave him these successes. Acting from behind the
+screen of the Seine, he had thrown his small but undivided force
+against scattered portions of a superior force. It was the strategy of
+Lonato and Castiglione over again; and the enthusiasm of those days
+bade fair to revive.
+
+His men, who previously had tramped downheartedly over wastes of snow
+and miry cross-roads, now marched with head erect as in former days;
+the villagers, far from being cowed by the brutalities of the
+Cossacks, formed bands to hang upon the enemies' rear and entrap their
+foragers. Above all, Paris was herself once more. Before he began
+these brilliant moves, he had to upbraid Cambaceres for his unmanly
+conduct. "I see that instead of sustaining the Empress, you are
+discouraging her. Why lose your head thus? What mean these _Miserere_
+and these prayers of forty hours? Are you going mad at Paris?" Now the
+capital again breathed defiance to the foe, and sent the Emperor
+National Guards. Many of these from Brittany, it is true, came "in
+round hats and _sabots_": they had no knapsacks: but they had guns,
+and they fought.
+
+Could he have pursued Bluecher on the morrow he might probably have
+broken up even that hardy infantry, now in dire straits for want of
+supplies. But bad news came to hand from the south-west. Under urgent
+pressure from the Czar, Schwarzenberg had pushed forward two columns
+from Troyes towards Paris: one of them had seized the bridge over the
+Seine at Bray, a day's march below Nogent: the other was nearing
+Fontainebleau. Napoleon was furious at the neglect of Victor to guard
+the crossing at Bray, and reluctantly turned away from Bluecher to
+crush these columns. His men marched or were carried in vehicles, by
+way of Meaux and Guignes, to reinforce Victor: on the 17th they drove
+back the outposts of Schwarzenberg's centre, while Macdonald and
+Oudinot marched towards Nogent to threaten his right. These rapid
+moves alarmed the Austrian commander, whose left, swung forward on
+Fontainebleau, was in some danger of being cut off. He therefore sued
+for an armistice. It was refused; and the request drew from Napoleon a
+letter to his brother Joseph full of contempt for the allies (February
+18th). "It is difficult," he writes, "to be so cowardly as that! He
+[Schwarzenberg] had constantly, and in the most insulting terms,
+refused a suspension of arms of any kind, ... and yet these wretches
+at the first check fall on their knees. I will grant no armistice till
+my territory is clear of them." He adds that he now expected to gain
+the "natural frontiers" offered by the allies at Frankfurt--the
+minimum that he could accept with honour; and he closes with these
+memorable words, which flash a searchlight on his pacific professions
+of thirteen months later: "If I had agreed to the old boundaries, I
+should have rushed to arms two years later, telling the nation that I
+had signed not a peace, but a capitulation."[414]
+
+The events of the 18th strengthened his resolve. He then attacked the
+Crown Prince of Wuertemberg on the north side of the Seine, opposite
+Montereau, overthrew him by the weight of the artillery of the Guard,
+whereupon a brilliant charge of Pajol's horsemen wrested the bridge
+from the South Germans and restored to the Emperor the much-needed
+crossing over the river. Napoleon's activity on that day was
+marvellous. He wrote or dictated eleven despatches, six of them long
+before dawn, gave instructions to an officer who was to encourage
+Eugene to hold firm in Italy, fought a battle, directed the aim of
+several cannon, and wound up the day by severe rebukes to Marshal
+Victor and two generals for their recent blunders. Thus, on a brief
+winter's day, he fills the _role_ of Emperor, organizer, tactician,
+cannoneer, and martinet; in fact, he crowns it by pardoning Victor,
+when that brave man vows that he cannot live away from the army, and
+will fight as a common soldier among the Guards: he then and there
+assigns to him two divisions of the Guard. To the artillerymen the
+_camaraderie_ of the Emperor gave a new zest: and when they ventured
+to reproach him for thus risking his life, he replied with a touch of
+the fatalism which enthralls a soldier's mind: "Ah! don't fear: the
+ball is not cast that will kill me."
+
+Yes: Napoleon displayed during these last ten days a fertility of
+resource, a power to drive back the tide of events, that have dazzled
+posterity, as they dismayed his foes. We may seek in vain for a
+parallel, save perhaps in the careers of Hannibal and Frederick.
+Alexander the Great's victories were won over Asiatics: Caesar's
+magnificent rally of his wavering bands against the onrush of the
+Nervii was but one effort of disciplined valour crushing the
+impetuosity of the barbarian. Marlborough and Wellington often
+triumphed over great odds and turned the course of history. But their
+star had never set so low as that of Napoleon's after La Rothiere, and
+never did it rush to the zenith with a splendour like that which
+blinded the trained hosts of Bluecher and Schwarzenberg. Whatever the
+mistakes of these leaders, and they were great, there is something
+that defies analysis in Napoleon's sudden transformation of his beaten
+dispirited band into a triumphant array before which four times their
+numbers sought refuge in retreat. But it is just this transcendent
+quality that adds a charm to the character and career of Napoleon.
+Where analysis fails, there genius begins.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII
+
+THE FIRST ABDICATION
+
+
+It now remained to be seen whether Napoleon would make a wise use of
+his successes. While the Grand Army drew in its columns behind the
+sheltering line of the Seine at Troyes, the French Emperor strove to
+reap in diplomacy the fruits of his military prowess. In brief, he
+sought to detach Austria from the Coalition. From Nogent he wrote, on
+February 21st, to the Emperor Francis, dwelling on the impolicy of
+Austria continuing the war. Why should she subordinate her policy to
+that of England and to the personal animosities of the Czar? Why
+should she see her former Belgian provinces handed over to a
+Protestant Dutch Prince about to be allied with the House of Brunswick
+by marriage? France would never give up Belgium; and he, as French
+Emperor, would never sign a peace that would drive her from the Rhine
+and exclude her from the circle of the Great Powers. But if Austria
+really wished for the equilibrium of Europe, he (Napoleon) was ready
+to forget the past and make peace on the basis of the Frankfurt
+terms.[415]
+
+Had these offers been rather less exacting, and reached the allied
+headquarters a week earlier, they might have led to the break up of
+the Coalition. For the political situation of the allies had been even
+more precarious than that of their armies. The pretensions of the Czar
+had excited indignation and alarm. Swayed to and fro between the
+counsels of his old tutor, Laharpe, now again at his side, and his own
+autocratic instincts, he declared that he would push on to Paris,
+consult the will of the French people by a plebiscite, and abide by
+its decision, even if it gave a new lease of power to Napoleon. But
+side by side with this democratic proposal came another of a more
+despotic type, that the military Governor of Paris must be a Russian
+officer.
+
+The amusement caused by these odd notions was overshadowed by alarm.
+Metternich, Castlereagh, and Hardenberg saw in them a ruse for
+foisting on France either Bernadotte, or an orientalized Republic, or
+a Muscovite version of the Treaty of Tilsit. Then again, on February
+9th, Alexander sent a mandate to the plenipotentiaries at Chatillon,
+requesting that their sessions should be suspended, though he had
+recently agreed at Langres to enter into negotiations with France,
+provided that the military operations were not suspended. Evidently,
+then, he was bent on forcing the hands of his allies, and Austria
+feared that he might at the end of the war insist on her taking
+Alsace, as a set-off to the loss of Eastern Galicia which he wished to
+absorb. So keen was the jealousy thus aroused, that at Troyes
+Metternich and Hardenberg signed a secret agreement to prevent the
+Czar carrying matters with a high hand at Paris (February 14th); and
+on the same day they sent him a stiff Note requesting the resumption
+of the negotiations with Napoleon. Indeed, Austria formally threatened
+to withdraw her troops from the war, unless he limited his aims to the
+terms propounded by the allies at Chatillon. Alexander at first
+refused; but the news of Bluecher's disasters shook his determination,
+and he assented on that day, provided that steps were at once taken to
+lighten the pressure on the Russian corps serving under Bluecher. Thus,
+by February 14th, the crisis was over.[416]
+
+Schwarzenberg cautiously pushed on three columns to attract the
+thunderbolts that otherwise would have destroyed the Silesian Army
+root and branch; and he succeeded. True, his vanguard was beaten at
+Montereau; but, by drawing Napoleon south and then east of the Seine,
+he gave time to Bluecher to strengthen his shattered array and resume
+the offensive. Meanwhile Buelow, with the northern army, began to draw
+near to the scene of action, and on the 23rd the allies took the wise
+step of assigning his corps, along with those of Winzingerode,
+Woronzoff, and Strogonoff, to the Prussian veteran. The last three
+corps were withdrawn from the army of Bernadotte, and that prince was
+apprized of the fact by the Czar in a rather curt letter.
+
+The diplomatic situation had also cleared up before Napoleon's letter
+reached the Emperor Francis. The negotiations with Caulaincourt were
+resumed at Chatillon on February the 17th; and there is every reason
+to think that Austria, England, Prussia, and perhaps even Russia would
+now gladly have signed peace with Napoleon on the basis of the French
+frontiers of 1791, provided that he renounced all claims to
+interference in the affairs of Europe outside those limits.[417]
+
+These demands would certainly have been accepted by the French
+plenipotentiary had he listened to his own pacific promptings. But he
+was now in the most painful position. Maret had informed him, the day
+after Montmirail, that Napoleon was set on keeping the Rhenish and
+Alpine frontiers.[418] He could, therefore, do nothing but temporize.
+He knew how precarious was the military supremacy just snatched by his
+master, and trusted that a few days more would bring wisdom before it
+was too late. But his efforts for delay were useless.
+
+While he was marking time, Napoleon was sending him despatches
+instinct with pride. "I have made 30,000 to 40,000 prisoners," he
+wrote on the 17th: "I have taken 200 cannon, a great number of
+generals, and destroyed several armies, almost without striking a
+blow. I yesterday checked Schwarzenberg's army, which I hope to
+destroy before it recrosses my frontier." And two days later, after
+hearing the allied terms, he wrote that they would make the blood of
+every Frenchman boil with indignation, and that he would dictate _his_
+ultimatum at Troyes or Chatillon. Of course, Caulaincourt kept these
+diatribes to himself, but his painfully constrained demeanour betrayed
+the secret that he longed for peace and that his hands were tied.
+
+On all sides proofs were to be seen that Napoleon would never give up
+Belgium and the Rhine frontier. When the allies (at the suggestion of
+Schwarzenberg, and _with the approval of the Czar_) sued for an
+armistice, he forbade his envoys to enter into any parleys until the
+allies agreed to accept the "natural frontiers" as the basis for a
+peace, and retired in the meantime on Alsace, Lorraine, and
+Holland.[419] These last conditions he agreed three days later to
+relax; but on the first point he was inexorable, and he knew that the
+military commissioners appointed to arrange the truce had no power to
+agree to the _political_ article which he made a _sine qua non_.
+
+Accordingly, no armistice was concluded, and his unbending attitude
+made a bad impression on the Emperor Francis, who, on the 27th,
+replied to his son-in-law in terms which showed that his blows were
+welding the Coalition more firmly together.[420]
+
+In fact, while the plenipotentiaries at Chatillon were exchanging
+empty demands, a most important compact was taking form at Chaumont:
+it was dated from the 1st of March, but definitively signed on the
+9th. Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia thereby bound
+themselves not to treat singly with France for peace, but to continue
+the war until France was brought back to her old frontiers, and the
+complete independence of Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Spain was
+secured. Each of the four Powers must maintain 150,000 men in the
+field (exclusive of garrisons); and Britain agreed to aid her allies
+with equal yearly subsidies amounting in all to L5,000,000 for the
+year 1814.[421] The treaty would be only defensive if Napoleon
+accepted the allied terms formulated at Chatillon: otherwise it would
+be offensive and hold good, if need be, for twenty years.
+
+Undoubtedly this compact was largely the work of Castlereagh, whose
+tact and calmness had done wonders in healing schisms; but so intimate
+a union could never have been formed among previously discordant
+allies but for their overmastering fear of Napoleon. Such a treaty was
+without parallel in European history; and the stringency of its
+clauses serves as the measure of the prowess and perversity of the
+French Emperor. It is puerile to say, as Mollien does, that England
+bribed the allies to this last effort. Experiences of the last months
+had shown them that peace could not be durable as long as Napoleon
+remained in a position to threaten Germany. Even now they were ready
+to conclude it with Napoleon on the basis of the old frontiers of
+France, provided that he assented before the 11th of March; but the
+most pacific of their leaders saw that the more they showed their
+desire for peace, the more they strengthened Napoleon's resolve to
+have it only on terms which they saw to be fraught with future
+danger.[422]
+
+While the conferences at Chatillon followed one another in fruitless
+succession, Bluecher, with 48,000 effectives, was once more resuming
+the offensive. Napoleon heard the news at Troyes (February 25th). He
+was surprised at the veteran's temerity: he had pictured him crushed
+and helpless beyond Chalons, and had cherished the hope of destroying
+Schwarzenberg.--"If," he wrote to Clarke on the morrow, "I had had a
+pontoon bridge, the war would be over, and Schwarzenberg's army would
+no longer exist.... For want of boats, I could not pass the Seine at
+the necessary points. It was not 50 boats that I needed, only
+20."--With this characteristic outburst against his War Minister,
+whose neglect to send up twenty boats from Paris had changed the
+world's history, the Emperor turned aside to overwhelm Bluecher. The
+Prussian commander was near the junction of the Seine and the Aube;
+and seemed to offer his flank as unguardedly as three weeks before.
+
+Napoleon sent Ney, Victor, and Arrighi northwards to fall on his rear,
+and on the 27th repaired to Arcis-sur-Aube to direct the operations.
+What, then, was his annoyance when, in pursuance of the allied plan
+formed on the 23rd, Bluecher skilfully retired northwards, withdrew
+beyond the Marne and broke the bridges behind him. Then after failing
+to drive Marmont and Mortier from Meaux and the line of the Ourcq, the
+Prussian leader marched towards Soissons, near which town he expected
+to meet the northern army of the allies. For some hours he was in
+grave danger: Marmont hung on his rear, and Napoleon with 35,000 hardy
+troops was preparing to turn his right flank. In fact, had he not
+broken the bridge over the Marne at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, and thereby
+delayed the Emperor thirty-six hours, he would probably have been
+crushed before he could cross the River Aisne. His men were dead beat
+by marching night and day over roads first covered by snow and now
+deep in slush: for a week they had had no regular rations, and great
+was their joy when, at the close of the 2nd, they drew near to the
+42,000 troops that Buelow and Winzingerode mustered near the banks of
+the Aisne and Vesle.
+
+On that day Napoleon, when delayed at La Ferte, conceived the daring
+idea of rushing on the morrow after Bluecher, who was "very embarrassed
+in the mire," and then of carrying the war into Lorraine, rescuing the
+garrisons of Verdun, Toul, and Metz, and rousing the peasantry of the
+east of France against the invaders. It mattered not that
+Schwarzenberg had dealt Oudinot and Gerard a severe check at
+Bar-sur-Aube, as soon as Napoleon's back was turned. That cautious
+leader would be certain, he thought, to beat a retreat towards the
+Rhine as soon as his rear was threatened; and Napoleon pictured France
+rising as in 1793, shaking off her invaders and dictating a glorious
+peace.
+
+Far different was the actual situation. Bluecher was not to be caught;
+a sharp frost on the 3rd improved the roads; and his complete junction
+with the northern army was facilitated by the surrender of Soissons on
+that same afternoon. This fourth-rate fortress was ill-prepared to
+withstand an attack; and, after a short bombardment by Winzingerode,
+two allied officers made their way to the Governor, praised his
+bravery, pointed out the uselessness of further resistance, and
+offered to allow the garrison to march out with the honours of war and
+rejoin the Emperor, where they could fight to more advantage. The
+Governor, who bore the ill-starred name of Moreau, finally gave way,
+and his troops, nearly all Poles, marched out at 4 p.m., furious at
+his "treason"; for the distant thunder of Marmont's cannon was already
+heard on the side of Oulchy. Rumour said that they were the Emperor's
+cannon, but rumour lied. At dawn Napoleon's troops had begun to cross
+the temporary bridge over the Marne, thirty-five miles away; but by
+great exertions his outposts on that evening reached Rocourt, only
+some twenty miles south of Soissons.[423]
+
+The fact deserves notice: for it disposes of the strange statement of
+Thiers that the surrender of Soissons was, next to Waterloo, the most
+fatal event in the annals of France. The gifted historian, as also, to
+some extent, M. Houssaye, assumed that, had Soissons held out, Bluecher
+and Buelow could not have united their forces. But Buelow had not relied
+solely on the bridge at Soissons for the union of the armies; on the
+2nd he had thrown a bridge over the Aisne at Vailly, some distance
+above that city, and another on the third near to its eastern
+suburb.[424] It is clear, then, that the two armies, numbering in all
+over 100,000 men, could have joined long before Napoleon, Marmont, and
+Mortier were in a position to attack. Before the Emperor heard of the
+surrender, he had marched to Fismes, and had detached Corbineau to
+occupy Rheims, evidently with the aim of cutting Bluecher's
+communications with Schwarzenberg, and opening up the way to Verdun
+and Metz.
+
+For that plan was now his dominant aim, while the repulse of Bluecher
+was chiefly of importance because it would enable him to stretch a
+hand eastwards to his beleaguered garrisons.[425] But Bluecher was not
+to be thus disposed of. While withdrawing from Soissons to the natural
+fortress of Laon, he heard that Napoleon had crossed the Aisne at
+Berry-au-Bac, and was making for Craonne. Above that town there rises
+a long narrow ridge or plateau, which Bluecher ordered his Russian
+corps to occupy. There was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the
+war (March 7th). The aim of the allies was to await the French attack
+on the plateau, while 10,000 horsemen and sixty guns worked round and
+fell on their rear.
+
+The plan failed, owing to a mistake in the line of march of this
+flanking force: and the battle resolved itself into a soldiers' fight.
+Five times did Ney lead his braves up those slopes, only to be hurled
+back by the dogged Muscovites. But the Emperor now arrived; a sixth
+attack by the cavalry and artillery of the Guard battered in the
+defence; and Bluecher, hearing that the flank move had failed, ordered
+a retreat on Laon. This confused and desperate fight cost both sides
+about 7,000 men, nearly a fourth of the numbers engaged. Victor,
+Grouchy, and six French generals were among the wounded.[426]
+
+Nevertheless, Napoleon struggled on: he called up Marmont and Mortier,
+gave out that he was about to receive other large reinforcements, and
+bade his garrisons in Belgium and Lorraine fall on the rear of the
+foe. One more victory, he thought, would end the war, or at least
+lower the demands of the allies. It was not to be. Bluecher and Buelow
+held the strong natural citadel of Laon; and all Napoleon's efforts on
+March the 9th and 10th failed to storm the southern approaches.
+Marmont fared no better on the east; and when, at nightfall, the weary
+French fell back, the Prussians resolved to try a night attack on
+Marmont's corps, which was far away from the main body. Never was a
+surprise more successful; Marmont was quite off his guard; horse and
+foot fled in wild confusion, leaving 2,500 prisoners and forty-five
+cannon in the hands of the victorious Yorck. Could the allies have
+pressed home their advantage, the result must have been decisive; but
+Bluecher had fallen ill, and a halt was called.[427]
+
+Alone, among the leaders in this campaign, the Emperor remained
+unbroken. All the allied leaders had at one time or another bent under
+his blows; and the French Marshals seemed doomed, as in 1813, to fail
+wherever their Emperor was not. Ney, Victor, and Mortier had again
+evinced few of the qualities of a commander, except bravery. Augereau
+was betraying softness and irresolution in the Lyonnais in front of a
+smaller Austrian force. Suchet and Davoust were shut up in Catalonia
+and Hamburg. St. Cyr and Vandamme were prisoners. Soult had kept a
+bold front near Bayonne: but now news was to hand that Wellington had
+surprised and routed him at Orthez. On the Seine, Macdonald and
+Oudinot failed to hold Troyes against the masses of Schwarzenberg. Of
+all the French Marshals, Marmont had distinguished himself the most in
+this campaign, and now at Laon he had been caught napping. Yet, while
+all others failed, Napoleon seemed invincible. Even after Marmont's
+disaster, the allies forbore to attack the chief; and, just as a lion
+that has been beaten off by a herd of buffaloes stalks away, mangled
+but full of fight and unmolested, so the Emperor drew off in peace
+towards Soissons. Thence he marched on Rheims, gained a victory over a
+Russian division there, and hoped to succour his Lorraine garrisons,
+when, on the 17th, the news of Schwarzenberg's advance towards Paris
+led him southwards once more.
+
+Yielding to the remonstrances of the Czar, the Austrian leader had
+purposed to march on the French capital, if everything went well; but
+he once more drew back on receiving news of Napoleon's advance against
+his right flank. While preparing to retire towards Brienne, he heard
+that his great antagonist had crossed that river at Plancy with less
+than 20,000 troops. To retrace his steps, fall upon this handful of
+weary men with 100,000, and drive them into the river, was not a
+daring conception: but so accustomed were the allies to dalliance and
+delay that a thrill of surprise ran through the host when he began to
+call up its retiring columns for a fight.[428]
+
+Napoleon also was surprised: he believed the Grand Army to be in full
+retreat, and purposed then to dash on Vitry and Verdun.[429] But the
+allies gave him plenty of time to draw up Macdonald's and Oudinot's
+corps, while they themselves were still so widely sundered as at first
+scarcely to stay his onset. The fighting behind Arcis was desperate:
+Napoleon exposed his person freely to snatch victory from the
+deepening masses in front. At one time a shell burst in front of him,
+and his staff shivered as they saw his figure disappear in the cloud
+of smoke and dust; but he arose unhurt, mounted another charger and
+pressed on the fight. It was in vain: he was compelled to draw back
+his men to the town (March 20th). On the morrow a bold attack by
+Schwarzenberg could have overwhelmed Napoleon's 30,000 men; but his
+bold front imposed on the Austrian leader, while the French were drawn
+across the river, only the rearguard suffering heavily from the
+belated attack of the allies. With the loss of 4,000 men, Napoleon
+fell back northwards into the wasted plains of Sezanne. Hope now
+vanished from every breast but his. And surely if human weakness had
+ever found a place in that fiery soul, it might now have tempted him
+to sue for peace. He had flung himself first north, then south, in
+order to keep for France the natural frontiers that he might have had
+as a present last November; he had failed; and now he might with
+honour accept the terms of the victors. But once more he was too late.
+
+The negotiations at Chatillon had ended on March 19th, that is, nine
+days later than had been originally fixed by the allies. The extension
+of time was due mainly to their regard and pity for Caulaincourt; and,
+indeed, he was in the most pitiable position, a plenipotentiary
+without full powers, a Minister kept partly in the dark by his
+sovereign, and a patriot unable to rescue his beloved France from the
+abyss towards which Napoleon's infatuation was hurrying her. He knew
+the resolve of the allies far better than his master's intentions. It
+was from Lord Aberdeen that he heard of the failure of the parleys for
+an armistice: from him also he learnt that Napoleon had written a
+"passionate" letter to Kaiser Francis, and he expressed satisfaction
+that the reply was firm and decided.[430] His private intercourse at
+Chatillon with the British plenipotentiaries was frank and friendly,
+as also with Stadion. He received frequent letters from Metternich,
+advising him quickly to come to terms with the allies;[431] and the
+Austrian Minister sent Prince Esterhazy to warn him that the allies
+would never recede from their demand of the old frontiers for France,
+not even if the fortune of war drove them across the Rhine for a time.
+"Is there, then, no means to enlighten Napoleon as to his true
+situation, or to save him if he persists in destroying himself? Has he
+irrevocably staked his own and his son's fate on the last
+cannon?"--Let Napoleon, then, accept the allied proposal by sending a
+counter-project, differing only very slightly from theirs, and peace
+would be made.[432] Caulaincourt needed no spur. "He works tooth and
+nail for a peace," wrote Stewart, "as far as depends on him. He dreads
+Bonaparte's successes even more than ours, lest they should make him
+more impracticable."[433]
+
+But, unfortunately, his latest and most urgent appeal to the Emperor
+reached the latter just after the Pyrrhic victory at Craonne, which
+left him more stubborn than ever. Far from meeting the allies halfway,
+he let fall words that bespoke only injured pride: "If one must
+receive lashes," he said within hearing of the courier, "it is not for
+me to offer my back to them." On the morrow he charged Maret to reply
+to his distressed plenipotentiary that he (Napoleon) knew best what
+the situation demanded; the demand of the allies that France should
+retire within her old frontiers was only their _first word:_
+Caulaincourt must get to know their ultimatum: if this was their
+ultimatum, he must reject it. He (Napoleon) would possibly give up
+Dutch Brabant and the fortresses of Wesel, Castel (opposite Mainz),
+and Kehl, but would make no substantial changes on the Frankfurt
+terms. Still, Caulaincourt struggled on. When the session of March
+10th was closing, he produced a declaration offering to give up all
+Napoleon's claims to control lands beyond the natural limits.
+
+The others divined that it was his own handiwork, drawn up in order to
+spin out the negotiations and leave his master a few days of
+grace.[434] They respected his intentions, and nine days of grace were
+gained; but the only answer that Napoleon vouchsafed to Caulaincourt's
+appeals was the missive of March 17th from Rheims: "I have received
+your letters of the 13th. I charge the Duke of Bassano to answer them
+in detail. I give you directly the power to make the concessions which
+would be indispensable to keep up the activity of the negotiations,
+and to get to know at last the ultimatum of the allies, it being well
+understood that the treaty would have for result the evacuation of our
+territory and the release of all prisoners on both sides." The
+instructions which he charged the Duke of Bassano to send to
+Caulaincourt were such as a victor might have dictated. The allies
+must evacuate his territory and give up all the fortresses as soon as
+the preliminaries of peace were signed: if the negotiations were to
+break off they had better break off on this question. He himself would
+cease to control lands beyond the natural frontiers, and would
+recognize the independence of Holland: as regards Belgium, he would
+refuse to cede it to a prince of the House of Orange, but he hinted
+that it might well go to a French prince as an indemnity--evidently
+Joseph Bonaparte was meant. If this concession were made, he expected
+that all the French colonies, including the Ile de France, would be
+restored. Nothing definite was said about the Rhine frontier.
+
+The courier who carried these proposals from Rheims to Chatillon was
+twice detained by the Russians, and had not reached the town when the
+Congress came to an end (March 19th). Their only importance,
+therefore, is to show that, despite all the warnings in which the
+Prague negotiations were so fruitful, Napoleon clung to the same
+threatening and dilatory tactics which had then driven Austria into
+the arms of his foes. He still persisted in looking on the time limit
+of the allies as meaningless, on their ultimatum as their _first
+word_, from which they would soon shuffle away under the pressure of
+his prowess--and this, too, when Caulaincourt was daily warning him
+that the hours were numbered, that nothing would change the resolve of
+his foes, and that their defeats only increased their exasperation
+against him.
+
+If anything could have increased this exasperation, it was the
+discovery that he was playing with them all the time. On the 20th the
+allied scouts brought to head-quarters a despatch written by Maret the
+day before to Caulaincourt which contained this damning sentence: "The
+Emperor's desires remain entirely vague on everything relating to the
+delivering up of the strongholds, Antwerp, Mayence, and Alessandria,
+if you should be obliged to consent to these cessions, as he has the
+intention, even after the ratification of the treaty, to take counsel
+from the military situation of affairs. Wait for the last
+moment."[435] Peace, then, was to be patched up for Napoleon's
+convenience and broken by him at the first seasonable opportunity. Is
+it surprising that on that same day the Ministers of the Powers
+decided to have no more negotiations with Napoleon, and that
+Metternich listened not unfavourably to the emissary of the Bourbons,
+the Count de Vitrolles, whom he had previously kept at arm's length?
+
+In truth, Napoleon was now about to stake everything on a plan from
+which other leaders would have recoiled, but which, in his eyes,
+promised a signal triumph. This was to rally the French garrisons in
+Lorraine and throw himself on Schwarzenberg's rear. It was, indeed,
+his only remaining chance. With his band of barely 40,000 men, kept up
+to that number by the arrival of levies that impaired its solidity, he
+could scarcely hope to beat back the dense masses now marshalled
+behind the Aube, the Seine, and the Marne.
+
+A glance at the map will show that behind those rivers the allies
+could creep up within striking distance of Paris, while from his
+position north of the Aube he could attack them only by crossing one
+or other of those great streams, the bridges of which were in their
+hands. He still held the central position; but it was robbed of its
+value if he could not attack. Warfare for him was little else than the
+art of swift and decisive attack; or, as he tersely phrased it, "The
+art of war is to march twelve leagues, fight a battle, and march
+twelve more in pursuit." As this was now impossible against the fronts
+and flanks of the allies, it only remained to threaten the rear of the
+army which was most likely to be intimidated by such a manoeuvre. And
+this was clearly the army led by Schwarzenberg. From Bluecher and Buelow
+naught but defiance to the death was to be expected, and their rear
+was supported by the Dutch strongholds.
+
+But the Austrians had shown themselves as soft in their strategy as in
+their diplomacy. Everyone at the allied headquarters knew that
+Schwarzenberg was unequal to the load of responsibility thrust on him,
+that the incursion of a band of Alsatian peasants on his convoys made
+him nervous, and that he would not move on Paris as long as his
+"communications were exposed to a movement by Chalons and Vitry."[436]
+What an effect, then, would be produced on that timid commander by an
+"Imperial Vendee" in Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comte!
+
+And such a rising might then have become fierce and widespread. The
+east and centre were the strongholds of French democracy, as they had
+been the hotbed of feudal and monarchical abuses; and at this very
+time the Bourbon princes declared themselves at Nancy and Bordeaux.
+The tactless Comte d'Artois was at Nancy, striving to whip up royalist
+feeling in Lorraine, and his eldest son, the Duc d'Angouleme, entered
+Bordeaux with the British red-coats (March 12th).
+
+To explain how this last event was possible we must retrace our steps.
+After Soult was driven by Wellington from the mountains at the back of
+the town of Orthez, he drew back his shattered troops over the River
+Adour, and then turned sharply to the east in order to join hands with
+Suchet's corps. This move, excellent as it was in a military sense,
+left Bordeaux open to the British; and Wellington forthwith sent
+Beresford northwards with 12,000 troops to occupy that great city. He
+met with a warm greeting from the French royalists, as also did the
+Duc d'Angouleme, who arrived soon after. The young prince at once
+proclaimed Louis XVIII. King of France, and allowed the royalist mayor
+to declare that the allies were advancing to Paris merely in order to
+destroy Napoleon and replace him by the rightful monarch. Strongly as
+Wellington's sympathies ran with the aim of this declaration, he
+emphatically repudiated it. Etiquette compelled him to do so; for the
+allies were still negotiating with Napoleon; and his own tact warned
+him that the Bourbons must never come into France under the cloak of
+the allies.
+
+The allied sovereigns had as yet done nothing to favour their cause;
+and the wiser heads among the French royalists saw how desirable it
+was that the initiative should come from France. The bad effects of
+the Bordeaux manifesto were soon seen in the rallying of National
+Guards and peasants to the tricolour against the hated _fleur-de-lys;_
+and Beresford's men could do little more than hold their own.[437] If
+that was the case in the monarchical south, what might not Napoleon
+hope to effect in the east, now that the Bourbon "chimaera" threatened
+to become a fact?
+
+The news as to the state of Paris was less satisfactory. That fickle
+populace cheered royalist allusions at the theatres, hissed off an
+"official" play that represented Cossack marauders,[438] and caused
+such alarm to Savary that he wrote to warn his master of the inability
+of the police to control the public if the war rolled on towards
+Paris. Whether Savary's advice was honestly stupid, or whether, as
+Lavalette hints, Talleyrand's intrigues were undermining his loyalty
+to Napoleon, it is difficult to say. But certainly the advice gave
+Napoleon an additional reason for flinging himself on Schwarzenberg's
+rear and drawing him back into Lorraine. He had reason to hope that
+Augereau, reinforced by some of Suchet's troops, would march towards
+Dijon and threaten the Austrians on the south, while he himself
+pressed on them from the north-east. In that case, would not Austria
+make peace, and leave Alexander and Bluecher at his mercy? And might he
+not hope to cut off the Comte d'Artois, and possibly also catch
+Bernadotte, who had been angling unsuccessfully for popular support in
+the north-east?
+
+But, while basing all his hopes on the devotion of the French
+peasantry and the pacific leanings of Austria, the French Emperor left
+out of count the eager hatred of the Czar and the Prussians. "Bluecher
+would be mad if he attempted any serious movement," so Napoleon wrote
+to Berthier on the 20th, apparently on the strength of his former
+suggestion that Joseph should persuade Bernadotte to desert the allies
+and attack Bluecher's rear.[439] At least, it is difficult to find any
+other reason for Napoleon's strange belief that Bluecher would sit
+still while his allies were being beaten; unless, indeed, we accept
+Marmont's explanation that Napoleon's brain now rejected all
+unpleasing news and registered wishes as facts.
+
+Fortune seemed to smile on his enterprise. Though he failed to take
+Vitry from the allied garrison, yet near St. Dizier he fell on a
+Prussian convoy, captured 800 men and 400 wagons filled with stores.
+Everywhere he ordered the tocsin to proclaim a _levee en masse_, and
+sent messengers to warn his Lorraine garrisons to cut their way to his
+side. His light troops spread up the valley of the Marne towards
+Chaumont, capturing stores and couriers; and he seized this
+opportunity, when he pictured the Austrians as thoroughly demoralized,
+to send Caulaincourt from Doulevant with offers to renew the
+negotiations for peace (March 25th).[440] But while Napoleon awaits
+the result of these proposals, his rear is attacked: he retraces his
+steps, falls on the assailants, and finds that they belong to Bluecher.
+But how can Prussians be there in force? Is not Bluecher resting on the
+banks of the Aisne? And where is Schwarzenberg? The Emperor pushes a
+force on to Vitry to solve this riddle, and there the horrible truth
+unfolds itself little by little that he stands on the brink of ruin.
+
+It is a story instinct with an irony like that of the infatuation of
+King Oedipus in the drama of Sophocles. Every step that the warrior
+has taken to snatch at victory increases the completeness of the
+disaster. The Emperor Francis, scared by the approach of the French
+horsemen, and not wishing to fall into the hands of his son-in-law,
+has withdrawn with Metternich to Dijon.
+
+Napoleon's letter to him is lost.[441] Metternich, well guarded by
+Castlereagh, is powerless to meet Caulaincourt's offer, and their
+flight leaves Schwarzenberg under the influence of the Czar.[442]
+Moreover, Bluecher has not been idle. While Napoleon is hurrying
+eastwards to Vitry, the Prussian leader drives back Marmont's weak
+corps, his vanguard crosses the Marne near Epernay on the 23rd, his
+Cossacks capture a courier bearing a letter written on that day by
+Napoleon to Marie Louise. It ends thus: "I have decided to march
+towards the Marne, in order to push the enemy's army further from
+Paris, and to draw near to my fortresses. I shall be this evening at
+St. Dizier. Adieu, my friend! Embrace my son." Warned by this letter
+of Napoleon's plan, Bluecher pushes on; his outposts on the morrow join
+hands with those of Schwarzenberg, and send a thrill of vigour into
+the larger force.
+
+That leader, held at bay by Macdonald's rearguard, was groping after
+Napoleon, when the capture of a French despatch, and the news
+forwarded by Bluecher, informed him of the French Emperor's eastward
+march. A council of war was therefore held at Pougy on the afternoon
+of the 23rd, when the Czar and the bolder spirits led Schwarzenberg to
+give up his communications with Switzerland, and stake everything on
+joining Bluecher, and following Napoleon's 40,000 with an array of
+180,000 men. But the capture of another French despatch a few hours
+later altered the course of events once more. This time it was a
+budget of official news from Paris to Napoleon, describing the
+exhaustion of the finances, the discontent of the populace, and the
+sensation caused by Wellington's successes and the capture of
+Bordeaux. These glad tidings inspired Alexander with a far more
+incisive plan--to march on Paris. This suggestion had been pressed on
+him on the 17th by Baron de Vitrolles, a French royalist agent, at the
+close of a long interview; and now its advantages were obvious.
+Accordingly, at Sommepuis, on the 24th, he convoked his generals,
+Barclay, Volkonski, Toll, and Diebitsch, to seek their advice. Barclay
+was for following Napoleon, but the two last voted for the advance to
+Paris, Toll maintaining that only 10,000 horsemen need be left behind
+to screen their movements. The Czar signified his warm approval of
+this plan; a little later the King of Prussia gave his assent, and
+Schwarzenberg rather doubtfully deferred to their wishes. Thus the
+result of Napoleon's incursion on the rear of the allies signally
+belied his expectations. Instead of compelling the enemy to beat a
+retreat on the Rhine, it left the road open to his capital.[443]
+
+At dawn on the 25th, then, the allied Grand Army turned to the
+right-about, while Bluecher's men marched joyfully on the parallel road
+from Chalons. Near La Fere-Champenoise, on that day, a cloud of
+Russian and Austrian horse harassed Marmont's and Mortier's corps, and
+took 2,500 prisoners and fifty cannon. Further to the north, Bluecher's
+Cossacks swooped on a division of 4,500 men, mostly National Guards,
+that guarded a large convoy. Stoutly the French formed in squares, and
+beat them off again and again. Thereupon Colonel Hudson Lowe rode away
+southwards, to beg reinforcements from Wrede's Bavarians.
+
+They, too, failed to break that indomitable infantry. The 180 wagons
+had to be left behind; but the recruits plodded on, and seemed likely
+to break through to Marmont, when the Czar came on the scene. At once
+he ordered up artillery, riddled their ranks with grapeshot, and when
+their commander, Pacthod, still refused to surrender, threatened to
+overwhelm their battered squares by the cavalry of his Guard. Pacthod
+thereupon ordered his square to surrender. Another band also grounded
+arms; but the men in the last square fought on, reckless of life, and
+were beaten down by a whirlwind of sabring, stabbing horsemen, whose
+fury the generous Czar vainly strove to curb. "I blushed for my very
+nature as a man," wrote Colonel Lowe, "at witnessing this scene of
+carnage." The day was glorious for France, but it cost her, in all,
+more than 5,000 killed and wounded, 4,000 prisoners, and 80 cannon,
+besides the provisions and stores designed for Napoleon's army.[444]
+Nothing but the wreck of Marmont's and Mortier's corps, about 12,000
+men in all, now barred the road to Paris. Meeting with no serious
+resistance, the allies crossed the Marne at Meaux, and on the 29th
+reached Bondy, within striking distance of the French capital.
+
+In that city the people were a prey, first to sheer incredulity, then
+to the wildest dismay. To them history was but a melodrama and war a
+romance. Never since the time of Jeanne d'Arc had a foreign enemy come
+within sight of their spires. For ramparts they had octroi walls, and
+in place of the death-dealing defiance of 1792 they now showed only
+the spasmodic vehemence or ironical resignation of an over-cultivated
+stock. As M. Charles de Remusat finely remarks on their varying moods,
+"The despotism which makes a constant show of prosperity gives men
+little fortitude to meet adversity." Doubtless the royalists, with
+Talleyrand as their factotum, worked to paralyze the defence; but they
+formed a small minority, and the masses would have fought for Napoleon
+had he been present to direct everything. But he was far away, rushing
+back through Champagne to retrieve his blunder, and in his place they
+had Joseph. The ex-King of Spain was not the man for the hour. He was
+no hero to breathe defiance into a bewildered crowd, nor was he well
+seconded. Clarke, and Moncey, the commander of the 12,000 National
+Guards, had not armed one-half of that doubtful militia. Marmont and
+Mortier were at hand, and, with the garrison and National Guards,
+mustered some 42,000 men.
+
+But what were these against the trained host of more than 100,000 men
+now marching against the feeble barriers on the north and east?
+Moreover, Joseph and the Council of Regency had dispirited the
+defenders by causing the Empress Regent and the infant King of Rome to
+leave the capital along with the treasure. In Joseph's defence it
+should be said that Napoleon had twice warned him to transfer the seat
+of Government to the south of the Loire if the allies neared Paris,
+and in no case to allow the Empress and the King of Rome to be
+captured. "Do not leave the side of my son: I had rather know that he
+was in the Seine than in the hands of the enemies of France." The
+Emperor's views as to the effect of the capture of Paris were also
+well known. In January he remarked to Mollien, the Minister of the
+Treasure, "My dear fellow, if the enemy reaches the gates of Paris,
+the Empire is no more."[445]
+
+Oppressed by these gloomy omens, the defenders awaited the onset of
+the allies at Montreuil, Romainville Pantin, and on the northern plain
+(March 30th). At some points French valour held up successfully
+against the dense masses; but in the afternoon Marmont, seeing his
+thin lines overlapped, and in imminent danger of being cut off at
+Belleville, sent out a request for a truce, as Joseph had empowered
+him to do if affairs proved to be irretrievable. At all points
+resistance was hopeless; Mortier was hard pressed on the north-east;
+at the Clichy gate Moncey and his National Guards fought only for
+honour; and so, after a whole day of sanguinary conflicts, the great
+city surrendered on honourable terms.
+
+And thus ended the great impulse which had gone forth from Paris since
+1789, which had flooded the plains of Germany, the plateaux of Spain,
+the cities of Italy, and the steppes of Russia, levelling the barriers
+of castes and creeds, and binding men in a new and solid unity. The
+reaction against that great centrifugal and international movement had
+now become centripetal and profoundly national. Thanks to Napoleon's
+statecraft, the peoples of Europe from the Volga to the Tagus were now
+embattled in a mighty phalanx, and were about to enter in triumph the
+city that only twenty-five years before had heralded the dawn of their
+nascent liberties.
+
+And what of Napoleon, in part the product and in part the cause, of
+this strange reaction? By a strange Nemesis, his military genius and
+his overweening contempt of Schwarzenberg drew him aside at the very
+time when the allies could strike with deadly effect at the heart of
+his centralized despotism. On the 29th he hears of disaffection at
+Paris, of the disaster at La Fere Champenoise, and of the loss of
+Lyons by Augereau. He at once sees the enormity of his blunder. His
+weary Guards and he seek to annihilate space. They press on by the
+unguarded road by way of Troyes and Fontainebleau, thereby cutting off
+all chance of the Emperor Francis and Metternich sending messages from
+Dijon to Paris. By incredible exertions the men cover seventeen
+leagues on the 29th and reach Troyes.
+
+Napoleon, accompanied by Caulaincourt, Drouot, Flahaut, and Lefebvre,
+rushes on, wearing out horses at every stage: at Fontainebleau on the
+30th he hears that his consort has left Paris; at Essonne, that the
+battle is raging. Late at night, near Athis, he meets a troop of horse
+under General Belliard: eagerly he questions this brave officer, and
+learns that Joseph has left Paris, and that the battle is over.
+"Forward then to Paris: everywhere where I am not they act
+stupidly."--"But, sire," says the general, "it is too late: Paris has
+capitulated."
+
+The indomitable will is not yet broken. He must go on; he will sound
+the tocsin, rouse the populace, tear up the capitulation, and beat the
+insolent enemy. The sight of Mortier's troops, a little further on, at
+last burns the truth into his brain: he sends on Caulaincourt with
+full powers to treat for peace, and then sits up for the rest of the
+night, poring over his maps and measuring the devotion of his Guard
+against the inexorable bounds of time and space. He is within ten
+miles of Paris, and sees the glare of the enemy's watch-fires all over
+the northern sky.
+
+On the morrow he hears that the allied sovereigns are about to enter
+Paris, and Marmont warns him by letter that public opinion has much
+changed since the withdrawal, first of the Empress, and then of
+Joseph, Louis, and Jerome. This was true. The people were disgusted by
+their flight; Bluecher now had eighty cannon planted on the heights of
+Montmartre; and men knew that he would not spare Paris if she hazarded
+a further effort. And thus, when, on that same morning, the Czar, with
+the King of Prussia on his right, and Schwarzenberg on his left, rode
+into Paris at the head of the Russian and Prussian Guards, they met
+with nothing worse than sullen looks on the part of the masses, while
+knots of enthusiastic royalists shouted wildly for the Bourbons, and
+women flung themselves to kiss the boots of the liberating Emperor.
+The Bourbon party, however, was certainly in the minority; but at
+places along the route their demonstrations were effective enough to
+influence an impressionable populace, and to delight the
+conquerors.--"The white cockade appeared very universally:"--wrote
+Stewart with suspicious emphasis--"many of the National Guards, whom I
+saw, wore them."[446]
+
+Fearing that the Elysee Palace had been mined, the Czar installed
+himself at Talleyrand's mansion, opposite the Place de la Concorde;
+and forthwith there took place a most important private Council. The
+two monarchs were present, along with Nesselrode and Napoleon's
+Corsican enemy, Pozzo di Borgo. Princes Schwarzenberg and Lichtenstein
+represented Austria; while Talleyrand and Dalberg were there to plead
+for the House of Bourbon: De Pradt and Baron Louis were afterwards
+summoned. The Czar opened the deliberations by declaring that there
+were three courses open, to make peace with Napoleon, to accept Marie
+Louise as Regent for her son, or to recall the Bourbons.[447] The
+first he declared to be impossible; the second was beset by the
+gravest difficulties; and, while stating the objections to the
+Bourbons, he let it be seen that he now favoured this solution,
+provided that it really was the will of France. He then called on
+Talleyrand to speak; and that pleader set forth the case of the
+Bourbons with his usual skill. The French army, he said, was more
+devoted to its own glory than to Napoleon. France longed for peace,
+and she could only find it with due sureties under her old dynasty. If
+the populace had not as yet declared for the Bourbons, who could
+wonder at that, when the allies persisted in negotiating with
+Napoleon? But let them declare that they will no more treat with him,
+and France would at once show her real desires. For himself, he would
+answer for the Senate. The Czar was satisfied; Frederick William
+assented; the Austrian princes said not a word on behalf of the claims
+of Marie Louise; and the cause of the House of Bourbon easily
+triumphed.[448]
+
+On the morrow appeared in the "Journal des Debats" a decisive
+proclamation, signed by Alexander _on behalf of all the allied
+Powers;_ but we must be permitted to doubt whether the Emperor
+Francis, if present, would have allowed it to appear, especially if
+his daughter were present in Paris as Regent. The proclamation set
+forth that the allies would never again treat with "Napoleon
+Bonaparte" or any member of his family; that they would respect the
+integrity of France as it existed under its lawful kings, and would
+recognize and guarantee the constitution which the French nation
+should adopt.
+
+Accordingly, they invited the Senate at once to appoint a Provisional
+Government. Talleyrand, as Grand Elector of the Empire, had the power
+to summon that guardian of the commonwealth, whose vote would clearly
+be far more expeditious than the _plebiscite_ on which Alexander had
+previously set his heart. Of the 140 Senators only 64 assembled, but
+over them Talleyrand's influence was supreme. He spake, and they
+silently registered his suggestions. Thus it was that the august body,
+taught by ten years of despotism to bend gracefully before every
+breeze, fulfilled its last function in the Napoleonic _regime_ by
+overthrowing the very constitution which it had been expressly charged
+to uphold. The date was the 1st of April. Talleyrand, Dalberg,
+Beurnonville, Jaucourt, and l'Abbe de Montesquiou at once formed a
+Provisional Government; but the soul of it was Talleyrand. The Czar
+gave the word, and Talleyrand acted as scene-shifter. The last tableau
+of this constitutional farce was reached on the following day, when
+the Senate and the Corps Legislatif declared that Napoleon had ceased
+to reign.
+
+Such was the ex-bishop's revenge for insults borne for many a year
+with courtly tact, but none the less bitterly felt. Napoleon and he
+had come to regard each other with instinctive antipathy; but while
+the diplomatist hid his hatred under the cloak of irony, the soldier
+blurted forth his suspicions. Before leaving Paris, the Emperor had
+wound up his last Council-meeting by a diatribe against enemies left
+in the citadel; and his words became all the hotter when he saw that
+Talleyrand, who was then quietly conversing with Joseph in a corner,
+took no notice of the outburst. From Champagne he sent off an order to
+Savary to arrest the ex-Minister, but that functionary took upon
+himself to disregard the order. Probably there was some understanding
+between them. And thus, after steering past many a rock, the patient
+schemer at last helped Europe to shipwreck that mighty adventurer when
+but a league or two from port.
+
+But all was not over yet. Napoleon had fallen back on Fontainebleau,
+in front of which town he was assembling a force of nearly 60,000 men.
+Marie Louise, with the Ministers, was at Blois, and desired to make
+her way to the side of her consort. Had she done so, and had her
+father been present at Paris, a very interesting and delicate
+situation would have been the result; and we may fancy that it would
+have needed all Metternich's finesse and Castlereagh's common sense to
+keep the three monarchs united. But Francis was still at Dijon; and
+Metternich and Castlereagh did not reach Paris until April 10th; so
+that everything in these important days was decided by the Czar and
+Talleyrand, both of them irreconcilable foes of Napoleon. It was in
+vain that Caulaincourt (April 1st) begged the Czar to grant peace to
+Napoleon on the basis of the old frontiers. "Peace with him would only
+be a truce," was the reply.
+
+The victor did not repulse the idea of a Regency so absolutely, and
+the faithful Minister at once hurried to Fontainebleau to persuade his
+master to abdicate in favour of his son. Napoleon repulsed the offer
+with disdain: rather than _that_, he would once more try the hazards
+of war. He knew that the Old and the Young Guard, still nearly 9,000
+strong in all, burned to revenge the insult to French pride; and at
+the close of a review held on the 3rd in the great court of the
+palace, they shouted, "To Paris!" and swore to bury themselves under
+its ruins. It needed not the acclaim of his veterans to prompt him to
+the like resolve. When, on April 1st, he received a Verbal Note from
+Alexander, stating that the allies would no longer treat with him,
+except on his private and family concerns, he exclaimed to Marmont, at
+the line of the Essonne, that he must fight, for it was a necessity of
+his position. He also proposed to that Marshal to cross the Seine and
+attack the allies, forgetting that the Marne, with its bridges held by
+them, was in the way. Marmont, endowed with a keen and sardonic
+intelligence, had already seen that his master was more and more the
+victim of illusions, never crediting the existence of difficulties
+that he did not actually witness. And when, on the 3rd, or perhaps
+earlier, offers came from the royalists, the Marshal promised to help
+them in the way that will shortly appear.
+
+Napoleon's last overtures to the Czar came late on the following day.
+On that morning he had a long and heated discussion with Berthier,
+Ney, Oudinot, and Lefebvre. Caulaincourt and Maret were present as
+peacemakers. The Marshals upbraided Napoleon with the folly of
+marching on Paris. Angered by their words Napoleon at last said: "The
+army will obey me." "No," retorted Ney, "it will obey its commanders."
+
+Macdonald, who had just arrived with his weary corps, took up their
+case with his usual frankness. "Our horses," he said, "can go no
+further: we have not enough ammunition for one skirmish, and no means
+of procuring more. If we fail, as we probably shall, the whole of
+France will be destroyed. We can still impose on the enemy: let us
+retain our attitude.... We have had enough of war without kindling
+civil war." Finally the Emperor gave way, and drew up a declaration
+couched in these terms: "The allied Powers having proclaimed that the
+Emperor Napoleon was the sole obstacle to the re-establishment of
+peace in Europe, the Emperor Napoleon, faithful to his oaths, declares
+that he is ready to descend from the throne, to leave France, and even
+give up his life, for the good of the fatherland, inseparable from the
+rights of his son, of those of the regency of the Empress and of the
+maintenance of the laws of the Empire."[449]
+
+A careful reading of this document will show that it was not an act of
+abdication, but merely a conditional offer to abdicate, which would
+satisfy those undiplomatic soldiers and gain time. Macdonald also
+relates that, after drawing it up, the Emperor threw himself on the
+sofa, struck his thigh, and said: "Nonsense, gentlemen! let us leave
+all that alone and march to-morrow, we shall beat them." But they held
+him to his promise; and Caulaincourt, Ney, and Macdonald straightway
+proceeding to Paris, beset the Czar with many entreaties and some
+threats to recognize the Regency.
+
+In their interview, late at night on the 4th, they seemed to make a
+great impression, especially when they reminded him of his promise not
+to force any government on France. Next, the Czar called in the
+members of the Provisional Government, and heard their arguments that
+a Regency must speedily give way before the impact of the one
+masterful will. Yet again Alexander listened to the eloquence of
+Caulaincourt, and finally to the pleadings of the now anxious
+provisionals. So the night wore on at Talleyrand's mansion, the Czar
+finally stating that, after hearing the Prussian monarch's advice, he
+would give his decision. And shortly before dawn came the news that
+Marmont's corps had marched over to the enemy. "You see," said
+Alexander to Pozzo di Borgo, "it is Providence that wills it: no more
+doubt or hesitation now."[450]
+
+On that same night, in fact, Marmont's corps of 12,000 men was brought
+from Essonne within the lines of the allies, by the Marshal's
+generals. Marmont himself was then in Paris, having been induced by
+Ney and Macdonald to come with them, so as to hinder the carrying out
+of his treasonable design; but his generals, who were in the secret,
+were alarmed by the frequency of Napoleon's couriers, and carried out
+the original plan. Thus, at dawn of the 5th, the rank and file found
+themselves amidst the columns and squadrons of the allies. It was now
+too late to escape; the men swore at their leaders with helpless fury;
+and 12,000 men were thus filched from Napoleon's array.[451]
+
+If this conduct be viewed from the personal standpoint, it must be
+judged a base betrayal of an old friend and benefactor; and it is
+usually regarded in that light alone. And yet Marmont might plead that
+his action was necessary to prevent Napoleon sacrificing his troops,
+and perhaps also his capital, to a morbid pride and desire for
+revenge. The Marshal owed something to France. The Chambers had
+pronounced his master's abdication, and Paris seemed to acquiesce in
+their decision: Bordeaux and Lyons had now definitely hoisted the
+white flag: Wellington had triumphed in the south; Schwarzenberg
+marshalled 140,000 men around the capital; and Marmont knew, perhaps,
+better than any of the Marshals, the obstinacy of that terrible will
+which had strewn the roads between Moscow, Paris, and Lisbon with a
+million of corpses. Was it not time that this should end? And would it
+end as long as Napoleon saw any chance of snatching a temporary
+success?
+
+However we may regard Marmont's conduct, there can be no doubt that it
+helped on Napoleon's fall. The Czar was too subtle a diplomatist to
+attach much importance to Napoleon's declaration cited above. He must
+have seen in it a device to gain time. But he himself also wished for
+a few more hours' respite before flinging away the scabbard; and we
+may regard his lengthy balancings between the pleas of Caulaincourt
+and Talleyrand as prompted partly by a wish to sip to the full the
+sweets of revenge for the occupation of Moscow, but mainly by the
+resolve to mark time until Marmont's corps had been brought over.
+
+Now that the head was struck off Napoleon's lance, the Czar repulsed
+all notion of a Regency, but declared that he was ready to grant
+generous terms to Napoleon if the latter abdicated outright. "Now,
+when he is in trouble," he said, "I will become once more his friend
+and will forget the past." In conferences with Napoleon's
+representatives, Alexander decided that Napoleon must keep the title
+of Emperor, and receive a suitable pension. The islands of Corfu,
+Corsica, and Elba were considered for his future abode: the last
+offered the fewest objections; and though Metternich later on
+protested against the choice of Elba, the Czar felt his honour pledged
+to this arrangement.[452]
+
+Napoleon himself now began to yield to the inevitable. On hearing the
+news of Marmont's defection, he sat for some time as if stupefied,
+then sadly remarked: "The ungrateful man: well! he will be more
+unhappy than I." But once more, on the 6th, the fighting instinct
+comes uppermost. He plans to retire with his faithful troops beyond
+the Loire, and rally the corps of Augereau, Suchet, and Soult. "Come,"
+he cries to his generals, "let us march to the Alps." Not one of them
+speaks in reply. "Ah," replies the Emperor to their unspoken thoughts;
+"you want repose: have it then. Alas! you know not how many
+disappointments and dangers await you on your beds of down." He then
+wrote his formal abdication:
+
+    "The allied Powers having declared that the Emperor was the sole
+    obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, the Emperor,
+    faithful to his oaths, declares that he renounces, for himself and
+    his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy, and that there is no
+    sacrifice, not even that of life, which he is not ready to make
+    for the interest of France."
+
+The allies made haste to finish the affair; for even now they feared
+that the caged lion would burst his bars. Indeed, the trusty secretary
+Fain asserts that when on Easter Monday, the 11th, Caulaincourt
+brought back the allies' ratification of this deed, Napoleon's first
+demand was to retract the abdication. It would be unjust, however, to
+lay too much stress on this strange conduct; for at that time the
+Emperor's mind was partly unhinged by maddening tumults.
+
+His anguish increased when he heard the final terms of the allies.
+They allotted to him the isle of Elba; to his consort and heir, the
+duchies of Parma, Placentia and Guastalla, and two millions of francs
+as an annual subsidy, divided equally between himself and her. They
+were to keep the title of Emperor and Empress; but their son would
+bear the name of Duke of Parma, etc. The other Bonapartes received an
+annual subsidy of 2,500,000 francs, this and the former sum being paid
+by France. Four hundred soldiers might accompany him to Elba. A
+"suitable establishment" was to be provided for Eugene outside of
+France.[453] For some hours Napoleon refused to ratify this compact.
+All hope of resistance was vain, for Oudinot, Victor, Lefebvre, and,
+finally, Ney and Berthier, had gone over to the royalists: even the
+soldiery began to waver. But a noble pride held back the mighty
+conqueror from accepting Elba and signing a money compact. It is not
+without a struggle that a Caesar sinks to the level of a Sancho Panza.
+
+He then talked to Caulaincourt with the insight that always illumined
+his judgments. Marie Louise ought to have Tuscany, he said: Parma
+would not befit her dignity. Besides, if she had to traverse other
+States to come to him, would she ever do so? He next talked of his
+Marshals. Massena's were the greatest exploits: but Suchet had shown
+himself the wisest both in war and administration. Soult was able, but
+too ambitious. Berthier was honest, sensible, the model of a chief of
+the staff; and "yet he has now caused me much pain." Not a word
+escaped him about Davoust, still manfully struggling at Hamburg. Not
+one of his Ministers, he complained, had come from Blois to bid him
+farewell. He then spoke of his greatest enemy--England. "She has done
+me much harm, doubtless, but I have left in her flanks a poisoned
+dart. It is I who have made this debt, that will ever burden, if not
+crush, future generations." Finally, he came back to the hateful
+compact which Caulaincourt pressed him in vain to sign. How could he
+take money from the allies. How could he leave France so small, after
+receiving her so great!
+
+That same night he sought to end his life. On February the 8th he had
+warned his brother Joseph that he would do so if Paris were captured.
+During the retreat from Moscow he had carried about a phial which was
+said to contain opium, and he now sought to end his miseries. But
+Caulaincourt, his valet Constant, and the surgeon Ivan were soon at
+hand with such slight cures as were possible. After violent sickness
+the Emperor sank into deep prostration; but, when refreshed by tea,
+and by the cool air of dawning day, he gradually revived. "Fate has
+decided," he exclaimed: "I must live and await all that Providence has
+in store for me."[454] He then signed the treaty with the allies,
+presented Macdonald with the sword of Murad Bey, and calmly began to
+prepare for his departure.
+
+Marie Louise did not come to see him. Her decision to do so was
+overruled by her father, in obedience to whose behests she repaired
+from Blois to Rambouillet.
+
+There, guarded by Cossacks, she saw Francis, Alexander, and Frederick
+William in turn. What passed between them is not known: but the result
+was that, on April 23rd, she set out for Vienna, whence she finally
+repaired to Parma; she manifested no great desire to see her consort
+at Elba, but soon consoled herself with the Count de Neipperg.
+
+No doubts as to her future conduct, no qualms of conscience as to the
+destiny of France now ruffled Napoleon's mind. Like a sky cleared by a
+thunderstorm, once more it shone forth with clear radiance. Those who
+saw him now were astonished at his calmness, except in some moments
+when he declaimed at his wife and child being kept from him by
+Austrian schemes. Then he stormed and wept and declared that he would
+seek refuge in England, which General Koeller, the Austrian
+commissioner appointed to escort him to Elba, strongly advised him to
+do. But for the most part he showed remarkable composure. When Bausset
+sought to soothe him by remarking that France would still form one of
+the finest of realms, he replied: "_with remarkable serenity_--'I
+abdicate and I yield nothing.'"[455] The words hide a world of
+meaning: they inclose the secret of the Hundred Days.
+
+On the 20th, he bade farewell to his Guard: in thrilling words he told
+them that his mission thenceforth would be to describe to posterity
+the wonders they had achieved: he then embraced General Petit, kissed
+the war-stained banner, and, wafted on his way by the sobs of these
+unconquered heroes, set forth for the Mediterranean. In the central
+districts, and as far as Lyons, he was often greeted by the well-known
+shouts, but, further south, the temper of the people changed.
+
+At Orange they cursed him to his face, and hurled stones at the
+windows of the carriage; Napoleon, protected by Bertrand, sat huddled
+up in the corner, "apparently very much frightened." After forcing a
+way through the rabble, the Emperor, when at a safe distance, donned a
+plain great coat, a Russian cloak, and a plain round hat with a white
+cockade: in this or similar disguises he sought to escape notice at
+every village or town, evincing, says the British Commissioner,
+Colonel Campbell, "much anxiety to save his life."
+
+By a detour he skirted the town of Avignon, where the mob thirsted for
+his blood; and by another device he disappointed the people of Orgon,
+who had prepared an effigy of him in uniform, smeared with blood, and
+placarded with the words: "Voila donc l'odieux tyran! Tot ou tard le
+crime est puni."[456] In this humiliating way he hurried on towards
+the coast, where a British frigate, the "Undaunted," was waiting for
+him. There some suspicious delays ensued, which aroused the fears of
+the allied commissioners, especially as bands of French soldiers began
+to draw near after the break-up of Eugene's army.[457]
+
+At last, on the 28th, accompanied by Counts Bertrand and Drouot, he
+set sail from Frejus. It was less than fifteen years since he had
+landed there crowned with the halo of his oriental adventures.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII
+
+ELBA AND PARIS
+
+
+If it be an advantage to pause in the midst of the rush of life and
+take one's bearings afresh, then Napoleon was fortunate in being
+drifted to the quiet eddy of Elba. He there had leisure to review his
+career, to note where he had served his generation and succeeded,
+where also he had dashed himself fruitlessly against the fundamental
+instincts of mankind. Undoubtedly he did essay this mental
+stock-taking. He remarked to the conscientious Drouot that he was
+wrong in not making peace at the Congress of Prague; that trust in his
+own genius and in his soldiery led him astray; "but those who blame me
+have never drunk of Fortune's intoxicating cup." When a turn of her
+wheel brought him uppermost again, he confessed that at Elba he had
+heard, as in a tomb, the verdict of posterity; and there are signs
+that his maturer convictions thenceforth strove to curb the old
+domineering instincts that had wrecked his life.
+
+Introspection, however, was alien to his being; he was made for the
+camp rather than the study; his critical powers, if turned in for a
+time on himself, quickly swung back to work upon men and affairs; and
+they found the needed exercise in organizing his Liliputian Empire and
+surveying the course of European politics. In the first weeks he was
+up at dawn, walking or riding about Porto Ferrajo and its environs,
+planning better defences, or tracing out new roads and avenues of
+mulberry trees. "I have never seen a man," wrote Campbell, "with so
+much activity and restless perseverance: he appears to take pleasure
+in perpetual movement, and in seeing those who accompany him sink
+under fatigue." About seven hundred of his Guards were brought over on
+British transports; and these, along with Corsicans and Tuscans,
+guarded him against royalist plotters, real or supposed. In a short
+time he purchased a few small vessels, and annexed the islet of
+Pianosa. These affairs and the formation of an Imperial Court for the
+delectation of his mother and his sister Pauline, who now joined him,
+served to drive away ennui; but he bitterly resented the Emperor
+Francis's refusal to let his wife and son come to him. Whether Marie
+Louise would have come is more than doubtful, for her relations to
+Count Neipperg were already notorious; but the detention of his son
+was a heartless action that aroused general sympathy for the lonely
+man. The Countess Walewska paid him a visit for some days, bringing
+the son whom she had borne him.[458]
+
+Meanwhile Europe was settling down uneasily on its new political
+foundations. Considering that France had been at the mercy of the
+allies, she had few just grounds of complaint against them. The
+Treaties of Paris (May 30th, 1814) left her with rather wider bounds
+than those of 1791; and she kept the art treasures reft by Napoleon.
+Perfidious Albion yielded up all her French colonial conquests, except
+Mauritius, Tobago, and St. Lucia. Britons grumbled at the paltry gains
+brought by a war that had cost more than L600,000,000: but Castlereagh
+justified the policy of conciliation. "It is better," said he, "for
+France to be commercial and pacific than a warlike and conquering
+State." We insisted on her ceding Belgium to the House of Orange,
+while we retained the Dutch colonies conquered by us, the Cape,
+Demerara, and Curacoa--paying L6,000,000 for them.
+
+The loss of the Netherlands, the Rhineland, and Italy galled French
+pride. Loud were the murmurs of the throngs of soldiers that came from
+the fortresses of Germany, or the prisons of Spain, Russia, and
+England--70,000 crossed over from our shores alone--at the harshness
+of the allies and the pusillanimity of the Bourbons. The return from
+war to peace is always hard; and now these gaunt warriors came back to
+a little France that perforce discharged them or placed them on
+half-pay. Perhaps they might have been won over by a tactful Court:
+but the Bourbons, especially that typical _emigre_, the Comte
+d'Artois, were nothing if not tactless, witness their shelving of the
+Old Guard and formation of the Maison du Roi, a privileged and highly
+paid corps of 6,000 nobles and royalist gentlemen. The peasants, too,
+were uneasy, especially those who held the lands of nobles confiscated
+in the Revolution. To indemnify the former owners was impossible in
+face of the torrent of exorbitant claims that flowed in. And the year
+1814, which began as a soul-stirring epic, ended with sordid squabbles
+worthy of a third-rate farce.
+
+Moreover, at this very time, the former allies seemed on the brink of
+war. The limits of our space admit only of the briefest glance at the
+disputes of the Powers at the Congress of Vienna. The storm centre of
+Europe was the figure of the Czar. To our ambassador at Vienna, Sir
+Charles Stewart, he declared his resolve to keep western Poland and
+never to give up 7,000,000 of his "Polish subjects."[459] Strange to
+say, he ultimately gained the assent of Prussia to this objectionable
+scheme, provided that she acquired the whole of Saxony, while
+Frederick Augustus was to be transplanted to the Rhineland with Bonn
+as capital. To these proposals Austria, England, and France offered
+stern opposition, and framed a secret compact (January 3rd, 1815) to
+resist them, if need be, with armies amounting to 450,000 men. But,
+though swords were rattled in their scabbards, they were not drawn.
+When news reached Vienna of the activity of Bonapartists in France and
+of Murat in Italy, the Powers agreed (February 8th) to the
+Saxon-Polish compromise which took shape in the map of Eastern Europe.
+The territorial arrangements in the west were evidently inspired by
+the wish to build up bulwarks against France. Belgium was tacked on to
+Holland; Germany was huddled into a Confederation, in which the
+princes had complete sovereign powers; and the Kingdom of Sardinia
+grew to more than its former bulk by recovering Savoy and Nice and
+gaining Genoa.
+
+This piling up of artificial barriers against some future Napoleon was
+to serve the designs of the illustrious exile himself. The instinct of
+nationality, which his blows had aroused to full vigour, was now
+outraged by the sovereigns whom it carried along to victory. Belgians
+strongly objected to Dutch rule, and German "Unitarians," as
+Metternich dubbed them, spurned a form of union which subjected the
+Fatherland to Austria and her henchmen. Hardest of all was the fate of
+Italy. After learning the secret of her essential unity under
+Napoleon, she was now parcelled out among her former rulers; and
+thrills of rage shot through the peninsula when the Hapsburgs settled
+down at Venice and Milan, while their scions took up the reins at
+Modena, Parma, and Florence.
+
+It was on this popular indignation that Murat now built his hopes.
+After throwing over Napoleon, he had looked to find favour with the
+allies; but his movements in 1814 had been so suspicious that the fate
+of his kingdom remained hanging in the balance. The Bourbons of Paris
+and Madrid strove hard to effect his overthrow; but Austria and
+England, having tied their hands early in 1814 by treaties with him,
+could only wait and watch in the hope that the impetuous soldier would
+take a false step. He did so in February, 1815, when he levied forces,
+summoned Louis XVIII. to declare whether he was at war with him, and
+prepared to march into Northern Italy.
+
+The disturbed state of the peninsula caused the Powers much uneasiness
+as to the presence of Napoleon at Elba. Louis XVIII. in his
+despatches, and Talleyrand in private conversations, two or three
+times urged his removal to the Azores; but, with the exception of
+Castlereagh, who gave a doubtful assent, the plenipotentiaries scouted
+the thought of it. Metternich entirely opposed it, and the Czar would
+certainly have objected to the reversal of his Elba plan, had
+Talleyrand made a formal proposal to that effect. But he did not do
+so. The official records of the Congress contain not a word on the
+subject. Equally unfounded were the newspaper rumours that the
+Congress was considering the advisability of removing Napoleon to St.
+Helena. On this topic the official records are also silent; and we
+have the explicit denial of the Duke of Wellington (who reached Vienna
+on the 1st of February to relieve Castlereagh) that "the Congress ever
+had any intention of removing Bonaparte from Elba to St. Helena."[460]
+
+Napoleon's position was certainly one of unstable equilibrium, that
+tended towards some daring enterprise or inglorious bankruptcy. The
+maintenance of his troops cost him more than 1,000,000 francs a year,
+while his revenue was less than half of that sum. He ought to have
+received 2,000,000 francs a year from Louis XVIII.; but that monarch,
+while confiscating the property of the Bonapartes in France, paid not
+a centime of the sums which the allies had pledged him to pay to the
+fallen House. Both the Czar and our envoy, Castlereagh, warmly
+reproached Talleyrand with his master's shabby conduct; to which the
+plenipotentiary replied that it was dangerous to furnish Napoleon with
+money as long as Italy was in so disturbed a state. Castlereagh, on
+his return to England by way of Paris, again pressed the matter on
+Louis XVIII., who promised to take the matter in hand. But he was soon
+quit of it: for, as he wrote to Talleyrand on March 7th, Bonaparte's
+landing in France _spared him the trouble_.[461]
+
+To assert, however, that Napoleon's escape from Elba was prompted by a
+desire to avoid bankruptcy, is to credit him with respectable
+_bourgeois_ scruples by which he was never troubled. Though "Madame
+Mere" and Pauline complained bitterly to Campbell of the lack of funds
+at Elba, the Emperor himself was far from depressed. "His spirits seem
+of late," wrote Campbell on December 28th, "rather to rise, and not to
+yield in the smallest degree to the pressure of pecuniary
+difficulties." Both Campbell and Lord John Russell, who then paid the
+Emperor a flying visit, thought that he was planning some great move,
+and warned our Ministers.[462] But they shared the view of other
+wiseacres, that Italy would be his goal, and that too, when Campbell's
+despatches teemed with remarks made to him by Napoleon as to the
+certainty of an outbreak in France. Here are two of them:
+
+    He said that there would be a violent outbreak, similar to the
+    Revolution, in consequence of their present humiliation: every man
+    in France considers the Rhine to be the natural frontier of
+    France, and nothing can alter this opinion. If the spirit of the
+    nation is roused into action nothing can oppose it. It is like a
+    torrent.... The present Government of France is too feeble: the
+    Bourbons should make war as soon as possible so as to establish
+    themselves upon the throne. It would not be difficult to recover
+    Belgium. It is only for the British troops there that the French
+    army has the smallest awe" (_sic_).
+
+His final resolve to put everything to the hazard was formed about
+February 13th, when, shortly after receiving tidings as to the unrest
+in Italy, the discords of the Powers, and the resolve of the allied
+sovereigns to leave Vienna on the 20th, he heard news of the highest
+importance from France. On that day one of his former officials,
+Fleury de Chaboulon, landed in Elba, and informed him of the hatching
+of a plot by military malcontents, under the lead of Fouche, for the
+overthrow of Louis XVIII.[463] Napoleon at once despatched his
+informant to Naples, and ordered his brig, "L'Inconstant," to be
+painted like an English vessel. Most fortunately for him, Campbell on
+the 16th set sail for Tuscany--"for his health and on private
+affairs"--on the small war-vessel, "Partridge," to which the British
+Government had intrusted the supervision of Napoleon. Captain Adye, of
+that vessel, promised, after taking Campbell to Leghorn, to return and
+cruise off Elba. He called at Porto Ferrajo on the 24th, and to
+Bertrand's question, when he was to bring Campbell back, returned the
+undiplomatic answer that it was fixed for the 26th. The news seems to
+have decided Napoleon to escape on that day, when the "Partridge"
+would be absent at Leghorn. Meanwhile Campbell, alarmed by the news of
+the preparations at Elba, was sending off a request to Genoa that
+another British warship should be sent to frustrate the designs of the
+"restless villain."
+
+But it was now too late. On that Sunday night at 9 p.m., the Emperor,
+with 1,050 officers and men, embarked at Porto Ferrajo on the
+"Inconstant" and six smaller craft. Favoured by the light airs that
+detained the British vessel, his flotilla glided away northwards; and
+not before the 28th did Adye and Campbell find that the imperial eagle
+had flown. Meanwhile Napoleon had eluded the French guard-ship,
+"Fleur-de-Lys," and ordered his vessels to scatter. On doubling the
+north of Corsica, he fell in with another French cruiser, the
+"Zephyr," which hailed his brig and inquired how the great man was.
+"Marvellously well," came the reply, suggested by Napoleon himself to
+his captain. The royalist cruiser passed on contented. And thus,
+thanks to the imbecility of the old Governments and of their servants,
+Napoleon was able to land his little force safely in the Golfe de
+Jouan on the afternoon of March 1st.[464] Is it surprising that
+foreigners, who had not yet fathomed the eccentricities of British
+officialdom, should have believed that we connived at Napoleon's
+escape? It needed the blood shed at Waterloo to wipe out the
+misconception.
+
+"I shall reach Paris without firing a shot." Such was the prophecy of
+Napoleon to his rather questioning followers as they neared the coast
+of Provence. It seemed the wildest of dreams. Could the man, who had
+been wellnigh murdered by the rabble of Avignon and Orgon, hope to
+march in peace through that royalist province? And, if he ever reached
+the central districts where men loved him better, would the soldiery
+dare to disobey the commands of Soult, the new Minister of War, of
+Ney, Berthier, Macdonald, St. Cyr, Suchet, Augereau, and of many more
+who were now honestly serving the Bourbons? The King and his brothers
+had no fears. They laughed at the folly of this rash intruder.
+
+At first their confidence seemed justified. Napoleon's overtures to
+the officer and garrison of Antibes were repulsed, and the small
+detachment which he sent there was captured. Undaunted by this check,
+he decided to hurry on by way of Grasse towards Grenoble, thus
+forestalling the news of his first failure, and avoiding the royalist
+districts of the lower Rhone.
+
+Napoleon was visibly perturbed as he drew near to Grenoble. There the
+officer in command, General Marchand, had threatened to exterminate
+this "band of brigands"; and his soldiers as yet showed no signs of
+defection. But, by some bad management, only one battalion held the
+defile of Laffray on the south. As the bear-skins of the Guard came in
+sight, the royalist ranks swerved and drew back. Then the Emperor came
+forward, and ordered his men to lower their arms. "There he is: fire
+on him," cried a royalist officer. Not a shot rang out.--"Soldiers,"
+said the well-known voice, "if there is one among you who wishes to
+kill his Emperor, he can do so. Here I am." At once a great shout of
+"Vive l'Empereur" burst forth: and the battalion broke into an
+enthusiastic rush towards the idol of the soldiery.
+
+That scene decided the whole course of events. A little later, a young
+noble, Labedoyere, leads over his regiment; at Grenoble the garrison
+stands looking on and cheering while the Bonapartists batter in the
+gates; and the hero is borne in amidst a whirlwind of cheers. At
+Lyons, the Comte d'Artois and Macdonald seek safety in flight; and
+soldiers and workmen welcome their chief with wild acclaim; but amidst
+the wonted cries are heard threats of "The Bourbons to the
+guillotine," "Down with the priests!"
+
+The shouts were ominous: they showed that the Jacobins meant to use
+Napoleon merely as a tool for the overthrow of the Bourbons. The
+"have-nots" cheered him, but the "haves" shivered at his coming, for
+every thinking man knew that it implied war with Europe.[465] Napoleon
+saw the danger of relying merely on malcontents and sought to arouse a
+truly national feeling. He therefore on March 13th issued a series of
+popular decrees, that declared the rule of the Bourbons at an end,
+dissolved the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and summoned the
+"electoral colleges" of the Empire to a great assembly, or Champ de
+Mai, at Paris. He further proscribed the white flag, ordered the
+wearing of the tri-colour cockade, disbanded the hated "Maison du
+Roi," abolished feudal titles, and sequestered the domains of the
+Bourbon princes. In brief, he acted as the Bonaparte of 1799. He then
+set forth for Paris, at the head of 14,000 men.
+
+Ney was at the same time marching with 6,000 men from Besancon. He had
+lately assured Louis XVIII. that Napoleon deserved to be brought to
+Paris in an iron cage. But now his soldiers kept a sullen silence. At
+Bourg the leading regiment deserted; and while beset by difficulties,
+the Marshal received from Napoleon the assurance that he would be
+received as he was on the day after the Moskwa (Borodino). This was
+enough. He drew his troops around him, and, to their lively joy,
+declared for the Emperor (March 14th). Napoleon was as good as his
+word. Never prone to petty malice, he now received with equal
+graciousness those officers who flung themselves at his feet, and
+those who staunchly served the King to the very last. Before this
+sunny magnanimity the last hopes of the Bourbons melted away. Greeted
+on all sides by soldiers and peasants, the enchanter advances on
+Paris, whence the King and Court beat a hasty retreat towards Lille.
+
+Crowds of peasants line and almost block the road from Fontainebleau
+to catch a glimpse of the gray coat; and, to expedite matters, he
+drives on in a cabriolet with his faithful Caulaincourt. Escorted by a
+cavalcade of officers he enters Paris after nightfall; but there the
+tone of the public is cool and questioning, until the front of the
+Tuileries facing the river is reached.[466] Then a mighty shout arises
+from the throng of jubilant half-pay officers as the well-known figure
+alights: he passes in, and is half carried up the grand staircase,
+"his eyes half closed," says Lavalette, "his hands extended before him
+like a blind man, and expressing his joy only by a smile." Ladies are
+there also, who have spent the weary hours of waiting in stripping off
+_fleurs-de-lys_, and gleefully exposing the N's and golden bees
+concealed by cheap Bourbon upholstery. Anon they fly back to this
+task; the palace wears its wonted look; and the brief spell of Bourbon
+rule seems gone for ever.
+
+To his contemporaries this triumph of Napoleon appeared a miracle
+before which the voice of criticism must be dumb. And yet, if we
+remember the hollowness of the Bourbon restoration, the tactlessness
+of the princes and the greed of their partisans, it seems strange that
+the house of cards reared by the Czar and Talleyrand remained standing
+even for eleven months. Napoleon correctly described the condition of
+France when he said to his comrades on the "Inconstant": "There is no
+historic example that induces me to venture on this bold enterprise:
+but I have taken into account the surprise that will seize on men, the
+state of public feeling, the resentment against the allies, the love
+of my soldiers, in fine, all the Napoleonic elements that still
+germinate in our beautiful France."[467]
+
+Still less was he deceived by the seemingly overwhelming impulse in
+his favour. He looked beyond the hysteria of welcome to the cold and
+critical fit which follows; and he saw danger ahead. When Mollien
+complimented him on his return, he replied, alluding to the general
+indifference at the departure of the Bourbons: "My dear fellow! People
+have let me come, just as they let the others go." The remark reveals
+keen insight into the workings of French public opinion. The whole
+course of the Revolution had shown how easy it was to destroy a
+Government, how difficult to rebuild. In truth, the events of March,
+1815, may be called the epilogue of the revolutionary drama. The royal
+House had offended the two most powerful of French interests, the
+military and the agrarian, so that soldiers and peasants clutched
+eagerly at Napoleon as a mighty lever for its overthrow.
+
+The Emperor wisely formed his Ministry before the first enthusiasm
+cooled down. Maret again became Secretary of State; Decres took the
+Navy; Gaudin the finances; Mollien was coaxed back to the Treasury,
+and Davoust reluctantly accepted the Ministry of War. Savary declined
+to be burdened with the Police, and Napoleon did not press him: for
+that clever intriguer, Fouche, was pointed out as the only man who
+could rally the Jacobins around the imperial throne: to him, then,
+Napoleon assigned this important post, though fully aware that in his
+hands it was a two-edged tool. Carnot was finally persuaded to become
+Minister for Home Affairs.
+
+Napoleon's fate, however, was to be decided, not at Paris, but by the
+statesmen assembled at Vienna. There time was hanging somewhat
+heavily, and the news of Napoleon's escape was welcomed at first as a
+grateful diversion. Talleyrand asserted that Napoleon would aim at
+Italy, but Metternich at once remarked: "He will make straight for
+Paris." When this prophecy proved to be alarmingly true, a drastic
+method was adopted to save the Bourbons. The plenipotentiaries drew up
+a declaration that Bonaparte, having broken the compact which
+established him at Elba--the only legal title attaching to his
+existence--had placed himself outside the bounds of civil and social
+relations, and, as an enemy and disturber of the peace of the world,
+was consigned to "public prosecution" (March 13th).[468] The rigour of
+this decree has been generally condemned. But, after all, it did not
+exceed in harshness Napoleon's own act of proscription against Stein;
+it was a desperate attempt to stop the flight of the imperial eagle to
+Paris and to save France from war with Europe.
+
+Public considerations were doubtless commingled with the promptings of
+personal hatred. We are assured that Talleyrand was the author of this
+declaration, which had the complete approval of the Czar. But Napoleon
+had one enemy more powerful than Alexander, more insidious than
+Talleyrand, and that was--his own past. Everywhere the spectre of war
+rose up before the imagination of men. The merchant pictured his ships
+swept off by privateers: the peasant saw his homestead desolate: the
+housewife dreamt of her larder emptied by taxes, and sons carried off
+for the war. At Berlin, wrote Jackson, all was agitation, and
+everybody said that _the work of last year would have to be done over
+again_.
+
+In England the current of public feeling was somewhat weakened by the
+drifts and eddies of party politics. Many of the Whigs made a popular
+hero of Napoleon, some from a desire to overthrow the Liverpool
+Ministry that proscribed him; others because they believed, or tried
+to believe, that the return of Napoleon concerned only France, and
+that he would leave Europe alone if Europe left him alone. Others
+there were again, as Hazlitt, who could not ignore the patent fact
+that Napoleon was an international personage and had violated a
+European compact, yet nevertheless longed for his triumph over the bad
+old Governments and did not trouble much as to what would come next.
+But, on the whole, the judgment of well-informed people may be summed
+up in the conclusion of that keen lawyer, Crabb Robinson: "The
+question is, peace with Bonaparte now, or war with him in Germany two
+years hence."[469] The matter came to a test on April 28th, when
+Whitbread's motion against war was rejected by 273 to 72.[470]
+
+If that was the general opinion in days when Ministers and
+diplomatists alone knew the secrets of the game, it was certain that
+the initiated, who remembered his wrongheaded refusals to make peace
+even in the depressing days of 1814, would strive to crush him before
+he could gather all his strength. In vain did he protest that he had
+learnt by sad experience and was a changed man. They interpreted his
+pacific speeches by their experience of his actions; and thus his
+overweening conduct in the past blotted out all hope of his crowning a
+romantic career by a peaceful and benignant close. The declaration of
+outlawry was followed, on March 25th, by the conclusion of treaties
+between the Powers, which virtually renewed those framed at Chaumont.
+In quick succession the smaller States gave in their adhesion; and
+thus the coalition which tact and diplomacy had dissolved was
+revivified by the fears which the mighty warrior aroused. Napoleon
+made several efforts to sow distrust among the Powers; and chance
+placed in his hands a veritable apple of discord.
+
+The Bourbons in their hasty flight from Paris had left behind several
+State papers, among them being the recent secret compact against
+Russia and Prussia. Napoleon promptly sent this document to the Czar
+at Vienna; but his hopes of sundering the allies were soon blighted.
+Though Alexander and Metternich had for months refused to exchange a
+word or a look, yet the news of Napoleon's adventure brought about a
+speedy reconciliation; and when the compromising paper from Paris was
+placed in the Czar's hands, he took the noble revenge of sending for
+Metternich, casting it into the fire, and adjuring the Minister to
+forget recent disputes in the presence of their common enemy. Napoleon
+strove to detach Austria from the Coalition, as did also Fouche on his
+own account; but the overtures led to no noteworthy result, except
+that Napoleon, on finding out Fouche's intrigue, threatened to have
+him shot--a threat which that necessary tool treated with quiet
+derision.
+
+A few acts of war occurred at once; but Austria and Russia pressed for
+delay, the latter with the view of overthrowing Murat. That potentate
+now drew the sword on behalf of Napoleon, and summoned the Italians to
+struggle for their independence. But he was quickly overpowered at
+Tolentino (May 3rd), and fled from his kingdom, disguised as a sailor,
+to Toulon. There he offered his sword to Napoleon; but the Emperor
+refused his offer and blamed him severely, alleging that he had
+compromised the fortunes of France by rendering peace impossible. The
+charge must be pronounced not proven. The allies had taken their
+resolve to destroy Napoleon on March 13th, and Murat's adventure
+merely postponed the final struggle for a month or so.
+
+Napoleon used this time of respite to form his army and stamp out
+opposition in France. The French royalist bands gave him little
+trouble. In the south-west the _fleur-de-lys_ was speedily beaten
+down; but in La Vendee royalism had its roots deep-seated. Headed by
+the two Larochejacqueleins, the peasants made a brave fight; and
+20,000 regulars failed to break them up until the month of June was
+wearing on. What might not those 20,000 men, detained in La Vendee,
+have effected on the crest of Waterloo?
+
+Napoleon's preoccupation, however, was the conduct of the Jacobins in
+France, who had been quickened to immense energy by the absurdities of
+the royalist reaction and felt that they had the new ruler in their
+power. A game of skill ensued, which took up the greater part of the
+"Hundred Days" of Napoleon's second reign. His conduct proved that he
+was not sure of success. He felt out of touch with this new
+liberty-loving France, so different from the passively devoted people
+whom he had left in 1814; he bridled his impetuous nature, reasoning
+with men, inviting criticism, and suggesting doubts as to his own
+proposals, in a way that contrasted curiously with the old
+sledge-hammer methods.
+
+    "He seemed," writes Mollien, "habitually calm, pensive, and
+    preserved without affectation a serious dignity, with little of
+    that old audacity and self-confidence which had never met with
+    insuperable obstacles.... As his thoughts were cramped in a narrow
+    space girt with precipices instead of soaring freely over a vast
+    horizon of power, they became laborious and
+
+This Pegasus in harness chafed at the unwonted yoke; and at times the
+old instincts showed themselves. On one occasion, when the subject
+turned on the new passion for liberty, he said to Lavalette with a
+question in his voice: "All this will last two or three years?" "Your
+Majesty," replied the Minister, "must not believe that. It will last
+for ever."
+
+The first grave difficulty was to frame a constitution, especially as
+his Lyons decrees led men to believe that it would emanate from the
+people, and be sanctioned by them in a great _Champ de Mai_. Perhaps
+this was impossible. A great part of France was a prey to civil
+strifes; and it was a skilful device to intrust the drafting of a
+constitution to Benjamin Constant.
+
+This brilliant writer and talker had now run through the whole gamut
+of political professions. A pronounced Jacobin and free-thinker during
+the Consulate, he subsequently retired to Germany, where he unlearnt
+his politics, his religion, and his philosophy. The sight of
+Napoleon's devastations made him a supporter of the throne and altar,
+compelled him to recast his treatises, and drove him to consort with
+the quaint circle of pietists who prayed and grovelled with Madame de
+Krudener. Returning to France at the Restoration, he wielded his
+facile pen in the cause of the monarchy, and fluttered after the
+fading charms of Madame Recamier, confiding to his friend, De Broglie,
+that he knew not whether to trust most to divine or satanic agencies
+for success in this lawless chase. In March, 1815, he thundered in the
+Press against the brigand of Elba--until the latter won him over in
+the space of a brief interview, and persuaded him to draft, with a few
+colleagues, the final constitution of the age.
+
+Not that Constant had a free hand: he worked under imperial
+inspiration. The present effort was named the Additional
+Act--additional, that is, to the Constitutions of the Empire (April
+22nd, 1815). It established a Chamber of Peers nominated by Napoleon,
+with hereditary rights, and a Chamber of Representatives elected on
+the plan devised in August, 1802. The Emperor was to nominate all the
+judges, including the _juges de paix;_ the jury system was maintained,
+and liberty of the Press was granted. The Chambers also gained
+somewhat wider control over the Ministers.[471]
+
+This Act called forth a hail of criticisms. When the Council of State
+pointed out that there was no guarantee against confiscations,
+Napoleon's eyes flashed fire, and he burst forth:
+
+    "You are pushing me in a way that is not mine. You are weakening
+    and chaining me. France looks for me and does not find me. Public
+    opinion was excellent: now it is execrable. France is asking what
+    has come to the Emperor's arm, this arm which she needs to master
+    Europe. Why speak to me of goodness, abstract justice, and of
+    natural laws? The first law is necessity: the first justice is the
+    public safety."
+
+The councillors quailed under this tirade and conceded the
+point--though we may here remark that Napoleon showed a wise clemency
+towards his foes, and confiscated the estates of only thirteen of
+them.
+
+Public opinion became more and more "execrable." Some historians have
+asserted that the decline of Napoleon's popularity was due, not to the
+Additional Act, but to the menaces of war from a united Europe: this
+may be doubted. Miot de Melito, who was working for the Emperor in the
+West, states that "never had a political error more immediate effects"
+than that Act; and Lavalette, always a devoted adherent, asserts
+that Frenchmen thenceforth "saw only a despot in the Emperor and forgot
+about the enemy."
+
+As a display of military enthusiasm, the _Champ de Mai_, of June 1st,
+recalled the palmy days gone by. Veterans and conscripts hailed their
+chief with jubilant acclaim, as with a few burning words he handed
+them their eagles. But the people on the outskirts cheered only when
+the troops cheered. Why should they, or the "electors" of France,
+cheer? They had hoped to give her a constitution; and they were now
+merely witnesses to Napoleon's oath that he would obey the
+constitution of his own making. As a civic festival, it was a mockery
+in the eyes of men who remembered the "Feast of Pikes," and were not
+to be dazzled by the waving of banners and the gorgeous costumes of
+Napoleon and his brothers. The opening of the Chambers six days later
+gave an outlet to the general discontent. The report that Napoleon
+designed his brother Lucien for the Presidency of the Lower House is
+incorrect. That honest democrat Lanjuinais was elected. Everything
+portended a constitutional crisis, when the summons to arms rang
+forth; and the chief, warning the deputies not to imitate the Greeks
+of the late Empire by discussing abstract propositions while the
+battering-ram thundered at their gates, cut short these barren debates
+by that appeal to the sword which had rarely belied his hopes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX
+
+LIGNY AND QUATRE BRAS
+
+
+A less determined optimist than Napoleon might well have hoped for
+success over the forces of the new coalition. True, they seemed
+overwhelmingly great. But many a coalition had crumbled away under the
+alchemy of his statecraft; and the jealousies that had raged at the
+Congress of Vienna inspired the hope that Austria, and perhaps
+England, might speedily be detached from their present allies. Strange
+as it seems to us, the French people opined that Napoleon's escape
+from Elba was due to the connivance of the British Government; and
+Captain Mercer states that, even at Waterloo, many of the French clung
+to the belief that the British resistance would be a matter of form.
+Napoleon cherished no such illusion: but he certainly hoped to
+surprise the British and Prussian forces in Belgium, and to sever at
+one blow an alliance which he judged to be ill cemented. Thereafter he
+would separate Austria from Russia, a task that was certainly possible
+if victory crowned the French eagles.[472]
+
+His military position was far stronger than it had been since the
+Moscow campaign. The loss of Germany and Spain had really added to his
+power. No longer were his veterans shut up in the fortresses of Europe
+from Danzig to Antwerp, from Hamburg to Ragusa; and the Peninsular War
+no longer engulfed great armies of his choicest troops. In the eyes of
+Frenchmen he was not beaten in 1814; he was only tripped up by a
+traitor when on the point of crushing his foes. And, now that peace
+had brought back garrisons and prisoners of war, as many as 180,000
+well-trained troops were ranged under the imperial eagles. He hoped by
+the end of June to have half a million of devoted soldiers ready for
+the field.
+
+The difficulties that beset him were enough to daunt any mind but his.
+Some of the most experienced Marshals were no longer at his side. St.
+Cyr, Macdonald, Oudinot, Victor, Marmont, and Augereau remained true
+to Louis XVIII. Berthier, on hearing of Napoleon's return from Elba,
+forthwith retired into Germany, and, in a fit of frenzy, threw himself
+from the window of a house in Bamberg while a Russian corps was
+passing through that town. Junot had lost his reason. Massena and
+Moncey were too old for campaigning; Mortier fell ill before the first
+shots were fired. Worst of all, the unending task of army organization
+detained Davoust at Paris. Certainly he worked wonders there; but, as
+in 1813 and 1814, Napoleon had cause to regret the absence of a
+lieutenant equally remarkable for his acuteness of perception and
+doggedness of purpose, for a good fortune that rarely failed, and a
+devotion that never faltered. Doubtless it was this last priceless
+quality, as well as his organizing gifts, that marked him out as the
+ideal Minister of War and Governor of Paris. Besides him he left a
+Council charged with the government during his absence, composed of
+Princes Joseph and Lucien and the Ministers.
+
+But, though the French army of 1815 lacked some of the names far famed
+in story, numbers of zealous and able officers were ready to take
+their place. The first and second corps were respectively assigned to
+Drouet, Count d'Erlon, and Reille, the former of whom was the son of
+the postmaster of Varennes, who stopped Louis XVI.'s flight. Vandamme
+commanded the third corps; Gerard, the fourth; Rapp, the fifth; while
+the sixth fell to Mouton, better known as Count Lobau. Rapp's corps
+was charged with the defence of Alsace; other forces, led by Brune,
+Decaen, and Clausel, protected the southern borders, while Suchet
+guarded the Alps; but the rest of these corps were gradually drawn
+together towards the north of France, and the addition of the Guard,
+20,800 strong, brought the total of this army to 125,000 men.
+
+There was one post which the Emperor found it most difficult to fill,
+that of Chief of the Staff. There the loss of Berthier was
+irreparable. While lacking powers of initiative, he had the faculty of
+lucidly and quickly drafting Napoleon's orders, which insures the
+smooth working of the military machine. Who should succeed this
+skilful and methodical officer? After long hesitation Napoleon chose
+Soult. In a military sense the choice was excellent. The Duke of
+Dalmatia had a glorious military record; in his nature activity was
+blended with caution, ardour with method; but he had little experience
+of the special duties now required of him; and his orders were neither
+drafted so clearly nor transmitted so promptly as those of Berthier.
+
+The concentration of this great force proceeded with surprising
+swiftness; and, in order to lull his foes into confidence, the Emperor
+delayed his departure from Paris to the last moment possible. As dawn
+was flushing the eastern sky, on June 12th, he left his couch, after
+four hours' sleep, entered his landau, and speedily left his
+slumbering capital behind. In twelve hours he was at Laon. There he
+found that Grouchy's four cavalry brigades were not sharing in the
+general advance owing to Soult's neglect to send the necessary orders.
+The horsemen were at once hurried on, several regiments covering
+twenty leagues at a stretch and exhausting their steeds. On the 14th
+the army was well in hand around Beaumont, within striking distance of
+the Prussian vanguard, from which it was separated by a screen of
+dense woods. There the Emperor mounted his charger and rode along the
+ranks, raising such a storm of cheers that he vainly called out: "Not
+so loud, my children, the enemy will hear you." There, too, on this
+anniversary of Marengo and Friedland, he inspired his men by a
+stirring appeal on behalf of the independence of Poles, Italians, the
+smaller German States, and, above all, of France herself. "For every
+Frenchman of spirit the time has come to conquer or die."
+
+What, meanwhile, was the position of the allies? An Austro-Sardinian
+force threatened the south-east of France. Mighty armies of 170,000
+Russians and 250,000 Austrians were rolling slowly on towards Lorraine
+and Alsace respectively; 120,000 Prussians, under Bluecher, were
+cantoned between Liege and Charleroi; while Wellington's composite
+array of British, German, and Dutch-Belgian troops, about 100,000
+strong, lay between Brussels and Mons.[473] The original plan of these
+two famous leaders was to push on rapidly into France; but the
+cautious influences of the Military Council sitting at Vienna
+prevailed, and it was finally decided not to open the campaign until
+the Austrians and Russians should approach the frontiers of France.
+Even as late as June 15th we find Wellington writing to the Czar in
+terms that assume a co-operation of all the allies in simultaneous
+moves towards Paris--movements which Schwarzenberg had led him to
+expect _would begin about the 20th of June_.[474]
+
+From this prolonged and methodical warfare Europe was saved by
+Napoleon's vigorous offensive. His political instincts impelled him to
+strike at Brussels, where he hoped that the populace would declare for
+union with France and severance from the detested Dutch. In this war
+he must not only conquer armies, he must win over public opinion; and
+how could he gain it so well as in the guise of a popular liberator?
+
+But there were other advantages to be gained in Belgium. By flinging
+himself on Wellington and the Prussians, and driving them asunder, he
+would compel Louis XVIII. to another undignified flight; and he would
+disorganize the best prepared armies of his foes, and gain the
+material resources of the Low Countries. He seems even to have
+cherished the hope that a victory over Wellington would dispirit the
+British Government, unseat the Ministry, and install in power the
+peace-loving Whigs.
+
+And this victory was almost within his grasp. While his host drew near
+to the Prussian outposts south of Charleroi and Thuin, the allies were
+still spread out in cantonments that extended over one hundred miles,
+namely, from Liege on Bluecher's left to Audenarde on Wellington's
+right. This wide dispersion of troops, when an enterprising foe was
+known to be almost within striking distance, has been generally
+condemned. Thus General Kennedy, in his admirable description of
+Waterloo, admits that there was an "absurd extension" of the
+cantonments. Wellington, however, was bound to wait and to watch the
+three good high-roads, by any one of which Napoleon might advance,
+namely, those of Tournay, Mons, and Charleroi. The Duke had other
+causes for extending his lines far to the west: he desired to cover
+the roads from Ostend, whence he was expecting reinforcements, and to
+stretch a protecting wing over the King of France at Ghent.
+
+There are many proofs, however, that Wellington was surprised by
+Napoleon. The narratives of Sir Hussey Vivian and Captain Mercer show
+that the final orders for our advance were carried out with a haste
+and flurry that would not have happened if the army had been well in
+hand, or if Wellington had been fully informed of Napoleon's latest
+moves.[475] There is a wild story that the Duke was duped by Fouche,
+on whom he was relying for news from Paris. But it seems far more
+likely that he was misled by the tidings sent to Louis XVIII. at Ghent
+by zealous royalists in France, the general purport of which was that
+Napoleon _would wage a defensive campaign_.[476] On the 13th June,
+Wellington wrote: "I have accounts  from Paris of the 10th, on which
+day he [Bonaparte] was still there; and I judge from his speech to
+the Legislature that his departure was not likely to be immediate. I
+think we are now too strong for him here." And, in later years, he
+told Earl Stanhope that Napoleon "was certainly wrong in attacking at
+all"; for the allied armies must soon have been in great straits for
+want of food if they had advanced into France, exhausted as she was
+by the campaign of 1814. "But," he added, "the fact is, Bonaparte
+never in his life had patience for a defensive war."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF THE WATERLOO
+CAMPAIGN]
+
+The Duke's forces would, at the outset of the campaign, have been in
+less danger, if the leaders at the Prussian outposts, Pirch II. and
+Doernberg of the King's German Legion, had warned him of the enemy's
+massing near the Sambre early on the 15th. By some mischance this was
+not done; and our leader only heard from Hardinge, at the Prussian
+headquarters, that the enemy seemed about to begin the offensive. He
+therefore waited for more definite news before concentrating upon any
+one line.
+
+About 6 p.m. on the 15th he ordered his divisions and brigades to
+concentrate at Vilvorde, Brussels, Ninove, Grammont, Ath,
+Braine-le-Comte, Hal, and Nivelles--the first four of which were
+somewhat remote, while the others were chosen with a view to defending
+the roads leading northwards from Mons. Not a single British brigade
+was posted on the Waterloo-Charleroi road, which was at that time
+guarded only by a Dutch-Belgian division, a fact which supports Mr.
+Ropes's contention that no definite plan of co-operation had been
+formed by the allied leaders. Or, if there was one, the Duke certainly
+refused to act upon it until he had satisfied himself that the chief
+attack was not by way of Mons or Ath. More definite news reached
+Brussels near midnight of the 15th, whereupon he gave a general left
+turn to his advance, namely, _towards Nivelles_.
+
+Clausewitz maintains that he should already have removed his
+headquarters to Nivelles; had he done so and hurried up all available
+troops towards the Soignies-Quatre Bras line, his Waterloo fame would
+certainly have gained in solidity. A dash of romance was added by his
+attending the Duchess of Richmond's ball at Brussels on the night of
+the 15th-16th; lovers of the picturesque will always linger over the
+scene that followed with its "hurrying to and fro and tremblings of
+distress"; but the more prosaic inquirer may doubt whether Wellington
+should not then have been more to the front, feeling every throb of
+Bellona's pulse.[477]
+
+Bluecher's army, comprising 90,000 men, also covered a great stretch of
+country. The first corps, that of Ziethen, held the bridges of the
+Sambre at and near Charleroi; but the corps of Pirch I. and Thielmann
+were at Namur and Ciney; while, owing to a lack of stringency in the
+orders sent by Gneisenau, chief of the staff, to Buelow, his corps of
+32,000 men was still at Liege. Early on the 15th, Pirch I. and
+Thielmann began hastily to advance towards Sombref; and Ziethen, with
+32,000 men, prepared to hold the line of the Sambre as long as
+possible. His chief of staff, General Reiche, states that one-third of
+the Prussians were new troops, drafted in from the Landwehr; but all
+the corps gloried in their veteran Field-Marshal, and were eager to
+fight.
+
+Such, then, was the general position. Wellington was unaware of his
+danger; Bluecher was straining every nerve to get his army together;
+while 32,000 Prussians were exposed to the attack of nearly four times
+their number. It is clear that, had all gone well with the French
+advance, the fortunes of Wellington and Bluecher must have been
+desperate. But, though the concentration of 125,000 French troops near
+Beaumont and Maubeuge had been effected with masterly skill (except
+that Gerard's and D'Erlon's corps were late), the final moves did not
+work quite smoothly. An accident to the officer who was to order
+Vandamme's corps to march at 2 a.m. on the 15th caused a long delay to
+that eager fighter.[478] The 4th corps, that of Gerard, was also
+disturbed and delayed by an untoward event. General Bourmont, whose
+old Vendean opinions seemed to have melted away completely before the
+sun of Napoleon's glory, rewarded his master by deserting with several
+officers to the Prussians, very early on that morning. The incident
+was really of far less importance than is assigned to it in the St.
+Helena Memoirs, which falsely ascribe it to the 14th: the Prussians
+were already on the _qui vive_ before Bourmont's desertion; but it
+clogged the advance of Gerard's corps and fostered distrust among the
+rank and file. When, on the morrow, Gerard rejoined his chief at the
+mill of Fleurus, the latter reminded him that he had answered for
+Bourmont's fidelity with his own head; and, on the general protesting
+that he had seen Bourmont fight with the utmost devotion, Napoleon
+replied: "Bah! A man who has been a white will never become a blue:
+and a blue will never be a white." Significant words, that show the
+Emperor's belief in the ineradicable strength of instinct and early
+training.[479]
+
+Despite these two mishaps, the French on the morning of the 15th
+succeeded in driving Ziethen's men from the banks of the Sambre about
+Thuin, while Napoleon in person broke through their line at Charleroi.
+After suffering rather severely, the defenders fell back on Gilly,
+whither Napoleon and his main force followed them; while the left wing
+of the French advance, now intrusted to Ney, was swung forward against
+the all-important position of Quatre Bras.
+
+We here approach one of the knotty questions of the campaign. Why did
+not Ney occupy the cross-roads in force on the evening of the 15th? We
+may note first that not till the 11th had Napoleon thought fit to
+summon Ney to the army, so that the Marshal did not come up till the
+afternoon of this very day. He at once had an interview with the
+Emperor, who, according to General Gourgaud, gave the Marshal verbal
+orders to take command of the corps of Reille and D'Erlon, to push on
+northwards, take up a position at Quatre Bras, and throw out advanced
+posts beyond on the Brussels and Namur roads; but it seems unlikely
+that the Emperor would have given one of the most venturesome of his
+Marshals an absolute order to push on so far in advance, unless the
+French right wing had driven the Prussians back beyond the Sombref
+position. Otherwise, Ney would have been dangerously far in advance of
+the main body and exposed to blows either from the Prussians or the
+British.
+
+However this may be, Ney certainly felt insecure, and did not push on
+with his wonted dash; while, fortunately for the allies, an officer
+was at hand Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who saw the need of holding
+Quatre Bras at all costs.[480] The young leader imposed on the foe by
+making the most of his men--they were but 4,500 all told, and had only
+ten bullets apiece--and he succeeded. For once, Ney was prudent to a
+fault, and did not push home the attack. In his excuse it may be said
+that the men of Reille's corps, on whom he had to rely--for D'Erlon's
+corps was still far to the rear--had been marching and fighting ever
+since dawn, and were too weary for another battle. Moreover, the roar
+of cannon on the south-east warned him that the right wing of the
+French advance was hotly engaged between Gilly and Fleurus; until it
+beat back the Prussians, his own position was dangerously "in the
+air"; and, as but two hours of daylight remained, he drew back on
+Frasnes. He is also said to have sent word to the Emperor that "he was
+occupying Quatre Bras by an advanced guard, and that his main body was
+close behind." If he deceived his chief by any such report, he
+deserves the severest censure; but the words quoted above were written
+later at St. Helena by General Gourgaud, when Ney had come to figure
+as the scapegoat of the campaign.[481] Ney sent in a report on that
+evening; but it has been lost.[482] Judging from the orders issued by
+Napoleon and Soult early on the 16th, there was much uncertainty as to
+Ney's position. The Emperor's letter bids him post his first division
+"two leagues in front of les Quatres Chemins"; but Soult's letter to
+Grouchy states that Ney is ordered _to advance to the cross-roads_.
+Confusion was to be expected from the circumstances of the case. Ney
+did not know his staff-officers, and he hastily took command of the
+left wing when in the midst of operations whose success, as Janin
+points out, largely depended on that of the right. He therefore played
+a cautious game, when, as we now know, caution meant failure and
+daring spelt safety.
+
+Meanwhile the French right wing, of which Grouchy had received the
+command, though Napoleon in person was its moving force, had been
+pressing the Prussians hard near Gilly. Yet here, too, the assailants
+were weakened by the absence of the corps of Vandamme and Gerard.
+Irritated by Ziethen's skilful withdrawal, the Emperor at last
+launched his cavalry at the Prussian rear battalions, four of which
+were severely handled before they reached the covert of a wood. With
+the loss, on the whole, of nearly 2,000 men, the Prussians fell back
+towards Ligny, while Grouchy's vanguard bivouacked near the village of
+Fleurus.
+
+Napoleon might well be satisfied with the work done on June 15th: he
+rode back to his headquarters at Charleroi, "exhausted with fatigue,"
+after spending wellnigh eighteen hours in the saddle, but confident
+that he had sundered the allies. This was certainly his aim now, as it
+had been in the campaign of 1796. After two decisive blows at their
+points of connection, he purposed driving them on divergent lines of
+retreat, just as he had driven the Austrians and Sardinians down the
+roads that bifurcate near Montenotte. True, there were in Belgium no
+mountain spurs to prevent their reunion; but the roads on which they
+were operating were far more widely divergent.[483] He also thought
+lightly of Wellington and Bluecher. The former he had pronounced
+"incapable and unwise"; as for Bluecher, he told Campbell at Elba that
+he was "no general"; but that he admired the pluck with which "the old
+devil" came on again after a thrashing.
+
+Unclouded confidence is seen in every phrase of the letters that he
+penned at Charleroi early on the 16th. He informs Ney that he intends
+soon to attack the Prussians at Sombref, _if he finds them there_, to
+clear the road as far as Gembloux, and then to decide on his further
+actions as the case demands. Meanwhile Ney is to sweep the road in
+front of Quatre Bras, placing his first division two leagues beyond
+that position, if it seemed desirable, with a view to marching on
+Brussels during the night with his whole force of about 50,000 men.
+The Guard is to be kept in reserve as much as possible, so as to
+support either Napoleon on the Gembloux road, or Ney on the Brussels
+road; and "if any skirmish takes place with the English, it is
+preferable that the work should fall on the Line rather than on the
+Guard." As for the Prussian resistance, Napoleon rated it almost as
+lightly as that of the English; for he regards it as probable that he
+will in the evening _march on Brussels with his Guard_.
+
+While he pictured his enemies hopelessly scattered or in retreat, they
+were beginning to muster at the very points which he believed to be
+within his grasp. At 11 a.m. only Ziethen's corps, now but 28,000
+strong, was in position at Sombref, but the corps of Pirch I. and
+Thielmann came up shortly after midday. Had Napoleon pushed on early
+on the 16th, he must easily have gained the Ligny-Sombref position.
+What, then, caused the delay in the French attack? It can be traced to
+the slowness of Gerard's advance, to the Emperor's misconception of
+the situation, and to his despatch to Grouchy.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF LIGNY.]
+
+In this he reckoned the Prussians at
+40,000 men, and ordered Grouchy to repair with the French right wing
+to Sombref.
+
+    " ... I shall be at Fleurus between 10 and 11 a.m.: I shall
+    proceed to Sombref, leaving my Guard, both infantry and cavalry,
+    at Fleurus: I would not take it to Sombref, unless it should be
+    necessary. If the enemy is at Sombref, I mean to attack him: I
+    mean to attack him even at Gembloux, and to gain this position
+    also, my aim being, after having known about these two positions,
+    to set out to-night, and to operate with my left wing, under the
+    command of Marshal Ney, against the English."
+
+The Emperor did not reach Fleurus until close on 11 a.m., and was
+undoubtedly taken aback to find Grouchy still there, held in check by
+the enemy strongly posted around Ligny. Grouchy has been blamed for
+not having already attacked them; but surely his orders bound him to
+wait for the Emperor before giving battle: besides, the corps of
+Gerard, which had been assigned to him was still far away in the rear
+towards Chatelet.[484] The absence of Gerard, and the uncertainty as
+to the enemy's aims, annoyed the Emperor. He mounted the windmill
+situated on the outskirts of Fleurus to survey the enemy's position.
+
+It was a fair scene that lay before him. Straight in front ran the
+high-road which joined the Namur-Nivelles _chaussee_, some six miles
+away to the north-east. On either side stretched cornfields, whose
+richness bore witness alike to the toils and the warlike passions of
+mankind. Further ahead might be seen the dark lines of the enemy
+ranged along slopes that formed an irregular amphitheatre, dotted with
+the villages of Bry and Sombref. In the middle distance, from out a
+hollow that lay concealed, rose the steeples and a few of the higher
+roofs of Ligny. Further to the left and on higher ground lay St.
+Amand, with its outlying hamlets. All was bathed in the shimmering,
+sultry heat of midsummer, the harbinger, as it proved, of a violent
+thunderstorm. The Prussian position was really stronger than it
+seemed. Napoleon could not fully see either the osier beds that
+fringed the Ligny brook, or its steep banks, or the many strong
+buildings of Ligny itself. He saw the Prussians on the slope behind
+the village, and was at first puzzled by their exposed position. "The
+old fox keeps to earth," he was heard to mutter. And so he waited
+until matters should clear up, and Gerard's arrival should give him
+strength to compass Bluecher's utter overthrow while in the act of
+stretching a feeler towards Wellington. From the time when the Emperor
+came on the scene to the first swell of the battle's roar, there was a
+space of more than four hours.
+
+This delay was doubly precious to the allies. It gave Bluecher time to
+bring up the corps of Pirch I. and Thielmann under cover of the high
+ground near Sombref, thereby raising his total force to about 87,000
+men; and it enabled the two allied commanders to meet and hastily
+confer on the situation. Wellington had left Brussels that morning at
+8 o'clock, and thanks to Ney's inaction, was able to reach the crest
+south of Quatre Bras a little after 10, long before the enemy showed
+any signs of life. There he penned a note to Bluecher, asking for news
+from him before deciding on his operations for the day.[485] He then
+galloped over to the windmill of Bussy to meet Bluecher.
+
+It was an anxious meeting; the heads of the advancing French columns
+were already in sight; and the Duke saw with dismay the position of
+the Prussians on a slope that must expose them to the full force of
+Napoleon's cannon--or, as he whispered to Hardinge, "they will be
+damnably mauled if they fight here."[486] In more decorous terms, but
+to the same effect, he warned Gneisenau, and said nothing to encourage
+him to hold fast to his position. Neither did he lead him to expect
+aid from Quatre Bras. The utmost that Gneisenau could get from him was
+the promise, "Well! I will come provided I am not attacked myself."
+Did these words induce the Prussians to accept battle at Ligny? It is
+impossible to think so. Everything tends to show that Bluecher had
+determined to fight there. The risk was great; for, as we learn from
+General Reiche, the position was seen to admit of no vigorous
+offensive blows against the French. But fortune smiled on the veteran
+Field-Marshal, and averted what might have been an irretrievable
+disaster.[487]
+
+It would seem that the inequalities of the ground hid the strength of
+Pirch I. and Thielmann; for Napoleon still believed that he had ranged
+against him at Ligny only a single corps. At 2 p.m. Soult informed Ney
+that the enemy had united a _corps_ between Sombref and Bry, and that
+in half an hour Grouchy would attack it. Ney was therefore to beat
+back the foes at Quatre-Bras, and then turn to envelop the Prussians.
+_But if these were driven in first, the Emperor would move towards Ney
+to hasten his operations_.[488] Not until the battle was about to
+begin does the Emperor seem to have realized that he was in presence
+of superior forces.[489] But after 2 p.m. their masses drew down over
+the slopes of Bry and Sombref, their foremost troops held the villages
+of Ligny and St. Amand, while their left crowned the ridge of
+Tongrines. Napoleon reformed his lines, which had hitherto been at
+right angles to the main road through Fleurus. Vandamme's corps moved
+off towards St. Amand; and Gerard, after ranging his corps parallel to
+that road, began to descend towards Ligny, Grouchy meanwhile
+marshalling the cavalry to protect their flank and rear. Behind all
+stood the imposing mass of the Imperial Guard on the rising ground
+near Fleurus.
+
+The fiercest shock of battle fell upon the corps of Vandamme and
+Gerard. Three times were Gerard's men driven back by the volleys of
+the Prussians holding Ligny. But the French cannon open fire with
+terrific effect. Roofs crumble away, and buildings burst into flame.
+Once more the French rush to the onset, and a furious hand-to-hand
+scuffle ensues. Half stifled by heat, smoke, and dust, the rival
+nations fight on, until the defenders give way and fall back on the
+further part of the village behind the brook; but, when reinforced,
+they rally as fiercely as ever, and drive the French over its banks;
+lane, garden, and attic once more become the scene of struggles where
+no man thinks of giving or taking quarter.
+
+Higher up the stream, at St. Amand, Vandamme's troops fared no better;
+for Bluecher steadily fed that part of his array. In so doing, however,
+he weakened his reserves behind Ligny, thereby unwittingly favouring
+Napoleon's design of breaking the Prussian centre, and placing its
+wreckage and the whole of their right wing between two fires. The
+Emperor expected that, by 6 o'clock, Ney would have driven back the
+Anglo-Dutch forces, and would be ready to envelop the Prussian right.
+That was the purport of Soult's despatch of 3.15 p.m. to Ney: "This
+army [the Prussian] is lost, if you act with vigour. The fate of
+France is in your hands."
+
+But at 5.30, when part of the Imperial Guard was about to strengthen
+Gerard for the decisive blow at the Prussian centre, Vandamme sent
+word that a hostile force of some twenty or thirty thousand men was
+marching towards Fleurus. This strange apparition not only unsteadied
+the French left: it greatly perplexed the Emperor. As he had ordered
+first Ney and then D'Erlon to march, not on Fleurus, but against the
+rear of the Prussian right wing, he seems to have concluded that this
+new force must be that of Wellington about to deal the like deadly
+blow against the French rear.[490] Accordingly he checked the advance
+of the Guard until the riddle could be solved. After the loss of
+nearly two hours it was solved by an aide-de-camp, who found that the
+force was D'Erlon's, and that it had retired.
+
+Meanwhile the battle had raged with scarcely a pause, the French guns
+working frightful havoc among the dense masses on the opposite slope.
+And yet, by withdrawing troops to his right, Bluecher had for a time
+overborne Vandamme's corps and part of the Young Guard, unconscious
+that his insistence on this side jeopardized the whole Prussian army.
+His great adversary had long marked the immense extension of its
+concave front, the massing of its troops against St. Amand, and the
+remoteness of its left wing, which Grouchy's horsemen still held in
+check; and he now planned that, while Bluecher assailed St. Amand and
+its hamlets, the Imperial Guard should crush the Prussian centre at
+Ligny, thrust its fragments back towards St. Amand, and finally shiver
+the greater part of the Prussian army on the anvil which D'Erlon's
+corps would provide further to the west. He now felt assured of
+victory; for the corps of Lobau was nearing Fleurus to take the place
+of the Imperial Guard; and the Prussians had no supports. "They have
+no reserve," he remarked, as he swept the hostile position with his
+glass. This was true: their centre consisted of troops that for four
+hours had been either torn by artillery or exhausted by the fiendish
+strife in Ligny.
+
+And now, as if the pent-up powers of Nature sought to cow rebellious
+man into awe and penitence, the artillery of the sky pealed forth.
+Crash after crash shook the ground; flash upon flash rent the
+sulphur-laden rack; darkness as of night stole over the scene; and a
+deluge of rain washed the blood-stained earth. The storm served but to
+aid the assailants in their last and fiercest efforts. Amidst the
+gloom the columns of the Imperial Guard crept swiftly down the slope
+towards Ligny, gave new strength to Gerard's men, and together with
+them broke through the defence. A little higher up the stream,
+Milhaud's cuirassiers struggled across, and, animated by the Emperor's
+presence, poured upon the shattered Prussian centre. No timely help
+could it now receive either from Bluecher or Thielmann; for the
+darkness of the storm had shrouded from view the beginnings of the
+onset, and Thielmann had just suffered from a heedless assault on
+Grouchy's wing.
+
+As the thunder-clouds rolled by, the gleams of the setting sun lit up
+the field and revealed to Bluecher the full extent of his error.[491]
+His army was cut in twain. In vain did he call in his troops from St.
+Amand: in vain did he gallop back to his squadrons between Bry and
+Sombref and lead them forward. Their dashing charge was suddenly
+checked at the brink of a hollow way; steady volleys tore away their
+front; and the cuirassiers completed their discomfiture. Bluecher's
+charger was struck by a bullet, and in his fall badly bruised the
+Field-Marshal; but his trusty adjutant, Nostitz, managed to hide him
+in the twilight, while the cuirassiers swept onwards up the hill.
+Other Prussian squadrons, struggling to save the day, now charged home
+and drove back the steel-clad ranks. Some Uhlans and mounted Landwehr
+reached the place where the hero lay; and Nostitz was able to save
+that precious life. Sorely battered, but still defiant like their
+chief, the Prussian cavalry covered the retreat at the centre; the
+wings fell back in good order, the right holding on to the village of
+Bry till past midnight; but several battalions of disaffected troops
+broke up and did not rejoin their comrades. About 14,000 Prussians and
+11,000 French lay dead or wounded on that fatal field.[492]
+
+Napoleon, as he rode back to Fleurus after nightfall, could claim that
+he had won a great victory. Yet he had not achieved the results
+portrayed in Soult's despatch of 3.15 to Ney. This was due partly to
+Ney's failure to fulfil his part of the programme, and partly to the
+apparition of D'Erlon's corps, which led to the postponement of
+Napoleon's grand attack on Ligny.
+
+The mystery as to the movements of D'Erlon and his 20,000 men has
+never been fully cleared up. The evidence collected by Houssaye leaves
+little doubt that, as soon as the Emperor realized the serious nature
+of the conflict at Ligny, he sent orders to D'Erlon, whose vanguard
+was then near Frasnes, to diverge and attack Bluecher's exposed flank.
+That is to say, D'Erlon was now called on to deal the decisive blow
+which had before been assigned to Ney, who was now warned, though very
+tardily, not to rely on the help of D'Erlon's corps. Misunderstanding
+his order, D'Erlon made for Fleurus, and thus alarmed Napoleon and
+delayed his final blow for wellnigh two hours. Moreover, at 6 p.m.,
+when D'Erlon might have assailed Bluecher's right with crushing effect,
+he received an urgent command from Ney to return. Assuredly he should
+not have hesitated now that St. Amand was almost within cannon-shot,
+while Quatre Bras could scarcely be reached before nightfall; but he
+was under Ney's command; and, taking a rather pedantic view of the
+situation, he obeyed his immediate superior. Lastly, no one has
+explained why the Emperor, as soon as he knew the errant corps to be
+that of D'Erlon, did not recall him at once, bidding him fall on the
+exposed wing of the Prussians. Doubtless he assumed that D'Erlon would
+now fulfil his instructions and march against Bry; but he gave no
+order to this effect, and the unlucky corps vanished.
+
+At that time a desperate conflict was drawing to a close at Quatre
+Bras. Ney had delayed his attack until 2 p.m.; for, firstly, Reille's
+corps alone was at hand--D'Erlon's rearguard early on that morning
+being still near Thuin--and, secondly, the Marshal heard at 10 a.m.
+that Prussian columns were marching westwards from Sombref, a move
+that would endanger his rear behind Frasnes. Furthermore, the approach
+to Quatre Bras was flanked by the extensive Bossu Wood, and by a
+spinney to the right of the highway. Reille therefore counselled
+caution, lest the affair should prove to be "a Spanish battle where
+the English show themselves only when it is time." When, however,
+Reille's corps pushed home the attack, the weakness of the defence was
+speedily revealed. After a stout stand, the 7,000 Dutch-Belgians under
+the Prince of Orange were driven from the farm of Gemioncourt, which
+formed the key of the position, and many of them fled from the field.
+
+But at this crisis the Iron Duke himself rode up; and the arrival of a
+Dutch-Belgian brigade and of Picton's division of British infantry,
+about 3 p.m., sufficed to snatch victory from the Marshal's
+grasp.[493] He now opened a destructive artillery fire on our front,
+to which the weak Dutch-Belgian batteries could but feebly reply.
+Nothing, however, could daunt the hardihood of Picton's men. Shaking
+off the fatigue of a twelve hours' march from Brussels under a burning
+sun, they steadily moved down through the tall crops of rye towards
+the farm and beat off a fierce attack of Pire's horsemen. On the
+allied left, the 95th Rifles (now the Rifle Brigade) and Brunswickers
+kept a clutch on the Namur road which nothing could loosen. But our
+danger was mainly at the centre. Under cover of the farmhouse, French
+columns began to drive in our infantry, whose ammunition was already
+running low. Wellington determined to crush this onset by a
+counter-attack in line of Picton's division, the "fighting division"
+of the Peninsula. With threatening shouts they advanced to the charge;
+and before that moving wall the foe fell back in confusion beyond the
+rivulet.
+
+Still, the French drove back the Dutch in the wood, and the
+Brunswickers on its eastern fringe, killing the brave young Duke of
+Brunswick as he attempted to rally his raw recruits. Into the gap thus
+left the French horsemen pushed forward, making little impression upon
+our footmen, but compelling them to keep in a close formation, which
+exposed them in the intervals between the charges to heavy losses from
+the French cannon.
+
+So the afternoon wore on. Between 5 and 6 o'clock our weary troops
+were reinforced by Alten's division. A little later, a brigade of
+Kellermann's heavy cavalry came up from the rear and renewed Ney's
+striking power--but again too late. Already he was maddened by the
+tidings that D'Erlon's corps had been ordered off towards Ligny, and
+next by Napoleon's urgent despatch of 3.15 p.m. bidding him envelop
+Bluecher's right. Blind with indignation at this seeming injustice, he
+at once sent an imperative summons to D'Erlon to return towards Quatre
+Bras, and launched a brigade of Kellermann's cuirassiers at those
+stubborn squares.
+
+The attack nearly succeeded. The horsemen rushed upon our 69th
+Regiment just when the Prince of Orange had foolishly ordered it back
+into line, caught it in confusion, and cut it up badly. Another
+regiment, the 33rd, fled into the wood, but afterwards re-formed; the
+other squares beat off the onset. The torrent, however, only swerved
+aside: on it rushed almost to the cross-roads, there to be stopped by
+a flanking fire from the wood and from the 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders
+lining the roadway in front.--"Ninety-second, don't fire till I tell
+you," exclaimed the Duke. The volley rang out when the horsemen were
+but thirty paces off. The effect was magical. Their front was torn
+asunder, and the survivors made off in a panic that spread to Foy's
+battalions of foot and disordered the whole array.[494]
+
+Ney still persisted in his isolated assaults; but reinforcements were
+now at hand that brought up Wellington's total to 31,000 men, while
+the French were less than 21,000. At nightfall the Marshal drew back
+to Frasnes; and there D'Erlon's errant corps at last appeared. Thanks
+to conflicting orders, it had oscillated between two battles and taken
+part in neither of them.
+
+Such was the bloody fight of Quatre Bras. It cost Wellington 4,600
+killed and wounded, mainly from the flower of the British infantry,
+three Highland regiments losing as many as 878 men. The French losses
+were somewhat lighter. Few conflicts better deserve the name of
+soldiers' battles. On neither side was the generalship brilliant.
+Twilight set in before an adequate force of British cavalry and
+artillery approached the field where their comrades on foot had for
+five hours held up in unequal contest against cannon, sabre, and
+lance. The victory was due to the strange power of the British soldier
+to save the situation when it seems past hope.
+
+Still less did it redound to the glory of Ney. Once more he had
+merited the name of bravest of the brave. At the crisis of the fight,
+when the red squares in front defied his utmost efforts, he brandished
+his sword in helpless wrath, praying that the bullets that flew by
+might strike him down. The rage of battle had, in fact, partly
+obscured his reason. He was now a fighter, scarcely a commander; and
+to this cause we may attribute his neglect adequately to support
+Kellermann's charge. Had this been done, Quatre Bras might have ended
+like Marengo. Far more serious, however, was his action in
+countermanding the Emperor's orders' by recalling D'Erlon to Quatre
+Bras; for, as we have seen, it robbed his master of the decisive
+victory that he had the right to expect at Ligny. Yet this error must
+not be unduly magnified. It is true that Napoleon at 3.15 sent a
+despatch to Ney bidding him envelop Bluecher's flank; but the order did
+not reach him until some time after 5, when the allies were pressing
+him hard, and when he had just heard of D'Erlon's deflection towards
+the Emperor's battle.[495] He must have seen that his master misjudged
+the situation at Quatre Bras; and in such circumstances a Marshal of
+France was not without excuse when he corrected an order which he saw
+to be based on a misunderstanding. Some part of the blame must surely
+attach to the slow-paced D'Erlon and to the Emperor himself, who first
+underrated the difficulties both at Ligny and Quatre Bras, and then
+changed his plans when Ney was in the midst of a furious fight.
+
+Nevertheless, the general results obtained on June the 16th were
+enormously in favour of Napoleon. He had inflicted losses on the
+Prussians comparable with those of Jena-Auerstaedt; and he retired to
+rest at Fleurus with the conviction that they must hastily fall back
+on their immediate bases of supply, Namur and Liege, leaving
+Wellington at his mercy. The rules of war and the dictates of humdrum
+prudence certainly prescribed this course for a beaten army,
+especially as Buelow's corps was known to be on the Liege road.
+
+Scarcely had the Prussian retreat begun in the darkness, when officers
+pressed up to Gneisenau, on whom now devolved all responsibility, for
+instructions as to the line of march. At once he gave the order to
+push northwards to Tilly. General Reiche thereupon pointed out that
+this village was not marked upon the smaller maps with which colonels
+were provided; whereupon the command was given to march towards the
+town of Wavre, farther distant on the same road. An officer was posted
+at the junction of roads to prevent regiments straying towards Namur;
+but some had already gone too far on this side to be recalled--a fact
+which was to confuse the French pursuers on the morrow. The greater
+part of Thielmann's corps had fallen back on Gembloux; but, with these
+exceptions, the mass of the Prussians made for Tilly, near which place
+they bivouacked. Early on the next morning their rearguard drew off
+from Sombref; and, thanks to the inertness of their foes, the line of
+retreat remained unknown. During the march to Wavre, their columns
+were cheered by the sight of the dauntless old Field-Marshal, who was
+able to sit a horse once more. Thielmann's corps did not leave
+Gembloux till 2 p.m., but reached Wavre in safety. Meanwhile Buelow's
+powerful corps was marching unmolested from the Roman road near Hannut
+to a position two miles east of Wavre, where it arrived at nightfall.
+Equally fortunate was the reserve ammunition train, which, unnoticed
+by the French cavalry, wound northwards by cross-roads through
+Gembloux, and reached the army by 5 p.m.[496]
+
+In his "Commentaries," written at St. Helena, Napoleon sharply
+criticised the action of Gneisenau in retreating northwards to Wavre,
+because that town is farther distant from Wellington's line of retreat
+than Sombref is from Quatre Bras, and is connected with it only by
+difficult cross-roads. He even asserted that the Prussians ought to
+have made for Quatre Bras, a statement which presumes that Gneisenau
+could have rallied his army sufficiently after Ligny to file away on
+the Quatre Bras _chaussee_ in front of Napoleon's victorious legions.
+But the Prussian army was virtually cut in half, and could not have
+reunited so as to attempt the perilous flank march across Napoleon's
+front. We shall, therefore, probably not be far wrong if we say of
+this criticism that the wish was father to the thought. A march on
+Quatre Bras would have been a safe means of throwing away the Prussian
+army.[497]
+
+To the present writer it seems probable that Gneisenau's action, in
+the first instance, was undertaken as the readiest means of reuniting
+the Prussian wings. But Gneisenau cannot have been blind to the
+advantages of a reunion with Wellington, which a northerly march would
+open out. The report which he sent to his Sovereign from Wavre shows
+that by that time he believed the Prussian position to be "not
+disadvantageous"; while in a private letter written at noon on the
+17th he expressly states that the Duke will accept battle at Waterloo
+if the Prussians help him with two army corps. Gneisenau's only doubts
+seem to have been whether Wellington would fight and whether his own
+ammunition would be to hand in time. Until he was sure on these two
+points caution was certainly necessary.
+
+The results of this prompt rally of the Prussians were infinitely
+enhanced by the fact that Wellington soon found it out, while Napoleon
+did not grasp its full import until he was in the thick of the battle
+of Waterloo. To the final steps that led up to this dramatic finale we
+must now briefly refer.
+
+It is strange that Gneisenau, on the night of the 16th, took no steps
+to warn his allies of the Prussian retreat, and merely left them to
+infer it from his last message, that he must do so if he were not
+succoured. Mueffling, indeed, says that a Prussian officer was sent,
+but was shot by the French on the British left wing. Seeing, however,
+that Wellington had beaten back Ney's forces before the Prussian
+retreat began, the story may be dismissed as a lame excuse of
+Gneisenau's neglect.[498]
+
+From the risk of being crushed by Napoleon, the Anglo-Dutch forces
+were saved by the vigilance of their leader and the supineness of the
+enemy. After a brief rest at Genappe, the Duke was back at the front
+at dawn, and despatched two cavalry patrols towards Sombref to find
+out the results of the battle. The patrol, which was accompanied by
+the Duke's aide-de-camp, Colonel Gordon, came into touch with the
+Prussian rear. On his return soon after 10, the staff-officer, Basil
+Jackson, was at once sent to bid Picton immediately prepare to fall
+back on Waterloo, an order which that veteran received very
+sulkily.[499] Shortly after Gordon's return, a Prussian orderly
+galloped up and confirmed the news of their retreat, which drew from
+the Duke the remark: "Bluecher has had a d---- d good licking and gone
+back to Wavre.... As he has gone back, we must go too." The infantry
+now began to file off by degrees behind hedges or under cover of a
+screen of cavalry and skirmishers, these keeping Ney's men busy in
+front, until the bulk of the army was well through the narrow and
+crowded street of Genappe.
+
+And how came it that Napoleon and Ney missed this golden opportunity?
+In the first case, it was due to their chiefs of staff, who had not
+sent overnight any tidings as to the results of their respective
+battles. Until Count Flahaut returned to the Imperial headquarters
+about 8 a.m., Napoleon knew nothing as to the position of affairs at
+Quatre Bras; while a similar carelessness on Soult's part left Ney
+powerless to attempt anything against Wellington until somewhat later
+in the morning.
+
+But Napoleon's inaction lasted nearly up to 11.30. How is this to be
+accounted for? In reply, some attribute his conduct to illness of body
+and torpor of mind--a topic that will engage our attention presently;
+others assert that the army urgently needed rest; but the effective
+cause was his belief that the Prussians were retreating eastwards away
+from Wellington. This was the universal belief at headquarters. He had
+ordered Grouchy to follow them at dawn; Grouchy's lieutenant, Pajol,
+struck to the south-east, and by 4 a.m. reported that Bluecher was
+heading for Namur. Such was the news that the Emperor heard from
+Grouchy about 8 a.m.--he refused to grant him an audience earlier.
+Forthwith he dictated a letter to Ney to the following effect: that
+the Prussians had been routed and were being pursued towards Namur;
+that the British could not attack him (Ney) at Quatre Bras, for the
+Emperor would in that case march on their flank and destroy them in an
+instant; that he heard with pain how isolated Ney's troops had been on
+the 16th, and ordered him to close up his divisions and occupy Quatre
+Bras. If he could not effect that task, he must warn the Emperor, who
+would then come. Finally, he warned him that "the present day is
+needed to finish this operation, to complete the munitions of war, to
+rally stragglers and call in detachments."
+
+A singular day's programme this for the man who had trebled the
+results of the victory of Jena by the remorseless energy of the
+pursuit. After dictating this despatch, he ordered Lobau to take a
+division of infantry for the support of Pajol on the Namur road. He
+then set out for St. Amand in his carriage. On arriving at the place
+of carnage he mounted his horse and rode slowly over the battle-field,
+seeing to the needs of the wounded of both nations with kindly care,
+and everywhere receiving the enthusiastic acclaim of his soldiery.
+This done, he dismounted and talked long and earnestly with Grouchy,
+Gerard, and others on the state of political parties at Paris. They
+listened with ill-concealed restlessness. At Fleurus Grouchy asked for
+definite orders, and received the brusque reply that he must wait. But
+now, towards 11 o'clock, the Emperor hears that Wellington is still at
+Quatre Bras, that Pajol has captured eight Prussian guns on the Namur
+road, and that Excelmans has seen masses of the enemy at Gembloux. At
+once he turns from politics to war.
+
+His plan is formed. While he himself falls on the British, Grouchy is
+to pursue the Prussians with the corps of Gerard and Vandamme, the
+division of Teste (from Lobau's command), and the cavalry corps of
+Pajol, Excelmans, and Milhaud. The Marshal begged to be relieved of
+the task, setting forth the danger of pursuing foes that were now
+reunited and far away. It was in vain. About 11.30 the Emperor
+developed his verbal instructions in a written order penned by
+Bertrand. It bade Grouchy proceed to Gembloux with the forces stated
+above (except Milhaud's corps and a division of Vandamme's corps,
+which were to follow Napoleon) to reconnoitre on the roads leading to
+Namur and Maestricht, to pursue the enemy, and inform the Emperor as
+to their intentions. If they have evacuated Namur, it is to be
+occupied by the National Guards. "It is important to know what Bluecher
+and Wellington mean to do, and whether they propose reuniting their
+armies in order to cover Brussels and Liege, by trying their fortune
+in another battle...."[500]
+
+As Napoleon's fate was to depend largely on an intelligent carrying
+out of this order, we may point out that it consisted of two chief
+parts, the general aim and the means of carrying out that aim. The aim
+was to find out the direction of the Prussians' retreat, and to
+prevent them joining Wellington, whether for the defence of Brussels
+or of Liege. The means were an advance to Gembloux and scouting along
+the Namur and Maestricht roads. The chance that the allies might
+reunite for the defence of Brussels was alluded to, but no measures
+were prescribed as to scouting in that direction: these were left to
+Grouchy's discretion. It must be confessed that the order was not
+wholly clear. To name the towns of Brussels and Liege (which are sixty
+miles apart) was sufficiently distracting; and to suggest that only
+the eastern and south-eastern roads should be explored was certain to
+limit Grouchy's immediate attention to those roads alone. For he
+distrusted alike his own abilities and the power of the force placed
+at his disposal; and an officer thus situated is sure to inclose
+himself in the strict letter of his instructions. This was what he
+did, with disastrous results.
+
+Grouchy had hitherto held no important command. As a cavalry general
+he had done brilliant service; but now he was launched on a duty that
+called for strategic insight. His force was scarcely equal to the
+work. True, it was strong for scouting, having nearly 6,000 light
+horse; but the 27,000 footmen of Vandamme's and Gerard's corps had
+been exhausted by the deadly strife in the villages and were expecting
+a day's rest. Their commanders also resented being placed under
+Grouchy. In fact, leaders and men disliked the task, and set about it
+in a questioning, grumbling way. The infantry did not start till about
+3 o'clock and only reached Gembloux late that evening--nine miles in
+six hours! The cavalry, too, was so badly handled by Excelmans around
+Gembloux that Thielmann's corps slipped away northward. The rain fell
+in torrents, obscuring the view; but it seems strange that the
+direction of the Prussian retreat was not surmised until about
+nightfall.
+
+Meanwhile, on the French left wing, Ney had been equally lax. He must
+have received Napoleon's order to occupy Quatre Bras, "if there was
+only a rearguard there," a little before 10 a.m.; but he took no steps
+beyond futile skirmishing, and apparently knew not that the British
+were slipping away.
+
+About 2 p.m., when the British cavalry was ready to turn rein, the
+Duke and Sir H. Vivian saw the glint of cuirasses along the Sombref
+road. It was the vanguard of the Emperor's advance. Furious that his
+foes were escaping from his clutches, Napoleon had left his carriage
+and was pressing on with the foremost horsemen. To Ney he sent an
+imperative summons to advance, and when that Marshal came up, greeted
+him with the words "You have ruined France." But it was time for
+deeds, not words; and he now put forth all his strength. At once he
+flung his powerful cavalry at the British rear; and even now it might
+have gone hard with Wellington had not the lowering clouds burst in a
+deluge of rain. Quickly the road was ploughed up; and the cornfields
+became impassable for the French horsemen.
+
+While the pursuers struggled in the mire and aimed wildly through the
+pelting haze, the British rearguard raced for safety. Says Captain
+Mercer of the artillery: "We galloped for our lives through the storm,
+striving to gain the hamlets, Lord Uxbridge urging us on, crying 'Make
+haste; for God's sake gallop, or you will be taken.'"[501] Gaining on
+the pursuit, they reached Genappe, and, filing over its bridge and up
+the narrow street, prepared to check the French. At this time the
+Emperor galloped up, drenched to the skin, his gray overcoat streaming
+with rain, his hat bent out of all shape by the storm.[502] He was
+once more the artillery officer of Toulon. "Fire on them," he shouted
+to his gunners, "they are English." A sharp skirmish ensued, in which
+our 7th Hussars, charging down into the village, were worsted by the
+French lancers, "an arm," says Cotton, "with which we were quite
+unacquainted." In their retreat they were saved by the Life Guards,
+whose weight and strength carried all before them.
+
+At last, on the ridge of Waterloo, Wellington's force turned at bay.
+Napoleon, coming up at 6.30 to the brow of the opposite slope, ordered
+a strong force to advance into the sodden clay of the valley. It was
+promptly torn by a heavy cannonade; and the truth was borne in on him
+that the British had escaped him for that day.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NAPOLEON'S HEALTH IN THE WATERLOO CAMPAIGN
+
+
+As many writers assert that Napoleon at this time was but the shadow
+of his former self, we must briefly review the evidence of
+contemporaries on this subject; for if the assertion be true, the
+Battle of Waterloo deserves little notice.
+
+It seems that for some time past there had been a slight falling off
+in his mental and bodily powers; but when it began and how far it
+progressed is matter of doubt. Some observers, including Chaptal, date
+it from the hardships of the retreat from Moscow. This is very
+doubtful. He ended that campaign in a better state of health than he
+had enjoyed during the advance. Besides, in none of his wars did he
+show such vitality and fertility of resource as in the desperate
+struggle of 1814, which Wellington pronounced his masterpiece. After
+this there seems to have been a period of something like relapse at
+Elba. In September, 1814, Sir Neil Campbell reported: "Napoleon seems
+to have lost all habits of study and sedentary application. He
+occasionally falls into a state of inactivity never known before, and
+sometimes reposes in his bedroom of late for several hours in the day;
+takes exercise in a carriage and not on horseback. His health
+excellent and his spirits not at all depressed" ("F.O.," France, No.
+114). During his ten months at Elba he became very stout and his
+cheeks puffy.
+
+On his return to France he displayed his old activity; and the most
+credible witnesses assert that his faculties showed no marked decline.
+Guizot, who saw a good deal of him, writes: "I perceive in the
+intellect and conduct of Napoleon during the Hundred Days no sign of
+enfeebling: I find in his judgment and actions his accustomed
+qualities." In a passage quoted above (p. 449) Mollien notes that his
+master was a prey to lassitude after some hours of work, but he says
+nothing on the subject of disease; and in a man of forty-six, who had
+lived a hard life and a "fast" life, we should not expect to find the
+capacity for the sustained intellectual efforts of the Consulate.
+Meneval noticed nothing worse in his master's condition than a
+tendency to "reverie": he detected no disease. The statement of
+Pasquier that his genius and his physical powers were in a profound
+decline is a manifest exaggeration, uttered by a man who did not once
+see him before Waterloo, who was driven from Paris by him, and strove
+to discourage his supporters. Still less can we accept the following
+melodramatic description, by Thiebault, of Napoleon's appearance on
+Sunday, June 11th: "His look, once so formidable and piercing, had
+lost its strength and even its steadiness: his face had lost all
+expression and all its force: his mouth, compressed, had none of its
+former witchery: and his gait was as perplexed as his demeanour and
+gestures were undecided: the ordinary pallor of his skin was replaced
+by a strongly pronounced greenish tinge which struck me."
+
+Let us follow this wreck of a man to the war and see what he
+accomplished. At dawn on June 12th he entered his landau and drove to
+Laon, a distance of some seventy miles. On the next day he got through
+an immense amount of work, and proceeded to Beaumont. On the 15th of
+June he was up at dawn, mounted his horse, and remained on horseback,
+directing the operations against the Prussians, for nearly eighteen
+hours. This time was broken by one spell of rest. Near Charleroi, says
+Baudus, an officer of Soult's staff, he was overcome by sleep and
+heeded not the cheers of a passing column: at this Baudus was
+indignant, but most unjustly so. Napoleon needed these snatches of
+sleep as a relief to prolonged mental tension. At night he returned to
+Charleroi, "overcome with fatigue." On the next day he was still very
+weary, says Segur; he did not exert himself until the battle of Ligny
+began at 2.30; but he then rode about till nightfall, through a time
+of terrible heat. Fatigue showed itself again early on the morrow,
+when he declined to see Grouchy before 8 a.m. Yet his review of the
+troops and his long discussions on Parisian politics were clearly due,
+not to torpor, but to the belief that he had sundered the allies, and
+could occupy Brussels at will; for when he found out his mistake, he
+showed all the old energy, riding with the vanguard from Quatre Bras
+to La Belle Alliance through the violent rain.
+
+Whatever, then, were his ailments, they were not incompatible with
+great and sustained activity. What were those ailments? He is said to
+have suffered from intermittent affections of the lower bowel, of the
+bladder, and of the skin, the two last resulting in ischury (Dorsey
+Gardner's "Quatre Bras, Ligny, and Waterloo," pp. 31-37; O'Connor
+Morris, pp. 164-166, note). The list is formidable; but it contains
+its own refutation. A man suffering from these diseases, unless in
+their earliest and mildest stages, could not have done what Napoleon
+did. Ischury, if at all pronounced, is a bar to horse exercise.
+Doubtless his long rides aggravated any trouble that he had in this
+respect, for Petiet, who was attached to the staff, noticed that he
+often dismounted and sat before a little table that was brought to him
+for the convenience of examining maps; but Petiet thought this was
+due, not to ill health (about which he says nothing), but to his
+corpulence ("Souvenirs militaires," pp. 196 and 212). Prince Jerome
+and a surgeon of the imperial staff assured Thiers that Napoleon was
+suffering from a disease of the bladder; but this was contradicted by
+the valet, Marchand; and if he really was suffering from all, or any
+one, of the maladies named above, it is very strange that the surgeon
+allowed him to expose himself to the torrential rain of the night of
+the 17th-18th for a purpose which a few trusty officers could equally
+well have discharged (see next chapter). Furthermore, Baron Larrey,
+Chief Surgeon of the army, who saw Napoleon before the campaign began
+and during its course, _says not a word about the Emperor's health_
+("Relation medicale des Campagnes, 1815-1840," pp. 5-11).
+
+Again, the intervals of drowsiness on the 15th and 18th of June, on
+which the theory of physical collapse is largely based, may be
+explained far more simply. Napoleon had long formed the habit of
+working a good deal at night and of seeking repose during a busy day
+by brief snatches of slumber. The habit grew on him at Elba; and this,
+together with his activity since daybreak, accounts for his sleeping
+near Charleroi. The same explanation probably holds good as to his
+occasional drowsiness at Waterloo. He scarcely closed his eyes before
+3.30 a.m.; and he cannot have been physically fit for the unexpectedly
+long and severe strain of that Sunday. That he began the day well we
+know from a French soldier named Barral (grandfather of the author of
+"L'Epopee de Waterloo"), who looked at him carefully at 9.30 a.m., and
+wrote: "He seemed to me in very good health, extraordinarily active
+and preoccupied." Decoster, the peasant guide who was with Napoleon
+the whole day, afterwards told Sir W. Scott that he was calm and
+confident up to the crisis. Gourgaud, who clung to him during the
+flight to Paris and thence to Rochefort, notes nothing more serious
+than great fatigue; Captain Maitland, when he received him on board
+the "Bellerophon," thought him "a remarkably strong, well-built man."
+During the voyage to St. Helena he suffered from nothing worse than
+_mal de mer_; he ate meat in exceptional quantity, even in the
+tropics.
+
+Very noteworthy, too, is Lavalette's narrative. When he saw Napoleon
+before his departure from Paris to the Belgian frontier, he found him
+suffering from depression and a pain in the chest; but he avers that,
+on the return from Waterloo, apart from one "frightful epileptic
+laugh," Napoleon speedily settled down to his ordinary behaviour: not
+a word is added as to his health. (Sir W. Scott, "Life of Napoleon,"
+vol. viii., p. 496; Gourgaud, "Campagne de 1815," and "Journal de St.
+Helene," vol. ii., Appendix 32; "Narrative of Captain Maitland," p.
+208; Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxxiii.; Houssaye ridicules the stories
+of his ill-health.)
+
+What is the upshot of it all? The evidence seems to show that,
+whatever was Napoleon's condition before the campaign, he was in his
+usual health amidst the stern joys of war. And this is consonant with
+his previous experience: he throve on events which wore ordinary
+beings to the bone: the one thing that he could not endure was the
+worry of parliamentary opposition, which aroused a nervous irritation
+not to be controlled and concealed without infinite effort. During the
+campaign we find very few trustworthy proofs of his decline and much
+that points to energy of resolve and great rallying power after
+exertion. If he was suffering from three illnesses, they were
+assuredly of a highly intermittent nature.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL
+
+WATERLOO
+
+
+Would Wellington hold on to his position? This was the thought that
+troubled the Emperor on the night after the wild chase from Quatre
+Bras. Before retiring to rest at the Caillou farm, he went to the
+front with Bertrand and a young officer, Gudin by name, and peered at
+the enemy's fires dimly seen through the driving sheets of rain.
+Satisfied that the allies were there, he returned to the farm,
+dictated a few letters on odious parliamentary topics, and then sought
+a brief repose. But the same question drove sleep from his eyes. At
+one o'clock he was up again and with the faithful Bertrand plashed to
+the front through long rows of drenched recumbent forms. Once more
+they strained their ears to catch through the hiss of the rain some
+sound of a muffled retirement. Strange thuds came now and again from
+the depths of the wood of Hougoumont: all else was still. At last,
+over the slope on the north-east crowned by the St. Lambert Wood there
+stole the first glimmer of gray; little by little the murky void
+bodied forth dim shapes, and the watch-fires burnt pale against the
+orient gleams. It was enough. He turned back to the farm. Wellington
+could scarcely escape him now.
+
+While the Emperor was making the round of his outposts, a somewhat
+cryptic despatch from Grouchy reached headquarters. The Marshal
+reported from Gembloux, at 10 p.m. of the 17th, that part of the
+Prussians had retired towards Wavre, seemingly with a view to joining
+Wellington; that their centre, led by Bluecher, had fallen back on
+Perwez in the direction of Liege; while a column with artillery had
+made for Namur; if he found the enemy's chief force to be on the Liege
+_chaussee_, he would pursue them along that road; if towards Wavre, he
+would follow them thither "in order that they may not gain Brussels,
+and so as to separate them from Wellington." This last phrase ought
+surely to have convinced Napoleon that Grouchy had not fully
+understood his instructions; for to march on Wavre would not stop the
+Prussians joining Wellington, if they were in force.[503]
+
+Moreover, Napoleon now knew, what Grouchy did not know, that the
+Prussians were in force at Wavre. It seems strange that the Emperor
+did not send this important news to his Marshal; but perhaps we may
+explain this by his absence at the outposts. As it was, no clear
+statement of the facts of the case was sent off to Grouchy _until 10
+a.m. of the 18th_. He then informed his Marshal that, according to all
+the reports, three bodies of Prussians had made for Wavre. Grouchy
+"must therefore move thither--in order to approach us, to put yourself
+within the sphere of our operations, and to keep up your
+communications with us, pushing before you those bodies of Prussians
+which have taken this direction and which may have stopped at Wavre,
+where you ought to arrive as soon as possible." Grouchy, however, was
+not to neglect Bluecher's troops that were on his right, but must pick
+up their stragglers and keep up his communications with Napoleon.
+
+Such was the letter; and again we must pronounce it far from clear.
+Grouchy was not bidden to throw all his efforts on the side of Wavre;
+and he was not told whether he must attack the enemy at that town, or
+interpose a wedge between them and Wellington, or support Napoleon's
+right. Now Napoleon would certainly have prescribed an immediate
+concentration of Grouchy's force towards the north-west for one of the
+last two objects, had he believed Bluecher about to attempt a flank
+march against the chief French army. Obviously it had not yet entered
+his thoughts that so daring a step would be taken by a foe whom he
+pictured as scattered and demoralized by defeat.[504]
+
+As we have seen, the Prussians were not demoralized; they had not gone
+off in three directions; and Bluecher was not making for Liege. He was
+at Wavre and was planning a master-stroke. At midnight, he had sent to
+Wellington, through Mueffling, a written promise that at dawn he would
+set the corps of Buelow in motion against Napoleon's right; that of
+Pirch I. was to follow; while the other two corps would also be ready
+to set out. Wellington received this despatch about 3 a.m. of the
+18th, and thereupon definitely resolved to offer battle. A similar
+message was sent off from Wavre at 9.30 a.m., but with a postscript,
+in which we may discern Gneisenau's distrust of Wellington, begging
+Mueffling to find out accurately whether the Duke really had determined
+to fight at Waterloo. Meanwhile Buelow's corps had begun its march from
+the south-east of Wavre, but with extreme slowness, which was due to a
+fire at Wavre, to the crowded state of the narrow road, and also to
+the misgivings of Gneisenau. It certainly was not owing to fear of
+Grouchy; for at that time the Prussian leaders believed that only
+15,000 French were on their track. Not until midday, when the
+cannonade on the west grew to a roar, did Gneisenau decide to send
+forward Ziethen's corps towards Ohain, on Wellington's left; but
+thereafter the defence of the Dyle against Grouchy was left solely to
+Thielmann's corps.[505]
+
+While this storm was brewing in the east, everything in front of the
+Emperor seemed to portend a prosperous day. High as he rated
+Wellington's numbers, he had no doubt as to the result. "The enemy's
+army," he remarked just after breakfast, "outnumbers ours by more than
+a fourth; nevertheless we have ninety chances out of a hundred in our
+favour." Ney, who then chanced to come in, quickly remarked: "No
+doubt, sire, if Wellington were simple enough to wait for you; but I
+come to inform you that he is retreating." "You have seen wrong," was
+the retort, "the time is gone for that." Soult did not share his
+master's assurance of victory, and once more begged him to recall some
+of Grouchy's force; to which there came the brutal reply: "Because you
+have been beaten by Wellington you think him a great general. And I
+tell you that Wellington is a bad general, that the English are bad
+troops, and that this will be the affair of a _dejeuner_." "I hope it
+may," said Soult. Reille afterwards came in, and, finding how
+confident the Emperor was, mentioned the matter to D'Erlon, who
+advised his colleague to return and caution him. "What is the use,"
+rejoined Reille; "he would not listen to us."
+
+In truth, Napoleon was in no mood to receive advice. He admitted on
+the voyage to St. Helena that "he had not exactly reconnoitred
+Wellington's position."[506] And, indeed, there seemed to be nothing
+much to reconnoitre. The Mont St. Jean, or Waterloo, position does not
+impress the beholder with any sense of strength. The so-called valley,
+separating the two arrays, is a very shallow depression, nowhere more
+than fifty feet below the top of the northern slope. It is divided
+about halfway across by an undulation that affords good cover to
+assailants about to attack La Haye Sainte. Another slight rise crosses
+the vale halfway between this farm and Hougoumont, and facilitates the
+approach to that part of the ridge. In fact, only on their extreme
+left could the defenders feel much security; for there the slope is
+steeper, besides being protected in front by marshy ground, copses,
+and the hamlets of Papelotte, La Haye, and Smohain.
+
+Napoleon paid little attention to the left wing of the allies. The
+centre and right centre were evidently Wellington's weak points, and
+there, especially near the transverse rise, our leader chiefly massed
+his troops. Yet there, too, the defence had some advantages. The front
+of the centre was protected by La Haye Sainte, "a strong stone and
+brick building," says Cotton, "with a narrow orchard in front and a
+small garden in the rear, both of which were hedged around, except on
+the east side of the garden, where there was a strong wall running
+along the high-road." It is generally admitted that Wellington gave
+too little attention to this farm, which Napoleon saw to be the key of
+the allied position. Loopholes were made in its south and east walls,
+but none in the western wall, and half of the barn-door opening on the
+fields had been torn off for firewood by soldiers overnight. The place
+was held at first by 376 men of the King's German Legion, who threw up
+a barricade at the barn-door, as also on the high-road outside the
+orchard; but, as the sappers and carpenters were removed to
+Hougoumont, little could be done.
+
+Far stronger was the chateau of Hougoumont, which had been built with
+a view to defence. The outbuildings were now loopholed, and scaffolds
+were erected to enable our men to fire over the garden walls which
+commanded the orchard. The defence was intrusted to the light
+companies of the second battalions of Coldstreams and Foot Guards (now
+the Grenadier Guards); while the wood in front was held by Nassauers
+and Hanoverians. Chasse's Dutch-Belgians were posted at the village of
+Braine la Leud to give further security to Wellington's right.[507]
+Napoleon's intention was to pierce the allied centre behind La Haye
+Sainte, where their lines were thin. But he did not know that behind
+the crest ran a sunken cross-road, which afforded excellent cover, and
+that the ground, sloping away towards Wellington's rear, screened his
+second line and reserves.
+
+It was this peculiarity of the ground, so different from that of the
+exposed slope behind Ligny, that helped the great master of defensive
+tactics secretly to meet and promptly to foil every onset of his
+mighty antagonist.
+
+While under-estimating the strength of Wellington's position Napoleon
+over-rated his numbers. As we have seen, he remarked that the allies
+exceeded the French by more than a fourth. Now, as his own numbers
+were fully 74,000, he credited the allies with upwards of 92,000. In
+reality, they were not more than 67,000, as Wellington had left 17,000
+at Hal; but if this powerful detachment had been included, Napoleon's
+estimate would not have been far wrong. At St. Helena he gave out that
+his despatch of cavalry towards Hal had induced Wellington to weaken
+his army to this extent; but Houssaye has shown that the statement is
+an entire fabrication. The Emperor certainly believed that all
+Wellington's troops were close at hand.[508]
+
+The Duke, on his side, would doubtless have retreated had he known
+that the Prussian advance would be as slow as it was. His composite
+forces, in which five languages were spoken, were unfit for a long
+contest with Napoleon's army. The Dutch-Belgian troops, numbering
+17,000, were known to be half-hearted; the 2,800 Nassauers, who had
+served under Soult in 1813, were not above suspicion; the 11,000
+Hanoverians and 5,900 Brunswickers were certain to do their best, but
+they were mostly raw troops. In fact, Wellington could thoroughly rely
+only on his 23,990 British troops and the 5,800 men of the King's
+German Legion; and among our men there was a large proportion of
+recruits or drafts from militia battalions. Events were to prove that
+this motley gathering could hold its own while at rest; but during the
+subsequent march to Paris Wellington passed the scathing judgment
+that, with the exception of his Peninsular men, it was "the worst
+equipped army, with the worst staff, ever brought together."[509] This
+was after he had lost De Lancey, Picton, Ponsonby, and many other able
+officers; but on the morning of the 18th there was no lack of skill in
+the placing of the troops, witness General Kennedy's arrangement of
+Alten's division so that it might readily fall into the "chequer"
+pattern, which proved so effective against the French horsemen.
+
+Napoleon's confidence seemed to be well founded: he had 246 cannon
+against the allies' 156, and his preponderance in cavalry of the line
+was equally great. Above all, there were the 13,000 footmen of the
+Imperial Guard, flanked by 3,000 cavaliers. The effective strength of
+the two armies has been reckoned by Kennedy as in the proportion of
+four to seven. Why, then, did he not attack at once? There were two
+good reasons: first that his men had scattered widely overnight in
+search of food and shelter, and now assembled very slowly on the
+plateau; second, that the rain did not abate until 8 a.m., and even
+then slight drizzles came on, leaving the ground totally unfit for the
+movements of horse and artillery. Leaving the troops time to form and
+the ground to improve, the Emperor consulted his charts and took a
+brief snatch of sleep. He then rode to the front; and, as the
+gray-coated figure passed along those imposing lines, the enthusiasm
+found vent in one rolling roar of "Vive l'Empereur," which was wafted
+threateningly to the thinner array of the allies. There the leader
+received no whole-hearted acclaim save from the men who knew him; but
+among these there was no misgiving. "If," wrote Major Simmons of the
+95th, "you could have seen the proud and fierce appearance of the
+British at that tremendous moment, there was not one eye but gleamed
+with joy."[510]
+
+The first shots were fired at 11.50 to cover the assault on the wood
+of Hougoumont by Prince Jerome Bonaparte's division of Reille's corps.
+The Nassauers and Hanoverians briskly replied, and Cleeve's German
+battery opened fire with such effect that the leading column fell
+back. Again the assailants came on in greater force under shelter of a
+tremendous cannonade: this time they gained a lodgment, and step by
+step drove the defenders back through the copse. Though checked for a
+time by the Guards, they mastered the wood south of the house by about
+one o'clock. There they should have stopped. Napoleon's orders were
+for them to gain a hold only on the wood and throw out a good line of
+skirmishers: all that he wanted on this side was to prevent any
+turning movement from Wellington's advanced outposts. Reille also sent
+orders not to attack the chateau; but the Prince and his men rushed on
+at those massive walls, only to meet with a bloody repulse. A second
+attack fared no better; and though some 12,000 of Reille's men
+finally attacked the mansion on three sides, yet our Guards, when
+reinforced, beat off every onset of wellnigh ten times their numbers.
+
+For some time the Emperor paid little heed to this waste of energy; at
+2 p.m. he recalled Jerome to his side. He now saw the need of
+husbanding his resources; for a disaster had overtaken the French
+right centre. He had fixed one o'clock for a great attack on La Haye
+Sainte by D'Erlon's corps of nearly 20,000 men. But a delay occurred
+owing to a cause that we must now describe.
+
+Before his great battery of eighty guns belched forth at the centre
+and blotted out the view, he swept the horizon with his glass, and
+discerned on the skirts of the St. Lambert wood, six miles away, a
+dark object. Was it a spinney, or a body of troops? His staff officers
+could not agree; but his experienced eye detected a military
+formation. Thereupon some of the staff asserted that they must be
+Bluecher's men, others that they were Grouchy's. Here he could scarcely
+be in a doubt. Not long after 10 a.m. he received from Grouchy a
+despatch, dated from Gembloux at 3 a.m., reporting that the Prussians
+were retiring in force on Brussels to concentrate or to join
+Wellington, and that he (Grouchy) was on the point of starting for
+Sart-a-Walhain and Wavre. He said nothing as to preventing any flank
+march that the enemy might make from Wavre with a view to joining
+their allies straightway. Therefore he was not to be looked for on
+this side of Wavre, and those troops must consequently be
+Prussians.[511]
+
+All doubts were removed when a Prussian hussar officer, captured by
+Marbot's vedettes near Lasne, was brought to Napoleon. He bore a
+letter from Buelow to Mueffling, stating that the former was on the
+march to attack the French right wing. In reply to Napoleon's
+questions the captain stated that Buelow's whole corps was in motion,
+but wisely said nothing about the other two corps that were following.
+Such as it was, the news in no way alarmed the Emperor. As Buelow was
+about to march against the French flank, Grouchy must march on his
+flank and take his corps _en flagrant delit_. That is the purport of
+the postscript added to a rather belated reply that was about to be
+sent off to Grouchy at 1 p.m. It did not reach him till 5 p.m., too
+late to influence the result, even had he desisted from his attack on
+Wavre, which he did not.[512]
+
+We return to the Emperor's actions at half-past one. Domont's and
+Subervie's light horsemen were sent out towards Frischermont to
+observe the Prussians; the great battery of eighty guns, placed on the
+intermediate rise, now opened fire; and under cover of its deadly
+blasts D'Erlon's four divisions dipped down into the valley. They were
+ranged in closely packed battalions spread out in a front of some two
+hundred men, a formation that Napoleon had not suggested, but did not
+countermand. The left column, that of Alix, was supported by cavalry
+on its flank. Part of this division gained the orchard of La Haye
+Sainte, and attacked the farm buildings on all sides. From his
+position hard by a great elm above the farm, Wellington had marked
+this onset, and now sent down a Hanoverian battalion to succour their
+compatriots; but in the cutting of the main road it was charged and
+routed by Milhaud's cuirassiers, who pursued them up the slope until
+the rally sounded. Farther to the east, the French seemed still surer
+of victory. Bylandt's Dutch-Belgians, some 3,000 strong, after
+suffering heavily in their cruelly exposed position, wavered at the
+approach of Donzelot's column, and finally broke into utter rout,
+pelted in their flight with undeserved gibes from the British in their
+rear. These consisted of Picton's division, the heroes of Quatre Bras.
+Here they had as yet sustained little loss, thanks to the shelter of
+the hollow cross-road and a hedge.
+
+The French columns now topped the ridge, uttering shouts of triumph,
+and began to deploy into line for the final charge. This was the time,
+as Picton well knew, to pour in a volley and dash on with the cold
+steel; but as he cheered on his men, a bullet struck him in the temple
+and cut short his brilliant career. His tactics were successful at
+some points while at others our thin lines barely held up against the
+masses. Certainly no decisive result could have been gained but for
+the timely onset of Ponsonby's Union Brigade--the 1st Royal Dragoons,
+the Scots Greys, and the Inniskillings.
+
+At the time when Lord Uxbridge gave the order, "Royals and
+Inniskillings charge, the Greys support," Alix's division was passing
+the cross-road. But as the Royals dashed in, "the head of the column
+was seized with a panic, gave us a fire which brought down about
+twenty men, then went instantly about and endeavoured to regain the
+opposite side of the hedges; but we were upon and amongst them, and
+had nothing to do but press them down the slope." So wrote Captain
+Clark Kennedy, who sabred the French colour-bearer and captured the
+eagle. Equally brilliant was the charge of the Inniskillings, in the
+centre of the brigade. They rode down Donzelot's division, jostled its
+ranks into a helpless mass, and captured a great number of prisoners.
+The Scots Greys, too, succouring the hard-pressed Gordons, fell
+fiercely on Marcognet's division. "Both regiments," wrote Major
+Winchester of the 92nd, "charged together, calling out 'Scotland for
+ever'; the Scots Greys actually walked over this column, and in less
+than three minutes it was totally destroyed. The grass field, which
+was only an instant before as green and smooth as Phoenix Park, was
+covered with killed and wounded, knapsacks, arms, and
+accoutrements."[513]
+
+Meanwhile, on the left of the brigade, Vandeleur's horse and some
+Dutch-Belgian dragoons drove back Durutte's men past Papelotte. On its
+right, the 2nd Life Guards cut up the cuirassiers while disordered by
+the sudden dip of the hollow cross-road; and further to the west, the
+1st Dragoon Guards and 1st Life Guards met them at the edge of the
+plateau, clashed furiously, burst through them, and joined in the wild
+charge of Ponsonby's brigade up the opposite slope, cutting the traces
+of forty French cannon and sabring the gunners.
+
+But Napoleon was awaiting the moment for revenge, and now sent forward
+a solid force of lancers and dragoons, who fell on our disordered
+bands with resistless force, stabbing the men and overthrowing their
+wearied steeds. Here fell the gallant Ponsonby with hundreds of his
+men, and, had not Vandeleur's horse checked the pursuit, very few
+could have escaped. Still, this brigade had saved the day. Two of
+D'Erlon's columns had gained a hold on the ridge, until the sudden
+charge of our horsemen turned victory into a disastrous rout that cost
+the French upwards of 5,000 men.
+
+As if exhausted by this eager strife, both armies relaxed their
+efforts for a space and re-formed their lines. Wellington ordered
+Lambert's brigade of 2,200 Peninsular veterans, who had only arrived
+that morning, to fill the gaps on his left. The Emperor, too, was
+uneasy, as he showed by taking copious pinches of snuff. He mounted
+his horse and rode to the front, receiving there the cheers of his
+blood-stained lancers and battered infantry. Having received another
+despatch from Grouchy which gave no hope of his speedy arrival, he
+ordered his cannon once more to waste the British lines and bombard
+Hougoumont, while Ney led two of D'Erlon's brigades that were the
+least shaken to resume the attack on La Haye Sainte. Once more they
+were foiled at the farm buildings by the hardy Germans, to whom
+Wellington had sent a timely reinforcement.[514] At Hougoumont also
+the Guards held firm, despite the fierce conflagration in the barn and
+part of the chapel. But while his best troops everywhere stood their
+ground, the Duke saw with concern the gaps in his fighting line. Many
+of the Dutch-Belgians had made off to the rear; and Jackson, when
+carrying an order to a reserve Dutch battery to advance--an order that
+was disobeyed--saw what had become of these malingerers. "I peeped
+into the skirts of the forest and truly felt astonished: entire
+companies seemed there with regularly piled arms, fires blazing under
+cooking kettles, while the men lay about smoking!"[515]
+
+Far different was the scene at the front. There the third act of the
+drama was beginning. After half an hour of the heaviest cannonade ever
+known, Wellington's faithful troops were threatened by an avalanche of
+cavalry, and promptly fell into the "chequer" disposition previously
+arranged for the most exposed division, that of Alten. Napoleon
+certainly hoped either to crush Wellington outright by a mighty onset
+of horse, or to strip him bare for the _coup de grace_. At the Caillou
+farm in the morning he said: "I will use my powerful artillery; my
+cavalry shall charge; and I will advance with my Old Guard." The use
+of cavalry on a grand scale was no new thing in his wars. By it he had
+won notable advantages, above all at Dresden; and he believed that
+footmen, when badly shaken by artillery, could not stand before his
+squadrons. The French cavalry, 15,000 strong at the outset, had as yet
+suffered little, and the way had been partly cleared by the last
+assaults on Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, where the defenders were
+wholly occupied in self-defence.
+
+But Ney certainly pressed the first charge too soon. Doubtless he was
+misled by the retirement of our first line a little way behind the
+crest to gain some slight shelter from the iron storm. Looking on this
+prudent move as a sign of retreat he led forward the cuirassiers of
+Milhaud; and as these splendid brigades trotted forward, the
+_chasseurs a cheval_ of the Guard and "red" lancers joined them. More
+than 5,000 strong, these horsemen rode into the valley, formed at the
+foot of the slope, and then, under cover of their artillery, began to
+breast the slope. At its crest the guns of the allies opened on them
+point-blank; but, despite their horrible losses, they swept on,
+charged through the guns and down the reverse slope towards the
+squares. Volley after volley now tore through with fearful effect, and
+the survivors swerved to the intervals. Their second and third lines
+fared little better; astonished at so stout a stand, where they looked
+to find only a few last despairing efforts, they fell into faltering
+groups.
+
+    "As to the so-called charges," says Basil Jackson, "I do not think
+    that on a single occasion actual collision occurred. I many times
+    saw the cuirassiers come on with boldness to within some twenty or
+    thirty yards of a square, when, seeing the steady firmness of our
+    men, they invariably edged away and retired. Sometimes they would
+    halt and gaze at the triple row of bayonets, when two or three
+    brave officers would advance and strive to urge the attack,
+    raising their helmets aloft on their sabres--but all in vain, as
+    no efforts could make the men close with the terrible bayonets,
+    and meet certain destruction."[516]
+
+After the fire of the rear squares had done its work, our cavalry fell
+on the wavering masses; and, as they rode off, the gunners ran forth
+from the squares and plied them with shot. In a few minutes the
+mounted host that seemed to have swallowed up the footmen was gone,
+the red and blue chequers stood forth triumphant, and the guns that
+should have been spiked dealt forth death. Down below, the confused
+mass shaped itself for a new charge while its supports routed our
+horsemen.
+
+In this second attack Ney received a powerful reinforcement. The
+Emperor ordered the advance of Kellermann and of Guyot with the heavy
+cavalry of the Guard, thus raising the number of horsemen to about
+10,000. At the head of these imposing masses Ney again mounted the
+slope. But Wellington had strengthened his line by fresh troops,
+ordering up also Mercer's battery of six 9-pounders, to support two
+Brunswick regiments that wavered ominously as the French cannon-balls
+tore through them. Would these bewildered lads stand before the wave
+of horsemen already topping the crest? It seemed impossible. But just
+then Mercer's men thundered up between them with the guns, took post
+behind the raised cross-road, and opened on the galloping horsemen
+with case-shot. At once the front was strewn with steeds and men; and
+gunners and infantry riddled the successive ranks, that rushed on only
+to pile up writhing heaps and bar retreat to the survivors in front.
+Some of these sought safety by a dash through the guns, while the
+greater number struggled and even laid about with their sabres to hew
+their way out of this _battue_.
+
+Elsewhere the British artillery was too exposed to be defended, and
+the gunners again fled back to the squares. Once more the cavalry
+surrounded our footmen, like "heavy surf breaking on a coast beset
+with isolated rocks, against which the mountainous wave dashes with
+furious uproar, breaks, divides, and runs hissing and boiling far
+beyond." Yet, as before, it failed to break those stubborn blocks, and
+a perplexing pause occurred, varied by partial and spasmodic rushes.
+"Will those English never show us their backs"--exclaimed the Emperor,
+as he strained his eyes to catch the first sign of rout "I fear,"
+replied Soult, "they will be cut to pieces first." For the present, it
+was the cavalry that gave way. Foiled by that indomitable infantry,
+they were again charged by British and German hussars and driven into
+the valley.
+
+Once more Ney led on his riders, gathering up all his reserves. But
+the Duke had now brought up Adam's brigade and Duplat's King's Germans
+to the space behind Hougoumont; their fire took the horsemen in flank:
+the blasts of grape and canister were as deadly as before: one and
+all, the squares held firm, beating back onset after onset: and by 6
+o'clock the French cavalry fell away utterly exhausted.[517]
+
+Who is to be held responsible for these wasteful attacks, and why was
+not French infantry at hand to hold the ground which the cavaliers
+seemed to have won? Undoubtedly, Ney began the first attack somewhat
+too early; but Napoleon himself strengthened the second great charge
+by the addition of Kellermann's and Guyot's brigades, doubtless in the
+belief that the British, of whose tenacity he had never had direct
+personal proof, must give way before so mighty a mass. Moreover, time
+after time it seemed that the attacks were triumphant; the allied guns
+on the right centre, except Mercer's, were nine or ten times taken,
+their front squares as often enveloped; and more than once the cry of
+victory was raised by the Emperor's staff.
+
+Why, then, was not the attack clinched by infantry? To understand this
+we must review the general situation. Hougoumont still defied the
+attacks of nearly the whole of Reille's corps, and the effective part
+of D'Erlon's corps was hotly engaged at and near La Haye Sainte. Above
+all, the advent of the Prussians on the French right now made itself
+felt. After ceaseless toil, in which the soldiers were cheered on by
+Bluecher in person, their artillery was got across the valley of the
+Lasne; and at 4.30 Buelow's vanguard debouched from the wood behind
+Frischermont. Lobau's corps of 7,800 men, which, according to Janin,
+was about to support Ney, now swung round to the right to check this
+advance.[518] Towards 5 o'clock the Prussian cannon opened fire on the
+horsemen of Domont and Subervie, who soon fell back on Lobau.
+
+Buelow pressed on with his 30,000 men, and, swinging forward his left
+wing, gained a footing in the village of Planchenoit, while Lobau fell
+back towards La Belle Alliance. This took place between 5.30 and 6
+o'clock, and accounts for Napoleon's lack of attention to the great
+cavalry charges. To break the British squares was highly desirable;
+but to ward off the Prussians from his rear was an imperative
+necessity. He therefore ordered Duhesme with the 4,000 footmen of the
+Young Guard to regain Planchenoit. Gallantly they advanced at the
+charge, and drove their weary and half-famished opponents out into the
+open.
+
+Satisfied with this advantage, the Emperor turned his thoughts to the
+British and bade Ney capture La Haye Sainte at all costs. Never was
+duty more welcome. Mistakes and failures could now be atoned by
+triumph or a soldier's death. Both had as yet eluded his search. Three
+horses had been struck to the ground under him, but, dauntless as
+ever, he led Donzelot's men, with engineers, against the farm.
+Begrimed with smoke, hoarse with shouting, he breathed the lust of
+battle into those half-despondent ranks; and this time he succeeded.
+For five hours the brave Germans had held out, beating off rush after
+rush, until now they had but three or four bullets apiece left. The
+ordinary British ammunition did not fit their rifles; and their own
+reserve supply could not be found at the rear. Still, even when firing
+ceased, bayonet-thrusts and missiles kept off the assailants for a
+space, even from the half-destroyed barn-door, until Frenchmen mounted
+the roof of the stables and burst through the chief gateway: then
+Baring and his brave fellows fled through the house to the garden. "No
+pardon to these green devils" was now the cry, and those who could not
+make off to the ridge were bayoneted to a man.[519]
+
+This was a grave misfortune for the allies. French sharpshooters now
+lined the walls of the farm and pushed up the ridge, pressing our
+front very hard, so that, for a time, the space behind La Haye Sainte
+was practically bare of defenders. This was the news that Kennedy took
+to Wellington. He received it with the calm that bespoke a mighty
+soul; for, as Sir A. Frazer observed, however indifferent or
+apparently careless he might appear at the beginning of battles, as
+the crisis came he rose superior to all that could be imagined. Such
+was his demeanour now. Riding to the Brunswickers posted in reserve,
+he led them to the post of danger; Kennedy rallied the wrecks of
+Alten's division and brought up Germans from the left wing; the
+cavalry of Vandeleur and Vivian, moving in from the extreme left, also
+helped to steady the centre; and the approach of Chasse's
+Dutch-Belgian brigade, lately called in from Braine-la-Leud,
+strengthened our supports.
+
+Had Napoleon promptly launched his Old and Middle Guard at
+Wellington's centre, victory might still have crowned the French
+eagles. But to Ney's request for more troops he returned the petulant
+answer: "Troops? where do you want me to get them from? Am I to make
+them?" At this time the Prussians were again masters of Planchenoit.
+Once more, then, he turned on them, and sent in two battalions, one of
+the Old, the other of the Middle Guard. In a single rush with the
+bayonet these veterans mastered the place and drove Buelow's men a
+quarter of a mile beyond, while Lobau regained ground further north.
+But the head of Pirch's corps was near at hand to strengthen Buelow;
+while, after long delays caused by miry lanes and an order from
+Bluecher to make for Planchenoit, Ziethen's corps began to menace the
+French right at Smohain. Reiche soon opened fire with sixteen cannon,
+somewhat relieving the pressure on Wellington's left.[520]
+
+Still the Emperor was full of hope. He did not know of the approach of
+Pirch and Ziethen. Now and again the muttering of Grouchy's guns was
+heard on the east, and despite that Marshal's last despatch, Napoleon
+still believed that he would come up and catch the Prussians.
+Satisfied, then, with holding off Buelow for a while, he staked all on
+a last effort with the Old and Middle Guard. Leaving two battalions of
+these in Planchenoit, and three near Rossomme as a last reserve, he
+led forward nine battalions formed in hollow squares. A thrill ran
+through the line regiments, some of whom were falling back, as they
+saw the bearskins move forward; and, to revive their spirits, the
+Emperor sent on Labedoyere with the news that Grouchy was at hand.
+
+Thus the tension of hope long deferred, which renders Waterloo unique
+among battles, rose to its climax. Each side had striven furiously for
+eight hours in the belief that the Prussians, or Grouchy, must come;
+and now, at the last agony, came the assurance that final triumph was
+at hand. The troops of D'Erlon and Reille once more clutched at
+victory on the crest behind La Haye Sainte or beneath the walls of
+Hougoumont, while the squares of the Guard struck obliquely across the
+vale in the track of the great cavalry charges. On the rise south-west
+of La Haye Sainte, Napoleon halted one battalion and handed over to
+Ney the command of the remaining eight, that hailed him as they passed
+with enthusiastic shouts. Two aides-de-camp just then galloped up from
+the right to tell him of the Prussian advance, but he refused to
+listen to them and bent his eyes on the Guards.[521]
+
+Under cover of a whirlwind of shot the veterans pressed on. Having
+suffered very little at Ligny, they numbered fully 4,000, and formed
+at first one column, some seventy men in width. The front battalions
+headed for a point a little to the west of the present Belgian
+monument, while for some unexplained reason the rear portion diverged
+to the left, and breasted the slope later than the others and nearer
+Hougoumont. Flanked by light guns that opened a brisk fire, and most
+gallantly supported by Donzelot's division close on their right, the
+leading column struggled on, despite the grape and canister which
+poured from the batteries of Bolton and Bean, making it wave "like
+corn blown by the wind." Friant, the Commander of the Old Guard, was
+severely wounded; Ney's horse fell under him, but the gallant fighter
+rose undaunted, and waved on his men anew. And now they streamed over
+the ridge and through the British guns in full assurance of triumph.
+Few troops seemed to be before them; for Maitland's men (2nd and 3rd
+battalions of the 1st Foot Guards) had lain down behind the bank of
+the cross-road to get some shelter from the awful cannonade. "Stand
+up, Guards, and make ready," exclaimed the Duke when the French were
+but sixty paces away. The volley that flashed from their lengthy front
+staggered the column, and seemed to force it bodily back. In vain did
+the French officers wave their swords and attempt to deploy into line.
+Mangled in front by Maitland's brigade, on its flank by our 33rd and
+69th Regiments drawn up in square, and by the deadly salvos of
+Chasse's Dutch-Belgians,[522] that stately array shrank and shrivelled
+up. "Now's the time, my boys," shouted Lord Saltoun; and the thin red
+line, closing with the mass, drove it pell-mell down the slope.
+
+Near the foot the victors fell under the fire of the rear portion of
+the Imperial Guards, who, undaunted by their comrades' repulse, rolled
+majestically upwards. Colborne now wheeled the 52nd (Oxfordshire)
+Regiment on the crest in a line nearly parallel to their advance, and
+opened a deadly fire on their flank, which was hotly returned;
+Maitland's men, re-forming on the crest, gave them a volley in front;
+and some Hanoverians at the rear of Hougoumont also galled their rear.
+Seizing the favourable moment when the column writhed in anguish,
+Colborne cheered his men to the charge, and, aided by the second 95th
+Rifles, utterly overthrew the last hope of France. Continuing his
+advance, and now supported by the 71st Regiment, he swept our front
+clear as far as the orchard of La Haye Sainte.[523]
+
+The Emperor had at first watched the charge with feelings of buoyant
+hope; for Friant, who came back wounded, reported that success was
+certain. As the truth forced itself on him, he turned pale as a
+corpse. "Why! they are in confusion," he exclaimed; "all is lost for
+the present." A thrill of agony also shot through the French lines.
+Donzelot's onset had at one time staggered Halkett's brigade; but the
+hopes aroused by the charge of the Guard and the rumour of Grouchy's
+approach gave place to dismay when the veterans fell back and
+Ziethen's Prussians debouched from Papelotte. To the cry of "The Guard
+gives way," there succeeded shouts of "treason." The Duke, noting the
+confusion, waved on his whole line to the longed-for advance. Menaced
+in front by the thin red line, and in rear by Colborne's glorious
+charge, D'Erlon's divisions broke up in general rout. For a time,
+three rocks stood boldly forth above this disastrous ebb. They were
+the battalions of the Guard previously repulsed, and that had rallied
+around the Emperor on the rise south of La Haye Sainte. In front of
+them the three regiments of Adam's brigade stopped to re-form; but at
+the Duke's command--"Go on, go on: they will not stand"--Colborne
+charged them, and they gave way.
+
+And now, as the sun shot its last gleams over the field, the swords of
+the British horsemen were seen to flash and fall with relentless
+vigour. The brigades of Vandeleur and Vivian, well husbanded during
+the day, had been slipped upon the foe. The effect was electrical. The
+retreat became a rout that surged wildly around the last squares of
+the Guard. In one of them Napoleon took refuge for a space, still
+hoping to effect a rally, while outside Ney rushed from band to band,
+brandishing a broken sword, foaming with fury, and launching at the
+runaways the taunt, "Cowards! have you forgotten how to die?"[524]
+
+But panic now reigned supreme. Adam's brigade was at hand to support
+our horsemen; and shortly after nine there knelled from Planchenoit
+the last stroke of doom, the shouts of Prussians at last victorious
+over the stubborn defence. "The Guard dies and does not
+surrender"--such are the words attributed by some to Michel, by others
+to Cambronne before he was stretched senseless on the ground.[525]
+Whether spoken or not, some such thought prompted whole companies to
+die for the honour of their flag. And their chief, why did he not
+share their glorious fate? Gourgaud says that Soult forced him from
+the field. If so (and Houssaye discredits the story) Soult never
+served his master worse. The only dignified course was to act up to
+his recent proclamation that the time had come for every Frenchman of
+spirit to conquer or die. To belie those words by an ignominious
+flight was to court the worst of sins in French political life,
+ridicule.
+
+And the flight was ignominious. Wellington's weary troops, after
+several times mistaking friends for foes in the dusk, halted south of
+Rossomme and handed over the pursuit to the Prussians, many of whom
+had fought but little and now drank deep the draught of revenge. By
+the light of the rising moon Gneisenau led on his horsemen in a
+pursuit compared with which that of Jena was tame. At Genappe Napoleon
+hoped to make a stand: but the place was packed with wagons and
+thronged with men struggling to get at the narrow bridge. At the blare
+of the Prussian trumpets, the panic became frightful; the Emperor left
+his carriage and took to horse as the hurrahs drew near. Seven times
+did the French form bivouacs, and seven times were they driven out and
+away. At Quatre Bras he once more sought to gather a few troops; but
+ere he could do so the Uhlans came on. With tears trickling down his
+pallid cheeks, he resumed his flight over another field of carnage,
+where ghastly forms glinted on all sides under the pale light of dawn.
+After further futile efforts at Charleroi, he hurried on towards
+Paris, followed at some distance by groups amounting to about 10,000
+men, the sorry remnant still under arms of the host that fought at
+Waterloo: 25,000 lay dead or wounded there: some thousands were taken
+prisoners: the rest were scattering to their homes. Wellington lost
+10,360 killed and wounded, of whom 6,344 were British: the Prussian
+loss was about 6,000 men.
+
+The causes of Napoleon's overthrow are not hard to find. The lack of
+timely pursuit of Bluecher and Wellington on the 17th enabled those
+leaders to secure posts of vantage and to form an incisive plan which
+he did not fully fathom even at the crisis of the battle. Full of
+overweening contempt of Wellington, he began the fight heedlessly and
+wastefully. When the Prussians came on, he underrated their strength
+and believed to the very end that Grouchy would come up and take them
+between two fires. But, in the absence of prompt, clear, and detailed
+instructions, that Marshal was left a prey to his fatal notion that
+Wavre was the one point to be aimed at and attacked. Despite the heavy
+cannonade on the west he persisted in this strange course; while
+Napoleon staked everything on a supreme effort against Wellington.
+This last was an act of appalling hardihood; but he explained to
+Cockburn on the voyage to St. Helena that, still confiding in
+Grouchy's approach, he felt no uneasiness at the Prussian movements,
+"which were, in fact, already checked, and that he considered the
+battle to have been, on the whole, rather in his favour than
+otherwise." The explanation has every appearance of sincerity. But
+would any other great commander have staked his last reserve and laid
+bare his rear solely in reliance on the ability of an almost untried
+leader who had sent not a single word that justified the hopes now
+placed in him?
+
+We here touch the weak points in Napoleon's intellectual armour.
+Gifted with almost superhuman insight and energy himself, he too often
+credited his paladins with possessing the same divine afflatus.
+Furthermore, he had a supreme contempt for his enemies. Victorious in
+a hundred fights over second-rate opponents in his youth, he could not
+now school his hardened faculties to the caution needed in a contest
+with Wellington, Gneisenau, and Bluecher. Only after he had ruined
+himself and France did he realize his own errors and the worth of the
+allied leaders. During the voyage to England he confessed to Bertrand:
+"The Duke of Wellington is fully equal to myself in the management of
+an army, _with the advantage of possessing more prudence_."[526]
+
+
+
+    NOTE ADDED TO THE FOURTH EDITION.--I have discussed several of the
+    vexed questions of the Waterloo Campaign in an Essay, "The
+    Prussian Co-operation at Waterloo," in my volume entitled
+    "Napoleonic Studies" (George Bell and Sons, 1904). In that Essay I
+    have pointed out the inaccuracy or exaggeration of the claims put
+    forward by some German writers to the effect that (1) Wellington
+    played Bluecher false at Ligny, (2) that he did not expect Prussian
+    help until late in the day at Waterloo, (3) that the share of
+    credit for the victory rested in overwhelming measure with Bluecher
+    and Gneisenau.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI
+
+FROM THE ELYSEE TO ST. HELENA
+
+
+Napoleon was far from accepting Waterloo as a final blow. At
+Philippeville on the day after the battle, he wrote to his brother
+Joseph that he would speedily have 300,000 men ready to defend France:
+he would harness his guns with carriage-horses, raise 100,000
+conscripts, and arm them with muskets taken from the royalists and
+malcontent National Guards: he would arouse Dauphine, Lyonnais, and
+Burgundy, and overwhelm the enemy. "But the people must help me and
+not bewilder me.... Write to me what effect this horrible piece of bad
+luck has had on the Chamber. I believe the deputies will feel
+convinced that their duty in this crowning moment is to rally round me
+and save France."[527]
+
+The tenacious will, then, is only bent, not broken. Waterloo is merely
+a greater La Rothiere, calling for a mightier defensive effort than
+that of 1814. Such are his intentions, even when he knows not that
+Grouchy is escaping from the Prussians. The letter breathes a firm
+resolve. He has no scruples as to the wickedness of spurring on a
+wearied people to a conflict with Europe. As yet he forms no
+magnanimous resolve to take leave of a nation whom his genius may once
+more excite to a fatal frenzy. He still seems unable to conceive of
+France happy and prosperous apart from himself. In indissoluble union
+they will struggle on and defy the world.
+
+Such was the frame of mind in which he reached the Elysee Palace early
+on the 21st of June. For a time he was much agitated. "Oh, my God!" he
+exclaimed to Lavalette, raising his eyes to heaven and walking up and
+down the room. But after taking a warm bath--his unfailing remedy for
+fatigue--he became calm and discussed with the Ministers plans of a
+national defence. The more daring advised the prorogation of the
+Chambers and the declaration of a state of siege in Paris; but others
+demurred to a step that would lead to civil war. The Council dragged
+on at great length, the Emperor only once rousing himself from his
+weariness to declare that all was not lost; that _he_, and not the
+Chambers, could save France. If so, he should have gone to the
+deputies, thrilled them with that commanding voice, or dissolved them
+at once. Montholon states that this course was recommended by
+Cambaceres, Carnot, and Maret, but that most of the Ministers urged
+him not to expose his wearied frame to the storms of an excited
+assembly. At St. Helena he told Gourgaud that, despite his fatigue, he
+would have made the effort had he thought success possible, but he did
+not.[528]
+
+The Chamber of Deputies meanwhile was acting with vigour. Agonized by
+the tales of disaster already spread abroad by wounded soldiers, it
+eagerly assented to Lafayette's proposal to sit in permanence and
+declare any attempt at dissolution an act of high treason. So
+unblenching a defiance, which recalled the Tennis Court Oath of
+twenty-six years before, struck the Emperor almost dumb with
+astonishment. Lucien bade him prepare for a _coup d'etat_: but
+Napoleon saw that the days for such an act were passed. He had
+squandered the physical and moral resources bequeathed by the
+Revolution. Its armies were mouldering under the soil of Spain,
+Russia, Germany, and Belgium; and a decade of reckless ambition had
+worn to tatters Rousseau's serviceable theory of a military
+dictatorship. Exhausted France was turning away from him to the prime
+source of liberty, her representatives.
+
+These were doubtless the thoughts that coursed through his brain as he
+paced with Lucien up and down the garden of the Elysee. A crowd of
+_federes_ and workmen outside cheered him frantically. He saluted them
+with a smile; but, says Pasquier, "the expression of his eyes showed
+the sadness that filled his soul." True, he might have led that
+unthinking rabble against the Chambers; but that would mean civil war,
+and from this he shrank. Still Lucien bade him strike. "Dare," he
+whispered with Dantonesque terseness. "Alas," replied his brother, "I
+have dared only too much already." Davoust also opined that it was too
+late now that the deputies had firmly seized the reins and were
+protected by the National Guards of Paris.
+
+And so Napoleon let matters drift. In truth, he was "bewildered" by
+the disunion of France. It was a France that he knew not, a land given
+over to _idealogues_ and traitors. His own Minister, Fouche, was
+working to sap his power, and yet he dared not have him shot! What
+wonder that the helpless autocrat paced restlessly to and fro, or sat
+as in a dream! In the evening Carnot went to the Peers, Lucien to the
+Deputies, to appeal for a united national effort against the
+Coalition, but the simple earnestness of the one and the fraternal
+fervour of the other alike failed. When Lucien finally exclaimed
+against any desertion of Napoleon, Lafayette fiercely shot at him the
+long tale of costly sacrifices which France had offered up at the
+shrine of Napoleon's glory, and concluded: "We have done enough for
+him: our duty is to save _la patrie_."
+
+On the morrow came the news that Grouchy had escaped from the
+Prussians; and that the relics of Napoleon's host were rallying at
+Laon. But would not this encouragement embolden the Emperor to crush
+the contumacious Chambers? Evidently the case was urgent. He must
+abdicate, or they would dethrone him--such was the purport of their
+message to the Elysee; but, as an act of grace, they allowed him _an
+hour_ in which to forestall their action. Shortly after midday, on the
+advice of his Ministers, he took the final step of his official
+career. Lucien and Carnot begged him for some time to abdicate only in
+favour of his son;[529] and he did so, but with the bitter remark: "My
+son! What a chimera! No, it is for the Bourbons that I abdicate! They
+at least are not prisoners at Vienna."
+
+The deputies were of his opinion. Despite frantic efforts of the
+Bonapartists, they passed over Napoleon II. without any effective
+recognition, and at once appointed an executive Commission of
+five--Carnot, Caulaincourt, Fouche, Grenier, and Quinette. Three of
+them were regicides, and Fouche was chosen their President. We can
+gauge Napoleon's wrath at seeing matters thus promptly rolled back to
+where they were before Brumaire by his biting comment that he had made
+way for the King of Rome, not for a Directory which included one
+traitor and two babies. His indignation was just. An abdication forced
+on by _idealogues_ was hateful; to be succeeded by Fouche seemed an
+unforgivable insult; but he touched the lowest depth of humiliation on
+the 25th, when he received from that despicable schemer an order to
+leave Paris.
+
+He obeyed on that first Sunday after Waterloo, driving off quietly to
+Malmaison, there to be joined by Hortense Beauharnais and a few
+faithful friends. At that ill-omened abode, where Josephine had
+breathed her last shortly after his first abdication, he spent four
+uneasy days. At times he was full of fight. He sent to the "Moniteur"
+a proclamation urging the army to make "some efforts more, and the
+Coalition will be dissolved." The manifesto was suppressed by Fouche's
+orders.
+
+Meanwhile the invaders pressed on rapidly towards Compiegne. They met
+with no attempts at a national rising, a fact which proves the welcome
+accorded to Napoleon in March to have been mainly the outcome of
+military devotion and of the dislike generally felt for the Bourbons.
+It is a libel on the French people to suppose that a truly national
+impulse in his favour would have vanished with a single defeat. In
+vain did the Provisional Government sue for an armistice that would
+stay the advance. Wellington refused outright; but Bluecher declared
+that he would consider the matter if Napoleon were handed over to him,
+_dead or alive_. On hearing of this, Wellington at once wrote his ally
+a private remonstrance, which drew from Gneisenau a declaration that,
+as the Duke was held back _by parliamentary considerations and by the
+wish to prolong the life of the villain whose career had extended
+England's power_, the Prussians would see to it that Napoleon was
+handed over to them for execution conformably to the declaration of
+the Congress of Vienna.[530]
+
+But the Provisional Government acted honestly towards Napoleon. On the
+26th Fouche sent General Becker to watch over him and advise him to
+set out for Rochefort, _en route_ to the United States, for which
+purpose passports were being asked from Wellington. Becker found the
+ex-Emperor a prey to quickly varying moods. At one time he seemed
+"sunk into a kind of _mollesse_, and very careful about his ease and
+comfort": he ate hugely at meals: or again he affected a rather coarse
+joviality, showing his regard for Becker by pulling his ear. His plans
+varied with his moods. He declared he would throw himself into the
+middle of France and fight to the end, or that he would take ship at
+Rochefort with Bertrand and Savary alone, and steal past the English
+squadron; but when Mme. Bertrand exclaimed that this would be cruel to
+her, he readily gave up the scheme.[531]
+
+It is not easy to gauge his feelings at this time. Apart from one
+outburst to Lavalette of pity for France, he seems not to have
+realized how unspeakably disastrous his influence had been on the land
+which he found in a victoriously expansive phase, and now left
+prostrate at the feet of the allies and the Bourbons. Hatred and
+contempt of the upper classes for their "fickle" desertion of him,
+these, if we may judge from his frequent allusions to the topic during
+the voyage, were the feelings uppermost in his mind; and this may
+explain why he wavered between the thought of staking all on a last
+effort against the allies and the plan of renewing in America the
+career now closed to him in Europe.
+
+He certainly was not a prey to torpor and dumb despair. His brain
+still clutched eagerly at public affairs, as if unable to realize that
+they had slipped beyond his control; and his behaviour showed that he
+was still _un etre politique_, with whom power was all in all. He
+evinced few signs of deep emotion on bidding farewell to his devoted
+followers: but whether this resulted from inner hardness, or
+resentment at his fall, or a sense of dignified prudence, it is
+impossible to say. When Denon, the designer of his medals, sobbed on
+bidding him adieu, he remarked: _Mon cher, ne nous attendrissons pas:
+il faut dans les crises comme celle-ci se conduire avec froid_. This
+surely was one source of his power over an emotional people: his
+feelings were the servant, not the master, of his reason.
+
+Meanwhile the Prussians were drawing near to Paris. Early on the 29th
+they were at Argenteuil, and Bluecher detached a flying column to seize
+the bridge of Chatou over the Seine near Malmaison and carry off
+Napoleon on the following night. But Davoust and Fouche warded off the
+danger. While the Marshal had the nearest bridges of the Seine
+barricaded or burnt, Fouche on the night of the 28th-29th sent an
+order to Napoleon to leave at once for Rochefort and set sail with two
+frigates, even though the English passports had not arrived.
+
+He received the news calmly, and then with unusual animation requested
+Becker to submit to the Government a scheme for rapidly rallying the
+troops around Paris, whereupon he, _as General Bonaparte_, would
+surprise first Bluecher and then Wellington--they were two days'
+marches apart: then, after routing the foe, he would resume his
+journey to the coast. The Commission would have none of it. The
+reports showed that the French troops were so demoralized that success
+was not to be hoped for.[532] And if a second Montmirail were snatched
+from Bluecher, would it bring more of glory to Napoleon or of useless
+bloodshed to France? Those who look on the world as an arena for the
+exploits of heroes at the cost of ordinary mortals may applaud the
+scheme. But could men who were responsible to France regard it as
+anything but a final proof of Napoleon's perverse optimism, or a flash
+of his unquenchable ambition, or a last mad bid for power? He showed
+signs of anger on hearing of their refusal, but set out for Rochefort
+at 6 p.m.; and thus the Prussians were cheated of their prey by a few
+hours. Bertrand, Savary, Gourgaud, and Becker accompanied him.
+
+The cheers of troops and people at Niort, and again at Rochefort,
+where he arrived on July 3rd, re-awakened his fighting instincts; and
+as the westerly winds precluded all hope of the two frigates slipping
+quickly down either of the practicable outlets so as to elude the
+British cruisers, he again sought permission to take command of the
+French forces, now beginning to fall back from Paris behind the line
+of the Loire. Again his offer was refused; and messages came thick and
+fast bidding Becker get him away from the mainland. Such was the
+desire of his best friends. Paris capitulated to the allies on July
+4th, and both French royalists and Prussians were eager to get hold of
+him. Thus, while he sat weaving plans of a campaign on the Loire, the
+tottering Government at Paris pressed on his embarkation, hinting that
+force would be used should further delays ensue. Sadly, then, on July
+8th, he went on board the "Saale," moored near L'Ile d'Aix, opposite
+the mouth of the Charente.
+
+He was now in sore straits. The orders from Paris expressly forbade
+his setting foot again on the mainland, and most of the great towns
+had already hoisted the white flag. In front of him was the Bay of
+Biscay, swept by British cruisers, which the French naval officers had
+scant hopes of escaping. There was talk among Napoleon's suite, which
+now included Montholon, Las Cases, and Lallemand, of attempting flight
+from the Gironde, or in the hold of a small Danish sloop then at
+Rochefort, or on two fishing boats moored to the north of L'Ile de Re;
+but these plans were given up in consequence of the close watch kept
+by our cruisers at all points. The next day brought with it a despatch
+from Paris ordering the ex-Emperor to set sail within twenty-four
+hours.
+
+On the morrow Napoleon sent Savary and Las Cases with a letter to
+H.M.S. "Bellerophon," then cruising off the main channel--that between
+the islands of Oleron and Re--asking whether the permits for
+Napoleon's voyage to America had arrived, or his departure would be
+prevented. Savary also inquired whether his passage on a merchant-ship
+would be stopped. The commander, Captain Maitland, had received strict
+orders to intercept Napoleon; but, seeking to gain time and to bring
+Admiral Hotham up with other ships, he replied that he would oppose
+the frigates by force: neither could he permit Napoleon to set sail on
+a merchant-ship until he had the warrant of his admiral for so doing.
+The "Bellerophon," "Myrmidon," and "Slaney" now drew closer in to
+guard the middle channel, while a corvette watched each of the
+difficult outlets on the north and south.[533]
+
+Three days of sorrow and suspense now ensued. On the 12th came the
+news of the entry of Louis XVIII. into Paris, the collapse of the
+Provisional Government, and the general hoisting of the _fleur-de-lys_
+throughout France. On the 13th Joseph Bonaparte came for a last
+interview with his brother on the Ile d'Aix. Montholon states that the
+ex-King offered to change places with the ex-Emperor and thus allow
+him the chance of escaping on a neutral ship from the Gironde.
+Gourgaud does not refer to any such offer, nor does Bertrand in his
+letter of July 14th to Joseph. In any case, it was not put to the
+test; for royalism was rampant on the mainland, and two of our
+cruisers hovered about the Gironde. Sadly the two brothers parted, and
+for ever. Then the other schemes were again mooted only to be given up
+once more; and late on the 13th Napoleon dictated the following
+letter, to be taken by Gourgaud to the Prince Regent:
+
+    "Exposed to the factions which distract my country and to the
+    enmity of the greatest Powers of Europe, I have closed my
+    political career, and I come, like Themistocles, to throw myself
+    upon the hospitality of the British people. I put myself under the
+    protection of their laws, which I claim from your Royal Highness,
+    as the most powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of
+    my enemies."[534]
+
+On the 14th Gourgaud and Las Cases took this letter to the
+"Bellerophon," whereupon Maitland assured them that he would convey
+Napoleon to England, Gourgaud preceding them on the "Slaney"; but that
+the ex-Emperor _would be entirely at the disposal of our Government_.
+This last was made perfectly clear to Las Cases, who understood
+English, though at first he feigned not to do so; but, unfortunately,
+Maitland did not exact from him a written acknowledgment of this
+understanding. Gourgaud was transferred to the "Slaney," which soon
+set sail for Torbay, while Las Cases reported to Napoleon on L'Ile
+d'Aix what had happened. Thereupon Bertrand wrote to Maitland that
+Napoleon would come on board on the morrow:
+
+    " ... If the Admiral, in consequence of the demand that you have
+    addressed to him, sends you the permits for the United States, His
+    Majesty will go there with pleasure; but in default of them, he
+    will go voluntarily to England as a private individual to enjoy
+    the protection of the laws of your country."
+
+Now, either Las Cases misinterpreted Maitland's words and acts, or
+Napoleon hoped to impose on the captain by the statements just quoted.
+Maitland had not sent to Hotham for permits; he held out no hopes of
+Napoleon's going to America; he only promised to take him to England
+_to be at the disposal of the Prince Regent_. Napoleon, taking no
+notice of the last stipulation, now promised to go to England, not as
+Emperor, but as a private individual. He took this step soon after
+dawn on the 15th, when any lingering hopes of his escape were ended by
+the sight of Admiral Hotham's ship, "Superb," in the offing. On
+leaving the French brig, "Epervier," he was greeted with the last
+cheers of _Vive l'Empereur_, cheers that died away almost in a wail as
+his boat drew near to the "Bellerophon." There he was greeted
+respectfully, but without a salute. He wore the green uniform, with
+gold and scarlet facings, of a colonel of the Chasseurs a Cheval of
+the Guard, with white waistcoat and military boots; and Maitland
+thought him "a remarkably strong, well-built man." Keeping up a
+cheerful demeanour, he asked a number of questions about the ship, and
+requested to be shown round even thus early, while the men were
+washing the decks. He inquired whether the "Bellerophon" would have
+worsted the two French frigates and acquiesced in Maitland's
+affirmative reply. He expressed admiration of all that he saw,
+including the portrait of Maitland's wife hanging in the cabin; and
+the captain felt the full force of that seductive gift of pleasing,
+which was not the least important of the great man's powers.
+
+He was accompanied by General and Mme. Bertrand, the former a tall,
+slim, good-looking man, of refined manners and domestic habits, though
+of a sensitive and hasty temper; his wife, a lady of slight figure,
+but stately carriage, the daughter of a Irishman named Dillon, who
+lost his life in the Revolution. Her vivacious manners bespoke a warm
+impulsive nature, that had revelled in the splendour of her high
+ceremonial station and now seemed strained beyond endurance by the
+trials threatening her and her three children. The Bertrands had been
+with Napoleon at Elba, and enjoyed his complete confidence. Younger
+than they were General (Count) Montholon and his wife--he, a short but
+handsome man, his consort, a sweet unassuming woman--who showed their
+devotion to the ex-Emperor by exchanging a life of luxury for exile in
+his service. Count Las Cases, a small man, whose thin eager face and
+furtive glances revealed his bent for intrigue, was the eldest of the
+party. He had been a naval officer, had then lived in England as an
+_emigre_, but after the Peace of Amiens took civil service under
+Napoleon; he now brought with him his son, a lad of fifteen, fresh
+from the Lycee. We need not notice the figures of Savary and
+Lallemand, as they were soon to part company. Maingaud the surgeon,
+Marchand the head valet, several servants, and the bright little boy
+of the Montholons completed the list.
+
+The voyage passed without incident. Napoleon's health and appetite
+were on the whole excellent, and he suffered less than the rest from
+sea-sickness. The delicate Las Cases, who had donned his naval
+uniform, was in such distress as to move the mirth of the crew,
+whereupon Napoleon sharply bade him appear in plain clothes so as not
+to disgrace the French navy. For the great man himself the crew soon
+felt a very real regard, witness the final confession of one of them
+to Maitland: "Well, they may abuse that man as much as they like, but
+if the people of England knew him as well as we do, they would not
+hurt a hair of his head."--What a tribute this to the mysterious power
+of genius!
+
+On passing Ushant, he remained long upon deck, silent and abstracted,
+casting melancholy looks at the land he was never more to see. As they
+neared Torbay, the exile was loud in praise of the beauty of the
+scene, which he compared with that of Porto Ferrajo. Whatever
+misgivings he felt before embarking on the "Bellerophon" had
+apparently disappeared. He had been treated with every courtesy and
+had met with only one rebuff. He prompted Mme. Bertrand, who spoke
+English well, to sound Maitland as to the acceptance of a box
+containing his (Napoleon's) portrait set in diamonds. This the captain
+very properly refused.[535]
+
+In Torbay troubles began to thicken upon the party. Gourgaud rejoined
+them on the 24th: he had not been allowed to land. Orders came on the
+26th for the "Bellerophon" to proceed to Plymouth; and the rumour
+gained ground that St. Helena would be their destination. It was true.
+On July 31st, Sir Henry Bunbury, Secretary to the Admiralty, and Lord
+Keith, Admiral in command at Plymouth, laid before him in writing the
+decision of our Government, that, in order to prevent any further
+disturbance to the peace of Europe, it had been decided to restrain
+his liberty--"to whatever extent may be necessary for securing that
+first and paramount object"--and that St. Helena would be his place of
+residence, as it was healthy, and would admit of a smaller degree of
+restraint than might be necessary elsewhere.
+
+Against this he made a lengthy protest, declaring that he was not a
+prisoner of war, that he came as a passenger on the "Bellerophon"
+"after a previous negotiation with the commander," that he demanded
+the rights of a British citizen, and wished to settle in a country
+house far from the sea, where he would submit to the surveillance of a
+commissioner over his actions and correspondence. St. Helena would
+kill him in three months, for he was wont to ride twenty leagues a
+day; he preferred death to St. Helena. Maitland's conduct had been a
+deliberate snare. To deprive him (Napoleon) of his liberty would be an
+eternal disgrace to England; for in coming to our shores he had
+offered the Prince Regent the finest page of his history.--Our
+officials then bowed and withdrew. He recalled Keith, and when the
+latter remarked that to go to St. Helena was better than being sent to
+Louis XVIII. or to Russia, the captive exclaimed "Russia! God keep me
+from that."[536]
+
+It is unnecessary to traverse his statements at length. The foregoing
+recital of facts will have shown that he was completely at the end of
+his resources, and that Maitland had not made a single stipulation as
+to his reception in England. Indeed, Napoleon never reproached
+Maitland; he left that to Las Cases to do; and the captain easily
+refuted these insinuations, with the approval of Montholon. If there
+was any misunderstanding, it was certainly due to Las Cases.[537]
+
+Indeed, the thought of Napoleon settling dully down in the Midlands is
+ludicrous. How could a man who revelled in vast schemes, whose mind
+preyed on itself if there were no facts and figures to grind, or
+difficulties to overcome, ever sink to the level of a Justice Shallow?
+And if he longed for repose, would the Opposition in England and the
+malcontents in France have let him rest? Inevitably he would become a
+rallying point for all the malcontents of Europe. Besides, our
+engagements to the allies bound us to guard him securely; and we were
+under few personal obligations to a man who, during the Peace of
+Amiens, persistently urged us to drive forth the Bourbons from our
+land, who at its close forcibly detained 10,000 Britons in defiance of
+the law of nations, and whose ambition added L600,000,000 to our
+National Debt.
+
+Ministers had decided on St. Helena by July 28th. Their decision was
+clinched by a Memorandum of General Beatson, late Governor of the
+island, dated July 29th, recommending St. Helena, because all the
+landing places were protected by batteries, and the semaphores
+recently placed on the lofty cliffs would enable the approach of a
+rescue squadron to be descried sixty miles off, and the news to be
+speedily signalled to the Governor's House. Napoleon's appeal and
+protests were accordingly passed over; and, in pursuance of advice
+just to hand from Castlereagh at Paris, Ministers decided to treat
+him, not as our prisoner, but as the prisoner of all the Powers. A
+Convention was set in hand as to his detention; it was signed on
+August 2nd at Paris, and bound the other Powers to send Commissioners
+as witnesses to the safety of the custody.[538]
+
+His departure from Plymouth was hastened by curious incidents. Crowds
+of people assembled there to see the great man, and shoals of
+boats--Maitland says more than a thousand on fine days--struggled and
+jostled to get as near the "Bellerophon" as the guard-boats would
+allow. Two or three persons were drowned; but still the swarm pressed
+on. Many of the men wore carnations--a hopeful sign this seemed to Las
+Cases--and the women waved their handkerchiefs when he appeared on the
+poop or at the open gangway. Maitland was warned that a rescue would
+be attempted on the night of the 3rd-4th; and certainly the Frenchmen
+were very restless at that time. They believed that if Napoleon could
+only set foot on shore he must gain the rights of Habeas Corpus.[539]
+And there seemed some chance of his gaining them. Very early on August
+4th a man came down from London bringing a subpoena from the Court of
+King's Bench to compel Lord Keith and Captain Maitland to produce the
+person of Napoleon Bonaparte for attendance in London as witness in a
+trial for libel then pending. It appears that some one was to be sued
+for a libel on a naval officer, censuring his conduct in the West
+Indies; and it was suggested that if he (the defendant) could get
+Napoleon's evidence to prove that the French ships were at that time
+unserviceable, his case would be strengthened. An attorney therefore
+came down to Plymouth armed with a subpoena, with which he chased
+Keith on land and chased him by sea, until his panting rowers were
+foiled by the stout crew of the Admiral's barge. Keith also found
+means to let Maitland know how matters stood early on the 4th,
+whereupon the "Bellerophon" stood out to sea, her guard-boat keeping
+at a distance the importunate man with the writ.
+
+The whole affair looks very suspicious. What defendant in a plain
+straightforward case would ever have thought of so far-fetched a
+device as that of getting the ex-Emperor to declare on oath that his
+warships in the West Indies had been unseaworthy? The tempting thought
+that it was a trick of some enterprising journalist in search of "copy
+"must also be given up as a glaring anachronism. On the other hand,
+it is certain that Napoleon's well-wishers in London and Plymouth were
+moving heaven and earth to get him ashore, or delay his
+departure.[540] In common with Sieyes, Lavalette, and Las Cases, he
+had hoped much from the peculiarities of English law; and on July 28th
+he dictated to Las Cases a paper, "suited to serve as a basis to
+jurists," which the latter says he managed to send ashore.[541] If
+this be true, Napoleon himself may have spurred on his friends to the
+effort just described. Or else the plan may have occurred to some of
+his English admirers who wished to embarrass the Ministry. If so,
+their attempt met with the fate that usually befalls the efforts of
+our anti-national cliques on behalf of their foreign heroes: it did
+them harm: the authorities acted more promptly than they would
+otherwise have done: the "Bellerophon" put to sea a few days before
+the Frenchmen expected, with the result that they were exposed to a
+disagreeable cruise until the "Northumberland" (the ship destined for
+the voyage in place of the glorious old "Bellerophon") was ready to
+receive them on board.[542]
+
+Dropping down from Portsmouth, the newer ship met the "Bellerophon"
+and "Tonnant," Lord Keith's ship, off the Start. The transhipment took
+place on the 7th, under the lee of Berry Head, Torbay. After dictating
+a solemn protest against the compulsion put upon him, the ex-Emperor
+thanked Maitland for his honourable conduct, spoke of his having hoped
+to buy a small estate in England where he might end his days in peace,
+and declaimed bitterly against the Government.
+
+Rear-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, of the "Northumberland," then came
+by official order to search his baggage and that of his suite, so as
+to withdraw any large sums of money that might be thereafter used for
+effecting an escape. Savary and Marchand were present while this was
+done by Cockburn's secretary with as much delicacy as possible: 4,000
+gold Napoleons (80,000 francs) were detained to provide a fund for
+part maintenance of the illustrious exile. The diamond necklace which
+Hortense had handed to him at Malmaison was at that time concealed on
+Las Cases, who continued to keep it as a sacred trust. The
+ex-Emperor's attendants were required to give up their swords during
+the voyage. Montholon states that when the same request was made by
+Keith to Napoleon, the only reply was a flash of anger from his eyes,
+under which the Admiral's tall figure shrank away, and his head, white
+with years, fell on his breast. Alas, for the attempt at melodrama!
+_Maitland was expressly told by Lord Keith not to proffer any such
+request to the fallen chief_.
+
+Apart from one or two exclamations that he would commit suicide rather
+than go to St. Helena, Napoleon had behaved with a calm and serenity
+that contrasted with the peevish gloom of his officers and the spasms
+of Mme. Bertrand. This unhappy lady, on learning their fate, raved in
+turn against Maitland, Gourgaud, Napoleon, and against her husband for
+accompanying him, and ended by trying to throw herself from a window.
+From this she was pulled back, whereupon she calmed down and secretly
+urged Maitland to write to Lord Keith to prevent Bertrand accompanying
+his master. The captain did so, but of course the Admiral declined to
+interfere. Her shrill complaints against Napoleon had, however, been
+heard on the other side of the thin partition, and fanned the dislike
+which Montholon and Gourgaud had conceived for her, and in part for
+her husband. These were the officers whom he selected as companions of
+exile. Las Cases was to go as secretary, and his son as page.
+
+Savary, Lallemand, and Planat having been proscribed by Louis XVIII.,
+were detained by our Government, and subsequently interned at Malta.
+On taking leave of Napoleon they showed deep emotion, while he
+bestowed the farewell embrace with remarkable composure. The surgeon,
+Maingaud, now declined to proceed to St. Helena, alleging that he had
+wanted to go to America only because his uncle there was to leave him
+a legacy! At the same time Bertrand asked that O'Meara, the surgeon of
+the "Bellerophon," might accompany Napoleon to St. Helena. As
+Maingaud's excuse was very lame, and O'Meara had had one or two talks
+with Napoleon _in Italian_, Keith and Maitland should have seen that
+there was some understanding between them; but the Admiral consented
+to the proposed change. As to O'Meara's duplicity, we may quote from
+Basil Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena": "I _know_ that he [O'Meara]
+was _fully enlisted_ for Napoleon's service during the voyage from
+Rochefort to England." The sequel will show how disastrous it was to
+allow this man to go with the ex-Emperor.
+
+In the Admiral's barge that took him to the "Northumberland" the
+ex-Emperor "appeared to be in perfect good humour," says Keith,
+"talking of Egypt, St. Helena, of my former name being Elphinstone,
+and many other subjects, and joking with the ladies about being
+seasick."[543] In this firm matter-of-fact way did Napoleon accept the
+extraordinary change in his fortunes. At no time of his life, perhaps,
+was he so great as when, forgetting his own headlong fall, he sought
+to dispel the smaller griefs of Mmes. Bertrand and Montholon. A hush
+came over the crew as Napoleon mounted the side and set foot on the
+deck of the ship that was to bear him away to a life of exile. It was
+a sight that none could behold unmoved, as the great man uncovered,
+received the salute, and said with a firm voice: "Here I am, General,
+at your orders."
+
+The scene was rich, not only in personal interest and pathos, but also
+in historic import. It marks the end of a cataclysmic epoch and the
+dawn of a dreary and confused age. We may picture the Muse of History,
+drawn distractedly from her abodes on the banks of the Seine, gazing
+in wonder on that event taking place under the lee of Berry Head, her
+thoughts flashing back, perchance, to the days when William of Orange
+brought his fleet to shore at that same spot and baffled the designs
+of the other great ruler of France. The glory of that land is now once
+more to be shrouded in gloom. For a time, like an uneasy ghost, Clio
+will hover above the scenes of Napoleon's exploits and will find
+little to record but promises broken and development arrested by his
+unteachable successors.
+
+But the march of Humanity is only clogged: it is not stayed. Ere long
+it breaks away into untrodden paths amidst the busy hives of industry
+or in the track of the colonizing peoples. The Muse follows in
+perplexity: her course at first seems dull and purposeless: her story,
+when it bids farewell to Napoleon, suffers a bewildering fall in
+dramatic interest: but at length new and varied fields open out to
+view. Democracy, embattled for seven sad years by Napoleon against her
+sister, Nationality, little by little awakens to a consciousness of
+the mistake that has blighted his fortune and hers, and begins to ally
+herself with the ill-used champion of the Kings. Industry, starved by
+War, regains her strength and goes forth on a career of conquest more
+enduring than that of the great warrior. And the peoples that come to
+the front are not those of the Latin race, whom his wars have stunted,
+but those of the untamable Teutonic stock, the lords of the sea and
+the leaders of Central Europe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The treatment of the ex-Emperor henceforth differed widely from that
+which had been hastily arranged by the Czar for his sojourn at Elba.
+In that case he retained the title of Emperor; he reigned over the
+island, and was free to undertake coasting trips. As these generous
+arrangements had entailed on Europe the loss of more than 80,000 men
+in killed and wounded, it is not surprising that the British Ministers
+should now have insisted on far stricter rules, especially as they and
+their Commissioner had been branded as accomplices in the former
+escape. His comfort and dignity were now subordinated to security. As
+the title of Emperor would enable him to claim privileges incompatible
+with any measure of surveillance, it was firmly and consistently
+denied to him; while he as persistently claimed it, and doubtless for
+the same reason. He was now to rank as a General not on active
+service; and Cockburn received orders, while treating him with
+deference and assigning to him the place of honour at table, to
+abstain from any acknowledgment of the imperial dignity. Napoleon soon
+put this question to the test by rising from dinner before the others
+had finished; but, with the exception of his suite, the others did not
+accompany him on deck. At this he was much piqued, as also at seeing
+that the officers did not uncover in his presence on the quarter-deck;
+but when Cockburn's behaviour in this respect was found to be quietly
+consistent, the anger of the exiles began to wear off--or rather it
+was thrust down.
+
+One could wish that the conduct of our Government in this matter had
+been more chivalrous. It is true that we had only on two occasions
+acknowledged the imperial title, namely during the negotiations of
+1806 and 1814; and to recognize it after his public outlawry would
+have been rather illogical, besides feeding the Bonapartists with
+hopes which, in the interests of France, it was well absolutely to
+close. Ministers might also urge that he himself had offered to live
+in England _as a private individual_, and that his transference to St.
+Helena, which allowed of greater personal liberty than could be
+accorded in England, did not alter the essential character of his
+detention. Nevertheless, their decision is to be regretted. The zeal
+of his partisans, far from being quenched, was inflamed by what they
+conceived to be a gratuitous insult; and these feelings, artfully
+worked upon by tales, medals, and pictures of the modern Prometheus
+chained to the rock, had no small share in promoting unrest in France.
+
+Apart from this initial friction, Napoleon's relations to the Admiral
+and officers were fairly cordial. He chatted with him at the
+dinner-table and during the hour's walk that they afterwards usually
+took on the quarter-deck. His conversations showed no signs of despair
+or mental lethargy. They ranged over a great variety of topics,
+general and personal. He discussed details of navigation and
+shipbuilding with a minuteness of knowledge that surprised the men of
+the sea.
+
+From his political conversations with Cockburn we may cull the
+following remarks. He said that he really meant to invade England in
+1803-5, and to dictate terms of peace at London. He stoutly defended
+his execution of the Duc d'Enghien, and named none of the paltry
+excuses that his admirers were later on to discover for that crime.
+Referring to recent events, he inveighed against the French Liberals,
+declared that he had humoured the Chambers far too much, and dilated
+on the danger of representative institutions on the Continent. However
+much a Parliament might suit England, it was, he declared, highly
+perilous in Continental States. With respect to the future of France,
+he expressed the conviction that, as soon as the armies of occupation
+were withdrawn, there would be a general insurrection owing to the
+strong military bias of the people and their hatred of the Bourbons,
+now again brought back by devastating hordes of foreigners.[544]
+
+This last observation probably explains the general buoyancy of his
+bearing. He did not consider the present settlement as final; and
+doubtless it was his boundless fund of hope that enabled him to
+triumph over the discomforts of the present, which left his companions
+morose and snappish. "His spirits are even," wrote Glover, the
+Admiral's secretary, at the equator, "and he appears perfectly
+unconcerned about his fate."[545] His recreations were chess, which he
+played with more vehemence than skill, and games of hazard, especially
+_vingt-et-un_: he began to learn "le wisth" from our officers.
+Sometimes he and Gourgaud amused themselves by extracting the square
+and cube roots of numbers; he also began to learn English from Las
+Cases. On some occasions he diverted his male companions with tales of
+his adventures, both military and amorous. His interest in the ship
+and in the events of the voyage did not flag. When a shark was caught
+and hauled up, "Bonaparte with the eagerness of a schoolboy scrambled
+on the poop to see it."
+
+His health continued excellent. Despite his avoidance of vegetables
+and an excessive consumption of meat, he suffered little from
+indigestion, except during a few days of fierce sirocco wind off
+Madeira. He breakfasted about 10 on meat and wine, and remained in his
+cabin reading, dictating, or learning English, until about 3 p.m.,
+when he played games and took exercise preparatory to dinner at 5.
+After a full meal, in which he partook by preference of the most
+highly dressed dishes of meat, he walked the deck for an hour or more.
+On one evening, the Admiral begged to be excused owing to a heavy
+equatorial rain-storm; but the ex-Emperor went up as usual, saying
+that the rain would not hurt him any more than the sailors; and it did
+not. The incident claims some notice: for it proves that, whatever
+later writers may say as to his decline of vitality in 1815, he
+himself was unaware of it, and braved with impunity a risk that a
+vigorous naval officer preferred to avoid. Moreover, the mere fact
+that he was able to keep up a heavy meat diet all through the tropics
+bespeaks a constitution of exceptional strength, unimpaired as yet by
+the internal malady which was to be his doom.
+
+That one element of conviviality was not wanting at meals will appear
+from the official return of the consumption of wine at the Admiral's
+table by his seven French guests and six British officers: Port, 20
+dozen; Claret, 45 dozen; Madeira, 22 dozen; Champagne, 13 dozen;
+Sherry, 7 dozen; Malmsey, 5 dozen.[546] The "Peruvian" had been
+detached from the squadron to Guernsey to lay in a stock of French
+wines specially for the exiles; and 15 dozen of claret--Napoleon's
+favourite beverage--were afterwards sent on shore at St. Helena for
+his use.
+
+Doubtless the evenness of his health, which surprised Cockburn,
+Warden, and O'Meara alike, was largely due to his iron will. He knew
+that his exile must be disagreeable, but he had that useful faculty of
+encasing himself in the present, which dulls the edge of care.
+Besides, his tastes were not so exacting, or his temperament so
+volatile, as to shroud him in the gloom that besets weaker natures in
+time of trouble. Alas for him, it was far otherwise with his
+companions. The impressionable young Gourgaud, the thought-wrinkled
+Las Cases, the bright pleasure-loving Montholons, the gloomy Grand
+Marshal, Bertrand, and his mercurial consort, over whose face there
+often passed "a gleam of distraction"--these were not fashioned for a
+life of adversity. Thence came the long spells of _ennui_, broken by
+flashes of temper, that marked the voyage and the sojourn at St.
+Helena.
+
+The storm-centre was generally Mme. Bertrand; her varying moods, that
+proclaimed her Irish-Creole parentage, early brought on her the
+hostility of the others, including Napoleon; and as the discovery of
+her little plot to prevent Bertrand going to St. Helena gave them a
+convenient weapon, the voyage was for her one long struggle against
+covert intrigues, thinly veiled sarcasms, sea-sickness, and despair.
+At last she has to keep to her cabin, owing to some nervous disorder.
+On hearing of this Napoleon remarks that it is better she should
+die--such is Gourgaud's report of his words. Unfortunately, she
+recovers: after ten days she reappears, receives the congratulations
+of the officers in the large cabin where Napoleon is playing chess
+with Montholon. He receives her with a stolid stare and goes on with
+the game. After a time the Admiral hands her to her seat at the
+dinner-table, on the ex-Emperor's left. Still no recognition from her
+chief! But the claret bottle that should be in front of him is not
+there: she reaches over and hands it to him. Then come the looked-for
+words: "Ah! comment se porte madame?"--That is all.[547]
+
+For Bertrand, even in his less amiable moods, Bonaparte ever had the
+friendly word that feeds the well-spring of devotion. On the
+"Bellerophon," when they hotly differed on a trivial subject, Bertrand
+testily replied to his dogmatic statements: "Oh! if you reply in that
+manner, there is an end of all argument." Far from taking offence at
+this retort, Napoleon soothed him and speedily restored him to good
+temper--a good instance of his forbearance to those whom he really
+admired.
+
+Certainly the exiles were not happy among themselves. Even the amiable
+Mme. Montholon was the cause of one quarrel at table. After leaving
+Funchal, Cockburn states that a Roman Catholic priest there has
+offered to accompany the ex-Emperor. Napoleon replies in a way that
+proves his utter indifference; but the ladies launch out on the
+subject of religion. The discussion waxes hot, until the impetuous
+Gourgaud shoots out the remark that Montholon is wanting in respect
+for his wife. Whereupon the Admiral ends the scene by rising from
+table. Sir George Bingham, Colonel of the 53rd Regiment sailing in the
+squadron, passes the comment in his diary: "It is not difficult to see
+that envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness are firmly rooted in
+Napoleon's family, and that their residence in St. Helena will be
+rendered very uncomfortable by it."[548]
+
+Intrigues there are of kaleidoscopic complexity, either against the
+superior Bertrands or the rising influence of Las Cases. This official
+has but yesterday edged his way into the Emperor's inner circle, and
+Gourgaud frankly reminds him of the fact: "'If I have come [with the
+Emperor] it is because I have followed him for four years, except at
+Elba. I have saved his life; and one loves those whom one has
+obliged.... But you, sir, he did not know you even by sight: then, why
+this great devotion of yours?'--I see around me," he continues, "many
+intrigues and deceptions. Poor Gourgaud, _qu'allais-tu faire dans
+cette galere_?"[549]
+
+The young aide-de-camp's influence is not allowed to wane for lack of
+self-advertisement. Thus, when the battle of Waterloo is mentioned at
+table, he at once gives his version of it, and stoutly maintains that,
+_whatever Napoleon may say to the contrary_, he (Napoleon) did mistake
+the Prussian army for Grouchy's force: and, waxing eloquent on this
+theme, he exclaims to his neighbour, Glover, "that at one time he
+[Gourgaud] might have taken the Duke of Wellington prisoner, but he
+_desisted from it, knowing the effusion of blood it would have
+occasioned_."[550]--It is charitable to assume that this utterance was
+inspired by some liquid stronger than the alleged "stale water that
+had been to India and back."
+
+On the whole, was there ever an odder company of shipmates since the
+days of Noah? A cheery solid Admiral, a shadowy Captain Ross who can
+navigate but does not open his lips, a talkative creature of the
+secretary type, the soldierly Bingham, the graceful courtly
+Montholons, the young General who out-gascons the Gascons, the
+wire-drawn subtle Las Cases, the melancholy Grand Marshal and his
+spasmodic consort--all of them there to guard or cheer that pathetic
+central figure, the world's conqueror and world's exile.
+
+Meanwhile France was feeling the results of his recent enterprise.
+Enormous armies began to hold her down until the Bourbons, whose
+nullity was a pledge for peace, should be firmly re-established.
+Bluecher, baulked of his wish to shoot Bonaparte, was with difficulty
+dissuaded by the protests of Wellington and Louis XVIII. from blowing
+up the Pont de Jena at Paris; and the fierce veteran voiced the
+general opinion of Germans, including Metternich, that France must be
+partitioned, or at least give back Alsace and Lorraine to the
+Fatherland. Even Lord Liverpool, our cautious Premier, wrote on July
+15th that, if Bonaparte remained at large, the allies ought to retain
+all the northern fortresses as a security.[551] But the knowledge that
+the warrior was in our power led our statesmen to bear less hardly on
+France. From the outset Wellington sought to bring the allies to
+reason, and on August 11th he wrote a despatch that deserves to rank
+among his highest titles to fame. While granting that France was still
+left "in too great strength for the rest of Europe," he pointed out
+that "revolutionary France is more likely to distress the world, than
+France, however strong in her frontier, under a regular Government;
+and that is the situation in which we ought to endeavour to place
+her."
+
+This generous and statesmanlike judgment, consorting with that of the
+Czar, prevailed over the German policy of partition; and it was
+finally arranged by the Treaty of Paris of November 20th, 1815, that
+France should surrender only the frontier strips around Marienburg,
+Saarbruecken, Landau, and Chambery, also paying war indemnities and
+restoring to their lawful owners all the works of art of which
+Napoleon had rifled the chief cities of the continent. In one respect
+these terms were extraordinarily lenient. Great Britain, after bearing
+the chief financial strain of the war, might have claimed some of the
+French colonies which she restored in 1814, or at least have required
+the surrender of the French claims on part of the Newfoundland coast.
+Even this last was not done, and alone of the States that had suffered
+loss of valuable lives, we exacted no territorial indemnity for the
+war of 1815.[552] In truth, our Ministers were content with placing
+France and her ancient dynasty in an honourable position, in the hope
+that Europe would thus at last find peace; and the forty years of
+almost unbroken rest that followed justified their magnanimity.
+
+But there was one condition fundamental to the Treaty of Paris and
+essential to the peace of Europe, namely, that Napoleon should be
+securely guarded at St. Helena.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII
+
+CLOSING YEARS
+
+
+After a voyage of sixty-seven days the exiles sighted St.
+Helena--"that black wart rising out of the ocean," as Surgeon Henry
+calls it. Blank dismay laid hold of the more sensitive as they gazed
+at those frowning cliffs. What Napoleon's feelings were we know not.
+Watchful curiosity seemed to be uppermost; for as they drew near to
+Jamestown, he minutely scanned the forts through a glass. Arrangements
+having been made for his reception, he landed in the evening of the
+17th October, so as to elude the gaze of the inhabitants, and entered
+a house prepared for him in the town.
+
+On the morrow he was up at dawn, and rode with Cockburn and Bertrand
+to Longwood, the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor. The orders of
+our East India Company, to which the island then belonged, forbade his
+appropriation of Plantation House, the Governor's residence; and a
+glance at the accompanying map will show the reason of this
+prohibition. This house is situated not far from creeks that are
+completely sheltered from the south-east trade winds, whence escape by
+boat would be easy; whereas Longwood is nearer the surf-beaten side
+and offers far more security. After conferring with Governor Wilks and
+others, Cockburn decided on this residence.
+
+    "At Longwood," wrote Cockburn, "an extent of level ground, easily
+    to be secured by sentries, presents itself, perfectly adapted for
+    horse exercise, carriage exercise, or for pleasant walking, which
+    is not to be met with in all the other parts of the island. The
+    house is certainly small; but ... I trust the carpenters of the
+    'Northumberland' will in a little time be able to make such
+    additions to the house as will render it, if not as good as might
+    be wished, yet at least as commodious as necessary."[553]
+
+[Illustration: ST. HELENA]
+
+"Napoleon," wrote Glover, "seemed well satisfied with the situation of
+Longwood, and expressed a desire to occupy it as soon as possible." As
+he disliked the publicity of the house in Jamestown, Cockburn
+suggested on their return that he should reside at a pretty little
+bungalow, not far from the town, named "The Briars." He readily
+assented, and took up his abode there for seven weeks, occupying a
+small adjoining annexe, while Las Cases and his son established
+themselves in the two garrets. A marquee was erected to serve as
+dining-room. It was a narrow space for the lord of the Tuileries, but
+he seems to have been not unhappy. There he dictated Memoranda to Las
+Cases or Gourgaud in the mornings, and often joined the neighbouring
+family of the Balcombes for dinner and the evening. Mr. Balcombe, an
+elderly merchant, was appointed purveyor to the party; he and his wife
+were most hospitable, and their two daughters, of fifteen and fourteen
+years, frequently beguiled Napoleon's evening hours with games of
+whist or naive questions. On one supreme occasion, in order to please
+the younger girl, Napoleon played at blindman's buff; at such times
+she ventured to call him "Boney"; and, far from taking offence at this
+liberty, he delighted in her glee. It is such episodes as these that
+reveal the softer traits of his character, which the dictates of
+policy had stunted but not eradicated.[554]
+
+In other respects, the time at "The Briars" was dull and monotonous,
+and he complained bitterly to Cockburn of the inadequate
+accommodation. The most exciting times were on the arrival of
+newspapers from Europe. The reports just to hand of riots in England
+and royalist excesses in France fed his hopes of general disorders or
+revolutions which might lead to his recall. He believed the Jacobins
+would yet lord it over the Continent. "It is only I who can tame
+them."
+
+Equally noteworthy are his comments on the trials of Labedoyere and
+Ney for their treason to Louis XVIII. He has little pity for them.
+"One ought never to break one's word," he remarked to Gourgaud, "and I
+despise traitors." On hearing that Labedoyere was condemned to death,
+he at first shows more feeling: but he comes round to the former view:
+"Labedoyere acted like a man without honour," and "Ney dishonoured
+himself."[555]
+
+We may hereby gauge the value which Napoleon laid on fidelity. For him
+it is the one priceless virtue. He esteems those who staunchly oppose
+him, and seeks to gain them over by generosity: for those who _come
+over_ he ever has a secret contempt; for those who desert him, hatred.
+Doubtless that is why he heard the news of Ney's execution unmoved.
+Brilliantly brave as the Marshal was, he had abandoned him in 1814,
+and Louis XVIII. in the Hundred Days. The tidings of Murat's miserable
+fate, at the close of his mad expedition to Calabria, leave Napoleon
+equally cold.--"I announce the fatal news," writes Gourgaud, "to His
+Majesty, whose expression remains unchanged, and who says that Murat
+must have been mad to attempt a venture like that."--Here again his
+thoughts seem to fly back to Murat's defection in 1814. Later on, he
+says he loved him for his brilliant bravery, and therefore pardoned
+his numerous follies. But his present demeanour shows that he never
+forgave that of 1814.[556]
+
+Meanwhile, thanks to the energy of Cockburn and his sailors, Longwood
+was ready for the party (December 9th, 1815), and the Admiral hoped
+that their complaints would cease. The new abode contained five rooms
+for Napoleon's use, three for the Montholons, two for the Las Cases,
+and one for Gourgaud: it was situated on a plateau 1,730 feet above
+the sea: the air there was bracing, and on the farther side of the
+plain dotted with gum trees stretched the race-course, a mile and a
+half of excellent turf. The only obvious drawbacks were the occasional
+mists, and the barren precipitous ravines that flank the plateau on
+all sides. Seeing, however, that Napoleon disliked the publicity of
+Jamestown, the isolation of Longwood could hardly be alleged as a
+serious grievance. The Bertrands occupied Hutt's Gate, a small villa
+about a mile distant.
+
+The limits within which Napoleon might take exercise unaccompanied by
+a British officer formed a roughly triangular space having a
+circumference of about twelve miles. Outside of those bounds he must
+be so accompanied; and if a strange ship came in sight, he was to
+return within bounds. The letters of the whole party must be
+supervised by the acting Governor. This is the gist of the official
+instructions. Napoleon's dislike of being accompanied by a British
+officer led him nearly always to restrict himself to the limits and
+generally to the grounds of Longwood.
+
+And where, we may ask, could a less unpleasant place of detention have
+been found? In Europe he must inevitably have submitted to far closer
+confinement. For what safeguards could there have been proof against a
+subtle intellect and a personality whose charm fired thousands of
+braves in both hemispheres with the longing to start him once more on
+his adventures? The Tower of London, the eyrie of Dumbarton Castle,
+even Fort William itself, were named as possible places of detention.
+Were they suited to this child of the Mediterranean? He needed sun; he
+needed exercise; he needed society. All these he could have on the
+plateau of Longwood, in a singularly equable climate, where the heat
+of the tropics is assuaged by the south-east trade wind, and plants of
+the sub-tropical and temperate zones alike flourish.[557]
+
+But nothing pleased the exiles. They moped during the rains; they
+shuddered at the yawning ravines; they groaned at the sight of the
+red-coats; above all, they realized that escape was hopeless in face
+of Cockburn's watchful care. His first steps on arriving at the island
+were to send on to the Cape seventy-five foreigners whose presence was
+undesirable. He also despatched the "Peruvian" to hoist the British
+flag on the uninhabited island, Ascension, in order, as he wrote to
+the Admiralty, "to prevent America or any other nation from planting
+themselves [_sic_] there ... for the purpose of favouring sooner or
+later the escape of General Bonaparte." Four ships of war were also
+kept at St. Helena, and no merchantmen but those of the East India
+Company were to touch there except under stress of weather or when in
+need of water.
+
+These precautions early provoked protests from the exiles. Bertrand
+had no wish to draw them up in the trenchant style that the ex-Emperor
+desired; but Gourgaud's "Journal" shows that he was driven on to the
+task (November 5th). It only led to a lofty rejoinder from Cockburn,
+in which he declined to relax his system, but expressed the wish to
+render their situation "as little disagreeable as possible." On
+December 21st, Montholon returned to the charge with a letter dictated
+by Napoleon, complaining that Longwood was the most barren spot on the
+island, always deluged with rain or swathed in mist; that O'Meara was
+not to count as a British officer when they went beyond the limits,
+and had been reprimanded by the Admiral for thus acting; and that the
+treatment of the exiles would excite the indignation of all times and
+all people. To this the Admiral sent a crushing rejoinder, declining
+to explain why he had censured O'Meara or any other British subject:
+he asserted that Longwood was "the most pleasant as well as the most
+healthy spot of this most healthful island," expressed the hope that,
+when the rains had ceased, the party would change their opinion of
+Longwood, and declared that the treatment of the party would "obtain
+the admiration of future ages, as well as of every unprejudiced person
+of the present."
+
+We now know that the Admiral's trust in the judicial impartiality of
+future ages was a piece of touching credulity, and that the next
+generation, like his own, was greedily to swallow sensational slander
+and to neglect the prosaic truth. But, arguing from present signs, he
+might well believe that Montholon's letter was a tissue of falsehoods;
+for that officer soon confessed to him that "it was written in a
+moment of petulance of the General [Bonaparte] ... and that he
+[Montholon] considered the party to be in point of fact vastly well
+off and to have everything necessary for them, though anxious that
+there should be no restrictions as to the General going unattended by
+an officer wherever he pleased throughout the island."[558] On the
+last point Cockburn was inflexible.
+
+The Admiral's responsibility was now nearly at an end. On April 14th,
+1816, there landed at St. Helena Sir Hudson Lowe, the new Governor,
+who was to take over the powers wielded both by Cockburn and Wilks.
+The new arrival, on whom the storms of calumny were thenceforth
+persistently to beat, had served with distinction in many parts. Born
+in 1769, within one month of Napoleon, he early entered our army, and
+won his commission by service in Corsica and Elba, his linguistic and
+military gifts soon raising him to the command of a corps of Corsican
+exiles who after 1795 enlisted in our service. With these "Corsican
+Rangers" Lowe campaigned in Egypt and finally at Capri, their devotion
+to him nerving them to a gallant but unavailing defence of this islet
+against a superior force of Murat's troops in 1808.[559] In 1810 Lowe
+and his Corsicans captured the Isle of Santa Maura, which he
+thereafter governed to the full satisfaction of the inhabitants. Early
+in 1813 he was ordered to Russia, and thereafter served as _attache_
+on Bluecher's staff in the memorable advance to the Rhine and the
+Seine. He brought the news of Napoleon's first abdication to England,
+was knighted by the Prince Regent, and received Russian and Prussian
+orders of distinction for his services. At the close of 1814 he was
+appointed Quartermaster-General of our forces in the Netherlands and
+received flattering letters of congratulation from Bluecher and
+Gneisenau, the latter expressing his appreciation of "Your rare
+military talents, your profound judgment on the great operations of
+war, and your imperturbable _sang froid_ in the day of battle. These
+rare qualities and your honourable character will link me to you
+eternally." In 1822, when O'Meara was slandering Lowe's character, the
+Czar Alexander met his step-daughter, the Countess Balmain, at Verona,
+and in reference to Sir Hudson's painful duties at St. Helena, said of
+him: "Je l'estime beaucoup. Je l'ai connu dans les temps
+critiques."[560]
+
+Lowe's firmness of character, command of foreign languages, and
+intimate acquaintance with Corsicans, seemed to mark him out as the
+ideal Governor of St. Helena in place of the mild and scholarly Wilks.
+And yet the appointment was in some ways unfortunate. Though a man of
+sterling worth, Lowe was reserved, and had little acquaintance with
+the ways of courtiers. Moreover, the superstitious might deem that all
+the salient events of his career proclaimed him an evil genius dogging
+the steps of Napoleon; and, as superstition laid increasing hold on
+the great Corsican in his later years, we may reasonably infer that
+this feeling intensified, if it did not create, the repugnance which
+he ever manifested to _la figure sinistre_ of the Governor. Lowe also
+at first shrank from an appointment that must bring on him the
+intrigues of Napoleon and of his partisans in England. Only a man of
+high rank and commanding influence could hope to live down such
+attacks; and Lowe had neither rank nor influence. He was the son of an
+army surgeon, and was almost unknown in the country which for
+twenty-eight years he had served abroad.
+
+His first visits to Longwood were unfortunate. Cockburn and he
+arranged to go at 9 a.m., the time when Napoleon frequently went for a
+drive. On their arrival they were informed that the Emperor was
+indisposed and could not see them until 4 p.m. of the next day, and it
+soon appeared that the early hour of their call was taken as an act of
+rudeness. On the following afternoon Lowe and Cockburn arranged to go
+in together to the presence; but as Lowe advanced to the chamber,
+Bertrand stepped forward, and a valet prevented the Admiral's
+entrance, an act of incivility which Lowe did not observe. Proceeding
+alone, the new Governor offered his respects in French; but on
+Napoleon remarking that he must know Italian, for he had commanded a
+regiment of Corsicans, they conversed in Napoleon's mother-tongue. The
+ex-Emperor's first serious observation, which bore on the character of
+the Corsicans, was accompanied by a quick searching glance: "They
+carry the stiletto: are they not a bad people?"--Lowe saw the snare
+and evaded it by the reply: "They do not carry the stiletto, having
+abandoned that custom in our service: I was very well satisfied with
+them." They then conversed a short time about Egypt and other topics.
+Napoleon afterwards contrasted him favourably with Cockburn: "This new
+Governor is a man of very few words, but he appears to be a polite
+man: however, it is only from a man's conduct for some time that you
+can judge of him."[561]
+
+Cockburn was indignant at the slight put upon him by Napoleon and
+Bertrand, which succeeded owing to Lowe's want of ready perception;
+but he knew that the cause of the exiles' annoyance was his recent
+firm refusal to convey Napoleon's letter of complaint direct to the
+Prince Regent, without the knowledge of the Ministry. Failing to bend
+the Admiral, they then sought to cajole the retiring Governor, Wilks,
+who, having borne little of the responsibility of their custody, was
+proportionately better liked. First Bertrand, and then Napoleon,
+requested him to take this letter _without the knowledge of the new
+Governor_. Wilks at once repelled the request, remarking to Bertrand
+that such attempts at evasion must lead to greater stringency in the
+future. And this was the case.[562] The incident naturally increased
+Lowe's suspicion of the ex-Emperor.
+
+At first there was an uneasy truce between them. Gourgaud, though cast
+down at the departure of the "adorable" Miss Wilks, found strength
+enough to chronicle in his "Journal" the results of a visit paid by
+Las Cases to Lowe at Plantation House (April 26th): the Governor
+received the secretary very well and put all his library at the
+disposal of the party; but the diarist also notes that Napoleon took
+amiss the reception of any of his people by the Governor. This had
+been one of the unconscious crimes of the Admiral. With the hope of
+brightening the sojourn of the exiles, he had given several balls, at
+which Mmes. Bertrand and Montholon shone resplendent in dresses that
+cast into the shade those of the officers' wives. Their triumph was
+short-lived. When _la grande Marechale_ ventured to desert the
+Emperor's table on these and other festive occasions, her growing
+fondness for the English drew on her sharp rebukes from the ex-Emperor
+and a request not to treat Longwood as if it were an inn.[563] Many
+jottings in Gourgaud's diary show that the same policy was thenceforth
+strictly maintained. Napoleon kept up the essentials of Tuileries
+etiquette, required the attendance of his courtiers, and jealously
+checked any familiarity with Plantation House or Jamestown.
+
+On some questions Lowe was more pliable than the home Government,
+notably in the matter of the declarations signed by Napoleon's
+followers. But in one matter he was proof against all requests from
+Longwood: this was the extension of the twelve-mile limit. It
+afterwards became the custom to speak as if Lowe could have granted
+this. Even the Duke of Wellington declared to Stanhope that he
+considered Lowe a stupid man, suspicious and jealous, who might very
+well have let Napoleon go freely about the island provided that the
+six or seven landing-places were well guarded and that Napoleon showed
+himself to a British officer every night and morning. Now, it is
+futile to discuss whether such liberty would have enabled Napoleon to
+pass off as someone else and so escape. What is certain is that our
+Government, believing he could so escape, _imposed rules which Lowe
+was not free to relax_.
+
+Napoleon realized this perfectly well, but in the interview of April
+30th, 1816, he pressed Lowe for an extension of the limits, saying
+that he hated the sight of our soldiers and longed for closer
+intercourse with the inhabitants. Other causes of friction occurred,
+such as Lowe's withdrawal of the privilege, rather laxly granted by
+Cockburn to Bertrand, of granting passes for interviews with Napoleon;
+or again a tactless invitation that Lowe sent to "General Bonaparte"
+to meet the wife of the Governor-General of India at dinner at
+Plantation House. But in the midst of the diatribe which Napoleon
+shortly afterwards shot forth at his would-be host--a diatribe
+besprinkled with taunts that Lowe was sent to be his
+_executioner_--there came a sentence which reveals the cause of his
+fury: "If you cannot extend my limits, you can do nothing for
+me."[564]
+
+Why this wish for wider limits? It did not spring from a desire for
+longer drives; for the plateau offered nearly all the best ground in
+the island for such exercise. Neither was it due to a craving for
+wider social intercourse. There can be little doubt that he looked on
+an extension of limits as a necessary prelude to attempts at escape
+and as a means of influencing the slaves at the outlying plantations.
+Gourgaud names several instances of gold pieces being given to slaves,
+and records the glee shown by his master on once slipping away from
+the sentries and the British officer. These feelings and attempts were
+perfectly natural on Napoleon's part; but it was equally natural that
+the Governor should regard them as part of a plan of escape or
+rescue--a matter that will engage our closer attention presently.
+
+Napoleon had only two more interviews with Lowe namely, on July 17th
+and August 18th. In the former of these he was more conciliatory; but
+in the latter, at which Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm was present, he
+assailed the Governor with the bitterest taunts. Lowe cut short the
+painful scene by saying: "You make me smile, sir." "How smile, sir?"
+"You force me to smile: your misconception of my character and the
+rudeness of your manners excite my pity. I wish you good day." The
+Admiral also retired.[565]
+
+Various causes have been assigned for the hatred that Napoleon felt
+for Lowe. His frequents taunts that he was no general, but only a
+leader of Corsican deserters, suggests one that has already been
+referred to. It has also been suggested that Lowe was not a gentleman,
+and references have been approvingly made to comparisons of his
+physiognomy with that of the devil, and of his eye with "that of a
+hyaena caught in a trap." As to this we will cite the opinion of
+Lieutenant (later Colonel) Basil Jackson, who was unknown to Lowe
+before 1816, and was on friendly terms with the inmates both of
+Longwood and of Plantation House:
+
+    "He [Lowe] stood five feet seven, spare in make, having good
+    features, fair hair, and eyebrows overhanging his eyes: his look
+    denoted penetration and firmness, his manner rather abrupt, his
+    gait quick, his look and general demeanour indicative of energy
+    and decision. He wrote or dictated rapidly, and was fond of
+    writing, was well read in military history, spoke French and
+    Italian with fluency, was warm and steady in his friendships, and
+    popular both with the inhabitants of the isle and the troops. His
+    portrait, prefixed to Mr. Forsyth's book, is a perfect
+    likeness."[566]
+
+If overhanging eyebrows, a penetrating glance, and rather abrupt
+manners be thought to justify comparisons with the devil or a hyaena,
+the art of historical portraiture will assuredly have to be learnt
+over again in conformity with impressionist methods. That Lowe was a
+gentleman is affirmed by Mrs. Smith (_nee_ Grant), who, in later
+years, _when prejudiced against him by O'Meara's slanders_, met him at
+Colombo without at first knowing his name:
+
+    "I was taken in to dinner by a grave, particularly gentlemanly
+    man, in a General's uniform, whose conversation was as agreeable
+    as his manner. He had been over half the world, knew all
+    celebrities, and contrived without display to say a great deal one
+    was willing to hear.... Years before, with our Whig principles and
+    prejudices, we had cultivated in our Highland retirement a horror
+    of the great Napoleon's gaoler. The cry of party, the feeling for
+    the prisoner, the book of Surgeon O'Meara, had all worked my
+    woman's heart to such a pitch of indignation that this maligned
+    name [Lowe] was an offence. We were to hold the owner in
+    abhorrence. Speak to him, never! Look at him, sit in the same room
+    with him, never! None were louder than I, more vehement; yet here
+    was I beside my bugbear and perfectly satisfied with my position.
+    It was a good lesson."[567]
+
+The real cause of Napoleon's hatred of Lowe is hinted at by Sir George
+Bingham in his Diary (April 19th). After mentioning Napoleon's
+rudeness to Cockburn on parting with him, he proceeds:
+
+    "You have no idea of the dirty little intrigues of himself
+    [Napoleon] and his set: if Sir H. Lowe has firmness enough not to
+    give way to them, he will in a short time treat him in the same
+    manner. For myself, it is said I am a favourite [of Napoleon],
+    though I do not understand the claim I have to such."[568]
+
+
+Yes! Lowe's offence lay not in his manners, not even in his features,
+but in his firmness. Napoleon soon saw that all his efforts to bend
+him were in vain. Neither in regard to the Imperial title, nor the
+limits, nor the transmission of letters to Europe, would the Governor
+swerve a hair's breadth from his instructions. At the risk of giving a
+surfeit of quotations, we must cite two more on this topic. Basil
+Jackson, when at Paris in 1828, chanced to meet Montholon, and was
+invited to his Chateau de Fremigny; during his stay the conversation
+turned upon their sojourn at St. Helena, to the following effect:
+
+    "He [Montholon] enlarged upon what he termed _la politique de
+    Longwood_, spoke not unkindly of Sir Hudson Lowe, allowing he had
+    a difficult task to execute, since an angel from Heaven, as
+    Governor, could not have pleased them. When I more than hinted
+    that nothing could justify detraction and departure from truth in
+    carrying out a policy, he merely shrugged his shoulders and
+    reiterated: '_C'etait notre politique; et que voulez-vous?_' That
+    he and the others respected Sir Hudson Lowe, I had not the shadow
+    of a doubt: nay, in a conversation with Montholon at St. Helena,
+    when speaking of the Governor, he observed that Sir Hudson was an
+    officer who would always have distinguished employment, as all
+    Governments were glad of the services of a man of his calibre.
+
+    "Happening to mention that, owing to his inability to find an
+    officer who could understand and speak French, the Governor was
+    disposed to employ me as orderly officer at Longwood, Montholon
+    said it was well for me that I was not appointed to the post, as
+    they did not want a person in that capacity who could understand
+    them; in fact, he said, we should have found means to get rid of
+    you, and perhaps ruined you."[569]
+
+
+Las Cases also, _in a passage that he found it desirable to suppress
+when he published his "Journal"_ wrote as follows (November 30th,
+1815):
+
+    "We are possessed of moral arms only: and in order to make the
+    most advantageous use of these it was necessary to reduce into _a
+    system_ our demeanour, our words, our sentiments, _even our
+    privations_, in order that we might thereby excite a lively
+    interest in a large portion of the population of Europe, and that
+    the Opposition in England might not fail to attack the Ministry on
+    the violence of their conduct towards us."[570]
+
+We are now able to understand the real nature of the struggle that
+went on between Longwood and Plantation House. Napoleon and his
+followers sought by every means to bring odium upon Lowe, and to
+furnish the Opposition at Westminster with toothsome details that
+might lead to the disgrace of the Governor, the overthrow of the
+Ministry, and the triumphant release of the ex-Emperor. On the other
+hand, the knowledge of the presence of traitors on the island, and of
+possible rescuers hovering about on the horizon, kept Lowe ever at
+work "unravelling the intricate plotting constantly going on at
+Longwood," until his face wore the preoccupied worried look that
+Surgeon Henry describes.
+
+That both antagonists somewhat overacted their parts does not surprise
+us when we think of the five years thus spent within a narrow space
+and under a tropical sun. Lowe was at times pedantic, witness his
+refusal to forward to Longwood books inscribed to the "Emperor
+Napoleon," and his suspicions as to the political significance of
+green and white beans offered by Montholon to the French Commissioner,
+Montchenu. But such incidents can be paralleled from the lives of most
+officials who bear a heavy burden of responsibility. And who has ever
+borne a heavier burden?[571]
+
+Napoleon also, in his calmer moods, regretted the violence of his
+language to the Governor. He remarked to Montholon: "This is the
+second time in my life that I have spoilt my affairs with the English.
+Their phlegm leads me on, and I say more than I ought. I should have
+done better not to have replied to him." This reference to his attack
+on Whitworth in 1803 flashes a ray of light on the diatribe against
+Lowe. In both cases, doubtless, the hot southron would have bridled
+his passion sooner, had it produced any visible effect on the colder
+man of the north. Nevertheless, the scene of August 18th, 1816, had an
+abiding influence on his relations with the Governor. For the rest of
+that weary span of years they never exchanged a word.
+
+Lowe's official reports prove that he did not cease to consult the
+comfort of the exiles as far as it was possible. The building of the
+new house, however, remained in abeyance, as Napoleon refused to give
+any directions on the subject: and the much-needed repairs to Longwood
+were stopped owing to his complaints of the noise of the workmen. But
+by ordering the claret that the ex-Emperor preferred, and by sending
+occasional presents of game to Longwood, Lowe sought to keep up the
+ordinary civilities of life; and when the home Government sought to
+limit the annual cost of the Longwood household to L8,000, Lowe took
+upon himself to increase that sum by one half.
+
+Napoleon's behaviour in this last affair is noteworthy. On hearing of
+the need for greater economy, he readily assented, sent away seven
+servants, and ordered a reduction in the consumption of wine. A day or
+two later, however, he gave orders that some of his silver plate
+should be sold in order "to provide those little comforts denied
+them." Balcombe was accordingly sent for, and, on expressing regret to
+Napoleon at the order for sale, received the reply: "_What is the use
+of plate when you have nothing to eat off it?_" Lowe quietly directed
+Balcombe to seal up the plate sent to him, and to advance money up to
+its value (L250); but other portions of the plate were broken and sold
+later on. O'Meara reveals the reason for these proceedings in his
+letter of October 10th: "In this he [Napoleon] has also a wish to
+excite odium against the Governor by saying that he has been obliged
+to sell his plate in order to provide against starvation, _as he
+himself told me was his object_."[572]
+
+Another incident that embittered the relations between Napoleon and
+the Governor was the arrival from England of more stringent
+regulations for his custody. The chief changes thus brought about
+(October 9th, 1816) were a restriction of the limits from a
+twelve-mile to an eight-mile circumference and the posting of a ring
+of sentries at a slight distance from Longwood at sunset instead of at
+9 p.m.[573] The latter change is to be regretted; for it marred the
+pleasure of Napoleon's evening strolls in his garden; but, as the
+Governor pointed out, the three hours after sunset had been the
+easiest time for escape. The restriction of limits was needful, not
+only in order to save our troops the labour of watching a wide area
+that was scarcely ever used for exercise, but also to prevent
+underhand intercourse with slaves.
+
+Was there really any need for these "nation-degrading" rules, as
+O'Meara called them? Or were they imposed in order to insult the great
+man? A reference to the British archives will show that there was some
+reason for them. Schemes of rescue were afoot that called for the
+greatest vigilance.
+
+As we have seen (page 527, note), a letter had on August 2nd, 1815,
+been directed to Mme. Bertrand (really for Napoleon) at Plymouth,
+stating that the writer had placed sums of money with well-known firms
+of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charlestown on his behalf, and
+that he (Napoleon) had only to make known his wishes "_avec le the de
+la Chine ou les mousselines de l'Inde_": for the rest, the writer
+hoped much from English merchantmen. This letter, after wide
+wanderings, fell into our hands and caused our Government closely to
+inspect all letters and merchandise that passed into, or out of, St.
+Helena. Its attention was directed specially to the United States.
+There the Napoleonic cult had early taken root, thanks to his
+overthrow of the kings and his easy sale of Louisiana; the glorifying
+haze of distance fostered its growth; and now the martyrdom of St.
+Helena brought it to full maturity. Enthusiasm and money alike
+favoured schemes of rescue.
+
+In our St. Helena Records (No. 4) are reports as to two of them.
+Forwarded by the Spanish Ambassador at Washington, the first reached
+Madrid on May 9th, 1816, and stated that a man named Carpenter had
+offered to Joseph Bonaparte (then in the States) to rescue Napoleon,
+and had set sail on a ship for that purpose. This was at once made
+known to Lord Bathurst, our Minister for War and the Plantations, who
+forwarded it to Lowe. In August of that year our Foreign Office also
+received news that four schooners and other smaller vessels had set
+sail from Baltimore on June 14th with 300 men under an old French
+naval officer, named Fournier, ostensibly to help Bolivar, but really
+to rescue Bonaparte. These fast-sailing craft were to lie out of sight
+of the island by day, creep up at night to different points, and send
+boats to shore; from each of these a man, _in English uniform_, was to
+land and proceed to Longwood, warning Napoleon of the points where the
+boats would be ready to receive him. The report concludes:
+"Considerable sums in gold and diamonds will be put at his disposal to
+bribe those who may be necessary to him. They seem to flatter
+themselves of a certain co-operation on the part of certain
+individuals domiciled or employed at St. Helena."[574]
+
+Bathurst sent on to Lowe a copy of this intelligence. Forsyth does not
+name the affair, though he refers to other warnings, received at
+various times by Bathurst and forwarded to the Governor, that there
+were traitors in the island who had been won over by Napoleon's gold
+to aid his escape.[575] I cannot find out that the plans described
+above were put to the test, though suspicious vessels sometimes
+appeared and were chased away by our cruisers. But when we are
+considering the question whether Bathurst and Lowe were needlessly
+strict or not, the point at issue is _whether plans of escape or
+rescue existed, and if so, whether they knew of them_. As to this
+there cannot be the shadow of doubt; and it is practically certain
+that they were the cause of the new regulations of October 9th, 1816.
+
+We have now traced the course of events during the first critical
+twelvemonth; we have seen how friction burst into a flame, how the
+chafing of that masterful spirit against all restraint served but to
+tighten the inclosing grasp, and how the attempts of his misguided
+friends in America and Europe changed a fairly lax detention into
+actual custody. It is a vain thing to toy with the "might-have-beens"
+of history; but we can fancy a man less untamable than Napoleon
+frankly recognizing that he had done with active life by assuming a
+feigned name (_e.g._, that of Colonel Muiron, which he once thought
+of) and settling down in that equable retreat to the congenial task of
+compiling his personal and military Memoirs. If he ever intended to
+live as a country squire in England, there were equal facilities for
+such a life in St. Helena, with no temptations to stray back into
+politics. The climate was better for him than that of England, and the
+possibilities for exercise greater than could there have been allowed.
+Books there were in abundance--2,700 of them at last: he had back
+files of the "Moniteur" for his writings, and copies of "The Times"
+came regularly from Plantation House: a piano had been bought in
+England for L120. Finally there were the six courtiers whose jealous
+devotion, varying moods, and frequent quarrels furnished a daily
+comedietta that still charms posterity.
+
+What then was wanting? Unfortunately everything was wanting. He cared
+not for music, or animals, or, in recent years, for the chase. He
+himself divulged the secret, in words uttered to Gallois in the days
+of his power: "_Je n'aime pas beaucoup les femmes, ni le jeu--enfin
+rien: je suis tout a fait un etre politique!_"--He never ceased to
+love politics and power. At St. Helena he pictured himself as winning
+over the English, had he settled there. Ah! if I were in England, he
+said, I should have conquered all hearts.[576] And assuredly he would
+have done so. How could men so commonplace as the Prince Regent,
+Liverpool, Castlereagh, and Bathurst have made head against the
+influence of a truly great and enthralling personality? Or if he had
+gone to the United States, who would have competed with him for the
+Presidency?
+
+As it was, he chose to remain indoors, in order to figure as the
+prisoner of Longwood,[577] and spent his time between intrigues
+against Lowe and dictation of Memoirs. On the subject of Napoleon's
+writings we cannot here enter, save to say that his critiques of
+Caesar, Turenne, and Frederick the Great, are of great interest and
+value; that the records of his own campaigns, though highly
+suggestive, need to be closely checked by the original documents,
+seeing that he had not all the needful facts and figures at hand; and
+that his record of political events is in the main untrustworthy: it
+is an elaborate device for enhancing the Napoleonic tradition and
+assuring the crown to the King of Rome.
+
+We turn, then, to take a brief glance at his last years. The first
+event that claims notice is the arrest of Las Cases. This subtle
+intriguer had soon earned the hatred of Montholon and Gourgaud, who
+detested "the little Jesuit" for his Malvolio-like airs of importance
+and the hints of Napoleon that he would have ceremonial precedence
+over them. His rapid rise into favour was due to his conversational
+gifts, literary ability, and thorough knowledge of the English people
+and language. This last was specially important. Napoleon very much
+wished to learn our language, as he hoped that any mail might bring
+news of the triumph of the Whigs and an order for his own departure
+for England. His studies with Las Cases were more persevering than
+successful, as will be seen from the following curious letter, written
+apparently in the watches of the night: it has been recently
+re-published by M. de Brotonne.
+
+    "COUNT LASCASES,
+
+    "Since sixt week y learn the English and y do not any progress.
+    Sixt week do fourty and two day. If might have learn fivty word,
+    for day, i could know it two thousands and two hundred. It is in
+    the dictionary more of fourty thousand: even he could most twenty;
+    bot much of tems. For know it or hundred and twenty week, which do
+    more two years. After this you shall agree that the study one
+    tongue is a great labour who it must do into the young aged."
+
+How much farther Napoleon progressed in his efforts to absorb our
+language by these mathematical methods we do not know; for no other
+English letter of his seems to be extant. The arrest and departure of
+his tutor soon occurred, and there are good grounds for assigning this
+ultimately to the jealousy of the less cultured Generals. Thus, we
+find Gourgaud asserting that Las Cases has come to St. Helena solely
+"in order to get talked about, write anecdotes, and make money."
+Montholon also did his best to render the secretary's life miserable,
+and on one occasion predicted to Gourgaud that Las Cases would soon
+leave the island.[578]
+
+The forecast speedily came true. The secretary intrusted to his
+servant, a dubious mulatto named Scott, two letters for Europe sewn up
+in a waistcoat: one of them was a long letter to Lucien Bonaparte. The
+servant showed the letters to his father, who in some alarm revealed
+the matter to the Governor. It is curious as illustrating the state of
+suspicion then prevalent at St. Helena, that Las Cases accused the
+Scotts of being tools of the Governor; that Lowe saw in the affair the
+frayed end of a Longwood scheme; while the residents there suspected
+Las Cases of arranging matters as a means of departure from the
+island. There was much to justify this last surmise. Las Cases and his
+son were unwell; their position in the household was very
+uncomfortable; and for a skilled intriguer to intrust an important
+letter to a slave, who was already in the Governor's black books, was
+truly a singular proceeding. Besides, after the arrest, when the
+Governor searched Las Cases' papers in his presence, they were found
+to be in good order, among them being parts of his "Journal." Napoleon
+himself thought Las Cases guilty of a piece of extraordinary folly,
+though he soon sought to make capital out of the arrest by comparing
+the behaviour of our officers and their orderlies with "South Sea
+savages dancing around a prisoner that they are about to devour."[579]
+After a short detention at Ross Cottage, _when he declined the
+Governor's offer that he should return to Longwood_, the secretary was
+sent to the Cape, and thence made his way to France, where a judicious
+editing of his "Memoirs" and "Journal" gained for their compiler a
+rich reward.
+
+Gourgaud is the next to leave. The sensitive young man has long been
+tormented by jealousy. His diary becomes the long-drawn sigh of a
+generous but vain nature, when soured by real or fancied neglect.
+Though often unfair to Napoleon, whose egotism the slighted devotee
+often magnifies into colossal proportions, the writer unconsciously
+bears witness to the wondrous fascination that held the little Court
+in awe. The least attention shown to the Montholons costs "Gogo" a fit
+of spleen or a sleepless night, scarcely to be atoned for on the
+morrow by soothing words, by chess, or reversi, or help at the
+manuscript of "Waterloo." Again and again Napoleon tries to prove to
+him that the Montholons ought to have precedence: it is in vain. At
+last the crisis comes: it is four years since the General saved the
+Emperor from a Cossack's lance at Brienne, and the recollection
+renders his present "humiliations" intolerable. He challenges
+Montholon to a duel; Napoleon strictly forbids it; and the aggrieved
+officer seeks permission to depart.
+
+Napoleon grants his request. It seems that the chief is weary of his
+moody humours; he further owes him a grudge for writing home to his
+mother frank statements of the way in which the Longwood exiles are
+treated. These letters were read by Lowe and Bathurst, and their
+general purport seems to have been known in French governmental
+circles, where they served as an antidote to the poisonous stories
+circulated by Napoleon and his more diplomatic followers. Clearly
+nothing is to be made of Gourgaud; and so he departs (February 13th,
+1818). Bidding a tearful adieu, he goes with Basil Jackson to spend
+six weeks with him at a cottage near Plantation House, when he is
+astonished at the delicate reserve shown by the Governor. He then sets
+sail for England. The only money he has is _L100_ advanced by Lowe.
+Napoleon's money he has refused to accept.[580]
+
+And yet he did not pass out of his master's life. Landing in England
+on May 1st, he had a few interviews with our officials, in which he
+warned them that Napoleon's escape would be quite easy, and gave a
+hint as to O'Meara being the tool of Napoleon. But soon the young
+General came into touch with the leaders of the Opposition. No change
+in his sentiments is traceable until August 25th, when he indited a
+letter to Marie Louise, asserting that Napoleon was dying "in the
+torments of the longest and most frightful agony," a prey to the
+cruelty of England! To what are we to attribute this change of front?
+The editors of Gourgaud's "Journal" maintain that there was no change;
+they hint that the "Journal" may have been an elaborate device for
+throwing dust into Lowe's eyes; and they point to the fact that before
+leaving the island Gourgaud received secret instructions from Napoleon
+bidding him convey to Europe several small letters sewn into the soles
+of his boots. Whether he acted on these instructions may be doubted;
+for at his departure he gave his word of honour to Lowe that he was
+not the bearer of any paper, pamphlet, or letter from Longwood.
+Furthermore, we hear nothing of these secret letters afterwards; and
+he allowed nearly four months to elapse in England before he wrote to
+Marie Louise. The theory referred to above seems quite untenable in
+face of these facts.[581]
+
+How, then, are we to explain Gourgaud's conduct at St. Helena and
+afterwards? Now, in threading the mendacious labyrinths of St. Helena
+literature it is hard ever to find a wholly satisfactory clue; but
+Basil Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena" (p. 103) seems to supply it
+in the following passage:
+
+    "To finish about Gourgaud, I may add that on his reaching England,
+    after one or two interviews with the Under-Secretary of State, he
+    fell into the hands of certain Radicals of note, who represented
+    to him the folly of his conduct in turning against Napoleon; that,
+    as his adherent, he was really somebody, whereas he was only
+    ruining himself by appearing inimical. In short, they so worked
+    upon the poor weak man, that he was induced to try and make it
+    appear that he was still _l'homme de l'Empereur:_ this he did by
+    inditing a letter to Marie Louise, in which he inveighed against
+    the treatment of Napoleon at the hands of the Government and Sir
+    H. Lowe, which being duly published, Gourgaud fell to zero in the
+    opinion of all right-minded persons."
+
+This seems consonant with what we know of Gourgaud's character: frank,
+volatile, and sensitive, he could never have long sustained a policy
+of literary and diplomatic deceit. He was not a compound of Chatterton
+and Fouche. His "Journal" is the artless outpouring of wounded vanity
+and brings us close to the heart of the hero-worshipper and his hero.
+At times the idol falls and is shivered but love places it on the
+shrine again and again, until the fourth anniversary of Brienne finds
+the spell broken. Even before he leaves St. Helena the old fascination
+is upon him once more; and then Napoleon seeks to utilize his devotion
+for the purpose of a political mission. Gourgaud declines the _role_
+of agent, pledges his word to the Governor, and keeps it; but, thanks
+to British officialism or the seductions of the Opposition,
+hero-worship once more gains the day and enrolls him beside Las Cases
+and Montholon. This we believe to be the real Gourgaud, a genuine,
+lovable, but flighty being, as every page of his "Journal" shows.
+
+One cannot but notice in passing the extraordinary richness of St.
+Helena literature. Nearly all the exiles kept diaries or memoirs, or
+wrote them when they returned to Europe. And, on the other hand, of
+all the 10,000 Britons whom Napoleon detained in France for eleven
+years, not one has left a record that is ever read to-day.
+Consequently, while the woes of Napoleon have been set forth in every
+civilized tongue, the world has forgotten the miseries causelessly
+inflicted on 10,000 English families. The advantages possessed by a
+memoir-writing nation over one that is but half articulate could not
+be better illustrated. For the dumb Britons not a single tear is ever
+shed; whereas the voluble inmates of Longwood used their pens to such
+effect that half the world still believes them to have been bullied
+twice a week by Lowe, plied with gifts of poisoned coffee, and nearly
+eaten up by rats at night. On this last topic we are treated to tales
+of part of a slave's leg being eaten off while he slept at
+Longwood--nay, of a horse's leg also being gnawed away at night--so
+that our feelings are divided between pity for the sufferers and envy
+at the soundness of their slumbers.
+
+Longwood was certainly far from being a suitable abode; but a word
+from Napoleon would have led to the erection of the new house on a
+site that he chose to indicate. The materials had all been brought
+from England; but the word was not spoken until a much later time; and
+the inference is inevitable that he preferred to remain where he was
+so that he could represent himself as lodged in _cette grange
+insalubre._[582] The third of the Longwood household to depart was the
+surgeon, O'Meara. The conduct of this British officer in facilitating
+Napoleon's secret correspondence has been so fully exposed by Forsyth
+and Seaton that we may refer our readers to their works for proofs of
+his treachery. Gourgaud's "Journal" reveals the secret influence that
+seduced him. Chancing once to refer to the power of money over
+Englishmen, Napoleon remarked that that was why we did not want him to
+draw sums from Europe, and continued: "_Le docteur n'est si bien pour
+moi que depuis que je lui donne mon argent. Ah! j'en suis bien sur, de
+celui-la!"_[583] This disclosure enables us to understand why the
+surgeon, after being found out and dismissed from the service, sought
+to blacken the character of Sir Hudson Lowe by every conceivable
+device. The wonder is that he succeeded in imposing his version of
+facts on a whole generation.
+
+The next physician who resided at Longwood, Dr. Stokoe, was speedily
+cajoled into disobeying the British regulations and underwent official
+disgrace. An attempt was then made, through Montholon, to bribe his
+successor, Dr. Verling, who indignantly repelled it and withdrew from
+his duty.[584]
+
+There can be no doubt that Napoleon found pleasure in these intrigues.
+In his last interview with Stuermer, the Austrian Commissioner at St.
+Helena, Gourgaud said, in reference to this topic: "However unhappy he
+[Napoleon] is here, he secretly enjoys the importance attached to his
+custody, the interest that the Powers take in it, and the care taken
+to collect his least words." Napoleon also once remarked to Gourgaud
+that it was better to be at St. Helena than as he was at Elba.[585] Of
+the same general tenour are his striking remarks, reported by Las
+Cases at the close of his first volume:
+
+    "Our situation here may even have its attractions. The universe is
+    looking at us. We remain the martyrs of an immortal cause:
+    millions of men weep for us, the fatherland sighs, and Glory is in
+    mourning. We struggle here against the oppression of the gods, and
+    the longings of the nations are for us.... Adversity was wanting
+    to my career. If I had died on the throne amidst the clouds of my
+    omnipotence, I should have remained a problem for many men:
+    to-day, thanks to misfortune, they can judge of me naked as I am."
+
+In terseness of phrase, vividness of fancy, and keenness of insight
+into the motives that sway mankind, this passage is worthy of
+Napoleon. He knew that his exile at St. Helena would dull the memory
+of the wrongs which he had done to the cause of liberty, and that from
+that lonely peak would go forth the legend of the new Prometheus
+chained to the rock by the kings and torn every day by the ravening
+vulture. The world had rejected his gospel of force; but would it not
+thrill responsive to the gospel of pity now to be enlisted in his
+behalf? His surmise was amazingly true. The world was thrilled. The
+story worked wonders, not directly for him, but for his fame and his
+dynasty. The fortunes of his race began to revive from the time when
+the popular imagination transfigured Napoleon the Conqueror into
+Napoleon the Martyr. Viewed in this light, and thrown up into telling
+relief against the sinister policy of the Holy Alliance of the
+monarchs, the dreary years spent at St. Helena were not the least
+successful of his career. Without them there could have been no second
+Napoleonic Empire.
+
+Not that his life there was a "long-drawn agony." His health was
+fairly good. There were seasons of something like enjoyment, when he
+gave himself up to outdoor recreations. Such a time was the latter
+part of 1819 and the first half of 1820: we may call it the Indian
+summer of his life, for he was then possessed with a passion for
+gardening. Lightly clad and protected by a broad-brimmed hat, he went
+about, sometimes spade in hand, superintending various changes in the
+grounds at Longwood and around the new house which was being erected
+for him hard by. Or at other times he used the opportunity afforded by
+the excavations to show how infantry might be so disposed on a hastily
+raised slope as to bring a terrific fire to bear on attacking cavalry.
+Marshalling his followers at dawn by the sound of a bell, he made them
+all, counts, valets, and servants, dig trenches as if for the front
+ranks, and throw up the earth for the rear ranks: then, taking his
+stand in front, as the shortest man, and placing the tallest at the
+rear (his Swiss valet, Noverraz), he triumphantly showed how the
+horsemen might be laid low by the rolling volleys of ten ranks.[586]
+In May or June he took once more to horse exercise, and for a time his
+health benefited from all this activity. His relations with the
+Governor were peaceful, if not cordial, and the limits were about this
+time extended.
+
+Indoors there were recreations other than work at the Memoirs. He
+often played chess and billiards, at the latter using his hand instead
+of the cue! Dinner was generally at a very late hour, and afterwards
+he took pleasure in reading aloud. Voltaire was the favourite author,
+and Montholon afterwards confessed to Lord Holland that the same
+plays, especially "Zaire," were read rather too often.
+
+    "Napoleon slept himself when read to, but he was very observant
+    and jealous if others slept while he read. He watched his audience
+    vigilantly, and _'Mme. Montholon, vous dormez'_ was a frequent
+    ejaculation in the course of reading. He was animated with all
+    that he read, especially poetry, enthusiastic at beautiful
+    passages, impatient of faults, and full of ingenious and lively
+    remarks on style."[587]
+
+During this same halcyon season two priests, who had been selected by
+the Bonapartes, arrived in the island, as also a Corsican doctor,
+Antommarchi. Napoleon was disappointed with all three. The doctor,
+though a learned anatomist, knew little of chemistry, and at an early
+interview with Napoleon passed a catechism on this subject so badly
+that he was all but chased from the room. The priests came off little
+better. The elder of them, Buonavita by name, had lived in Mexico, and
+could talk of little else: he soon fell ill, and his stay in St.
+Helena was short. The other, a Corsican named Vignali, having neither
+learning, culture, nor dialectical skill, was tolerated as a
+respectable adjunct to the household, but had little or no influence
+over the master. This is to be regretted on many grounds, and partly
+because his testimony throws no light on Napoleon's religious views.
+
+Here we approach a problem that perhaps can never be cleared up.
+Unfathomable on many sides of his nature, Napoleon is nowhere more so
+than when he confronts the eternal verities. That he was a convinced
+and orthodox Catholic few will venture to assert. At Elba he said to
+Lord Ebrington: "_Nous ne savons d'ou nous venons, ce que nous
+deviendrons_": the masses ought to have some "fixed point of faith
+whereon to rest their thoughts."--"_Je suis Catholique parce que mon
+pere l'etoit, et parce que c'etoit la religion de la France_." He also
+once or twice expressed to Campbell scorn of the popular creed: and
+during his last voyage, as we have seen, he showed not the slightest
+interest in the offer of a priest at Funchal to accompany him. At St.
+Helena the party seems to have limited the observances of religion to
+occasional reading of the Bible. When Mme. Montholon presented her
+babe to the Emperor, he teasingly remarked that Las Cases was the most
+suitable person to christen the infant; to which the mother at once
+replied that Las Cases was not a good enough Christian for that.
+
+Judging from the entries in Gourgaud's "Journal," this young General
+pondered more than the rest on religious questions; and to him
+Napoleon unbosomed his thoughts.--Matter, he says, is everywhere and
+pervades everything; life, thought, and the soul itself are but
+properties of matter, and death ends all. When Gourgaud points to the
+majestic order of the universe as bearing witness to a Creator,
+Napoleon admits that he believes in "superior intelligences": he avers
+that he would believe in Christianity if it had been the original and
+universal creed: but then the Mohammedans "follow a religion simpler
+and more adapted to their morality than ours." In ten years their
+founder conquered half the world, which Christianity took three
+hundred years to accomplish. Or again, he refers to the fact that
+Laplace, Monge, Berthollet, and Lagrange were all atheists, though
+they did not proclaim the fact; as for himself, he finds the idea of
+God to be natural; it has existed at all times and among all peoples.
+But once or twice he ends this vague talk with the remarkable
+confession that the sight of myriad deaths in war has made him a
+materialist. "Matter is everything."--"Vanity of vanities!"[588]
+
+Mirrored as these dialogues are in the eddies of Gourgaud's moods,
+they may tinge his master's theology with too much of gloom: but,
+after all, they are by far the most lifelike record of Napoleon's
+later years, and they show us a nature dominated by the tangible. As
+for belief in the divine Christ, there seems not a trace. A report has
+come down to us, enshrined in Newman's prose, that Napoleon once
+discoursed of the ineffable greatness of Christ, contrasting His
+enduring hold on the hearts of men with the evanescent rule of
+Alexander and Caesar. One hopes that the words were uttered; but they
+conflict with Napoleon's undoubted statements. Sometimes he spoke in
+utter uncertainty; at others, as one who wished to believe in
+Christianity and might perhaps be converted. But in the political
+testament designed for his son, the only reference to religion is of
+the diplomatic description that we should expect from the author of
+the "Concordat": "Religious ideas have more influence than certain
+narrow-minded philosophers are willing to believe: they are capable of
+rendering great services to Humanity. By standing well with the Pope,
+an influence is still maintained over the consciences of a hundred
+millions of men."
+
+Equally vague was Napoleon's own behaviour as his end drew nigh. For
+some time past a sharp internal pain--the stab of a penknife, he
+called it--had warned him of his doom; in April, 1821, when vomiting
+and prostration showed that the dread ancestral malady was drawing on
+apace, he bade the Abbe Vignali prepare the large dining-room of
+Longwood as a _chapelle ardente_; and, observing a smile on
+Antommarchi's face, the sick man hotly rebuked his affectation of
+superiority. Montholon, on his return to England, informed Lord
+Holland that extreme unction was administered before the end came,
+Napoleon having ordered that this should be done as if solely on
+Montholon's responsibility, and that the priest, when questioned on
+the subject, was to reply that he had acted on Montholon's orders,
+without having any knowledge of the Emperor's wishes. It was
+accordingly administered, but apparently he was insensible at the
+time.[589] In his will, also, he declared that he died in communion
+with the Apostolical Roman Church, in whose bosom he was born. There,
+then, we must leave this question, shrouded in the mystery that hangs
+around so much of his life.
+
+The decease of a great man is always affecting: but the death of the
+hero who had soared to the zenith of military glory and civic
+achievement seems to touch the very nadir of calamity. Outliving his
+mighty Empire, girt around by a thousand miles of imprisoning ocean,
+guarded by his most steadfast enemies, his son a captive at the Court
+of the Hapsburgs, and his Empress openly faithless, he sinks from
+sight like some battered derelict. And Nature is more pitiless than
+man. The Governor urges on him the best medical advice: but he will
+have none of it. He feels the grip of cancer, the disease which had
+carried off his father and was to claim the gay Caroline and Pauline.
+At times he surmises the truth: at others he calls out "_le foie_"
+"_le foie_." Meara had alleged that his pains were due to a liver
+complaint brought on by his detention at St. Helena; Antommarchi
+described the illness as gastric fever (_febbre gastrica pituitosa_);
+and not until Dr. Arnott was called in on the 1st of April was the
+truth fully recognized.
+
+At the close of the month the symptoms became most distressing,
+aggravated as they were by the refusal of the patient to take medicine
+or food, or to let himself be moved. On May 4th, at Dr. Arnott's
+insistence, some calomel was secretly administered and with beneficial
+results, the patient sleeping and even taking some food. This was his
+last rally: on the morrow, while a storm was sweeping over the island,
+and tearing up large trees, his senses began to fail: Montholon
+thought he heard the words _France, armee, tete d'armee, Josephine_:
+he lingered on insensible for some hours: the storm died down: the sun
+bathed the island in a flood of glory, and, as it dipped into the
+ocean, the great man passed away.
+
+By the Governor's orders Dr. Arnott remained in the room until the
+body could be medically examined--a precaution which, as Montchenu
+pointed out, would prevent any malicious attempt on the part of the
+Longwood servants to cause death to appear as the result of poisoning.
+The examination, conducted in the presence of seven medical men and
+others, proved that all the organs were sound except the ulcerated
+stomach; the liver was rather large, but showed no signs of disease;
+the heart, on the other hand, was rather under the normal size. Far
+from showing the emaciation that usually results from prolonged
+inability to take food, the body was remarkably stout--a fact which
+shows that that tenacious will had its roots in an abnormally firm
+vitality.[590]
+
+After being embalmed, the body was laid out in state, and all
+beholders were struck with the serene and beautiful expression of the
+face: the superfluous flesh sank away after death, leaving the
+well-proportioned features that moved the admiration of men during the
+Consulate.
+
+Clad in his favourite green uniform, he fared forth to his
+resting-place under two large weeping willow trees in a secluded
+valley: the coffin, surmounted by his sword and the cloak he had worn
+at Marengo, was borne with full military honours by grenadiers of the
+20th and 66th Regiments before a long line of red-coats; and their
+banners, emblazoned with the names of "Talavera," "Albuera,"
+"Pyrenees," and "Orthez," were lowered in a last salute to our mighty
+foe. Salvos of artillery and musketry were fired over the grave: the
+echoes rattled upwards from ridge to ridge and leaped from the
+splintery peaks far into the wastes of ocean to warn the world beyond
+that the greatest warrior and administrator of all the ages had sunk
+to rest.
+
+His ashes were not to remain in that desolate nook: in a clause of his
+will he expressed the desire that they should rest by the banks of the
+Seine among the people he had loved so well. In 1840 they were
+disinterred in presence of Bertrand, Gourgaud, and Marchand, and borne
+to France. Paris opened her arms to receive the mighty dead; and Louis
+Philippe, on whom he had once prophesied that the crown of France
+would one day rest, received the coffin in state under the dome of the
+_Invalides_. There he reposes, among the devoted people whom by his
+superhuman genius he raised to bewildering heights of glory, only to
+dash them to the depths of disaster by his monstrous errors.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Viewing his career as a whole, it seems just and fair to assert that
+the fundamental cause of his overthrow is to be found, not in the
+failings of the French, for they served him with a fidelity that would
+wring tears of pity from Rhadamanthus; not in the treachery of this or
+that general or politician, for that is little when set against the
+loyalty of forty millions of men; but in the character of the man and
+of his age. Never had mortal man so grand an opportunity of ruling
+over a chaotic Continent: never had any great leader antagonists so
+feeble as the rulers who opposed his rush to supremacy. At the dawn of
+the nineteenth century the old monarchies were effete: insanity
+reigned in four dynasties, and weak or time-serving counsels swayed
+the remainder. For several years their counsellors and generals were
+little better. With the exception of Pitt and Nelson, who were carried
+off by death, and of Wellington, who had but half an army, Napoleon
+never came face to face with thoroughly able, well-equipped, and
+stubborn opponents until the year 1812.
+
+It seems a paradox to say that this excess of good fortune largely
+contributed to his ruin: yet it is true. His was one of those
+thick-set combative natures that need timely restraint if their best
+qualities are to be nurtured and their domineering instincts curbed.
+Just as the strongest Ministry prances on to ruin if the Opposition
+gives no effective check, so it was with Napoleon. Had he in his early
+manhood taken to heart the lessons of adversity, would he have
+ventured at the same time to fight Wellington in Spain and the Russian
+climate in the heart of the steppes? Would he have spurned the offers
+of an advantageous peace made to him from Prague in 1813? Would he
+have let slip the chance of keeping the "natural frontiers" of France
+after Leipzig, and her old boundaries, when brought to bay in
+Champagne? Would he have dared the uttermost at all points at
+Waterloo? In truth, after his fortieth year was past, the fervid
+energies of youth hardened in the mould of triumph; and thence came
+that fatal obstinacy which was his bane at all those crises of his
+career. For in the meantime the cause of European independence had
+found worthy champions--smaller men than Napoleon, it is true, but men
+who knew that his determination to hold out everywhere and yield
+nothing must work his ruin. Finally, the same clinging to unreal hopes
+and the same love of fight characterized his life in St. Helena; so
+that what might have been a time of calm and dignified repose was
+marred by fictitious clamours and petty intrigues altogether unworthy
+of his greatness.
+
+For, in spite of his prodigious failure, he was superlatively great in
+all that pertains to government, the quickening of human energies, and
+the art of war. His greatness lies, not only in the abiding importance
+of his best undertakings, but still more in the Titanic force that he
+threw into the inception and accomplishment of all of them--a force
+which invests the storm-blasted monoliths strewn along the latter
+portion of his career with a majesty unapproachable by a tamer race of
+toilers. After all, the verdict of mankind awards the highest
+distinction, not to prudent mediocrity that shuns the chance of
+failure and leaves no lasting mark behind, but to the eager soul that
+grandly dares, mightily achieves, and holds the hearts of millions
+even amidst his ruin and theirs. Such a wonder-worker was Napoleon.
+The man who bridled the Revolution and remoulded the life of France,
+who laid broad and deep the foundations of a new life in Italy,
+Switzerland, and Germany, who rolled the West in on the East in the
+greatest movement known since the Crusades and finally drew the
+yearning thoughts of myriads to that solitary rock in the South
+Atlantic, must ever stand in the very forefront of the immortals of
+human story.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+LIST OF THE CHIEF APPOINTMENTS AND DIGNITIES BESTOWED BY NAPOLEON
+
+[_An asterisk is affixed to the names of his Marshals_.]
+
+
+   Arrighi.  Duc de Padua.
+  *Augereau.  Duc de Castiglione.
+  *Bernadotte.  Prince de Ponte Corvo.
+  *Berthier.  Chief of the Staff.  Prince de Neufchatel.  Prince
+      de Wagram.
+  *Bessieres.  Duc d'Istria.  Commander of the Old Guard.
+   Bonaparte, Joseph.  (King of Naples.) King of Spain.
+      "       Louis.  King of Holland.
+      "       Jerome.  King of Westphalia.
+  *Brune.
+   Cambaceres.  Arch-Chancellor.  Duc de Parma.
+   Caulaincourt.  Duc de Vicenza.  Master of the Horse.  Minister
+       of Foreign Affairs (1814).
+   Champagny.  Duc de Cadore.  Minister of Foreign Affairs
+       (1807-11).
+   Chaptal.  Minister of the Interior.  Comte de Chanteloupe.
+   Clarke.  Minister of War.  Duc de Feltre.
+   Daru.  Comte.
+  *Davoust.  Duc d'Auerstaedt.  Prince d'Eckmuehl.
+   Drouet.  Comte d'Erlon.
+   Drouot.  Comte.  Aide-Major of the Guard.
+   Duroc.  Grand Marshal of the Palace.  Duc de Friuli.
+   Eugene (Beauharnais).  Viceroy of Italy.
+   Fesch (Cardinal).  Grand Almoner.
+   Fouche.  Minister of Police (1804-10).  Duc d'Otranto.
+  *Grouchy.  Comte.
+   Jomini.  Baron.
+  *Jourdan.  Comte.
+   Junot.  Duc d'Abrantes.
+  *Kellermann.  Duc de Valmy.
+  *Lannes.  Duc de Montebello.
+   Larrey.  Baron.
+   Latour-Maubourg.  Baron.
+   Lauriston.  Comte.
+   Lavalette.  Comte.  Minister of Posts.
+  *Lefebvre.  Duc de Danzig.
+  *Macdonald.  Duc de Taranto.
+   Maret.  Minister of Foreign Affairs (1811-14.) Duc de Bassano.
+  *Marmont.  Duc de Ragusa.
+  *Massena.  (Duc de Rivoli.) Prince d'Essling.
+   Miot.  Comte de Melito.
+   Meneval.  Baron.
+   Mollien.  Comte.  Minister of the Treasury.
+  *Moncey.  Duc de Conegliano.
+   Montholon.  Comte.
+  *Mortier.  Duc de Treviso.
+   Mouton.  Comte de Lobau.
+  *Murat.  (Grand Duc de Berg.) King of Naples.
+  *Ney.  (Duc d'Elchingen.) Prince de la Moskwa.
+  *Oudinot.  Duc de Reggio.
+   Pajol.  Baron.
+   Pasquier, Duc de.  Prefect of Police.
+  *Perignon.
+  *Poniatowski.
+   Rapp.  Comte.
+   Reynier.  Duc de Massa.
+   Remusat.  Chamberlain.
+   Savary.  Duc de Rovigo.  Minister of Police (1810-14).
+   Sebastiani.  Comte.
+  *Serurier.
+  *Soult.  Duc de Dalmatia.
+  *St. Cyr, Marquis de.
+  *Suchet.  Duc d'Albufera.
+   Talleyrand.  Minister of Foreign Affairs (1799-1807).  Grand
+       Chamberlain (1804-8).  Prince de Benevento.
+   Vandamme.  Comte.
+  *Victor.  Duc de Belluno.
+
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II
+
+THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
+
+
+Some critics have blamed me for underrating the _role_ of the
+Prussians at Waterloo; but after careful study I have concluded that
+it has been overrated by some recent German writers. We now know that
+the Prussian advance was retarded by Gneisenau's deep-rooted suspicion
+of Wellington, and that no direct aid was given to the British left
+until nearly the end of the battle. Napoleon always held that he could
+readily have kept off the Prussians at Planchenoit, that the main
+battle throughout was against Wellington, and that it was decided by
+the final charge of British cavalry. The Prussians did not wholly
+capture Planchenoit until the French opposing Wellington were in full
+flight. But, of course, Bluecher's advance and onset made the victory
+the overwhelming triumph that it was.
+
+An able critic in the "Saturday Review" of May 10, 1902, has charged
+me with neglecting to say that the French left wing (Foy's and
+Bachelu's divisions) supported the French cavalry at the close of the
+great charges. I stated (p. 502) that French infantry was not "at hand
+to hold the ground which the cavaliers seemed to have won." Let me
+cite the exact words of General Foy, written in his Journal a few days
+after the battle (M. Girod de L'Ain's "Vie militaire du General Foy,"
+p. 278): "Alors que la cavalerie francaise faisait cette longue et
+terrible charge, le feu de notre artillerie etait deja moins nourri,
+et notre infanterie ne fit aucun mouvement. Quand la cavalerie fut
+rentree, et que l'artillerie anglaise, qui avait cesse de tirer
+pendant une demi-heure, eut recommence son feu, on donna ordre aux
+divisions Foy et Bachelu d'avancer droit aux carres qui s'y etaient
+avances pendant la charge de cavalerie et qui ne s'etaient pas
+replies. L'attaque fut formee en colonnes par echelons de regiment,
+Bachelu formant les echelons les plus avances. Je tenis par ma gauche
+a la haie [de Hougoumont]: j'avais sur mon front un bataillon en
+tirailleurs. Pres de joindre les Anglais, nous avons recu un feu tres
+vif de mitraille et de mousqueterie. C'etait une grele de mort. Les
+carres ennemis avaient le premier rang genoux en terre et presentaient
+une haie de baionettes. Les colonnes de la 1're division ont pris la
+fuite les premieres: leur mouvement a entraine celui de mes colonnes.
+En ce moment j'ai ete blesse...."
+
+This shows that the advance of the French infantry was far too late to
+be of the slightest use to the cavalry. The British lines had been
+completely re-formed.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Armfeldt to Drake, December 24th, 1803 ("F.O.," Bavaria,
+No. 27).]
+
+[Footnote 2: Drake's despatch of December 15th, 1803, _ib_.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Czartoryski, "Memoirs," vol. ii., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: The Czar's complaints were: the exile of the King of
+Sardinia, the re-occupation of S. Italy by the French, the changes in
+Italy, the violation of the neutrality of Baden, the occupation of
+Cuxhaven by the French, and the levying of ransom from the Hanse Towns
+to escape the same fate ("F.O.," Russia, No. 56).]
+
+[Footnote 5: Lord Harrowby to Admiral Warren ("F.O.," Russia, No.
+56).]
+
+[Footnote 6: Garden, "Traites" vol. viii., p. 302; Ulmann,
+"Russisch-Preussische Politik," p. 117]
+
+[Footnote 7: See the letter in the "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 170.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "F.O.," Russia, No. 55. See note on p. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Czartoryski's "Mems.," vol. ii., chs. ii.-iv.]
+
+[Footnote 10: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon" (May 30th, 1805).]
+
+[Footnote 11: See Novossiltzoff's Report in Czartoryski's "Memoirs,"
+vol. ii., ch. iv., and Pitt's note developing the Russian proposals in
+Garden's "Traites," vol. viii., pp. 317-323, or Alison, App. to ch.
+xxxix. A comparison of these two memoranda will show that on
+Continental questions there was no difference such as Thiers affected
+to see between the generous policy of Russia and the "cold egotism" of
+Pitt. As Czartoryski has proved in his "Memoirs" (vol. ii., ch. x.)
+Thiers has erred in assigning importance to a mere first draft of a
+conversation which Czartoryski had with that ingenious schemer, the
+Abbe Piatoli. The official proposals sent from St. Petersburg to
+London were very different; _e.g._, the proposal of Alexander with
+regard to the French frontiers was this: "The first object is to bring
+back France into its ancient limits or such other ones as might appear
+most suitable to the general tranquillity of Europe." It is,
+therefore, futile to state that this was solely the policy of Pitt
+after he had "remodelled" the Russian proposals.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Corresp.," No. 8231. See too Bourrienne, Miot de
+Melito, vol. ii., ch. iv., and Thiers, bk. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This refusal has been severely criticised. But the
+knowledge of the British Government that Napoleon was still
+persevering with his schemes against Turkey, and that the Russians
+themselves, from their station at Corfu, were working to gain a
+foothold on the Albanian coast, surely prescribed caution ("F.O.,"
+Russia, Nos. 55 and 56, despatches of June 26th and October 10th,
+1804). It was further known that the Austrian Government had proposed
+to the Czar plans that were hostile to Turkey, and were not decisively
+rejected at St. Petersburg; and it is clear from the notes left by
+Czartoryski that the prospect of gaining Corfu, Moldavia, parts of
+Albania, and the precious prize of Constantinople was kept in view.
+Pitt agreed to restore the conquests made from France (Despatch of
+April 22nd).]
+
+[Footnote 14: Garden, "Traites," vol. viii., pp. 328-333. It is clear
+that Gustavus IV. was the ruler who insisted on making the restoration
+of the Bourbons the chief aim of the Third Coalition. In our "F.O.
+Records" (Sweden, No. 177) is an account (August 20th, 1804) of a
+conversation of Lord Harrowby with the Swedish ambassador, who stated
+that such a declaration would "palsy the arms of France." Our Foreign
+Minister replied that it would "much more certainly palsy the arms of
+England: that we made war because France was become too powerful for
+the peace of Europe."]
+
+[Footnote 15: "Corresp.," No. 8329.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Bailleu, "Preussen und Frankreich," vol. ii., p. 354.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Thiers (bk. xxi.) gives the whole text.]
+
+[Footnote 18: The annexation of the Ligurian or Genoese Republic took
+place on June 4th, the way having been prepared there by Napoleon's
+former patron, Salicetti, who liberally dispensed bribes. A little
+later the Republic of Lucca was bestowed on Elisa Bonaparte and her
+spouse, now named Prince Bacciochi. Parma, hitherto administered by a
+French governor, was incorporated in the French Empire about the same
+time.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Paget to Lord Mulgrave (March 19th, 1805).]
+
+[Footnote 20: Beer, "Zehn Jahre oesterreich. Politik (1801-1810)." The
+notes of Novossiltzoff and Hardenberg are printed in Sir G. Jackson's
+"Diaries," vol i., App.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See Bignon, vol. iv., pp. 271 and 334. Probably Napoleon
+knew through Laforest and Talleyrand that Russia had recently urged
+that George III. should offer Hanover to Prussia. Pitt rejected the
+proposal. Prussia paid more heed to the offer of Hanover from Napoleon
+than to the suggestions of Czartoryski that she might receive it from
+its rightful owner, George III. Yet Duroc did not succeed in gaining
+more from Frederick William than the promise of his neutrality (see
+Garden, "Traites," vol. viii., pp. 339-346). Sweden was not a member
+of the Coalition, but made treaties with Russia and England.
+
+The high hopes nursed by the Pitt Ministry are seen in the following
+estimate of the forces that would be launched against France: Austria,
+250,000; Russia, 180,000; Prussia, 100,000 (Pitt then refused to
+subsidize more than 100,000); Sweden, 16,000; Saxony, 16,000; Hesse
+and Brunswick, 16,000; Mecklenburg, 3,000; King of Sardinia, 25,000;
+Bavaria, Wuertemberg, and Baden, 25,000; Naples, 20,000. In a P.S. he
+adds that the support of the King of Sardinia would not be needed, and
+that England had private arrangements with Naples as to subsidies.
+This Memoir is not dated, but it must belong to the beginning of
+September, before the defection of Bavaria was known ("F.O.," Prussia,
+No. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 22: "F.O.," Russia, No. 57; Gower's note of July 22nd,
+1805.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Colonel Graham's despatches, which undoubtedly
+influenced the Pitt Ministry in favouring the appointment of Mack to
+the present command. Paget ("Papers," vol. ii., p. 238) states that
+the Iller position was decided on by Francis. The best analysis of
+Mack's character is in Bernhardi's "Memoirs of Count Toll" (vol. i.,
+p. 121). The State Papers are in Burke's "Campaign of 1805," App.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Marmont, "Mems.," vol. ii., p. 310.]
+
+[Footnote 25: See "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 224; also Schoenhals
+"Der Krieg 1805 in Deutschland," p. 67.]
+
+[Footnote 26: "Corresp.," No. 9249. See too No. 9254 for the details
+of the enveloping moves which Napoleon then (September 22nd)
+accurately planned twenty-five days before the final blows were dealt:
+yet No. 9299 shows that, even on September 30th, he believed Mack
+would hurry back to the Inn. Beer, p. 145.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Ruestow, "Der Krieg 1805." Hormayr, "Geschichte Hofers"
+(vol. i., p. 96), states that, in framing with Russia the plan of
+campaign, the Austrians forgot to allow for the difference (twelve
+days) between the Russian and Gregorian calendars. The Russians
+certainly were eleven days late.]
+
+[Footnote 28: "Corresp.," No 9319; Sir G. Jackson's "Diaries," vol.
+i., p. 334.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _Ibid_.; also Metternich, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. iii. For
+Prussia's protest to Napoleon, which pulverized the French excuses,
+see Garden, vol. ix., p. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Schoenhals; Segur, ch. xvi., exculpates Murat and Ney.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Schoenhals, p. 73. Thiers states that Dupont's 6,000
+gained a victory over 25,000 Austrians detached from the 60,000 who
+occupied Ulm!]
+
+[Footnote 32: Marmont, vol. ii., p. 320; Lejeune, "Memoirs," vol. i.,
+ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Thiers, bk. xxii. During Mack's interview with Napoleon
+(see "Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 235), when the Emperor asked him why
+he did not cut his way through to Ansbach, he replied, "Prussia would
+have declared against us." To which the Emperor retorted: "Ah! the
+Prussians do not declare so quickly."]
+
+[Footnote 34: "Alexandre I et Czartoryski," pp. 32-34.]
+
+[Footnote 35: See these terms compared with the Anglo-Russian treaty
+of April 11th, 1805, in the Appendix of Dr. Hansing's "Hardenberg und
+die dritte Coalition" (Berlin, 1899).]
+
+[Footnote 36: Haeusser, vol. ii., p. 617 (4th. edit.); Lettow-Vorbeck,
+"Der Krieg von 1806-1807," vol. i., _ad init_.]
+
+[Footnote 37: For the much more venial stratagem which Kutusoff played
+on Murat at Hollabrunn, see Thiers, bk. xxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Lord Harrowby, then on a special mission to Berlin,
+reports (November 24th) that this appeal of the Czar had been "coolly
+received," and no Prussian troops would enter Bohemia until it was
+known how Prussia's envoy to Napoleon, Count Haugwitz, had been
+received.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Thiers says December 1st, which is corrected by
+Napoleon's letter of November 30th to Talleyrand.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Thiebault, vol. ii., ch. viii.; Segur, ch. xviii.; York
+von Wartenburg, "Nap. als Feldherr," vol. i., p. 230.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Davoust's reports of December 2nd and 5th in his
+"Corresp."]
+
+[Footnote 42: Segur, Thiebault, and Lejeune all state that Napoleon in
+the previous advance northwards had foretold that a great battle would
+soon be fought opposite Austerlitz, and explained how he would fight
+it.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Thiebault wrongly attributes this succour to Lannes: for
+that Marshal, who had just insulted and challenged Soult, Thiebault
+had a manifest partiality. Savary, though hostile to Bernadotte, gives
+him bare justice on this move.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Harrowby evidently thought that Prussia's conduct would
+depend on events. Just before the news of Austerlitz arrived, he wrote
+to Downing Street: "The eyes of this Government are turned almost
+exclusively on Moravia. It is there the fate of this negotiation must
+be decided." Yet he reports that 192,000 Prussians are under arms
+("F.O.," Prussia, No. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 45: Jackson, "Diaries," vol. i., p. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 46: "Lettres inedites de Talleyrand," pp. 205-208.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Metternich, "Mems.," vol. i., ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Hanover, along with a few districts of Bavarian
+Franconia, would bring to Prussia a gain of 989,000 inhabitants, while
+she would lose only 375,000. Neufchatel had offered itself to
+Frederick I. of Prussia in 1688, and its proposed barter to France
+troubled Hardenberg ("Mems.," vol. ii., p. 421).]
+
+[Footnote 49: Gower to Lord Harrowby from Olmuetz, November 25th, in
+"F.O. Records," Russia, No. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 50: "Lettres inedites de Tall.," p. 216.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Printed for the first time in full in "Lettres inedites
+de Tall.," pp. 156-174. On December 5th Talleyrand again begged
+Napoleon to strengthen Austria as "a needful bulwark against the
+barbarians, the Russians."]
+
+[Footnote 52: I dissent, though with much diffidence, from M. Vandal
+("Napoleon et Alexandre," vol. i., p. 9) in regard to Talleyrand's
+proposal.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Napoleon to Talleyrand (December 14th, 1805): "Sur de la
+Prusse, l'Autriche en passera par ou je voudrai. Je ferai egalement
+prononcer la Prusse contre l'Angleterre."]
+
+[Footnote 54: Report of M. Otto, August, 1799.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Czartoryski ("Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xii.) states that
+England offered Holland to Prussia. I find no proof of this in our
+Records. The districts between Antwerp and Cleves are Belgian, not
+Dutch; and we never wavered in our support of the House of Orange.]
+
+[Footnote 56: These proposals, dated October 27th, 1805, were modified
+somewhat on the news of Mack's disaster and the Treaty of Potsdam.
+Hardenberg assured Harrowby (November 24th) that, despite England's
+liberal pecuniary help, Frederick William felt great difficulty in
+assenting to the proposed territorial arrangements ("F.O.," Prussia,
+No. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 57: Hardenberg's "Memoirs," vol. ii., pp. 377, 382.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Ompteda, p. 188. The army returned in February, 1806.]
+
+[Footnote 59: "F.O.," Prussia, No. 70 (November 23rd).]
+
+[Footnote 60: "Diaries of Right Hon. G. Rose," vol. ii., pp. 223-224.]
+
+[Footnote 61: _Ib._, pp. 233-283; Rosebery, "Life of Pitt," p. 258.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Lord Malmesbury's "Diary," vol. iv., p. 114.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Letter of December 27th, 1805; Jackson, "Diaries," vol.
+ii., p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Mollien, "Mems.," vol. i. _ad fin_., and vol. ii., p.
+80, for the budget of 1806; also, Fievee, "Mes Relations avec
+Bonaparte," vol. ii., pp. 180-203.]
+
+[Footnote 65: The Court of Naples asserted that in the Convention with
+France its ambassador, the Comte de Gallo, exceeded his powers in
+promising neutrality. See Lucchesini's conversation with Gentz, quoted
+by Garden, "Traites," vol. x., p. 129.]
+
+[Footnote 66: See my article in the "Eng. Hist. Rev.," April, 1900.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Ducasse, "Les Rois Freres de Napoleon," p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Letter of February 7th, 1806. On the same day he blames
+Junot, then commander of Parma, for too great lenience to some rebels
+near that city. The Italians were a false people, who only respected a
+strong Government. Let him, then, burn two large villages so that no
+trace remained, shoot the priest of one village, and send three or
+four hundred of the guilty to the galleys. "Trust my old experience of
+the Italians."]
+
+[Footnote 69: For a list of the chief Napoleonic titles, see Appendix,
+_ad fin_.]
+
+[Footnote 70: January 2nd, 1802; so too Fievee, "Mes Relations avec
+Bonaparte," vol. ii., p. 210, who notes that, by founding an order of
+nobility, Napoleon ended his own isolation and attached to his
+interests a powerful landed caste.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Hardenberg's "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 390-394.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Hardenberg to Harrowby on January 7th, "Prussia," No.
+70.]
+
+[Footnote 73: I have not found a copy of this project; but in
+"Prussia," No. 70 (forwarded by Jackson on January 27th, 1806), there
+is a detailed "Memoire explicatif," whence I extract these details, as
+yet unpublished, I believe. Neither Hardenberg, Garden, Jackson, nor
+Paget mentions them.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Records, "Prussia," No. 70, dated February 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Hardenberg, "Mems.," vol. ii., pp. 463-469; "Nap.
+Corresp.," No. 9742, for Napoleon's thoughts as to peace, when he
+heard of Fox being our Foreign Minister.]
+
+[Footnote 76: See "Nap. Corresp.," Nos. 9742, 9773, 9777, for his
+views as to the weakness of England and Prussia. This treaty of
+February 15th, 1806, confirmed the cession of Neufchatel and Cleves to
+France, and of Ansbach to Bavaria; but did not cede any Franconian
+districts to Prussia's Baireuth lands. See Hardenberg, "Memoires,"
+vol. ii., p. 483, for the text of the treaty.]
+
+[Footnote 77: The strange perversity of Haugwitz is nowhere more shown
+than in his self-congratulation at the omission of the adjectives
+_offensive et defensive_ from the new treaty of alliance between
+France and Prussia (Hardenberg, vol. ii., p. 481). Napoleon was now
+not pledged to help Prussia in the war which George III. declared
+against her on April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 78: It is noteworthy that in all the negotiations that
+followed, Napoleon never raised any question about our exacting
+maritime code, which proves how hollow were his diatribes against the
+tyrant of the seas at other times.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Despatch of April 20th, 1806, in Papers presented to
+Parliament on December 22nd, 1806.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Czartoryski's "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 81: "I do not intend the Court of Rome to mix any more in
+politics" (Nap. to the Pope, February 13th, 1806).]
+
+[Footnote 82: I translate literally these N.B.'s as pasted in at the
+end of Yarmouth's Memoir of July 8th ("France," No. 73). As Oubril's
+instructions have never, I believe, been published, the passage given
+above is somewhat important as proving how completely he exceeded his
+powers in bartering away Sicily. The text of the Oubril Treaty is
+given by De Clercq, vol. ii., p. 180. The secret articles required
+Russia to help France in inducing the Court of Madrid to cede the
+Balearic Isles to the Prince Royal of Naples; the dethroned King and
+Queen were not to reside there, and Russia was to recognize Joseph
+Bonaparte as King of the Two Sicilies.]
+
+[Footnote 83: In conversing with our ambassador, Mr. Stuart, Baron
+Budberg excused Oubril's conduct on the ground of his nervousness
+under the threats of the French plenipotentiary, General Clarke, who
+scarcely let him speak, and darkly hinted at many other changes that
+must ensue if Russia did not make peace; Switzerland was to be
+annexed, Germany overrun, and Turkey partitioned. That Clarke was a
+master in diplomatic hectoring is well known; but, from private
+inquiries, Stuart discovered that the Czar, in his private conference
+with Oubril, seemed more inclined towards peace than Czartoryski: when
+therefore the latter resigned, Oubril might well give way before
+Clarke's bluster. (Stuart's Despatch of August 9th, 1806, F.O.,
+Russia, No. 63; also see Czartoryski's "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xiv.;
+and Martens, "Traites," Suppl. vol. iv.)]
+
+[Footnote 84: "Memoirs of Karl Heinrich, Knight of Lang."]
+
+[Footnote 85: Garden, vol. ix., pp. 157, 189, 255.]
+
+[Footnote 86: "Corresp.," Nos. 10522 and 10544. For a French account
+see the "Mems." of Baron Desvernois, p. 288.]
+
+[Footnote 87: "F.O. Records," Naples, No. 73.]
+
+[Footnote 88: This was on Napoleon's advice. He wrote to Talleyrand
+from Rambouillet on August 18th, to give as an excuse for the delay,
+"The Emperor is hunting and will not be back before the end of the
+week."]
+
+[Footnote 89: So too Napoleon said at St. Helena to Las Cases: "Fox's
+death was one of the fatalities of my career."]
+
+[Footnote 90: Despatches of September 26th and October 6th.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Bailleu, "Frankreich und Preussen," Introd.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Decree of July 26th.]
+
+[Footnote 93: See "Corresp." No. 10604, note; also Talleyrand's letter
+of August 4th ("Lettres inedites," p. 245), showing the indemnities
+that might be offered to Prussia after the loss of Hanover: they
+included, of course, little States, Anhalt, Lippe, Waldeck, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Gentz, "Ausgew. Schriften," vol. v., p. 252.
+Conversation with Lucchesini.]
+
+[Footnote 95: "Corresp.," Nos. 10575, 10587, 10633.]
+
+[Footnote 96: "Mems.," vol. iii., pp. 115, _et seq._ The
+Prusso-Russian convention of July, by which these Powers mutually
+guaranteed the integrity of their States, was mainly the work of
+Hardenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Bailleu, pp. 540-552. See too Fournier's "Napoleon,"
+vol. ii., p. 106.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Bailleu, pp. 556-557. So too Napoleon's letter of
+September 5th to Berthier is the first hint of his thought of a
+Continental war.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Queen Louisa said to Gentz (October 9th) that war had
+been decided on, not owing to selfish calculations, but the sentiment
+of honour (Garden, "Traites," vol. x., p. 133).]
+
+[Footnote 100: A memorial was handed in to him on September 2nd. It
+was signed by the King's brothers, Henry and William, also by the
+leader of the warlike party, Prince Louis Ferdinand, by Generals
+Ruechel and Phull, and by the future dictator, Stein. The King rebuked
+all of them. See Pertz, "Stein," vol. i., p. 347.]
+
+[Footnote 101: "F.O.," Russia, No. 64. Stuart's despatches of
+September 30th and October 21st.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Mueffling, "Aus meinem Leben."]
+
+[Footnote 103: Lettow-Vorbeck, "Der Krieg von 1806-7," p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 104: See Prince Hohenlohe's "Letters on Strategy" (p. 62,
+Eng. ed.) for the effect of this rapid marching; Foucart's "Campagne
+de Prusse," vol. i., pp. 323-343; also Lord Fitzmaurice's "Duke of
+Brunswick."]
+
+[Footnote 105: Hoepfner, vol. i.p. 383; and Lettow-Vorbeck, vol. i., p.
+345.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Foucart, _op. cit._, pp. 606-623.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Marbot says Ruechel was killed: but he recovered from
+his wound, and did good service the next spring.
+
+Vernet's picture of Napoleon inspecting his Guards at Jena before
+their charge seems to represent the well-known incident of a soldier
+calling out "_en avant_"; whereupon Napoleon sharply turned and bade
+the man wait till he had commanded in twenty battles before he gave
+him advice.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Foucart, p. 671.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Lang thus describes four French Marshals whom he saw at
+Ansbach: "Bernadotte, a very tall dark man, with fiery eyes under
+thick brows; Mortier, still taller, with a stupid sentinel look;
+Lefebvre, an old Alsatian camp-boy, with his wife, former washerwoman
+to the regiment; and Davoust, a little smooth-pated, unpretending man,
+who was never tired of waltzing."]
+
+[Footnote 110: Davoust, "Operations du 3'me Corps," pp. 31-32. French
+writers reduce their force to 24,000, and raise Brunswick's total to
+60,000. Lehmann's "Scharnhorst," vol. i., p. 433, gives the details.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Foucart, pp. 604-606, 670, and 694-697, who only blames
+him for slowness. But he set out from Naumburg before dawn, and,
+though delayed by difficult tracks, was near Apolda at 4 p.m., and
+took 1,000 prisoners.]
+
+[Footnote 112: For this service, as for his exploits at Austerlitz,
+Napoleon gave few words of praise. Lannes' remonstrance is printed by
+General Thoumas, "Le Marechal Lannes," p. 169. The Emperor secretly
+disliked Lannes for his very independent bearing.]
+
+[Footnote 113: "Nap. Corresp.," November 21st, 1807; Baron Lumbroso's
+"Napoleone I e l'Inghilterra," p. 103; Garden, vol. x., p. 307.]
+
+[Footnote 114: This decree, of 10 Brumaire, an V, is printed in full,
+and commented on by Lumbroso, _op. cit._, p. 49. See too Sorel,
+"L'Europe et la Rev. Fr.," vol. iii., p. 389; and my article,
+"Napoleon and English Commerce," in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of October,
+1893.]
+
+[Footnote 115: This phrase occurs, I believe, first in the
+conversation of Napoleon on May 1st, 1803: "We will form a more
+complete coast-system, and England shall end by shedding tears of
+blood" (Miot de Melito, "Mems.," vol. i., chap. xiv.).]
+
+[Footnote 116: _E.g._, Fauchille, "Du Blocus maritime," pp. 93 _et
+seq._]
+
+[Footnote 117: See especially the pamphlet "War in Disguise, or the
+Frauds of the Neutral Flags" (1805), by J. Stephen. It has been said
+that this pamphlet was a cause of the Orders in Council. The whole
+question is discussed by Manning, "Commentaries on the Law of Nations"
+(1875); Lawrence, "International Law"; Mahan, "Infl. of Sea Power,"
+vol. ii., pp. 274-277; Mollien, vol. iii., p. 289 (first edit.); and
+Chaptal, p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Hausser, vol. iii., p. 61 (4th edit.). The Saxon
+federal contingent was fixed at 20,000 men.]
+
+[Footnote 119: Papers presented to Parliament, December 22nd, 1806.]
+
+[Footnote 120: After the interview of November 28th, 1801, Cornwallis
+reports that Napoleon "expressed a wish that we could agree to remove
+disaffected persons from either country ... and declared his
+willingness to send away United Irishmen" ("F.O. Records," No. 615).]
+
+[Footnote 121: Czartoryski, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xv.]
+
+[Footnote 122: In our "F.O. Records," Prussia, No. 74, is a report of
+Napoleon's reply to a deputation at Warsaw (January, 1807): "I warn
+you that neither I nor any French prince cares for your Polish throne:
+I have crowns to give and don't know what to do with them. You must
+first of all think of giving bread to my soldiers--'Bread, bread,
+bread.' ... I cannot support my troops in this country, where there is
+no one besides nobles and miserable peasants. Where are your great
+families? They are all sold to Russia. It is Czartoryski who wrote to
+Kosciusko not to come back to Poland." And when a Galician deputy
+asked him of the fate of his province, he turned on him: "Do you think
+that I will draw on myself new foes for one province." Nevertheless,
+the enthusiasm of the Poles was not wholly chilled. Their contingents
+did good service for him. Somewhat later, female devotion brought a
+beautiful young Polish lady to act as his mistress, primarily with the
+hope of helping on the liberation of her land, and then as a willing
+captive to the charm which he exerted on all who approached him. Their
+son was Count Walewska]
+
+[Footnote 123: Marbot, ch. xxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 124: Lettow-Vorbeck estimates the French loss at more than
+24,000; that of the Russians as still heavier, but largely owing to
+the bad commissariat and wholesale straggling. On this see Sir R.
+Wilson's "Campaign in Poland," ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Napoleon on February 13th charged Bertrand to offer
+_verbally, but not in writing_, to the King of Prussia a separate
+peace, without respect to the Czar. Frederick William was to be
+restored to his States east of the Elbe. He rejected the offer, which
+would have broken his engagements to the Czar. Napoleon repeated the
+offer on February 20th, which shows that, at this crisis, he did wish
+for peace with Prussia. See "Nap. Corresp.," No. 11810; and Hausser,
+vol. iii., p. 74.]
+
+[Footnote 126: "I have been repeatedly pressed by the Prussian and
+Russian Governments," wrote Lord Hutchinson, our envoy at Memel, March
+9th, 1807, "on the subject of a diversion to be made by British troops
+against Mortier.... Stettin is a large place with a small garrison and
+in a bad state of defence" ("F.O.," Prussia, No. 74). in 1805 Pitt
+promised to send a British force to Stralsund (see p. 17).]
+
+[Footnote 127: Lord Cathcart's secret report to the War Office, dated
+April 22nd, 1807, dealt with the appeal made by Lord Hutchinson, and
+with a _Projet_ of Dumouriez, both of whom strongly urged the
+expedition to Stralsund. On May 30th Castlereagh received a report
+from a Hanoverian officer, Kuckuck, stating that Hanover and Hesse
+were ripe for revolt, and that Hameln might easily be seized if the
+North Germans were encouraged by an English force ("Castlereagh
+Letters," vol. vi., pp. 169 and 211).]
+
+[Footnote 128: "F.O.," Russia, No. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 129: "Correspond.," No. 12563; also "La Mission du Gen.
+Gardane en Perse," par le comte de Gardane. Napoleon in his
+proclamation of December 2nd, 1806, told the troops that their
+victories had won for France her Indian possessions and the Cape of
+Good Hope.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Wilson, "Campaign in Poland"; "Operations du 3eme Corps
+[Davoust's], 1806-1807," p. 199.]
+
+[Footnote 131: "Corresp.," Nos. 12749 and 12751. Lejeune, in his
+"Memoirs," also shows that Napoleon's chief aim was to seize
+Koenigsberg.]
+
+[Footnote 132: "Memoirs of Oudinot," ch. i]
+
+[Footnote 133: The report is dated Memel, June 21st, 1807, in "F.O.,"
+Prussia, No. 74. Hutchinson thinks the Russians had not more than
+45,000 men engaged at Friedland, and that their losses did not exceed
+15,000: but there were "multitudes of stragglers." Lettow-Vorbeck
+gives about the same estimates. Those given in the French bulletin are
+grossly exaggerated.]
+
+[Footnote 134: On June 17th, 1807, Queen Louisa wrote to her father:"
+... we fall with honour. The King has proved that he prefers honour to
+shameful submission." On June 23rd Bennigsen professed a wish to
+fight, while secretly advising surrender (Hardenberg, "Mems.," vol.
+iii., p. 469).]
+
+[Footnote 135: "F.O.," Russia, No. 69. Soult told Lord Holland
+("Foreign Reminiscences," p. 185) that Bennigsen was plotting to
+murder the Czar, and he (S.) warned him of it.]
+
+[Footnote 136: "Lettres inedites de Talleyrand," p. 468; also Garden,
+vol. x., pp. 205-210; and "Ann. Reg." (1807), pp. 710-724, for the
+British replies to Austria.]
+
+[Footnote 137: Canning to Paget ("Paget Papers," vol. ii., p. 324). So
+too Canning's despatch of July 21st to Gower (Russia, No. 69).]
+
+
+[Footnote 138: Stadion saw through it. See Beer, p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 139: "Nap. Corresp.," No. 11918.]
+
+[Footnote 140: _Ib._, No. 12028. This very important letter seems to
+me to refute M. Vandal's theory ("Nap. et Alexandre," ch. i.), that
+Napoleon was throughout seeking for an alliance with _Austria_, or
+Prussia, or Russia.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Canning to Paget, May 16th, 1807 ("Paget Papers," vol.
+ii., p. 290).]
+
+[Footnote 142: Garden, vol. x., pp. 214-218; and Gower's despatch of
+June 17th. 1807 (Russia, No. 69).]
+
+[Footnote 143: All references to the story rest ultimately on Bignon,
+"Hist. de France" (vol. vi., p. 316), who gives no voucher for it. For
+the reasons given above I must regard the story as suspect. Among a
+witty, phrase-loving people like the French, a good _mot_ is almost
+certain to gain credence and so pass into history.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Tatischeff, "Alexandre I et Napoleon" (pp. 144-148).]
+
+[Footnote 145: Reports of Savary and Lesseps, quoted by Vandal, _op.
+cit._, p. 61; "Corresp.," No. 12825.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Vandal, p. 73, says that the news reached Napoleon at a
+review when Alexander was by his side. If so, the occasion was
+carefully selected with a view to effect; for the news reached him on,
+or before, June 24th (see "Corresp.," No. 12819). Gower states that
+the news reached Tilsit as early as the 15th; and Hardenberg secretly
+proposed a policy of partition of Turkey on June 23rd ("Mems.," vol.
+iii., p. 463). Hardenberg resigned office on July 4th, as Napoleon
+refused to treat through him.]
+
+[Footnote 147: "Corresp.," No. 12862, letter of July 6th.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Tatischeff (pp. 146-148 and 163-168) proves from the
+Russian archives that these schemes were Alexander's, and were in the
+main opposed by Napoleon. This disproves Vandal's assertion (p. 101)
+that Napoleon pressed Alexander to take the Memel and Polish
+districts.]
+
+[Footnote 149: "Erinnerungen der Graefin von Voss."]
+
+[Footnote 150: Probably this refers not to the restitution of Silesia,
+which he politely offered to her (though he had previously granted it
+on the Czar's request), but to Madgeburg and its environs west of the
+Elbe. On July 7th he said to Goltz, the Prussian negotiator, "I am
+sorry if the Queen took as positive assurances the _phrases de_
+_politesse_ that one speaks to ladies" (Hardenberg's "Mems.," vol.
+iii., p. 512).]
+
+[Footnote 151: See the new facts published by Bailleu in the
+"Hohenzollern Jahrbuch" (1899). The "rose" story is not in any German
+source.]
+
+[Footnote 152: In his "Memoirs" (vol. i., pt. iii.) Talleyrand says
+that he repeated this story several times at the Tuileries, until
+Napoleon rebuked him for it.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Before Tilsit Prussia had 9,744,000 subjects;
+afterwards only 4,938,000. See her frontiers in map on p. 215.]
+
+[Footnote 154: The exact terms of the secret articles and of the
+secret treaty have only been known since 1890, when, owing to the
+labours of MM. Fournier, Tatischeff, and Vandal, they saw the light.]
+
+[Footnote 155: Gower's despatch of July 12th. "F.O.," Russia, No. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 156: De Clercq, "Traites," vol. ii., pp. 223-225; Garden,
+vol. x., p. 233 and 277-290. Our envoy, Jackson, reported from Memel
+on July 28th: "Nothing can exceed the insolence and extortions of the
+French. No sooner is one demand complied with than a fresh one is
+brought forward."]
+
+[Footnote 157: That he seriously thought in November, 1807, of leaving
+to Prussia less than half of her already cramped territories, is clear
+from his instructions to Caulaincourt, his ambassador to the Czar: "Is
+it not to Prussia's interest for her to place herself, at once, and
+with entire resignation, among the inferior Powers?" A new treaty was
+to be framed, under the guise of _interpreting_ that of Tilsit, Russia
+keeping the Danubian Provinces, and Napoleon more than half of Prussia
+(Vandal, vol. i., p. 509).]
+
+[Footnote 158: Lucchesini to Gentz in October, 1806, in Gentz's
+"Ausgewaehlte Schriften," vol. v., p. 257.]
+
+[Footnote 159: See Canning's reply to Stahremberg's Note, on April
+25th, 1807, in the "Ann. Reg.," p. 724.]
+
+[Footnote 160: For Mackenzie's report and other details gleaned from
+our archives, see my article "A British Agent at Tilsit," in the "Eng.
+Hist. Rev." of October, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 161: James, "Naval History," vol. iv., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 162: "F.O.," Denmark, No. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 163: Garden, vol. x., p. 408.]
+
+[Footnote 164: "Corresp.," No. 12962; see too No. 12936, ordering the
+15,000 Spanish troops now serving him near Hamburg to form the nucleus
+of Bernadotte's army of observation, which, "in case of events," was
+to be strengthened by as many Dutch.]
+
+[Footnote 165: "F.O.," Denmark, No. 53. I published this Memorandum of
+Canning and other unpublished papers in an article, "Canning and
+Denmark," in the "Eng. Hist. Rev." of January, 1896. The terms of the
+capitulation were, it seems, mainly decided on by Sir Arthur
+Wellesley, who wrote to Canning (September 8th): "I might have carried
+our terms higher ... had not our troops been needed at home" ("Well.
+Despatches," vol. iii., p. 7).]
+
+[Footnote 166: Castlereagh's "Corresp.," vol. vi. So too Gower
+reported from St. Petersburg on October 1st that public opinion was
+"decidedly averse to war with England, ... and it appears to me that
+the English name was scarcely ever more popular in Russia than at the
+present time."]
+
+[Footnote 167: Letters of July 19th and 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 168: The phrase is that of Viscount Strangford, our
+ambassador at Lisbon ("F.O.," Portugal, No. 55). So Baumgarten,
+"Geschichte Spaniens," vol. i., p. 136.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Report of the Portuguese ambassador, Lourenco de Lima,
+dated August 7th, 1807, inclosed by Viscount Strangford ("F.O.,"
+Portugal, No. 55).]
+
+[Footnote 170: This statement as to the date of the summons to
+Portugal is false: it was July 19th when he ordered it to be sent,
+that is, long before the Copenhagen news reached him.]
+
+[Footnote 171: "Corresp.," No. 12839.]
+
+[Footnote 172: See Lady Blennerhasset's "Talleyrand," vol. ii., ch.
+xvi., for a discussion of Talleyrand's share in the new policy. This
+question, together with many others, cannot be solved, owing to
+Talleyrand's destruction of most of his papers. In June, 1806, he
+advised a partition of Portugal; and in the autumn he is said to have
+favoured the overthrow of the Spanish Bourbons. But there must surely
+be some connection between Napoleon's letter to him of July 19th,
+1807, on Portuguese affairs and the resignation which he persistently
+offered on their return to Paris. On August 10th he wrote to the
+Emperor that that letter would be the last act of his Ministry
+("Lettres inedites de Tall.," p. 476). He was succeeded by Champagny.]
+
+[Footnote 173: "Corresp.," Nos. 13235, 37, 43.]
+
+[Footnote 174: "Corresp.," Nos. 13314 and 13327. So too, to General
+Clarke, his new Minister of War, he wrote: "Junot may say anything he
+pleases, so long as he gets hold of the fleet" ("New Letters of Nap.,"
+October 28th, 1807).]
+
+[Footnote 175: Strangford's despatches quite refute Thiers' confident
+statement that the Portuguese answers to Napoleon were planned in
+concert with us. I cannot find in our archives a copy of the
+Anglo-Portuguese Convention signed by Canning on October 22nd, 1807;
+but there are many references to it in his despatches. It empowered us
+to occupy Madeira; and our fleet did so at the close of the year. In
+April next we exchanged it for the Azores and Goa.]
+
+[Footnote 176: "Corresp.," July 22nd, 1807.]
+
+[Footnote 177: Between September 1st, 1807, and November 23rd, 1807,
+he wrote eighteen letters on the subject of Corfu, which he designed
+to be his base of operations as soon as the Eastern Question could be
+advantageously reopened. On February 8th, 1808, he wrote to Joseph
+that Corfu was more important than Sicily, and that "_in the present
+state of Europe, the loss of Corfu would be the greatest of
+disasters_." This points to his proposed partition of Turkey.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Letter of October 13th, 1807.]
+
+[Footnote 179: "Ann. Register" for 1807, pp. 227, 747.]
+
+[Footnote 180: _Ibid._, pp. 749-750. Another Order in Council
+(November 25th) allowed neutral ships a few more facilities for
+colonial trade, and Prussian merchantmen were set free (_ibid._, pp.
+755-759). In April, 1809, we further favoured the carrying of British
+goods on neutral ships, especially to or from the United States.]
+
+[Footnote 181: Bourrienne, "Memoirs." The case against the Orders in
+Council is fairly stated by Lumbroso, and by Alison, ch. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 182: Gower reported (on September 22nd) that the Spanish
+ambassador at St. Petersburg had been pleading for help there, so as
+to avenge this insult.]
+
+[Footnote 183: Baumgarten, "Geschichte Spaniens," vol. i., p. 138.]
+
+[Footnote 184: "Nap. Corresp." of October 17th and 31st, November
+13th, December 23rd, 1807, and February 20th, 1808; also Napier,
+"Peninsular War," bk. i., ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 185: Letter of January 10th, 1808.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Letter of Charles IV. to Napoleon of October 29th,
+1807, published in "Murat, Lieutenant de l'Empereur en Espagne,"
+Appendix viii.]
+
+[Footnote 187: "New Letters of Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 188: "Corresp.," letter of February 25th.]
+
+[Footnote 189: Murat in 1814 told Lord Holland ("Foreign
+Reminiscences," p. 131) he had had no instructions from Napoleon.]
+
+[Footnote 190: Thiers, notes to bk. xxix.]
+
+[Footnote 191: "Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de la Revolution
+d'Espagne, par Nellerto"; also "The Journey of Ferdinand VII. to
+Bayonne," by Escoiquiz.]
+
+[Footnote 192: "Corresp.," No. 13696. A careful comparison of this
+laboured, halting effusion, with the curt military syle*style of the
+genuine letters--and especially with Nos. 93, 94, and 100 of the "New
+Letters"--must demonstrate its non-authenticity. Thiers' argument to
+the contrary effect is rambling and weak. Count Murat in his recent
+monograph on his father pronounces the letter a fabrication of St.
+Helena or later. It was first published in the "Memorial de St.
+Helene," an untrustworthy compilation made by Las Cases after
+Napoleon's death from notes taken at St. Helena.]
+
+[Footnote 193: Napoleon had at first intended the Spanish crown for
+Louis, to whom he wrote on March 27th: "The climate of Holland does
+not suit you. Besides, Holland can never rise from her ruins." Louis
+declined, on the ground that his call to Holland had been from heaven,
+and not from Napoleon!]
+
+[Footnote 194: Memoirs of Thiebault and De Broglie; so, too, De Rocca,
+"La Guerre en Espagne."]
+
+[Footnote 195: See the letter of an Englishman from Buenos Ayres of
+September 27th, 1809, in "Cobbett's Register" for 1810 (p. 256),
+stating that the new popular Government there was driven by want of
+funds, "not from their good wishes to England," to open their ports to
+all foreign commerce on moderate duties.]
+
+[Footnote 196: Vandal, "Napoleon et Alexandre," ch. vii. It is not
+published in the "Correspondence" or in the "New Letters."]
+
+[Footnote 197: Vandal, "Napoleon et Alexandre," vol. i., ch. iv., and
+App. II.]
+
+[Footnote 198: In the conversations which Metternich had with Napoleon
+and Talleyrand on and after January 22nd, 1808, he was convinced that
+the French Emperor intended to partition Turkey as soon as it suited
+him to do so, which would be after he had subjected Spain. Napoleon
+said to him: "When the Russians are at Constantinople you will need
+France to help you against them."--"Metternich Memoirs," vol. ii., p.
+188.]
+
+[Footnote 199: So Soult told Lord Holland ("Foreign Reminiscences," p.
+171).]
+
+[Footnote 200: Vandal, vol. i., p. 384.]
+
+[Footnote 201: Metternich, "Mems.," vol. ii. p. 298 (Eng. edit.).]
+
+[Footnote 202: I think that Beer (pp. 330-340) errs somewhat in
+ranking Talleyrand's work at Erfurt at that statesman's own very high
+valuation, which he enhanced in later years: see Greville's "Mems.,"
+Second Part, vol. ii., p. 193.]
+
+[Footnote 203: Vandal, vol. i., p. 307.]
+
+[Footnote 204: Sklower, "L'Entrevue de Napoleon avec Goethe"; Mrs.
+Austin's "Germany from 1760 to 1814"; Oncken, bk. vii., ch. i. For
+Napoleon's dispute with Wieland about Tacitus see Talleyrand, "Mems.,"
+vol. i., pt. 5. When the Emperors' carriages were ready for departure,
+Talleyrand whispered to Alexander: "Ah! si Votre Majeste pouvait se
+tromper de voiture."]
+
+[Footnote 205: "F.O.," Russia, No. 74, despatch of December 9th, 1808.
+On January 14th, 1809, Canning signed a treaty of alliance with the
+Spanish people, both sides agreeing never to make peace with Napoleon
+except by common consent. It was signed when the Spanish cause seemed
+desperate; but it was religiously observed.]
+
+[Footnote 206: Madelin's "Fouche," vol. ii., p. 80; Pasquier, vol. i.,
+pp. 353-360.]
+
+[Footnote 207: Seeley, "Life and Times of Stein," vol. ii., p. 316;
+Hausser, vol. iii., p. 219 (4th edition).]
+
+[Footnote 208: Our F.O. Records show that we wanted to help Austria;
+but a long delay was caused by George III.'s insisting that she should
+make peace with us first. Canning meanwhile sent L250,000 in silver
+bars to Trieste. But in his note of April 20th he assured the Court of
+Vienna that our treasury had been "nearly exhausted" by the drain of
+the Peninsular War. (Austria, No. 90.)]
+
+[Footnote 209: For the campaign see the memoirs of Macdonald, Marbot,
+Lejeune, Pelet and Marmont. The last (vol. iii., p. 216) says that,
+had the Austrians pressed home their final attacks at Aspern, a
+disaster was inevitable; or had Charles later on cut the French
+communications near Vienna, the same result must have followed. But
+the investigations of military historians leave no doubt that the
+Austrian troops were too exhausted by their heroic exertions, and
+their supplies of ammunition too much depleted, to warrant any risky
+moves for several days; and by that time reinforcements had reached
+Napoleon. See too Angelis' "Der Erz-Herzog Karl."]
+
+[Footnote 210: Thoumas, "Le Marechal Lannes," pp. 205, 323 _et seq._
+Desvernois ("Mems.," ch. xii.) notes that after Austerlitz none of
+Napoleon's wars had the approval of France.]
+
+[Footnote 211: For the Walcheren expedition see Alison, vol. viii.;
+James, vol. iv.; as also for Gambier's failure at Rochefort. The
+letters of Sir Byam Martin, then cruising off Danzig, show how our
+officers wished to give timely aid to Schill ("Navy Records," vol.
+xii.).]
+
+[Footnote 212: Captain Boothby's "A Prisoner of France," ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 213: For Charles's desire to sue for peace after the first
+battles on the Upper Danube, see Haeusser, vol. iii., p. 341; also,
+after Wagram, _ib._, pp. 412-413.]
+
+[Footnote 214: Napier, bk. viii., chs. ii. and iii. In the App. of
+vol. iii. of "Wellington's Despatches" is Napoleon's criticism on the
+movements of Joseph and the French marshals. He blames them for their
+want of _ensemble_, and for the precipitate attack which Victor
+advised at Talavera. He concluded: "As long as you attack good troops
+like the English in good positions, without reconnoitring them, you
+will lead men to death _en pure perte_."]
+
+[Footnote 215: An Austrian envoy had been urging promptitude at
+Downing Street. On June 1st he wrote to Canning: "The promptitude of
+the enemy has always been the key to his success. A long experience
+has proved this to the world, which seems hitherto not to have
+profited by this knowledge." On July 29th Canning acknowledged the
+receipt of the Austrian ratification of peace with us, "accompanied by
+the afflicting intelligence of the armistice concluded on the 12th
+instant between the Austrian and French armies."
+
+Napoleon at St. Helena said to Montholon that, had 6,000 British
+troops pushed rapidly up the banks of the Scheldt on the day that the
+expedition reached Flushing, they could easily have taken Antwerp,
+which was then very weakly held. See, too, other opinions quoted by
+Alison, ch. lx.]
+
+[Footnote 216: Beer, p. 441.]
+
+[Footnote 217: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 161; Metternich, vol. i., p. 114.]
+
+[Footnote 218: Letter of February 10th, 1810, quoted by Lanfrey. See,
+too, the "Mems." of Prince Eugene, vol. vi., p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 219: "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 365 (Eng. ed.).]
+
+[Footnote 220: Bausset, "Mems.," ch. xix.]
+
+[Footnote 221: Mme. de Remusat, "Mems.," ch. xxvii.]
+
+[Footnote 222: Tatischeff, "Alexandre et Napoleon," p. 519.
+Welschinger, "Le Divorce de Napoleon," ch. ii.; he also examines the
+alleged irregularities of the religious marriage with Josephine; Fesch
+and most impartial authorities brushed them aside as a flimsy excuse.]
+
+[Footnote 223: Metternich's despatch of December 25th, 1809, in his
+"Mems.," vol. ii., Sec. 150. The first hints were dropped by him to
+Laborde on November 29th (Vandal, vol. ii., pp. 204, 543): they
+reached Napoleon's ears about December 15th. For the influence of
+these marriage negotiations in preparing for Napoleon's rupture with
+the Czar, see chap, xxxii. of this work.]
+
+[Footnote 224: "Conversations with the Duke of Wellington," p. 9. The
+disobedience of Ney and Soult did much to ruin Massena's campaign, and
+he lost the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro mainly through that of
+Bessieres. Still, as he failed to satisfy Napoleon's maxim, "Succeed:
+I judge men only by results," he was disgraced.]
+
+[Footnote 225: Decree of February 5th, 1810. See Welschinger, "La
+Censure sous le premier Empire," p. 31. For the seizure of Madame de
+Stael's "Allemagne" and her exile, see her preface to "Dix Annees
+d'Exil."]
+
+[Footnote 226: Mollien, "Mems.," vol. iii., p. 183.]
+
+[Footnote 227: Fouche retired to Italy, and finally settled at Aix.
+His place at the Ministry of Police was taken by Savary, Duc de
+Rovigo. See Madelin's "Fouche," chap. xx.]
+
+[Footnote 228: Porter, "Progress of the Nation," p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 229: Letters of August 6th, 7th, 29th. The United States had
+just repealed their Non-Intercourse Act of 1807. For their relations
+with Napoleon and England, see Channing's "The United States of
+America," chs. vi. and vii.; also the Anglo-American correspondence in
+Cobbett's "Register for 1809 and 1810."]
+
+[Footnote 230: Mollien, "Mems." vol. i., p. 316.]
+
+[Footnote 231: Tooke, "Hist. of Prices," vol. i., p. 311; Mollien,
+vol. iii., pp. 135, 289; Pasquier, vol. i., p. 295; Chaptal, p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 232: Letter of August 6th, 1810, to Eugene.]
+
+[Footnote 233: "Progress of the Nation," p. 148.]
+
+[Footnote 234: So Mollien, vol. iii., p. 135: "One knows that his
+powerful imagination was fertile in illusions: as soon as they had
+seduced him, he sought with a kind of good faith to enhance their
+prestige, and he succeeded easily in persuading many others of what he
+had convinced himself. He braved business difficulties as he braved
+dangers in war."] [Footnote 235: Miot de Melito, vol. ii., ch. xv. For
+some favourable symptoms in French industry, see Lumbroso, pp.
+165-226, and Chaptal, p. 287. They have been credited to the
+Continental System; but surely they resulted from the internal free
+trade and intelligent administration which France had enjoyed since
+the Revolution.]
+
+[Footnote 236: "Nap. Corresp.," May 8th, 1811.]
+
+[Footnote 237: Goethe published the first part of "Faust," _in full_,
+early in 1808.]
+
+[Footnote 238: Baur, "Stein und Perthes," p. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 239: Lavalette, "Mems.," ch. xxv.]
+
+[Footnote 240: Letters of October 10th and 13th, 1810, and January
+1st, 1811.]
+
+[Footnote 241: Letter of September 17th, 1810.]
+
+[Footnote 242: Letter of March 8th, 1811. For a fuller treatment of
+the commercial struggle between Great Britain and Napoleon see my
+articles, "Napoleon and British Commerce" and "Britain's Food Supply
+during the French War," in a volume entitled "Napoleonic Studies"
+(George Bell and Sons, 1904).]
+
+[Footnote 243: Czartoryski, "Mems.," vol. ii., ch. xvii. At this time
+he was taken back to the Czar's favour, and was bidden to hope for the
+re-establishment of Poland by the Czar as soon as Napoleon made a
+blunder.]
+
+[Footnote 244: Tatischeff, p. 526; Vandal, vol. ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 245: "Corresp.," No. 16178; Vandal, vol. ii., ch. vii. The
+_expose_ of December 1st, 1809, had affirmed that Napoleon did not
+intend to re-establish Poland. But this did not satisfy Alexander.]
+
+[Footnote 246: Letters of October 23rd and December 2nd, 1810.]
+
+[Footnote 247: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 529.]
+
+[Footnote 248: Tatischeff, p. 555.]
+
+[Footnote 249: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 535, admits that we had no hand in
+it. But the Czar naturally became more favourable to us, and at the
+close of 1811 secretly gave entry to our goods.]
+
+[Footnote 250: Quoted by Garden, vol. xiii., p. 171.]
+
+[Footnote 251: Bernhardi's "Denkwuerdigkeiten des Grafen von Toll,"
+vol. i. p. 223.]
+
+[Footnote 252: Czartoryski, vol. ii., ch. xvii. At Dresden, in May,
+1812, Napoleon admitted to De Pradt, his envoy at Warsaw that Russia's
+lapse from the Continental System was the chief cause of war; "Without
+Russia, the Continental System is absurdity."]
+
+[Footnote 253: For the overtures of Russia and Sweden to us and their
+exorbitant requests for loans, see Mr. Hereford George's account in
+his careful and systematic study, "Napoleon's Invasion of Russia," ch.
+iv. It was not till July, 1812, that we formally made peace with
+Russia and Sweden, and sent them pecuniary aid. We may note here that
+Napoleon, in April, 1812, sent us overtures for peace, if we would
+acknowledge Joseph as King of Spain and Murat as King of Naples, and
+withdraw our troops from the Peninsula and Sicily: Napoleon would then
+evacuate Spain. Castlereagh at once refused an offer which would have
+left Napoleon free to throw his whole strength against Russia (Garden,
+vol. xiii., pp. 215, 254).]
+
+[Footnote 254: Garden, vol. xiii., p. 329.]
+
+[Footnote 255: Hereford George, _op. cit._, pp. 34-37. Metternich
+("Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 517, Eng. ed.) shows that Napoleon had also
+been holding out to Austria the hope of gaining Servia, Wallachia and
+Moldavia (the latter of which were then overrun by Russian troops), if
+she would furnish 60,000 troops: but Metternich resisted
+successfully.]
+
+[Footnote 256: See his words to Metternich at Dresden, Metternich's
+"Mems.," vol. i., p. 152; as also that he would not advance beyond
+Smolensk in 1812.]
+
+[Footnote 257: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. i., p. 226; Stern,
+"Abhandlungen," pp. 350-366; Mueffling, "Aus meinem Leben"; L'Abbe de
+Pradt, "L'histoire de l'Ambassade de Varsovie."]
+
+[Footnote 258: "Erinnerungen des Gen. von Boyen," vol. ii., p. 254.
+This, and other facts that will later be set forth, explode the story
+foisted by the Prussian General von dem Knesebeck in his old age on
+Mueffling. Knesebeck declared that his mission early in 1812 to the
+Czar, which was to persuade him to a peaceful compromise with
+Napoleon, was directly controverted by the secret instructions which
+he bore from Frederick William to Alexander. He described several
+midnight interviews with the Czar at the Winter Palace, in which he
+convinced him that by war with Napoleon, and by enticing him into the
+heart of Russia, Europe would be saved. Lehmann has shown ("Knesebeck
+und Schoen") that this story is contradicted by all the documentary
+evidence. It may be dismissed as the offspring of senile vanity.]
+
+[Footnote 259: "Toll," vol. i., pp. 256 _et seq._ Mueffling was assured
+by Phull in 1819 that the Drissa plan was only part of a grander
+design which had never had a fair[*Scanner's note: fair is correct]
+chance!]
+
+[Footnote 260: Bernhardi's "Toll" (vol. i., p. 231) gives Barclay's
+chief "army of the west" as really mustering only 127,000 strong,
+along with 9,000 Cossacks; Bagration, with the second "army of the
+west," numbered at first only 35,000, with 4,000 Cossacks; while
+Tormasov's corps observing Galicia was about as strong. Clausewitz
+gives rather higher estimates.]
+
+[Footnote 261: Labaume, "Narrative of 1812," and Segur.]
+
+[Footnote 262: See the long letter of May 28th, 1812, to De Pradt;
+also the Duc de Broglie's "Memoirs" (vol. i., ch. iv.) for the
+hollowness of Napoleon's Polish policy. Bignon, "Souvenirs d'un
+Diplomate" (ch. xx.), errs in saying that Napoleon charged De
+Pradt--"Tout agiter, tout enflammer." At St. Helena, Napoleon said to
+Montholon ("Captivity," vol. iii., ch. iii.): "Poland and its
+resources were but poetry in the first months of the year 1812."]
+
+[Footnote 263: "Toll," vol. i., p. 239; Wilson, "Invasion of Russia,"
+p. 384.]
+
+[Footnote 264: We may here also clear aside the statements of some
+writers who aver that Napoleon intended to strike at St. Petersburg.
+Perhaps he did so for a time. On July 9th he wrote at Vilna that he
+proposed to march _both on Moscow and St. Petersburg_. But that was
+while he still hoped that Davoust would entrap Bagration, and while
+Barclay's retreat on Drissa seemed likely to carry the war into the
+north. Napoleon always aimed first at the enemy's army; and Barclay's
+retreat from Drissa to Vitepsk, and thence to Smolensk, finally
+decided Napoleon's move towards Moscow. If he had any preconceived
+scheme--and he always regulated his moves by events rather than by a
+cast-iron plan--it was to strike at Moscow. At Dresden he said to De
+Pradt: "I must finish the war by the end of September.... I am going
+to Moscow: one or two battles will settle the business. I will burn
+Tula, and Russia will be at my feet. Moscow is the heart of that
+Empire. I will wage war with Polish blood." De Pradt's evidence is not
+wholly to be trusted; but I am convinced that Napoleon never seriously
+thought of taking 200,000 men to the barren tracts of North Russia
+late in the summer, while the English, Swedish, and Russian fleets
+were ready to worry his flank and stop supplies.]
+
+[Footnote 265: Letter of August 24th to Maret; so too Labaume's
+"Narrative," and Garden, vol. xiii., p. 418. Mr. George thinks that
+Napoleon decided on August 21st to strike at Moscow on grounds of
+general policy.]
+
+[Footnote 266: Labaume, "Narrative"; Lejeune's "Mems.," vol. ii., ch.
+vi.]
+
+[Footnote 267: Marbot's "Mems." Bausset, a devoted servant to
+Napoleon, refutes the oft-told story that he was ill at Borodino. He
+had nothing worse than a bad cold. It is curious that such stories are
+told about Napoleon after every battle when his genius did not shine.
+In this case, it rests on the frothy narrative of Segur, and is out of
+harmony with those of Gourgaud and Pelet. Clausewitz justifies
+Napoleon's caution in withholding his Guard.]
+
+[Footnote 268: Bausset, "Cour de Napoleon." Tolstoi ("War and
+Liberty") asserts that the fires were the work of tipsy pillagers. So
+too Arndt, "Mems.," p. 204. Dr. Tzenoff, in a scholarly monograph
+(Berlin, 1900), comes to the same conclusion. Lejeune and Bourgogne
+admit both causes.]
+
+[Footnote 269: Garden, vol. xiii., p. 452; vol. xiv., pp. 17-19.]
+
+[Footnote 270: Cathcart, p. 41; see too the Czar's letters in Sir Byam
+Martin's "Despatches," vol. ii., p. 311. This fact shows the
+frothiness of the talk indulged in by Russians in 1807 as to "our
+rapacity and perfidy" in seizing the Danish fleet.]
+
+[Footnote 271: _E.g._, the migration of Rostopchin's serfs _en masse_
+from their village, near Moscow, rather than come under French
+dominion (Wilson, "French Invasion of Russia," p. 179).]
+
+[Footnote 272: Letter of October 16th; see too his undated notes
+("Corresp.," No. 19237). Bausset and many others thought the best plan
+would be to winter at Moscow. He also says that the Emperor's
+favourite book while at Moscow was Voltaire's "History of Charles
+XII."]
+
+[Footnote 273: Lejeune, vol. ii., chap. vi. As it chanced, Kutusoff
+had resolved on retreat, if Napoleon attacked him. This is perhaps the
+only time when Napoleon erred through excess of prudence. Fezensac
+noted at Moscow that he would not see or hear the truth.]
+
+[Footnote 274: It has been constantly stated by Napoleon, and by most
+French historians of this campaign, that his losses were mainly due to
+an exceptionally severe and early winter. The statement will not bear
+examination. Sharp cold usually sets in before November 6th in Russia
+at latitude 55 deg.; the severe weather which he then suffered was
+succeeded by alternate thaws and slighter frosts until the beginning
+of December, when intense cold is always expected. Moreover, the bulk
+of the losses occurred before the first snowstorm. The Grand Army
+which marched on Smolensk and Moscow may be estimated at 400,000
+(including reinforcements). At Viasma, _before severe cold set in_, it
+had dwindled to 55,000. We may note here the curious fact,
+substantiated by Alison, that the French troops stood the cold better
+than the Poles and North Germans. See too N. Senior's "Conversations,"
+vol. i., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 275: Bausset, "Cour de Napoleon"; Wilson, pp. 271-277.]
+
+[Footnote 276: Oudinot, "Memoires."]
+
+[Footnote 277: Hereford George, pp. 349-350.]
+
+[Footnote 278: Bourgogne, ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 279: Pasquier, vol. ii., _ad init._]
+
+[Footnote 280: Colonel Desprez, who accompanied the retreat, thus
+described to King Joseph its closing scenes: "The truth is best
+expressed by saying that _the army is dead_. The Young Guard was 8,000
+strong when we left Moscow: at Vilna it scarcely numbered 400.... The
+corps of Victor and Oudinot numbered 30,000 men when they crossed the
+Beresina: two days afterwards they had melted away like the rest of
+the army. Sending reinforcements only increased the losses."
+
+The following French official report, a copy of which I have found in
+our F.O. Records (Russia, No. 84), shows how frightful were the losses
+after Smolensk. But it should be noted that the rank and file in this
+case numbered only 300 at Smolensk, and had therefore lost more than
+half their numbers--and this in a regiment of the Guard.
+
+    GARDE IMPERIALE: 6eme REGIMENT DE TIRAILLEURS.
+    _l^ere Division. Situation a l'epoque du 19 Decembre, 1812_.
+
+  |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+  |             |     Perte depuis le depart de Smolensk                            |
+  |             |------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------|--------|
+  |Presents sous|Restes sur  |Blesses qui|Morts de   |Restes en  |Total des|Reste   |
+  |les armes au |le champ    |n'ont pu   |froid ou de|en arriere |Pertes   |presents|
+  |depart de    |de bataille |suivre,    |misere     |geles, ou  |         |sous les|
+  |Smolensk     |            |restes au  |           |pour cause |         |armes   |
+  |             |            |pouvoir de |           |de maladie |         |        |
+  |             |            |l'ennemi   |           |au pouvoir |         |        |
+  |             |            |           |           |de l'ennemi|         |        |
+  |-----|-------|------------|------|--- |------|----|------|----|-----|---|----|---|
+  | Off.|Tr.    | Off. |Tr.  | Off. |Tr. | Off. |Tr. | Off. |Tr. | Off.|Tr.|Off.|Tr.|
+  | 31  |300    |  --  |13   |  4   | 52 |  --  | 24 |  13  |201 | 17  |290| 14 |10 |
+  |-----|-------|------|-----|------|----|------|----|------|----|-----|---|----|---|
+                          _Signe_ le Colonel Major Commandant
+                                         le dit Regiment.  CARRE.
+
+    Les autres regiments sont plus
+    ou moins dans le meme etat.]
+
+[Footnote 281: "Corresp.," December 20th, 1812. For the so-called
+Concordat of 1813, concluded with the captive Pius VII. at
+Fontainebleau, see "Corresp." of January 25th, 1813. The Pope
+repudiated it at the first opportunity. Napoleon wanted him to settle
+at Avignon as a docile subject of the Empire.]
+
+[Footnote 282: Mollien, vol. iii., _ad fin._ For his vague offers to
+mitigate the harsh terms of Tilsit for Prussia, and to grant her a
+political existence if she would fight for him, see Hardenberg,
+"Mems.," vol. iv., p. 350.]
+
+[Footnote 283: Walpole reports (December 19th and 22nd, 1812)
+Metternich's envy of the Russian successes and of their occupation of
+the left bank of the Danube. Walpole said he believed Alexander would
+grant Austria a set-off against this; but Metternich seemed entirely
+Bonapartist ("F.O.," Russia, No. 84). See too the full account, based
+on documentary evidence, in Luckwaldt's "Oesterreich und die Anfange
+des Befreiungskrieges" (Berlin, 1898).]
+
+[Footnote 284: Hardenberg, "Mems.," vol. iv., p. 366.]
+
+[Footnote 285: Oncken, "Oesterreich und Preussen," vol. ii.; Garden,
+vol. xiv., p. 167; Seeley's "Stein," vol. ii., ch. iii.]
+
+[Footnote 286: Arndt, "Wanderungen"; Steffens, "Was ich erlebte."]
+
+[Footnote 287: At this time she had only 61,500 men ready for the
+fighting line; but she had 28,000 in garrison and 32,000 in Pomerania
+and Prussia (Proper), according to Scharnhorst's report contained in
+"F.O.," Russia, No. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 288: Letters of March 2nd and 11th.]
+
+[Footnote 289: Metternich's "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 159; Luckwaldt,
+_op. cit._, ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 290: See the whole note in Luckwaldt, Append. No. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 291: Oncken, _op. cit._, vol. ii., p. 205. So too
+Metternich's letter to Nesselrode of April 21st ("Memoirs," vol. i.,
+p. 405, Eng. ed.): "I beg of you to continue to confide in me. If
+Napoleon will be foolish enough to fight, let us endeavour not to meet
+with a reverse, which I feel to be only too possible. One battle lost
+for Napoleon, and all Germany will be under arms."]
+
+[Footnote 292: "F.O.," Austria, No. 105. Doubtless, as Oncken has
+pointed out with much acerbity, Castlereagh's knowledge that Austria
+would suggest the modification of our maritime claims contributed to
+his refusal to consider her proposal for a general peace: but I am
+convinced, from the tone of our records, that his chief motive was his
+experience of Napoleon's intractability and a sense of loyalty to our
+Spanish allies: we were also pledged to help Sweden and Russia.]
+
+[Footnote 293: Letters of April 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 294: Napoleon's troops in Thorn surrendered on April 17th;
+those in Spandau on April 24th (Fain, "Manuscrit de 1813," vol. ii.,
+ch. i.).]
+
+[Footnote 295: Oncken, vol. ii., p. 272.]
+
+[Footnote 296: Cathcart's report in "F.O.," Russia, No. 85. Mueffling
+("Aus meinem Leben") regards the delay in the arrival of
+Miloradovitch, and the preparations for defence which the French had
+had time to make at Gross Goerschen, as the causes of the allies'
+failure. The chief victim on the French side was Bessieres, commander
+of the Guard.]
+
+[Footnote 297: "Corresp.," Nos. 20017-20031. For his interview with
+Bubna, see Luckwaldt, p. 257.]
+
+[Footnote 298: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. iii., pp. 490-492. Marmont
+gives the French 150,000; Thiers says 160,000.]
+
+[Footnote 299: In his bulletin Napoleon admitted having lost 11,000 to
+12,000 killed and wounded in the two days at Bautzen; his actual
+losses were probably over 20,000. He described the allies as having
+150,000 to 160,000 men, nearly double their actual numbers.]
+
+[Footnote 300: Mueffling, "Aus meinem Leben."]
+
+[Footnote 301: "Lettres inedites." So too his letters to Eugene of
+June 11th and July 1st; and of June 11th, 17th, July 6th and 29th, to
+Augereau, who was to threaten Austria from Bavaria.]
+
+[Footnote 302: See his conversation with our envoy, Thornton, reported
+by the latter in the "Castlereagh Letters," 2nd series, vol. iv., p.
+314.]
+
+[Footnote 303: "Castlereagh Letters," 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 344.]
+
+[Footnote 304: Garden, vol. xiv., p. 356. We also stipulated that
+Sweden should not import slaves into Guadeloupe, and should repress
+the slave trade. When, at the Congress of Vienna, that island was
+given back to France, we paid Bernadotte a money indemnity.]
+
+[Footnote 305: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon," June 18th, 1813. See
+too that of July 16th, _ibid._]
+
+[Footnote 306: Letters of F. Perthes.]
+
+[Footnote 307: Joseph to Marmont, July 21st, 1812.]
+
+[Footnote 308: "Mems. du Roi Joseph," vols. viii. and ix.; Napier,
+book xix., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 309: "Memoires du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 195.]
+
+[Footnote 310: Napier and Alison say March 18th, which is refuted by
+the "Mems. du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 131.]
+
+[Footnote 311: _Ibid._, vol. ix., p. 464.]
+
+[Footnote 312: As a matter of fact he had 50,000 there for three
+months, and did not succeed. See Clarke's letter to Clausel, "Mems. du
+Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 251.]
+
+[Footnote 313: Stanhope's "Conversations with Wellington," p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 314: "Memoires du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 60.]
+
+[Footnote 315: Thiers, bk. xlix.; "Nap. Corresp.," No. 20019;
+Baumgarten vol i., p. 577.]
+
+[Footnote 316: "Memoires du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., pp. 284, 294.
+Joseph's first order to Clausel was sent under protection of _an
+escort of 1,500 men_.]
+
+[Footnote 317: See Lord Melville's complaint as to Wellington's
+unreasonable charges on this head in the "Letters of Sir B. Martin"
+("Navy Records," 1898).]
+
+[Footnote 318: Miot de Melito, vol. ii., ch. xviii.]
+
+[Footnote 319: Clausel afterwards complained that if he had received
+any order to that effect he could have pushed on so as to be at
+Vittoria ("Mems. du Roi Joseph," vol. ix., p. 454). The muster-rolls
+of the French were lost at Vittoria. Napier puts their force at
+70,000; Thiers at 54,000; Jourdan at 50,000.]
+
+[Footnote 320: Wellington's official account of the fight states that
+the French got away only two of their cannon; and Simmons, "A British
+Rifleman," asserts that the last of these was taken near Pamplona on
+the 24th. Wellington generously assigned much credit to the Spanish
+troops--far more than Napier will allow.]
+
+[Footnote 321: Ducasse, "Les rois, freres de Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 322: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon," July 1st, 3rd, 15th,
+and 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 323: Stadion to Metternich, May 30th, June 2nd and 8th; in
+Luckwaldt, p. 382.]
+
+[Footnote 324: Cathcart's "most secret" despatch of June 4/16* from
+Reichenbach. Just a month earlier he reported that the Czar's
+proposals to Austria included all these terms in an absolute form, and
+also the separation of Holland from France, the restoration of the
+Bourbons to Spain, and "L'Italie libre dans toutes ses parties du
+Gouvernement et de l'influence de la France." Such were also
+Metternich's _private_ wishes, with the frontier of the Oglio on the
+S.W. for Austria. See Oncken, vol. ii., p. 644. The official terms
+were in part due to the direct influence of the Emperor Francis.]
+
+[Footnote 325: In a secret article of the Treaty we promised to
+advance to Austria a subsidy of L500,000 as soon as she should join
+the allies.]
+
+[Footnote 326: Martens, vol. ix., pp. 568-575. Our suspicion of
+Prussia reappears (as was almost inevitable after her seizure of
+Hanover), not only in the smallness of the sum accorded to her--for we
+granted L2,000,000 in all to the Swedish, Hanseatic, and Hanoverian
+contingents--but also in the stipulation that she should assent to the
+eventual annexation of the formerly Prussian districts of East Frisia
+and Hildesheim to Hanover. We also refused to sign the Treaty of
+Reichenbach until she, most unwillingly, assented to this prospective
+cession. This has always been thought in Germany a mean transaction;
+but, as Castlereagh pointed out, those districts were greatly in the
+way of the development of Hanover. Prussia was to have an indemnity
+for the sacrifice; and we bore the chief burden in the issue of
+"federative paper notes," which enabled the allies to prepare for the
+campaign ("Castlereagh Papers," 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 355; 3rd
+series, vol. i., pp. 7-17; and "Bath Archives," vol. ii., p. 86).
+Moreover, we were then sending 30,000 muskets to Stralsund and Colberg
+for the use of Prussian troops (Despatch from "F.O.," July 28th, to
+Thornton, "Sweden," No. 79). On July 6th we agreed to pay the cost of
+a German Legion of 10,000 men under the Czar's orders. Its Commissary
+was Colonel Lowe.]
+
+[Footnote 327: For the official reports see Garden, vol. xiv., pp.
+486-499; also Bausset's account, "Cour de Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 328: Any account of a private interview between two astute
+schemers must be accepted with caution; and we may well doubt whether
+Metternich really was as firm, not to say provocative, as he
+afterwards represented in his "Memoirs." But, on the whole, his
+account is more trustworthy than that of Fain, Napoleon's secretary,
+in his "Manuscrit de 1813," vol. ii., ch. ii. Fain places the
+interview on June 28th; in "Napoleon's Corresp." it is reprinted, but
+assigned to June 23rd. The correct date is shown by Oncken to have
+been June 26th. Bignon's account of it (vol. xii., ch. iv.) is marked
+by his usual bias.]
+
+[Footnote 329: Cathcart reported, on July 8th, that Schwarzenberg had
+urged an extension of the armistice, so that Austria might meet the
+"vast and unexpected" preparations of France ("Russia," No. 86).]
+
+[Footnote 330: "Russia," No. 86.]
+
+[Footnote 331: Thornton's despatch of July 12th ("Castlereagh Papers,"
+2nd Series, vol. iv., _ad fin._).]
+
+[Footnote 332: _Ibid._, pp. 383 and 405.]
+
+[Footnote 333: For details see Oncken, Luckwaldt, Thiers, Fain, and
+the "Mems." of the Duc de Broglie; also Gentz, "Briefe an Pilat," of
+July 16th-22nd, 1813. Humboldt, the Prussian ambassador, reported on
+July 13th to Berlin that Metternich looked on war as quite
+unavoidable, and on the Congress merely as a means of convincing the
+Emperor Francis of the impossibility of gaining a lasting peace.]
+
+[Footnote 334: Thiers; Ernouf's "Maret, Duc de Bassano," p. 571.]
+
+[Footnote 335: Bignon "Hist. de France," vol. xii., p. 199; Lefebvre,
+"Cabinets de l'Europe," vol. v., p. 555.]
+
+[Footnote 336: Letter of July 29th.]
+
+[Footnote 337: Gentz to Sir G. Jackson, August 4th ("Bath Archives,"
+vol. ii., p. 199). For a version flattering to Napoleon, see Ernouf's
+"Maret" (pp. 579-587), which certainly exculpates the Minister.]
+
+[Footnote 338: Metternich, "Memoirs," vol. ii., p. 546 (Eng. ed.).]
+
+[Footnote 339: "F.O.," Russia, No. 86. A letter of General Nugent
+(July 27th), from Prague, is inclosed. When he (N.) expressed to
+Metternich the fear that Caulaincourt's arrival there portended peace,
+M. replied that this would make no alteration, "as the proposals were
+such that they certainly would not be accepted, and they would even be
+augmented."]
+
+[Footnote 340: "Souvenirs du Duc de Broglie," vol. i., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 341: British aims at this time are well set forth in the
+instructions and the accompanying note to Lord Aberdeen, our
+ambassador designate at Vienna, dated Foreign Office, August 6th,
+1813: " ... Your Lordship will collect from these instructions that a
+general peace, in order to provide adequately for the tranquillity and
+independence of Europe, ought, in the judgment of His Majesty's
+Government, to confine France at least within the Pyrenees, the Alps,
+and the Rhine: and if the other Great Powers of Europe should feel
+themselves enabled to contend for such a Peace, Great Britain is fully
+prepared to concur with them in such a line of policy. If, however,
+the Powers most immediately concerned should determine, rather than
+encounter the risks of a more protracted struggle, to trust for their
+own security to a more imperfect arrangement, it never has been the
+policy of the British Government to attempt to dictate to other States
+a perseverance in war, which they did not themselves recognize to be
+essential to their own as well as to the common safety." As regards
+details, we desired to see the restoration of Venetia to Austria, of
+the Papal States to the Pope, of the north-west of Italy to the King
+of Sardinia, but trusted that "a liberal establishment" might be found
+for Murat in the centre of Italy. Napoleon knew that we desired to
+limit France to the "natural frontiers" and that we were resolved to
+insist on our maritime claims. As our Government took this unpopular
+line, and went further than Austria in its plans for restricting
+French influence, he had an excellent opportunity for separating the
+Continental Powers from us. But he gave out that those Powers were
+bought by England, and that we were bent on humiliating France.]
+
+[Footnote 342: Boyen, "Erinnerungen," Pt. III., p. 66.]
+
+[Footnote 343: Fain, vol. ii., p. 27. The italicized words are given
+thus by him; but they read like a later excuse for Napoleon's
+failures.]
+
+[Footnote 344: "Commentaries on the War in Russia and Germany," p.
+195.]
+
+[Footnote 345: In his letters of August 16th to Macdonald and Ney he
+assumed that the allies might strike at Dresden, or even as far west
+as Zwickau: but meanwhile he would march "pour enlever Bluecher."]
+
+[Footnote 346: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon." The Emperor forwarded
+this suggestion to Savary (August 11th): it doubtless meant an issue
+of false paper notes, such as had been circulated in Russia the year
+before.]
+
+[Footnote 347: Cathcart, "Commentaries," p. 206.]
+
+[Footnote 348: "Extrait d'un Memoire sur la Campagne de 1813." With
+characteristic inaccuracy Marbot remarks that the defection of Jomini,
+_with Napoleon's plans_, was "a disastrous blow." The same is said by
+Dedem de Gelder, p. 328.]
+
+[Footnote 349: The Emperor's eagerness is seen by the fact that on
+August 21st he began dictating despatches, at Lauban, at 3 a.m. On the
+previous day he had dictated seventeen despatches; twelve at Zittau,
+four after his ride to Goerlitz, and one more on his arrival at Lauban
+at midnight.]
+
+[Footnote 350: Letters of August 23rd to Berthier.]
+
+[Footnote 351: Boyen, vol. iii., p. 85. But see Wiehr, "Nap. und
+Bernadotte in 1813," who proves how risky was B.'s position, with the
+Oder fortresses, held by the French, on one flank, and Davoust and the
+Danes on the other. He disposes of many of the German slanders against
+Bernadotte.]
+
+[Footnote 352: Hausser, pp. 260-267. Oudinot's "Memoirs" throw the
+blame on the slowness of Bertrand in effecting the concentration on
+Grossbeeren and on the heedless impetuosity of Reynier. Wiehr (pp.
+74-116) proves from despatches that Bernadotte meant to attack the
+French _south of Berlin_: he discredits the "bones" anecdote.]
+
+[Footnote 353: Letters of August 23rd.]
+
+[Footnote 354: So called to distinguish it from the two other Neisses
+in Silesia.]
+
+[Footnote 355: Blasendorfs "Bluecher"; Mueffling's "Aus meinem Leben"
+and "Campaigns of the Silesian Army in 1813 and 1814"; Bertin's "La
+Campagne de 1813." Hausser assigns to the French close on 60,000 at
+the battle; to the allies about 70,000.]
+
+[Footnote 356: Jomini, "Vie de Napoleon," vol. iv., p. 380; "Toll,"
+vol. iii., p. 124.]
+
+[Footnote 357: "Toll," vol. iii., p. 144. Cathcart reports (p. 216)
+that Moreau remarked to him: "We are already on Napoleon's
+communications; the possession of the town [Dresden] is no object; it
+will fall of itself at a future time." If Moreau said this seriously
+it can only be called a piece of imbecility. The allies were far from
+safe until they had wrested from Napoleon one of his strong places on
+the Elbe; it was certainly not enough to have seized Pirna.]
+
+[Footnote 358: "Corresp." No. 20461.]
+
+[Footnote 359: Cathcart's "Commentaries," p. 230: Bertin, "La Campagne
+de 1813," p. 109; Marmont, "Mems.," bk. xvii.; Sir Evelyn Wood's
+"Achievements of Cavalry."]
+
+[Footnote 360: It is clear from Napoleon's letters of the evening of
+the 27th that he was not quite pleased with the day's work, and
+thought the enemy would hold firm, or even renew the attack on the
+morrow. They disprove Thiers' wild statements about a general pursuit
+on that evening, thousands of prisoners swept up, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 361: Vandamme on the 28th received a reinforcement of
+eighteen battalions, and thenceforth had in all sixty-four; yet Marbot
+credits him with only 20,000 men.]
+
+[Footnote 362: Thiers gives Berthier's despatch in full. See also map,
+p. 336.]
+
+[Footnote 363: Marmont, bk. xvii., p. 158. He and St. Cyr ("Mems.,"
+vol. iv., pp. 120-123) agree as to the confusion of their corps when
+crowded together on this road. Napoleon's aim was to insure the
+capture of all the enemy's cannon and stores; but his hasty orders had
+the effect of blocking the pursuit on the middle road. St. Cyr sent to
+headquarters for instruction; but these were now removed to Dresden;
+hence the fatal delay.]
+
+[Footnote 364: Thiers has shown that Mortier did not get the order
+from Berthier to support Vandamme _until August 30th_. The same is
+true of St. Cyr, who did not get it till 11.30 a.m. on that day. St.
+Cyr's best defence is Napoleon's letter of September 1st to him
+("Lettres inedites de Napoleon"): "That unhappy Vandamme, who seems to
+have killed himself, had not a sentinel on the mountains, nor a
+reserve anywhere.... I had given him positive orders to intrench
+himself on the heights, to encamp his troops on them, and only to send
+isolated parties of men into Bohemia to worry the enemy and collect
+news." With this compare Napoleon's approving statement of August 29th
+to Murat ("Corresp.," No. 20486): "Vandamme was marching on Teplitz
+_with all his corps_."]
+
+[Footnote 365: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon," September 3rd.]
+
+[Footnote 366: Haeusser, vol. iv., p. 343, and Boyen, "Erinnerungen,"
+vol. ii., pp. 345-357, for Bernadotte's suspicious delays on this day;
+also Marmont, bk. xviii., for a critique on Ney. Napoleon sent for
+Lejeune, then leading a division of Ney's army, to explain the
+disaster; but when Lejeune reached the headquarters at Dohna, south of
+Dresden, the Emperor bade him instantly return--a proof of his
+impatience and anger at these reverses.]
+
+[Footnote 367: Thornton, our envoy at Bernadotte's headquarters, wrote
+to Castlereagh that that leader's desire was to spare the Swedish
+corps; he expected that Bernadotte would aim at the French crown
+("Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. i., pp. 48-59). See too Boyen,
+vol. ii., p. 378.]
+
+[Footnote 368: Letter of October 10th to Reynier. This and his letter
+to Maret seem to me to refute Bernhardi's contention ("Toll," vol.
+iii., pp. 385-388) that Napoleon only meant to drive the northern
+allies across the Elbe, and then to turn on Schwarzenberg. The
+Emperor's plans shifted every few hours: but the plan of crossing the
+Elbe in great force was distinctly prepared for.]
+
+[Footnote 369: Thiers asserts that he had. But if so, how could the
+Emperor have written to Macdonald (October 2nd) that the Silesian army
+had made a move on Grossenhain: "It appears that this is so as to
+attack the intrenched camp (at Dresden) by the side of the plain, by
+the roads of Berlin and Meissen."? On the same day he scoffs at
+Lefebre-Desnoettes for writing that Bernadotte had crossed the Elbe,
+and retorts that if he had, it would be so much the worse for him: the
+war would soon be over.]
+
+[Footnote 370: Letter of October 10th to Reynier. This and his letter
+to Maret seem to me to refute Bernhardi's contention ("Toll," vol.
+iii., pp. 385-388) that Napoleon only meant to drive the northern
+allies across the Elbe, and then to turn on Schwarzenberg. The
+Emperor's plans shifted every few hours: but the plan of crossing the
+Elbe in great force was distinctly prepared for.]
+
+[Footnote 371: Martens, "Traites," vol. ix., p. 610. This secret
+bargain cut the ground from under the German unionists, like Stein,
+who desired to make away with the secondary princes, or strictly to
+limit their powers.]
+
+[Footnote 372: Thiers and Bernhardi ("Toll," vol. iii., p. 388) have
+disposed of this fiction.]
+
+[Footnote 373: Sir E. Wood, "Achievements of Cavalry."]
+
+[Footnote 374: "Corresp.," No. 20814. Marmont, vol. v., p. 281,
+acutely remarks that Napoleon now regarded as true only that which
+entered into his combinations and his thoughts.]
+
+[Footnote 375: Bernadotte was only hindered from retreat across the
+Elbe by the remonstrances of his officers, by the forward move of
+Bluecher, and by the fact that the Elbe bridges were now held by the
+French. For the council of war at Koethen on October 14th, see Boyen,
+vol. ii., p. 377.]
+
+[Footnote 376: Mueffling, "Campaign of 1813."]
+
+[Footnote 377: Colonel Lowe, who was present, says it was won and lost
+five times (unpublished "Memoirs").]
+
+[Footnote 378: Napoleon's bulletin of October 16th, 1813, blames Ney
+for this waste of a great corps; but it is clear, from the official
+orders published by Marmont (vol. v., pp. 373-378), that Napoleon did
+not expect any pitched battle on the north side on the 16th. He
+thought Bertrand's corps would suffice to defend the north and west,
+and left the defence on that side in a singularly vague state.]
+
+[Footnote 379: Dedem de Gelder, "Mems.," p. 345, severely blames
+Napoleon's inaction on the 17th; either he should have attacked the
+allies before Bennigsen and Bernadotte came up, or have retreated
+while there was time.]
+
+[Footnote 380: Lord Burghersh, Sir George Jackson, Odeleben, and Fain
+all assign this conversation to the night of the 16th; but Merveldt's
+official account of it (inclosed with Lord Cathcart's despatches),
+gives it as on October 17th, at 2 p.m. ("F.O.," Russia, No. 86). I
+follow this version rather than that given by Fain.]
+
+[Footnote 381: That the British Ministers did not intend anything of
+the kind, even in the hour of triumph, is seen by Castlereagh's
+despatch of November 13th, 1813, to Lord Aberdeen, our envoy at the
+Austrian Court: "We don't wish to impose any dishonourable condition
+upon France, which limiting the number of her ships would be: but she
+must not be left in possession of this point [Antwerp]" ("Castlereagh
+Papers," 3rd series, vol. i., p. 76).]
+
+[Footnote 382: Boyen describes the surprising effects of the fire of
+the British rocket battery that served in Bernadotte's army. Captain
+Bogue brought it forward to check the charge of a French column
+against the Swedes. He was shot down, but Lieutenant Strangways poured
+in so hot a fire that the column was "blown asunder like an ant-heap,"
+the men rushing back to cover amidst the loud laughter of the allies.]
+
+[Footnote 383: The premature explosion was of course due, not to
+Napoleon, but to the flurry of a serjeant and the skilful flanking
+move of Sacken's light troops, for which see Cathcart and Marmont. The
+losses at Leipzig were rendered heavier by Napoleon's humane refusal
+to set fire to the suburbs so as to keep off the allies. He rightly
+said he could have saved many thousand French had he done so. This is
+true. But it is strange that he had given no order for the
+construction of other bridges. Pelet and Fain affirm that he gave a
+verbal order; but, as Marbot explains, Berthier, the Chief of the
+Staff, had adopted the pedantic custom of never acting on anything
+less than _a written order_, which was not given. The neglect to
+secure means for retreat is all the stranger as the final miseries at
+the Beresina were largely due to official blundering of the same kind.
+Wellington's criticism on Napoleon's tactics at Leipzig is severe
+(despatch of January 10th, 1814): "If Bonaparte had not placed himself
+in a position that every other officer would have avoided, and
+remained in it longer than was consistent with any ideas of prudence,
+he would have retired in such a state that the allies could not have
+ventured to approach the Rhine."]
+
+[Footnote 384: Sir Charles Stewart wrote (March 22nd, 1814): "On the
+Elbe Napoleon was quite insane, and his lengthened stay there was the
+cause of the Battle of Leipzig and all his subsequent misfortunes"
+("Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p. 373).]
+
+[Footnote 385: Napier, vol. v., pp. 368-378.]
+
+[Footnote 386: On November 10th Lord Aberdeen, our ambassador at the
+Austrian Court, wrote to Castlereagh: " ... As soon as he [Murat]
+received the last communication addressed to him by Prince Metternich
+and myself at Prague, he wrote to Napoleon and stated that the affairs
+of his kingdom absolutely demanded his presence. Without waiting for
+any answer, he immediately began his journey, and did not halt a
+moment till he arrived at Basle. While on the road he sent a cyphered
+dispatch to Prince Cariati, his Minister at Vienna, in which he
+informs him that he hopes to be at Naples on the 4th of this month:
+that he burns with desire to revenge himself of [_sic_] all the
+injuries he has received from Bonaparte, and to connect himself with
+the cause of the allies in contending for a just and stable peace. He
+proposes to declare war on the instant of his arrival." Again, on
+December 19th, Aberdeen writes: "You may consider the affair of Murat
+as settled.... It will probably end in Austria agreeing to his having
+a change of frontier on the Papal territory, just enough to satisfy
+his vanity and enable him to show something to his people. I doubt
+much if it will be possible, with the claims of Sicily, Sardinia, and
+Austria herself in the north of Italy, to restore to him the three
+Legations: but something adequate must be done" ("Austria," No. 102).
+The disputes between Murat and Napoleon will be cleared up in Baron
+Lumbroso's forthcoming work, "Murat." Meanwhile see Bignon, vol.
+xiii., pp. 181 _et seq._; Desvernois, "Mems.," ch. xx.; and Chaptal
+(p. 305), for Fouche's treacherous advice to Murat.]
+
+[Footnote 387: Lady Burghersh's "Journal," p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 388: Fain, "Manuscrit de 1814," pp. 48-63. Ernouf, "Vie de
+Maret," p. 606, states that Napoleon touched up Maret's note; the
+sentence quoted above is doubtless the Emperor's. The same author
+proves that Maret's advice had always been more pacific than was
+supposed, and that now, in his old position of Secretary of State, he
+gave Caulaincourt valuable help during the negotiations at Chatillon.]
+
+[Footnote 389: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. i., p. 74. This
+was written, of course, before he heard of the Frankfurt proposals;
+but it anticipates them in a remarkable way. Thiers states that
+Castlereagh, after hearing of them, sent Aberdeen new instructions. I
+cannot find any in our archives. This letter warned Aberdeen against
+any compromise on the subject of Antwerp; but it is clear that
+Castlereagh, when he came to the allied headquarters, was a partisan
+of peace, as compared with the Czar and the Prussian patriots.
+Schwarzenberg wrote (January 26th) at Langres: "We ought to make peace
+here: our Kaiser, also Stadion, Metternich, even Castlereagh, are
+fully of this opinion--but Kaiser Alexander!"]
+
+[Footnote 390: Fournier, "Der Congress von Chatillon," p. 242.]
+
+[Footnote 391: "Castlereagh Papers," _loc. cit._, p. 112.]
+
+[Footnote 392: Metternich. "Memoirs," vol. i., p. 214.]
+
+[Footnote 393: "F.O.," Austria, No. 102.]
+
+[Footnote 394: "Lettres inedites" (November 6th, 1813).]
+
+[Footnote 395: The memorandum is endorsed, "Extract of Instructions
+delivered to me by Gen. Pozzo di Borgo, 18 Dec, 1813" ("Russia," No.
+92).]
+
+[Footnote 396: Metternich's letter to Hudelist, in Fournier, p. 242.]
+
+[Footnote 397: Houssaye's "1814," p. 14; Metternich, "Memoirs," vol.
+i., p. 308.]
+
+[Footnote 398: "Our success and everything depend upon our moderation
+and justice," he wrote to Lord Bathurst (Napier, bk. xxiii., ch.
+ii.).]
+
+[Footnote 399: "Lettres inedites" (November 12th). The date is
+important: it refutes Napier's statement (bk. xxiii., ch. iv.) that
+the Emperor had planned that Ferdinand should enter Spain early in
+November when the disputes between Wellington and the Cortes at Madrid
+were at their height. Bignon (vol. xiii., p. 88 _et seq._) says that
+Talleyrand's indiscretion revealed the negotiations to the Spanish
+Cortes and Wellington; but our general's despatches show that he did
+not hear of them before January 9th or 10th. He then wrote: "I have
+long suspected that Bonaparte would adopt this expedient; and if he
+had had less pride and more common sense, it would have succeeded."]
+
+[Footnote 400: On January 14th the Emperor ordered Soult, as soon as
+the ratification of the treaty*treatry was known, to set out
+northwards from Bayonne "with all his army, only leaving what is
+necessary to form a screen." Suchet was likewise to hurry with 10,000
+foot, _en poste_, and two-thirds of his horse, to Lyons. On the 22nd
+the Emperor blames both Marshals for not sending off the infantry,
+though the Spanish treaty had _not_ been ratified. After long delays
+Ferdinand set out for Spain on March 13th, when the war was almost
+over.]
+
+[Footnote 401: Houssaye's "1814," ch. ii.; Mueffling's "Campaign of
+1814."]
+
+[Footnote 402: Letter of January 31st to Joseph.]
+
+[Footnote 403: "Mems. de Langeron" in Houssaye, p. 62; but see
+Mueffling.]
+
+[Footnote 404: Letter of February 2nd to Clarke.]
+
+[Footnote 405: Metternich said of Castlereagh, "I can't praise him
+enough: his views are most peaceful, in our sense" (Fournier, p.
+252).]
+
+[Footnote 406: Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool, January 22nd and 30th,
+1814.]
+
+[Footnote 407: Letter to Hudelist (February 3rd), in Fournier, p.
+255.]
+
+[Footnote 408: Stewart's Mem. of January 27th, 1814, in "Castlereagh
+Papers," vol. ix., p. 535. On that day Hardenberg noted in his diary:
+"Discussion on the plan of operations, and misunderstandings. Intrigue
+of Stein to get the army straight to Paris, as the Czar wants. The
+Austrians oppose this: others don't know what they want" (Fournier, p.
+361).]
+
+[Footnote 409: Stewart's notes in "Castlereagh Papers," pp. 541-548.
+On February 17th Castlereagh promised to give back all our conquests
+in the West Indies, except Tobago, and to try to regain for France
+Guadaloupe and Cayenne from Sweden and Portugal; also to restore all
+the French possessions east of the Cape of Good Hope except the Iles
+de France (Mauritius) and de Bourbon (Fournier, p. 381).]
+
+[Footnote 410: Letters of January 31st and February 2nd to Joseph.]
+
+[Footnote 411: Printed in Napoleon's "Corresp." of February 17th. I
+cannot agree with Ernouf, "Vie de Maret," and Fournier, that
+Caulaincourt could have signed peace merely on Maret's "carte blanche"
+despatch. The man who had been cruelly duped by Napoleon in the
+D'Enghien affair naturally wanted an explicit order now.]
+
+[Footnote 412: Given by Ducasse, "Les Rois Freres de Napoleon," p.
+64.]
+
+[Footnote 413: Hausser, p. 503. According to Napoleon, 6,000 men and
+forty cannon were captured!]
+
+[Footnote 414: Letter of February 18th, 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 415: At Elba Napoleon told Colonel Campbell that he would
+have made peace at Chatillon had not England insisted on his giving up
+Antwerp, and that England was therefore the cause of the war
+continuing. This letter, however, proves that he was as set on
+retaining Mainz as Antwerp. Caulaincourt then wished him to make peace
+while he could do so with credit ("Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p.
+287).]
+
+[Footnote 416: Fournier, pp. 132-137, 284-294, 299.]
+
+[Footnote 417: See Metternich's letter to Stadion of February 15th in
+Fournier, pp. 319, 327.]
+
+[Footnote 418: Houssaye, p. 102.]
+
+[Footnote 419: Instructions of February 24th to Flahaut, "Corresp.,"
+No. 21359; Hardenberg's "Diary," in Fournier, pp. 363-364.]
+
+[Footnote 420: Fournier, pp. 170, 385.]
+
+[Footnote 421: _Ibid._, pp. 178-181, 304; Martens, vol. ix., p. 683.
+Castlereagh, vol. ix., p. 336, calls it "my treaty," and adds that
+England was practically supplying 300,000 men to the Coalition. One
+secret article invited Spain and Sweden to accede to the treaty;
+another stated that Germany was to consist of a federation of
+sovereign princes, that Holland must receive a "suitable" military
+frontier, and that Italy, Spain, and Switzerland must be independent,
+that is, of France; a third bound the allies to keep their armies on a
+war footing for a suitable time after the peace.]
+
+[Footnote 422: See his instructions of March 2nd to Caulaincourt:
+"Nothing will bring France to do anything that degrades her national
+character and deposes her from the rank she has held in the world for
+centuries." But it was precisely that rank which the allies were
+resolved to assign to her, neither more nor less. The joint allied
+note of February 29th to the negotiators at Chatillon bade them
+"announce to the French negotiator that you are ready to discuss, in a
+spirit of conciliation, every modification that he might be authorized
+to propose"; but that any essential departure from the terms already
+proposed by them must lead to a rupture of the negotiations.]
+
+[Footnote 423: Letters of March 2nd, 3rd, 4th, to Clarke.]
+
+[Footnote 424: Houssaye, p. 156, note. So too Mueffling, "Aus meinem
+Leben," shows that Bluecher could have crossed the Aisne there or at
+Pontavaire or Berry-au-Bac.]
+
+[Footnote 425: See Napoleon's letters to Clarke of March 4th-6th.]
+
+[Footnote 426: Houssaye, pp. 176-188.]
+
+[Footnote 427: Mueffling says that Bluecher and Gneisenau feared an
+attack by _Bernadotte_ on their rear. Napoleon on February 25th
+advised Joseph to try and gain over that prince, who had some very
+suspicious relations with the French General Maison in Belgium.
+Probably Gneisenau wished to spare his men for political reasons.]
+
+[Footnote 428: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. iv., p. 697. Lord Burghersh
+wrote from Troyes (March 12th): "I am convinced this army will not be
+risked in a general action.... S. would almost wish to be back upon
+the Rhine." So again on the 19th he wrote to Colonel Hudson Lowe from
+Pougy: "I cannot say much for our activity; I am unable to explain the
+causes of our apathy--the facts are too evident to be disputed. We
+have been ten days at Troyes, one at Pont-sur-Seine, two at Arcis, and
+are now at this place. We go tomorrow to Brienne" ("Unpublished Mems.
+of Sir H. Lowe"). Stewart wittily said that Napoleon came to Arcis to
+feel Schwarzenberg's pulse.]
+
+[Footnote 428: Letters of March 20th to Clarke.]
+
+[Footnote 430: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., pp. 325, 332.]
+
+[Footnote 431: These letters were written in pairs--the one being
+official, the other confidential. Caulaincourt's replies show that he
+appreciated them highly (see Fain, Appendix).]
+
+[Footnote 432: From Caulaincourt's letter of March 3rd to Napoleon;
+Bignon, vol. xiii., p. 379.]
+
+[Footnote 433: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p. 555.]
+
+[Footnote 434: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., pp. 335, 559.
+Caulaincourt's project of March 15th much resembled that dictated by
+Napoleon three days later; Austria was to have Venetia as far as the
+Adige, the kingdom of Italy to go to Eugene, and the duchy of Warsaw
+to the King of Saxony, etc. The allies rejected it (Fain, p. 388).]
+
+[Footnote 435: Fournier, p. 232, rebuts, and I think successfully,
+Houssaye's objections (p. 287) to its genuineness. Besides, the letter
+is on the same moral level with the instructions of January 4th to
+Caulaincourt, and resembles them in many respects. No forger could
+have known of those instructions. At Elba, Napoleon admitted that he
+was wrong in not making peace at this time. "_Mais je me croyais assez
+fort pour ne pas la faire, et je me suis trompe_" (Lord Holland's
+"Foreign Rem.," p. 319). The same writer states (p. 296) that he saw
+the official correspondence about Chatillon: it gave him the highest
+opinion of Caulaincourt, but N.'s conduct was "full of subterfuge and
+artifice."]
+
+[Footnote 436: Castlereagh to Clancarty, March 18th.]
+
+[Footnote 437: Napier, bk. xxiv., ch. iii. Wellington seems to have
+thought that the allies would probably make peace with Napoleon.]
+
+[Footnote 438: Broglie, "Mems.," bk. iii., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 439: Letter of February 25th to Joseph. Thiebault gives us
+an odd story that Bernadotte sent an agent, Rainville, to persuade
+Davoust to join him in attacking the rear of the allies; but that
+Rainville's nerve so forsook him in Davoust's presence that he turned
+and bolted for his life!]
+
+[Footnote 440: Caulaincourt to Metternich on March 25th: "Arrived only
+this [last] night near the Emperor, His Majesty has ... given me all
+the powers necessary to sign peace with the Ministers of the allied
+Courts" (Fain, p. 345; Ernouf, "Vie de Maret," p. 634).
+
+Thiers does not mention these overtures of Napoleon, which are surely
+most characteristic. His whole eastward move was motived by them.
+Efforts have been made (_e.g._, by M. de Bacourt in Talleyrand's
+"Mems.," pt. vii., app. 4) to prove that on the 25th Napoleon was
+ready to agree to all the allied terms, and thus concede more than was
+done by Louis XVIII. But there is no proof that he meant to do
+anything of the sort. The terms of Caulaincourt's note were perfectly
+vague. Moreover, even on the 28th, when Napoleon was getting alarmed,
+he had an interview with a captured Austrian diplomatist, Wessenberg,
+whom he set free in order that he might confer with the Emperor
+Francis. He told the envoy that France would yet give him support: he
+wanted the natural frontiers, but would probably make peace on less
+favourable terms, as he wished to end the war: "I am ready to renounce
+all the French colonies if I can thereby keep the mouth of the Scheldt
+for France. England will not insist on my sacrificing Antwerp if
+Austria does not support her" (Arneth's "Wessenberg," vol. i., p.
+188). This extract shows no great desire to meet the allied terms, but
+rather to separate Austria from her allies. According to Lady
+Burghersh ("Journals," p. 216), Napoleon admitted to Wessenberg that
+his position was desperate. I think this was a pleasing fiction of
+that envoy. There is no proof that Napoleon was wholly cast down till
+the 29th, when he heard of La Fere Champenoise (Macdonald's
+"Souvenirs").]
+
+[Footnote 441: Bignon, vol. xiii., pp. 436, 437.]
+
+[Footnote 442: On hearing of their withdrawal Stein was radiant with
+joy: "Now, he said, the Czar will go on to Paris, and all will soon be
+at an end" (Tourgueneff quoted by Haeusser, vol. iv., p. 553).]
+
+[Footnote 443: Bernhardi's "Toll," vol. iv., pp. 737 _et seq._;
+Houssaye, pp. 354-362; also Nesselrode's communication published in
+Talleyrand's "Mems." Thielen and Radetzky have claimed that the
+initiative in this matter was Schwarzenberg's; and Lord Burghersh, in
+his despatch of March 25th ("Austria," No. 110), agrees with them.
+Stein supports Toll's claim. I cannot agree with Houssaye (p. 407)
+that "Napoleon had resigned himself to the sacrifice of Paris." His
+intercepted letter, and also the official letters, Nos. 21508, 21513,
+21516, 21526, 21538, show that he believed the allies would retreat
+and that his communications with Paris would be safe.]
+
+[Footnote 444: I take this account largely from Sir Hudson Lowe's
+unpublished memoirs. Napoleon blamed Marmont for not marching to
+Rheims as he was ordered to do. At Elba, Napoleon told Colonel
+Campbell that Marmont's disobedience spoilt the eastern movement, and
+ruined the campaign. But had Marmont and Mortier joined Napoleon at
+Vitry, Paris would have been absolutely open to the allies.]
+
+[Footnote 445: Houssaye, pp. 485 _et seq._; Napoleon's letters of
+February 8th and March 16th; Mollien, vol. iv., p. 128. In Napoleon's
+letter of April 2nd to Joseph ("New Letters") there is not a word of
+reproach to Joseph for leaving Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 446: "Castlereagh Papers," vol. ix., p. 420; Pasquier, vol.
+iii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 447: We do not know definitely why Alexander dropped
+Bernadotte so suddenly. On March 17th he had assured the royalist
+agent, Baron de Vitrolles, that he would not hear of the Bourbons, and
+that he had first thought of establishing Bernadotte in France, and
+then Eugene. We do know, however, that Bernadotte had made suspicious
+overtures to the French General Maison in Belgium ("Castlereagh
+Papers," vol. ix., pp. 383, 445, 512).]
+
+[Footnote 448: De Pradt, "Restauration de la Royaute, le 31 Mars,
+1814"; Pasquier, vol. iii., ch. xiii. Vitrolles ("Mems.," vol. i., pp.
+95-101) says that Metternich assured him on March 15th that Austria
+would not insist on the Regency of Marie Louise, but would listen to
+the wishes of France.]
+
+[Footnote 449: For the first draft of this Declaration, see
+"Corresp.," No. 21555 (note).]
+
+[Footnote 450: Pasquier, vol. iii., ch. xv.; Macdonald, "Souvenirs."]
+
+[Footnote 451: Houssaye, pp. 593-623; Marmont, vol. vi., pp. 254-272;
+Macdonald, chs. xxvii.-xxviii. At Elba, Napoleon told Lord Ebrington
+that Marmont's troops were among the best, and his treachery ruined
+everything ("Macmillan's Mag.," Dec, 1894).]
+
+[Footnote 452: Pasquier, vol. iii., ch. xvi.; "Castlereagh Papers,"
+vol. ix., p. 442. Alison wrongly says that _Napoleon_ chose Elba.]
+
+[Footnote 453: Martens, vol. ix., p. 696.]
+
+[Footnote 454: Thiers and Constant assign this event to the night of
+11th-12th. I follow Fain and Macdonald in referring it to the next
+night.]
+
+[Footnote 455: Bausset, "Cour de Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 456: Sir Neil Campbell's "Journal," p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 457: Ussher, "Napoleon's Last Voyages," p. 29.]
+
+[Footnote 458: A quondam Jacobin, Pons (de l'Herault), Commissioner of
+Mines at Elba, has left "Souvenirs de l'Ile d'Elbe," which are of
+colossal credulity. In chap. xi. he gives tales of plots to murder
+Napoleon--some of them very silly. In part ii., chap, i., he styles
+him "essentiellement religieux," and a most tender-hearted man, who
+was compelled by prudence to hide his sensibility! Yet Campbell's
+official reports show that Pons, _at that time_, was far from admiring
+Napoleon.]
+
+[Footnote 459: "F.O.," Austria, No. 117. Talleyrand, in his letters to
+Louis XVIII., claims to have broken up the compact of the Powers. But
+it is clear that fear of Russia was more potent than Talleyrand's
+_finesse_. Before the Congress began Castlereagh and Wellington
+advised friendship with France so as to check "undue pretensions"
+elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 460: Stanhope's "Conversations," p. 26. In our archives
+("Russia," No. 95) is a suspicious letter of Pozzo di Borgo, dated
+Paris, July 10/22, 1814, to Castlereagh (it is not in his Letters)
+containing this sentence: "_L'existence de Napoleon_, comme il etait
+aise a prevoir, est un inconvenient qui se rencontre partout." For
+Fouche's letter to Napoleon, begging him voluntarily to retire to the
+New World, see Talleyrand's "Mems.," pt. vii., app. iv. Lafayette
+("Mems.," vol. v., p. 345) asserts that French royalists were plotting
+his assassination. Brulart, Governor of Corsica, was suspected by
+Napoleon, but, it seems, wrongly (Houssaye's "1815," p. 172).]
+
+[Footnote 461: Pallain, "Correspondance de Louis XVIII avec
+Talleyrand," pp. 307, 316.]
+
+[Footnote 462: "Recollections," p. 16; "F.O.," France, No. 114. The
+facts given above seem to me to refute the statements often made that
+the allies violated the Elba arrangement and so justified his escape.
+The facts prove that the allies sought to compel Louis XVIII. to pay
+Napoleon the stipulated sum, and that the Emperor welcomed the
+non-payment. His words to Lord Ebrington on December 6th breathe the
+conviction that France would soon rise.]
+
+[Footnote 463: Fleury de Chaboulon's "Mems.," vol. i., pp. 105-140;
+Lafayette, vol. v., p. 355.]
+
+[Footnote 464: Campbell's "Journal"; Peyrusse, "Memorial," p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 465: Houssaye's "1815," p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 466: Guizot, "Mems.," ch. iii.; De Broglie, "Mems.," bk.
+ii., ch. ii.; Fleury, vol. i., p. 259.]
+
+[Footnote 467: Peyrusse, "Memorial," p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 468: As Wellington pointed out ("Despatches," May 5th,
+1815), the phrase "il s'est livre a la vindicte publique" denotes
+public justice, _not_ public vengeance. At St. Helena, Napoleon told
+Gourgaud that he came back _too soon_ from Elba, _believing that the
+Congress had dissolved!_ (Gourgaud's "Journals," vol. ii., p. 323.)]
+
+[Footnote 469: "Diary," April 15th and 18th, 1815.]
+
+[Footnote 470: "Parl. Debates"; Romilly's "Diary," vol. ii., p. 360.]
+
+[Footnote 471: Napoleon told Cockburn during his last voyage that he
+bestowed this constitution, not because it was a wise measure, but as
+a needful concession to popular feeling. The continental peoples were
+not fit for representative government as England was ("Last Voyages of
+Nap.," pp. 115, 137). So, too, he said to Gourgaud he was wrong in
+summoning the Chambers at all "_especially as I meant to dismiss them
+as soon as I was a conqueror_" (Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 93).]
+
+[Footnote 472: Mercer's "Waterloo Campaign," vol. i., p. 352. For
+Fleury de Chaboulon's mission to sound Austria, see his "Mems.," vol.
+ii., and Madelin's "Fouche," ch. xxv.]
+
+[Footnote 473: In the "English Hist. Review" for July, 1901, I have
+published the correspondence between Sir Hudson Lowe
+(Quartermaster-General of our forces in Belgium up to May, 1815) and
+Gneisenau, Mueffling, and Kleist. These two last were _most reluctant_
+to send forward Prussian troops into Belgium to guard the weak
+frontier fortresses from a _coup de main_: but Lowe's arguments
+prevailed, thus deciding the main features of the war.]
+
+[Footnote 474: "F.O.," France, No. 116. On June 9th the Duke charged
+Stuart, our envoy at Ghent, to defend this course, on the ground that
+Bluecher and he had many raw troops, and could not advance into France
+with safety and invest fortresses until the Russians and Austrians
+co-operated.]
+
+[Footnote 475: Sir H. Vivian states ("Waterloo Letters," No. 70) that
+the Duke intended to give a ball on June 21st, the anniversary of
+Vittoria. See too Sir E. Wood's "Cavalry in the Waterloo Campaign,"
+ch. ii.]
+
+[Footnote 476: "F.O.," France, No. 115. A French royalist sent a
+report, dated June 1st, recommending "point d'engagement avec
+Bonaparte.... Il faut user l'armee de Bonaparte: elle ne peut plus se
+recruter."]
+
+[Footnote 477: Ropes's "Campaign of Waterloo," ch. v.; Chesney,
+"Waterloo Lectures," p. 100; Sir H. Maxwell's "Wellington" (vol. ii.,
+p. 14); and O'Connor Morris, "Campaign of 1815," p. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 478: Janin, "Campagne de Waterloo," p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 479: Petiet, "Souvenirs militaires," p. 195.]
+
+[Footnote 480: Credit is primarily due to Constant de Rebecque, a
+Belgian, chief of staff to the Prince of Orange, for altering the
+point of concentration from Nivelles, as ordered by Wellington, to
+Quatre Bras; also to General Perponcher for supporting the new
+movement. The Belgian side of the campaign has been well set forth by
+Boulger in "The Belgians at Waterloo" (1901).]
+
+[Footnote 481: Gourgaud, "Campagne de 1815," ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 482: Houssaye, "1815," pp. 133-138, 186, notes.]
+
+[Footnote 483: Hamley, "Operations of War," p. 187.]
+
+[Footnote 484: For Gerard's delays see Houssaye, p. 158, and
+Horsburgh, "Waterloo," p. 36. Napoleon's tardiness is scarcely noticed
+by Houssaye or by Gourgaud; but it has been censured by Jomini,
+Charras, Clausewitz, and Lord Wolseley.]
+
+[Footnote 485: Ollech (p. 125) sees in it a conditional offer of help
+to Bluecher. But on what ground? It states that the Prince of Orange
+has one division at Quatre Bras and other troops at Nivelles: that the
+British reserve would reach Genappe at noon, and their cavalry
+Nivelles at the same hour. How could Bluecher hope for help from forces
+so weak and scattered? See too Ropes (note to ch. x.). Horsburgh (ch.
+v.) shows that Wellington believed his forces to be more to the front
+than they were: he traces the error to De Lancey, chief of the staff.
+But it is fair to add that Wellington thought very highly of De
+Lancey, and after his death at Waterloo severely blamed subordinates.]
+
+[Footnote 486: Stanhope, "Conversations," p. 109.]
+
+[Footnote 487: Reiche, "Memoiren," vol. ii., p. 183.]
+
+[Footnote 488: The term _corps_ is significant. Not till 3.15 did
+Soult use the term _armee_ in speaking of Bluecher's forces. The last
+important sentence of the 2 p.m. despatch is not given by Houssaye (p.
+159), but is printed by Ropes (p. 383), Siborne (vol. i., p. 453),
+Charras (vol. i., p. 136), and Ollech (p. 131). It proves that _as
+late as 2 p.m._ Napoleon expected an easy victory over the Prussians.]
+
+[Footnote 489: The best authorities give the Prussians 87,000 men, and
+the French 78,000; but the latter estimate includes the corps of
+Lobau, 10,000 strong, which did not reach Fleurus till dark.]
+
+[Footnote 490: I follow Houssaye's solution of this puzzle as the
+least unsatisfacty, but it does not show why Napoleon should have been
+so perplexed. D'Erlon debouched from the wood of Villers Perwin
+_exactly where he might have been expected_. Was Napoleon puzzled
+because the corps was heading south-east instead of east?]
+
+[Footnote 491: Delbrueck ("Gneisenau," vol. ii., p. 190) shows how the
+storm favoured the attack.]
+
+[Footnote 492: I here follow Delbrueck's "Gneisenau" (vol. ii., p. 194)
+and Charras (vol. i., p. 163). Reiche ("Mems.," vol ii., p. 193) says
+that his corps of 30,800 men lost 12,480 on the 15th and 16th: he
+notes that Bluecher and Nostitz probably owed their escape to the
+plainness of their uniforms and headgear.]
+
+[Footnote 493: "Waterloo Letters," Nos. 163 and 169, prove that the
+time was 3 p.m. and not 3.30; see also Kincaid's account in Fitchett's
+"Wellington's Men" (p. 120).]
+
+[Footnote 494: "Waterloo Letters," No. 169.]
+
+[Footnote 495: See Houssaye, p. 205, for the sequence of these
+events.]
+
+[Footnote 496: Ollech, pp. 167-171. Colonel Basil Jackson, in his
+"Waterloo and St. Helena" (printed for private circulation), p. 64,
+states that he had been employed in examining and reporting on the
+Belgian roads, and did so on the road leading south from Wavre. This
+report had been sent to Gneisenau, and must have given him greater
+confidence on the night of the 16th.]
+
+[Footnote 497: O'Connor Morris, p. 176, approves Napoleon's criticism,
+and censures Gneisenau's move on Wavre: but surely Wavre combined more
+advantages than any other position. It was accessible for the whole
+Prussian army (including Buelow); it was easily defensible (as the
+event proved); and it promised a reunion with Wellington for the
+defence of Brussels. Houssaye says (p. 233) that Gneisenau did not at
+once foresee the immense consequences of his action. Of course he did
+not, because he was not sure of Wellington; but he took all the steps
+that might lead to immense consequences, if all went well.]
+
+[Footnote 498: Mueffling, "Passages," p. 238: Charras, vol. i., p. 226,
+discredits it.]
+
+[Footnote 499: Basil Jackson, _op. cit._, p. 24; Cotton, "A Voice from
+Waterloo," p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 500: Grouchy suppressed this despatch, but it was published
+in 1842.]
+
+[Footnote 501: Mercer, vol. i., p. 270.]
+
+[Footnote 502: Petiet, "Souvenirs militaires," p. 204.]
+
+[Footnote 503: Ropes, pp. 212, 246, 359. I follow the "received"
+version of this despatch. For a comparison of it with the "Grouchy"
+version see Horsburgh, p. 155, note.]
+
+[Footnote 504: Ropes, pp. 266, 288; Houssaye, p. 316, with a good
+note.]
+
+[Footnote 505: Ollech, pp. 187-192; Delbrueck's "Gneisenau," vol. ii.,
+p. 205. I cannot credit the story told by Hardinge in 1837 to Earl
+Stanhope ("Conversations," p. 110), that, on the night of the 16th
+June, Gneisenau sought to dissuade Bluecher from joining Wellington.
+Hardinge only had the story at second hand, and wrongly assigns it to
+Wavre. On the afternoon of the 17th Gneisenau ordered Ziethen _to keep
+open communications with Wellington_ (Ollech, p. 170). The story that
+Wellington rode over to Wavre on the night of the 18th on his horse
+"Copenhagen" is of course a myth.]
+
+[Footnote 506: "Blackwood's Magazine," October, 1896; "Cornhill,"
+January, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 507: Beamish's "King's German Legion," vol. ii., p. 352. Sir
+Hussey Vivian asserts that the allied position was by no means strong;
+but General Kennedy, in his "Notes on Waterloo" (p. 68), pronounces it
+"good and well occupied." A year previously Wellington noted it as a
+good position. Sir Hudson Lowe then suggested that it should be
+fortified: "Query, in respect to the construction of a work at Mt.
+Jean, being the commanding point at the junction of two principal
+chaussees" ("Unpublished Memoirs").]
+
+[Footnote 508: Wellington has been censured by Clausewitz, Kennedy and
+Chesney for leaving so large a force at Hal. Perhaps he desired to
+protect the King of France at Ghent, though he was surely relieved of
+responsibility by his despatch of June 18th, 3 a.m., begging the Duc
+de Berri to retire with the King to Antwerp. It seems to me more
+likely that he was so confident of an early advance of the Prussians
+(see his other despatch of the same hour and Sir A. Frazer's
+statement--"Letters," p. 553--"We expected the Prussian co-operation
+early in the day") as to assume that Napoleon would stake all on an
+effort against his right; and in that case the Hal force would have
+crushed the French rear, though it was very far off.]
+
+[Footnote 509: Wellington to Earl Bathurst, June 25th, 1815. The Earl
+of Ellesmere, who wrote under the Duke's influence, stated that not
+more than 7,000 of the British troops had seen a shot fired. This is
+incorrect. Picton's division, still 5,000 strong, was almost wholly
+composed of tried troops; and Lambert's brigade counted 2,200
+veterans; many of the Guards had seen fire, and the 52nd was a
+seasoned regiment. Tomkinson (p. 296) reckons all the 5,220 British
+and 1,730 King's German troopers as "efficient," and Wellington
+himself, so Mercer affirms, told Bluecher he had 6,000 of the finest
+cavalry in the world.]
+
+[Footnote 510: "A British Rifleman," p. 367.]
+
+[Footnote 511: I distrust the story told by Zenowicz, and given by
+Thiers, that Napoleon at 10 a.m. was awaiting Grouchy with impatience;
+also Marbot's letter referred to in his "Memoirs," _ad fin._, in which
+he says the Emperor bade him push on boldly towards Wavre, as the
+troops near St. Lambert "could be nothing else than the corps of
+Grouchy." Grouchy's despatch and the official reply show that Napoleon
+knew Grouchy to be somewhere between Gembloux and Wavre. Besides,
+Buelow's report (Ollech, p. 192) states that, while at St. Lambert, he
+sent out two strong patrols to the S.W., and was not observed by the
+French, "who appeared to have no idea of our existence." This
+completely disposes of Marbot's story.]
+
+[Footnote 512: Houssaye, ch. vii. In the "Eng. Hist. Rev." for
+October, 1900, p. 815, Mr. H. George gives a proof of this, citing the
+time it took him to pace the roads by which Grouchy might have
+advanced.]
+
+[Footnote 513 "Waterloo Letters," pp. 60-63, 70-77, 81-84, 383. The
+whole brigade was hardly 1,000 sabres strong. Sir E. Wood, pp.
+126-146; Siborne, vol. ii., pp. 20-45.]
+
+[Footnote 514: Houssaye, pp. 354, 499, admits the repulse.]
+
+[Footnote 515 B. Jackson, p. 34. Mueffling says the defaulters numbered
+10,000! While sympathizing with the efforts of Dutch-Belgian writers
+on behalf of their kin, I must accept Jackson's evidence as conclusive
+here. See also Mr. Oman's article in "Nineteenth Century," Oct.,
+1900.]
+
+[Footnote 516: B. Jackson, p. 35; "Waterloo Letters," pp. 129-144,
+296; Cotton, p. 79.]
+
+[Footnote 517: Houssaye, pp. 365, 371-376; Kennedy, pp. 117-120;
+Mercer, vol. i., pp. 311-324.]
+
+[Footnote 518: Gourgaud (ch. vi.) states that the time of Lobau's move
+was 4.30, though he had reconnoitred on his right earlier. Napoleon's
+statements on this head at St. Helena are conflicting. One says that
+Lobau moved at 1.30, another at 4.30. Perhaps Janin's statement
+explains why Lobau did nothing definite till the later hour.]
+
+[Footnote 519: Baring's account ("King's German Legion," App. xxi.)
+shows that the farm was taken about the time of the last great cavalry
+charge. Kennedy (p. 122) and Ompteda (_ad fin._) are equally explicit;
+and the evidence of the French archives adduced by Houssaye (p. 378)
+places the matter beyond doubt.]
+
+[Footnote 520: Ollech, pp. 243-246. Reiche's exorbitant claims (vol.
+ii., pp. 209-215) are refuted by "Waterloo Letters," p. 22.]
+
+[Footnote 521: Lacoste (Decoster), Napoleon's Flemish guide, told this
+to Sir W. Scott, "Life of Napoleon," vol. viii., p. 496.]
+
+[Footnote 522: See Boulger's "The Belgians at Waterloo" (1901), p.
+33.]
+
+[Footnote 523: The formation and force of the French Guards in this
+attack have been much discussed. Thiers omits all notice of the second
+column; Houssaye limits its force to a single battalion, but his
+account is not convincing. On p. 385 he says nine battalions of the
+Guard advanced into the valley, but, on p. 389, he accounts only for
+six. Other authorities agree that eight joined in the attack. As to
+their formation, Houssaye advances many proofs that it was in hollow
+squares. Here is one more. On the 19th Basil Jackson rode along the
+slope and ridge near the back of Hougoumont and talked with some of
+the wounded of the Imperial Guard. "As they lay they formed large
+squares, of which the centres were hollow" (p. 57). Maitland
+("Waterloo Letters," p. 244.) says: "There was one great column at
+first, which separated into two parts." Gawler (p. 292) adds that:
+"The second column was subdivided in two parts, close together, and
+that _its whole flank was much longer than the front of our 52nd
+regiment_." It is difficult to reconcile all this with the attack in
+hollow squares; but probably the squares (or oblongs?) followed each
+other so closely as to seem like a serried column. None of our men
+could see whether the masses were solid or hollow, but naturally
+assumed them to be solid, and hence greatly over-estimated their
+strength. A column made up of hollow squares is certainly an odd
+formation, but perhaps is not unsuitable to withstand cavalry and
+overthrow infantry.
+
+I cannot accept Houssaye's statement (p. 393) that the French squares
+attacked our front at four different places, from the 52nd regiment on
+our right to the Brunswickers in our centre, a quarter of a mile to
+the east. The only evidence that favours this is Macready's ("Waterloo
+Letters," p. 330); he says that the men who attacked his square (30th
+and 73rd regiments) were of the Middle Guard; for their wounded said
+so; but Kelly, of the same square, thought they were Donzelot's men,
+who certainly attacked there. Siborne, seemingly on the strength of
+Macready's statement, says that part of the Guards' column diverged
+thither: but this is unlikely. Is it credible that the Guards, less
+than 4,000 strong, should have spread their attacks over a quarter of
+a mile of front? Was not the column the usual method of attack? I
+submit, then, that my explanation of the Guard attacking in hollow
+oblongs, formed in two chief columns, harmonizes the known facts. See
+Petit's "Relation" in "Eng. Hist. Rev.," April, 1903.]
+
+[Footnote 524: Janin, p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 525: Bertrand at St. Helena said he _heard_ Michel utter
+these words (Montholon, vol. iii., ch. iv.).]
+
+[Footnote 526: Maitland's "Narrative," p. 222. Basil Jackson, who knew
+Gourgaud well at St. Helena, learnt from him that he could not finish
+his account of Waterloo, "as Napoleon could never decide on the best
+way of ending the great battle: that he (Gourgaud) had suggested no
+less than six different ways, but none were satisfactory" ("Waterloo
+and St. Helena," p, 102). Gourgaud's "Journal" shows that Napoleon
+blamed in turn the rain, Ney, Grouchy, Vandamme, Guyot, and Soult; but
+he ends--"it was a fatality; for in spite of all, I should have won
+that battle."]
+
+[Footnote 527: "Lettres inedites de Napoleon."]
+
+[Footnote 528: Gourgaud, "Journal inedit de Ste. Helene," vol. ii., p.
+321, small edit.]
+
+[Footnote 529: Lucien, "Mems.," vol. iii., p. 327.]
+
+[Footnote 530: Stuart's despatch of June 28th, "F.O.," France, No.
+117; Gneisenau to Mueffling, June 27th, "Passages," App.]
+
+[Footnote 531: Croker ("Papers," vol. iii., p. 67) had this account
+from Jaucourt, who had it from Becker.]
+
+[Footnote 532: Ollech, pp. 350-360. The French cavalry success near
+Versailles was due to exceptional circumstances.]
+
+[Footnote 533: Maitland's "Narrative," pp. 23-39, disproves Thiers'
+assertion that Napoleon was not expected there. Maitland's letter of
+July 10th to Hotham ("F.O.," France, No. 126, not in the "Narrative")
+ends: "It appears to me from the anxiety the bearers express to get
+away, that they are very hard pressed by the Government at Paris."
+Hotham's instructions of July 8th to Maitland were most stringent. See
+my Essay in "Napoleonic Studies" (1904).]
+
+[Footnote 534: The date of the letter disproves Las Cases' statement
+that it was written _after_ his second interview with Maitland, and
+_in consequence of_ the offers Maitland had made!
+
+Napoleon's reference to Themistocles has been much admired. But why?
+The Athenian statesman was found to have intrigued with Persia against
+Athens in time of peace; he fled to the Persian monarch and was richly
+rewarded _as a renegade_. No simile could have been less felicitous.]
+
+[Footnote 535: "Narrative," p. 244. [This work has been republished by
+Messrs. Blackwood, 1904.]]
+
+[Footnote 536: "F.O.," France, No. 126; Allardyce, "Mems. of Lord
+Keith."]
+
+[Footnote 537: Maitland, pp. 206, 239-242; Montholon, vol. i., ch.
+iii.]
+
+[Footnote 538: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. ii., pp.
+434,438. Beatson's Mem. is in "F.O.," France, No. 123. This and other
+facts refute Lord Holland's statement ("Foreign Reminiscences," p.
+196) that the Government was treating for the transfer of St. Helena
+from the East India Company _early in_ 1815.--Why does Lord Rosebery,
+"Napoleon: last Phase," p. 58, write that Lord Liverpool thought that
+Napoleon should either (1) be handed over to Louis XVIII. to be
+treated as a rebel; or (2) treated as vermin; or (3) that we would
+(regretfully) detain him? In his letters to Castlereagh at Paris,
+Liverpool expressly says it would be better for us, rather than any
+other Power, to detain him, and writes not a word about treating him
+as vermin. Lord Rosebery is surely aware that our Government and
+Wellington did their best _to preclude the possibility of the
+Prussians treating him as vermin_.]
+
+[Footnote 539: Keith's letter of August 1st, in "F.O.," France, No.
+123: "The General and many of his suite have an idea that if they
+could but put foot on shore, no power could remove them, and they are
+determined to make the attempt if at all possible: they are becoming
+most refractory."]
+
+[Footnote 540: In our Colonial Office archives, St. Helena, No. 1, is
+a letter of August 2nd, 1815, from an Italian subject of Napoleon
+(addressed] to Mme. Bertrand, but really for him), stating that
+L16,000 had been placed in good hands for his service, one-fourth of
+which would be at once intrusted to firms at New York, Boston,
+"Philadelfi," and Charlestown, to provide means for effecting his
+escape, and claiming again "le plus beau trone de l'univers." It begs
+him to get his departure from Plymouth put off, for a plot had been
+formed by discontented British officers to get rid of the Premier and
+one other Minister. Napoleon must not build any hopes on the Prince
+Regent: "Le Silene de cette isle.... Je fonds donc mon espoir avant
+tout sur les navires marchands, Anglais comme autres, par l'apas du
+gain." The writer's name is illegible: so is the original postmark:
+the letter probably came from London: it missed Mme. Bertrand at
+Plymouth, followed her to St. Helena, and was opened by Sir G.
+Cockburn, who sent it back to our Government. I have published it _in
+extenso_ in my volume, "Napoleonic Studies " (1904), as also an
+accompanying letter from Miss McKinnon of Binfield, Berks, to
+Napoleon, stating that her mother, still living, had known him and
+given him hospitality when a lieutenant at Valence.]
+
+[Footnote 541: Las Cases, "Memorial," vol, i., pp. 55, 65.]
+
+[Footnote 542: I wish I had space to give a whole chapter to the
+relations between Napoleon and the Whigs, and to show how their
+championship of him worked mischief on both sides in 1803-21, enticing
+him on to many risky ventures, and ruining the cause of Reform in
+England for a generation.]
+
+[Footnote 543: "F.O.," France, No. 123. Keith adds: "I accompanied him
+to look at the accommodation on board the 'Northumberland,' with which
+he appeared to be well satisfied, saying, 'the apartments are
+convenient, and you see I carry my little tent-bed with me.'" The
+volume also contains the letter of Maingaud, etc. Bertrand requested
+permission from our Government to return in a year; Gourgaud, when his
+duty to his aged mother recalled him; O'Meara stipulated that he
+should still be a British surgeon on full pay and active service.]
+
+[Footnote 544: "Extract from a Diary of Sir G. Cockburn," pp. 21, 51,
+94.]
+
+[Footnote 545: "Napoleon's last Voyages," p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 546: I found this return in "Admiralty Secret Letters,"
+1804-16.
+
+Lord Rosebery, in his desire to apologize for our treatment of
+Napoleon at every point, says ("Nap.: last Phase," p. 64): "They [the
+exiles] were packed like herrings in a barrel. The 'Northumberland,'
+it was said, had been arrested on her way back from India in order to
+convey Napoleon: all the water on board, it was alleged, had also been
+to India, was discoloured and tainted, as well as short in
+quantity."--On the contrary, the diary of Glover, in "Last Voyages of
+Nap.," p. 91, shows that the ship was in the Medway in July, and was
+fitted out at Portsmouth (where it was usual to keep supplies of
+water): also (p. 99) that Captain Ross gave up his cabin to the
+Bertrands, and Glover his to the Montholons: Gourgaud and Las Cases
+slept in the after cabin until cabins could be built for them. We have
+already seen (p. 529) that Napoleon was well satisfied with his own
+room. Water, wine, cattle, and fruit were taken in at Funchal in spite
+of the storm.]
+
+[Footnote 547: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 47, 59 (small
+edition); "Last Voyages of Nap.," p. 198.]
+
+[Footnote 548: Sir G. Bingham's Diary in "Blackwood's Mag.," October,
+1896, and "Cornhill," January, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 549: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 64.]
+
+[Footnote 550: "Last Voyages," p. 130.]
+
+[Footnote 551: "Castlereagh Papers," 3rd series, vol. ii., pp. 423,
+433, 505; Seeley's "Stein," vol. iii., pp. 333-344.]
+
+[Footnote 552: See Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. ii., p. 315, for
+Napoleon's view as to our stupidity then: "In their place I would have
+stipulated that I alone could sail and trade in the eastern seas. It
+is ridiculous for them to leave Batavia (Java) to the Dutch and L'Ile
+de Bourbon to the French."]
+
+[Footnote 553: Forsyth, "Captivity of Napoleon," vol. i., p. 218.
+Plantation House was also the centre of the semaphores of the island.]
+
+[Footnote 554: Mrs. Abell ("Betsy" Balcombe), "Recollections," ch.
+vii. These were compiled twenty-five years later, and are not, as a
+rule, trustworthy, but the "blindman's buff" is named by Glover.
+Balcombe later on infringed the British regulations, along with
+O'Meara.]
+
+[Footnote 555: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 77, 94, 136, 491.]
+
+[Footnote 556: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., pp. 135, 298. See too
+"Cornhill" for January, 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 557: Surgeon Henry of the 66th, in "Events of a Military
+Life," ch. xxviii., writes that he found side by side at Plantation
+House the tea shrub and the English golden-pippin, the bread-fruit
+tree and the peach and plum, the nutmeg overshadowing the gooseberry.
+In ch. xxxi. he notes the humidity of the uplands as a drawback, "but
+the inconvenience is as nothing compared with the comfort, fertility,
+and salubrity which the clouds bestow." He found that the soldiers
+enjoyed far better health at Deadwood Camp, behind Longwood, than down
+in Jamestown.]
+
+[Footnote 558: Despatch of Jan. 12th, 1816, in Colonial Office, St.
+Helena, No. 1.]
+
+[Footnote 559: Lord Rosebery ("Napoleon: last Phase," p. 67),
+following French sources, assigns the superiority of force to Lowe;
+but the official papers published by Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 397-416,
+show that the reverse was the case. Lowe had 1,362 men; the French,
+about 3,000.]
+
+[Footnote 560: From a letter in the possession of Miss Lowe.]
+
+[Footnote 561: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 139-147.]
+
+[Footnote 562: See the interview in "Monthly Rev.," Jan., 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 563: Bingham's Diary in "Cornhill" for Jan., 1901; Gourgaud,
+vol. i., pp. 152, 168.]
+
+[Footnote 564: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 171-177.]
+
+[Footnote 565: Lowe's version (Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 247-251) is fully
+borne out by Admiral Malcolm's in Lady Malcolm's "Diary of St.
+Helena," pp. 55-65; Gourgaud was not present.]
+
+[Footnote 566: B. Jackson's "Waterloo and St. Helena," pp. 90-91. The
+assertion in the article on B. Jackson, in the "Dict. of Nat.
+Biography," that he was related to Lowe, and therefore partial to him,
+is incorrect. Miss Lowe assures me that he did not see her father
+before the year 1815.]
+
+[Footnote 567: "Mems. of a Highland Lady," p. 459.]
+
+[Footnote 568: In "Blackwood's," Oct., 1896, and "Cornhill," Jan.,
+1901. I cannot accept Stuermer's hostile verdict on Lowe as that of an
+impartial witness. The St. Helena Records show that Stuermer persisted
+in evading the Governor's regulations by secretly meeting the French
+Generals. He was afterwards recalled for his irregularities. Balmain,
+the Russian, and Montchenu, the French Commissioner, are fair to him.
+The latter constantly pressed Lowe _to be stricter with Napoleon_! See
+M. Firmin-Didot's edition of Montchenu's reports in "La Captivite de
+Ste. Helene," especially App. iii. and viii.]
+
+[Footnote 569: "Waterloo and St. Helena," p. 104.]
+
+[Footnote 570: Lowe had the "Journal" copied out when it came into his
+hands in Dec., 1816. This passage is given by Forsyth, vol. i., p. 5,
+and by Seaton, "Sir H. Lowe and Napoleon," p. 52.]
+
+[Footnote 571: An incident narrated to the present writer by Sir
+Hudson Lowe's daughter will serve to show how anxious was his
+supervision of all details and all individuals on the island. A
+British soldier was missed from the garrison; and as this occurred at
+the time when Napoleon remained in strict seclusion, fear was felt
+that treachery had enabled him to make off in the soldier's uniform.
+The mystery was solved a few days after, when a large shark was caught
+near the shore, and on its being cut open the remains of the soldier
+were found!
+
+It should be remembered that Lowe prevailed on the slave-owners of the
+island to set free the children of slaves born there on and after
+Christmas Day, 1818.]
+
+[Footnote 572: Quoted by Forsyth, vol. i., p. 289. This letter of
+course finds no place in O'Meara's later malicious production, "A
+Voice from St. Helena"; the starvation story is there repeated _as if
+it were true_!--That Napoleon was fastidious to the last is proved by
+the archives of our India Office, which contain the entry (Dec. 11th,
+1820): "The storekeeper paid in the sum of L105 on account of 48 dozen
+of champagne rejected by General Bonaparte" (Sir G. Birdwood's "Report
+on the Old Records of the India Office," p. 97).]
+
+[Footnote 573: Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 330-343, 466-475.]
+
+[Footnote 574: I have quoted this _in extenso_ in "The Owens College
+Historical Essays." May not the words "domiciled" and "employed" have
+aroused Lowe's suspicions of Balcombe and O'Meara? Napoleon always
+said that he did not wish to escape, and hoped only for a change of
+Ministry in England. But what responsible person could trust his words
+after Elba, where he repeatedly told Campbell that he had done with
+the world and was a dead man?]
+
+[Footnote 575: Forsyth, vol. i., p. 310, vol. ii., p. 142, vol. iii.,
+pp. 151, 250; Montholon, "Captivity of Napoleon," vol. iii., ch. v.;
+Firmin-Didot, App. vi. The schemes named by Forsyth are ridiculed by
+Lord Rosebery ("Last Phase," p. 103). But would he have ignored them,
+had he been in Bathurst's place?]
+
+[Footnote 576: Gourgaud, "Journal," vol. i., p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 577: He said to Gourgaud that, _if he had the whole island
+for exercise he would not go out_ (Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. ii., p.
+299).]
+
+[Footnote 578: Gourgaud's "Journal," vol. i., pp. 262-270, 316. Yet
+Montholon ("Captivity of Napoleon," vol. i., ch. xiii.), afterwards
+wrote of Las Cases' departure: "_We all loved the well-informed and
+good man, whom we had pleasure in venerating as a Mentor.... He was an
+immense loss to us!_"]
+
+[Footnote 579: Gourgaud, vol. i., p. 278; Forsyth, vol. i., pp.
+381-384, vol. ii., p. 74. Bonaparte wanted this "Journal" to be given
+back to him: but Las Cases would not hear of this, as it contained
+"_ses pensees_." It was kept under seal until Napoleon's death, and
+then restored to the compiler.]
+
+[Footnote 580: Henry, vol. ii., p. 48; B. Jackson, pp. 99-101; quoted
+by Seaton, pp. 159-162.]
+
+[Footnote 581: Forsyth, vol. iii., p. 40; Gourgaud's "Journal," vol.
+ii., pp. 531-537.]
+
+[Footnote 582: "Apostille" of April 27th, 1818. As to the new house,
+see Forsyth, vol. i., pp. 212, 270; vol. iii., pp. 51,257; it was
+ready when Napoleon's illness became severe (Jan., 1821).
+
+If the plague of rats was really very bad, why is it that Gourgaud
+made so little of it?]
+
+[Footnote 583: "Journal" of Oct. 4th, 1817. On the return voyage to
+England Mme. Bertrand told Surgeon Henry that secret letters had
+constantly passed between Longwood and England, through two military
+officers; but the passage above quoted shows who was the culprit.]
+
+[Footnote 584: Forsyth, vol. iii., pp. 153, 178-181.]
+
+[Footnote 585: Stuermer's "Report" of March 14th, 1818; Gourgaud's
+"Journal" of Sept. 11th and 14th, 1817.]
+
+[Footnote 586: Described by Bertrand to Lowe on May 12th, 1821 ("St.
+Helena Records," No. 32).]
+
+[Footnote 587: Lord Holland, "Foreign Reminiscences," p. 305.]
+
+[Footnote 588: Gourgaud, vol. i., pp. 297, 540, 546; vol. ii., pp. 78,
+130, 409, 425. See Las Cases, "Memorial," vol. iv., p. 124, for
+Napoleon's defence of polygamy. See an Essay on Napoleon's religion in
+my "Napoleonic Studies" (1904).]
+
+[Footnote 589: Lord Holland's "Foreign Reminiscences," p. 316; Colonel
+Gorrequer's report in "Cornhill" of Feb., 1901.]
+
+[Footnote 590: "Colonial Office Records," St. Helena, No. 32; Henry,
+"Events of a Military Life," vol. ii., pp. 80-84: h also states that
+Antommarchi, when about to sign the report agreed on by the English
+doctors, was called aside by Bertrand and Montholon, and thereafter
+declined to sign it: Antommarchi afterwards issued one of his own,
+laying stress on cancer _and enlarged liver_, thus keeping up
+O'Meara's theory that the illness was due to the climate of St. Helena
+and want of exercise. In our records is a letter of Montholon to his
+wife of May 6th, 1821, which admits the contrary: "C'est dans notre
+malheur une grande consolation pour nous d'avoir acquis la preuve que
+sa mort n'est, et n'a pu etre, en aucune maniere le resultat de sa
+captivite." Yet, on his return to Europe, Montholon stoutly maintained
+that the liver complaint endemic to St. Helena had been the death of
+his master. It is, however, noteworthy that on his death-bed Napoleon
+urged Bertrand to be reconciled to Lowe. He and Montholon accordingly
+went to Plantation House, where, according to all appearance, the dead
+past was buried.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abdication, the Second, ii. 515.
+
+  Abell, Mrs., ii. 541.
+
+  Aberdeen, Lord, ii. 361, 369, 371, 372, 374-375. 390, 410.
+
+  Aboukir, i. 192-193, 201.
+
+  Aboukir, battle of, i. 213.
+
+  Abrantes, Duchesse d', i. 426.
+
+  Acre, i. 201, 204-210, 413.
+
+  Acton, Gen., i. 435.
+
+  Adams, Gen., ii. 502, 508.
+
+  Adda River, i. 93.
+
+  Addington, i. 310, 321, 402, 420-427, 452.
+
+  Additional Act, the, ii. 450-451.
+
+  Adige, i. 101, 107, 122, 123, 124, 132;
+    River, i. 263.
+
+  Adye, Capt., ii. 441-442.
+
+  Ajaccio, i. 4-6, 12, 30-32, 34, 36, 38-41, 215.
+
+  Alessandria, i. 88, 250-258, 259.
+
+  Alexander I., i. 339.
+
+  Alexander, Czar, i. 263, 333, 338-340, 387-388, 395, 406-408, 419-425,
+    430-432; ii. 1-3, 5-11, 20, 29-31, 33-36, 42, 58, 63,
+    81, 82, 86-87, 90, 108, 110, 114-116, 125-132, 134-137,
+    144-145, 175, 179-183, 185-186, 202, 205-207, 209, 229,
+    231-236, 241-243, 258-259, 273-276, 285, 290, 296-297,
+    316-318, 321-322, 335, 344-345, 347, 372, 374, 381,
+    386-388, 400, 408, 415-420, 423-424, 426-430, 433, 437,
+    447, 448, 538, 546.
+
+  Alexander the Great, i. 33, 202, 213.
+
+  Alexandria, i. 187-189, 192, 214.
+
+  Algesiras, i. 313.
+
+  Alix, Gen., ii. 496, 497.
+
+  Alkmaar, i. 217.
+
+  Alps, the, i. 92.
+
+  Alten, Gen., ii. 474, 499, 504.
+
+  Alvintzy, i. 121, 131-136.
+
+  Amiens, Treaty of, i. 331, 336-354, 405.
+
+  _Ancien regime, L'_, i. 25, 27, 31.
+
+  Andreossi, i. 215.
+
+  Angouleme, Duc d', ii. 414-415.
+
+  Ansbach, ii. 20, 30, 44.
+
+  Antibes, i. 60; ii. 442.
+
+  Antigua, i. 498.
+
+  Antommarchi, ii. 568, 570.
+
+  Antwerp, i. 439; ii. 399.
+
+  Apennines, i. 90, 91, 92.
+
+  Arcis, battle of, ii. 409.
+
+  Arcola, i. 123-128.
+
+  Arena, i. 303-304, 307.
+
+  Argaum, i. 377.
+
+  Arisch, El, i. 203-204.
+
+  Armed Neutrality League, i. 263, 331.
+
+  Armenia, i. 201.
+
+  Arndt, ii. 274, 278, 373.
+
+  Arnott, Dr., ii. 571.
+
+  Arrighi, ii. 404.
+
+  Arrondissements, i. 268, 269, 323-324.
+
+  Artois, Comte d', i. 54-55, 451, 456, 462; ii. 414, 416, 437, 443.
+
+  Aspern-Essling, battle of, ii. 192.
+
+  Assaye, i. 377.
+
+  Assignats, i. 62.
+
+  Astrakan, i. 262.
+
+  Auerstaedt, battle of, ii. 97, 98.
+
+  Augereau, i. 82, 85, 101, 108-115, 124, 138, 161, 162,
+    168, 449, 469-470, 491, 511 (App.); ii. 18, 91, 96, 97,
+    101, 112, 295, 355-356, 408, 415, 422, 454.
+
+  Aulic Council, i. 106, 121, 131.
+
+  Austerlitz, battle of, 37-42.
+
+  Australia, i. 379-385, 428; ii. 107, 174.
+
+  Austria,i. 35, 37, 52, 56, 57, 77, 79, 87, 89, 96, 100, 101,
+    105, 120, 128, 129, 137, 163, 164, 166-170, 183, 216,
+    219, 240, 263, 265, 352, 395, 414, 500; ii. 1-3, 5-6,
+    9-11, 12, 13-14, 18-26, 30-31, 42, 45-50, 58, 90-91,
+    110-111, 114-115, 126-128, 155, 177-182, 187, 189-202,
+    206-207, 271-272, 281-284, 289-290, 294-296, 315-317,
+    324-328, 331, 354-355, 365, 380, 385-389, 399-400,
+    402-403, 438, 453.
+
+  Austrian Netherlands, i. 141.
+
+  Auxonne, i. 22, 32-33.
+
+  Avignon, i. 137.
+
+
+  Babeuf, i. 157, 305.
+
+  Bacciocchi, i. 153.
+
+  Badajoz, Treaty of, i. 311.
+
+  Baden, ii. 46, 60.
+
+  Bagration, ii. 244, 248-249, 251-252.
+
+  Balcombe, Mr., ii. 541, 555.
+
+  Balearic Isles, ii. 74
+
+  Balmain, ii. 552.
+
+  Barbe-Marbois, ii. 60.
+
+  Barclay, Gen., ii. 244, 248-254, 291-292, 294, 335, 419.
+
+  Barras, i. 49, 50, 69, 70, 71, 74, 158, 159, 160, 167, 173,
+    180-181, 220-221, 223, 451.
+
+  Barrere, i. 59.
+
+  Bartenstein, Treaty of, ii. 141.
+
+  Barthelemy, i. 158, 162.
+
+  Bassano, i. 117.
+
+  Bastia, i. 30, 41.
+
+  Batavian Republic. _See_ Holland.
+
+  Bathurst, Earl, ii. 493, 556, 557, 558, 562.
+
+  Baudin, Commodore, ii. 380-382.
+
+  Baudus, Col., ii. 485.
+
+  Bausset, i. 483; ii. 204, 255, 257, 433.
+
+  Bautzen, battle of, ii. 291-293.
+
+  Bavaria, ii. 46, 59, 65, 69, 189-191, 201, 354-355.
+
+  Baylen, ii. 177.
+
+  Baylen, battle of, ii. 170.
+
+  Bayonne, Conventions of, ii. 166, 379 (battles of).
+
+
+  Beatson, Gen., ii. 525.
+
+  Beauharnais,Eugene, i. 215, 468, 501; ii. 10, 12, 85, 154, 195,
+    216, 254-255, 260, 279-281, 284-285, 287, 294, 369,
+    375, 380, 397, 411.
+
+  Beauharnais, Hortense, i. 215, 442; ii. 515.
+
+  Beaulieu, i. 82, 83, 85, 86, 92, 93, 101, 102.
+
+  Becker, Gen., ii. 516-518.
+
+  Beethoven, i. 481.
+
+  Beet-root, ii. 223.
+
+  Belgium, i. 141, 308; ii. 35, 54, 373, 387, 392, 399,
+    402, 412, 436, 438, 441, 456-457.
+
+  Belliard, Gen., ii. 423.
+
+  Bennigsen, Gen., ii. 111, 114, 118-120, 123-124, 126, 140, 250, 359, 362.
+
+  Beresford, ii. 414-415.
+
+  Beresina, crossing of, ii. 264.
+
+  Berg, Grand Duchy of, ii. 64.
+
+  Berlier, i. 302.
+
+  Berlin,
+    decree of, ii. 103-105;
+    University of, ii. 226, 275.
+
+  Bernadotte,i. 220, 222, 246, 449, 451, 469-470; ii. 18-21, 36, 38,
+    40, 63, 91, 94, 99-100, 111, 142, 229, 238, 296-298,
+    321-323, 332-333, 335, 337-338, 350, 352, 353-354,
+    357-360, 362, 369, 380, 387, 401, 416, 424.
+
+  Bernard, Prince, ii. 462.
+
+  Berne, i. 180, 391-395, 398-399.
+
+  Bernier, i. 236, 274.
+
+  Berthier, i. 76, 95, 109, 134, 135, 158, 179, 194, 214,
+    234, 246, 249, 276, 468-470; ii. 64, 113, 200, 207,
+    260, 335, 348, 363, 364, 392, 416, 427, 431, 432, 454,
+    455.
+
+  Berthollet, i. 182, 195, 215, 285, 487; ii. 569.
+
+  Bertrand, ii. 18, 32, 113, 280, 292, 332-333, 337-338,
+    354, 358, 359, 433, 434, 441, 481, 487, 516, 520-524,
+    529-530, 535-537, 539, 542, 544, 547, 567, 572.
+
+  Bertrand, Mme., ii. 522, 523, 527, 528, 529-530, 535-537, 542, 548.
+
+  Bessarabia, ii. 238.
+
+  Bessieres, i. 194, 215, 258, 469-470; ii. 18, 41, 169,
+    211, 255, 260, 288.
+
+  Beyme, ii. 90.
+
+  Bialystock, ii. 134.
+
+  Bingham, Sir George, ii. 536, 548, 551.
+
+  Black Forest, ii. 14-16.
+
+  Bluecher, ii. 83, 92, 98, 100, 285-286, 288, 292,
+    332-333, 335-336, 338-340, 350-352, 353-354, 356, 358,
+    360, 361, 362, 364, 366, 381-384, 389, 392-396, 401,
+    404-407, 414, 416-419, 423, 456-457, 460, 467-473,
+    476-477, 479, 480, 481, 489, 502, 510, 516-518, 537,
+    545, 546.
+
+  Bologna, i. 78, 103, 119, 128, 131.
+
+  Bon, i. 182, 209.
+
+  Bonaparte, Caroline, ii. 571.
+
+  Bonaparte, Charles, i. 5-10.
+
+  Bonaparte, Elise, i. 37, 153; ii. 10.
+
+  Bonaparte family, the, i. 2-12, 17.
+
+  Bonaparte, Jerome, i. 444-445, 473-474; ii. 135, 154,
+    194, 216, 248-249, 352. 423, 485, 494-495.
+
+  Bonaparte, Joseph, i. 7, 10, 13, 23, 30, 32, 73, 153,
+    341, 351-354, 369-371, 424-426, 443-444, 465, 468,
+    473-475; ii. 9-10, 62, 63, 85, 135, 168, 169-171, 181,
+    185, 198, 201, 210, 269, 300-304, 305-313, 382, 393,
+    396, 412, 416, 421-422, 423, 454, 512, 520.
+
+  Bonaparte, Josephine, i. 73-74, 153-156, 215, 221, 304,
+    327, 329, 459, 462, 472-474, 477-480; ii. 129, 133,
+    182, 204-207, 515, 571.
+
+  Bonaparte, Letizia (Madame Mere), i. 5-7, 23, 41, 468; ii. 440.
+
+  Bonaparte, Louis, i. 32, 61, 125, 153, 442, 468, 473-475; ii. 10,
+            168, 212-214, 393, 423.
+
+  Bonaparte, Lucien, i. 21, 31, 39, 40, 179, 214,
+    223-226, 228, 234, 295, 311, 369-371, 442-444, 473-475;
+    ii. 162, 452, 454, 513, 514, 560.
+
+  Bonaparte, Pauline, i. 153, 360, 363, 442; ii. 436, 440, 571.
+
+  Borghese, Prince, i. 442.
+
+  Borodino, battle of, ii. 254-256.
+
+  Boulay de la Meurthe, i. 229, 234, 302, 305.
+
+  Boulogne, i. 313, 485-503.
+
+  Bourbon, Ile de, i. 358, 372; ii. 390, 538.
+
+  Bourgogne, Serg., ii. 257, 261.
+
+  Bourmont, Gen., i. 237; ii. 461.
+
+  Bourrienne, i. 12, 13, 72, 175, 180-181, 215, 245, 303;
+    ii. 157, 222.
+
+  Boyen, Gen. von, ii. 330.
+
+  Breisgau, i. 170, 263.
+
+  Brescia, i. 101, 107, 108, 109, 113, 143, 144, 259.
+
+  Breslau, Convention of, ii. 277.
+
+  Brest, i. 160, 375.
+
+  Brienne, battle of, ii. 383.
+
+  Brienne, Napoleon at, i. 10-14.
+
+  Broglie, Duc de, i. 162; ii. 246, 327, 450.
+
+  Brueys, Admiral, i. 182-183, 192, 229.
+
+  Bruix, i. 214, 487.
+
+  Brulart, ii. 439.
+
+  Brumaire, _coup d'etat_ of, i. 222-228.
+
+  Brune, Marshal, i. 70, 180, 237, 469; ii. 144, 454.
+
+  Brunswick, Duke of, ii. 31, 91-94, 97-98, 100.
+
+  Brunswick-Oels, Duke of, ii. 194, 474.
+
+  Bubna, Count, ii. 289-290, 314, 321, 328.
+
+  Budberg, Baron, ii. 74.
+
+  Buelow, Gen. von, ii. 338, 350, 352, 381, 392, 401, 405,
+    414, 460, 489, 495, 496, 502, 503, 504.
+
+  Buonavita, ii. 568.
+
+  Burghersh, Lady, ii. 370, 417.
+
+  Burghersh, Lord, ii. 360, 419.
+
+  Busaco, battle of, ii. 209.
+
+  Buttafuoco, Comte de, i. 31.
+
+  Bylandt, Gen., ii. 496.
+
+
+  Cadiz, i. 499-502, 507.
+
+  Cadoudal, Georges, i. 236-238, 446, 453-456, 458, 471-472.
+
+  Caesar, i. 187.
+
+  Caffarelli, i. 183-184, 190, 195, 209.
+
+  Cairo, i. 189-191, 197-199.
+
+  Calder, i. 499, 502-504.
+
+  Caldiero, i. 122, 123.
+
+  Cambaceres, i. 222, 234, 289, 302, 321-322, 458,
+    467-468; ii. 312, 370, 395. 513.
+
+  Cambronne, Gen., ii. 509.
+
+  Camel corps, i. 197.
+
+  Campbell, Col., i. 489; ii. 420, 434, 435, 440-442.
+
+  Campbell, Sir Neil, ii. 484, 485.
+
+  Camperdown, i. 175.
+
+  Campo Formio, Treaty of, i. 170-172, 263.
+
+  Canning, ii. 116, 126, 141-143, 145, 148, 152, 169,
+    185-186, 190, 199, 208.
+
+  Cape of Good Hope, i. 166, 311-312, 314, 333, 375, 396,
+    405-406, 420, 428; ii. 54, 73, 81, 82, 221, 229, 436.
+
+  Caprara, i. 274.
+
+  Capri, i. 4; ii. 80, 545.
+
+  Carmel, Mount, i. 206.
+
+  Carnot, i. 74, 75, 162, 234, 322, 451, 467, 471; ii. 446, 513, 515.
+
+  Carteaux, i. 47, 49, 52, 70.
+
+  Castiglione, i. 110.
+
+  Castlereagh, i. 336; ii. 56, 116, 145, 208, 283, 296,
+    322, 361, 369, 372, 386-389, 390, 400, 403, 410-411,
+    426, 436, 437, 439-440, 525, 558.
+
+  Catalonia, annexation of, ii. 210.
+
+  Cathcart, Lord, ii. 116, 144-145, 277, 287-288,
+    316-317, 321, 326, 332, 334, 364. 390.
+
+  Catherine II., i. 138; ii. 273.
+
+  Cattaro, i. 170.
+
+  Caulaincourt, i. 458, 462, 468; ii. 34, 182-183, 205,
+    290, 295, 323-324, 327, 354, 370-371, 374-375, 389-392,
+    401, 410-413, 416-418, 422, 423, 426-428, 431-432, 444,
+    515.
+
+  Certificates of origin, ii. 104, 156, 233.
+
+  Cervoni, i. 95.
+
+  Ceva, i. 85, 86, 87.
+
+  Ceylon, i. 311-312, 314-315, 333, 343.
+
+  Chaboulon, Fleury de, ii. 441.
+
+  Chamber of Peers, ii. 451.
+
+  Chamber of Representatives, ii. 451.
+
+  Champ de Mai. ii. 444, 450, 452.
+
+  Champagny, ii. 149, 181, 185, 213.
+
+  Champaubert, battle of, ii. 393.
+
+  Channel Islands, the, i. 166, 175.
+
+  Chaptal, i. 234, 285, 304-306, 316; ii. 216, 219, 224, 484.
+
+  Charlemagne, i. 478-479; ii. 191, 227-228.
+
+  Charles, Archduke, i. 121, 137, 196; ii. 11, 13-14, 22,
+    26, 31-33, 35, 189-192, 194-195, 201.
+
+  Charles IV., ii. 159, 161-166.
+
+  Charles XIII., ii. 202, 238.
+
+  Charlotte, Queen, i. 435.
+
+  Chasse, Gen., ii. 491, 504, 506.
+
+  Chastel, ii. 255.
+
+  Chateaubriand, i. 282, 298, 463.
+
+  Chatham, Earl, ii. 199.
+
+  Chatillon, Congress of, ii. 389-392, 400, 409-412.
+
+  Chaumont, Treaty of, ii. 402-403, 448.
+
+  Chenier, i. 451.
+
+  Cherasco, i. 88, 89.
+
+  Chouans, i. 305-307.
+
+  Cintra, Convention of, ii. 172.
+
+  Cisalpine Republic, i. 142, 151-152, 166, 168-170,
+    251-252, 264, 319, 345-349.
+
+  Cispadane Republic, i. 119-120, 131, 142, 149, 152.
+
+  Ciudad Rodrigo, ii. 302.
+
+  Clarke, Gen., i. 128, 129, 130, 140, 158, 164; ii. 74,
+    295, 302-303, 325, 363, 404, 421.
+
+  Clausel, ii.  303-304, 306-307, 309, 313, 454.
+
+  Clausewitz, ii. 244, 250, 255 _n._, 459, 466, 492.
+
+  Clichy Club, i. 158, 161.
+
+  Cleves, ii. 44.
+
+  Coalition, Second, 209, 213, 216, 240-243.
+
+  Coalition, Third, i. 500; ii. 1, 5-12, 42, 58.
+
+  Cobenzl, Count, i. 162, 263; ii. 1, 3, 45.
+
+  Cockburn, Admiral, ii. 451, 510, 527, 528, 531-532,
+    534-535, 539-549, 545, 547.
+
+  Code Napoleon, i. 287-294, 466; ii. 77.
+
+  Coffee, price of, ii. 218, 223.
+
+  Collingwood, i. 488.  Colloredo, ii. 359.
+
+  Commercial prohibition, i. 401-402; ii. 104-106,
+    156-157, 217-220, 224.
+
+  Committee of Public Safety, i. 44, 65, 67, 162.
+
+  Concordat, the (of 1802), i. 21, 271-284, 476; ii. 570.
+
+  Condorcet, i. 295.
+
+  Confederation of the Rhine, ii. 75-78, 83-84, 91, 103,
+    135, 195, 229, 240, 277, 316, 324, 329-330.
+
+  Coni, i. 88.
+
+  Consalvi, Cardinal, i. 274-279.
+
+  Constant, Benjamin, i. 163, 238, 320; ii. 450.
+
+  Constant (the Valet), ii. 432.
+
+  Constantine, Grand Duke, ii. 250.
+
+  Constantinople, i. 182, 201-203, 210; ii. 128, 136, 175.
+
+  Constitution of 1795, i. 66, 159, 218, 221.
+
+  Constitution of 1799 (Year VIII.), i. 229-233, 238.
+
+  Constitutional priests, i. 28, 164, 272, 273-277, 282.
+
+  Consul, First, powers of, i. 231-233.
+
+  Consulate for life, i. 321-324, 326.
+
+  Continental System, i. 176, 436; ii. 28, 48, 49, 77,
+    103-107, 144, 153-158, 174, 189-190, 193, 211-223,
+    233-235, 236-237.
+
+  "Contrat Social, Le," i. 17, 20, 26, 43, 466.
+
+  Convention, the, i. 37, 40, 54, 57, 58, 66, 67, 68, 69, 72, 289.
+
+  Copenhagen, bombardment of, ii. 142.
+
+  Corbineau, Gen., ii. 263.
+
+  Corfu, i. 168, 192-193, 413, 420-422, 434, 488; ii. 17,
+    62, 82, 154, 430.
+
+  Cornwallis, Lord, i. 337, 341, 343, 350-354, 372.
+
+  Cornwallis, Admiral, i. 440, 491-492, 499, 502-504.
+
+  Coronation, i. 476-477, 479-480.
+
+  Corps Legislatif, i. 230, 270, 305, 320, 321-324; ii. 377.
+
+  Corsica, i. 1, 3-11, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 28-32, 34-35,
+    37, 38-43, 56, 60, 61, 217, 241; ii. 430.
+
+  Cortes, ii. 301, 379, 380.
+
+  Corvisart, ii. 205.
+
+  Cotton, ii. 483, 491.
+
+  Cotton, price of, ii. 218.
+
+  Council of Ancients, i. 66, 223-224.
+
+  Council of Five Hundred, i. 67, 158, 162, 217, 223-226.
+
+  Council of State, i. 230, 234, 238, 266, 269, 287,
+    304-306, 320, 467, 475; ii. 451.
+
+  Court, Mr. a, i. 435.
+
+  Craonne, battle of, ii. 406-407, 411.
+
+  Croatia, ii. 201.
+
+  Croker, ii. 516.
+
+  Cromwell, i. 33.
+
+  Cuesta, ii. 198.
+
+  Curacoa, i. 311-312, 333; ii. 436.
+
+  Cyprus, i. 215.
+
+  Czartoryski, i. 262, 409-410, 423; ii. 5-9, 29, 54, 71,
+    74, 110, 232.
+
+
+  Dalberg, ii. 424-425.
+
+  Dallemagne, i. 95.
+
+  Dalmatia, i. 142, 168-170; ii. 45-48, 201.
+
+  Dandolo, i. 170-172.
+
+  Danton, i. 63.
+
+  Dantzig, siege of, ii. 284.
+
+  Danubian provinces, ii. 47, 135, 138, 185.
+
+  Daru, i. 503.
+
+  David, i. 248.
+
+  Davidovich, i. 107, 121, 122, 127.
+
+  Davoust, i. 182, 438, 469-470; ii. 18, 38, 91, 94,
+    98-101, 112, 113, 119, 122, 193, 195, 248-249, 251-252,
+    280, 296, 298-299, 325, 332, 337-338, 350, 352, 360,
+    369, 408, 416, 432, 446, 454, 514, 5I7.
+
+  Decaen, Gen., i. 373-375, 378, 381, 419, 433; ii. 454.
+
+  Decoster, ii. 486.
+
+  Decres, i. 358, 363, 487, 497; ii. 176, 446.
+
+  Dedem de Gelder, ii. 360.
+
+  Defermon, i. 234.
+
+  Dego, i. 85, 86.
+
+  Delhi, i. 201.
+
+  Demerara, i. 311-312, 333, 439; ii. 436.
+
+  D'Enghien, Duc, i. 446, 457-463; ii. 532.
+
+  Denmark, i. 64, 263; ii. 114, 136, 140-144, 152-153, 221,
+    296-297, 380.
+
+  Dennewitz, battle of, ii. 350.
+
+  Denon, i. 215; ii. 517.
+
+  Departments, French, i. 27.
+
+  D'Erlon, Count, ii. 454, 460, 462, 470, 472-473,
+    474-476, 490, 495, 498, 502, 505, 508.
+
+
+  Desaix, i. 181, 182, 191, 199, 214-215, 254, 259.
+
+  Desgenettes, i. 212.
+
+  Desprez, Col., ii. 305.
+
+  Diebitsch, ii. 419.
+
+  Dijon, i. 246.
+
+  Directors, the, i. 97, 104, 146, 218-224, 226.
+
+  Directory, the, i. 67, 68, 75, 87, 97, 98, 99, 119,
+    129, 130, 140, 143, 148, 157-160, 167-172, 177-181,
+    214, 228, 300, 326.
+
+  Divorce, i. 292.
+
+  Divorce, the Imperial, ii. 204-205, 327.
+
+  Dolder, i. 393.
+
+  Dommartin, i. 47, 87, 183.
+
+  Domont, Gen., ii. 496, 503.
+
+  Donzelot, ii. 497, 503, 506, 507, 508.
+
+  Doppet, i. 49, 52.
+
+  Doernberg, ii. 459.
+
+  Douglas, Col., i. 208.
+
+  Drake, Francis, i. 55, 453-454; ii. 2, 62.
+
+  Dresden, battle of, ii. 342-347.
+
+  Drissa, camp of, ii. 243, 249-250.
+
+  Drouot, ii. 395, 422, 434.
+
+  Ducos, Roger, i. 220, 223, 228, 233, 239.
+
+  Dugommier, i. 52, 53.
+
+  Duhesme, ii. 503.
+
+  Dumas, Gen., i. 115, 182, 194, 285.
+
+  Dumouriez, Gen., i. 90, 457-459, 486.
+
+  Dundas, i. 441.
+
+  Dunkirk, i. 175.
+
+  Duphot, i. 179.
+
+  Dupont, Gen., i. 70; ii. 22-23, 123, 169-170, 173.
+
+  Duroc, i. 76, 172, 215, 327, 409, 443, 468; ii. 12, 20,
+    40, 59, 101, 134, 150, 293.
+
+
+  Eastern Question, i. 340, 406, 408-410, 428; ii. 47-48, 108.
+
+  East Indies, i. 497-499.
+
+  Ebrington, Lord, ii. 568.
+
+  Eckmuehl, battle of, ii. 191.
+
+  Economists, i. 174.
+
+  Education, national, i. 295-298.
+
+  Egypt, i. 168, 175-200, 201-203, 261, 312-313, 314,
+    355, 369, 411-416, 420-422, 434, 488; ii. 139, 174,
+    176, 229, 529.
+
+
+  Elba, i. 264, 314, 389; ii. 430, 435-442.
+
+  Elchingen, ii. 24.
+
+  Ellesmere, Earl of, ii. 493.
+
+  Emmett, i. 510 (App.).
+
+  England, i. 22, 25, 39, 41, 42, 46, 48, 54-56, 166-167,
+    174, 178, 200, 216, 240, 261, 265, 307-315, 321,
+    331-338, 350-354, 358, 361-363, 364, 372-378, 387-388,
+    401-408, 413-438, 436-441, 450-454, 460-461, 509-510
+    (App.); ii. 2, 4-9, 48, 55-58, 65-67, 69-74, 81-83,
+    87-89, 90, 104-107, 114-115, 125-128, 136, 138-148,
+    155-158, 185-186, 190, 199-200, 208, 211-212, 216-223,
+    229, 233, 283, 317, 322, 327-328, 334, 361, 372,
+    386-387, 389, 399, 402-403, 417, 432, 436-438, 447,
+    453, 532, 538-539.
+
+
+  England, invasion of, i. 175-178, 438-441, 482, 485-499.
+
+  Ense, Varnhagen von, ii. 101, 177, 225.
+
+  Erfurt, meeting at, ii. 179-185, 189, 231, 235.
+
+  Escoiquiz, ii. 165.
+
+  Esterhazy, Prince, ii. 410.
+
+  Etruria,  kingdom of, i. 264, 334, 389, 420; ii. 150, 153-158.
+
+  Eugene, Prince, of Wurtemberg, ii. 347-348.
+
+  Eylau, battle of, ii. 111-114.
+
+  Excelmans, Gen., ii. 481-482.
+
+
+  Fain, ii. 360, 364, 371.
+
+  Faypoult, i. 148.
+
+  Ferdinand, Archduke, ii. 14-16, 19, 21, 24, 35.
+
+  Ferdinand, Prince Louis, ii. 93.
+
+  Ferdinand IV., i. 77.
+
+  Ferdinand VII. (Spain), ii. 161-166, 379-380.
+
+  Ferrara, i. 78, 119.
+
+  Fesch, Cardinal, i. 468, 477; ii. 206.
+
+  Feudalism, i. 120, 288; ii. 77-78, 178, 187.
+
+  Fichte, ii. 177, 184, 226, 237, 286.
+
+  Finland, ii. 175, 176, 185, 235-236.
+
+  Fiorella, i. 114.
+
+  Flahaut, Count, ii. 422, 479.
+
+  Flinders, Capt., i. 380-381.
+
+  Florence, i. 77, 104.
+
+  Florence, Buonapartes at, i. 2, 6.
+
+  Florence, Treaty of, i. 264.
+
+  Florida, i. 364, 368.
+
+  Flotilla, the Boulogne, i. 483-499.
+
+  Fombio, i. 92, 93.
+
+  Fontainebleau, Convention of, ii. 150, 160.
+
+  Fontainebleau, decree of, ii. 217.
+
+  Fontanes, i. 481.
+
+  Forfait, i. 234.
+
+  Forsyth, ii. 540, 550, 555, 557.
+
+  Fouche, i. 227, 234, 302, 304, 427, 449, 451, 463,
+    466-467, 472, 504; ii. 6, 182, 187-188, 213, 334, 439,
+    446, 448, 514, 515, 517.
+
+  Fox, i. 294, 414, 441; ii. 59, 70-72, 81, 83, 105, 330.
+
+  Foy, Gen., ii. 307.
+
+  France, i. 314.
+
+  France, Ile de, i. 358, 372, 380; ii. 390, 412.
+
+  France, Protestantism in, i. 283-284.
+
+  France, University of, i. 296-297.
+
+  Francis II., Emperor, i. 105, 117, 120, 121, 140-142,
+    170, 263, 264, 406, 482; ii. 3, 9-10, 14-16, 34, 42,
+    76, 197, 200-203, 239, 272-273, 283, 289, 314-315, 321,
+    326, 335, 386-388, 399, 410, 417, 422, 426, 433, 436.
+
+  Frazer, Sir A., ii. 492.
+
+  Frederick William III., ii. 4, 30-32, 33, 42-45, 51-55,
+    65, 83-87, 89-94, 98-100, 108, 127, 129-131, 177-178,
+    237, 270-271, 273-277, 285, 316-317, 335, 344-345, 347,
+    373, 386-388, 433.
+
+  French Colonies, i. 357-383.
+
+  French Republic, the, i. 38, 42, 45, 48.
+
+  Frejus, i. 215-217.
+
+  Freron, i. 54.
+
+  Friant, ii. 36, 38, 350, 506.
+
+  Friedland, battle of, ii. 119-124.
+
+  Frotte, i. 235, 237.
+
+  Fructidor, _coup d'etat_, i. 157, 161-164, 217, 272.
+
+  Fulton, i. 483-484.
+
+
+  Gallican Church, i. 274.
+
+  Gallois, M., ii. 558.
+
+  Gantheaume, Admiral, i. 215, 234, 372, 485, 487, 489, 491-492,
+    495-498.
+
+  Garda, Lake, i. 100, 101, 106, 108, 112.
+
+  Gardane, Gen., i. 254; ii. 117-118.
+
+  Gaudin, i. 234, 270; ii. 446.
+
+  Geneva, i. 180, 246, 390.
+
+  Genoa, i. 5, 7, 55, 59, 60, 75, 82, 83, 121, 147, 182, 216,
+    241, 243, 250, 334, 504; ii. 11-12.
+
+  Gentz, ii. 91, 314, 323.
+
+  Gerard, ii. 454, 460-461, 463, 466, 469-471, 480-482.
+
+  Gezzar, i. 204-209.
+
+  Gibraltar, i. 167, 175; ii. 150.
+
+  Girard, Gen., ii. 338.
+
+  Girondins, i. 44-46, 63, 218, 301.
+
+  Glover, ii. 533, 534, 540, 541.
+
+  Gneisenau, ii. 92, 125, 237, 286, 351, 366, 456, 460, 468, 476-479,
+    481, 509, 516, 546.
+
+  Godoy, i. 365-368, 437; ii. 146, 149-150, 159-161, 163-166.
+
+  Goethe, ii. 3, 183-184, 278.
+
+  Gohier, i. 220, 221, 223-224.
+
+  Gourgaud, Gen., ii. 451, 461, 463, 486, 503, 509, 513,
+    518, 520-524, 528, 529, 533, 535-537, 541, 542, 544,
+    548, 549, 560, 561-564, 569, 572.
+
+  Government, local, i. 267-271.
+
+  Gower, Lord Leveson, ii. 45, 126, 128, 130, 145, 160.
+
+  Graham, i. 83, 111, 114; ii. 310, 381.
+
+  Great Britain. _See_ England.
+
+  Great St. Bernard, i. 245-248.
+
+  Gregoire, i. 467.
+
+  Grenoble, Napoleon at, ii. 443.
+
+  Grenville, Lord, i. 55, 166, 242, 414; ii. 59.
+
+  Gross Goerschen, ii. 287-289.
+
+  Grossbeeren, battle of, ii. 338.
+
+  Grouchy, ii. 120, 124, 255-256, 395, 407, 455, 463,
+    464, 466, 469, 470, 480, 481, 482, 485, 487-489, 495,
+    496, 505, 508, 510, 514.
+
+  Guadeloupe, i. 358; ii. 296-297.
+
+  Guards, National, i. 62, 69, 71.
+
+  Gudin, ii. 487.
+
+  Guiana, French, i. 358.
+
+  Guizot, ii. 484.
+
+  Gustavus IV., ii. 2, 4, 5, 144, 202, 238.
+
+  Guyot, ii. 501, 502.
+
+
+  Hagelberg, battle of, ii. 338.
+
+  Hainau, ambush at, ii. 294.
+
+  Hal, Wellington's force at, ii. 492.
+
+  Halkett, ii. 508.
+
+  Hamburg. _See_ Hanse Towns.
+
+  Hameln, ii. 34.
+
+  Hammond, Lord, i. 450.
+
+  Hanau, battle of, ii. 365.
+
+  Hanover, i. 64, 176, 436; ii. 9, 17, 30, 34, 44, 45-48, 53-57,
+    65-69, 82-85, 88, 91, 135, 199, 277, 317, 361, 386.
+
+  Hanse Towns, i. 176; ii. 73-74, 213, 214 (annexation of); 226,
+            280-281, 297-299, 316, 361, 369.
+
+  Hardenberg, ii. 11, 55, 65, 68, 89, 129, 270, 274, 276, 373, 400.
+
+  Hardinge, ii. 459, 468, 489.
+
+  Harel, i. 459.
+
+  Harrowby, Earl of, ii. 5, 42, 53, 56, 57.
+
+  Hasslach, ii. 22.
+
+  Hatzfeld, Prince, ii. 271.
+
+  Haugwitz, i. 432; ii. 20, 30-31, 34, 43-46, 53-55, 65-69, 83-84, 86,
+    89-90.
+
+  Hauterive, i. 278-279; ii. 149.
+
+  Hawkesbury, Lord, i. 310, 312-314, 333-334, 338-340, 350-354, 396,
+            405, 422, 431, 450, 452; ii. 56.
+
+  Hayti. _See_ Domingo.
+
+  Hazlitt, ii. 447.
+
+  Heilsberg, battle of, ii. 118-119.
+
+  Heligoland, ii. 380.
+
+  Helvetic Republic. _See_ Switzerland.
+
+  Henry, Surgeon, ii. 539, 543, 553, 571.
+
+  Hesse-Cassel, i. 64; ii. 84.
+
+  Hill, Gen., ii. 309.
+
+  Hobart, Lord, i. 377, 382.
+
+  Hoche, i. 63, 65, 160, 168.
+
+  Hofer, ii. 193, 201-202.
+
+  Hohenlinden, i. 260.
+
+  Hohenlohe, ii. 93-97, 97-100.
+
+  Holkar, i. 374, 377.
+
+  Holland, i. 39, 166, 178, 242, 265, 293, 308, 314-315,
+    327, 334-338, 344, 345, 376-377, 403, 405, 416, 420,
+    425, 428, 433, 438, 485-486, 493, 503, ii. 1, 6, 8, 18,
+    30, 35, 54, 55, 69, 103, 134, 135-137, 212-214, 361,
+    369, 373, 375-376, 381, 403, 412, 436-438.
+
+  Holland, Lord, ii. 126, 413, 567, 570.
+
+  Holy Alliance, ii. 566.
+
+  Holy Roman Empire, i. 141, 170, 264, 387, 478; ii. 75-76.
+
+  Hood, Admiral, i. 50, 54-55.
+
+  Hostages, law of, i. 220, 229.
+
+  Hotham, Admiral, ii. 519-521.
+
+  Hougoumont, ii. 490-491, 499, 500-505.
+
+  Howick, Earl, ii. 116.
+
+  Hulin, Gen., i. 460-461.
+
+  Humbert, Gen., i. 511 (App.).
+
+  Humboldt, ii. 226, 323.
+
+  Hutchinson, Lord, ii. 124.
+
+  Hyde de Neuville, i. 220, 236-237.
+
+
+  Ibrahim, i. 188-191.
+
+  Illyria, ii. 315-316, 320, 324, 326, 328.
+
+  Imam of Muscat, i. 200.
+
+  India, i. 176, 189, 194, 200, 210, 262, 342, 372-379,
+    396, 419-420, 428-429, 431, 434; ii. 117-118, 139,
+    174-176, 230.
+
+  Ionian Isles, the, i. 168-170, 177, 314, 428, 432; ii. 9, 74, 135.
+
+  Ireland, i. 160, 202-203, 309, 331-332, 417, 488-489, 491,
+    505-506, 510-512 (App.); ii. 229.
+
+  Iron Cross, Order of the, ii. 277.
+
+  Istria, i. 142, 168-170; ii. 46-47.
+
+  Italian Republic, i. 388, 420.
+    Italy, i. 77, 79, 96, 100, 213, 263, 265, 345-349, 388,
+    433-435, 438, 493, 497; ii. 1, 6, 10-11, 17, 46-48, 69,
+    88, 103, 150, 154, 202, 324, 361, 373, 375, 380, 397,
+    411, 438-439, 440.
+
+
+  Italy, army of, i. 57, 61, 64, 74, 75, 76, 80, 82, 122.
+
+  Izquierdo, Don, ii. 150, 163.
+
+
+  Jackson, Col. Basil, ii. 477, 479, 499, 500, 507, 529,
+    550, 552, 563.
+
+  Jackson, Sir G., ii. 43, 314, 360, 447.
+
+  Jacobins, the, i. 31, 35, 37, 42, 45, 47, 49, 53, 59,
+    63, 64, 69, 149, 161, 218, 223, 226-228, 260, 267, 281,
+    301, 302-306, 401, 427, 465-466; ii. 449.
+
+
+  Jaffa, i. 201, 203-204, 211-213.
+
+  Jamaica, i. 361.
+
+  Janin, Count, ii. 502.
+
+  Jaubert, i. 412.
+
+  Java, ii. 538.
+
+  Jefferson, i. 367, 369.
+
+  Jena, battle of, ii. 94-97.
+
+  Jews, the, i. 284.
+
+  John, Archduke, ii. 195-196.
+
+  Jomini, ii. 335, 340, 342, 466.
+
+  Jonan, Golfe de, ii. 442.
+
+  Joubert, i. 131, 135, 138, 219.
+
+  Jouberthon, Madame, i. 443.
+
+  Jourdan, i. 222, 469-470; ii. 198, 305, 307, 308-310.
+
+  _Juges de paix_, i. 270, 323; ii. 451.
+
+  Junot, i. 60, 61, 76, 112, 136, 138, 207, 426; ii. 151,
+    160, 162, 172, 454.
+
+  Junot, Madame, i. 64, 181, 426.
+
+
+  Kalckreuth, ii. 91, 137.
+
+  Kalisch, Treaty of, ii. 276-277.
+
+  Katzbach, battle of the, ii. 339.
+
+  Keith, Lord, i. 250-251, 440; ii. 526, 528, 529-530.
+
+  Kellermann, i. 89, 90, 256, 258-259, 469; ii. 40, 474, 501, 502.
+
+  Kennedy, Gen., ii. 457, 492, 493, 504.
+
+  Kilmaine, i. 143.
+
+  King's German Legion, ii. 493, 502.
+
+  Kleber, i. 63, 182, 189, 204, 207-208, 213, 215.
+
+  Kleist, ii. 292, 347-348, 456.
+
+  Knesebeck, Gen., ii. 242, 275, 276, 335.
+
+  Koran, i. 185.
+
+  Koerner, ii. 278.
+
+  Krasnoe, battle of, ii. 262.
+
+  Kray, Gen., i. 244.
+
+  Krudener, Madame de, ii. 450.
+
+  Kulm, battle of, ii. 347-349.
+
+  Kurakin, Prince, ii. 239.
+
+  Kutusoff, ii. 33, 36, 38, 39, 254-255, 258-262, 274, 285.
+
+
+  Labaume, ii. 245, 253, 260.
+
+  Labedoyere, ii. 505, 541.
+
+  Laborde, ii. 206.
+
+  Labouchere, ii. 213.
+
+  Labrador, ii. 165.
+
+  Lafayette, i. 476; ii. 439, 513, 514.
+
+  La Fere Champenoise, battle of, ii. 419-420, 422.
+
+  La Fere regiment, the, i. 15-17.
+
+  Laffray, defile of, ii. 443.
+
+  Laforest, ii. 65, 66, 84, 87.
+
+  Lagrange, i. 285; ii. 569.
+
+  Laharpe, i. 395, 408, 512 (App.); ii. 231, 400.
+
+  La Haye Sainte, ii. 490-491, 495, 496, 499, 500-505, 507, 508.
+
+  Laine, ii. 377.
+
+  Lajolais, Gen., i. 455.
+
+  Lake, Gen., i. 377.
+
+  Lallemand, Count, ii. 519, 529.
+
+  Lambert, Gen., ii. 493, 498.
+
+  Lampedusa, i. 422, 425.
+
+  Lancey, De, ii. 467, 493.
+
+  Landrieux, i. 110, 111, 115, 143, 144.
+
+  Langeron, Gen. ii. 339.
+
+  Lanjuinais, i. 321, 467; ii. 452.
+
+  Lannes, i. 92, 95, 102, 138, 183, 194, 209, 213, 215,
+    249, 252, 256, 451, 469; ii. 18, 21, 24, 26,32, 40, 91,
+    94-97, 100, 118-124, 192-193.
+
+  Laplace, i. 285, 484; ii. 569.
+
+  Larochejacquelein, ii. 449.
+
+  La Rothiere, battle of, ii. 383.
+
+  Larrey, i. 212; ii. 485.
+
+  Las Cases, Count, i. 212; ii. 519, 520-524, 527, 528,
+    529, 533, 535-537, 541, 542, 548, 553, 559-561,
+    564, 566, 568.
+
+
+  Latouche-Treville, i. 489-490.
+
+  Latour-Maubourg, ii. 123, 337, 342, 345, 358.
+
+  Lauderdale, Earl of, ii. 81-82.
+
+  Lauriston, ii. 235, 258, 281, 291, 332, 340, 364.
+
+  Lavalette, i. 148, 159, 161, 163, 168, 215; ii. 415,
+    445, 450, 451, 486, 513, 516, 526.
+
+  Lebanon, i. 201, 211.
+
+  Lebrun, i. 234, 302, 458, 468.
+
+  Leclerc, i. 135, 182, 225, 360-363.
+
+  Lefebvre, i. 469; ii. 422.
+
+  Lefebvre-Desnoettes, ii. 353, 422, 427, 431.
+
+  Legations, i. 78, 142, 145, 169, 275, 346; ii. 54.
+
+  Leghorn, i. 103.
+
+  Legion of Honour, i. 284-287, 327, 449; ii. 184.
+
+  Legislatif Corps, i. 467, 481.
+
+  Legnago, i. 107, 114, 126, 131.
+
+  Leipzig, battle of, ii. 356-363.
+
+  Lejeune, ii. 37, 192, 257, 351.
+
+  Leoben, i. 138, 140, 145.
+
+  Lepeaux-Reveilliere, La, i. 74, 158, 178, 220, 274.
+
+  Lestocq, Gen., ii. 113.
+
+  Letourneur, i. 74.
+
+  Liberty of the press, i. 239; ii. 211, 451.
+
+  Licences, commercial, ii. 220, 222-223.
+
+  Lichtenstein, ii. 424.
+
+  Ligny, battle of, ii. 468-473.
+
+  Ligurian Republic, i. 148, 264, 345, 420, 504; ii. 6, 10.
+
+  Lille, i. 164, 166-167.
+
+  Lindet, i. 220.
+
+  Linois, Admiral, i. 313, 376; ii. 81.
+
+  Liptay, i. 92, 93.
+
+  Lithuania, ii. 244-246, 248.
+
+  Liverpool, Earl of, ii. 447, 525, 537, 538.
+
+  Lobau, ii. 469, 480-482, 502, 503, 504.
+
+  Lobau, Isle of, ii. 192-193, 195.
+
+  Lodi, battle of, i. 93-95, 97.
+
+  Loison, i. 70.
+
+  Lombardy, i. 90, 91, 96, 142, 436; ii. 21, 55.
+
+  Lonato, i. 110, 112, 113.
+
+  London, Preliminaries of, i. 314, 331-336.
+
+  Louis, Baron, ii. 424.
+
+  Louis XIV., i. 24, 283.
+
+  Louis XV., i. 283, 364.
+
+  Louis XVI., i. 26, 29, 35-36, 42, 71, 283.
+
+  Louis XVII, i. 54-55, 65.
+
+  Louis XVIII., ii. 415, 424-425, 439-440, 457-458, 537, 541, 542.
+
+  Louisa, Queen, ii. 85-86, 125, 132-134, 226.
+
+  Louisiana, i. 264, 334, 364-372, 414, 421, 509-510; ii. 153.
+
+  Lowe, Sir Hudson, i. 4; ii. 291, 359, 395, 409, 419-420, 456, 492,
+            545, 561-566, 570, 572.
+
+  Lucca, i. 77.
+
+  Lucchesini, ii. 83-85, 87, 138.
+
+  Lucerne, i. 180.
+
+  Luddite riot, ii. 220.
+
+  Luneville, Treaty of, i. 263.
+
+  Luetzen, battle of, ii. 285, 287-289.
+
+  Luetzow, ii. 278, 318.
+
+  Luxemburg, i. 141.
+
+  Lycees, i. 295-297.
+
+  Lyons, i. 16, 46, 48, 319.
+
+  Lyons, Consulta of, i. 346-348.
+
+
+  Macdonald, i. 260, 449, 469, 471; ii. 192, 195, 197,
+    270, 288, 332, 335-336, 338-340, 357, 362, 381, 392,
+    393-394, 408, 409, 418, 427, 428, 443, 454.
+
+  Mack, ii. 14-16, 18-26, 365.
+
+  Mackenzie, Mr., ii. 140.
+
+  Madalena Isles, the, i. 38-39.
+
+  Madras, i. 376.
+
+  Mahrattas, the, i. 374, 377-378, 416; ii. 117.
+
+  Maida, battle of, ii. 79-80.
+
+  Maingaud, ii. 529.
+
+  Maitland, Capt., ii. 486, 519, 520-524, 525, 526, 529-530.
+
+  Maitland, Gen., ii. 506, 507.
+
+  Malcolm, Sir Pulteney, ii. 550.
+
+  Malet Conspiracy, the, ii. 265, 267.
+
+  Mallet du Pan, i. 180.
+
+  Malmaison, Napoleon at, ii. 515-518.
+
+  Malmesbury, Lord, i. 166-167.
+
+  Malo-Jaroslavitz, battle of, ii. 260.
+
+  Malta, i. 168, 181, 217, 260-263, 307, 311-12, 314,
+    333, 338-341, 351-353, 404, 406-408, 415-416, 419-425,
+    430-431, 434; ii. 7-9, 17, 54, 62, 73, 225.
+
+  Mamelukes, i. 188-191, 199, 412.
+
+  Manin, i. 169.
+
+  Mantua, i. 77, 79, 89, 90, 95, 100, 101, 102, 105-118,
+    124, 130, 131, 136, 216, 259.
+
+
+  Marbot, i. 254, 504; ii. 41, 192, 335, 364, 495, 496.
+
+  Marchand (the valet), ii. 485, 572.
+
+  Marchand, Gen., ii. 443, 528.
+
+  Marengo, battle of, i. 254-260.
+
+  Maret, i. 166-167, 278-279; ii. 235, 259, 265, 271,
+    295, 370, 371, 391-392, 401, 411, 412, 446, 513.
+
+  Marie Louise, ii. 206-207, 227, 370, 382, 388, 418,
+    426, 431, 432-433, 436, 562-563.
+
+  Marmont, i. 60, 61, 64, 76, 99, 114, 124, 126, 138,
+    153, 215, 247, 257, 483, 484; ii. 18, 115, 192, 256,
+    259, 292, 300, 332-333, 348-349, 351, 356, 357,
+    358-359, 362, 364, 381, 383, 393-394, 404, 406,
+    407-408, 418, 420-421, 423, 427, 429-430, 454.
+
+  Marseilles, i. 35, 45, 49, 57, 182.
+
+  Martinique, i. 311-312, 314, 333, 496-497.
+
+  Massena, i. 57, 82, 84, 85, 95, 102, 107, 110, 112,
+    114, 117, 118, 122, 124, 134, 135, 138, 217, 243-244,
+    250, 451, 469, 471; ii. 17, 26, 31, 61, 80, 192-193,
+    195, 209, 304, 432, 454.
+
+  Mauritius, ii. 436.
+
+  Mediatization, ii. 77.
+
+  Mehee de la Touche, i. 449-450, 453-455, 457.
+
+  Melas, i. 244-245, 249-259.
+
+  Melito, Miot de, i. 103, 130, 150, 187, 468; ii. 62, 451.
+
+  Melzi, i. 150, 456; ii. 378.
+
+  Memel, decrees of, ii. 178.
+
+  Memmingen, ii. 14, 18, 23-24.
+
+  Memphis, i. 195.
+
+  Mercer, Capt., ii. 453, 457, 483, 501, 502.
+
+  Merlin, i. 302.
+
+  Merry, Mr., i. 337, 393, 406, 411-412.
+
+  Menou, Gen., i. 70, 182, 189, 313.
+
+  Merveldt, Gen., ii. 360-361, 375.
+
+  Metternich, ii. 177, 200, 202-203, 206, 241, 253,
+    271-272, 273, 281-283, 289-290, 314-316, 318-320, 323,
+    325-327, 368, 370-371, 374-376, 386-389, 391, 400, 410,
+    413, 417-418, 422, 426, 438-439, 446, 448, 537.
+
+  Milan, i. 77, 79, 93, 96, 105, 107, 108, 143, 146, 151, 172.
+
+  Milan decrees, ii. 157.
+
+  Milhaud, Count, ii. 471, 481-482, 496, 500.
+
+  Miller, Capt., i. 206.
+
+  Millesimo, i. 85.
+
+  Miloradovitch, ii. 287.
+
+  Mina, ii. 301, 303.
+
+  Mincio, i. 100, 101, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110.
+
+  Minto, Earl, i. 423.
+
+  Miquelon, i. 342.
+
+  Mirabeau, i. 29.
+
+  Missiessy, i. 490, 492; ii. 7.
+
+  Moeckern, battle of, ii. 359.
+
+  Modena, i. 77, 118, 119, 145, 170, 264, 346.
+
+  Modena, Duke of, i. 100.
+
+  Mollien, i. 267; ii. 60, 88, 217, 269, 421, 445, 449, 484.
+
+  Moltke, Von, i. 106.
+
+  Moncey, i. 250, 469; ii. 421-422, 454.
+
+  Mondovi, i. 87.
+
+  Monge, i. 150, 182, 195, 215, 285, 484; ii. 569.
+
+  Monroe, i. 369.
+
+  Montagu, Admiral, i. 485.
+
+  Montchenu, ii. 552, 553, 571.
+
+  Montebello, Castle of, i. 148, 158, 252.
+
+  Montechiaro, i. 107, 110.
+
+  Montenotte, i. 79, 83, 84, 85.
+
+  Montereau, battle of, ii. 397.
+
+  Montesquieu, i. 25, 27, 42, 185.
+
+  Montholon, ii. 513, 519-529, 535-537, 542, 544, 545,
+    552, 553, 557, 560, 561, 564, 567, 570, 572.
+
+  Montholon, Mme., ii. 530, 536, 542, 548.
+
+  Montmirail, battle of, ii. 394.
+
+  Morea, the, i. 410, 422, 488-489.
+
+  Moreau, i. 63, 102, 105, 141, 219, 244-245, 449-452, 470-472;
+            ii. 298, 335, 341, 345.
+
+  Morfontaine, i. 264.
+
+  Morillo, Gen., ii. 309.
+
+  Mortier, i. 469; ii. 115, 117, 120, 345, 349, 394, 404, 406, 408,
+            420-421, 422-423, 454.
+
+  Moscow, burning of, ii. 256-257.
+
+  Moulin, i. 220, 223-224.
+
+  Mouton, i. 482; ii. 192. _See_ Lobau.
+
+  Mueffling, Gen. von, ii. 92, 241, 243, 294, 339, 456, 479, 489,
+    496, 499.
+
+  Muiron, i. 53, 124, 125; ii. 558.
+
+  Murad, i. 188-191.
+
+  Murat, i. 71, 76, 138, 182, 194, 213, 215, 225, 252,
+    276, 422, 458, 460, 468-469; ii. 19, 21, 22, 24, 26,
+    32, 40, 64, 83, 85, 97, 100, 112, 119, 122, 135,
+    162-164, 166-168, 176, 187, 216, 252-256, 259, 260,
+    265, 328, 331, 345-346, 348, 353, 355, 358, 362,
+    369-370, 380, 438, 448, 449, 542, 545.
+
+  Muscat, i. 378-379.
+
+
+  Nablus, i. 204.
+
+  Nansouty, ii. 345.
+
+  Naples, i. 128, 196, 216, 264, 308, 314, 433; ii. 30,
+    59, 60, 61, 63, 115, 134.
+
+  Napoleon, first abdication of, ii. 430.
+
+  Narbonne, ii. 323-324.
+
+  National Assembly, i. 27, 28, 29, 36.
+
+  National Guard, i. 28-29, 34-35, 39, 62, 71.
+
+  Nazareth, i. 207.
+
+  Necker, i. 159.
+
+  Neipperg, Count de, ii. 382, 433, 436.
+
+  Nelson, i. 84, 187, 192-194, 196, 202, 206, 263, 310,
+    313, 333, 434, 440, 453, 484, 488; ii. 573.
+
+  Nepean, i. 451.
+
+  Nesselrode, Count, ii. 371, 372, 424.
+
+  Neufchatel, ii. 44.
+
+  Newfoundland, i. 175, 314, 342; ii. 538.
+
+  Ney, i. 396, 438, 469-470, 487; ii. 18, 21, 24, 91, 96,
+    97, 113, 120-122, 194, 211, 245, 252-256, 262-263, 287,
+    289, 291-292, 322, 335, 350, 353, 354, 356, 359, 362,
+    381, 404, 407, 408, 427, 428, 431, 444, 461-463, 466,
+    467, 469, 472, 473-479, 482-483, 490, 498,
+    500-505, 541, 542.
+
+  Nisas, ii. 318.
+
+  Nice, i. 48, 57, 60, 76, 78, 80, 87, 232, 243, 244-245, 312.
+
+  Nile, battle of the, i. 192-194.
+
+  Nivelle, battle of the, ii. 369.
+
+  Nivose, affair of, i. 303-306.
+
+  Non-intercourse Act, ii. 156.
+
+  Non-jurors, i. 28, 272.
+
+  Norway, ii. 2, 238, 296-297, 380.
+
+  Noverraz, ii. 567.
+
+  Novi, i. 216, 219.
+
+  Novossiltzoff, ii. 5, 7, 11.
+
+
+  O'Connor, i. 510-512 (App.).  Odeleben, Col. von, ii. 288, 353,
+    360.
+
+  Oglio, i. 142.  O'Hara, i. 52, 54.
+
+  Oldenburg, ii. 134-135.
+
+  Oldenburg, annexation of, ii. 214, 234-236.
+
+  Oldenburg, Duchy of, ii. 183, 206.
+
+  Old Guard, ii. 471, 504-507.
+
+  Olivenza, i. 311, 314.
+
+  O'Meara, ii. 529-530, 534, 541, 544, 546, 551, 555,
+    562, 565, 571, 572.
+
+  Ompteda, ii. 55.
+
+  Oporto, ii. 194.
+
+  Orange, Prince of, ii. 467, 473.
+
+  Ordener, Gen., i. 458.
+
+  Orders in Council, ii. 105-107, 155-157, 222.
+
+  "Organic" articles, i. 281.
+
+  Orleans, New, i. 364, 368-369, 510 (App.).
+
+  Orthez, battle of, ii. 414.
+
+  Ossian, i. 185.
+
+  Ostermann, ii. 347.
+
+  Otto, i. 256, 310, 313, 314, 333, 341.
+
+  Oubril, ii. 71-75, 81.
+
+  Oudinot, i. 243; ii. 32, 38-39, 120, 124, 195, 231,
+    250, 253, 263-264, 266, 292, 332-333, 337-338, 350,
+    408, 409, 427, 431, 454.
+
+  Ouvrard, ii. 60, 213.
+
+
+  Pacthod, Gen., ii. 420.
+
+  Pahlen, ii. 358.
+
+  Pajol, ii. 358, 397, 480, 481.
+
+  Palais Royal, the, i. 16.
+
+  Palm, ii. 89, 184.
+
+  Paoli, i. 5, 18, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38-42, 59.
+
+  Papal States, i. 78; ii. 154, 228.
+
+  Paris, i. 13-16, 35-36, 44-47, 62, 64, 66, 172, 260.
+
+  Paris, Treaties of (1814), ii. 436.
+
+  Paris, Treaty of (1815), ii. 538.
+
+  Parlements, i. 27, 268, 269.
+
+  Parma, i. 78, 366-369, 389.
+
+  Parma, Duke of, i. 100, 129, 264.
+
+  Parthenopaean Republic, i. 216.
+
+  Pasquier, i. 267; ii. 149, 279, 484, 514.
+
+  Passeriano, i. 156, 169-170.
+
+  Paterson, Miss, i. 414-415; ii. 154.
+
+  Paul, Czar, i. 183, 217, 260-263, 310.
+
+  Pavia, i. 92, 96, 98.
+
+  Pelet, ii. 364.
+
+  Peltier, i. 402.
+
+  Peninsular War, ii. 171-173, 186-188, 194, 197-199,
+    209-211, 300-313, 368-369.
+
+  Perim, i. 262.
+
+  Permoa, Madame, i. 64, 73.
+
+  Perponcher, Gen., ii. 462.
+
+  Perron, i. 364, 377.
+
+  Persia, i. 262; ii. 9, 110.
+
+  Persia, Shah of, ii. 117-118.
+
+  Perthes, ii. 299.
+
+  Peschiera, i. 101, 112, 113.
+
+  Petiet, ii. 485.
+
+  Petit, Gen., ii. 433.
+
+  Phelippeaux, i. 207-208.
+
+  Phillip, Port, i. 380, 382.
+
+  Phull, Gen. von, ii. 242-243, 248-250.
+
+  Piacenza, i. 92, 93.
+
+  Pichegru, i. 63, 158, 162, 451, 456-457, 463-464, 471.
+
+  Picton, Gen., ii. 311, 473, 479, 490, 493, 497.
+
+  Piedmont, i. 47, 64, 241, 245.
+
+  Piombino, i. 264.
+
+  Pirch I., ii. 460, 464, 467, 468, 489, 504, 505.
+
+  Pirch II., ii. 459.
+
+  Pitt, i. 54-56, 166-167, 243, 310, 414, 441, 452; ii.
+    5, 7, 13, 14, 53, 55-58, 573.
+
+  Pope Pius VI., i. 78, 102, 103, 120, 121, 137, 179,
+    261.
+
+  Pope Pius VII., i. 274-277, 280-281, 476-467, 480; ii.
+    72, 88, 153-154, 191, 211, 227-228, 380.
+
+  Pizzighetone, i. 93.
+
+  Plague, the, i. 204, 209-212.
+
+  Po, River, i. 79, 88, 92, 100.
+
+  Poischwitz, Armistice of, ii. 296, 320.
+
+  Poland, ii. 109-111, 131-132, 193, 201, 232-233, 236, 244-246, 272,
+            273-274, 294, 330, 387-388, 437.
+
+  Polignacs, i. 456, 458, 472.
+
+  Pondicherry, i. 372.
+
+  Poniatowski, ii. 252, 254, 284, 332, 362, 364.
+
+  Pons (de l'Herault), ii. 436.
+
+  Ponsonby, ii. 490, 493, 497, 498.
+
+  Portalis, i. 289.
+
+  Portland, Duke of, ii. 116, 208.
+
+  Porto Ferrajo, ii. 435, 441-442.
+
+  Portugal, i. 216, 308, 311-312, 437-438; ii. 106, 145-153, 160, 170-171,
+            209-210, 306.
+
+  Potsdam, Treaty of, ii. 30, 44.
+
+  Poussielgue, i. 178.
+
+  Power-looms, ii. 220.
+
+  Pozzo di Borgo, ii. 376, 424, 428, 439.
+
+  _Praams_, i. 485-486.
+
+  Pradt, Abbe de, ii. 246, 253, 258, 267, 424.
+
+  Prague, Congress of, ii. 323-324, 326, 329, 435.
+
+  Prefect, office of, i. 268, 269.
+
+  Press, the, i. 319.
+
+  Press, liberty of the, i. 239; ii. 211, 451.
+
+  Pressburg, Treaty of, ii. 46-48.
+
+  Priests, orthodox, i. 272, 273-277, 282.
+
+  Provence, i. 32, 44, 244.
+
+  Provence, Comte de, i. 54-55, 66, 143.
+
+  Provera, i. 85, 131, 136.
+
+  Prussia, i. 37, 64, 219, 263, 352, 422, 436; ii. 1,
+    4-5, 9, 11, 20, 29-30, 34, 42-45, 48, 49, 51-55, 64-69,
+    83-101, 110, 114-115, 126-127, 131-132, 134-137,
+    177-178, 182, 193, 221, 226, 237-240, 241, 269-271,
+    273-278, 280, 282, 316-317, 385-389, 402-403,
+    423-424, 437, 448.
+
+
+  Public works, i. 316-317.
+
+  Puisaye Papers, i. 450, 452.
+
+  Pyrenees, battle of the, ii. 368.
+
+  Pyramids, battle of the, i. 190-191.
+
+
+
+  Quatre Bras, battle of, ii. 473-475, 509.
+
+  Quosdanovich, i. 107, 109, 110, 114, 115, 116.
+
+
+
+  Rapp, ii. 41, 454.
+
+  Rastadt, Congress of, i. 170, 176.
+
+  Ratisbon, battle of, ii. 191.
+
+  Raynal, M., i. 34.
+
+  Real, i. 222, 302, 449, 458, 460, 462-463.
+
+  Rebecque, Constant de, ii. 462.
+
+  Reding, i. 392-394.
+
+  Red Sea, i. 181, 200.
+
+  Reggio, i. 118.
+
+  Regnier, i. 449, 454.
+
+  Reiche, Gen., ii. 460, 468, 476, 505.
+
+  Reichenbach, Treaty of, ii. 317.
+
+  Reille, Gen., ii. 309-311, 454, 462, 473, 490, 494, 495, 505.
+
+  Religion, Napoleon's, i. 19-21.
+
+  Remusat, Madame de, i. 329-330, 459.
+
+  Revolution, French, i. 465-466.
+
+  Rewbell, i. 74, 158, 181, 219, 451.
+
+  Reynier, i. 182, 191; ii. 79-80, 332-333, 337-338, 354, 356, 360,
+    362, 364.
+
+  Richter, Jean Paul, ii. 177.
+
+  Riviere, Marquis de, i. 456, 458.
+
+  Rivoli, battle of, i. 131-136.
+
+  Robespierre, i. 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 70, 82, 174.
+
+  Robespierre, the younger, i. 57, 58, 59, 60.
+
+  Roederer, i. 222, 233-234, 304-305, 308, 399, 473; ii. 375.
+
+  Rohan, Charlotte de, i. 457.
+
+  Roland, Mme., i. 46.
+
+  Roll, Baron de, i. 450.
+
+  Roman Catholic Church, i. 271.
+
+  Romantzoff, ii. 144, 180, 269, 274.
+
+  Rome, i. 100, 129, 179, 275-277.
+
+  Rome, King of, ii. 227, 382, 421.
+
+  Romilly, i. 294, 318.
+
+  Rose, George, ii. 56.
+
+  Rosetta, i. 189.
+
+  Rossbach, battle of, ii. 282.
+
+  Rousseau, i. 17-21, 25, 26-27, 42-43.
+
+  Ruechel, Gen., ii. 91-92, 94, 97.
+
+  Rue St. Honore, i. 72.
+
+  Rumbold, Sir George, ii. 4.
+
+  Russell, Lord John, ii. 440.
+
+  Russia, i. 183, 216, 243, 260-263, 315, 333, 339-340,
+    352, 387, 422, 425, 430-432, 458, 500, 511 (App.); ii.
+    1, 4-13, 29-30, 47-48, 54, 86, 87, 90, 110, 114-115,
+    130-132, 134-137, 185, 221, 223, 233, 269, 270-272,
+    273, 275-276, 282, 317, 385-389, 402-403, 448.
+
+
+
+
+  Saalfeld, battle of, ii. 93.
+
+  Sacken, Gen., ii. 339, 364, 393-394.
+
+  St. Aignan, Baron, ii. 370, 374.
+
+  St. Cloud, i. 223-227, 225.
+
+  St. Cyr, i. 469; ii. 17, 61-62, 253, 332-334, 337,
+    340-349, 353, 360, 408, 454.
+
+
+  St. Domingo, i. 312, 358-364, 368, 440, 490, 509 (App.); ii. 81.
+
+  St. Gotthard, i. 245-250.
+
+
+  St. Helena, ii. 439, 539-574.
+
+  St, Ildefonso, Convention of, i. 366.
+
+  St. John, Knights of. _See_ Malta.
+
+  St. Just, i. 59, 174.
+
+  St. Lucia, i. 439; ii. 436.
+
+  St. Marsan, ii. 241, 270, 276.
+
+  St. Pierre, i. 342.
+
+  Salamanca, battle of, ii. 256, 300.
+
+  Salicetti, i. 39-40, 47, 49, 57, 60, 104, 121, 147, 148; ii. 10.
+
+  Salo, i. 110.
+
+  Salvatori, i. 144.
+
+  Salzburg, i. 129, 170; ii. 46, 54, 201.
+
+  Saragossa, ii. 170, 177.
+
+  Sardinia, i. 38-39, 54-57, 78, 83, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90,
+    167-168, 216, 241, 245, 261, 312, 388, 430; ii. 6,
+    8, 30, 115.
+
+
+  Sarzana, i. 2, 3.
+
+  Savary, i. 200, 258, 456, 458, 460-463; ii. 35, 41, 96, 144, 165,
+    170-171, 298, 313, 334, 380, 415, 426, 446, 516, 519, 528, 529.
+
+  Savona, i. 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 243, 259.
+
+  Savoy, i. 37, 78, 89, 244-245.
+
+  Savoy, House of, i. 87, 90, 338, 344, 388.
+
+  Saxony, i. 64; ii. 84, 88, 91, 93, 108, 134-135, 194, 207, 275,
+    284-285, 289, 295, 355, 366, 385, 387-388, 411, 437.
+
+  Scharnhorst, ii. 92, 178, 237, 242, 250, 280, 286.
+
+  Scherer, i. 61, 75.
+
+  Schill, ii. 193.
+
+  Schiller, ii. 184.
+
+  Schleiermacher, ii. 286.
+
+  Schoenbrunn, Treaty of, ii. 43-45, 201.
+
+  Schwarzenberg, Prince, ii. 24, 281-282, 321, 335-336,
+    341-346, 351, 354, 356, 366, 368, 373, 381, 383, 384,
+    386-389, 396, 402, 404-405, 408-409, 413-414, 417, 418,
+    423-424, 429, 456.
+
+  Scindiah, i. 374, 377-378.
+
+  Sebastiani, Gen., i. 411-413; ii. 339.
+
+  Sebottendorf, i. 94.
+
+  Secularizations, i. 387-388; ii. 52.
+
+  Segur, Count, ii. 37, 245, 252, 485.
+
+  Segur, Mme. de, i. 479.
+
+  Senarmont, ii. 123.
+
+  Senate, i. 230-232, 287, 305-306, 320, 321-325, 466-468, 475; ii.
+    377, 425, 444.
+
+  _Senatus Consultum_, i. 306, 322, 324-325, 468.
+
+  Senegal, i. 358.
+
+  Serurier, i. 87, 108, 114, 469.
+
+  Servan, i. 36.
+
+  Sicily, i. 77; ii. 72-74, 79-83, 85, 88, 135, 176, 213.
+
+  Sieyes, i. 219-226, 228-233, 451, 467; ii. 526.
+
+  Silesia, ii. 282, 284, 291, 294.
+
+  Silesia, army of, ii. 332, 338-340, 381, 395.
+
+  Silk industry, ii. 224.
+
+  Simmons, Major, ii. 307, 494.
+
+  Simplon, i. 245, 246, 316.
+
+  Sinai, Mount, i. 200.
+
+  Slavery, in French colonies, i. 360-363.
+
+  Smith, Sir Sidney, i. 202, 204-215; ii. 80.
+
+  Smolensk, ii. 251-252.
+
+  Smorgoni, ii. 265.
+
+  Socotra, i. 262.
+
+  Soissons, surrender of, ii. 405-406.
+
+  Sommepuis, council at, ii. 419.
+
+  Somosierra, battle of, ii. 186.
+
+  Souham, Gen., ii. 287, 339.
+
+  Soult, i. 243, 469-470; ii. 18, 21, 38-41, 91, 96, 97,
+    100, 122, 126, 180, 194, 198, 209, 256, 300-301,
+    304-306, 312-313, 325, 368, 379, 384, 408, 414, 432,
+    455, 469, 472, 479, 490, 501, 509.
+
+
+  "Souper de Beaucaire, Le," i. 45-46.
+
+   Spain, i. 46-47, 54-56, 64, 129, 166, 178, 214, 264,
+    265, 294, 308, 311-312, 314-315, 334, 352, 364-370,
+    422, 437-438, 493-496; ii. 69, 74, 106, 146, 149-151,
+    153, 176, 177, 181-182, 186-187, 209-211, 215, 300,
+    361, 368, 379, 403.
+
+  Spina, Monseigneur, i. 274-276.
+
+  Stadion, Count, ii. 197, 202, 289, 315, 326, 410.
+
+
+  Stael, Madame de, i. 73, 163-164, 180, 217, 298.
+
+  Stapfer, i. 391-395, 400.
+
+  Staps, ii. 200.
+
+  Steffens, ii. 274-275, 276.
+
+  Stein, ii. 130, 177, 190, 237, 273-274, 276-277, 373, 387.
+
+  Stewart, Sir Charles, ii. 358, 366, 390, 410, 423, 437.
+
+  Stockholm, Treaty of, ii. 297.
+
+  Stokoe, Dr., ii. 565.
+
+  Stradella, i. 252.
+
+  Stralsund, battle at, ii. 193.
+
+  Strangford, Viscount, ii. 146-148, 152.
+
+  Stuart, Sir John, i. 412; ii. 79-80.
+
+  Stuermer, ii. 565.
+
+  Subervie, Gen., ii. 496, 502.
+
+  Suchet, Marshal, i. 243-244, 250-257, 469;
+    ii. 300-301, 305-306, 313, 379-380, 408, 414, 415, 455.
+
+  Suez, i. 181, 194, 197, 199.
+
+  Sugar, price of, ii. 218.
+
+  Suvoroff, i. 216.
+
+  Swabia, i. 244, 246; ii. 45-48.
+
+  Sweden, i. 263; ii. 1-2, 5-6, 13, 114,
+    136, 140-141, 143-144, 208, 223,
+    237-239, 296-298, 322, 380.
+
+  Swiss Guards, the, i. 36.
+
+  Switzerland, i. 64, 179, 243, 244, 265, 294, 308, 334,
+    336, 377, 389-400, 403, 405, 416, 420;
+    ii. 1, 6, 8, 103, 215, 381, 403.
+
+  Sydney, i. 379-382.
+
+  Syria, i. 201-215; ii. 229.
+
+
+  Tabor, Mount, i. 207.
+
+  Talavera, battle of, ii. 198-199.
+
+  Talleyrand, i. 150, 163-166, 168, 175, 177, 222, 234,
+    278, 294, 304, 306, 337, 341-343, 357, 361, 365-371,
+    395, 417, 423-426, 432, 458, 459, 463, 468, 500; ii.
+    18, 35, 44, 46, 47-49, 63, 66-67, 70-72, 79, 82-84, 87,
+    127, 141, 146, 149, 166, 180-182, 187, 205, 368, 415,
+    424-426, 437, 439-440, 446-447.
+
+
+  Tallien, i. 156, 451.
+
+  Tallien, Madame, i. 73, 155, 443.
+
+  Tauenzien, ii. 350.
+
+  Terror, the, i. 58, 59, 62, 68, 267.
+
+  Tettenborn, ii. 280.
+
+  Theo-philanthropie, i. 179, 272, 273-277.
+
+  Thibaudeau, i. 290, 305, 467.
+
+  Thiebault, i. 71, 111; ii. 37, 39, 40, 416, 484.
+
+  Thielmann, Gen., ii. 460, 467, 468, 471, 477, 482, 489.
+
+  Thornton, Mr., ii. 318, 321-322, 352.
+
+  Thugut, i. 142.
+
+  Ticino, i, 92.
+
+  Tilsit, ii. 123, 126-128.
+
+  Tilsit, Treaty of, ii. 134-137, 145, 155.
+
+  Tippoo Sahib, i. 200, 373.
+
+  Tobago, i. 311-312, 314, 333, 341, 439; ii. 390, 436.
+
+  Tolentino, i. 137.
+
+  Toll, ii. 335, 340, 341, 419.
+
+  Tomkinson, Col., ii. 307, 493.
+
+  Tormassov, ii. 244.
+
+  Torres Vedras, ii. 209.
+
+  Tortona, i. 88, 252.
+
+  Toulon, i. 39, 40, 44, 46-56, 70, 80, 180-182.
+
+  Toussaint l'Ouverture, i. 359-362, 367.
+
+  Trachenberg, compact of, ii. 321-323, 332.
+
+  Trafalgar, battle of, ii. 26-28.
+
+  Treves, i. 141.
+
+  Trianon Decree, the, ii. 214, 216.
+
+  Tribunate, i. 230, 238, 270, 286-287, 305, 319-324, 467.
+
+  Trieste, i. 121; ii. 201.
+
+  Trinidad, i. 166, 311-312, 314-315, 333, 343, 495; ii. 150.
+
+  Tronchet, i. 289, 321.
+
+  Tugendbund, ii. 184, 237.
+
+  Tuileries, i. 71, 162.
+
+  Turin, i. 79, 85, 87, 89, 250.
+
+  Turkey, i. 65, 183, 188, 201, 216,
+    261, 343, 389, 408-410, 420, 428, 431-432;
+    ii. 44, 72-73, 108, 110,
+    114, 130-131, 135-137, 175-176,
+    181, 182, 207, 208, 236, 238, 272.
+
+  Tuscany, i. 64, 103, 129, 263, 264, 312, 366-369.
+
+  Tyrol, i. 101; ii. 45-48, 193.
+
+  Tyrolese, ii. 189, 201.
+
+
+  Ulm, ii. 14-16, 18-20.
+
+  United States, i. 264, 365-372, 509-510 (App.);
+    ii. 156, 212-213, 221, 269.
+
+  Uxbridge, Lord, ii. 483.
+
+
+  Valais, i. 392; ii. 214.
+
+  Valeggio, i. 101.
+
+  Valencay, Treaty of, ii. 379.
+
+  Valence, i. 14-16, 18.
+
+  Valenza, i. 88, 89, 92.
+
+  Valetta, i. 110.
+
+  Valteline, i. 152.
+
+  Valutino, battle of, ii. 253.
+
+  Vandamme, ii. 39-40, 41, 296, 332-333,
+    342, 344, 346-349, 408, 454, 460, 463, 469, 470.
+
+  Vandeleur, ii. 498, 504, 508.
+
+  Van Diemen's Land, i. 379-382.
+
+  Vaubois, i. 122, 127.
+
+  Vauchamps, battle of, ii. 394.
+
+  Vaud, i. 180, 397.
+
+  Vendee, La, i. 47, 61, 64, 65; ii. 268, 449.
+
+  Vendemiaire, the affair of, i. 68-73.
+
+  Vendetta, i. 3, 4.
+
+  Venetia, ii. 45-48, 438.
+
+  Venice, i. 101, 142, 168-172.
+
+  Verdier, i. 111, 115; ii. 120.
+
+  Verling, Dr., ii. 565.
+
+  Verona, i. 122, 124, 144, 145.
+
+  Viasma, battle of, ii. 260.
+
+  Vicenza, i. 126.
+
+  Victor, Gen., i. 52, 138, 369;
+    ii. 120-122, 198, 254, 264, 266, 332, 345,
+    362, 381, 396, 397, 404, 407, 408, 431, 454.
+
+  Victor Amadeus III., i. 78.
+
+  Vienna, Congress of, ii. 437-439, 453.
+
+  Villeneuve, i. 490-493, 495-503, 506; ii. 12, 26-27.
+
+  Vimiero, battle of, ii. 172.
+
+  Vincent, Baron, ii. 181.
+
+  Visconti, i. 151.
+
+  Vitrolles, Count de; ii. 413, 419.
+
+  Vittoria, battle of, ii. 308-313.
+
+  Vivian, Sir Hussey, ii. 457, 482, 491, 508.
+
+  Volney, i. 75, 182, 206, 484.
+
+  Voltaire, i. 21, 25-27; ii. 179, 567.
+
+  Voltri, i. 82, 83.
+
+  Voss, Countess von, ii. 132-133.
+
+
+  Wagram, battle of, ii. 195-197.
+
+  Walcheren, expedition of, ii. 200.
+
+  Walewska, Countess of, ii. 111, 436.
+
+  Walmoden, Gen., ii. 352.
+
+  Walpole, Lord, ii. 272, 283.
+
+  Warden, Surgeon, ii. 534.
+
+  Warren, Admiral, i. 406, 410, 423; ii. 81.
+
+  Warsaw, Duchy of, ii. 134, 411.
+
+  Waterloo, the position at, ii. 490-492.
+
+  Wavre, movement on, ii. 488.
+
+  Wellesley, Marquis, i. 373, 377-379, 440.
+
+  Wellesley, Sir Arthur. _See_ Wellington.
+
+  Wellington, i. 332; ii. 143, 171-172,
+    194-197, 209, 229, 256, 299, 301-304
+    306, 364, 368, 378-379, 414-415,
+    418, 429, 437, 439, 446, 456,
+    460, 464, 473-475, 481, 489, 499,
+    501, 504, 506-511, 516, 537-538, 548, 573.
+
+  Wertingen, ii. 21.
+
+  Wessenberg, Count, ii. 283, 417.
+
+  West Indies, i. 490-492, 496-499; ii. 229, 390.
+
+  West Indies, French, ii. 56.
+
+  Westphalia, ii. 134, 194.
+
+  Weyrother, ii. 36.
+
+  Whigs, the, i. 22, 167, 427, 452, 494;
+    ii. 209, 447, 457, 527, 559.
+
+  Whitbread, Mr., M.P., ii. 447.
+
+  Whitworth, Lord, i. 403-404, 415-416, 418-425.
+
+  Wieland, ii. 183-184.
+
+  Wilks, Governor, 539, 545, 546, 547.
+
+  Wilson, Sir R., ii. 258, 262.
+
+  Windham, i. 452.
+
+  Winzingerode, ii. 401, 405-406.
+
+  Wittgenstein, ii. 250, 254, 287-288, 294, 335, 341, 345.
+
+  Wrede, ii. 419.
+
+  Wright, Capt, i. 451-452, 456.
+
+  Wuermser, i. 105-107, 110-117, 127, 136.
+
+
+  Wuertemberg, ii. 46, 59-60.
+
+  Wuerzburg, ii. 46.
+
+
+
+  Yarmouth, Lord, ii. 72, 79, 81-83, 85.
+
+  Yorck, Gen., ii. 270, 339, 358-359, 392, 393-394, 407.
+
+  York, Duke of, i. 217, 261.
+
+  Yorke, i. 450.
+
+  Young Guard, ii. 503.
+
+
+
+  Zach, i. 257.
+
+  Ziethen, Gen., ii. 460, 461, 463, 464, 505, 508.
+
+  Znaim, Armistice of, ii. 197.
+
+  Zuerich, battle of, i. 180, 217.
+
+
+
+
+CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
+
+TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2)
+by John Holland Rose
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON I ***
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