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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41220 ***
+
+[Illustration: (Coat of Arms)]
+
+
+[Illustration: (Stylized "N")]
+
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Paul Delaroche
+
+NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, "SNUFF BOX" PORTRAIT]
+
+
+
+
+                          Military Career
+                                 OF
+                         Napoleon the Great
+
+
+               An Account of the Remarkable Campaigns
+                      of the "Man of Destiny"
+
+
+    Authentic Anecdotes of the Battlefield as Told by the Famous
+             Marshals and Generals of the First Empire
+
+
+                                 BY
+                        Montgomery B. Gibbs
+
+
+               "_He fought a thousand glorious wars,
+                 And more than half the world was his;
+               And somewhere, now, in yonder stars,
+                 Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is._"
+
+                   --THACKERAY
+
+
+                              CHICAGO:
+                       E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY,
+                        521-531 Wabash Ave.
+
+
+
+
+               COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY THE WERNER COMPANY
+
+                         Mil. Car. Napoleon
+
+
+
+
+                                 To
+                             My Friend
+                         JOHN L. STODDARD
+                          This Volume is
+                          Affectionately
+                            Dedicated.
+
+
+
+
+Preface.
+
+
+As the closing chapters of this volume were being written, a "Napoleonic
+wave" seemed to be passing over the country, an echo, no doubt, of the
+furore which Napoleon's name has excited in France during the past three
+years. One writer wittily says:
+
+    "Where'er I turn, I'm forced to learn,
+    Some detail of his life,
+    I read about his sword and hats,
+    And how he beat his wife."
+
+It seems but fair, therefore, for the author of this volume to declare
+that the revival of interest in the career of the man who for fifteen
+years had been the glory of France, has in no way caused the hasty
+writing, or publication, of this anecdotal military history. It is the
+result of years of study, and represents, not only a careful reading of
+those authorities which all must have access to who would write
+intelligently of the subject, but also of the more recent volumes which
+have appeared from time to time, each having something new to reveal
+concerning the seemingly inexhaustible fund of information pertaining
+to this son of a poor Corsican gentleman, who as his greatest
+biographer has said of him, "played in the world the parts of Alexander,
+Hannibal, Cæsar and Charlemagne."
+
+There has never been a time, during the last fifty years at least, when
+the public was not eager to learn something new concerning the wonderful
+career of the man who once held all Europe prisoner in the folds of the
+French flag. The world regards Napoleon Bonaparte as a _military genius_
+at least, whatever it may think of the political or social side of his
+life, and its relation to France. The writer does not believe that they
+are inseparably connected, and in offering this work it is his desire to
+better acquaint the admirers, as well as the enemies of the "Little
+Corporal," with his military career, not technically, but to picture him
+as his marshals, generals and soldiers knew him on the battlefield and
+around the campfire.
+
+Many of these famous marshals and generals, who shared day by day all
+the glories and perils of their chief, and who vied with him in their
+activity and daring, have lately given to the world their "Memoirs,"
+published many years after their death, for obvious reasons. From them
+one gets a much clearer insight into the true characteristics of their
+heroic leader. Being men of slight education their writings are confined
+largely to the gossip of the campaigns in which they were active
+participants, and in reading them one is often tempted to believe that
+Napoleon was in command of both belligerent armies, so accurately did
+this giant among warriors forecast the movements of the enemy on the
+battlefield; and after victory had favored his bold strokes, finding
+himself in a position to reshape, at will, the map of Europe; for he
+conducted his campaigns with a degree of skill which, it is conceded by
+all military authorities, has never been excelled.
+
+No man ever understood how to excite emulation, by distributing praise
+or blame, as did Napoleon. Chaboulon well says that the ascendancy
+possessed by the Emperor over the minds and courage of the soldiery was
+truly incomprehensible. A word, a gesture, was sufficient to inspire
+them with enthusiasm, and make them face the most terrible ordeals. If
+ordered to rush to a point, although the extreme danger of the manoeuvre
+might at first strike the good sense of the soldiers, they immediately
+reflected that their general would not have issued such a command
+without a motive, or have exposed them wantonly. "He knows what he is
+about," they would say, and immediately rush on to death, uttering
+shouts of "Long live the Emperor!"
+
+No attempt is here made to give a history of France from the time
+Bonaparte first made his entrance into the drama of which he was so soon
+to be the leading actor. The successive periods of the Revolution, the
+Directory, the Consulate and the Empire are only introduced when found
+necessary to explain the rapidly advancing steps of this wonderful
+character in history, the worshiped idol of an entire nation, that his
+military career may be the better understood; hence it has been thought
+advisable to refer briefly, at times, to the relations of France with
+other countries, and the cause of his spending, during the ten years of
+his reign as Emperor, exactly fifty-four days less in camp, and under
+the enemy's fire, so to speak, than he did in his royal residences!
+
+This, then, is the story of the man who personally commanded in 600
+skirmishes, and 85 pitched battles, resigning at last his leadership on
+the field of Waterloo, a victim of treachery and incompetency exceeding
+even his own well-grounded fears; but even after these years of constant
+warfare and conquest, after maintaining huge armies in almost all parts
+of the world, he left France the richest nation in the universe, and in
+possession of a larger amount of specie than the rest of Europe; and
+notwithstanding the fact that in 1796, when he was given command of the
+Army of Italy, he found his government not only incapable of paying its
+ragged and weary troops, but unable, even, to feed them!
+
+    M. B. G.
+
+_Chicago, Ill. December 31, 1894._
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+    CHAPTER I.
+                                                          Page
+    BOYHOOD DAYS AND EARLY CAREER                            9
+
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+
+    BONAPARTE'S CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1796-7                   45
+
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+
+    EXPEDITION TO EGYPT                                    107
+
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+
+    PASSAGE OF THE ALPS AND BATTLE OF MARENGO              141
+
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+
+    ULM AND AUSTERLITZ                                     175
+
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+
+    THE BATTLE OF JENA                                     211
+
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+
+    THE BATTLE OF EYLAU                                    230
+
+
+    CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    FRIEDLAND AND PEACE OF TILSIT                          241
+
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+
+    WAR WITH SPAIN                                         253
+
+
+    CHAPTER X.
+
+    WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 1809                                 274
+
+
+    CHAPTER XI.
+
+    THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM                                   288
+
+
+    CHAPTER XII.
+
+    CAMPAIGN OF RUSSIA                                     305
+
+
+    CHAPTER XIII.
+
+    THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813                                   347
+
+
+    CHAPTER XIV.
+
+    THE INVASION OF FRANCE                                 373
+
+
+    CHAPTER XV.
+
+    EXILE TO ELBA                                          409
+
+
+    CHAPTER XVI.
+
+    THE HUNDRED DAYS. WATERLOO                             435
+
+
+    CHAPTER XVII.
+
+    CONCLUSION                                             489
+
+    INDEX                                                  507
+
+
+
+
+Illustrations
+
+
+                                                          Page
+
+    NAPOLEON BONAPARTE "SNUFF-BOX" PORTRAIT     _Frontispiece_
+
+    BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF TOULON                        11
+
+    BONAPARTE ESCAPES CAPTURE AT LONATO                     27
+
+    BONAPARTE AT THE BRIDGE OF ARCOLA                       43
+
+    BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF RIVOLI                       59
+
+    BONAPARTE AND THE SLEEPING SENTINEL                     75
+
+    BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE                   91
+
+    SIEGE OF MANTUA                                        107
+
+    BONAPARTE AS GENERAL-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY OF ITALY     123
+
+    BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS                                 139
+
+    BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF ACRE                         155
+
+    RETURN OF THE FRENCH ARMY FROM SYRIA                   171
+
+    NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS                             187
+
+    FRENCH TROOPS CROSSING THE GREAT ST. BERNARD           203
+
+    CAPITULATION OF GENERAL MACK AT ULM                    219
+
+    BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ                                   235
+
+    MEETING BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND FRANCIS II. OF AUSTRIA    251
+
+    NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF JENA                         267
+
+    ENTRY OF NAPOLEON INTO BERLIN                          283
+
+    NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF EYLAU                        299
+
+    THE 14TH LINE AT EYLAU                                 315
+
+    NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND                    331
+
+    REVIEW OF TROOPS IN THE PLACE DU CARROUSEL, PARIS      347
+
+    INSURRECTION IN MADRID                                 363
+
+    NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM                       379
+
+    ARRIVAL OF THE GRAND ARMY AT MOSCOW                    395
+
+    RETREAT FROM MOSCOW, "1812"                            411
+
+    DEPARTURE OF NAPOLEON FOR PARIS                        427
+
+    RETURN OF NAPOLEON FROM ELBA                           443
+
+    NAPOLEON ON THE HEIGHTS AT LIGNY                       459
+
+    PREPARATIONS FOR THE ADVANCE OF THE OLD GUARD AT
+        WATERLOO                                           475
+
+    NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO                                   491
+
+
+
+
+        Military Career
+               OF
+       Napoleon the Great
+
+  An Account of the Remarkable
+     Campaigns of the "Man
+          of Destiny"
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+BOYHOOD DAYS AND EARLY CAREER
+
+
+When Napoleon was a pupil of the Military School at Brienne, as a
+pensioner of the king, he wrote to his mother in Corsica:
+
+"With Homer in my pocket, and my sword by my side, I hope to carve my
+way through the world!"
+
+Bonaparte was then a youth of but ten years of age. For nearly
+thirty-five years from this time his life was a series of achievements,
+the success of which has rarely been equalled,--from a military
+standpoint, never.
+
+His infancy was only different from that of most other boys in that he
+showed great animation of temper, and an impatience of inactivity, by
+which children of quick perception and lively sensibility are usually
+distinguished.
+
+It has been said that the name "Napoleon" was given to the new-born
+infant of Madame Bonaparte, according to a common custom among
+Catholics, of naming the child after the saint on whose festival it is
+baptized, and that the 16th of August, the day of young Bonaparte's
+baptism, was the festival of St. Napoleon, (Napoleone), a saint then
+peculiar to Corsica.
+
+On the confirmation of young Bonaparte at the Paris Military School the
+archbishop who officiated, manifesting some astonishment at the name
+"Napoleon," said he did not know of any such saint, and that there was
+no such name in the calendar.
+
+"That should be no rule," replied Napoleon quickly, "since there are an
+immense number of saints, but only three hundred and sixty-five days!"
+
+While an exile at St. Helena Napoleon said to O'Meara, his surgeon,
+"Saint Napoleon ought to be much obliged to me, and place all his credit
+in the other world to my account. The poor devil! No one knew him once,
+he had not even a day in the calendar. I procured him one, and persuaded
+the pope to assign to him the 15th of August, my birthday."
+
+It has frequently been said of Napoleon that he was born to command.
+From his earliest youth he chose arms for his profession, and in every
+study likely to be of service to the future soldier he distinguished
+himself above his contemporaries. With the mathematical tutors he was
+always a great favorite. His ardor for the abstract sciences amounted to
+a passion, and was combined with a singular aptitude for applying them
+to the purposes of war, while his attention to pursuits so interesting
+in themselves was stimulated by his natural ambition and desire of
+distinction in this science.
+
+Even before Napoleon began his systematic training for a military
+career, and while but nine years of age, he developed a fondness for
+mimic warfare that frequently astonished his older companions, many of
+whom were his superiors both in strength and endurance; but none of whom
+were able to cope with him in strategy, or whose resources, when put to
+test, were so versatile. At Ajaccio, the place of his birth, the city
+boys were often engaged in personal encounters with the youths from the
+country. At first these contests were but the natural outcome of a
+jealousy which is so often found to exist between city and country boys,
+who meet upon the same playground. At length this feeling of rivalry
+became more bitter, and on some occasions, especially on holidays, when
+the country lads were in the habit of "coming to town," as many as a
+score of them were often to be found on each side engaged in pitched
+battles with sticks and stones.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
+
+BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF TOULON]
+
+The country youths had for a time been eminently successful in these
+encounters, and were disposed to braggadocio manners. They went about
+the streets with their heads lifted high, and as a result, the older
+folks soon began to take an interest in the outcome of the assaults. On
+several occasions, too, the parents of the youths were interested
+spectators of the contests, and although the flying missiles were
+extremely likely to injure the onlooker, no suggestion of putting an end
+to the battles was ever proposed by the older heads.
+
+Young Bonaparte was much chagrined at these defeats, and sought to find
+reasons for them. When not an active participant he would often withdraw
+to some secluded spot, and there watch the movements of either side,
+hoping, no doubt, to detect some flaw in their manner of fighting that
+he might take advantage of it at a later date, and thus recover the good
+name of his city comrades. It could not be in numbers that defeat lay
+for they were almost always equally divided, and besides, there seemed
+to be an unwritten law between them that "Man against man" must in
+common honor be observed.
+
+Finally Bonaparte hastily gathered about him a few of his chosen
+friends, in whom he had the most confidence, and laid before them a
+plan, which, if followed, he assured them would not only humiliate their
+hated rivals, but would also result in their complete overthrow. With
+shouts of approval his plan was at once declared "a tip-top one" and his
+lieutenants proceeded to carry out his orders. He directed that a
+certain number of boys be formed into a company, whose duty it should be
+to supply ammunition. A "defi" was then sent to the conquerors who
+promptly replied that they had nothing to fear. It soon became noised
+about among the inhabitants of Ajaccio that a "final contest" was to be
+fought on a certain day, and hours before the time set, hundreds of
+spectators were on hand to witness the contest which was destined to
+re-establish the prestige of the city boys. At length the fated hour
+arrived and the country boys made their appearance on the battlefield,
+armed with short sticks,--their usual weapons,--and full of confidence.
+For a short time Napoleon and his followers maintained their position
+against these sturdy warriors, although, as heretofore, they found
+themselves overmatched by mere force of brute strength.
+
+Napoleon now gave the signal agreed upon to retreat. Slowly his forces
+gave way, endeavoring at the same time to keep up an appearance of
+fighting to the best of their ability. To reassure the country chaps
+that they were overpowering their contestants purely on their fighting
+merits, an occasional rally was ordered by the city leader; but this
+show of resistance was always followed by him with another retreat more
+pronounced than that which preceded it. At length Napoleon found himself
+with his followers on the shore of the sandy beach and the country lads
+believed themselves conquerors once more. "Victory!" "Victory!" they
+cried, as they came rushing up, expecting a complete surrender. In their
+haste to make a final assault the pursuers had not noticed that each of
+the city boys had laid down his stick and had his hand upon the ground.
+In it was grasped tightly a stone which was still partially covered by
+the sands of the beach.
+
+"Ready! Fire!" shouted Napoleon, and immediately the air was filled with
+swift-flying stones, each of which was followed by a second and that by
+a third missile, all landing with terrific force on the unprotected
+heads and shoulders of the over-confident country lads. They had cried
+victory before the battle was won.
+
+In another moment they found themselves disorganized and the victims of
+shouts of derision that came from the spectators who had followed the
+retreating forces to see the final outcome of the battle. Sticks at a
+distance of 20 or 30 feet were no match for the new weapons of the city
+lads, and reluctantly they turned and fled, having themselves no stones
+to throw.
+
+Now it was Napoleon's forces who were the pursuers; but the ranks of the
+sturdy country lads were sadly depleted and their resistance was brief.
+
+That night Napoleon was a hero in Ajaccio. With the older folks gathered
+about him he told and retold how he and his followers had spent the
+preceding night burying stones in the sand, that they might have them
+for weapons on the morrow when Napoleon's plan, which included retreat
+to this point on the beach, might be turned into the victory they had
+been assured would follow their arrival there.
+
+The student of Napoleon's military campaigns will detect in this
+manoeuvre a striking similarity to more sanguine contests on the
+battlefield where human lives were at stake.
+
+Throughout his life Napoleon's stronghold was strategy, and never was it
+more clearly illustrated than in this harmless contest of his youth, and
+to which he often recurred when passing an hour or two with his marshals
+and generals while preparing for contests on which the fate of France
+depended.
+
+Up to a few years ago,--it may to this present time,--an interesting
+relic of Napoleon's childhood was preserved in his native place. It was
+a small brass cannon, weighing about thirty pounds, and it is said he
+would leave all other amusements for the pleasure of firing off this
+dangerous plaything. His favorite retreat was a solitary summer house,
+among the rocks on the sea shore, about a mile from Ajaccio, where his
+mother's brother had a villa. The place is now in ruins; it afterwards
+came to be known as "Napoleon's Grotto." Nothing interested him more
+during these early years, than to hear his mother tell the story of her
+exciting hardships as she fled from one part of the island to another
+before the conquering French. Thus, unconsciously, she no doubt nurtured
+in her second son that warlike spirit which was manifested in him to
+such a marked degree in after years.
+
+During the time Napoleon attended school, young men were taught that the
+only fame worth striving for was that won by military achievements.
+Napoleon's parents, therefore, exerted all the influence they could
+command to gain scholarships for the education of their two oldest
+sons,--Joseph and Napoleon. Their prayers were at last granted owing to
+the invaluable aid of Monsieur de Marboeuf, Bishop of Autun and nephew
+of the governor of Corsica. Joseph was to take orders and to be placed
+in the college of Autun; Napoleon, intended for the navy, was to go to
+the school at Brienne, having previously gone through a course at Autun
+so as to learn sufficient French to be able to follow the lectures. They
+started on this journey, which was to have so much influence on their
+future lives, on December 15, 1778. After a halt at Florence to procure
+papers showing the ancient nobility of the Bonaparte family, and which
+were necessary to Napoleon before entering the school at Brienne, they
+proceeded to Autun. The herald declared that, "Young Napoleon Bonaparte
+possessed the nobility necessary for admission into the ranks of the
+gentlemen who are educated by his Majesty in the royal schools." Charles
+Bonaparte had been able to satisfy the authorities that his patent of
+nobility was authentic and privileged him to sign his name "de
+Bonaparte."
+
+Napoleon arrived at Brienne, on the 23d of April, 1779, having in three
+months at Autun "learned sufficient French to enable him to converse
+easily and to write small essays and translations."
+
+At Brienne Bourrienne, whose friendship for him commenced thus early,
+describes him as follows: "Bonaparte was noticeable at Brienne for his
+Italian complexion, the keenness of his look, and the tone of his
+conversation with masters and comrades. There was almost always a dash
+of bitterness in what he said. He had very little of the disposition
+that leads to attachments; which I can only attribute to the misfortunes
+of his family ever since his birth and the impression that the conquest
+of his country had made on his early years."
+
+The fact that he was a brave, manly boy, all biographers agree in
+recording. His poverty subjected him to mortification among his
+comrades, who also ridiculed him on account of his country and twitted
+him with the obsolete saint whose name he bore. These taunts he allowed
+himself to settle with the offenders openly and never descended to
+report them to his tutors. On one occasion, with Bourrienne, who became
+his private secretary in later years, he suffered several days'
+imprisonment rather than reveal the names of the real offenders who had
+neglected their duties.
+
+Napoleon's promptitude of reply was displayed on many occasions during
+his attendance at this school. One day as he was undergoing an
+examination by a general officer, he answered all the questions proposed
+with so much precision, and accompanied by such a depth of penetration,
+that the general, the professors and the students, were astonished. At
+length, in order to bring the interrogatories to a close, Napoleon was
+asked the following question:
+
+"What line of conduct would you adopt in case you were besieged in a
+fortified place and was destitute of provisions?"
+
+"So long as there were any in the camp of the enemy, I should never be
+at a great loss for a supply," came the answer quickly, amid the
+applause of the pupils.
+
+One of the most delightful winters of Napoleon's early life was that of
+1782, spent at this military school. He was just at that age when a boy
+most keenly enjoys new scenes and new excitements. It was the
+thirteenth winter of his life. He was older than most boys are at
+thirteen. His mind and his muscles were better developed. But,
+nevertheless, he was still a boy.
+
+It happened that this winter was one of the coldest and most severe in
+the history of France, so memorable by the quantity of snow that fell
+and which accumulated upon the roads in great quantities. The snow came
+early and stayed late, and the students could find but little amusement
+without doors. Napoleon was the first to suggest that it be used to
+develop their practical knowledge, and at the same time to beguile the
+weary hours they would otherwise be compelled to spend within doors. He
+said one day:
+
+"Let us divide into two hostile forces and battle, while the snow lasts,
+for the possession of the play ground."
+
+The proposition was received with favor and was unanimously accepted. By
+common consent Napoleon, whose authority no one questioned, was chosen
+to command the projected mimic war, the school being divided into two
+equal armies. Extensive fortifications of snow were at once erected by
+busy hands who then armed themselves for the coming fray. So complete
+were the arrangements that even the inhabitants of the village gave up
+all other pursuits to witness the battles. For fifteen days, while the
+snow lasted, they built forts and counter-forts, dug trenches,
+constructed bastions and made or met sallies with snowball battles,
+neglecting for the nonce their less interesting studies.
+
+It is related that Napoleon was greatly enraged one day to find that the
+other side had tried to get the best of his men by putting a round stone
+into each snowball, but when someone advised him to imitate the tactics
+of the foe he indignantly refused, saying that he would win without
+doing so or be beaten.
+
+The fort of the enemy was at last captured after Napoleon had gone
+through the formalities of a siege, in which he displayed much of the
+quickness of combination for which he was noted on the battlefield in
+after years. His soldierly methods electrified his fellow students and
+astonished the professors as well. "This little sham war," says
+Bourrienne, "was carried on for the space of a fortnight, and did not
+cease until a quantity of gravel and small stones having got mixed with
+the snow of which we made our bullets, many of the combatants, besiegers
+as well as besieged, were seriously wounded. I well remember that I was
+one of the worst sufferers from this sort of grape-shot fire."
+
+In 1783 Bonaparte, on the recommendation of the inspector of the twelve
+military schools, was sent from Brienne to the Royal Military School at
+Paris to have his education completed in the general school,--an
+extraordinary compliment to the genius and proficiency of a boy of
+fifteen. He was one of three to receive that honor, a tribute paid to
+the precocity of his extraordinary mathematical talent, and the
+steadiness of his application. The entry made at that time in the
+military records says:
+
+"Monsieur de Bonaparte (Napoleon) born August 15th, 1769; in height
+four feet, ten inches, ten lines; of good constitution, health
+excellent, character mild, honest and grateful; conduct exemplary; has
+distinguished himself by application to mathematics; understands history
+and geography tolerably well; is indifferently skilled in merely
+ornamental studies, as well as in Latin; would make an excellent
+sailor; deserves to be passed to the Military School at Paris."
+
+The young student did not arrive in Paris in the guise of the future
+conqueror of the world. On the contrary, he looked like a "new-comer;"
+he gaped at everything he saw, and gazed about in a dazed sort of way.
+As a Corsican compatriot who met him as he was getting out of the coach
+has said: "His appearance was that of a youth whom any scoundrel would
+try to rob after seeing him, if indeed he had anything worth taking!"
+However, it should not be forgotten that he was but a youth of fifteen,
+felt his poverty keenly, and was about to enter into the noise and
+extravagant life of the rich students of this royal military school. As
+he himself said in 1811: "All these cares spoiled my early years; they
+influenced my temper and made me grave before my time."
+
+At the Paris school Napoleon labored hard, as he had done at Brienne for
+five years, being especially proficient, as before, in mathematics.
+Everything was very luxurious here, and Bonaparte complained in a
+memorial, which he presented to the superintendent of the establishment,
+that the mode of life was too expensive and delicate for "poor
+gentlemen" and could not properly prepare them either for returning to
+their "modest homes," or for the hardships they would encounter in war.
+He proposed that instead of a regular dinner of two courses daily, the
+students should have ammunition bread and soldiers' rations, and be
+compelled to mend and clean their own stockings and shoes. "If I were
+king of France," he said one day to a companion, "I would change this
+state of things very quickly!" This memorial is said to have done him
+no service, for every third boy that looked on him was a duke from his
+cradle, while the Young Corsican was still a "pensioner of the king;"
+but the schools established by him after he became Emperor were on that
+severe plan. "Although believing in the necessity of show and
+magnificence in public life," says Meneval, his second private
+secretary, "Napoleon remained true to these principles, while lavishing
+wealth on his ministers and marshals: 'In your private life' said he,
+'be economical and even parsimonious; in public be magnificent.'"
+
+On being reproved one day by an uncle of the Duchess d'Abrantes for
+ingratitude as a "pensioner of the king," he broke out furiously with an
+expression of indignation. "Silence!" said the gentleman at whose table
+he was sitting; "It ill becomes you, who are educated by the king's
+bounty, to speak as you do."
+
+"I am not educated at the _king's_ expense," replied Bonaparte, his face
+flushed with rage, "but at the expense of the _nation_!"
+
+Young Napoleon made but poor advancement in the German language while at
+this school, and by reason of it offended M. Bauer his tutor. One day,
+not being in his place, M. Bauer inquired where he was, and was told
+that he was attending his examination in the class of artillery.
+
+"Oh! so he does learn something," said the professor ironically.
+
+"Why, sire, he is the best mathematician in the school," was the reply.
+
+"Ah, I have always heard it remarked and I have always believed, that
+none but a fool could learn mathematics!"
+
+"It would be curious," said Napoleon, who related this anecdote when he
+was Emperor, "to know whether M. Bauer lived long enough to ascertain my
+real character, and to enjoy the confirmation of his own judgment."
+
+Napoleon had not been in the Military School of Paris a year,--during
+which time his father had died,--and had barely completed his sixteenth
+year, when he successfully passed the examination, in August 1785,--for
+a commission in a regiment of artillery.
+
+On September 1st the decree was signed which assigned Bonaparte as
+Second-Lieutenant in the company of bombardiers of the regiment of La
+Fere garrisoned at Valence. At the time of the examination there were
+thirty-six vacant places. M. de Feralio, one of the professors of the
+military school charged with this examination, is said to have inscribed
+on the margin, opposite to the signature of Napoleon, the following: "A
+Corsican by character and by birth. If favored by circumstances this
+young man will rise high." This professor was very fond of his young
+pupil, and when at school is said to have occasionally supplied him with
+pocket money. After his death Napoleon granted a handsome pension to his
+widow.
+
+Napoleon's corps was at Valence when he joined it. Arriving there he was
+an occasional frequenter of the drawing room of Madame du Colombier, and
+it is said he made love to her daughter; but when not so engaged, he was
+devoted to his military studies, and read frequently from the Lives of
+Plutarch, a volume of which he generally carried about him. He also
+occupied himself in writing a "History of Corsica" which, when
+completed, the Abbe Raynal and other friends praised very highly; but he
+was unable to find a publisher for it.
+
+At Valence Napoleon found the officers of his regiment divided, as all
+the world then was, into two parties; the lovers of the French monarchy,
+and those who desired its overthrow. Napoleon openly sided with the
+latter. "Had I been a general," said he, in the evening of his life, "I
+might have adhered to the king; being a subaltern I joined the
+patriots."
+
+In the beginning of 1792 Napoleon became captain of artillery,
+unattached, and happening to be in Paris, witnessed the lamentable
+scenes of the 20th of June, when the revolutionary mob stormed the
+Tuileries, and Louis XVI. and his family, after undergoing innumerable
+insults and degradations, with the utmost difficulty preserved their
+lives. As he was strolling about with Bourrienne he saw the mob,
+numbering between five and six thousand, ragged and ridiculously armed,
+coming from the outskirts and making for the Tuileries. "Let us follow
+these scoundrels," he said. They went with the crowd into the garden
+before the palace, and when the king appeared at one of the windows on
+the balcony, surrounded by Revolutionists, and with the red cap of
+liberty, the emblem of the Jacobins, on his head, Napoleon could no
+longer suppress his contempt and indignation. "Poor driveller!" said he,
+loud enough to be heard by those near him; "how could he suffer this
+rabble to enter? If he had swept away five or six hundred with his
+cannon, _the rest would be running yet_!" Napoleon always abhorred
+anarchy. He said there was no remedy for mobs but grape-shot, and
+believed thoroughly in the theory of shooting first and listening to
+peace negotiations afterwards.
+
+He was also a witness of the still more terrible 10th of August, in the
+same year, when the palace being once more invested, the National Guard
+assigned for its defense took part with the assailants. This time the
+royal family were obliged to take refuge in the National Assembly, and
+the brave Swiss Guards were massacred almost to a man.
+
+Bonaparte was a firm friend of the Assembly, to the charge of a part of
+which, at least, these excesses must be laid; but the spectacle
+disgusted him. The yells, screams, and pikes with bloody heads upon
+them, formed a scene which he afterwards described as "hideous and
+revolting." But with what a different feeling of interest would he have
+looked on that infuriated populace, those still resisting though
+overpowered Swiss, and that burning palace, had any seer whispered to
+him: "Emperor that shall be, all this blood and massacre is but to
+prepare your future Empire!"
+
+He mingled little in society; but he saw much of the people and took
+sides irrevocably with the cause of the nation. At this time he was
+without employment and very poor, wandering idly about Paris, and living
+chiefly at cheap restaurants. As yet he had been but a spectator of the
+Revolution, destined to pave his own path to sovereign power; but it was
+not long before circumstances called him to play a part in this tragic
+drama which was then attracting the attention of the civilized world.
+
+It was shortly after these stirring scenes in Paris, that Bonaparte
+visited his mother in Corsica, arriving there with his sister Eliza on
+September 17th, 1792. For the first time in thirteen years the family
+was reunited, and their joy would have been complete had their
+circumstances not been so sad. Their resources were diminishing day by
+day and the recovery of what was due them became constantly more
+difficult, owing to civil discords. The only fund upon which they could
+rely seems to have been Napoleon's pay as an artillery officer.
+
+The following year, while Bonaparte was still enjoying the leave of
+absence from his regiment, an expedition arrived from France to deprive
+General Paoli, governor of Corsica, of his control, he having denounced
+the National Assembly as the enemy of France. Paoli endeavored to enlist
+Napoleon in his cause; among other flatteries he patted him on the back
+and said: "You were cast in an antique mould; you are one of Plutarch's
+men. The whole world will talk of you," but the young Corsican was loyal
+to France, and was not to be deceived by either entreaties or flattery.
+He declared his belief that Corsica was too weak to maintain
+independence, that she must fall under the rule either of France or
+England, and that her interests would be best served by adhering to the
+former. Napoleon then tendered his sword to Salicetti, one of the
+Corsican deputies to the Convention, and was appointed provisionally to
+the command of a battalion of National Guards.
+
+The first military service on which he was employed for his native
+country was the reduction of a small fortress, called the Torre di
+Capitello, near Ajaccio. He took it, but was soon besieged in it, and he
+and his garrison, after a gallant defense, and living for some time on
+horseflesh, were glad to evacuate the tower, and escape to the sea.
+Paoli was soon reinforced by England, and the Bonapartes were among
+those who were banished from the country. During this Corsican
+revolution the inhabitants were much divided as to the rights of England
+and France in the island. An officer in the French troops, who sided
+with England, was much scandalized at the position taken by the
+Bonapartes,--Joseph, Napoleon and Lucien. One day, in the hearing of
+Napoleon, the officer made use of some very harsh language towards them,
+and was especially bitter against Napoleon. At this a friend defended
+him with much warmth and finished by saying to the officer: "Sir, you
+are not worth a pair of Napoleon's old boots!"
+
+In the year 1800, Napoleon then being First Consul of France, the
+officer who had defended him, and who had for some time followed his
+standard, and had been raised to distinction by him, happening to meet
+Bonaparte among a large party at dinner at the house of the First
+Consul's mother, was drawn aside before the company placed themselves at
+the table, and with his finger over his mouth, Napoleon said in a
+half-joking, half-serious manner: "My dear sir, not a word, I entreat
+you, about the old boots!"
+
+As a result of the insurrection in Corsica Napoleon saw Ajaccio in
+ashes, and the home of his childhood pillaged and burned ere he took his
+departure. His mother and sisters took refuge first at Nice, and
+afterwards at Marseilles, where for some time they suffered all the
+inconveniences of poverty and exile. At that period nothing was more
+deplorable than Bonaparte's prospects; nothing more uncertain than the
+future. But he believed that fortune would not always abandon him.
+France was in the hands of men who acted largely from self-interest, and
+here he apparently saw a chance to carve his way to fame by getting in
+the vortex of the Revolution. It was probably on this occasion that he
+repeated the well-known words: "In a revolution a soldier should never
+despair if he possesses courage and genius."
+
+Napoleon now resolved to rejoin his regiment; he had chosen France for
+his country, and ever afterwards it was his home until exiled to St.
+Helena.
+
+During the night of August 27th, 1793, Toulon was delivered to the
+English, and its subsequent siege and retaking was destined to be the
+first incident of importance which enabled Bonaparte to distinguish
+himself in the eyes of the French Government, and of the world at large.
+The head of Louis XVI had rolled from the block, and a month afterwards
+the Convention had declared war against England.
+
+Early in September France was attacked on every side, and a third of her
+provinces had rebelled against the government established at Paris,
+which enforced its supremacy by a regime carried on under a Reign of
+Terror. Among the provinces in open insurrection were all those of the
+south. An army corps invested Lyons, while another, after subduing
+Marseilles, marched against Toulon, the great arsenal and seaport, and
+delivered by the Bourbons into the hands of England. Adjutant Cervoni
+was at once dispatched to Marseilles to ascertain if he could find in
+that town some artillery officer of distinction to whom might be
+intrusted the chief command of the siege batteries before Toulon.
+
+While strolling through the streets Cervoni met with a captain of
+artillery who was, like himself, perambulating the thoroughfares. This
+captain was a Corsican and a compatriot; his name was Napoleon
+Bonaparte. He was covered with the dust of the road along which he had
+been walking; for he had just arrived from Avignon, whither he had
+escorted a convoy of ammunition, and was on his way to Nice. Cervoni
+thought that Bonaparte would be just the man to watch over the
+movements of the army before Toulon: he appeared very young,--he was
+only twenty-four years of age--but it was stated that a month before the
+Republican army was on the point of beating a retreat in front of
+Avignon when he, with two field-pieces and eighty men, bombarded the
+town in the rear so effectively that the inhabitants and federal troops
+were overcome with fright and, convinced that they had been betrayed,
+abandoned the place to the Republicans who entered victorious, thanks to
+the boldness and foresight of Captain Bonaparte.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Lafit
+
+BONAPARTE ESCAPES CAPTURE AT LONATO]
+
+Cervoni invited him to enter a café; Bonaparte accepted, and the two men
+had a chat over a bowl of punch. The young captain doffed his hat, so
+that his features were lighted up by the blue flame of the liquor; his
+complexion was sallow and his head large, measuring as it did
+twenty-three inches round. If the size of his skull was large, the space
+between the two cheek-bones was enormous. The hair grew low on his
+forehead; the well-arched brows disclosed large eyes, sharp as steel,
+cold, clear and piercing; the aquiline nose was of the most delicate
+shape, the lower lip strong and receding, while the chin and the jaws
+were as well developed as the skull.
+
+After a conference Napoleon departed for Toulon where he was promoted to
+the rank of Brigadier-General of Artillery, with the command of the
+artillery during the siege. The arsenal was filled with military stores,
+and twenty-five English and Spanish battleships were then riding in the
+harbor to protect it. Three months had passed, during which time no
+apparent progress had been made towards the recapture of the town, and
+when Napoleon arrived he was invested with the command of the artillery
+train.
+
+A strong fort commanded the harbor, and after a careful examination
+Napoleon said the only way to retake Toulon was to neglect the body of
+the town, carry "Little Gibraltar," and the city would surrender in two
+days. Napoleon's brother Lucien visited him about this time. They went
+together one morning to a place where a fruitless assault had been made,
+and two hundred Frenchmen were dead upon the ground. On beholding them
+Napoleon exclaimed: "If I had commanded here all these brave men would
+still be alive!" A moment later he added: "Learn from this example,
+young man, how indispensable and imperatively necessary it is for those
+to possess knowledge who aspire to the command of others."
+
+Napoleon's own account of his experiences here is extremely interesting,
+and was thus related by him during his exile at St. Helena:
+
+"I reported, as I had been ordered to do," he said, "to General Cartaux,
+(a portrait painter of Paris) who was in charge of the revolutionary
+forces. He was a tall man, all covered with gilt decorations, and a type
+of the militia officer. I saw at once that he was utterly incompetent to
+the task that had been laid out for him. I said: 'I have been directed
+to assist, under your order, in the taking of Toulon.' He replied: 'We
+need no assistance in taking Toulon; but since they have sent you here
+you may enjoy yourself as best you can and see the siege.' Then he gave
+orders to have me treated with courtesy.
+
+"Well, the next morning I went out with the general to look at the
+preparations for bombarding the stronghold. He called an aid-de-camp and
+asked in a business-like manner: 'Are the red-hot shot ready?' I was
+surprised, but said nothing. The subordinate replied: 'Oh, yes, the men
+have been busy all night heating them.' I was now more surprised than
+ever, but still kept silent. What followed would have made me believe
+they were trying to guy me if their manner had not been so serious.
+General Cartaux asked how they were going to get the red-hot shot over
+to the guns. That seemed to puzzle the aid-de-camp. The General himself
+didn't know what to do. After a great deal of speculation, and some
+swearing, he asked me what I would do under the circumstances. I said:
+
+"'You will find it an excellent idea to try the range of your guns with
+cold shot first. If the range isn't right the hot-shot will be of no
+service.'
+
+"He laughed merrily and agreed with me. The order was given to try the
+range. The result was that the cold shot didn't carry more than a third
+of the distance. The bombarding of the fort was put off another day.
+
+"Luckily Gasparin, the direct representative of the people with plenary
+powers, came riding up that night, and I told him what I had seen and
+heard. He agreed that the man in command was incompetent, and put me in
+charge. You all know the rest. I began the attack on the outlet of
+Toulon and was successful. Gasparin consoled Cartaux by telling him that
+I was only a subordinate, and that all the glory would go to him
+anyhow."
+
+During this siege of the "Little Gibraltar Castle" Bonaparte showed his
+extensive knowledge of mankind, and which enabled him to discover and
+attach to him those men whose talents were most distinguished, and most
+capable of rendering him service. Several who afterwards became marshals
+and generals under the Empire, first made Napoleon's acquaintance at
+Toulon. Among these were Duroc and Junot. During one of the days of
+this long siege Napoleon, in passing one of the trenches, called for
+some one to write an order from his dictation, and in obedience to this
+request a young and handsome soldier stepped out of the ranks, and
+resting his paper on the breastwork, began to write as directed.
+Scarcely had he done so when a cannon ball fell at his feet and covered
+both commander and private with dirt. The soldier laughingly held up his
+paper and said: "Thank you, now I shall need no sand."
+
+Napoleon was so pleased with his bravery, and ready wit, that he
+immediately promoted him. The name of this fortunate man was General
+Junot; he subsequently became Duke of Abrantes and was one of the most
+distinguished generals of the Empire under Napoleon. An apparent total
+insensibility to fatigue was observed in the young Corsican officer at
+this time. He worked through daylight, and slept nights wrapped in a
+blanket under his guns till his batteries were ready to begin
+operations.
+
+During the siege Paris was very restless, and after a few weeks had
+passed it became almost the sole topic of conversation at the capital;
+the newspapers contained innumerable suggestions for the ending of the
+siege, and hundreds of letters were addressed to the officers at Toulon,
+telling them how to drive the English from the shores of France. One day
+fifteen carriages arrived at Toulon containing sixty young men who had
+journeyed thither from the capital; they were gorgeously arrayed and
+asked to be presented to the commander-in-chief.
+
+Bonaparte received the party courteously and asked what he could do for
+them. "Citizen Bonaparte," said the spokesman, "we come from Paris. The
+patriots there are indignant at your indecision and delay. The soil of
+the Republic has been violated. She trembles to think that the insult
+still remains unavenged. She asks, 'Why is Toulon not yet taken? Why is
+the English fleet not yet destroyed?' In her indignation she has
+appealed to her brave sons. We have obeyed her summons and burn with
+impatience to fulfill her expectations. We are volunteer gunners from
+Paris. Furnish us with arms. To-morrow we will march against the enemy!"
+
+Early on the following day Napoleon conducted the "volunteers" to the
+seashore. During the night he had ordered a number of cannon placed in
+position and as he pointed to the black hull out at sea he said: "Sink
+that ship!"
+
+At some distance from the shore lay an English frigate, upon whose deck
+were to be seen a formidable array of cannon, all pointed shorewards.
+
+"But there is no shelter here!" said the volunteers in chorus. At this
+moment a broadside was fired by the gunners on the frigate and the
+brilliantly decorated patriots from the capital fled in every direction,
+amid the smiles of the commander-in-chief who at once gave orders for
+his own gunners to return the fire of the enemy.
+
+Toulon was at last retaken on December 17th, the siege having lasted
+four months.
+
+When Bonaparte at last raised the French emblem over the city, and as it
+floated with the breezes over a scene of desolation long remembered by
+those who witnessed it, he said to Dugommier: "Go to sleep; we have
+taken Toulon!"
+
+It was here that Napoleon was first severely wounded. When his body was
+being prepared for burial at St. Helena there was found upon his left
+thigh so deep a scar that it was nearly possible to place one's finger
+in it. This had been caused by a bayonet thrust received during this
+engagement, and in consequence of which he nearly lost his leg. In
+addition to the wound he had a number of horses shot under him. Another
+of the dangers which he incurred was of a singular character. An
+artilleryman being shot at the gun which he was serving, while Napoleon
+was visiting a battery, the commander took up the dead man's rammer, and
+to give encouragement to the soldiers, charged the gun with his own
+hands. The gunner had been afflicted with a skin disease which Napoleon
+contracted from the weapon, and for a number of years afterward he
+suffered from its ravages.
+
+Soon after the retaking of Toulon Bonaparte accompanied General
+Dugommier to Marseilles. Some one struck with his appearance asked the
+general _who that little bit of an officer was, and where he picked him
+up_?
+
+"That officer's name," replied the general, "is Bonaparte: I picked him
+up at the siege of Toulon, to the successful termination of which he
+eminently contributed; and you will probably see, one day, _that this
+little bit of an officer_ is a greater man than any of us!"
+
+Napoleon was now rapidly rising in reputation. His science
+as an artillery officer and his valor had saved France from
+humiliation--taught her enemies to respect her--had suppressed the
+spirit of insurrection in the southern provinces, and had given the
+government of the Convention control of the whole army.
+
+It has been said that Napoleon's fame first came to the knowledge of
+Barras, a member of the Directory, through a letter taken by his young
+protegé to Paris not long after this siege. It was a commendatory letter
+addressed to Carnot in which Barras thus expressed himself: "I send you
+a young man who has distinguished himself very much during the siege,
+and earnestly recommend you to advance him speedily: _If you do not, he
+will most assuredly advance himself!_"
+
+Bonaparte's name was on the list of those whom the veteran Dugommier
+recommended for promotion, and he was accordingly confirmed in his
+provisional situation of chief of battalion and appointed to hold that
+rank in Italy. He therefore proceeded to join the headquarters of the
+French army then lying at Nice. Here he suggested a plan by which the
+Sardinians were driven from the Coe di Tendi. Saorgio, with all its
+stores, soon surrendered, and the French obtained possession of the
+maritime Alps, so that the difficulties of advancing into Italy were
+greatly diminished. Of these movements, however, Napoleon's superior
+officers reaped as yet the honor. While directing the means of attaining
+these successes Bonaparte acquired a complete acquaintance with that
+Alpine country in which he was shortly to obtain victories in his own
+name, not in that of others who were now rapidly acquiring reputation by
+acting on his timely suggestions.
+
+One of his favorite methods of planning manoeuvres he originated at this
+time while studying his maps and plans of the Alpine country. He had so
+familiarized himself with the locality that no point of importance was
+unknown to him. With this data before him, Bonaparte would sit for
+hours, intent on studying the maps of the country, and upon which he had
+stuck pins, the heads of which he had covered with wax of various
+shades. One color was used to designate the French, another the enemy,
+and by changing the location of the pins on the map he formed various
+intricate plans of attack and retreat that some years later were most
+valuable to him. This ingenious scheme is often used at the present day
+by large wholesale houses to designate the territory of their salesmen
+while travelling about the country.
+
+While in Nice Napoleon was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison on
+an order sent from Paris by the Committee of Public Safety. He had been
+sent there with secret instructions from the government "to collect
+facts that would throw light upon the intentions of the Genoese
+government respecting coalition, etc.," and although he acquitted
+himself with all the care necessary to success, his excess of zeal came
+nearly ending fatally to him, for it was a time when it was safe to have
+secrets from no one. It was a time, too, when revolutionists owed it to
+themselves to arrest their predecessors, and as there had been a change
+in the government, Napoleon's secret journey was unknown to Salicetti
+and Albitte, who had succeeded Ricord.
+
+Young Robespierre, who received the order of arrest, was much astounded
+at it. The document added that the prisoner was to be at once brought
+under a strong escort to Fort Carré near Antibes and there imprisoned
+and tried "for treason against the Republic." Robespierre asked Napoleon
+to come into his room, and showed him the document, which might mean
+death. Then he said: "You must not go away yet. I will put you under
+arrest, and then I will write to my brother, who has some influence with
+the committee. He may be able to get the order rescinded."
+
+Napoleon refused to get agitated over his arrest. Junot, Sebastiani and
+Marmont, his young aides-de-camp, had formed a plan of escape and
+advised him to choke the guard, steal a small boat, and flee to the
+Corsican coast, where he could hide himself in the mountains. Bonaparte,
+knowing his innocence, refused to try to escape, but addressed the
+following letter to Junot, et al: "I fully recognize your friendship, my
+dear Junot, in the proposition you make me: you have long known the
+sincerity of mine for you, and I hope that you trust in it. Men may be
+unjust towards me, my dear Junot, but for me my innocence is sufficient.
+My conscience is the tribunal before which I summon my conduct. This
+conscience is calm when I question it. Do nothing, therefore; all
+friendly greetings. BONAPARTE.
+
+_Under arrest at Fort Carré, Antibes._"
+
+It was only when told that he was dismissed from the army, and declared
+unworthy of public confidence, that he addressed a spirited letter to
+Albitte and Salicetti, the committee that ordered his arrest, and which
+caused them to reconsider their resolution.
+
+In his dramatic communication to this committee, Bonaparte said in part:
+"You have suspended me from my functions, arrested and declared me
+suspected. Therein you have branded me without judging,--or rather
+judged without hearing. * * * Hear me; destroy the oppression that
+environs me, and restore me in the estimation of patriotic men. An hour
+after, if villains desire my life, I shall esteem it but little; I have
+despised it often."
+
+In a few days the influence of the great Robespierre had made itself
+felt; a message was consequently received rescinding the order and
+Napoleon was honorably discharged from custody. His papers had been
+examined, and as nothing was found in them to implicate him, he was set
+at liberty at once. In those stormy times more than one innocent man had
+been sent to the guillotine on a less flimsy accusation than this,
+and Napoleon had, therefore, good reason to be thankful for the
+interposition of Robespierre.
+
+At this time the young warrior was most studious, and is said to have
+thus early acquired the habit of taking short snatches of sleep, which
+seemed to refresh him fully as much as the longer periods required by
+others. While at Nice one of his friends, on a particular occasion, went
+to Napoleon's apartments long before daybreak, and not doubting that he
+was still in bed, knocked gently at the door, fearful of disturbing him
+too abruptly. Upon entering his chamber he was not a little astonished
+at finding Bonaparte dressed as during the day, with plans, maps and
+various books scattered around him.
+
+"What!" exclaimed the visitor, "not yet in bed?"
+
+"In bed," replied Napoleon, "I am already risen."
+
+"Indeed, and why so early?"
+
+"Oh, two or three hours are enough for any man to sleep!" was the
+general's reply.
+
+Some years later, when Bonaparte was forming the "_Code Napoleon_," he
+astonished the Council of State by the readiness with which he
+illustrated any point in discussion by quoting the Roman Civil Law, a
+subject which might seem entirely foreign to him, since the greater part
+of his life had been passed on the battlefield. On being asked how he
+had acquired so familiar a knowledge of law affairs he replied: "When I
+was lieutenant I was put under arrest, unjustly, it is true, but that is
+nothing to the point. The little room which was assigned for my prison
+contained no furniture but an old chair and an old cupboard: in the
+cupboard was a ponderous volume, older and more worm-eaten than all the
+rest. It proved to be a digest of the Roman law. As I had neither
+paper, pens, ink or pencil, you may easily imagine that this book was a
+valuable prize to me. It was so voluminous and the leaves were so
+covered with marginal notes in manuscript that, had I been confined one
+hundred years I could never have been idle. I was only deprived of my
+liberty ten days; but, on recovering it, I was saturated with Justinian
+and the decisions of the Roman legislators. _Thus, I picked up my
+knowledge of the Civil Law._"
+
+Bonaparte did not resume his functions at Nice, after his release from
+imprisonment, but repaired to Marseilles where his mother was living in
+distressed circumstances. Before the end of the year he again came to
+Paris to solicit employment. At first he met with nothing but repulses.
+Aubry, president of the military committee, objected to his youth, at
+which Bonaparte replied rather sharply: "One ages quickly on
+battlefields, and I have just left one." The president, who had not seen
+much actual service himself, thought he was insulted, and treated
+Napoleon very coldly in consequence.
+
+Shortly afterwards Bonaparte was offered the command of a brigade of
+infantry which he refused, declaring that nothing could induce him to
+leave the artillery. Writing to Sucy, a friend, on this subject,
+Napoleon said: "I have been ordered to serve as a general of the line in
+La Vendée. I will not accept. Many soldiers could direct a brigade
+better than I, and few have commanded artillery with greater success."
+His refusal was followed by the erasure of his name from the list of
+general officers in employment. Some time later he asked for a
+commission to Turkey to form a barrier against the encroachments of
+Russia and England, but it was not granted. No answer was returned to
+his memorial, over which he conversed for some weeks with great
+enthusiasm. "How strange it would be," he said to his friends, "if a
+little Corsican should become king of Jerusalem." Already he was
+contemplating greatness, and firmly believed in his "Star of Destiny."
+
+At length he was nominated to the command of a brigade of artillery in
+Holland. The long-deferred appointment was, no doubt, very welcome; but
+in the meantime his services were called for in a more important field.
+When the National Guard sided with the enemies of the Convention, and
+took up arms against the Government, a man of force and decision was
+needed to defend them from the insurgents. A collision had taken place
+on October 3rd, 1795, when the troops of the Convention were withdrawn
+by that body. The insurgents, who represented the forty-eight sections
+of Paris, were prepared to attack the Palace of the Tuileries next
+morning with upwards of 40,000 men, and take the Government in their own
+hands. The nation, and especially the superior classes, aided by the
+Royalists, were indignant at the conduct of the members of the
+Convention,--who schemed to perpetuate themselves in office,--and formed
+a most formidable opposition to the measures of the existing Government.
+
+General Bonaparte was at the theatre when informed of the events that
+were passing. He at once hastened to the Assembly where he found the
+members in the heat of debate and greatly exercised over their
+approaching danger.
+
+Deliberating with Tallien and Carnot, Barras, who had been present at
+Toulon during the siege, said: "There is but one man who can save us. I
+have the man whom you want; _it is a little Corsican officer who will
+not stand upon_ _ceremony!_" Napoleon was sent for and notified that he
+had been chosen to defend the Government as second in command under
+Barras. Unknown to the Assembly, he had been present at their meeting,
+and heard all that had been said of him. He deliberated on the best
+course to pursue for more than half an hour, and at last decided to take
+up their cause, if allowed to do so in his own way. When Barras
+presented Napoleon to the Convention as a fit man to be intrusted with
+the command, the President asked:
+
+"Are you willing to undertake the defense of the Convention?"
+
+"Yes," was the reply.
+
+"Are you aware of the magnitude of the undertaking?"
+
+"Perfectly; and I am in the habit of accomplishing that which I
+undertake. I accept, but I warn you that, once my sword is out of the
+scabbard, I shall not replace it until I have established order."
+
+He refused, however, to accept the appointment unless he received it
+free from all interference. The trembling Convention quickly yielded,
+and although Barras enjoyed the title of "Commander-in-chief," Bonaparte
+was actually in control of the troops.
+
+Upon consultation with Menou, who was then in prison, and whom he
+succeeded, Napoleon quickly obtained the information desired. He learned
+that the available defense consisted of but 5,000 soldiers of all
+descriptions, with 40 pieces of cannon then at Sablons and guarded by
+only one hundred and fifty men. Without the loss of a moment Napoleon
+began his preparations for the morrow which was to decide whether the
+mob was to triumph, and France lose all the fruits of her Revolution, or
+law and order be established. His first act was to dispatch Murat, then
+a major of chasseurs, to Sablons, five miles off, where the cannon were
+posted. The Sectionaries sent a stronger detachment to seize these
+cannon immediately afterwards; and Murat, who passed them in the dark,
+would have gone in vain had he received his orders but a few moments
+later, or had he been less active.
+
+When the reveille sounded on the morning of October 4th, over 32,000
+National Guards advanced by different streets to the siege of the
+palace; but its defense was in firmer hands than those of Louis
+XVI.--the hero of Toulon was now at the helm.
+
+At the Church St. Roche the column which was advancing along the Rue St.
+Honoré, found a detachment of Napoleon's troops drawn up in line with
+two cannon to dispute their passage. It is unknown which side began the
+firing, but in an instant Napoleon's artillery swept the streets and
+lanes, scattering grape-shot among the National Guards, and producing
+such confusion that they were soon compelled to give way. The first shot
+was a signal for opening all the batteries which Bonaparte had
+established, the quays of the Seine opposite the Tuileries being
+commanded by his guns below the palace and on the bridges.
+
+In less than an hour the action was over. The insurgents fled in all
+directions, leaving the streets covered with the dead and wounded. The
+troops of the Convention then marched into the various Sections,
+disarmed the terrified inhabitants, and before nightfall everything was
+quiet. The sun went down as calmly over the helpless city as though
+nothing had happened. That same evening the theatres were opened and
+illuminated, and there were general rejoicings on almost every hand.
+
+Napoleon's star rose that night above the horizon; all Paris rushed to
+catch a glimpse of the young commander, and for many years afterwards
+France continued to look to him for protection,--and not in vain.
+
+On the night of the 13th Vendemiaire Napoleon wrote to his brother
+Joseph, saying: "At last all is finished and I hasten to send you news
+of myself. The Royalists, formed into Sections, were becoming daily more
+threatening. The Convention gave orders for the disarmament of the
+Lepelletier Section which resisted the troops. Menou, who commanded,
+was, it is said, a traitor, and was immediately disgraced. The
+Convention appointed Barras to command the armed forces; the committee
+named me to command them under him. We placed our troops; the enemy came
+to attack us at the Tuileries. We killed many of them, and lost thirty
+killed and sixty wounded of our men. We have disarmed the Sections, and
+all is peace again. As usual I am unhurt. P.S. Fortune is on my side.
+Love to Eugenie and Julie."
+
+Within five days from the defeat of the Sections Napoleon was named
+second in command of the Army of the Interior, and shortly afterwards
+Barras, finding his duties as director sufficient to occupy his time,
+gave up the command to his "little Corsican officer."
+
+After his inauguration as general of the armed force of Paris, Bonaparte
+waited on each of the five directors. While on a visit to Carnot a
+celebrated writer was there by invitation,--it being presentation
+day,--and as the young commander entered, was singing at the piano forte
+accompanied by a young lady. The entrance of Napoleon, then a short,
+well-made, olive-complexioned youth, amidst five or six tall young men
+who seemed to pay him the greatest attention, was a very surprising
+contrast, and made something of a stir.
+
+On Bonaparte's entrance Carnot bowed with an air of perfect ease and
+self-possession, and as he passed by the author the latter inquired of
+the host who the gentlemen were.
+
+The director answered: "The general of the armed force of Paris and his
+aides-de-camp."
+
+"What is his name?" said the author.
+
+"Bonaparte."
+
+"Has he any military skill?"
+
+"So it is said."
+
+"What has he ever done to render himself conspicuous?"
+
+"He is the officer who commanded the troops of the Convention on the
+Thirteenth Vendemiaire." (Day of the defeat of the Sections).
+
+A shade passed over the visage of the inquirer, who happened to be one
+of the electors of the Vendemiaire, and he retired to one of the dark
+corners to observe the new visitor in thoughtfulness and in silence.
+Carnot then took occasion to predict that the young general would soon
+take another step to fame and glory.
+
+It was about this time that a lady asked Napoleon: "How could you fire
+thus mercilessly upon your countrymen?"
+
+"A soldier," he replied calmly, "is only a machine to obey orders!"
+
+A few years before, while at a party given in the drawing rooms of M.
+Neckar, a celebrated financier, the Bishop of Autun commended Fox and
+Sheridan for having asserted that the French army, by refusing to obey
+the orders of their superiors to fire upon the populace, had set a
+glorious example to all the armies of Europe; because, by so doing, they
+had shown themselves that men, by becoming soldiers, did not cease to be
+citizens.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by H. Vernet
+
+BONAPARTE AT THE BRIDGE OF ARCOLA]
+
+"Excuse me, if I venture to interrupt you;" said Napoleon quickly, "but
+as I am an officer, I must claim the privilege of expressing my
+sentiments. I sincerely believe that a strict discipline in the army is
+absolutely necessary for the safety of our constitutional government and
+for the maintenance of order. Nay, if our troops are not compelled
+unhesitatingly to obey the commands of the executive, we shall be
+exposed to the blind fury of democratic passions which will render
+France the most miserable country on the globe!"
+
+The action of the Assembly in placing Napoleon in command of the troops
+in Paris had caused his name to appear frequently in the newspapers, and
+thenceforth it emerged from obscurity. As commander his first act was to
+intercede for and gain the acquittal of Menou, his predecessor, who was
+then in prison, principally because of his failure to put down the
+rioters.
+
+Bonaparte now began to hold military levees, at one of which an incident
+occurred which gave at once a new turn in his mode of life, and a fresh
+impetus to the advance of his fortunes. A beautiful boy about twelve
+years old appeared before Napoleon and said: "My name is Eugene
+Beauharnais. My father, Viscount, and a General of the Republican
+armies, has died on the guillotine, and I am come to pray you, sir, to
+give me his sword." Bonaparte caused the request to be complied with,
+and the tears of the boy, as he received and kissed the relic, excited
+the commander's interest. The next day the youth's mother, Josephine
+Beauharnais, came to thank Napoleon for his kind treatment of her son,
+and her beauty and singular gracefulness of address made a strong
+impression upon him. Some time later he offered Josephine his hand; she,
+after some hesitation, accepted it, and the young general by his
+marriage, which was celebrated on March 5th, 1796, thus cemented his
+favorable connection with the society of the Luxembourg, and in
+particular, with Tallien and Barras, at that time the most powerful men
+in France.
+
+The first meeting with Eugene, and its influence upon Napoleon's
+marriage with Josephine, has been sometimes questioned by historians,
+many of whom have seemingly neglected the Exile's own verification of
+the story at St. Helena, in which, after relating the incident of
+Josephine's visit, he said to Dr. O'Meara: "I was much struck with her
+appearance (Josephine's), and still more with her _esprit_. This first
+impression was daily strengthened, and marriage was not long in
+following."
+
+Tranquility was now restored in Paris, and the Directors had leisure to
+turn their attention to the affairs of the Army of Italy, which was then
+in a most confused and unsatisfactory condition. They determined to
+place it under it a new general, and Bonaparte, then but twenty-six
+years of age, was appointed to the command of the Army of Italy. It is
+said that when the command was given Napoleon by Carnot (grandfather of
+the late Sadi-Carnot, president of the present French Republic), the
+latter told him it was to the command of men alone that he could be
+appointed, the troops being destitute of everything but arms. Bonaparte
+replied, that provided he would let him have men enough, that it was all
+he wanted; he would answer for the rest, a promise that was soon
+fulfilled, for instead of an army wanting everything, it became, at the
+enemy's expense, one of the best appointed in Europe.
+
+It was afterwards a matter of dispute between Carnot and Barras as to
+which of them had first proposed his appointment to this command. It is
+admitted in one of Josephine's letters that Barras had promised to
+procure the position for Bonaparte before his marriage took place.
+
+One of the Directors hesitated and said to Napoleon, "You are too
+young."
+
+"In a year," he answered, "I shall be either old or dead!"
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+BONAPARTE'S CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1796-7
+
+
+When Napoleon set out from Paris on the 21st of March 1796, to take
+command of the Army of Italy, after a honeymoon of but three days, he
+traversed France with the swiftness of a courier, turning aside but a
+few hours at Marseilles with his mother and family, whom he was now able
+to provide for in an adequate manner. His letters to Josephine were full
+of passionate expressions of tenderness, and regret at their separation.
+But after paying his tribute to the affections, his heart was speedily
+filled with exultation and triumph. For the first time he was chief in
+command; the power within him was now free to direct his actions,
+unhampered by the restraint he had so long felt in the capital. He was
+extremely anxious to commence the career to which Fate called him, by
+placing himself at the head of the Army of Italy at once.
+
+It would not be difficult to imagine with what delight this young
+general--then scarcely twenty-six years old--advanced to an independent
+field of glory and conquest, confident in his own powers, and in the
+perfect knowledge of the country which he had previously acquired. He
+had under his command such men, already distinguished in war by success
+and bravery as: Augereau, Massena, Serrurier, Joubert, Lannes, Murat, La
+Harpe, Stengel and Kilmaine, all of whom were astonished at the youthful
+appearance of their new commander.
+
+It was not without some discontent that the old generals beheld a young
+man, lately their inferior, taking the command over their heads,--to
+which each supposed he had a prior claim, and reaping the benefits of a
+plan of operations they did not imagine to have originated with himself.
+As he rode along the ranks the soldiers observed that he did not sit
+well on horseback, and complained that a "mere boy" had been sent to
+command them. The young general, however, soon obtained that respect for
+his character, which had been denied to his physical constitution. The
+firmness he exhibited, soon put a stop to the insubordination which had
+prevailed in the army; and, even before they had conquered under him,
+the troops became as submissive as at any subsequent period, when his
+character was fully established.
+
+Some years before, when Bonaparte was conversing at Toulon with M. de
+Volney, the well-known Corsican traveler and literary man, at a dinner
+given to the two friends by Turreau, then in command of the military
+force at Nice, a campaign in Italy was suggested. After the dessert was
+brought in Napoleon said to Turreau: "Don't you think it's altogether
+too bad to have 10,000 men lying idle here at Nice when the Republic
+could make such excellent use of them in Italy?"
+
+"Possibly," replied Turreau, "but we can do nothing; we have no order to
+move from the Committee of Public Safety."
+
+"Then," said Napoleon, "it is your duty to make the committee ashamed of
+its inactivity."
+
+"What would you do if you could act as you pleased?" asked Turreau.
+Napoleon promised to give a reply the next evening. At the time fixed he
+came prepared with a complete plan of campaign written out and
+classified under seventeen heads. It involved the invasion and conquest
+of Italy on almost the same lines that he was now about to undertake,
+and the outgrowth partially of that meeting, for Turreau forwarded the
+plan to the Committee of Public Safety at Paris on condition that it be
+put in the hands of Carnot, in whose judgment Napoleon had confidence.
+Carnot looked over the plan and was delighted. He was unable to secure
+immediate action, but two years later, when the invasion of Italy was
+determined upon, he had sufficient influence to see that Napoleon was
+put in charge of it.
+
+Bonaparte arrived at the headquarters of the army at Nice on the 27th of
+March, 1796. The French Army of Italy, which amounted to 31,000
+available men, had endured great hardships and privations, were
+destitute of shoes, clothing, and almost everything which their comfort
+demanded. The cavalry was wretchedly mounted and they were very
+deficient in artillery. To silence their complaints, and reconcile them
+to their situation, as well as to endear them to himself, Napoleon lived
+familiarly with his soldiers, participated in their hardships and
+privations, and redressed many of their grievances. "My brave fellows,"
+he said to them on one occasion, while endeavoring to revive their
+spirits; "although you suffer great privations, you have no reason to be
+dissatisfied; everything yields to power; if we are victorious, the
+provisions and the supplies of the enemy become ours; _if we are
+vanquished, we have already too much to lose_."
+
+The allies, Austrian and Sardinian, were a greatly superior force,
+numbering as they did 80,000 men, were well equipped with supplies, and
+occupied in their own, or a friendly country, all the heights and passes
+of the Alps. Berthier, then on Napoleon's staff as major-general, took
+great pleasure in showing as a curiosity in after years a general order
+by which three louis-d'or were granted as a great supply for an outfit
+to each general of division, and dated on the very day of the victory at
+Albinga.
+
+On the 8th of April Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "I found this army,
+not only destitute, but without discipline; their insubordination and
+discontent were such that the malcontents had formed a party for
+the Dauphin, and were singing songs opposed to the tenets of the
+Revolution. You may, however, rest assured that peace and order will be
+re-established; by the time you receive this letter, we shall have come
+to an engagement."
+
+It was under such circumstances that Bonaparte proposed forcing a
+passage to Italy and converting the richest territory of the enemy into
+the theatre of war. "Soldiers," said he to his destitute and
+disheartened men, "you are naked and ill-fed; the Republic owes you
+much, but she has nothing with which to pay her debts. Your endurance
+and patience amidst these barren rocks deserves admiration; but it
+brings you no glory. I come to lead you into the most fertile plains the
+sun shines upon. Rich provinces, and great cities will soon be in your
+power; there you will reap riches and glory--they will be at your
+disposal. Soldiers of Italy! with such a prospect before you, can you
+fail in courage and perseverance?"
+
+This was the commander's first address to the army, and the words of
+encouragement which he gave them shot martial enthusiasm through their
+veins like electric fire. Under the incompetent management of Scherer
+the army, which had obtained some success against the Austrian general,
+De Vins, had been without glory, although their battalions were headed
+by valiant officers whose leader had neglected to improve his good
+fortune. The French soldiers were thirsting for a commander capable of
+leading them on to fame and glory, the conquest of Italy, therefore,
+seemed reserved for General Bonaparte.
+
+Napoleon's system of tactics, although then unknown even to his
+officers, were a fixity with him. They appear to have been grounded on
+the principle that "the commander will be victorious who assembles the
+greatest number of forces upon the same point at the same moment,
+notwithstanding an inferiority of numbers to the enemy when the general
+force is computed on both sides." He eminently possessed the power of
+calculation and combination necessary to exercise these decisive
+manoeuvres.
+
+Napoleon's career of victory began, as it continued, in defiance of the
+established rules of warfare, and what distinguished him above all his
+contemporaries was his ability to convert the most unfavorable
+circumstances into the means of success. He perceived that the time was
+come for turning a new leaf in the history of war. With such numbers of
+troops as the impoverished Republic could afford him, he soon saw that
+no considerable advantages could be obtained against the vast and
+highly-disciplined armies of Austria and her allies unless the
+established rules of etiquette and strategy were abandoned. It was only
+by such rapidity of motion as should utterly surprise the superior
+numbers of his adversaries that he could hope to concentrate the entire
+energy of a small force, such as he commanded, upon some point of a much
+greater force, and thus defeat them. He knew he would have to deal with
+veteran soldiers and experienced generals--men who had learned the art
+of war before he was born. He therefore resolved that every movement
+should be made with celerity, and every blow be leveled where it was
+least expected.
+
+To effect such rapid marches as he had determined upon, it was necessary
+that the soldiery should make up their minds to consider tents and
+baggage as idle luxuries; and that instead of a long and complicated
+chain of reserves and stores, they should dare to rely wholly for the
+means of sustenance on the countries into which their venturesome leader
+might conduct them.
+
+The objects of Napoleon's expedition were to compel the king of
+Sardinia, who maintained a powerful army in the field, to abandon the
+alliance of Austria; to compel Austria to concentrate her forces in her
+Italian provinces, thus obliging her to withdraw them from the bank of
+the Rhine where they had long hovered. It was hoped, also, to humble the
+power of the Vatican and break the prestige of its Jesuitical diplomacy
+forever. He had as yet achieved no fame in the field and not a general
+in Europe would have blamed him if he had only succeeded in holding the
+territory of Nice and Savoy, which France had already won.
+
+Napoleon's plan of reaching the fair regions of Italy differed from that
+of all former conquerors; they had uniformly penetrated the Alps at some
+point of access in that mighty range of mountains; he judged that the
+same end might be accomplished more easily by advancing along the narrow
+strip of comparatively level country that intervenes between those
+enormous barriers and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and forcing a
+passage at the point where the last or southern extremity of the Alps
+melt, as it were, into the first and lowest of the Appenine range.
+
+No sooner did he begin to concentrate his troops towards this region
+than Beaulieu, the Austrian general, took measures for protecting
+Genoa and the entrance of Italy with a powerful, disciplined and
+well-appointed army. He posted himself with one column at Voltri, a town
+on the sea some ten miles west of Genoa; D'Argenteau, with another
+column occupied the heights of Montenotte, while the Sardinians, led by
+General Colli, formed the right of the line at Ceva. This disposition
+was made in compliance with the old system of tactics; but it was
+powerless before new strategy. The French could not advance towards
+Genoa but by confronting some one of the three armies and these Beaulieu
+supposed were too strongly posted to be dislodged.
+
+On the morning of the 12th of April, 1796, when D'Argenteau advanced
+from Montenotte to attack the column of Rampon, he found that by
+skillful manoeuvres during the night Napoleon had completely surrounded
+him--a man who had fancied there was nothing new to be done in warfare.
+
+On the previous day the Austrians had driven in all the outposts of the
+French and appeared before the redoubt of Montenotte. This redoubt, the
+last of the intrenchments, was defended by 1,500 men commanded by Rampon
+who made his soldiers take an oath, during the heat of the attack, to
+defend it or perish in the intrenchments, to the last man. The repeated
+assaults of the French were without avail, their advancement was checked
+and they were kept the whole night at the distance of a pistol shot, 400
+men being killed by the fire of their musketry alone.
+
+At daybreak, the following morning, Bonaparte then being at the head of
+the French forces, and having introduced two pieces of cannon into the
+redoubt during the night, the action was recommenced with great vigor
+and with varying success. The contest had continued for sometime, when
+Bonaparte, with Berthier and Massena appearing suddenly with the centre
+and left wing of the army upon the rear and flank of the enemy, at once
+commenced a furious attack, filled them with terror and confusion, and
+decided the fate of the day. D'Argenteau, who commanded the rear, had
+fought gallantly, but seeing that to continue the battle would only end
+in total destruction, he fled, leaving his colors and cannon, a thousand
+killed and two thousand prisoners.
+
+Thus was the centre of the great Austrian army completely routed before
+either its commander-in-chief at the left, or General Colli at the
+right, knew that a battle had begun. It was from this battle, the first
+of Napoleon's victories, that the French Emperor told the Emperor of
+Austria, some years later, that he dated his nobility. "Ancestors?" said
+Napoleon, "I, sir, am an ancestor myself; my title of nobility dates
+from Montenotte!"
+
+This victory enabled the French, under La Harpe, to advance to Cairo,
+and placed them on that side of the Alps which slopes toward Lombardy.
+
+Beaulieu now fell back on Dego, where he could open his communication
+with Colli, who had retreated to Millessimo, a small town about nine
+miles from Dego. Here the two commanders hoped to unite their forces.
+They were soon strongly posted, and dispatching couriers to Milan for
+reinforcements, intended to await their arrival before risking another
+battle. It was their object to keep fast in these positions until succor
+could come from Lombardy; but Napoleon had no intention of giving them
+such a respite; his tactics were not those of other generals.
+
+The morning after the victory of Montenotte Bonaparte dispatched
+Augereau to attack Millessimo; Massena to fall on Dego, and La Harpe to
+turn the flank of Beaulieu.
+
+Massena carried the heights of Biestro at the point of the bayonet,
+while La Harpe dislodged the Austrian general from his position, which
+separated him hopelessly from the Sardinian commander and put him to
+precipitate flight. By these movements Bonaparte was in such a position,
+that, though they had not traversed, his army had at all events scaled
+the Alps.
+
+Meanwhile Augereau had seized the outposts of Millessimo and cut off
+Provera, with 2,000 Austrians who occupied an eminence upon the mountain
+of Cossaria, from the main body of Colli's army. Provera took refuge in
+a ruined castle which he defended with great bravery, hoping to receive
+assistance from Colli.
+
+The next morning Napoleon, who had arrived in the night, forced Colli to
+battle and compelled him to retreat towards Ceva. Provera imitated the
+gallant example of Colonel Rampon in his defense, but not with the same
+success. He was compelled to surrender his sword to Bonaparte at
+discretion, after a loss of 10,000 in killed and prisoners, twenty-two
+cannon and fifteen standards. The French found on the summit of the Alps
+every species of ammunition and other necessities which the celerity of
+their march had prevented them from carrying.
+
+Dego, situated at the summit of the Alps, secured the entrance of the
+French into Italy, cut off the communications between the Austrian and
+Sardinian armies, and placed the conqueror in a situation to crush them
+in succession one after the other. Beaulieu, fully sensible of the
+danger of his situation, collected the best troops in his army, and at
+break of day on the 15th of April, retook Dego at the head of 7,000 men.
+
+The Austrians stood two attacks headed by Napoleon, but at the third
+Causse rushed forward, holding his plumed hat on the point of his sword,
+and Dego was soon again in possession of the French. For this piece of
+gallantry he immediately received the rank of brigadier-general. Here
+also, Lannes, who lived to be a marshal of the Empire, first attracted
+the notice of Napoleon, and was promoted from lieutenant-colonel to
+colonel. The triumph, however, was purchased with the life of the brave
+General Causse. He was carried out of the mêlée mortally wounded.
+Napoleon passed near him as he lay. "Is Dego retaken?" asked the dying
+officer. "It is ours," replied Napoleon. "Then long live the Republic!"
+cried Causse, "I die content."
+
+Hotly pursued by the victors, Colli rallied his fugitives at Mondovi,
+where they again yielded to the irrisistible onset of the French, the
+Sardinian commander leaving his best troops, baggage and cannon on the
+field. The action was a most severe one in which, among others, the
+French general, Stengel, a brave and excellent officer, was killed, and
+the cavalry would have been overpowered but for the desperate valor of
+Murat.
+
+The Sardinians lost ten stands of colors and fifteen hundred prisoners,
+among whom were three generals. The Sardinian army had now ceased to
+exist, and the Austrians were flying to the frontiers of Lombardy.
+
+Napoleon, following up his advantage, entered Cherasco, a strong place
+about ten miles from Turin, as a conqueror. Here he dictated the terms
+by which the Sardinian king could still wear a crown. From the castle
+where he stood, and looking off on the garden-fields of Lombardy--which
+had gladdened the eyes of so many conquerors--with the Alps behind him,
+glittering in their perennial snows, Napoleon said to his officers:
+"Hannibal forced the Alps--we have turned them." To his soldiers, whom
+he addressed in a proclamation, he said: "In fifteen days you have
+gained six victories, taken twenty-one stands of colors, fifty-five
+pieces of cannon, several fortresses, and conquered the richest part of
+Piedmont: you have made 15,000 prisoners, killed or wounded upwards of
+10,000 men. Hitherto you have fought for barren rocks, rendered famous
+by your valor, but useless to your country. Your services now equal
+those of the victorious army of Holland and the Rhine. You have provided
+yourselves with everything of which you were destitute. You have gained
+battles without cannon! passed rivers without bridges! made forced
+marches without shoes! bivouacked without strong liquors and often
+without bread! Republican phalanxes, Soldiers of Liberty, only, could
+have endured all this. Thanks for your perseverance! If your conquest of
+Toulon presaged the immortal campaign of 1793, your present victories
+presage a still nobler. But, soldiers, you have done nothing while so
+much remains to be done; neither Turin or Milan are yours. The ashes of
+the Conquerors of the Tarquins are still trampled by the assassins of
+Basseville."
+
+To the Italians Napoleon said: "People of Italy! The French army comes
+to break your chains. The people of France are the friends of all
+nations--confide in them. Your property, your religion and your customs
+shall be respected. We make war with those tyrants alone who enslave
+you."
+
+The French soldiers, flushed with victory, were eager to continue their
+march, and the people of Italy hailed Napoleon as their deliverer. The
+Sardinian king did not long survive the humiliation of the loss of his
+crown--he died of a broken heart within a few days after signing the
+treaty of Cherasco.
+
+In the meantime the couriers of Napoleon were almost every hour riding
+into Paris with the news of his victories, and five times in six days
+the Representatives of France had decreed that the Army of Italy
+deserved well of their country.
+
+Murat was sent to Paris bearing the news of the capitulation of the king
+of Sardinia, and twenty-one stands of colors. His arrival caused great
+joy in the capital.
+
+The consummate genius of this brief campaign could not be disputed, and
+the modest language of the young general's dispatches to the Directory
+lent additional grace to his fame. All the eyes of Europe were fixed in
+admiration on his career.
+
+In less than a month's campaign Napoleon laid the gates of Italy open
+before him; reduced the Austrians to inaction; utterly destroyed the
+Sardinian king's army, and took two great fortresses called "the keys to
+the Alps!"
+
+To effect the rapid movements required for such results, everything was
+sacrificed that came in the way, not only on this occasion, but on every
+other. Baggage, stragglers, the wounded, the artillery--all were left
+behind, rather than the column should fail to reach the destined place
+at the destined time. Napoleon made no allowance for accidents or
+impediments. Things until now reckoned essential to an army were
+dispensed with; and, for the first time, troops were seen to take the
+field without tents, camp equipage, magazines of provisions, and
+military hospitals. Such a system naturally aggravated the horrors of
+war. The soldiers were, necessarily, marauders, and committed terrible
+excesses at this first stage of the campaign; but every effort was made,
+and with much success, to prevent this evil after conquest had put the
+means of regular supply within the power of the commander-in-chief. The
+wounded were frequently left behind for want of the means of conveyance.
+According to one authority, the loss by the disorders inseparable from
+this means of war was four times as great as by the fire or the sword of
+the enemy.
+
+The army, nevertheless, adored its fortunate general, and it still doted
+upon him even when undeceived respecting his providence for it. "To be
+able to solve this enigma," says General Foy, "it was requisite to have
+known Napoleon, the life of camp and of glory, and, above all, one must
+have a French head and heart." With the sufferings of the army, he
+never failed to show an active sympathy when it did not tend to the
+compromise of his plans. The hours, too, spent by Napoleon on the field
+after a battle, endeared him to his followers. He visited the hospitals
+in person and made his officers, after his example, take the utmost
+interest in this duty. His hand was applied to the wounds; his voice
+cheered the sick. All who recovered could relate individual acts of
+kindness experienced from him by themselves or their comrades.
+
+It was at this period that a medal of Napoleon was struck at Paris as
+conqueror of Montenotte. The face is extremely thin, with long, straight
+hair. On the reverse, a figure of Victory is represented flying over the
+Alps, bearing a palm branch, a wreath of laurel and a drawn sword. It
+was the first of the splendid series designed by Denon to record the
+victories and honors of France's great warrior.
+
+Napoleon determined to advance without delay, giving Tuscany, Venice,
+and the other Italian States no time to take up a hostile attitude.
+After accomplishing so much, a general of less enterprise might have
+thought it right to rest awhile and wait for reinforcements before
+attempting further conquest, but not so with Napoleon. The French army,
+to which recruits were now flocking from every hospital and depot within
+reach, was ordered to prepare for instant motion.
+
+It was after one of the successful movements of this period that an old
+Hungarian officer was brought prisoner to Bonaparte, who entered into
+conversation with him, and among other matters asked what he thought of
+the state of the war. "Nothing," replied the prisoner, who did not
+know he was addressing the commander-in-chief, "nothing can be worse.
+Here is a young man who knows absolutely nothing of the regular rules of
+war; to-day he is in our rear, to-morrow on our flank, the next day
+again in our front. Such violations of the principles of the art of war
+are intolerable sir, and we do not know how to proceed!"
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by F. Philippoteaux
+
+BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF RIVOLI]
+
+To secure the route to Milan it was necessary to drive the Austrians
+from the banks of the Adda, behind which they had retired after a heavy
+loss at Fombio. Lannes upon that occasion gave proofs of his astonishing
+intrepidity; at the head of a single battalion, he attacked between
+seven and eight thousand Austrians, and not content in causing their
+flight, he pursued them ten miles, following the trot of their cavalry
+on foot.
+
+Having collected an immense quantity of artillery and the main division
+of his army at a narrow wooden bridge erected across this stream at the
+town of Lodi, General Beaulieu awaited the arrival of the French,
+confident of defending the passage of the Adda and arresting their
+progress. Beaulieu had placed a battery of thirty cannon so as to
+completely sweep every plank of the bridge. Had he removed the
+structure, which was about 500 feet in length, when he changed his
+headquarters to the east bank of the river, he might have made the
+passage much more formidable than even his cannon made it.
+
+Well aware that his conquest would never be consolidated till the
+Austrian army was totally vanquished, and deprived of all its Italian
+possessions, Bonaparte hastened to pursue the enemy to Lodi. Coming up
+on the 10th of May, he easily drove the rear-guard of the Austrian army
+before him into the town, but found his further progress threatened by
+the tremendous fire of thirty cannon stationed at the opposite end of
+the bridge so as to sweep it completely. The whole body of the enemy's
+infantry drawn up in a dense line, supported this appalling disposition
+of the artillery.
+
+Bonaparte's first care was to place as many guns as he could get in
+direct opposition to the Austrian battery. He was determined that no
+obstacle should oppose his victorious career, and at once resolved to
+pass the bridge.
+
+Exposed to a shower of grape-shot from the enemy's batteries, Napoleon
+at last succeeded in planting two pieces of cannon at the head of the
+bridge on the French side, and to prevent the enemy from destroying it a
+column was immediately formed from the troops that at once appeared,
+determined to carry the pass. The French now commenced a fearful
+cannonading. Bonaparte himself appeared in the midst of the fire,
+pointing with his own hand two guns in such a manner as to cut off the
+Austrians from the only path by which they could have advanced to
+undermine the bridge.
+
+Observing, meanwhile, that Beaulieu had removed his infantry to a
+considerable distance backwards, to keep them out of the range of the
+French battery, Napoleon instantly detached General Beaumont and his
+cavalry, with orders to gallop out of sight, ford the river, and coming
+suddenly upon the enemy, attack them in the rear. When that took place
+Napoleon instantly drew up a body of 3,000 grenadiers in close column
+under the shelter of the houses, and bade them prepare for the desperate
+attempt of forcing a passage across the narrow bridge, in the face of
+the enemy's thickly-planted artillery.
+
+A sudden movement in the flanks of the enemy now convinced Napoleon that
+his cavalry had arrived and charged the enemy's flank, and he instantly
+gave the word. In a moment the brave grenadiers wheeled to the left and
+were at once upon the bridge, rushing forward at a charge step, and
+shouting: "Vive la République!"; but the storm of grape-shot from the
+enemy's guns checked them for a moment. It was a very sepulchre of death
+and a burning furnace of destruction pouring out its broadsides of fire
+in defense of its position; a hundred brave men fell dead. The advancing
+column faltered under the redoubled roar of the guns and the rattle of
+grape-shot.
+
+Lannes, Napoleon, Berthier and L'Allemand now hurried to the front,
+rallied and cheered the men, and as the column dashed across and over
+the dead bodies of the slain which covered the passageway, and in the
+face of a tempest of fire that thinned their ranks at every step, the
+leaders shouted: "Follow your generals, my brave fellows!"
+
+Lannes was the first to reach the other side, Napoleon himself being
+second.
+
+The Austrian artillerymen were bayoneted at their guns before the other
+troops, whom Beaulieu had removed too far back in his anxiety to avoid
+the French battery, could come to their assistance. Beaumont pressing
+gallantly with his horse upon the flank, and Napoleon's infantry forming
+rapidly as they passed the bridge, and charging on the instant, the
+Austrian line at once became involved in inextricable confusion. The
+contest was almost instantly decided; the whole line of Austrian
+artillery was carried; their order of battle broken; their troops routed
+and put to flight.
+
+The slaughter of Austrians amounted to vast numbers, while the French
+lost but 200 men. Thus did Bonaparte execute with such rapidity and
+consequently with so little loss "the terrible passage," as he himself
+called it, "of the bridge of Lodi." It is justly called one of the most
+daring achievements on record.
+
+The victory of Lodi had a great influence on Napoleon's mind. He
+declared subsequently that neither his success in quelling the
+"Sections," nor his victory at Montenotte, made him regard himself as
+anything superior; but that after Lodi, for the first time the idea
+dawned upon him that he would one day be "a decisive actor," as he
+himself put it, on the stage of the military and political world. That
+he was a fatalist is well-known, it being a frequent expression with him
+that "every bullet is marked."
+
+On this occasion the soldiers conferred on him the nick-name of "Little
+Corporal." The original cause of the appellation, as applied to
+Bonaparte, has been related by Napoleon himself. He says that when he
+commanded near the Col di Tende the army was obliged to traverse a
+narrow bridge, on which occasion he gave directions that no women should
+be allowed to accompany it, as the service was particularly difficult,
+and required that the troops should be continually on the alert; to
+enforce such an order he placed two captains on the bridge with
+instructions, on pain of death, not to permit a woman to pass. He
+subsequently repaired to the bridge himself, for the purpose of
+ascertaining whether his orders were being scrupulously obeyed, when he
+found a crowd of women assembled, who, as soon as they saw him, began to
+revile him, exclaiming: "Oh, then, _petit corporal_, it is you who have
+given orders not to let us pass!"
+
+Some miles in advance Napoleon was surprised to see a considerable
+number of women with the troops. He immediately ordered the two captains
+to be put under arrest and brought before him, intending to have them
+tried immediately. They protested their innocence, asserting that no
+women had crossed the bridge. Bonaparte caused some of the females to be
+brought before him, and learned with astonishment, from their own
+confession, that they had emptied some casks of provisions and concealed
+themselves therein, by which means they had passed over unperceived.
+
+After every battle the oldest soldiers convened a council in order to
+confer a new rank on their young general, who, on making his appearance,
+was saluted by his latest title. Bonaparte, therefore, was nominated
+_corporal_ at Lodi, and _sergeant_ at Castiglione. It was "Little
+Corporal," however, that the soldiery constantly applied to him ever
+afterwards.
+
+The fruits of this splendid victory at Lodi were twenty pieces of
+cannon, and between two and three thousand killed, wounded and
+prisoners, and the loss by the enemy of an excellent line of defense.
+
+When Europe heard of the battle they named the conqueror "The Hero of
+Lodi."
+
+Beaulieu contrived to withdraw a part of his troops, and gathering the
+scattered fragment of his force together, soon threw the line of the
+Mincio, a tributary of the Po, between himself and his enemy. The great
+object, however, he had attained,--he was still free to defend Mantua.
+
+The French following up their advantages at Lodi, pursued the Austrians
+with great celerity. They advanced to Pizzighitone, which immediately
+surrendered. Pushing on to Cremona they met with like success, and the
+vanguard, having taken the route to Milan, entered this city on the 14th
+of May, having on their march received the submission of Pavia, where
+they found most of the magazines of the Austrian army. The tri-colored
+flag now waved in triumph from the extremity of the Lake of Como and the
+frontiers of the country to the gates of Parma.
+
+The Austrians having evacuated Milan, when the French prepared to enter
+it, a deputation of the inhabitants laid the keys of its gates at their
+feet. A few days later, although the archduke had fled from his capital,
+overwhelmed with sorrow and mortification, the people collected in vast
+multitudes to witness the entry of the French, whom they hailed as their
+deliverers. The imperial arms were taken down from the public buildings
+and at the ducal palace this humorous advertisement was posted up:
+
+        "A HOUSE TO RENT.
+
+          Inquire for the keys at
+
+                CITIZEN SALICETTI'S,
+                  The French Commissioner."
+
+The entry of Bonaparte into Milan under a triumphal arch and surrounded
+by the grenadiers of Lodi, among whom some generals were conspicuous,
+was eminently brilliant. The splendid carriages of the nobility and
+aristocracy of the capital went out to meet and salute him as the
+"Deliverer of Italy," and returned in an immense cavalcade, amidst the
+shouts and acclamations of an innumerable multitude, and accompanied by
+several bands playing patriotic marches, the procession stopping at the
+palace of the archduke, where Bonaparte was to take up his headquarters.
+The ceremonies of the day were concluded by a splendid ball at which the
+ladies showed their Republican feeling by wearing the French national
+colors in every part of their dress. On the same day Bonaparte entered
+Milan the treaty with the king of Sardinia and the Directory was signed
+at Paris.
+
+Napoleon now addressed himself again to his soldiers, reminding them of
+their victories and responsibilities yet to come. "To you, soldiers," he
+said, "will belong the immortal honor of redeeming the fairest portion
+of Europe. The French people, free and respected by the whole world,
+shall give to Europe a glorious peace, which shall indemnify it for all
+the sacrifices it has borne the last six years. Then by your own
+firesides you shall repose, and your fellow-citizens, when they point
+out any one of you, shall say: 'HE BELONGED TO THE ARMY OF ITALY!'"
+
+From that period the Army of Italy was no longer a tax upon France, but
+on the contrary was a great source of revenue to her, and assisted in
+paying her other armies. Six weeks after the opening of the campaign,
+independent of ten million of francs placed at the disposal of the
+Directory, Bonaparte sent upwards of two hundred thousand francs to the
+Army of the Alps, and a million to the Army of the Rhine, thereby paving
+the way to his future greatness.
+
+Bonaparte remained but six days in Milan; he then proceeded to pursue
+Beaulieu, who had planted the remains of his army behind the Mincio. The
+Austrian general had placed his left on the great and strong city of
+Mantua, which had been termed "the citadel of Italy," and his right at
+Peschiera, a well-known Venetian fortress. The Austrian veteran occupied
+one of the strongest positions that it is possible to imagine, and
+Bonaparte hastened once more to dislodge him.
+
+The French Directory, meanwhile, had begun to entertain suspicion as to
+the ultimate designs of their young general, whose success and rising
+fame had already reached so astonishing a height. That they were
+exceedingly jealous of him there seems to be no doubt, and they
+determined to check, if they could, the career of a man of whom they
+seemed to be in fear. Bonaparte was therefore ordered to take half his
+army and lead it against the pope and the king of Naples, and leave the
+other half to terminate the conquest with Beaulieu at Mantua, under the
+orders of Kellerman. He answered by offering to resign his command. "One
+half of the Army of Italy cannot suffice to finish the matter with the
+Austrians," said he. "It is only by keeping my force entire that I have
+been able to gain so many battles and to be now in Milan. You had better
+have one bad general than two good ones!"
+
+The Directory did not dare to persist in displacing the chief whose name
+was considered as the pledge of victory, and he continued to assume the
+entire command of the Army of Italy.
+
+Another unlooked-for occurrence delayed for a few days the march upon
+Mantua. The success of the French and their exactions where victorious,
+had fostered the ire of a portion of the populace throughout Lombardy.
+Reports of new Austrian levies being poured down the passes of Tyrol
+were spread and believed. Insurrections against the conqueror now took
+place in various districts, placing thirty thousand men in arms. At
+Pavia the insurgents were entirely triumphant; they seized the town and
+compelled the French garrison to surrender. This flame, had it been
+suffered to spread, threatened immeasurable evil to the French cause.
+
+Lannes instantly marched to Binasco, stormed the place, burnt it and put
+many of the insurgents to the sword. Napoleon appeared before Pavia,
+blew the gates open, took possession and later caused the leaders to be
+executed. At Lugo, where another insurrection took place, the leaders
+were tried by court martial and condemned.
+
+These examples quelled the insurrectionists, and the French advanced on
+the Mincio. Bonaparte made such disposition of his troops that Beaulieu
+believed he meant to cross that river, if he could, at Peschiera.
+Meanwhile the French had been preparing to cross at another point, and
+on the 30th of May actually forced the passage of the Mincio, not at
+Peschiera, but further down at Borghetto. The Austrian garrison at this
+point in vain destroyed one arch of the bridge. Bonaparte quickly
+supplied the breach with planks, and his men, flushed with so many
+victories, charged with a fury not to be resisted. While the French were
+laboring to repair the bridge, under the fire of the enemy's batteries,
+impatient of delay, fifty grenadiers threw themselves into the river,
+holding their muskets over their heads with the water up to their chins,
+General Gardanne, a grenadier in courage as well as in stature, being at
+their head. The Austrians who were nearest, recollecting the terrible
+column at Lodi, fled. When the bridge was repaired the French entered
+Vallegio, where Beaulieu's headquarters had been stationed a short time
+previous. The latter was obliged to abandon the Mincio as he had the
+Adda and the Po, and to take up the new line of the Adige.
+
+The left line of the Austrian force, learning from the cannonade that
+the French were at Borghetto, hastened to ascend the Mincio with a view
+of assisting in the defense of the division engaged with the enemy. They
+arrived too late, however, to be of assistance, as the commander at
+Borghetto had retreated before they arrived. They came, however,
+unexpectedly, and at a moment when Bonaparte and a few friends,
+believing the work of the day to be over and the village safe from the
+enemy, were about to sit down to dinner, as they thought, in security.
+Sebetendorff, who commanded the division, came up rapidly into the
+village, but with no idea what a prize was within his grasp. Bonaparte's
+attendants had barely time to shut the gates of the inn, and alarm their
+chief by the cry, "To arms!" They defended the house with obstinate
+courage while Bonaparte threw himself on horseback and galloping out by
+a back passage, effected the narrowest of escapes, proceeding at full
+speed to join Massena's forces.
+
+It was shortly after this that Bonaparte met with an experience that
+gave him the idea of the "Imperial Guard of Napoleon" and which
+throughout his military career he ever afterwards maintained as a
+personal guard. It was the duty of this body, consisting of veterans who
+should number at least ten years of active service, to remain always
+near the person of the commander-in-chief, and who were only brought
+into action when important movements or desperate emergencies required
+their utmost energies. They were placed under the command of Bessieres
+at this time, and were known as "Le Corps de Guides."
+
+During the same campaign Bonaparte again narrowly escaped being taken a
+prisoner. Wurmser, who had been compelled to throw himself into Mantua,
+having suddenly debouched on an open plain, learned from an old woman
+that not many minutes before the French general, with only a few
+followers, had stopped at her door and fled at the sight of the
+Austrians. Wurmser immediately dispatched parties of cavalry in all
+directions to whom he gave orders that if they came up with Napoleon he
+should not be killed or harmed; fortunately, however, for the French
+commander, destiny and the swiftness of his horse saved him.
+
+In their different engagements, the grenadiers had learned to laugh and
+sport at death; they despised the Austrian cavalry and nothing could
+equal their intrepidity but the gaiety with which they performed their
+forced marches, singing alternately songs in praise of their country and
+of love. Instead of sleeping they amused themselves during most of the
+night, each telling a tale, or forming his own plans of operation for
+the following day.
+
+Sebetendorff was soon assaulted by a French column and retreated, after
+Beaulieu's example, on the line of the Adige. The Austrian commander
+had, in effect, abandoned for a time the open country of Italy. He now
+lay on the frontier, between the vast tract of rich province, which
+Napoleon had conquered, and the Tyrol. Mantua, which possessed immense
+natural advantages, and into which the retreating general had flung a
+garrison of full fourteen thousand men, was, in truth, the last and only
+Italian possession of the imperial crown, which, as it seemed, there
+might be a possibility of saving.
+
+Beaulieu anxiously awaited the approach of new troops from Germany, to
+attempt the relief of this great city; and Bonaparte, eager to
+anticipate the efforts of the imperial government, sat down immediately
+before it.
+
+Mantua lies on an island, being cut off on all sides from the main land
+by the branches of the Mincio, and approachable only by five narrow
+causeways of which three were now defended by strong and regular
+fortresses or intrenched camps; the other two by gates, drawbridge and
+batteries. The garrison was prepared to maintain the position, was
+well-nigh impregnable and the occupants awaited the hour to discover
+whether Napoleon possessed any new system of attack capable of
+shortening the usual operations of a siege as effectually as he had
+already done by the march and the battle.
+
+It was a matter of high importance that Napoleon should reduce this
+place quickly, for a large army under Field-Marshal Wurmser, one of the
+most able and experienced of the Austrian generals, was about to enter
+Italy. His commencement gave cause for much alarm to those within the
+fortress. Of the five causeways, by sudden and overwhelming assaults, he
+obtained four; the garrison was cut off from the main land except at the
+fifth causeway, the strongest of them all, named from a palace near it,
+"La Favorita." It seemed necessary, however, in order that this blockade
+might be complete, that the Venetian territory, lying immediately behind
+Mantua, should be occupied by the French, and the claim of neutrality
+was not allowed to interfere with Napoleon's plans.
+
+"You are too weak," said Bonaparte, when a Venetian envoy reached his
+headquarters, "to enforce neutrality on hostile nations such as France
+and Austria. Beaulieu did not respect your territory when his interest
+bade him violate it; nor shall I hesitate to occupy whatever falls
+within the line of the Adige."
+
+Garrisons were placed forthwith in Verona and all the strong places of
+that domain. Napoleon now returned to Milan to transact important
+business, leaving Serrurier and Vaubois to blockade Mantua.
+
+The king of Naples, utterly confounded by the success of the French, was
+now anxious to secure peace on whatever terms proposed, and Bonaparte,
+knowing that it would result in a withdrawal of some valuable divisions
+from the army of Beaulieu, arranged an armistice which was soon followed
+by a formal peace, and the Neapolitan troops, abandoning the Austrian
+general, began their march to the south of Italy. This was followed by
+peace arrangements with the Pope of whom Napoleon demanded, and
+obtained, as a price of the brief respite from invasion, a million
+sterling, one hundred of the finest pictures and statues in the papal
+gallery, a large supply of military stores and the cession of Ancona,
+Ferrara and Bologna, with their respective domains. The siege of the
+citadel of Milan, rigorously pressed, was at length successful. The
+garrison capitulated on the 29th of June, and by the 18th of July, one
+hundred and forty pieces of cannon were before Mantua.
+
+The French general had stripped Austria of all her Italian possessions
+except Mantua, and the tri-color was waving from the Tyrol to the
+Mediterranean. Napoleon was now, in effect, master of Italy. Future
+success seemed to him to be assured, although the French Directory was
+with difficulty persuaded to let him follow the course he had adopted
+for himself.
+
+The cabinet of Vienna at last resolved upon sending stronger
+reinforcements to the Italian frontier, and Bonaparte was now recalled
+from Milan to the seat of war to defend himself against them. What the
+Austrian court now feared was that Napoleon, who had already annihilated
+her Italian army, and had wrested from her the Italian domains, would
+soon march into the heart of her Empire and dictate a peace under the
+walls of her capital. All Italy was now subdued or in alliance with the
+French Republic except Mantua.
+
+Beaulieu, who had been so thoroughly routed by Napoleon, was to be no
+longer trusted. Finding himself incompetent to withstand a general
+"whose mistress was glory and whose companion was Plutarch" while
+traversing the Tyrol with the wrecks of his army, forwarded a letter to
+Vienna which fully displayed the irritated feelings of the veteran
+commander at this time. He said: "I hereby make known to you that I have
+only 20,000 men remaining, while the enemy's forces exceed 60,000. I
+further apprise you, that it is my intention to retreat to-morrow,--the
+next day--the day following--nay, every day,--even to Siberia, should
+they pursue me so far. My age accords me liberty to be thus explicit.
+Hasten to ratify peace, be the conditions what they may!" Wurmser, whose
+reputation was of the best, and who was older than Beaulieu but not less
+obstinate, was sent to replace him, and 30,000 men were drafted from the
+armies on the Rhine charged with restoring the fortunes of Austria
+beyond the Alps. Wurmser's orders, too, were to strengthen himself, on
+his march, by whatever recruits he could raise among the warlike and
+loyal population of the Tyrol.
+
+When he fixed his headquarters at Trent, Wurmser mustered in all 80,000
+men, while Napoleon had but 30,000--not 60,000 as Beaulieu had
+stated--to hold a wide country in which abhorrence of the French cause
+was now prevalent, to keep the blockade of Mantua, and to oppose this
+fearful odds of numbers in the field. The French commander was now,
+moreover, to act on the defensive, while his adversary assumed the more
+inspiriting character of the invader.
+
+Wurmser was unwise enough to divide his magnificent army into three
+separate columns, which, united, Napoleon never could have met; but each
+of which was soon successively broken and captured. Melas with the left
+wing was to march down the Adige and expel the French from Verona;
+Quasdonowich with the right wing followed the valley of the Chiese
+towards Brescia, to cut off Napoleon's retreat on Milan; Wurmser himself
+led the centre down the left shore of Lake Guarda towards the besieged
+castle of Mantua.
+
+The eye of Napoleon, who had hitherto been watching with the intensity
+of an eagle's gaze all the movements of his antagonist, now saw the
+division of Quasdonowich separated from the centre and left wing, and he
+flew to the encounter, although he was obliged to draw off his army from
+the siege of Mantua, something which very few generals would have done.
+On the night of July 31st, he buried his cannon in the trenches and
+intentionally marked his retreat with every sign of precipitation and
+alarm. Before morning the whole French army had disappeared from Mantua
+and by a forced march regained possession of Brescia. Napoleon was
+hurrying forward to attack the right wing of the Austrian army before it
+could effect a junction with the central body of Wurmser.
+
+A courier could hardly have borne to Quasdonowich the news of his
+raising the siege of Mantua before Napoleon had attacked and overwhelmed
+him, and he was glad to save his shattered forces by falling back on the
+Tyrol.
+
+This ill-omened beginning aroused the ire, and quickened the evolutions
+of Wurmser, and falling on the rear-guard of Massena under Pigeon, and
+Augereau under Vallette, the one abandoned Castiglione and the other
+retired on Lonato. These inconsiderable Austrian successes were obtained
+by good generalship, and Wurmser now attempted to open a communication
+with his defeated lieutenant. His columns were weakened by extending the
+line, and Massena at once hurled two strong columns on Lonato, retaking
+it, and throwing the Austrian forces into utter confusion.
+
+The battle of Lonato occurred on the 3d of August (1796). At daybreak
+the whole of the French army was in motion, Augereau moving with the
+right wing towards Castiglione. General Pigeon, who commanded the French
+advance guard, was taken prisoner with three pieces of cannon; when, at
+the moment the Austrians were extending their line, Napoleon sent
+forward in close columns the 18th and 32d demi-brigades, which being
+supported by a strong reserve, broke the enemy's line of battle. The
+artillery and prisoners made under General Pigeon, were thus retaken,
+and the French entered Lonato.
+
+At Castiglione a firm stand was again taken by the fleeing Austrians,
+but Augereau forced the position against a defense double in numbers and
+for which he was afterward created Duke of Castiglione in memory of his
+exploit.
+
+On that day the Austrians lost twenty pieces of cannon, from three to
+four thousand men killed and wounded, and four thousand prisoners,
+among whom were three generals. Before this engagement Napoleon suddenly
+found himself placed between two armies each of which was more numerous
+than his own. In this situation of affairs, no one of his generals
+entertained the least hope; but what was the astonishment of the
+soldiers, when they first assembled in presence of their chief, to
+observe no alteration in his countenance. "Fear nothing," said the
+commander to them, "show that you remain unchanged; preserve your valor,
+your just pride, and the remembrance of your triumphs; in three days we
+shall retake all that we have lost. Rely on me! You know whether or not
+I am in the habit of keeping my word."
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
+
+BONAPARTE AND THE SLEEPING SENTINEL]
+
+In this memorable battle Napoleon raised himself to an equality with the
+greatest generals. Although the position in which he was placed was
+critical to an eminent degree, he contrived to turn all the success
+gained by Wurmser to the advantage of the French army, and that by the
+mere strength of his genius alone. Junot distinguished himself by
+extraordinary efforts of courage in these actions. He was thus mentioned
+in the dispatch sent by Napoleon to the Directory after the victory: "I
+ordered my aide-de-camp, General-of-Brigade Junot, to put himself at the
+head of my company of Guides to pursue the enemy and overtake him by
+great speed at Dezenzano. He encountered Colonel Bender with a party of
+his regiment of hussars, whom he charged; but Junot, not wishing to
+waste his time by charging the rear, made a detour on the right, took
+the regiment in front,--wounded the colonel whom he attempted to take
+prisoner when he was himself surrounded,--and after having killed six of
+the enemy with his own hand, was cut down and thrown into a ditch."
+
+The Austrians, still able to collect 25,000 men and a numerous cavalry,
+now fled again in all directions upon the Mincio where Wurmser himself,
+meanwhile, had been employed in revictualling Mantua. When Wurmser
+reached this point he was utterly astounded to find the trenches
+abandoned and no enemy to oppose. One of the defeated Austrian divisions
+wandering about without method in anxiety to find their commander or any
+part of his army that was still in the field, came suddenly on Lonato,
+the scene of the recent battle, and at a moment when Napoleon was there
+with only his staff and Guard about him. He was not aware that any
+considerable body of the enemy remained in the neighborhood, and but for
+his great presence of mind must have been taken prisoner. As it was, he
+turned his critical position into an advantage. The officer who had been
+sent to demand the surrender of the town was brought blindfolded,
+according to custom on such occasions, to his headquarters. Bonaparte,
+by a secret sign, caused his whole staff to draw up around him, and when
+the bandage was removed from the messenger's eyes, exclaimed to him:
+"What means this insolence? Do you beard the French general in the very
+centre of his army? Go and tell your general that I give him eight
+minutes to lay down his arms; he is in the midst of the French army, and
+if a single gun is fired, I will cause every man to be shot." The
+officer, appalled at discovering in whose presence he stood, returned to
+his comrades with Napoleon's message.
+
+The general of the enemy's column now made his appearance, stating his
+willingness to surrender and capitulate. "No" replied Bonaparte with
+energy, "you are all prisoners of war." Seeing the Austrian officers
+consulting together Napoleon instantly gave orders that the artillery
+should advance and commence the attack. On observing this the general of
+the enemy's forces exclaimed, "We all surrender at discretion!" The
+shortness of time allowed prevented the truth from being discovered, and
+they gave in to a force about one-fourth of their own. They believed
+that Lonato was occupied by the French in numbers that made resistance
+impossible. When the four thousand men had laid down their arms they
+discovered that if they had used them nothing could have prevented
+Napoleon from being taken as their prize!
+
+Wurmser, whose fine army was thus being destroyed in detail, now
+collected together the whole of his remaining force, and advanced to
+meet the Conqueror. He had determined on an assault and was hastening to
+the encounter. They met between Lonato and Castiglione, and Wurmser was
+totally defeated, besides narrowly escaping being himself taken a
+prisoner. He was pursued into Trent and Roveredo, the positions from
+which he had so lately issued confident of victory. In this disastrous
+campaign he had now lost forty thousand soldiers--half his army--and all
+his artillery and stores, while Bonaparte placed his own loss at seven
+thousand. The French soldiers have called this succession of victories
+"the campaign of five days." The rapid marches and incessant fighting
+had exhausted the troops, and they now absolutely required rest.
+
+During the exciting days while the campaign with Wurmser lasted,
+Napoleon never took off his clothes, nor did he take the time to sleep
+except at brief intervals of less than an hour. His exertions, which
+were followed by such signal triumphs, were such as to demand some
+repose, yet he did not pause until he saw Mantua once more completely
+invested. The reinforcement and revictualling of the garrison were all
+that Wurmser could show in requital of his lost artillery, stores and
+forty thousand men.
+
+While Napoleon was giving some respite to his wearied army and rendering
+the subjugation of Italy complete, Austria was hurrying a new army to
+the relief of its aged but not disheartened marshal. The reinforcements
+of twenty thousand fresh troops at last arrived, and Wurmser was again
+in the field with fifty thousand men--an army vastly larger than
+Napoleon's. But once more he divided his forces and again each division
+was to be cut to pieces. He marched thirty thousand men to the relief of
+Mantua, and left Davidowich at Roveredo with twenty thousand men to
+protect the passes of the Tyrol. The two Austrian divisions were now
+separated and their fate was sealed.
+
+On September 4, by the most rapid marches Europe had ever seen,
+Napoleon, having penetrated the designs of the Austrian general, reached
+Roveredo where Davidowich was intrenched in a strong position before the
+city, covered by the guns of the Calliano castle overhanging the town.
+
+The camp was yielded on the same day before the terrific charge of
+General Dubois and his hussars. The latter, though mortally wounded,
+cheered his men on with his dying words, and as he fell pressing the
+hand of the general-in-chief, said: "Let me hear the shout of victory
+for the Republic before I die." These words fired his troops with deep
+ardor, and they drove the Austrians through the town and carried the
+frowning heights of the castle at the point of the bayonet, as they had
+carried the batteries of Lodi. The French pursued the fleeing Austrians
+throughout the night and Wurmser was cut off from the Tyrol.
+
+Scarcely had the Austrian commander recovered from his surprise at
+hearing of the overthrow of his lieutenant at Roveredo before Napoleon,
+by a march of sixty miles in two days, descended in front of his
+vanguard at Primolano and cut it to pieces, taking four thousand
+prisoners. The same night Napoleon's army advanced on Bassano where on
+Sept. 8 Wurmser made his last stand with the main body of his army.
+
+While Augereau penetrated the town on his left, Massena entered it on
+his right, seizing the cannon that defended the bridge on the Bretna and
+overthrowing the old grenadiers who attempted to cover the retreat of
+their general. Five thousand prisoners, five standards, thirty-five
+pieces of cannon with their caissons fell into the hands of the French,
+and Wurmser himself narrowly escaped being taken. Lannes seized one of
+the standards with his own hands; and, in consequence, Bonaparte
+demanded for him the rank of general of brigade. "He was," he said, "the
+first who put the enemy to rout at Dego, who passed the Po at Plaisance,
+the Adda at Lodi, and the first to enter Bassano."
+
+The number of the dead near the latter place was considerable. Curious
+to ascertain the loss of the enemy, Bonaparte in the evening rode over
+the field with his staff, when his notice was attracted by the howlings
+of a dog that seemed to increase as they approached the spot whence the
+yells proceeded. "Amidst the deep silence of a beautiful moon-light
+night," said Napoleon some years later, "a dog, leaping suddenly from
+beneath the clothes of his dead master, rushed upon us, and then
+immediately returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He
+alternately licked his master's hand, and ran toward us, as if at once
+soliciting aid and seeking revenge. Whether, owing to my own particular
+turn of mind at the moment, the time, the place, or the action itself, I
+know not, but, certainly, no incident, on any field of battle, ever
+produced so deep an impression on me. I involuntarily stopped to
+contemplate the scene. This man, thought I, has friends in the camp, or
+in his company, and here he lies forsaken by all except his dog. What a
+lesson Nature presents here, through the medium of an animal. What a
+strange being is man! And how mysterious are his impressions! I had,
+without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate of the
+army; I beheld, with tearless eyes, the execution of those operations by
+which numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here my feelings
+were roused by the howlings of a dog! Certainly, at that moment, I
+should have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy. I could very well
+imagine Achilles surrendering up the body of Hector at the sight of
+Priam's tears."
+
+In these terrible marches Napoleon endured the same privations as his
+men;--baggage and staff appointments were unable to keep up with such
+rapid movements. He shared his bread with one of his privates who lived
+to remind him of this night when the Republican general had become the
+Emperor of France. It was during Napoleon's progress through Belgium in
+1804, while reviewing a division of the army that he was visited in one
+of the towns by a soldier of the fourth regiment of infantry who
+stepped forward and thus addressed him: "General, in the year Five of
+the French Revolution, being in the valley of Bassano, I shared with you
+my ration of bread when you were very hungry. You cannot have forgotten
+the circumstance. I request, in return, that you provide bread for my
+father who is worn with age and infirmity. I have received five wounds
+in the service and was made corporal and sergeant on the field of
+battle. I hope to be made a lieutenant on the first vacancy." Napoleon
+recollected the soldier and immediately acknowledged the reasonableness
+of both his demands, which were speedily complied with.
+
+After the most heroic resistance Wurmser again fled. Six thousand
+Austrians laid down their arms, and the commander with his fleeing
+forces took refuge about the middle of September in Mantua, whither they
+were pursued by Napoleon's cavalry.
+
+Wurmser was now strictly blockaded within the citadel of Mantua with
+sixteen thousand men. These, with ten thousand dispersed in the Tyrol,
+were all that remained of his army of 60,000 men with which he was to
+reconquer Italy. He had also lost seventy-five pieces of cannon, thirty
+generals and twenty-two stands of colors. Marmont, one of Napoleon's
+aids-de-camp, was sent with these latter trophies to the Directory at
+Paris. Perceiving that Wurmser now intended to avoid a general action
+Napoleon returned to Milan, leaving General Kilmaine to conduct the
+blockade.
+
+While at Milan, Napoleon had just mounted his horse one morning, when a
+dragoon, bearing important dispatches, presented himself.
+
+The commander gave a verbal answer, and ordered the courier to take it
+back with all speed.
+
+"I have no horse," the man answered; "I rode mine so hard that it fell
+dead at your palace gates."
+
+Napoleon alighted. "Take mine," he said.
+
+The man hesitated.
+
+"You think him too magnificently caparisoned and too fine an animal;"
+said Napoleon. "Nothing is too good for a French soldier!"
+
+Again a call was made on Vienna to send a new army and a greater general
+to restore the Hapsburg dominion in Italy. In reply another powerful
+armament was dispatched to the Italian frontier and this, the fourth
+campaign against Napoleon, was intrusted to the supreme command of
+Alvinzi, an officer of high reputation.
+
+Field-Marshal Alvinzi was placed at the head of an army of forty-five
+thousand men to which he joined eighteen thousand under Davidowich in
+the Tyrol. His object was to raise the blockade of Mantua, release
+Wurmser and, with a force which would by the accession of the garrison
+of the latter amount to an army of eighty thousand men with which to
+oppose only thirty thousand. With these he expected to reconquer
+Lombardy.
+
+Three large armies, advancing with similar prospects, had already been
+destroyed by Napoleon; a fourth now prepared to pour down upon him,
+under still more terrible circumstances. The battle of St. George and
+the strict blockade of Wurmser in Mantua took place in the middle of
+September. Alvinzi's army commenced its march in the beginning of
+October.
+
+Napoleon instantly ordered Vaubois and Massena to advance to the attack
+of Davidowich, whose forces were collected in the Tyrol, before he
+could form a junction with Alvinzi. Both failed. Vaubois, after two
+days' fighting was conquered; lost Trent and Calliano, and was forced to
+retreat. Massena in consequence had to effect a retreat without
+attempting an engagement, and Alvinzi approaching fast gained possession
+of all the country between the Brenta and the Adige and the command of
+the Tyrol. The two Austrian generals might now have effected a junction,
+but they neglected their opportunity. Napoleon hastened to Verona,
+Alvinzi having taken the same route.
+
+It seemed likely that Austria, in this new campaign, was destined to
+recover her immense losses. Napoleon was now contending against an enemy
+vastly superior in numbers and most completely appointed. But twelve
+battalions had been sent to him from France to recruit his exhausted
+regiments, and nothing but the employment of the highest military skill
+could now save him from destruction.
+
+"The army" said he, in writing to the Directory, "so inferior in
+numbers, has been more weakened by the late engagements, while the
+promised reinforcements have not arrived. The heroes of Millessimo,
+Lodi, Castiglione, and Bassano, are dead or in the hospitals. Joubert,
+Lanusse, Victor, Lannes, Charlot, Murat, Dupuis, Rampon, Menard,
+Chabrand, and Pigeon are wounded; we are abandoned at the extremity of
+Italy. Had I received the 103d, three thousand five hundred strong, I
+would have answered for everything. Whereas, in a few days, 40,000 men,
+perhaps, will not be sufficient to enable us to make head against the
+enemy."
+
+His men too, were becoming dispirited at the failure of the government
+to send reinforcements, and no longer fought with their accustomed vigor
+and enthusiasm. The retreating forces came before him with dejected
+looks. But the genius of Napoleon was not yet exhausted; with him
+discouragement was not despair. He ordered Vaubois' division--which had
+abandoned Calliano--drawn up on the plain of Rivoli, and thus addressed
+them: "Soldiers, I am not satisfied with you: you have shown neither
+bravery, discipline, nor perseverance. No position could rally you: you
+abandoned yourselves to a panic terror; you suffered yourselves to be
+driven from situations where a handful of brave men might have stopped
+an army. Soldiers of the 29th and 85th, you are not French soldiers.
+Quartermaster-general, let it be inscribed on their colors: 'They no
+longer belong to the Army of Italy!'"
+
+The effect of these words was electric. The veteran grenadiers who had
+braved the terrific charges at Lodi sobbed like children and broke their
+ranks to cluster round their commander to plead for one more trial.
+Several of the veteran grenadiers, who had deserved and obtained badges
+of distinction, called out from the ranks: "General! we have been
+misrepresented; place us in the van of the army and you shall then judge
+whether we do not belong to the Army of Italy."
+
+They were at last forgiven by their indignant commander, and when they
+were again arrayed against the enemy they quickly redeemed their lost
+reputation and gained new laurels. But a spirit of discontent pervaded
+the French army. "We cannot work miracles," said the soldiers. "We
+destroyed Beaulieu's great army, and then came Wurmser with a greater.
+We conquered and broke him to pieces, and then came Alvinzi more
+powerful than ever. When we have conquered him Austria will pour down on
+us a hundred thousand fresh soldiers and we shall leave our bones in
+Italy."
+
+Although much dispirited, Napoleon was by no means disposed to abandon
+his campaign; to his soldiers he said by way of encouragement: "We have
+but one more effort to make and Italy is ours. The enemy is no doubt
+superior to us in numbers, but not in valor. When he is beaten Mantua
+must fall, and we shall be masters of all; our labors will be at an end,
+for not only Italy but a general peace is in Mantua. You talk of
+returning to the Alps, but you are no longer capable of doing so. From
+the dry and frozen bivouacs of those sterile rocks you could very well
+conquer the delicious plains of Lombardy; but from the smiling flowery
+bivouacs of Italy you cannot return to Alpine snows. Only beat Alvinzi
+and I will answer for your future welfare."
+
+Ere long the French forces were once more ready for battle. Alvinzi had
+occupied the heights of Caldiero and by the middle of November
+threatened Verona. Massena attacked the heights but found them
+impregnable. The French were repulsed with considerable loss. Napoleon
+found it necessary to attempt taking the heights by other means in order
+to prevent the junction of Davidowich and Alvinzi. Pretending,
+therefore, to retreat on Mantua after his discomfiture, he returned in
+the night and placed himself in the rear of Alvinzi's army. When his
+columns advanced on Arcola the enemy thought at first it was only a
+skirmish and that the main army of the French was in Verona. The
+position of Arcola rendered any attack upon it so extremely hazardous
+that scarcely anyone would have conceived the idea of making the
+attempt. The village is surrounded by marshes intersected by small
+streams, by ditches and by three causeways or bridges, across which
+alone the marshes are passable. Arcola and the bridge leading to it were
+defended by two battalions of Alvinzi's army, and two pieces of cannon
+which commanded the bridge. The other two causeways were unprotected.
+
+Napoleon ordered a division to charge the bridge of Arcola at daybreak.
+The attempt seemed even to the intrepid Augereau to be courting death,
+but he was a true soldier and obeyed orders.
+
+On November 15 a column advanced on each of the three causeways.
+Augereau's division occupied the bridge of Arcola which was swept by the
+enemy's cannon and assailed in flank by their battalions. Even the
+chosen grenadiers, led by Augereau with a standard in his hand, faltered
+and fell back under the destructive fire, fleeing over the corpses of
+nearly half their comrades. It was a most critical situation, and one in
+which a false step or the loss of a few moments meant ruin. Napoleon,
+who knew that the moment was decisive, dashed at the head of the column,
+snatched a standard, and hurrying onwards planted the colors with his
+own hands on the bridge amidst a hail of balls from the enemy's
+artillery and musketry. As he did so he cried out: "Soldiers! are you no
+longer the brave warriors of Lodi? Follow your general!"
+
+His soldiers rallied and rushed with him till they grappled with the
+Austrian division, but the sudden arrival of a fresh column of the enemy
+made it an impossibility to maintain their ground. The French fell
+back, and Napoleon, being in the very midst of the fight, was himself
+seized by his faithful grenadiers who bore him away in their arms
+through smoke, the dead and dying, as they were driven backwards inch by
+inch with dreadful carnage. Mounting a horse the commander once more
+prepared to make a charge at the head of his heroic troops, when his
+steed became unmanageable and plunged headlong throwing its rider into a
+morass up to his waist.
+
+The Austrians were now between Napoleon and his baffled column. As the
+smoke rolled away the army at once perceived the critical position of
+their general. During this crisis Lannes pressed forward through the
+marsh and reached his commander as also did the gallant Muiron, the
+friend and aide-de-camp of Napoleon. Almost at the same moment a shot
+was fired at Napoleon. It was received by Muiron, who had interposed
+himself, and he died covering Napoleon's body with his own. But still
+the person of the commander remained in the utmost peril.
+
+The grenadiers now formed in an instant, and with the cry, "Forward,
+soldiers, to save your general!" threw themselves upon the enemy,
+rescued their "Little Corporal" from his critical position and overthrew
+the Austrian columns that defended the bridge. Napoleon was quickly at
+their head again, rallied the column, struck terror through the ranks of
+the enemy, and Arcola was soon taken. Two other engagements followed at
+this point, in each of which the French were victorious, Massena
+pursuing the enemy until darkness compelled him to desist. The Austrians
+lost twelve thousand men killed, six thousand prisoners, eighteen pieces
+of cannon and four stands of colors. The loss of the French was less
+considerable in numbers than in the importance of the prominent
+individuals who fell during those three days, when the generals acted as
+soldiers, continually fighting at the heads of their columns. The great
+art of Napoleon, on that occasion, he having but 13,000 to oppose 40,000
+men, was to maintain the combat in the midst of a morass where the enemy
+could not deploy. Upon such a field of battle, only the heads of the
+columns could engage; whereas, on a plain, the French army would in all
+probability have been surrounded.
+
+Napoleon said at St. Helena that he considered himself in the greatest
+danger at Arcola.
+
+When too late Davidowich made an advance upon Verona, but retreated
+quickly on hearing of Alvinzi's defeat at Arcola. Wurmser, too, made a
+desperate sally and was repulsed. He still held out, however. The horses
+of the garrison had long since been killed and salted for use; the men
+were reduced to half rations, and their numbers were being rapidly
+reduced by disease.
+
+This fourth attempt of Austria to conquer Napoleon ended, therefore, as
+did the previous ones, in failure. It was one of the most memorable
+campaigns in history, in the course of which all the resources of
+skilled warriors were exhibited, not in a contest of a few hours but a
+succession of memorable battles. As yet, however, the young commander
+was but a temporary victor; the weakness of the Army of Italy did not
+permit him to draw all the advantages he had promised himself from
+Arcola. Alvinzi was now thoroughly beaten, his losses were very great,
+and like his predecessors he sent to Vienna for reinforcements to
+continue his contest against Bonaparte, who had repaired to Verona which
+he fixed upon as the central point of operations.
+
+Once more the Austrian general's preparations were completed for a fresh
+campaign, and on January 7, 1797, at the head of sixty thousand
+soldiers, consisting of volunteers from the best families in Vienna and
+battalions from the Army of the Rhine, Croats, Hungarians, Tyroleans,
+etc., Alvinzi descended from the northern barriers of Italy to release
+the brave Wurmser from his prison at Mantua, and again attempt to
+"overwhelm the French invaders." A messenger dispatched to Wurmser from
+the imperial court was captured by the French, and dispatches concealed
+in wax balls recovered. From these Napoleon learned the present designs,
+signed by the emperor's own hand, of the Austrian government:--Alvinzi
+was once more placed at the head of sixty thousand men, and was again to
+march into Lombardy and to raise the siege of Mantua: Wurmser was
+directed to hold out to the last extremity: If the army of Alvinzi could
+be reunited with the garrison, the destruction of the French seemed
+undoubted; if not, and if, in the course of hostilities, he found it
+best to abandon Mantua, he was directed to cut his way into Romagna and
+to take command of the papal troops, the pope having broken the treaty
+of Bologna, and raised an army of seven thousand men to act in concert
+with Wurmser, when he should be released from Mantua.
+
+Again the Austrian army,--the fifth--was divided, one column under
+Alvinzi for the line of the Adige; the other for the Bretna under
+General Provera, who was to join the marshal under the walls of Mantua.
+
+When Napoleon learned this at his headquarters at Verona he posted
+Joubert at Rivoli to dispute Alvinzi's passage, and Augereau to watch
+the movements of Provera, knowing that within a few hours he could
+concentrate his own forces on either column.
+
+At sunset on the 13th of January Joubert's messenger brought the news
+that he had met Alvinzi and with difficulty held him in check through
+the day. Napoleon examined with the utmost attention the maps and
+descriptions of the places, the reports of the generals, and those of
+his spies and light troops and passed a part of the night in a state of
+uncertainty and indecision. At length on receiving fresh reports he
+exclaimed: "It is clear--it is clear: to Rivoli!" and, quickly giving
+his orders to his aides assigning the troops to their different routes,
+he left a garrison at Verona and with General Massena and all the
+disposable troops he repaired to General Joubert. By one of his
+lightning marches he reached the heights of Rivoli two hours after
+midnight. Below in the valley five separate encampments of the Austrian
+army were visible in the moonlight. Napoleon quickly decided to force
+Alvinzi to battle before he was ready. Joubert, confounded by the
+display of Alvinzi's gigantic force was in the very act of abandoning
+his position when the French commander checked his movement, and,
+bringing up more battalions, forced the enemy from a position they had
+seized on the first symptoms of the French retreat.
+
+From the eminence on which he stood Napoleon's keen eye soon penetrated
+the secret of Alvinzi's weakness,--that his artillery had not yet
+arrived. To force him to accept battle, Napoleon took every possible
+means to conceal his own arrival and prolonged, by a series of petty
+manoeuvres, the enemy's belief that they had to do with a mere outpost
+of the French. Alvinzi was fully deceived, and instead of advancing on
+some great and well-arranged system, suffered his several columns to
+endeavor to force the heights by insulated movements which the real
+strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. Two field-pieces had
+been abandoned by their drivers and which were seized by the enemy, when
+an officer whose name is not recorded, advancing, cried out:
+"Fourteenth, will you let them take your artillery?" Berthier, who had
+purposely suffered the enemy to approach, then opened a terrible fire,
+which leveled men and horses round the guns, and upon which the
+Austrians immediately fell back.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
+
+BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE]
+
+A moment later the bravery of the enemy resulted in their nearly
+overthrowing the French on a point of pre-eminent importance, but
+Napoleon himself, galloping to the spot, roused by his voice and action
+the division of Massena who, having marched all night, had laid down to
+rest in the extreme of weariness. They started up at the commander's
+voice and the Austrian column was speedily repulsed.
+
+The French artillery was soon in position, while that of the Austrians,
+as Napoleon had guessed, had not yet come up, and this circumstance
+decided the fortune of the day. The batteries of the French made havoc
+of the broken columns; the cavalry made repeated charges; four out of
+the five divisions were thus broken and utterly routed. The fifth now
+made its appearance in the rear of the French. It had been sent round to
+outflank Napoleon and take higher ground in his rear according to the
+orders of the Austrian general before the action. When Lusignan's
+division achieved its destined object it did so,--not to complete the
+misery of a routed, but to swell the prey of a victorious, enemy.
+Instead of cutting off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found himself
+insulated from Alvinzi and forced to lay down his arms to Bonaparte.
+Had this movement been made a little sooner it might have turned the
+fortune of the day: as it was, the French soldiers only exclaimed: "Here
+come further supplies to our market!" and very soon the Austrians,
+exposed to a heavy fire from the artillery, were forced to surrender.
+
+"Here was a good plan," said Napoleon, "but these Austrians are not apt
+to calculate the value of minutes."
+
+Had Lusignan gained the rear of the French an hour earlier, while the
+contest was still hot in front of the heights of Rivoli, he might have
+aided in the complete overthrow of Napoleon instead of being defeated on
+one of the brightest days in the young commander's career.
+
+In the course of the day Bonaparte had remained in the hottest of the
+fight, which lasted during twelve hours, and had three horses shot under
+him, and although much fatigued, hardly waited to see Lusignan surrender
+ere he set off with reinforcements to the Lower Adige to prevent Wurmser
+from either housing Provera or joining him in the open field and so
+effect the escape of his own formidable garrison. The flying troops of
+Alvinzi were left to the care of Massena, Murat and Joubert.
+
+Marching all day and the next night Napoleon reached the vicinity of
+Mantua late on the 15th. He found the enemy strongly posted and
+Serrurier's position highly critical. A regiment of Provera's hussars
+had but a few hours before established themselves in the suburb of St.
+George. This Austrian corps had been clothed in white cloaks resembling
+those of a well-known French regiment of hussars, and advancing towards
+the gate would certainly have been admitted as friends but for the
+sagacity of an old sergeant, who could not help fancying that the white
+cloaks had too much of the gloss of novelty about them to have stood the
+wear and tear of three Bonapartean campaigns. He instantly closed the
+barriers and warned a drummer who was near him of the danger. These two
+gave the alarm and the guns of the blockading force were instantly
+turned upon their pretended friends who were forced to retire.
+
+Napoleon himself passed the night in walking the outposts, so great was
+his anxiety. At one of these he found a grenadier sentinel asleep from
+exhaustion and taking his gun, without waking him, performed a
+sentinel's duty in his place for about half an hour. When the man,
+starting from his slumbers, perceived with terror and despair the
+countenance and occupation of his general, he fell on his knees before
+him. "My friend," said Napoleon mildly, "here is your musket. You had
+fought hard and marched long and your exhaustion is excusable; but a
+moment's inattention might at present ruin the whole army. I happened to
+be awake and have held your post for you. You will be more careful
+another time!"
+
+Such acts of magnanimity endeared Napoleon to his soldiers, and, while
+he rarely relaxed in his military discipline, he early acquired the
+devotion of his men who told and retold anecdotes of his doings in camp
+and on the battlefield, and as the stories spread from column to column
+his followers came to regard him with a veneration that few older
+commanders have been able to instill in their men. Another anecdote is
+related of Bonaparte, when upon the point of commencing one of his great
+battles in Italy. As he was disposing his troops in order of attack, a
+light dragoon stepping from the ranks, requested of the commander a few
+minutes private conversation to which Napoleon acquiesced, when the
+soldier thus addressed him: "General, if you will proceed to adopt such
+and such measures, the enemy must be defeated."
+
+"Wretched man," exclaimed the commander, "hold your tongue; you will
+surely not betray my secret" at the same time placing his hand before
+the mouth of the dragoon.
+
+The soldier in question was possessed of an inherent military capacity
+and appreciated every arrangement necessary to insure victory. The
+battle terminating in favor of Napoleon, he issued orders that the poor
+fellow should be conducted to his presence; but all search for him
+proved fruitless, he was nowhere to be found: a bullet had no doubt
+terminated his military career.
+
+The next morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as the battle of
+St. George. The tumult and slaughter were dreadful and Provera with his
+whole force were compelled to lay down their arms. Wurmser, who had
+hazarded a sortie from Mantua to join his countrymen, was glad to make
+his way back again, and retire within the old walls, in consequence of a
+desperate assault headed by Napoleon in person, who threw himself
+between Wurmser and Provera and beat them completely one after the
+other. Provera now found himself cut off hopelessly from Alvinzi and
+surrounded by the French; he was disheartened and defeated. He and his
+five thousand men laid down their arms on the 16th of January, and
+various bodies of the Austrian force scattered over the country followed
+their example. This latter engagement was called the battle of La
+Favorita from the name of a country house near which it was fought. The
+75th at this battle refused cartridges: "With such enemies as we have
+before us," said they, "we must only use the bayonet."
+
+The battles of Rivoli and La Favorita had disabled Alvinzi from
+continuing the campaign. Thus had the magnificent army of Austria ceased
+to exist in three days.
+
+Such was the prevailing terror of the enemy at this time that in one
+instance René, a young officer keeping guard of a position with about
+one hundred and fifty men, suddenly encountered and took prisoners a
+small body of Austrians. On advancing to reconnoitre, he found himself
+in front of a body of eighteen hundred more, whom a turn in the road had
+concealed from his sight. "Lay down your arms!" said the Austrian
+commandant. René answered with boldness, "Do you lay down your arms! I
+have destroyed your advance guard;--ground your arms, or no quarter!"
+The French soldiers joined in the cry, and the whole body of the
+astonished Austrians absolutely laid down their arms to a party, which
+they found to their exasperation when too late, was in numbers one
+twelfth of their own.
+
+Wurmser was now thoroughly disheartened in not receiving relief, and as
+his provisions were by this time exhausted, found himself at length in
+dire straits. Napoleon sent him word of the rout and dispersion of the
+Austrian army and summoned him to surrender. The old soldier proudly
+replied that "he had provisions for a year," but a few days later he
+sent his aide-de-camp, Klenau to the headquarters of Serrurier with an
+offer of capitulation. General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade,
+received the bearer of Wurmser's message in which he stated that he was
+"still in a condition to hold out considerably longer, unless honorable
+terms were granted."
+
+Napoleon, who had been seated in a corner of his tent wrapped in his
+cloak, now came forward and addressed himself to the Austrian envoy, who
+had no suspicion in whose presence he had been speaking, and taking his
+pen, wrote down marginal answers to the conditions proposed by Wurmser.
+He granted terms more favorable than might have been exacted in the
+extremity to which the veteran was reduced. "These," said he, "are the
+conditions to which your general's bravery entitles him if he opens his
+gates tomorrow. He may have them to-day; a week, a month hence, he shall
+have no worse: he may hold out to his last morsel of bread. Meantime
+tell him that General Bonaparte is about to set out for Rome."
+
+The envoy now recognized Napoleon, and on reading the paper perceived
+that the proposed terms were more liberal than he had dared to hope for;
+he then owned that only three days' provisions remained in Mantua.
+
+The capitulation was forthwith signed and on the 2d of February, 1797,
+Wurmser and his garrison of 13,000 men marched out of Mantua: 7,000 were
+lying in the hospitals. When the aged chief was by the fortunes of war
+to surrender his sword, he found only Serrurier ready to receive it.
+Napoleon was unwilling to be a witness to the humiliation of the
+distinguished veteran, and had left the place before the surrender, thus
+sparing the conquered veteran the mortification of giving up his sword
+to so youthful a commander. This delicate generosity on the part of the
+French general was never forgotten by Wurmser.
+
+The terms of surrender agreed to by Bonaparte were not readily accepted
+by the French Directory, who urged him to far different conduct. "I have
+granted the Austrian," he wrote in reply, "such terms as were, in my
+judgment, due to a brave and honorable foe, and to the dignity of the
+French nation." The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted altogether
+to not less than 30,000 men, besides innumerable military stores and
+upwards of 500 brass cannon.
+
+The conquerer sent Augereau to Paris with the sixty captured standards
+of Austria, and his arrival at the capital was celebrated as a national
+festival. Thus it was that Napoleon, with a total force at the utmost,
+of 65,000 men, conquered, in their own country, and under the
+eye and succoring hand of their own government, five successive
+armies, amounting, in all, to _upwards of 300,000 well-appointed
+well-provisioned soldiers_, under old and experienced commanders of
+approved courage. Such was the conquest of Lombardy.
+
+Some time later Wurmser sent Napoleon a letter by special messenger
+acknowledging the generosity and delicacy of conduct of the French
+commander at Mantua, and at the same time apprising him by his
+aide-de-camp of a conspiracy to poison him in the dominions of the pope,
+with whom he was about to wage war.
+
+A few brief engagements with papal troops followed the capitulation of
+Wurmser, the pope fearing that the conqueror would enter the "Eternal
+City;" but Napoleon, by a rapid movement, threw his infantry across the
+river Senio, where the enemy was encamped, and met with but a brief
+resistance. Shortly afterwards the pope entered into negotiations with
+the French commander, and the treaty of Tolentino followed on the 13th
+of February, 1797, conceding to the French one hundred of the finest
+works of art, several castles and legations, and about two millions of
+dollars.
+
+Napoleon was now master of all Northern Italy with the exception of the
+territories of Venice, which announced that it had no desire but to
+preserve a perfect neutrality.
+
+More than a month had now elapsed since Alvinzi's defeat at Rivoli; in
+nine days the war with the pope had reached its close; and, having left
+some garrisons in the town on the Adige to watch the neutrality of
+Venice, Napoleon hastened to carry the war into the hereditary dominions
+of the Austrian Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had joined his
+victorious standard from France, and at the head of perhaps a larger
+force than he had ever before mustered, he proceeded towards the Tyrol
+where, according to his information, the main army of Austria, recruited
+once more to its original strength, was preparing to open a sixth
+campaign under the orders,--not of Alvinzi, but of a general young like
+himself, and hitherto eminently successful, the Archduke Charles, who
+had defeated the courage and skill of Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine,
+and was now to be opposed to Napoleon.
+
+The story of this sixth campaign is but a repetition of the five that
+preceded it. The archduke, a young prince of high talents, and upon whom
+the last hopes of the Austrian Empire reposed, compelled by the council
+of Vienna to execute a plan he had the discrimination to condemn, was
+destined to lead but a short campaign, although he had the best army
+Austria could enroll. This army once more proceeded to begin operations
+on a double basis, and Napoleon permitted him to assume the offensive.
+
+On the 9th of March, 1797, the French commander's headquarters were
+fixed at Bassano, and he proceeded vigorously on his career of conquest.
+He issued one of his stirring proclamations, in which he told his
+soldiers that a grand destiny was still reserved for them, and then
+advanced to attack the archduke. He found the latter posted upon the
+plains bordering on the banks of the river Tagliamento in front of the
+rugged Carinthian mountains which guard the passage in that quarter from
+Italy to Germany. Detaching Massena with a division of cavalry to effect
+the passage of the Piave where the Austrian division of Lusignan was
+posted, Napoleon determined to charge the archduke in front. Massena was
+successful in driving Lusignan before him as far as Belluno, where he,
+with a rear guard of 500, surrendered, and thus turned the Austrian
+flank.
+
+On the 16th of March, the two armies headed by Napoleon, and the
+Archduke Charles in person, were drawn up on opposite sides of the
+Tagliamento, face to face. Bonaparte then attempted to effect the
+passage of the river, but after a formal display of his forces, which
+was met by similar demonstrations on the Austrian side of the river, he
+suddenly broke up his line, retreated, and took up his bivouac. The
+archduke concluded that, as the French had been marching all the night
+before, their leader wished to defer the battle until another day, and
+in like manner withdrew to his encampment. About two hours later
+Napoleon rushed with his whole army, who had merely laid down in ranks,
+upon the margin of the Tagliamento,--no longer adequately guarded,--and
+had forded the stream ere the Austrian line of battle could be formed.
+In the passage of the Tagliamento Napoleon was so nearly drowned, by
+the submersion of his carriage, that he for some moments gave up all
+thoughts of being rescued.
+
+This affair was the first in which the division of Bernadotte had borne
+a part. He arrived upon the borders of the Tagliamento at the very
+moment of the combat: throwing himself into the river he exclaimed to
+his followers, "Think that you are the Army of the Rhine, and that the
+Army of Italy is looking on you!"
+
+In the action which followed the troops of the archduke displayed much
+gallantry, and charged the French repeatedly with the greatest courage,
+but every effort to dislodge Napoleon failed; at length retreat was
+deemed necessary, and eight pieces of cannon and some provisions were
+left behind, the French following in close pursuit.
+
+Adjutant General Kellerman distinguished himself at the head of the
+French cavalry and received many wounds in executing the manoeuvres that
+decided the success of the day; he was subsequently charged with
+carrying the trophies taken from the enemy to France.
+
+The pursuers stormed Gradisca, where they made 6,000 prisoners; and the
+archduke continuing his retreat, occupied in the course of a few days
+Trieste, Fiume and every stronghold in Carinthia. In the course of a
+campaign of twenty days the Austrians fought Bonaparte ten times; but
+the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never recovered. Their army was
+melting away like the snows of the Tyrol.
+
+At last the Austrian leader decided to reach Vienna by forced marches,
+there to gather round him whatever force the loyalty of his nation could
+muster, and make a last stand beneath the walls of the capital. The
+archduke expected to reap great advantage from enticing the French army
+into the heart of Austria, where, divided by many wide provinces and
+mighty mountains and rivers from France, and with Italy once more in
+arms behind them, he hoped to cut off their source of supplies and
+compel them to retreat from a greatly reinforced imperial army.
+
+From the period of the opening of the campaign the archduke had lost
+nearly 20,000 men made prisoners, so that the Austrians could make no
+stand except upon the mountains in the neighborhood of the Capital.
+
+Vienna, however, was terror-stricken on hearing that Napoleon who was
+only sixty leagues distant, had stormed the passes of the Julian Alps.
+The imperial family--embracing little Marie Louise, then scarcely six
+years old, afterwards Napoleon's wife--fled with their crown jewels and
+treasures into Hungary; the middle classes became clamorous for a
+termination of the six years' war, and the archduke was ordered to avail
+himself of the first pretense which circumstances might afford for the
+opening of a negotiation. Napoleon wrote to the archduke suggesting
+peace: "While brave soldiers carry on war they wish for peace;" he said,
+"Has not the war already lasted six years? Have we not killed men
+enough, and inflicted sufficient sufferings on the human race? Europe
+has laid down the arms she took up against the French Republic. Your
+nation alone perseveres; yet blood is to flow more copiously than ever.
+Whatever be the issue, we shall kill some thousands of men on both
+sides, and after all we must come to an understanding, since all things
+have an end, not excepting vindictive passions. * * * For my part,
+general, if the overture I have the honor to make to you should only
+save the life of a single man, I should feel more proud of the civic
+crown, I should think I thereby merited, than of all the melancholy
+glory that the most distinguished military successes can afford."
+
+The archduke replied within two hours after the receipt of the letter
+and a series of negotiations followed, which with Napoleon's rapid
+advance on Vienna, finally brought about the provisional treaty of
+Leoben, signed April 18, 1797. Napoleon, without waiting for full power
+from the Directory to complete the treaty, took the responsibility upon
+himself and signed it on the part of France on the 19th of April. The
+Austrian plenipotentiaries had set down as a primary concession that
+"the Emperor acknowledged the French Republic."
+
+"Strike that out!" said Napoleon; "the Republic is like the sun that
+shines by its own light; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are
+our own masters and shall establish any government we prefer." "If the
+French people should one day wish to create a monarchy," he afterwards
+remarked, "the Emperor might object that he had recognized a Republic."
+
+This treaty was followed by a complete surrender on the part of the
+Venetian Senate which had violated its pledges of neutrality, and a
+democratic government was formed, provisionally, on the model of France.
+Venice consented to surrender to the victor large territories on the
+mainland of Italy; five ships of war, $600,000 in gold and as much more
+in naval stores, twenty of her best works of art and 500 ancient
+manuscripts. Napoleon took possession of the city, and the history of
+the Venetian Republic was ended. In their last agony the Venetian
+Senate made a vain attempt to bribe Napoleon with a purse of seven
+millions of francs for more favorable terms, reminding him of the
+proverbial ingratitude of all popular governments and of the slight
+attention which the French Directory had hitherto paid to his personal
+interests. "That is all true enough," he replied, "but I will not place
+myself in the power of this duke." To a larger tender on the part of
+Austria he replied: "If greatness or richness is to be mine, it must
+come from France."
+
+Among the works of art sent by Napoleon to Paris was the celebrated
+picture of St. Jerome from the Duke of Parma's gallery. The duke, to
+save this treasure, offered Napoleon two hundred thousand dollars, which
+the conqueror refused to take, saying: "The sum which he offers us will
+soon be spent; but the possession of such a masterpiece at Paris will
+adorn that capital for ages, and give birth to similar exertions of
+genius."
+
+The fall of Venice gave Napoleon the means of bringing his treaty with
+Austria to a more satisfactory conclusion than had been indicated in the
+preliminaries of Leoben. After settling the affairs of Venice and
+establishing the new Ligurian Republic he took up his residence at the
+palace of Montibello, near Milan, with Josephine, whom he had not seen
+since his departure from France a year before. The final settlement with
+Austria's commissioners was purposely delayed by that Empire, it being
+the universal belief that the government of France was approaching a new
+crisis, and Austria hoped from such an event to derive considerable
+advantage. Napoleon was becoming weary of the protracted negotiations
+and threats of the Austrian ambassadors. One day in the latter's
+chamber, he suddenly changed his demeanor. "You refuse to accept our
+ultimatum," said he, taking in his hands a beautiful vase of porcelain,
+which stood on the mantelpiece near him. The Austrian bowed. "It is
+well," said Napoleon, "the truce is broken, war is declared, but mark
+me,--within three months I shall shatter Austria as I now shatter this
+brittle affair!" So saying he dashed the fragile piece furiously to the
+floor, breaking it into a thousand pieces, and left the room. The
+ambassador followed him, and finding him preparing to march on Vienna,
+made submissions which induced him to once more resume negotiations, the
+result of which was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so called from the
+humble village at which it was signed on the 17th of October, 1797.
+
+Bourrienne relates that while Napoleon was occupied with the
+organization of Venice, Genoa and Milan, he used to complain of the
+want of _men_. "Good God!" said he, "how rare _men_ are! There are
+eighteen millions in Italy and I have with difficulty found two real
+ones,--Dandolo and Lelzi." These two actual "men" were immediately
+employed in important services, and justified his estimation of them.
+
+It was from the palace of Montibello, five leagues from Milan, that
+Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "From these different points (the
+islands of the Mediterranean, which he proposed to seize) we can command
+that sea, keep an eye on the Ottoman Empire, which is crumbling to
+pieces, and we can render the supremacy of the ocean almost useless to
+Great Britain. _Let us take possession of Egypt_, which lies on the road
+to India, and there we can found one of the mightiest colonies in the
+world. It is in Egypt we must make war on England."
+
+To perfect the treaty with Austria Napoleon received orders from the
+French Directory to appear at a congress at Rastadt, all the German
+powers being summoned to meet there for that purpose. He took an
+affecting leave of his soldiers, in which he said in closing: "Soldiers,
+when you talk of the princes you have conquered, of the nations you have
+set free, and the battles you have fought in two campaigns, say: 'In the
+next two we shall do still more.'" He then proceeded by way of
+Switzerland, carrying with him the unbounded love and devotion of one of
+the finest armies that the world had ever seen.
+
+A person who saw Napoleon at this time described his impressions of him
+in the following letter, which appeared in one of the Paris journals in
+December 1797: "With lively interest and extreme attention, I have
+observed this extraordinary man, who has performed such great deeds, and
+about whom there is something which seems to indicate that his career is
+not yet closed. I found him very like his portraits--little, thin, pale,
+with an air of fatigue, but not of ill-health, as has been reported of
+him. He appears to me to listen with more abstraction than interest, and
+that he was more occupied with what he was thinking of than with what
+was said to him. There is a great intelligence in his countenance, along
+with which may be marked an air of habitual meditation which reveals
+nothing of what is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold
+mind, it is impossible not to believe that some daring designs are
+engendering _which will have their influence on the destinies of
+Europe_!"
+
+"My extreme youth when I took command of the Army of Italy," Napoleon
+remarked afterwards, "made it necessary for me to evince great reserve
+of manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was indispensable to
+enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly superior in age and
+experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the highest degree
+irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was a Cato and must
+have appeared such to all. My supremacy could be retained only by
+proving myself a better man than any other man in the army. Had I
+yielded to human weakness I should have lost my power."
+
+At the first interview between Napoleon and the veteran generals whom he
+was to command, Rampon undertook to give the young commander some
+advice. Napoleon who was impatient of advice, exclaimed: "Gentlemen, the
+art of war is in its infancy. The time has passed in which enemies are
+mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hat in hand and say:
+'_Gentlemen will you have the goodness to fire_!' We must cut the enemy
+to pieces, precipitate ourselves like a torrent upon their battalions
+and grind them to powder. Experienced generals conduct the troops
+opposed to us. So much the better! Their experience will not avail them
+against me. Mark my words, they will soon burn their books on tactics
+and know not what to do."
+
+Arriving at Rastadt Napoleon found that the multiplicity of details to
+be arranged was likely to require a long stay, and as his personal
+relations with the Directory were of a doubtful kind, he abandoned the
+conduct of the diplomatic business to his colleagues and reached Paris
+after a triumphal march, on the 20th of November, 1797. During his
+absence he had been the salvation of France, and his arrival created a
+great sensation in the capital. He was hailed with the most rapturous
+applause by the people, the streets through which he was expected to
+pass were thronged, and wherever he was seen the air was filled with
+shouts of, "Long live the General of the Army of Italy!"
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by Ch. Chasselat
+
+BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF MANTUA]
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+EXPEDITION TO EGYPT
+
+
+On the 2nd of October, 1797, during Napoleon's absence in Italy, the
+Directory announced to the French people its intention of carrying the
+war with England into England itself. The immediate organization of a
+great invading army was therefore ordered, and "Citizen General
+Bonaparte," the Conqueror of Italy, was designated to command the
+forces.
+
+It was some months before this decision was acted upon, however, and in
+the meantime Napoleon lived quietly in a small, modest house in the Rue
+Chantereine, which he had occupied before he set out for Italy. Shortly
+after his return, on going home one evening, he was surprised to find
+workmen engaged in changing the sign bearing the name of the street to
+"Rue de la Victoire," in commemoration of his Italian campaign. He
+seemed to avoid as much as possible at this time the honors of popular
+distinction and applause that the people heaped upon him. One morning he
+sent his secretary to a theatre manager to ask him to give that evening
+two very popular pieces, "if such a thing were possible."
+
+"Nothing is impossible for General Bonaparte," replied the courtly
+manager; "the Conqueror of Italy has long ago erased that word from the
+dictionary!"
+
+This flattering answer afforded Napoleon a hearty laugh. He went to the
+performance and although endeavoring to maintain his usual privacy, was
+discovered and loudly called upon to come forward. The honor which he
+esteemed most was his nomination as a member of the Institute. He
+frequently attended its meetings and was also fond of appearing in the
+costume worn by the members.
+
+When congratulated by Bourrienne on some noisy demonstration of popular
+favor, he answered in the words of Cromwell; "Bah! they would crowd as
+eagerly about me if I were on my way to the scaffold!"
+
+Wherever he went he was still the Bonaparte of Lodi, Arcola and Rivoli.
+
+Meanwhile the government gave him no adequate reward for his important
+services in Italy. He had not when he returned to France, three hundred
+thousand francs in his possession, though he had transmitted fifty
+millions to the State. "I might easily," he said to Las Casas, "have
+brought back ten or twelve millions; I never made out any accounts, nor
+was I ever asked for any." On the eve of his departure for Egypt he
+became possessed of Malmaison and there deposited nearly all his
+property. He purchased it in the name of his wife, older than himself,
+and consequently, in case of his surviving her, he must have forfeited
+all right to the same. The fact, as stated by himself, was, that he
+never had a taste or desire for the acquirement of riches.
+
+He willingly accepted the new appointment now pressed upon him by the
+government, who seemed anxious that he should not remain in Paris to
+take part in the civil business of the State. In this latter direction
+he had no desire for continued service. In Napoleon's own language, "the
+pear was not yet ripe," and, like Cæsar, he would have preferred being
+first in a village to being second in Rome. The first scheme of the
+French Directory was to make a descent upon England and to place
+Napoleon at the head of the invading army, but their counsels
+continually fluctuated between this project and the Egyptian expedition.
+Napoleon said to Bourrienne on the 29th of January: "Bourrienne, I shall
+remain here no longer; they (the Directory) do not want me; there is no
+good to be done; they will not listen to me. I see, if I loiter here, I
+am done for quickly. Here everything grows flat; my glory is already on
+the wane. This little Europe of yours cannot supply the demand. We must
+move to the East. All great reputations come from that quarter. But I
+will first take a turn round the coast to assure myself what can be
+done. If the success of a descent upon England appears doubtful, as I
+fear, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I am
+off for Egypt." He at length resolved to bring the question of the
+invasion to a decision by a personal survey of the coast opposite
+England. While there he busied himself for a time in suggesting
+improvements in fortifications and in selecting the best points for
+embarking an invading force. Many local improvements of great
+importance, long afterwards effected, were first suggested by him at
+this period; but the time had not come for invading England.
+
+Napoleon had suggested to Talleyrand, minister of foreign affairs, some
+months before, the propriety of making an effort against England in
+another quarter of the globe; i. e., of seizing Malta, proceeding to
+Egypt, and therein gaining at once a territory capable of supplying to
+France the loss of her West Indian colonies, and the means of annoying
+Great Britain in her Indian trade and empire.
+
+The East presented to him a field of conquest and glory, and to this he
+now again recurred. "Europe is but a mole hill," he said; "All the great
+glories have come from Asia where there are six hundred millions of
+men." He soon returned to Paris and made his views known to the
+Directory, declaring that an invasion of England was a wild chimera. To
+Bourrienne, his school companion, who asked him concerning his
+contemplated invasion after he had been on the coast a week he said:
+"The risk is too great; I sha'n't venture it. I don't want to trifle
+with the fate of France."
+
+The temptation of the Directory was great, and as it would find
+employment for Napoleon at a distance from France, the Egyptian
+expedition was finally determined upon; but kept a great secret.
+
+While the attention of Great Britain was now riveted on the coast, it
+was on the borders of the Mediterranean that his ships and the troops
+really destined for action, were assembling. Everyone wished to
+accompany Napoleon to the East--civilians, scholars, engineers, artists,
+all wished to make the journey. Napoleon selected and equipped the army,
+raised money and collected ships. He was employed night and day in the
+organization of the armament which was to be under his command
+absolutely.
+
+In April and May 1798 the various squadrons of the French fleet were
+assembled at Toulon, and everything was soon in readiness. The main body
+was assembled at Toulon but the embarkment was to take place at Civita
+Vecchia. When asked if he should remain long in Egypt, Napoleon replied:
+"A few months, or six years; it all depends upon circumstances."
+
+When all was in readiness Bonaparte called his vast army together and in
+sight of the ships which were to carry them from the shores of France,
+said to his followers: "Rome fought Carthage on sea as well as on the
+land; England is the Carthage of France. I have come to lead you, in the
+name of the Divinity of Liberty, across mighty seas, and into distant
+regions, where your valor may achieve such life and glory as will never
+await you beneath the cold skies of the West. Prepare yourselves,
+soldiers, to embark under the tri-color for achievements far more
+glorious than you have won for your country on the blushing plains of
+Italy."
+
+He agreed to give each soldier seven acres of land, and as his promises
+had not hitherto been violated, the soldiers heard him with joy, and
+prepared to obey him with alacrity. They answered his address with loud
+cheers and cries of, "Long live the Republic!" The English government
+vigilantly observed the preparations that were going on, and kept a
+fleet in the Mediterranean under the command of Nelson. It was highly
+important that the French squadron should sail without delay, in order
+to avoid the risk of being discovered by the English cruisers, but
+contrary winds detained it for ten days. This interval was employed by
+Napoleon in attention to the minutest details connected with the finely
+appointed force under his command.
+
+On the evening of the 19th of May, 1798, fortune favored him, and the
+troops were all embarked, while the English fleet, under Nelson, "the
+Neptune of the Seas," was compelled to go into port to repair ships
+disabled in a violent gale. The French fleet, which was supplied with
+water for a month, and with food for two months, carried about 40,000
+men of all sorts, and ten thousand sailors. In the army were many
+veteran soldiers, selected from the Army of Italy and commanded by the
+first generals of France. Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Regnier, Murat,
+Lannes, Andreossi, Junot, Menou, and Belliard all served in this
+campaign.
+
+Josephine had accompanied her husband to Toulon, and remained with him
+to the last moment; their farewell was most affecting. As the last of
+the French troops stepped on board, the sun rose with great brilliancy
+on the mighty armament--one of those dazzling suns which the soldiers
+often referred to with delight as "the suns of Napoleon," and sails were
+immediately set for the East.
+
+On the 8th of June the convoys from Italy joined the squadron out at
+sea; on the 10th the whole fleet was assembled before Malta. The first
+object of Napoleon was to take possession of that island. He had
+already secured a secret party among the knights, and a very slight
+demonstration of hostilities spread consternation among them and they
+opened their gates to the French without delay. Nearly all the knights
+entered the ranks of the French army. As the French troops passed
+through the almost impregnable fortifications General Caffarelli dryly
+remarked to Napoleon that it was fortunate there was some one to open
+the gates for them; had there been no garrison at all, it would have
+been terrible hard work.
+
+Leaving a sufficient garrison in Malta the French squadron was again
+under sail on the 16th. While the officers and savants devoted much time
+to the discussion of military and scientific topics the great object of
+excitement and solicitude was to elude the English fleet. The French
+vessels were encumbered with civil and military baggage, provisions,
+stores, etc., and densely crowded with troops. Napoleon was anxious to
+avoid such an encounter: "God grant that we may pass the English
+without meeting them," he remarked to Admiral Brueyes.
+
+Nelson was now in full pursuit. At Naples he heard of their landing at
+Malta and that their destination was Egypt. He arrived at Malta just
+after they had left the island and missed overtaking them by an
+accident. During a hazy night, on which they lay off Candia, the French
+were alarmed by the report of guns on their starboard, and it afterwards
+proved that those were signals between the ships of Nelson's fleet, so
+close were the two hostile squadrons to each other without being aware
+of it. Napoleon received positive information of this proximity the
+following morning and ordered Brueyes to steer at once for Cape Aza,
+about twenty-five leagues distant from Alexandria. This precaution
+foiled Nelson who crowded sail for Alexandria.
+
+Napoleon finally reached his destination on the first of July
+undisturbed, the tops of the minarets of Alexandria announcing that his
+point was gained. As he was reconnoitring the coast at the very moment
+that danger seemed over a strange sail appeared on the verge of the
+horizon: "Fortune!" exclaimed he, "I ask but six hours more,--wilt thou
+refuse them?" The vessel proved not to be English, but French and the
+disembarkation, near a structure called the tower of Marabout, three
+leagues to the eastward of Alexandria, immediately took place in spite
+of a violent gale and a tremendous surf. Egypt was then nominally a
+province of the Porte, and governed by a Turkish Pasha who was at peace
+with France.
+
+Bonaparte met with no opposition in landing, and by 3 o'clock in the
+morning commenced his march upon Alexandria with three divisions of his
+army. He had little difficulty in entering Alexandria, although he met
+with resistance and General Kléber, who commanded the attack, was
+wounded. The French lost about two hundred men.
+
+Bonaparte exacted of his troops, under penalty of death, consideration
+of all the laws and religion of the country, and to the people of Egypt
+he addressed a proclamation in which he said: "They will tell you that I
+come to destroy your religion; believe them not: I come to restore your
+rights, to punish the usurpers, and I respect, more than the Mamelukes
+ever did, God, his Prophet and the Koran. * * * Thrice happy they
+who shall be with us! Woe unto them that take up arms for the
+Mamelukes!--they shall perish."
+
+The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, individually, the
+finest cavalry in the world. They rode the noblest horses of Arabia, and
+were armed with the best weapons which the world could produce:
+carbines, pistols, etc., from England, and sabres of the steel of
+Damascus. Their skill in horsemanship was equal to their fiery valor.
+With that cavalry and the French infantry, Bonaparte said it would be
+easy to conquer the world.
+
+Napoleon himself remained some days in Alexandria and left on the 7th of
+July, leaving Kléber in command, being anxious to force the Mamelukes to
+an encounter with the least possible delay. General Desaix was sent
+forward with 4500 men to Beda. The commission of learned men remained at
+Alexandria, until Napoleon should reach Cairo, with the exception of
+Monge and Berthollett who accompanied the commander.
+
+The march over the burning sands of the desert brought extreme misery
+and unheard-of sufferings to the troops; the air was full of pestiferous
+insects, the glare of the sand weakened the men's eyes, and water was
+scarce and bad. Even the gallant spirits of Murat and Lannes could not
+sustain themselves, and they trampled their brilliant cockades in the
+sand in a fit of rage in the presence of the troops. The common soldiers
+asked, with sarcastic or angry murmurs, if it was here the general
+designed to give them their "seven acres of land." "The rogue" said
+they, "he might, with safety, have promised us as much as we pleased; we
+should not abuse his good nature." They, however, bore a grudge against
+Caffarelli, who they thought had advised the expedition, and used to
+say, as he hobbled past with his wooden leg, "He does not care what
+happens; he is sure to have one foot at least in France."
+
+Napoleon alone was superior to all these evils. It required, however,
+more than his example of endurance and the general influence of his firm
+character to prevent the army from breaking into open mutiny. "Once,"
+said he at St Helena, "I threw myself amidst a group of generals, and,
+addressing myself to the tallest of their number with vehemence, said,
+'You have been talking sedition; take care lest I fulfill my duty; your
+five feet ten inches would not hinder you from being shot within two
+hours.'"
+
+On the 10th of July, 1798, the army reached the Nile at Rahmanié: "We no
+sooner saw the river," says Savary in his memoirs, "than soldiers,
+officers and all rushed into it; each, regardless whether it was
+sufficiently shallow to afford security from danger, only sought to
+quench his burning thirst, and stooped to drink from the stream, the
+whole army presenting the appearance of a flock of sheep." "We
+encamped," says Napoleon, "on immense quantities of wheat, but there
+was neither mill nor oven in the country." The men bruised the grain
+between stones and baked it in the ashes or parched and boiled it.
+
+The army soon moved on towards Cairo, but the men were unable to leave
+the ranks for a single instant without certain death from the spears or
+scimitars of those matchless Mameluke horsemen; and, therefore, although
+so near the Nile, several fell dead from thirst. But the worriment of
+their minds was their worst evil. They began to say there was no great
+city of Cairo; that they believed it would prove only a collection of
+wretched huts. In this state they came up, on the 13th, with the
+Mamelukes at Chebreis. They were drawn up in battle array under Mourad
+Bey, one of their most powerful chiefs, and were a magnificent body of
+cavalry, glittering with gold and silver and mounted on splendid horses.
+
+The battle commenced without a moment's hesitation on either side. Each
+Mameluke, feeling in himself the valor of a host, rushed in the
+singleness of his purpose, as if alone against the opposing mass; and
+with repeated charges, endeavored, by every means of unbridled fury or
+consummate skill, to break the solid squares of the French army. They
+were at length beaten back with the loss of about three hundred.
+
+After the action at Chebreis the French army continued to advance during
+eight days without opposition of any enemy except the hovering Arabs who
+lay in wait for every straggler from the main column. The order of march
+towards Cairo was systematically arranged; each division of the army
+moved forward in squares six men deep on each side; the artillery was at
+the angles; and in the centre the ammunition, the baggage, and the
+small body of cavalry still remaining. Napoleon himself when he rode
+always made use of a dromedary, though he at first suffered a sensation
+resembling seasickness from its peculiar motion. "I never passed the
+desert," said he sometime later, "without experiencing very painful
+emotions. It was the image of immensity to my thoughts. It showed no
+limits. It had neither beginning nor end. It was an ocean for the foot
+of man."
+
+On the 19th of July the soldiers' eyes were gladdened by the sight of
+the grand pyramids on the horizon. Still advancing towards Cairo, the
+distant monuments swelling upon the eye at every step, the army reached
+Embabé on the 21st and found the Mamelukes in battle array to dispute
+their further progress.
+
+While every eye was fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, Napoleon
+sighted with his glass a vast army of the Beys spread out before him,
+the right posted on an intrenched camp by the Nile, its centre and left
+composed of that brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time
+acquainted. Napoleon perceived, too, and what had escaped the
+observation of all his staff, that the 40 pieces of cannon on the
+intrenched camp of the enemy were without carriages, and consequently
+could be leveled in but one direction. He instantly decided on his plan
+of attack by preparing to throw his forces on the left, where the guns
+could not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded the Mamelukes,
+penetrated the French commander's design, and his followers at once
+advanced gallantly to the encounter.
+
+"Soldiers, you are about to fight the rulers of Egypt," said Napoleon,
+as he raised his hands high in the air and formed his troops into
+separate squares to meet the assault; "from the summits of yonder
+pyramids forty centuries behold you." These imposing and mysterious
+witnesses were not appealed to in vain, and the great battle began at
+once at the foot of the ancient and gigantic monuments, the French
+advancing in five grand squares, Napoleon heading the centre square. In
+an instant the Mamelukes came charging up with impetuous speed and loud
+cries. They rushed on the line of bayonets, backed their horses upon
+them, and at last, maddened by the firmness which they could not shake,
+dashed their pistols and carbines into the faces of the French troops.
+
+The first manoeuvre of the French army disconcerted the plans of the
+Mamelukes; still they continued to charge. The places of the dead and
+dying were instantly supplied by new warriors, who fell in their turn.
+They daringly penetrated even between the spaces occupied by the squares
+commanded by Regnier and Desaix, so that the desperate horsemen were
+exposed to the incessant fire of both faces of the divisions at the
+distance of fifty paces. Many of the French fell from each other's fire
+in the resistance to this act of desperation.
+
+Those who had fallen wounded from their seats crawled along the sand and
+hewed at the legs of their enemies with their scimitars; but nothing
+could move the intrepid French. Bayonets and the continued roll of
+musketry by degrees thinned the host around them. When Bonaparte at last
+advanced with his battalions upon the main body, and divided one part
+from the other, such was the confusion and terror of the Mamelukes that
+they abandoned their works and flung themselves by hundreds into the
+Nile. The carnage was prodigious, thousands were left bleeding on the
+sands, and multitudes more were drowned. It was the custom of the
+Mamelukes to carry their treasures with them on their bodies when they
+went to battle, and every one that fell made a French soldier rich for
+life, as the bodies of the slain were all rifled. In his report of the
+engagement, Bonaparte said: "After the great number of battles in which
+the troops I command have been opposed to superior strength, I cannot
+but praise their discipline and coolness on this occasion; for this
+novel species of warfare has made them display a patience contrasting
+oddly with French impetuosity. If they had given way to their ardor,
+they would not have gained the victory, which was only to be obtained by
+great calmness and patience. The cavalry of the Mamelukes evinced great
+bravery. They defended their fortunes; for there was not one of them
+upon whom our soldiers did not find three, four or five hundred gold
+pieces."
+
+Savary, who fought in Desaix's division, which had to stand the first
+attack of the Mamelukes, has given a striking description of the
+impression produced by their furious onset. "Although," he says, "the
+troops that were in Egypt had been long inured to danger, every one
+present at the battle of the Pyramids must acknowledge, if he be
+sincere, that the charge of the Mamelukes was most awful, and that there
+was reason, at one moment, to apprehend their breaking through our
+formidable squares, rushing upon them, as they did, with a confidence
+which enforced silence in our ranks, interrupted only by the word of
+command. It seemed as if we must inevitably be trampled in an instant
+under the feet of this cavalry of Mamelukes, who were all mounted upon
+splendid chargers, richly caparisoned with gold and silver trappings,
+covered with draperies of all colors and waving scarfs, and who were
+bearing down upon us at full gallop, rending the air with their cries.
+The whole character of this imposing sight filled the breasts of our
+soldiers with sensations to which they had hitherto been strangers, and
+made them vividly attentive to the word of command. The order to fire
+was executed with a quickness and precision far exceeding what is
+exhibited in an exercise or upon parade."
+
+More than fifty pieces of cannon and four hundred loaded camels became
+the spoil of the conquerors.
+
+Mourad and a remnant of 2000 of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt.
+These were all that escaped with life out of the matchless body of men
+who in such superb array had bid scornful defiance to the European
+invaders only a few hours before. Cairo surrendered; Lower Egypt was
+entirely conquered. Such were the immediate consequences of the "Battle
+of the Pyramids."
+
+Many of the promiscuous rabble of infantry reached Cairo in advance of
+the French and there they spread realistic accounts of the dreadful
+power of Napoleon and his army.
+
+The name of Bonaparte now spread panic through the East, and the victor
+was considered invincible. The inhabitants called him "King of Fire,"
+from the deadly effect of the musketry in the engagement at the Pyramids
+which decided the conquest of the country. By the earliest dawn the
+victor prepared to take possession of the conquest he had made, but was
+spared all difficulties by its unconditional surrender. A deputation of
+the shieks and chief inhabitants waited upon him at his headquarters in
+the country house of Mourad Bey, to implore his clemency and submit to
+his power. He received them with the greatest kindness and informed
+them of his friendly intentions towards them and that his hostility was
+entirely confined to the Mamelukes.
+
+Cairo and its citadel were immediately occupied by the French troops,
+and on the 24th of July Napoleon made his public entry into the capital,
+amidst a great concourse of people.
+
+The savants who accompanied Bonaparte on the expedition lost no time in
+taking advantage of their opportunities, and at once began to ransack
+the monuments of antiquity, and founded collections which reflected much
+honor on their zeal and skill. Napoleon himself, accompanied by many
+officers of his staff, visited the interior of the Great Pyramid of
+Cheops, attended by many muftis and imans, and on entering the secret
+chamber in which, three thousand years before, some Pharaoh had been
+interred, repeated once more his confession of faith: "There is no God
+but God, and Mohammed is his Prophet." The learned Orientals who
+accompanied him responded with sarcastic solemnity: "Thou hast spoken
+like the most learned of the prophets; but God is merciful."
+
+Ten days after the battle at the pyramids had been fought and won,
+Nelson, who had scoured the Mediterranean in quest of Napoleon,
+discovered the French fleet, commanded by Admiral Brueyes, at anchor in
+the Bay of Aboukir. A terrific engagement ensued, lasting twenty-four
+hours, including a whole night. A solitary pause occurred at midnight
+when the French ship _Orient_, a superb vessel of 120 guns, took fire
+and blew up in the heart of the conflicting squadrons, with an explosion
+that for a moment silenced rage in awe. Admiral Brueyes himself
+perished. The next morning two shattered ships, out of all the French
+fleet, with difficulty made their escape to the sea. The rest of the
+magnificent fleet was utterly destroyed or remained in the hands of the
+English, who have since called the engagement "The Battle of the Nile."
+
+The ships were arranged in a semi-circular compact line of battle, and
+so close to the shore that Brueyes had supposed it was impossible to get
+between them and the land; but his daring enemy, who well knew all the
+surroundings, soon convinced him of his mistake. The van of the English
+fleet, six in number, successfully rounded the French line, dropping
+anchor between it and the shore, and opened their fire, while Nelson,
+with his other ships, ranged along it on the outer side and so placed
+the French fleet between two tremendous fires. Admiral Brueyes was
+wounded early in the action, but continued to command with the utmost
+energy. When he fell mortally wounded he would not suffer himself to be
+carried below. "A French admiral ought to die on his quarter-deck," he
+replied to the entreaties of his friend Gantheaume who succeeded him.
+
+It was on his return from Salahié to Cairo, whither Napoleon had pursued
+the Mameluke chief, Ibrahim-Bey, and defeated him, that he was met by a
+messenger, with information of the destruction of the French fleet by
+Nelson in the roads of Aboukir. It was a terrible blow to Napoleon, who
+was thus shut off from all intercourse with France; his soldiers were
+thus completely isolated, hundreds of miles from home, and compelled to
+rely on their own arms and the resources of Egypt. He had been so
+anxious about the fleet as to write twice to Admiral Brueyes to repeat
+the order that he should enter the harbor of Alexandria, or sail for
+Corfu; he had also, previously to leaving Cairo, dispatched Julien, his
+aide-de-camp, to enforce the order; but this unfortunate officer was
+surrounded and killed, with his escort, at a village on the Nile, where
+he had landed to obtain provisions.
+
+[Illustration: From an Engraving by Gustave Levy
+
+BONAPARTE AS GENERAL-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY OF ITALY]
+
+A solitary sigh escaped Napoleon when he heard the news. "To the army of
+France," said he, "the fates have decreed the empire of the land--to
+England the sovereignty of the seas." Some years later, on learning of
+the results of the terrible naval battle at Trafalgar, in which Nelson
+was again victorious, but which cost him his life, Napoleon repeated
+this remark, adding, "Well, I cannot be everywhere." The seamen who had
+landed at Alexandria were now formed into a marine brigade, and made a
+valuable addition to the army. Very soon afterwards the Porte declared
+war against France.
+
+Public improvements of various kinds were now begun at Cairo and
+Alexandria under Bonaparte's direction, and many continue to this day.
+In all quarters the highest discipline was preserved; and Napoleon
+exerted all the energy of his nature to increase the resources which
+remained to him, and to preserve and organize Egypt as a French
+province. "At each step of his advance," says Savary, "General Bonaparte
+quickly foresaw everything that was to be done to render available the
+resources of the most fertile country in the world and give them a
+suitable application." So quickly had his mind recovered its tone that,
+on the 21st of August (only a week after he had learned of the
+destruction of his fleet at Aboukir), he founded an Institute at Cairo
+exactly on the model of that learned society in France. Monge was
+president; Napoleon himself, vice-president.
+
+At Cairo a terrible insurrection occurred on the 21st of October, but it
+was soon put down by the French troops, after a bitter struggle in which
+many soldiers lost their lives. Napoleon was in the thickest of the
+conflict on horseback in the centre of thirty Guides and soon restored
+confidence among his soldiers. Tranquility was restored in three days,
+after which many of the leaders were put to death. The others were
+pardoned.
+
+Napoleon now proceeded to explore the Isthmus of Suez, where a narrow
+neck of land divides the Red Sea from the Mediterranean. He visited the
+Maronite Monks of Mount Sinai, and, as Mohammed had done before him,
+affixed his name to their charter of privileges; he examined, also, the
+Fountains of Moses, and on the 28th of December, 1798, nearly lost his
+life in exploring, during low water, the sands of the Red Sea, where
+Pharaoh is supposed to have perished while in pursuit of the Hebrews.
+"The night overtook us," says Savary, "the waters began to rise around
+us; the Guard in advance exclaimed that their horses were swimming.
+Bonaparte saved us all by one of those simple expedients which occur to
+an imperturbable mind. Placing himself in the centre he bade all the
+rest circle around him, and then ride out, each man in a separate
+direction, and each to halt as soon as he found his horse swimming. The
+man whose horse continued to march the last, was sure, he said, to be in
+the right direction; then accordingly we all followed, and reached Suez
+at two in the morning in safety, though so rapidly had the tide advanced
+that the water was at the breastplate of our horses ere we made the
+land." In referring to this narrow escape from sharing the fate of
+Pharaoh, Napoleon remarked to Las Casas: "This would have furnished all
+the preachers in Christendom with a splendid text against me."
+
+On his return to Cairo Bonaparte dispatched a trusty messenger into
+India, inviting Tippoo Saib to inform him of the condition of the
+English army in that section, and declaring that Egypt was only the
+first port in a march destined to surpass that of Alexander. According
+to his secretary, "he spent whole days in lying flat on the ground
+stretched on maps of Asia."
+
+After having passed the balance of the year at Cairo the commander
+declared the time for action had now arrived. Leaving 15,000 men in and
+about Cairo, the division of Desaix in Upper Egypt, and garrisons in the
+chief towns, Bonaparte, on the 11th of February, 1799, marched for Syria
+at the head of 10,000 picked men, with the intention of crushing the
+Turkish armaments in that quarter before their chief force, which he
+learned was assembling at Rhodes, should have time to reach Egypt by
+sea.
+
+The hostility of the Porte, which would of course be encouraged and
+assisted by England, implied impending danger on two points,--the
+approach of a Turkish army via Syria and the landing of another on the
+coast of the Mediterranean, under the protection of British ships. The
+necessity of forestalling their designs by an expedition to Syria was
+therefore apparent. In January, 1799, two Turkish armies were assembled;
+one at Rhodes; the other in Syria. The former was intended to make a
+descent upon the coast of Egypt at Aboukir, the latter had already
+pushed forward its advance guard to El-Arisch, a fort within the
+Egyptian territory, had established large magazines at Gaza and landed
+at Jaffa a train of artillery of forty guns.
+
+Traversing the desert, seventy-five leagues across, which divides Egypt
+from Syria, with about twelve thousand men, one regiment being mounted
+on dromedaries, Napoleon took possession of the fortress El-Arisch on
+February 17th, after a vigorous assault. The march was made rapidly and
+in good order. Having resolved upon an immediate expedition into Syria,
+he did not wait to be attacked on both sides at the same time; but,
+according to his usual custom, determined to push forward and encounter
+one division of his enemies at a time. He addressed two letters to the
+Pasha of Syria, surnamed Djezzar or "the Butcher," from his horrible
+cruelties, offering him friendship and alliance, but the pasha observed
+a contemptuous silence as to the first communication, and replied to the
+second in his favorite fashion--seized the messenger and cut off his
+head. There was, consequently, nothing to be done with Djezzar but to
+fight him with such generals as Kléber, Bessieres, Caffarelli, Murat,
+Lannes, Junot and Berthier.
+
+Pursuing his march, Napoleon took Gaza, the ancient city of the
+Philistines, without serious opposition, although three or four thousand
+of Djezzar's horse were drawn up to oppose them. At Jaffa, the Joppa of
+Holy Writ, the Moslems made a resolute defense, on March 6th, but at
+length the walls were carried by storm. Three thousand Turks died with
+arms in their hands in defense of the city, and the town was given up
+for three hours to pillage more savage than Napoleon had ever before
+permitted. This was followed by a massacre of hundreds of the barbarians
+who were marched out of Jaffa some distance from the town, in the centre
+of a battalion under General Bon, divided into small parties and shot or
+bayoneted to a man. Like true fatalists they submitted in silence, and
+their bodies were gathered into a pyramid where for half a century their
+bones were still visible in the whitening sand.
+
+Napoleon, while admitting that the act was one of the darkest stains on
+his name that he had to acknowledge, still justified himself on the
+double plea that he could not afford soldiers to guard so many
+prisoners--estimated variously from 1200 to 3,000--and that he could not
+grant them the benefit of parole because they were the very men who had
+already been set free by him on such terms at El-Arisch after they had
+given their word not to serve against him for a year. "Now," said
+Napoleon at St. Helena, "if I had spared them again and sent them away
+on their parole, they would directly have gone to St. Jean d'Acre, where
+they would have played me over again the same trick that they had done
+at Jaffa. In justice to the lives of my soldiers, since every general
+ought to consider himself as their father, and them as his children, I
+could not allow this. To leave as a guard a portion of my army, already
+small and reduced in number, in consequence of the breach of faith of
+those wretches, was impossible. I therefore * * * ordered that the
+prisoners should be singled out and shot. * * * I would do the same
+thing to-morrow and so would any general commanding an army under such
+circumstances."
+
+Napoleon now ascertained that the Pasha of Syria was at St. Jean d'Acre,
+so renowned in the history of the Crusades, and determined to defend
+that place to extremity with the force which had already been assembled
+for the invasion of Egypt. Sir Sidney Smith, with two ships of war, was
+cruising before the port and the garrison was assisted by European
+science.
+
+The French army moved on Acre, eager for revenge, while the necessary
+apparatus of a siege was ordered to be sent round by sea from
+Alexandria. Sir Sidney Smith was informed by Djezzar, of the approaching
+storm, and hastened to support him in the defense of Acre. Napoleon's
+vessels, conveying guns and stores from Egypt, fell into his hands and
+he appeared off the town two days before the French army came in view of
+it. He was permitted to regulate the plan of defense, turning Napoleon's
+own cannon against him from the walls.
+
+Napoleon commenced the siege on the 18th of March and opened his
+trenches immediately on his arrival. "On that little town," he said to
+one of his generals, as they were standing together on an eminence, "On
+yonder little town depends the fate of the East: behold the key of
+Constantinople or of India." "The moment Acre falls," he said about the
+same time to Bourrienne, "all the Druses of Mount Lebanon will join me;
+the Syrians, weary of Djezzar's oppressions, will crowd to my standard:
+I shall march upon Constantinople with an army to which the Turks can
+offer no effectual resistance, and it is not unlikely that I may return
+to France by the route of Adrianople and Vienna, destroying the house of
+Austria on my way."
+
+For ten days the French labored hard in their trenches, being exposed to
+the fire of extensive batteries, formed chiefly of Bonaparte's own
+artillery. On March 28th, however, a breach was at last effected and the
+French mounted with such fiery zeal that the garrison gave way. Shortly
+afterwards Djezzar himself appeared on the battlements, and flinging his
+pistols at the head of his flying men, urged and compelled them to renew
+the defense, which they finally did, causing the French to retreat with
+great loss.
+
+In the meantime Junot, having marched with his division to encounter a
+large Mussulman army that had been gathered among the mountains of
+Samaria, and was preparing to descend upon Acre, Napoleon was compelled
+to follow him to Nazareth, where he was rescued on April 8th. Here, as
+usual, the splendid cavalry of the Orientals were unable to resist the
+solid squares and well-directed musketry of the French. General
+Kléber, with another division, was in like manner rescued by the
+general-in-chief at Mount Thabor on April 15th, after the former had
+fought against fearful odds from six in the morning till one in the
+afternoon.
+
+Napoleon now returned to the siege of Acre with all possible dispatch,
+pressed it on with desperate assaults day after day, losing many of his
+best soldiers. Accustomed to the easy victories which he had obtained on
+every encounter with the Turkish forces in Syria, he was not prepared to
+expect the determined resistance by which his progress was now arrested.
+Acre is surrounded by a wall flanked with towers, and was further
+defended by a broad and deep ditch with strong works. At one time the
+French succeeded in forcing their way into the great tower and in
+establishing themselves in one part of it for a time despite all
+opposition; but they were finally dislodged; each advantage ended with
+itself and no progress was made towards subduing the place. At another
+time a break was made in the walls in a distant part of the town, and a
+French party entered Acre at the opening. Djezzar then threw such a
+crowd of Turks upon them that all discipline was lost and nearly every
+French soldier met death. The brave Lannes, who headed the party, was
+with difficulty rescued after being desperately wounded.
+
+During this siege Napoleon sent an officer with an order to the most
+exposed position; he was killed. He sent another, who was also killed;
+and so with a third. The order was imperative and Bonaparte had but two
+aides with him, Eugene Beauharnais and Lavalette. He signaled to the
+latter to come forward, and said to him in a low voice, so that Eugene
+could not hear: "Take this order, Lavalette, I don't want to send this
+boy and have him killed so young; his mother (Josephine) has intrusted
+him to me. You know what life is. Go!" The aide returned in safety.
+
+On another occasion during the siege a piece of shell struck Eugene on
+the head: he fell, and lay for a long time under the ruins of a wall
+which the shell had knocked down. Bonaparte thought he was killed, and
+uttered a cry of grief. The youth was only wounded, however, and at the
+end of nineteen days asked leave to return to his post, in order to take
+part in the other assaults, which failed like the first, in spite of
+Bonaparte's obstinacy. "This wretched hole," said he, "has cost me a
+good deal of time and a great many men, but things have gone too far; I
+must try one last assault."
+
+An instance of the enthusiastic attachment which Napoleon was capable of
+inspiring occurred during this memorable siege. One day, when the
+commander was in the trenches, a shell thrown by Sir Sidney Smith, fell
+at his feet. Two grenadiers immediately rushed towards him,--placed him
+between them, and raised their arms above his head so as to completely
+cover every part of his body. The shell burst without injuring one of
+the group, although they were covered with sand. Both these grenadiers
+were made officers immediately; one of them, subsequently, was the
+General Dumesnil, so much talked of 1814, for his resolute defense of
+Vincennes against the Russians. He had lost a leg in the campaign of
+Moscow; and to the summons to surrender he replied, "Give me back my leg
+and I will give up the fortress!" The fate of his heroic companion is
+not recorded.
+
+The siege had now continued for sixty days. Napoleon once more commanded
+an assault on the 8th of May, and his officers and soldiers obeyed him
+with devoted but fruitless gallantry. "That Sidney Smith," he said
+later, "made me miss my fortune." The loss his army had by this time
+undergone was very great, and the hearts of all the men were quickly
+sinking.
+
+Among the officers and men who fell on this memorable 8th of May was
+Croisier, the aide-de-camp, who had incurred the commander's displeasure
+at Jaffa. Napoleon had once before been violently irritated against him
+for some seeming neglect at Cairo, and the word "coward" had escaped
+him. The feelings of Croisier, then deeply affected had become
+insupportable since the event at Jaffa, and he sought death at every
+opportunity. On this day Napoleon observed the tall figure of his
+unfortunate aide-de-camp mounted on a battery, exposed to the thickest
+of the enemy's fire, and called loudly and imperatively, "Croisier, come
+down! you have no business there." Croisier neither replied nor moved;
+the next instant he received his death wound.
+
+A Turkish fleet had now arrived to reinforce Djezzar, and upon the utter
+failure of the attack of the 21st of May, the eleventh different attempt
+to carry the place by assault, Napoleon yielded to stern necessity,
+raised the siege, and began his retreat upon Jaffa. On leaving this
+latter place some six days after, a number of plague patients in the
+hospitals were found to be in a state that held out no hope of their
+recovery, and the commander, unwilling to leave them to the cruel
+practices of the Turks, suggested that opium be administered by one of
+the medical staff as a speedy death.
+
+The various accounts of this incident in no way agree in detail.
+Bonaparte denied at St. Helena that the opium was given, but said that
+the patients, seven in number were abandoned. He declared also, that if
+his own son had been among the number he would have advised that it be
+done rather than to leave them to suffer the tortures of the Turks. Sir
+Sidney Smith found seven alive in the hospitals when he came up. A rear
+guard had been left to protect them and they probably galloped off
+before the English entered the place. Bourrienne, who acted as secretary
+to Napoleon at this time, gives a different account, while others assert
+that 500 men were thus disposed of. The real facts will probably never
+be known although both Hazlitt and Sir Walter Scott acquit Napoleon of
+all blame after a careful investigation of all the facts. That
+Bonaparte's motives were good his enemies generally admit, as he seems
+to have designed, by shortening these men's lives, to do them the best
+service in his power.
+
+The retreating march was a continued scene of misery; the wounded and
+sick were many, the heat oppressive, and the burdens almost intolerable.
+Dejected by the sight of so much suffering Napoleon issued an order that
+every horse, mule and camel should be given up to the sick, wounded and
+infected. Shortly afterwards one of his attendants came to ask which
+horse he wished to reserve for himself. "Scoundrel!" the commander
+cried, "do you not know the order? Let every one march on foot--I the
+first! Begone!" He accordingly, during the rest of the march, walked by
+the side of the sick, cheering them to hope for recovery, and exhibiting
+to all the soldiery the example at once of endurance and compassion. As
+he had done in Italy, Napoleon always shared the privations and fatigue
+of the army and their extremities were sometimes so great that the
+troops were compelled to contend with each other for the smallest
+comforts. Upon one occasion in the desert, the soldiers would scarcely
+allow their general to dip his hands in a muddy pool of water; and when
+passing the ruins of Pelusium, almost suffocated by heat, a soldier
+yielded him the ruins of an ancient doorway beneath which he contrived
+to shade his head for a few minutes and which Napoleon observed, "was no
+trifling favor."
+
+On the march between Cesarea and Jaffa, Napoleon very narrowly escaped
+death. Many of the men had by this time regained their horses, owing to
+the continual death of the wretched objects who had been mounted upon
+them. The commander was so exhausted that he had fallen asleep on his
+horse. A little before daybreak, a native, concealed among the bushes
+close to the roadside, took aim at his head, and fired. The ball missed:
+the man was pursued, caught and ordered to be instantly shot. Four
+Guides drew their triggers, but all their carbines hung fire, owing to
+the extreme humidity of the night. The Syrian leaped into the sea, which
+was close to the road; swam to a ledge of rocks, which he mounted and
+there stood, undaunted and untouched by the shots of the whole troop,
+who fired at him as they pleased. Napoleon left Bourrienne behind to
+wait for Kléber, who formed the rear guard and to order him "not to
+forget the Naplousian." It is not certain that he was shot at last.
+
+On his return to Cairo on the 14th of June, 1799, after a march of
+twenty-five days, Napoleon once more re-established himself in his
+former headquarters; but he had not long occupied himself with the
+establishment of a new government for Egypt which was then in a state of
+perfect tranquility, when word came to him of a probable uprising at
+Alexandria. The commander therefore decided to go there at once. He
+arrived on the 24th of July and found his army posted in the
+neighborhood of Aboukir, prepared to anticipate an attack of the Turks
+which had appeared off Aboukir under the protection of two British ships
+commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, on the morrow. Surveying their intrenched
+camp from the heights above, the commander said to Murat; "Go how it
+may, the battle of tomorrow will decide the fate of the world." "Of this
+army at least," answered Murat; "but the Turks have no cavalry, and if
+ever infantry were charged to the teeth by horse, they shall be so by
+mine," a promise which the brave cavalry leader made good.
+
+Next morning the Turkish outposts were attacked and the enemy driven in
+with great slaughter. The retreat might have ended in a rout but for the
+eagerness of the enemy who engaged in the task of spoiling and maiming
+those who fell before them. This gave to Murat the opportunity of
+charging the main body,--which had been drawn up in battle array on the
+field,--in flank with his cavalry. From that moment the engagement was
+no longer a battle but a massacre. The French infantry, under the
+rallying eye of Napoleon, forced a passage to the intrenchments, and
+attacking the Turks on all sides, caused them to throw themselves
+headlong into the waves, rather than await the fury of the French
+cavalry and the steady fire of the artillery. The sea at first appeared
+literally covered with turbans. It was only when weary with slaughter
+that quarter was given to about 6,000 men--the rest of the Turkish army,
+consisting of 18,000 having perished on the field or in the sea. Six
+thousand were taken prisoners.
+
+The defeat of the Turks at Aboukir filled the French soldiers at Cairo
+with extreme rapture; Murat was promoted to the rank of a general of
+division and Napoleon ordered his name and that of Roize and the numbers
+of the regiments of cavalry present at the battle, engraved upon pieces
+of brass cannon. Mustapha Pasha, the commanding general of the Turks, on
+being brought into the presence of his victor, was saluted with these
+words: "It has been your fate to lose this day; but I will take care to
+inform the sultan of the courage with which you have contested it."
+
+"Spare thyself that trouble," answered the proud pasha, "my master knows
+me better than thou." On the evening after the battle, General Kléber
+embraced Bonaparte and said to him, "General, you are as great as the
+world!" "It is not written on high that I am to perish by the hands of
+the Arabs," replied Napoleon.
+
+This splendid and most decisive victory at Aboukir concluded Bonaparte's
+career in the East. It was imperiously necessary, ere he could have
+ventured to quit the command of the army, that he should have to his
+credit some such glory after the retreat from Syria. It preserved his
+credit with the public and enabled him to state that he left Egypt for
+the time in absolute security. After the engagement Napoleon sent a flag
+of truce to Sir Sidney Smith, and an interchange of civilities commenced
+between the English and the French. This circumstance, trifling in
+itself, led to important consequences. Among other things, a copy of a
+French journal, dated the 10th of June 1799 was sent ashore by Sir
+Sidney Smith. No news from France had reached Egypt for ten months.
+Napoleon seized the paper with eagerness and its contents verified his
+worst fears; he had said some time before while at Acre that he feared
+France was in trouble. As he opened the paper he exclaimed: "My God! My
+presentiment is realized; the imbeciles have lost Italy! All the fruits
+of our victories are gone! I must leave Egypt." He then spent the whole
+night in his tent reading a file of the English newspapers which had
+been furnished him. From these he learned of Suwarrow's victories over
+the French in Italy and of the disastrous internal state of France. In
+the morning Admiral Gantheaume received hasty orders to prepare the two
+frigates _Muiron_ and _Carrére_ and two corvetts, for sea, with the
+utmost secrecy and dispatch, furnishing them with two months provisions
+for five hundred men.
+
+Napoleon returned to Cairo on the 9th of August, but it was only to make
+some parting arrangements as to the administration of affairs there, for
+he had resolved to intrust Egypt to other hands, and at once set out for
+France. He reached Alexandria once more, and was there met by those whom
+he had decided should make the return voyage with him. He selected
+Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Marmont and Andréossy with five hundred picked
+men to accompany him: these with Monge and Denon proceeded to depart
+from Alexandria without delay. On the 18th a courier from Gantheaume
+brought information that Sir Sidney Smith had left the coast to take
+water at Cyprus. This was the signal for Napoleon's instant departure.
+
+On the morning of August 23d, 1799, Bonaparte and his chosen followers
+embarked at Rosetta on two frigates and two smaller vessels, which had
+been saved in the harbor of Alexandria. A lack of water, and an accident
+to one of the English ships had compelled the enemy to raise the
+blockade and so favored his departure. In writing to the Divan and
+announcing his departure he said: "Remind the Musselmen frequently of my
+love for them. Acquaint them that I have two great means to conduct
+men--persuasion and force; with the one I gain friends, and with the
+other I destroy my enemies."
+
+General Kléber was now placed in command of the Army of Egypt by
+Napoleon who informed his successor of the reasons of his departure for
+France, and his intention of sending recruits and munitions at the
+earliest possible moment. He said to Kléber, "The army which I confide
+to you is composed of my children; in all times, even in the midst of
+the greatest sufferings I have received the mark of their attachment;
+keep alive in them these sentiments. You owe this to the particular
+esteem and true attachment which I bear myself towards you."
+
+The French frigates had hardly passed from sight of land when they were
+reconnoitred by an English corvette, a circumstance which seemed of evil
+augury. Bonaparte assured his companions by his usual allusions to his
+own "destiny" which he declared would protect him on sea as well as
+land. "We will arrive safe," said he, "fortune will never abandon
+us--we will arrive safe despite the enemy."
+
+Napoleon left no responsibility upon the admiral to whom the various
+manoeuvres have been ascribed: "As if," says Bourrienne, "any one could
+command when Bonaparte was present!"
+
+By express directions of Napoleon, the squadron, instead of taking the
+ordinary course, kept close to the African coast, in the direction of
+the southern point of Sardinia; his intention being to take a northerly
+course along the northern coast of that island. He had irrevocably
+determined, that should the English fleet appear, he would run ashore;
+make his way, with the little army under his command, to Orin, Tunis, or
+some other port; and thence find another opportunity of getting to
+France.
+
+The entire voyage was one of constant peril, for the Mediterranean was
+traversed in all directions by English ships of war. For twenty-one
+days, adverse winds, blowing from west or northwest, continually drove
+the squadron on the Syrian coast, or back towards Alexandria. It was
+once proposed that they should again put into that port, but Napoleon
+would not hear of it, declaring that he would brave any danger. On the
+30th of September he reached Ajaccio, and was received with enthusiasm
+at the place of his birth; but according to his own phrase, "it rained
+cousins" and he was wearied with solicitations. "What will become of
+me," he said, "if the English, who are cruising hereabouts, should learn
+that I have landed in Corsica? I shall be forced to stay here. That I
+could never endure. I have a torrent of relations pouring upon me." "His
+brilliant reputation," says Bourrienne, "had prodigiously augmented his
+family connections, and from the great number of his pretended
+god-children it might have been thought that he had held one-fourth of
+the children of Ajaccio at the baptismal font." It was during his stay
+in Corsica that Napoleon first heard of the loss of the battle of Novi
+by the French army and of the death of Joubert. "But for that confounded
+quarantine" he exclaimed, "I would hasten ashore, and place myself at
+the head of the Army of Italy. All is not over; and I am sure that there
+is not a general who would refuse me the command. The news of the
+victory gained by me, would reach Paris as soon as the battle of
+Aboukir; that, indeed, would be excellent!"
+
+On the 7th of October the voyage was at last resumed, the winds being
+again favorable, and on the morning of the 9th, after a narrow escape
+from the English, he moored in safety in the bay of Fréjus.
+
+The story he brought of the victory of Aboukir, gave new fuel to the
+flame of universal enthusiasm, and Napoleon's return to Paris bore all
+the appearance of a triumphal procession. The shouts of welcome with
+which he was hailed were echoed by the whole population of France. He
+returned from Egypt as a "conqueror," although almost alone; yet
+Providence designed in this apparently deserted condition that he should
+be the instrument of more astonishing changes than the greatest efforts
+of the greatest conquerors had ever before been able to effect upon the
+civilized world. Napoleon was regarded as the champion of liberty, as
+well as the successful military leader; and none of his actions, or
+expressed opinions had as yet contradicted such an estimation of his
+principles.
+
+The campaign in Egypt was of little service to France, but to Napoleon
+it was most useful. Of the aides-de-camp whom he took with him four
+perished there, Croisier, Sulkowski, Guibert and Julian; two, Duroc and
+Eugene Beauharnais were wounded; Lavalette and Merlin alone returned
+safe and sound. Bonaparte had the highest regard for Josephine's son
+Eugene. He was brave and manly, and although a youth of seventeen soon
+won Bonaparte's lasting affection. If there was a dangerous duty,--to
+ride into the desert and reconnoitre the bands of Arabs or Mamelukes,
+Eugene was always the first to volunteer. One day when he was hastening
+forward with his usual eagerness, Bonaparte called him back, saying:
+"Young man, remember that in our business we must never _seek_ danger;
+we must be satisfied with doing our duty, doing it well, and leaving the
+rest to God!"
+
+At the capital Napoleon was received with every demonstration of joy by
+the French people, who now looked upon him as their liberator. All
+parties seemed to be weary of the Directory, and to demand the decisive
+interference of the unrivalled soldier. On his return he was much
+surprised to learn of the real condition of France, and to an emissary
+of Barras he said with some degree of feeling: "What have you done with
+that land of France which I left to your care in so magnificent a
+condition? I bequeathed you peace, and on my return find war. I left you
+the memory of victories, and now I have come back to face defeats. I
+left with you the millions I had gathered in Italy, and today I see
+nothing in every direction but laws despoiling the people, coupled with
+distress. What have you done with the one hundred thousand of French
+citizens, my companions in glory, all of whom I knew? You have sent
+them to their death. This state of things cannot last; for it would lead
+us to despotism, and we require liberty reposing on a basis of
+equality." The Directory offered him the choice of any army he would
+command. He did not refuse, but pleaded the necessity of a short
+interval of leisure for the recovery of his health and speedily withdrew
+from the conference in order to avoid any more such embarrassing offers.
+He had by this time, evidently, a very clear perception of the course
+before him, and had made up his mind to place himself in circumstances
+to confer high offices and commands, instead of accepting them.
+
+In talking afterwards to Madame de Rémusat about this period in his
+career, Napoleon said: "The Directory was not uneasy at my return; I was
+extremely on my guard, and never in my life have I displayed more skill.
+Everyone ran into my traps, and when I became the head of the State
+there was not a party in France that did not base its hopes on my
+success."
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+PASSAGE OF THE ALPS, AND BATTLE OF MARENGO
+
+
+At the time of Napoleon's return from the Egyptian expedition the
+legislative bodies of Paris were divided into two parties, the
+Moderates, headed by Sieyes, and the Democrats, by Barras. Finding it
+impossible to remain neutral, Bonaparte took sides with the former.
+Lucien, his brother, had just been elected president of the Council of
+Five Hundred; the subtle and able Talleyrand and the accomplished Sieyes
+were his confidants, and he determined to overwhelm the imbecile
+government and take the reins in his own hands. He had measured his
+strength, established his purpose, and, as France stood in need of a
+more energetic and regenerated government, he now went calmly to its
+execution.
+
+During his absence in Egypt France had cause to deplore the loss of his
+military genius, and had hailed his return with rapturous acclamations.
+Napoleon's intentions were no sooner suspected than he was surrounded by
+all those who were discontented with the established government, and who
+found in him such a leader as they had long looked for in vain.
+
+He soon opened negotiations with Sieyes who commanded a majority in the
+Council of Ancients, and had no sooner convinced him that the project of
+overturning the Directorial government was his object, than he was
+regarded as the instrument destined to give France that "systematic"
+constitution he had so long deliberated on and desired. Napoleon's
+overtures were therefore cordially met, and Sieyes gave all the weight
+of his influence to the impending revolution. Two men whose names have
+since been known all over Europe, were also added to the number of his
+adherents, Talleyrand, who had been recently deposed from a place in the
+ministry; and Fouché, minister of police. The talents of both were
+actively employed in his service and materially promoted his success. He
+had no faith in Fouché and used him without giving him his confidence.
+Lucien Bonaparte held the important post of president of the Council of
+Five Hundred; a circumstance highly advantageous to his brother at this
+juncture. It was there that the greatest opposition would be made to any
+attempt which was hostile to the Constitution of the Year Three.
+
+A large portion of the army was certain to side with Napoleon. His house
+was now the resort of all the generals and men of note who had served
+under him in his campaigns in Italy and Egypt, Bernadotte alone standing
+aloof.
+
+A meeting took place between Napoleon and Sieyes on the 6th of November
+1799, in which it was finally determined that the revolution should be
+attempted on the 9th. This date, called in the history of the period,
+the 18th Brumaire, was exactly one month from the day of Napoleon's
+landing at Fréjus on his return from Egypt. The measures resolved upon
+were as follows: The Council of Ancients, taking advantage of an article
+in the constitution, which authorized the measure, were to decree the
+removal of the legislative bodies to St. Cloud, beyond the walls of the
+city. They were next to appoint Napoleon commander-in-chief of their own
+guard, of the troops of the military division of Paris, and of the
+National Guard. These decrees were to be passed at seven in the morning;
+at eight Napoleon was to go to the Tuileries, where the troops should be
+assembled, and there assume the command of the capital.
+
+The Council of Ancients at length gathered in the Tuileries at an early
+hour, every arrangement having been made in accordance with these
+resolutions, declared that the salvation of the State demanded vigorous
+measures, and proposed through its president, (one of Napoleon's
+confidants)--the passage of the decrees already agreed upon. The decrees
+were at once adopted without debate and Napoleon notified. All had
+occurred as had been prearranged. Early on the morning of the 18th
+Brumaire, the house of Napoleon in the Rue de la Victoire was crowded
+with a large assemblage of officers. It was too small to hold them all
+and many were in the court-yard and entrances. Numbers of these were
+devoted to him; a few were in the secret, and all began to suspect that
+something extraordinary was soon to happen. Every one was in uniform
+except Bernadotte who appeared in plain clothes. Displeased at this mark
+of separation from the rest Napoleon said hastily: "How is this? You are
+not in uniform!"
+
+"I never am on a morning when I am not on duty," replied Bernadotte.
+
+"You will be on duty presently," rejoined Napoleon.
+
+"I have not heard of it; I should have received my orders sooner," came
+the answer quickly.
+
+Napoleon now drew him aside, disclosed his plans and invited him to take
+part with the new movement against a detested government. Bernadotte's
+only answer was that "he would not take part in a rebellion," and with
+some reluctance made a half promise of neutrality.
+
+The moment the decrees of the Council of Ancients arrived Napoleon came
+forward to the steps of his house, read the documents, and invited them
+all to follow him to the Tuileries. The enthusiasm of those present was
+now at the highest pitch and all the officers drew their swords,
+promising their services and fidelity. Napoleon instantly mounted, and
+placed himself at the head of the generals and officers. Attended by one
+thousand five hundred horse, he halted on the boulevard at the corner
+of the street Mont Blanc; he then dispatched some confidential troops
+under Moreau to guard the Luxembourg, and the Directory ceased to exist,
+although Barras entered a mild protest and then retired to his country
+residence to live upon the great spoils of his office.
+
+The Council of Five Hundred, an hour or two afterwards, assembled to
+learn its fate. Resistance would have been idle, and adjourning for
+their next session at St. Cloud, they mingled with the enthusiastic
+people shouting, "Vive la République!" When they assembled at St. Cloud
+the next morning they found that beautiful chateau completely invested
+by the brilliant battalions under the orders of Murat.
+
+At about one o'clock on the 19th Brumaire Napoleon appeared at St. Cloud
+attended by Berthier, Lefebvre, Lannes and all the generals in his
+confidence. Upon his arrival he learned that a heated debate had
+commenced in the Council of Ancients on the subject of the resignation
+of the directors and the immediate election of others. Napoleon hastily
+entered the hall accompanied only by Berthier and Bourrienne who
+attended as his secretary. He addressed the body with much difficulty
+and after many dramatic interruptions, told them that it was upon
+them he relied, declaring his belief that the Council of Five
+Hundred--corresponding in part with the lower house of Congress--would
+restore the Convention, popular tumults, the scaffold, the Reign of
+Terror. "I will save you from all these horrors," he said, "I and my
+brave comrades, whose swords and caps I see at the door of this hall;
+and if any hireling traitor talks of outlawry, to those swords will I
+appeal. You stand over a volcano. Let a soldier tell the truth frankly.
+I was quiet in my home when this Council summoned me to action. I
+obeyed: I collected my brave comrades, and placed the arms of my
+country at the service of you who are its head. We are repaid with
+calumnies--they talk of Cromwell--of Caesar. Had I aspired to power the
+opportunity was mine ere now. I swear that France holds no more devoted
+patriot. Dangers surround us. Let us not hazard the advantages for which
+we have paid so dearly--Liberty and Equality!" Rallying at the uproar
+which pursued him to the door, Napoleon turned round and called upon the
+Council to assist him in saving the country; and with the words, "Let
+those who love me follow," he passed quickly out, reached the courtyard
+where he showed the soldiers the order naming him commander-in-chief,
+and then leaped upon his horse, shouts of "Vive Bonaparte!" resounding
+on all sides.
+
+In the meantime the hostile Council of Five Hundred had assembled, and
+there a far different scene was passing. With the same steadiness of
+purpose and calmness of manner, Bonaparte walked into the chamber with
+two grenadiers on either side, who halted at the doors that were left
+open, while the general advanced towards the centre of the chamber.
+
+At the sight of drawn swords at the passageway, and the presence of
+armed men at the doors of that deliberative body, loud cries of "Down
+with the traitor!" "Long live the Constitution!" etc., broke forth.
+Several of the members rushed upon Napoleon, some seized him by the
+collar and one is said to have attempted his life with a dagger. In an
+instant the grenadiers rushed forward exclaiming, "Let us save our
+general," and bore their commander from the hall.
+
+Napoleon was quickly in the midst of his soldiers and found ready ears
+and enthusiastic spirits to listen to his excited words. "Soldiers," he
+said, "I offered them victory and fame--they have answered me with
+daggers."
+
+It was at this moment that Augereau, whose faith in his former general's
+fortune began to waver, is said to have addressed him with the words, "A
+fine situation you have brought yourself into!" Upon which Napoleon
+answered, "Augereau, things were worse at Arcola; take my advice, remain
+quiet; in a short time all this will change."
+
+Meanwhile the commotion in the Council of Five Hundred rose to the
+highest pitch, a scene of the wildest confusion was taking place in the
+Assembly, and the grenadiers sent by Napoleon once more entered and bore
+Lucien, the president, from his colleagues. They had charged him with
+conspiracy and were about to vent their fury upon him, when he flung off
+the insignia of his office and was rescued.
+
+Lucien found the soldiery without in a high state of excitement. He
+mounted a horse quickly that he might be seen and heard the better, and
+dramatically addressed the assembled troops: "General Bonaparte, and
+you, soldiers of France," he said, "the President of the Council of Five
+Hundred announces to you that factious men with daggers interrupt the
+deliberations of the Senate. He authorizes you to employ force. The
+Assembly of Five Hundred is dissolved." The soldiers received his
+harangue with shouts of, "Vive Bonaparte!" Still there was an appearance
+of hesitation, and it did not seem certain that they were ready to act
+against the representatives of the people, till Lucien drew his sword,
+and vehemently exclaimed, "I swear that I will stab my own brother to
+the heart, if he ever attempts anything against the liberty of
+Frenchmen."
+
+This statement roused the soldiers to action and they were now ready to
+obey any order from Napoleon. At a signal from him, Murat, at the head
+of a body of grenadiers, at once started to execute the order of the
+president. With a roll of drums and leveled pieces, Lucien followed the
+detachment, mounted the tribune, and dispersed the Council of Five
+Hundred. The deputies were debating in a state of wild indecision and
+anxiety when the troops slowly entered. Murat, as they moved forward,
+announced to the Council that it should disperse. A few of the members
+instantly retired; but the majority remained firm. A reinforcement now
+entered in close column headed by General Leclerc, the commanding
+officer, who said loudly, "In the name of General Bonaparte, the
+Legislative Corps is dissolved; let all good citizens retire.
+Grenadiers, forward!" The latter advanced, leveling their muskets with
+fixed bayonets and occupying the width of the hall. Most of the members
+at once made their escape by the windows with undignified rapidity; in a
+few minutes not one remained.
+
+Lucien immediately assembled the "Moderate" members of the Council who
+resumed its session, and in conjunction with that of the Ancients, a
+decree was passed investing the entire authority of the State in a
+Provisional Consulate of three--Napoleon, Sieyes and Roger-Ducos who
+were known as "Consuls of the French Republic." Thus ended the 18th and
+19th Brumaire, (November 10th and 11th, 1799) one of the most decisive
+revolutions of which history has preserved any record; and, so admirable
+had been the arrangements of Napoleon, that it had not cost France a
+drop of blood. "During the greater part of this eventful day," says
+Bourrienne, "he was as calm as at the opening of a great battle."
+
+The next day the three Consuls met at Paris, and France once more began
+to make progress. At this meeting, Sieyes, who had up to this moment
+conceived himself to be the head, and the others but the arms of the new
+constitution, asked, as a form of politeness, "Which of us is to
+preside?" "Do you not see," answered Ducos, "that the general presides?"
+
+Sieyes had expected that Napoleon would content himself with the supreme
+command of all the armies, and had no idea that he was conversant with,
+or wished to interfere in profound and extensive political affairs and
+projects. He was, however, so astonished at the knowledge displayed by
+Napoleon in questions of administration, even to the minutest details,
+and in every department, that when their first conference was concluded,
+he hurried to Talleyrand, Cabanis, and other counselors, assembled at
+St. Cloud, exclaiming, "Gentlemen, you have now a master. He knows
+everything, arranges everything, and can accomplish everything."
+
+Those persons must know the character of Napoleon very imperfectly, who
+consider him great only at the head of armies; for he was able to acquit
+himself of the various functions of government with glory, shining
+equally as conspicuous in the cabinet as in the field.
+
+Napoleon guided and controlled everything; humane laws were enacted;
+Christianity was again restored, and upwards of 20,000 French citizens
+now came forth from the prisons to bless his name. Many who had been
+exiled because they did not approve of the Reign of Terror and the
+despotism of the Directory were recalled, and many other salutary
+reforms at once stamped the new government with the seal of public
+approbation and the confidence of Europe. In everything that was done
+the genius of Napoleon was visible. A great man was at the helm, and the
+world saw that his creative genius was regenerating France. The new
+constitution met the approval of the people, and in February 1800 the
+First Consul took up his residence in the Tuileries, the old home of the
+monarchs of France. Shortly afterwards Napoleon reviewed the Army of
+Paris, amounting to 100,000 men. When the 96th, 43rd and 50th
+demi-brigades defiled before him he was observed to take off his hat and
+incline his head, in token of respect at the sight of their colors torn
+to shreds with balls, and blackened with smoke and powder.
+
+For the first time in modern history the world saw the greatest general
+of the age the civil chief of the most brilliant state in Europe. The
+First Consul now held frequent and splendid reviews of the troops. He
+traversed the ranks, now on horseback, now on foot; entered into the
+minutest details concerning the wants of the men and the service, and
+dispensing in the name of the nation, distinctions and rewards. A
+hundred soldiers who had signalized themselves in action, received from
+his hand the present of a handsome sabre each, on one of these
+occasions.
+
+The Parisians received the new constitution with delight. The
+inhabitants also viewed the pomp and splendor of the Consular government
+with surprise and self-complacency. They reasoned little and hoped much.
+Napoleon was their idol, and from him alone they expected everything.
+The constitution continued the executive power in the hands of three
+consuls, who were to be elected for the space of ten years, and were
+then eligible to re-election. The First Consul held powers far superior
+to his colleagues. He alone had the right of nominating all offices,
+civil and military, and of appointing nearly all functionaries
+whatsoever. Napoleon assumed the place of First Consul without question
+or debate. He then named Cambacérès and LeBrun as Second and Third
+Consuls respectively.
+
+It was about this time that Napoleon learned of the death of Washington.
+He forthwith issued a general order commanding the French army to wrap
+their banners in crape during ten days in honor of "a great man who
+fought against tyranny, and consolidated the liberties of his country."
+He then celebrated a grand funeral service to the memory of Washington
+in the council-hall of the Invalides. The last standards taken in Egypt
+were presented on the same occasion; all the ministers, the counselors
+of state and generals, were present. The pillars and roof were hung with
+the trophies of the campaign of Italy and the bust of Washington was
+placed under the trophy composed of the flags of Aboukir.
+
+"From this day," says Lockhart, "a new epoch was to date. Submit to that
+government, and no man need fear that his former acts, far less
+opinions, should prove any obstacle to his security--nay, to his
+advancement." In truth the secret of Bonaparte's whole scheme is
+unfolded in his own memorable words to Sieyes: "We are creating a new
+era--of the past we must forget the bad, and remember only the good."
+
+During the absence of Bonaparte in Egypt the tri-color which he had left
+floating on the castles along the Rhine, and from the Julian Alps to the
+Mediterranean, had been humbled, and England and Austria, with the
+allies they could bring into the coalition, were preparing once more to
+compel the French to retire to their ancient boundaries, and ultimately
+offer the crown to the exiled Bourbons.
+
+But Napoleon knew that France needed internal repose, and he desired
+universal peace in Europe. He even went so far, in order to bring this
+about, as to address a letter to George III. in which he said: "Your
+Majesty will see in this overture only my sincere desire to contribute
+effectually, for a second time, to a general pacification--by a prompt
+step taken in confidence, and freed from those forms, which, however
+necessary to disguise the feeble apprehensions of feeble states, only
+serve to discover in the powerful a mutual wish to deceive. France and
+England, abusing their strength, may long defer the period of its utter
+exhaustion; but I will venture to say that the fate of civilized nations
+is concerned in the termination of a war, the flames of which are raging
+throughout the whole world. I have the honor, etc., etc., BONAPARTE."
+
+If the king himself had had an opportunity to reply to this letter, as
+he afterwards admitted, it would have saved England millions of money,
+and Europe millions of lives; but in a very short-sighted letter, Lord
+Grenville, then Secretary of State, replied to Talleyrand, France's
+minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he said: "The war must continue
+until the causes which gave it birth cease to exist. The restoration of
+the exiled royal family will be the easiest means of giving confidence
+to the other powers of Europe." The refusal of England to treat with the
+Consular Government of France was to be expected, being perfectly in
+accord with the principles which guided the rulers of England at that
+period. They had joined the other governments of Europe in commencing
+war against France, in order to restore its legitimate sovereign,
+contrary to the will of the French people.
+
+When Napoleon read the letter he said: "I will answer that from Italy!"
+and immediately called his generals together and ordered them to get
+ready for another campaign beyond the Alps. It is said that on receiving
+the reply from England Napoleon exclaimed to Talleyrand, "It could not
+have been more favorable," but this is credited by but few historians as
+it appears that his sincere convictions were that peace was best for
+France.
+
+Three days after the Grenville letter, the First Consul electrified
+France by an edict for an army of reserve embracing all the veterans
+then unemployed, who had ever served the country, and a new levy of
+30,000 recruits or conscripts as they were termed; and the most active
+preparations were rapidly made. At this time four great armies were
+already in the field--one on the North coast was watching Holland, and
+guarding against any invasion from England; Jourdan commanded the Army
+of the Danube, which had repassed the Rhine; Massena was at the head of
+the Army of Helvetia, and held Switzerland; and the fragment of the
+mighty host that Napoleon had himself led to victory, still called the
+Army of Italy.
+
+Upwards of 350,000 men were now marched to various points of conflict
+with the European powers--England, Austria and Russia, together with
+Bavaria, Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey, which made a formidable array of
+enemies with whom Napoleon had to contend. The operations were conducted
+with the utmost secrecy. Napoleon had decided to strike the decisive
+blow against Austria in Italy, and to command there in person. An
+article in the new constitution forbade the First Consul taking the
+command of an army but he found a ready way to evade it. Berthier was
+superseded by Carnot as minister of war and given the nominal command of
+the Army of Italy. It was generally believed that the troops were to
+advance upon Italy. Meantime, while Austria was laughing with derision
+at the French conscripts and "invalids" then at Dijon and amused itself
+with caricatures of some ancient men with wooden legs, and little boys
+twelve years old entitled "Bonaparte's Army of Reserve," the real Army
+of Italy was already formed in the heart of France and was marching by
+various roads towards Switzerland and was commanded by officers of
+recognized ability and courage. The artillery was sent piecemeal from
+different arsenals; the provisions, necessary to an army about to cross
+barren mountains, were forwarded to Geneva, embarked on the lake, and
+landed at Villeneuve, near the entrance of the valley of the Simplon.
+
+The daring plan of Napoleon was to transport his army across the Alps;
+surmounting the highest chain of mountains in Europe, by paths which are
+dangerous and difficult to the unencumbered traveler; to plant himself
+in the rear of the Austrians, interrupt their communications, place them
+between his own army and that of Massena who was in command of the
+12,000 men at Genoa, cut off their retreat and then give them battle
+under circumstances which must necessarily render one defeat
+decisive.
+
+After dispatching his orders Napoleon joined Berthier at Geneva on May
+8th, 1800. Here he met General Marescot, the engineer, who by his orders
+had explored the wild passes of the Alps. He described to the First
+Consul most minutely the all but insuperable obstacles that would oppose
+the passage of an army.
+
+[Illustration: From an old Drawing, artist unknown
+
+BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF ACRE]
+
+"Difficult, granted; but is it possible for an army to pass?" Napoleon
+at last impatiently inquired.
+
+"It might be done," was the answer.
+
+"Then it shall be; let us start," said the First Consul, and
+preparations for that most herculean task were at once made, the
+commander intending to penetrate into Italy, as Hannibal had done of
+old, through all the dangers and difficulties of the great Alps
+themselves.
+
+For the treble purpose of more easily collecting a sufficient stock of
+provisions for the march, of making its accomplishment more rapid, and
+on perplexing the enemy on its termination, Napoleon determined that his
+army should pass in four divisions, by as many separate routes. The left
+wing, under Moncey consisting of 15,000 men, detached from the army of
+Moreau, was ordered to debouch by the way of St. Gothard. The corps of
+Thureau, 5,000 strong, took the direction of Mount Cenis; that of
+Chabran, of similar strength, moved by the Little St. Bernard. Of the
+main body, consisting of 35,000 men, although technically commanded by
+Berthier, the First Consul himself took charge, including the gigantic
+task of surmounting, with the artillery, the huge barriers of the Great
+St. Bernard. Once across he expected to rush down upon Melas, cut off
+all his communications with Austria, and then force him to a conflict.
+
+The main body of the army marched on the 15th of May from Lausanne to
+the village of St. Pierre, at the foot of the Great St. Bernard, at
+which point all traces of a practicable path entirely ceased. Field
+forges were established at St. Pierre to dismount the guns. The
+carriages and wheels were slung on poles and the ammunition boxes were
+to be carried by mules. To convey the pieces themselves a number of
+trees were felled, hollowed out, or grooved, and the guns being jammed
+within these rough cases, a hundred soldiers were attached to each whose
+duty it was to drag them up the steeps. All was now in readiness to
+commence the great march.
+
+"The First Consul set forth on his stupendous enterprise," says Botta in
+his description of this campaign, "his forces being already at the foot
+of the Great St. Bernard. The soldiers gazed on the aerial summits of
+the lofty mountains with wonder and impatience. On the 17th of May
+the whole body set out from Martigny for the conquest of Italy.
+Extraordinary was their order, wonderful their gaiety, and astonishing
+also, the activity and energy of their operations. Laughter and song
+lightened their toils. They seemed to be hastening, not to a fearful
+war, but a festival. The multitude of various and mingled sounds were
+re-echoed from hill to hill, and the silence of these solitary and
+desolate regions, which revolving ages had left undisturbed, was for the
+moment broken by the rejoicing voices of the gay and warlike.
+Precipitous heights, strong torrents, sloping valleys, succeeded each
+other with disheartening frequency. Owing to his incredible boldness and
+order, Lannes was chosen by the First Consul to take the lead in every
+enterprise of danger. They had now reached an elevation where skill or
+courage seemed powerless against the domain of Nature. From St. Pierre
+to the summit of the Great St. Bernard there is no beaten road whatever,
+until the explorer reaches the monastery of the religious order devoted
+to the preservation of travelers bewildered in these regions of eternal
+winter. Every means that could be devised was adopted for transporting
+the artillery and baggage; the carriages which had been wheeled were now
+dragged--those which had been drawn were now carried. The largest cannon
+were placed in troughs and on sledges, and the smallest swung on
+sure-footed mules. The ascent to be accomplished was immense. In the
+windings of the tortuous paths the troops were now lost and now revealed
+to sight. Those who first mounted the steeps, seeing their companions in
+the depths below, cheered them on with shouts of triumph. The valleys on
+every side re-echoed to their voices. Amidst the snow, in mists and
+clouds, the resplendent arms and colored uniforms of the soldiers
+appeared in bright and dazzling contrast: the sublimity of dead Nature
+and the energy of living action thus united, formed a spectacle of
+surpassing wonder.
+
+"The Consul, exulting in the success of his plans, was seen everywhere
+amongst the soldiers, talking with military familiarity to one and now
+another, and, skilled in the eloquence of camps, he so excited their
+courage that, braving every obstacle, they now deemed that easy which
+they had adjudged impossible. They soon approached the highest summit,
+and discerned in the distance the pass which leads from the opening
+between the towering mountains to the loftiest pinnacle. With shouts of
+transport they hailed this extreme point as the termination of their
+labors and with new ardor prepared to ascend. When their strength
+occasionally flagged under excess of fatigues, they beat their drums,
+and then, reanimated by the spirit-stirring sound, proceeded forward
+with fresh vigor.
+
+"At last they reached the summit and there felicitated each other as if
+after a complete and assured victory. Their hilarity was not a little
+increased by finding a simple repast prepared in front of the monastery,
+the provident Consul having furnished the monks with money to supply
+what their own resources could not have afforded for such numbers. Here
+they were regaled with wine and bread and cheese, enjoyed a brief repose
+amid dismounted cannon and scattered baggage, amidst ice and
+conglomerated snow; while the monks passed from troop to troop in turn,
+the calm of religious cheerfulness depicted on their countenances. Thus
+did goodness and power meet and hold communion on this extreme summit."
+
+The troops made it a point of honor not to leave their guns in the rear;
+and one division, rather than abandon its artillery, chose to pass the
+night upon the summit of a mountain, in the midst of snow and excessive
+cold.
+
+Thus did this brave army reach the Hospice of St. Bernard, singing
+amidst the precipices, dreaming of the conquest of that Italy where they
+had so often tasted the delights of victory, and having a noble
+presentiment of the immortal glory which they were about to acquire; as
+they climbed up and along airy ridges of rock and eternal snow, where
+the goatherd, the hunter of the chamois, and the outlaw smuggler, are
+alone accustomed to venture; amidst precipices where to slip a foot is
+death; beneath glaciers from which the percussion of a musket-shot is
+often sufficient to hurl an avalanche.
+
+The labor was not so great for the infantry, of which there were 35,000
+including artillery. As for the 5,000 cavalry, these walked, leading
+their horses by the bridle. There was no danger in ascending but in the
+descent, the path being very narrow, obliging them to walk before the
+horse, they were liable, if the animal made a false step, to be dragged
+by him into the abyss. Some accidents of this kind, not many, did
+actually happen, and some horses perished but scarcely any of the men.
+
+After a brief rest at the hospice the army resumed its march and
+descended to St. Remy without any unpleasant accident. Napoleon rested
+and took a frugal repast at the convent, after which he visited the
+chapel, and the three little libraries, lingering a short time to read a
+few pages of some old book. He performed the descent on a sledge, down a
+glacier of nearly a hundred yards, almost perpendicular. The whole army
+effected the passage of the Great St. Bernard in the space of three
+days.
+
+The transfer of the gun carriages, ammunition wagons and cannon was the
+most difficult of all, but the genius of Napoleon accomplished even this
+seemingly impossible feat. The peasants of the environs were offered as
+high as a thousand francs for every piece of cannon which they succeeded
+in dragging from St. Pierre to St. Remy. It took a hundred men to drag
+each; one day to get it up and another to get it down.
+
+It has been said that Napoleon had his fortune to make at this period;
+but, at the moment of crossing Mount St. Bernard, he had fought twenty
+pitched battles, conquered Italy, dictated peace to Austria,--only sixty
+miles distant from Vienna,--negotiated at Rastadt, with Count Cobentzel
+for the surrender of the strong city of Mentz, raised nearly three
+hundred millions in contributions,--which had served to supply the army
+during two years,--created the Cisalpine Army, and paid some of the
+officers of the government at Paris. He had sent to the museum three
+hundred _chef d'oéuvres_, in statuary and painting; added to which he
+had conquered Egypt, suppressed the factions at home and totally
+eradicated the war in La Vendée.
+
+Napoleon has been pictured crossing the Alpine heights mounted on a
+fiery steed. As a matter of fact he ascended the Great St. Bernard in
+that gray surtout which he usually wore, sometimes upon foot, and again
+upon a mule, led by a guide belonging to the country, evincing even in
+the difficult passes the abstraction of mind occupied elsewhere,
+conversing with the officers scattered on the road, and then, at
+intervals, questioning the guide who attended him, making him relate the
+particulars of his life, his pleasures, his pains, like an idle traveler
+who has nothing better to do. "This guide," says Thiers, "who was quite
+young, gave him a simple recital of the details of his obscure
+existence, and especially the vexation he felt because, for want of a
+little money, he could not marry one of the girls of his valley. The
+First Consul, sometimes listening, sometimes questioning the passengers
+with whom the mountain was covered, arrived at the hospice, where the
+worthy monks gave him a warm reception. No sooner had he alighted from
+his mule than he wrote a note which he handed to his guide, desiring him
+to be sure and deliver it to the quartermaster of the army, who had been
+left on the other side of the St. Bernard. In the evening the young man,
+on returning to St. Pierre, learned with surprise what powerful traveler
+it was whom he had guided in the morning, and that General Bonaparte
+had ordered that a house and a piece of ground should be given to him
+immediately, and that he should be supplied, in short, with the means
+requisite for marrying, and for realizing all the dreams of his modest
+ambition."
+
+This mountaineer lived for a number of years, and when he died was still
+the owner of the land given him by the First Consul. The only thing
+remembered by this attendant in after years of the conversation of
+Napoleon during his trip was, when shaking the rain-water from his hat
+he exclaimed, "There! See what I have done in your mountains--spoiled my
+new hat!--Well, I will find another on the other side."
+
+The passage of the Alps had been achieved long before the Austrians knew
+Napoleon's army was in motion. So utterly unexpected was this sudden
+apparition of the First Consul and his army, that no precaution whatever
+had been taken, and no enemy appeared capable of disputing his march
+towards the valley of Aosta. After a brief engagement at the fortress of
+St. Bard and other minor battles in which the French were victorious,
+they now advanced, unopposed down the valley to Ivrea which was without
+a garrison. Here Napoleon remained four days to recruit the strength of
+his troops.
+
+Napoleon now took the road for Milan. The Sesia was crossed without
+opposition; the passage of the Tesino was effected after a sharp
+conflict with a body of Austrian cavalry, who were put to flight; and,
+on the 2d of June, the First Consul entered Milan, amidst enthusiastic
+acclamations of the people, who had all believed that he had died in
+Egypt and that it was one of his brothers who commanded this army. He
+was conducted in triumph to the ducal palace, where he took up his
+residence. He remained six days in Milan during which time he gained
+the most important information, all the dispatches between the court of
+Vienna and General Melas falling into his hands. From these he learned
+the extent of the Austrian reinforcements now on their way to Italy; the
+position and state of all the Austrian depots, field-equipages, and
+parks of artillery; and the amount and distribution of the whole
+Austrian force. Finally, he clearly perceived that Melas still continued
+in complete ignorance of the strength and destination of the French
+army. His dispatches spoke with contempt of what he called "the
+pretended army of reserve," and treated the assertion of Napoleon's
+presence in Italy as a "mere fabrication." Possessed of all this
+valuable information Napoleon knew how to proceed with clearness and
+precision.
+
+The eyes of the Austrian general were at length opened and he was
+preparing to meet the emergency with all the energy that the orders from
+Vienna and his great age of eighty years permitted; but his delay had
+been sufficient to render his situation critical. His army was divided
+into two portions, one under Ott near Genoa; the other, under his own
+command at Turin. The greatest risk existed that Napoleon would,
+according to his old plan, attack and destroy one division before the
+other could form a junction with it. To prevent such a disaster, Ott
+received orders to march forward on the Tesino, while Melas, moving
+towards Alessandria, prepared to resume his communications with the
+other division of his army.
+
+Napoleon now advanced to Stradella where headquarters were fixed. On the
+9th of June, Lannes, who continued to lead the van-guard of the French
+army was attacked by an Austrian division superior in numbers and
+commanded by Ott. The battle, though severely contested, ended in the
+complete defeat of the Austrians, who lost three thousand killed and six
+thousand prisoners. The battle of Montebello was won by sheer hard
+fighting, there being little opportunity for skill or manoeuvre, the
+fields being covered with full-grown crops of rye. The shower of balls
+from the Austrian musketry was at one time so intense, that Lannes,
+speaking of it afterwards, described its effect with a horrible graphic
+homeliness. "Bones were cracking in my division" he said, "like a shower
+of hail upon a skylight." Lannes was subsequently created Duke of
+Montebello.
+
+Napoleon remained stationary for three days at Stradella, employing the
+time in concentrating his army, in hopes that Melas would be compelled
+to give him battle in this position; he was unwilling to descend into
+the great plain of Marengo, where the Austrian cavalry and artillery
+which was greatly superior in numbers, would have a fearful advantage.
+Meanwhile he dispatched an order to Suchet to march on the river
+Scrivia, and place himself in the rear of the enemy.
+
+General Desaix now joined the army with his aides-de-camp Rapp and
+Savary, he having returned from Egypt and landed in France almost on the
+very day that Napoleon left Paris, and had immediately received a
+summons from him to repair to the headquarters of the Army of Italy,
+wherever they might be situated. Desaix and Napoleon were warmly
+attached to each other and their meeting was a great and mutual
+pleasure. Desaix was appointed to the command of a division, the death
+of General Boudet having left one vacant, and was extremely anxious to
+signalize himself. Under the impression that the Austrians were
+marching upon Genoa, Napoleon dispatched Desaix's division in form of
+the van-guard upon his extreme left, while Victor, arriving at Marengo
+from Montebello, where he had assisted Lannes, routed a rear guard of
+four or five thousand Austrians and made himself master of the village
+of Marengo.
+
+The French and Austrian armies finally came together on June 14th on the
+plains of Marengo, to decide the fate of Italy.
+
+Marengo was a day ever to be remembered by those who participated in the
+stubborn struggle. Napoleon fought against terrible odds in numbers and
+position. A furious cannonading opened the engagement at daybreak
+along the whole front, cannon and musketry spreading devastation
+everywhere--for the armies were but a short distance apart, their pieces
+in some cases almost touching. The advance under Gardanne, was obliged
+to fall back upon Victor,--who had been stationed with the main body of
+the first line,--for more than two hours and withstood singly the
+vigorous assaults of a far superior force; Marengo had been taken and
+retaken several times by Victor ere Lannes, who was in the rear of him,
+in command of the second line, received orders to reinforce him. The
+second line was at length ordered by Napoleon to advance, but they found
+the first in retreat, and the two corps took up a second line of
+defense, considerably to the rear of Marengo. Here they were again
+charged furiously, and again after obstinate resistance, gave way. The
+retreat now became general, although Lannes fell back in perfect order.
+
+The Austrians had fought the battle admirably. Their infantry had opened
+an attack on every point of the French line, while the cavalry
+debouched across the bridge which the French had failed to destroy, and
+assailed the right of their army with such fury and rapidity that it was
+thrown into complete disorder. The attack of the Austrians was
+successful everywhere; the centre of the French was penetrated, the left
+routed, and another desperate charge of the cavalry would have
+terminated the battle. The order for this, however, was not given; but
+the retreating French were still in the utmost peril. Napoleon had been
+collecting reserves between Garafolo and Marengo and now sent orders for
+his army to retreat towards these reserves, and rally round his guard
+which he stationed in the rear of the village of Marengo and placed
+himself at their head.
+
+To secure a position more favorable for resisting the overpowering
+numbers of the enemy, Bonaparte now seized a defile flanked by the
+village of Marengo, shut up on one side by a wood and on the other by
+lofty and bushy vineyards. Here from the astonishing exertions of their
+commander the French made a firm stand, and fought bayonet to bayonet
+with Austrian infantry, whilst exposed at the same time to a battery of
+thirty pieces of cannon, which was playing upon them with deadly effect.
+Every soldier seemed to consider this the defile of Thermopylae, where
+they were to fight until all were slain. With a heroism worthy of the
+Spartan band they withstood the tremendous shock of bayonets and
+artillery, the latter not only cutting the men in pieces, but likewise
+the trees, the large branches in falling killing many of the wounded
+soldiers who had sought a refuge under them. At this awful moment
+Bonaparte, unmoved, seemed to court death, and be near it, the bullets
+being observed repeatedly to tear up the ground beneath his horse's
+feet. Alarmed for his safety the officers exhorted him to retire,
+exclaiming, "If you should be killed all would be lost." But the hero of
+Lodi and Arcola would not retire. Undismayed and unmoved amidst this
+dreadful tempest, he observed every movement and gave orders with the
+utmost coolness. The soldiers could all see the First Consul with his
+staff, surrounded by the two hundred grenadiers of the guard and the
+sight kept their hopes from flagging. The right wing, under Lannes,
+quickly rallied; the centre, reinforced by the scattered troops of the
+left, recovered its strength; the left wing no longer existed; its
+scattered remains fled in disorder, pursued by the Austrians. The
+contest continued to rage, and was obstinately disputed; but the main
+body of the French army, which still remained in order of battle, was
+continually, though very slowly, retreating.
+
+The First Consul now dispatched his aide-de-camp, Bruyere, to Desaix,
+with an urgent message to hasten to the field of battle. Desaix on his
+part, had been arrested in his march upon Novi, by the repeated
+discharges of distant artillery; he had in consequence made a halt, and
+dispatched Savary, then his aide-de-camp, with a body of fifty horse, to
+gallop with all possible haste to Novi, ascertain the state of affairs
+there, according to the orders of Napoleon, while he kept his division
+fresh and ready for action.
+
+Savary found all quiet at Novi; and returning to Desaix, after the lapse
+of about two hours, with this intelligence, was next sent to the First
+Consul. He spurred his horse across the country, in the direction of
+Marengo, and fortunately met General Bruyere, who was taking the same
+short cut to find Desaix. Giving him the necessary directions, Savary
+now hastened towards Napoleon. He found him in the midst of his guard,
+who stood their ground on the field of battle; forming a solid body in
+the face of the enemy's fire, the dismounted grenadiers were stationed
+in front and the place of each man who fell was instantly supplied from
+the ranks behind.
+
+Maps were spread out before Napoleon; he was planning the movement which
+was to decide the action. Savary made his report and told him of
+Desaix's position.
+
+"At what hour did he leave you?" said the First Consul pulling out his
+watch. Having been informed he continued, "Well he cannot be far off;
+go, and tell him to form in that direction (pointing with his hand to a
+particular spot); let him quit the main road, and make way for all those
+wounded men, who would only embarrass him, and perhaps draw his own
+soldiers after them."
+
+It was now three o'clock in the afternoon; had Melas pursued the
+advantage with all his reserve the battle was won to the Austrians; but
+that aged general (he was eighty years old) doubted not that he had won
+it already. At this critical moment, being quite worn out with fatigue,
+he retired to the rear leaving General Zach to continue what he now
+considered a mere pursuit.
+
+Napoleon's army was still slowly retiring from the field, one corps
+occupying three hours in retiring three quarters of a league, when
+Desaix, whose division was now forming on the left of the centre, rode
+up to the commander, and taking out his watch, said in reply to a
+question: "Yes, the battle is lost; but it is only three o'clock; there
+is time enough to gain another!"
+
+Bonaparte was delighted with the opinion of Desaix, whose division had
+arrived at a full gallop after a force march of thirty miles, and
+prepared to avail himself of the timely succor brought to him by that
+far-seeing general, and of the advantage insured to him by the position
+he had lately taken. Napoleon quickly explained the manoeuvre he was
+about to effect and gave the orders instantly. He now drew up his army
+on a third line of battle, and riding along said to the different corps:
+"Soldiers! We have fallen back far enough. You know it is always my
+custom to sleep on the field of battle." The whole army now wheeled its
+front up the left wing of its centre, moving its right wing forward at
+the same time. By this movement Napoleon effected the double object of
+turning all the enemy's troops, who had continued the pursuit of the
+broken left wing and of removing his right at a distance from the
+bridge, which had been so fatal to him in the morning. The artillery of
+the guard was reinforced by that which belonged to Desaix's division,
+and formed an overwhelming battery in the centre.
+
+The Austrians made no effort to prevent this decisive movement; they
+supposed the First Consul was only occupied in securing his retreat.
+Their infantry, in deep close columns, was advancing rapidly, when at
+the distance of a hundred paces they suddenly halted, on perceiving
+Desaix's division exactly in front of them. The unexpected appearance of
+six thousand fresh troops, and the new position assumed by the French,
+arrested the battle: very few shots were heard; the two armies were
+preparing for a last effort.
+
+The First Consul rode up in person to give the order of attack while he
+dispatched Savary with commands to Kellerman, who was at the head of
+about six thousand heavy cavalry, to charge the Austrian column in
+flank, at the same time Desaix charged it in front. Both generals
+effected the movement rapidly and so successfully that in less than half
+an hour the French had put the enemy to rout on nearly all sides. A
+final charge was now made, when Desaix, whose timely arrival with
+reinforcements had saved the day, and who was then in the thickest of
+the engagement, was shot dead, just as he led a fresh column of 5,000
+grenadiers to meet and check the advance of Zach. But a few moments
+before Desaix said to Savary, "Go and tell the First Consul that I am
+charging, and that I am in want of cavalry to support me." As the brave
+man fell he said: "Conceal my death, it might dishearten the troops."
+Napoleon embraced him for an instant, and said, as his eyes filled with
+tears: "Alas, I must not weep now--" and mounting his horse again
+plunged into the thickest of the battle.
+
+The whole army fought with renewed vigor on learning of Desaix's death,
+every soldier being bent on avenging individually the loss of their
+leader. The combined forces now concentrated themselves and hurled their
+invincible columns upon the Austrian lines, marching victorious at last
+over thousands of slain. General Zach, and all his staff, were here made
+prisoners. The Austrian columns behind, being flushed with victory, were
+advancing too carelessly, and were unable to resist the general assault
+of the whole French line, which now pressed onward under the immediate
+command of Napoleon. Post after post was carried. The terrified cavalry
+and broken infantry fled in confusion to the banks of the Bormida, into
+which they were plunged by the French cavalry who swept the field. The
+Bormida was clogged and crimsoned with corpses, and whole corps, being
+unable to effect the passage, surrendered. The victory, which had seemed
+quite secure to the Austrians at 3 o'clock was completely won by the
+French at six. Napoleon's conduct throughout the day and the bravery of
+his troops were beyond all praise; and it is no less a fact, that the
+appearance of victory in one or two parts of the extended field roused
+the courage of the Austrians to enthusiasm and in some cases fatal
+recklessness. They pressed forward to complete their triumph when the
+Consular guard, called the "wall of granite," met and successfully
+resisted the shock. The eye of Napoleon fixed the fortune of the day: he
+foresaw that the enemy, in the ardor of success, would extend his line
+too far; and what he had conjectured happened. Then it was that Desaix's
+division rushed amidst the all but triumphant foe, divided his ranks,
+and finally completed his ruin.
+
+In this sanguine engagement the Austrians lost about 8,000 men in killed
+and wounded, and 4,000 more were taken prisoners--one-third of their
+army. The life of Desaix was the sacrifice. The French loss amounted to
+6,000 killed or wounded and about 1,000 of them were taken prisoners, a
+loss of about one-fourth out of 28,000 soldiers present at the battle.
+
+In the estimation of the First Consul this loss was great enough to
+diminish the joy that he felt for the victory. When Bourrienne, his
+secretary, congratulated him on his triumph saying, "What a glorious
+day!" he replied: "Yes it would have been glorious indeed, could I but
+have embraced Desaix this evening on the field of battle. I was going to
+make him minister of war; I would have made him a prince if I could."
+The triumph of this decisive victory was poisoned by Desaix's death. It
+seems that he never loved, nor regretted, any man so much and he never
+spoke of him without deep feeling. Desaix met his death at the early age
+of thirty-three, and France lost in him a great general and a man of
+rare promise. Savary, who was much attached to him, sought for his body
+amongst the dead, and found him completely stripped of his clothes,
+lying among many others in the same condition. "France has lost one of
+her most able defenders and I my best friend," Napoleon said after the
+battle; "No one has ever known how much goodness there was in Desaix's
+heart; how much genius in his head." Then after a short silence, with
+tears starting into his eyes, he added, "My brave Desaix always wished
+to die thus; but death should not have been so ready to execute his
+wish."
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by H. Vernet
+
+RETURN OF THE FRENCH ARMY FROM SYRIA]
+
+Though the vast plain of Marengo was drenched with French blood, joy
+pervaded the army. Soldiers and generals alike were merited for their
+gallant conduct and were fully aware of the importance of the victory to
+France. Thus ended the battle of Marengo, one of the most decisive which
+had been fought in Europe, and one which opened to Napoleon the gates of
+all the principal cities of northern Italy. By one battle he regained
+nearly all that the French had lost in the unhappy Italian campaign of
+1799 while he was in Egypt. He had also shown that the French troops
+were once more what they had been when he was in the field to command
+them.
+
+In talking with Gohier one day, Napoleon said: "It is always the greater
+number which defeats the lesser."
+
+"And yet," said Gohier, "with small armies you have frequently defeated
+large ones." "Even then," replied Napoleon, "it is always the inferior
+force which was defeated by the superior. When with a small body of men
+I was in the presence of a large one, collecting my little band, I fell
+like lightning on one of the wings of the hostile army, and defeated it.
+Profiting by the disorder which such an event never failed to occasion
+in their whole line, I repeated the attack, with similar success, in
+another quarter, still with my whole force. I thus beat it in detail.
+The general victory which was the result was still an example of the
+truth of the principle, that the greater force defeats the lesser." One
+of his favorite maxims is said to have been, "God always favors the
+heaviest battalions."
+
+The Austrians were completely enveloped, and had no alternative but to
+submit to the law of the conqueror. Melas sent a flag of truce to
+Napoleon at daybreak on the following morning, and peace negotiations
+were at once began. In the meeting which followed Bonaparte required
+that all the fortresses of Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy and the Legations
+should be immediately given up to France, and that the Austrians should
+evacuate all Italy as far as the Mincio.
+
+The surrender of Genoa was strongly objected to by Melas, but the
+conqueror would not waive this point. The baron sent his principal
+negotiator to make some remonstrances against the proposed armistice:
+"Sir," said the First Consul with some warmth, "my conditions are
+irrevocable. It was not yesterday that I began my military life; your
+position is as well known to me as to yourselves. You are in
+Alessandria, encumbered with dead, wounded, sick, destitute of
+provisions; you have lost the best troops of your army, and are
+surrounded on all sides. There is nothing that I might not require, but
+I respect the gray hair of your general, and the valor of your troops,
+and I require, nothing more than is imperatively demanded by the present
+situation of affairs. Return to Alessandria; do what you will, you shall
+have no other conditions."
+
+The treaty of peace was signed at Alessandria, the same day, June 15th,
+1800, as originally proposed by General Bonaparte. He then started for
+Paris by way of Milan, where preparations had been made for a solemn Te
+Deum in the ancient cathedral, and at which the First Consul was
+present. He found the city illuminated, and ringing with the most
+enthusiastic rejoicings. The streets were lined with people who greeted
+him with shouts of welcome. Draperies were hung from the windows, which
+were crowded by women of the first rank and who threw flowers into his
+carriage as he passed. He set off for Paris on the 24th of June and
+arrived at the French capital in the night between the 2nd and 3rd of
+July, having been absent less than two months. Massena remained as
+Commander-in-chief of the Army of Italy.
+
+To one of his traveling companions with whom he conversed on the journey
+to Paris about his remarkable victory at Marengo, he said: "Well, a few
+grand deeds like this campaign and I may be known to posterity." "It
+seems to me," said his companion, "that you have already done enough to
+be talked about everywhere for a time." "Done enough," said Bonaparte
+quickly, "You are very kind! To be sure in less than two years I have
+conquered Cairo, Paris and Milan; well, my dear fellow, if I were to die
+to-morrow, after ten centuries I shouldn't fill half a page in a
+universal history!"
+
+At night the city of Paris was brilliantly illuminated and the
+inhabitants turned out en masse. Night after night every house was
+illuminated. The people were so anxious to show their pleasure at
+Napoleon's miraculous victory that they stood in crowds around the
+palace contented if they could but catch a glimpse of the preserver of
+France. These receptions so deeply touched him that twenty years
+afterwards, in loneliness and in exile, a prisoner at St. Helena, he
+mentioned it as one of the proudest and happiest moments of his life.
+
+On the day following his return to the capital the president of the
+Senate--the entire body having waited upon him in state--complimented
+the conqueror of Marengo in language such as kings were formerly
+addressed in, and in closing his address said: "We take pleasure in
+acknowledging that to you the country owes its salvation; that to you
+the Republic will owe its consolidation, and the people a prosperity,
+which you have in one day made to succeed ten years of the most stormy
+of revolutions."
+
+In November following Napoleon's return to the capital he received a
+letter addressed to him by Count de Lille (afterwards Louis XVIII.)
+which the exiled prince of the House of Bourbon evidently believed would
+place him on the throne of France. He said: "You are very tardy about
+restoring my throne to me; it is to be feared that you may let the
+favorable moment slip. You cannot establish the happiness of France
+without me; and I, on the other hand, can do nothing for France without
+you. Make haste, then, and point out, yourself, the posts and dignities
+which will satisfy you and your friends."
+
+The First Consul answered thus: "I have received your Royal Highness'
+letter. I have always taken a lively interest in your misfortunes and
+those of your family. You must not think of appearing in France--_you
+could not do so without marching over five hundred thousand corpses_.
+For the rest, I shall always be zealous to do whatever lies in my power
+towards softening your Royal Highness' destinies, and making you forget,
+if possible, your misfortunes. BONAPARTE."
+
+The battle of Marengo was celebrated at Paris by a fête on the 14th of
+July, which presented a singularly interesting spectacle owing to the
+appearance of the "wall of granite," the members of which, just as the
+games were about to begin, marched into the field. The sight of those
+soldiers, covered with the dust of their march, sun-burned and
+powder-stained, and bearing marks of heroic deeds on the battlefield,
+formed a scene so truly affecting that the populace could not be
+restrained by the guards from violating the limits, in order to take a
+nearer view of those interesting heroes.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+ULM AND AUSTERLITZ
+
+
+Napoleon had now reached such a point of power that the Bourbons
+resigned all hopes of restoration through his agency, and as the next
+best means of obtaining control of the throne of France assassination
+was decided upon. The First Consul had scarcely been in Paris a month,
+after the engagement at Marengo when Ceracchi, a sculptor of some fame,
+attempted Bonaparte's life as he was entering the theatre. But for his
+betrayal by a co-conspirator the plot would have succeeded. This attempt
+by means of the dagger was followed by the explosion of an infernal
+machine, which consisted of a barrel of gunpowder surrounded by an
+immense quantity of grape shot. On the night of October 10th the machine
+was placed at Nacaise, a narrow street through which Napoleon was to
+pass on his way to the opera house.
+
+Some years later, in telling of the narrow escape he had on that night,
+he said: "I had been hard at work all day, and was so overpowered by
+sleep after dinner that Josephine, who was quite anxious to go to the
+opera that night, found it quite difficult to arouse me and persuade me
+to go. I fell asleep again after we had entered the carriage, and I was
+dreaming of the danger I had undergone some years before in crossing the
+Tagliamento at midnight by the light of torches, during a flood, when I
+was waked by the explosion of the infernal machine. 'We are blown up,' I
+said to Bessieres and Lannes, who were in the carriage, and then quickly
+commanded the coachman to drive on."
+
+The coachman, who was intoxicated, heard the order, and having mistaken
+the explosion for a salute, lashed his horses furiously until the
+theatre was reached. The machine had been fired by a slow match, and the
+explosion took place just twenty seconds too soon. Summary justice was
+executed upon the perpetrators of this infamous deed, and some time
+later the Duke d' Enghien atoned for the part, whatever it might have
+been, that the Bourbons had taken in these murderous schemes.
+
+Austria delayed for several months final negotiations of the treaty
+agreed upon after the engagement at Marengo, evidently reassured by the
+attempts made on the First Consul's life. Preliminaries of peace had
+been signed at Paris, between the Austrian general, Saint Julian, and
+the French government. Duroc was dispatched to the Emperor of Austria,
+to obtain his ratification of the articles; but having reached the
+headquarters of the Army of the Rhine, he was refused a pass to proceed
+on his journey.
+
+Napoleon immediately ordered Moreau to recommence hostilities, unless
+the Emperor delivered up the fortresses of Ulm, Ingolstadt and
+Phillipsburg as pledges of his sincerity. Austria, accordingly,
+purchased a further protraction of the armistice at this heavy price; at
+the same time offering to treat for peace on new grounds. News of the
+occupation of the three fortresses by the French troops, was announced
+in Paris on the 23d of September 1800, where the fresh hopes of peace
+caused universal satisfaction.
+
+These hopes, however, proved delusive. Austria delayed and equivocated,
+until it became evident the Emperor would make no peace separate from
+England, and that the latter power was prepared to support her ally.
+
+Napoleon, perceiving that he was being trifled with, now gave orders (in
+November, 1800) to all his generals to put their divisions in march
+all along the frontiers of the French dominions. The shock was
+instantaneous, from the Rhine to the Mincio. Brune overwhelmed the
+Austrians on the Mincio; Macdonald held the Tyrol, and Moreau achieved
+the glorious victory of Hohenlinden after a desperate and most
+sanguinary battle. This latter contest decided the fate of the campaign.
+Thus with three victorious armies, either of which could have marched
+triumphantly into Vienna, Napoleon hesitated long enough before taking
+that final step, to allow Austria to sign an honest and definite peace.
+The treaty of Luneville was at last signed in good faith on February
+9th, 1801. By the peace of Luneville, Napoleon for the second time
+effected the pacification of the Continent. Of all the powerful
+coalition which threatened France in 1800, England alone continued
+hostile in 1801 if we except Turkey, with which no arrangement could be
+made until the affairs of Egypt were settled.
+
+On the 8th of March, 1801, a British army of 17,000 men landed in Egypt
+under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby. The French were very
+ill-prepared for an attack. The English army overcame the resistance of
+the forces which opposed their landing through the heavy surf formed on
+the beach, and advanced upon their enemy. No general action occurred
+until the 21st when the English obtained a decisive victory and drove
+Menou,--who had succeeded to the command of the troops in Egypt at the
+death of Kléber,--with great loss within the walls of Alexandria. Here
+he was blockaded and General Belliard, cut off from all communication
+with him, capitulated after which Menou submitted. Each capitulated on
+condition of being taken back to France with all his troops and their
+arms and baggage. Thus ended the conquest of Egypt by Napoleon. The
+French admiral, Gantheaume, had long been making fruitless efforts to
+land reinforcements in Egypt, but had been unable to elude the British
+ships. He was now ordered to return to Toulon, where preparations were
+made to receive the French troops.
+
+After the news of the reverses of the French army in Egypt, and the
+great sea victory of Copenhagen by Nelson, Napoleon was determined to
+bring England to negotiations of peace and a recognition of the French
+Republic, and with this in view he gathered an army of 100,000 men on
+the coasts of France, with a flotilla sufficiently large to effect a
+landing in England, whenever circumstances seemed to favor such a
+movement. At this very moment it was, that Fulton, the inventor of
+steam-boats, communicated his discovery to the First Consul. Napoleon
+thus had the first chance placed in his hands of possessing exclusively
+for a time, the greatest and most diversified means of physical power
+ever known in the world. Scarcely deigning to bestow a thought upon the
+subject the First Consul treated the inventor as a "visionary."
+
+Whether or not Napoleon ever intended to invade Great Britain, he
+succeeded at all events in convincing the world for a time that such was
+his design, and when the peace of Amiens was signed on March 25th, 1802,
+Paris and London rejoiced, as did all civilized nations. The peace of
+Amiens left the military resources of France unemployed on the hands of
+Bonaparte. This induced him to think of profiting by the European calm,
+and effect the conquest of St. Domingo. He gave the command of the
+expedition to his brother-in-law, Leclerc; but it was unsuccessful.
+
+The inauguration of Christian worship once more in France in 1802 gave
+Napoleon an opportunity to show that he had the interest of the people
+at heart. France was an infidel nation, and it was the fashion to
+believe there was no God. The signing of the Concordat by Pope Pius VII.
+gave to France what she had long needed--a form of religious worship. It
+required no little strength of purpose to take this step. "Religion is a
+principle which cannot be eradicated from the heart of man;" said
+Napoleon. "Last Sunday I was walking here alone, and the church bells of
+the village of Ruel rang at sunset. I was strongly moved, so vividly did
+the memory of early days come back with that sound. If it be thus with
+me, what must it be with others? In re-establishing the Church, I
+consult the wishes of the great majority of my people." A grand
+religious ceremony took place at Notre Dame Cathedral to celebrate the
+proclamation of the Concordat, at which the First Consul presided with
+great pomp, attended by all the ministers and general officers then in
+Paris. Another measure, adopted at this period, was the decree
+permitting the return of the emigrants, provided they appeared and took
+the oath to the government within a certain period. It is estimated that
+a hundred thousand exiles returned to their country in consequence of
+this decree.
+
+It was about this period, too, that the First Consul turned his
+attention to the system of a national education. He also commenced the
+herculean task of preparing a code of law for the French nation with the
+result that the "Code Napoleon" is known to every civilized nation of
+the earth. Public improvements, formerly projected, were now carried
+out, and sciences and the arts progressed as never before.
+
+The order of the Legion of Honor owes its inception to Napoleon
+Bonaparte, and it was he who placed it on such a footing in France
+that it has since thrived there as has no similar institution on
+the Continent. When established by him, after months of careful
+consideration, he believed it necessary to France. To his Counselors of
+State he said: "They talk about ribbons and crosses being the playthings
+of monarchs, and say that the old Romans had no system of honorary
+rewards. The Romans had patricians, knights, citizens and slaves,--for
+each class different dresses and different manners--mural crowns, civic
+crowns, orations, triumphs and titles. When the noble band of patricians
+lost its influence, Rome fell to pieces--the people were a vile rabble.
+It was then that you saw the fury of Marius, the proscriptions of
+Scylla, and afterward of the Emperors. In that manner Brutus is talked
+of as the enemy of tyrants; he was an aristocrat, who stabbed Caesar
+because Caesar wished to lower the authority of the senate. You call
+these ribbons and crosses child's rattles--be it so: It is with such
+rattles that men are led. I would not say that to the multitude, but in
+a council of wise men and statesmen one may speak the truth.... Observe
+how the people bow before the decorations of foreigners. Voltaire calls
+the common soldiers 'Alexanders at five sous a day.' He was right. It is
+just so. Do you imagine you can make men fight by reasoning? Never! You
+must bribe them with glory, with distinctions and rewards.... In fine,
+it is agreed that we have need of some kind of institutions. If this
+Legion of Honor is not approved, let some other be suggested. I do not
+pretend that it alone will save the State, but it will do its part."
+
+The Legion of Honor was instituted on the 15th of May 1802. When
+Napoleon had seen the fruits of it, he said: "This order was the reward
+of every one who was an honor to his country, stood at the head of his
+profession, and contributed to the national prosperity and glory. Some
+were dissatisfied because the decoration was conferred alike on officers
+and soldiers; others, because it was given for civil and military merits
+indiscriminately; but if this order ever cease to be the recompense of
+the brave private, or be confined to military men alone, it will cease
+to be what I made it,--the Legion of Honor."
+
+The First Consul was, in right of his office, captain general of the
+legion and president of the council of administration. The nomination of
+all the members was for life. The grand officers were endowed with a
+yearly pension of upwards of $1000. Pensions, decreasing in amount, were
+also affixed to the subordinate degrees of rank in the order. All the
+members were required to swear, upon their honor, to defend the
+government of France, and maintain the inviolability of her Empire, to
+combat, by every lawful means against the re-establishment of feudal
+institutions, and to concur in maintaining the principle of liberty and
+equality. On the day the order was instituted, Napoleon, by act of the
+Senate was appointed Consul for life. The First Consul accepted the
+offered prolongation from the Senate, on the condition that the
+opinion of the people should be consulted on the subject. The question
+put to them, as framed by Cambacérès and Le Brun, was: "Napoleon
+Bonaparte--Shall he be Consul for life?" Registers were opened in all
+municipalities; and the answer of the people qualified to vote was
+decisive. Upwards of three million five hundred thousand voted for the
+proposal; 8,300 against it. In the month of August Napoleon was formally
+declared Consul for life and a decree of the Senate immediately
+consolidated his power, by permitting him to appoint his successor.
+
+This personal elevation had its ample share in contributing to the
+number of Napoleon's enemies. In fact it appears in some measure
+astonishing how any individual could persuade a whole nation, day after
+day, to yield him up such a portion of its rights and privileges.
+However, among many instances that might be adduced of his powers of
+persuasion, one which occurred about this period is not the least
+remarkable. In the beginning of the summer of 1802 some officers of
+rank, enthusiastic republicans, took umbrage at Napoleon's conduct, and
+determined to go and remonstrate with him upon the points that had given
+them offense, and speak their minds freely. On the evening of the same
+day, one of the party gave the following account of the interview: "I do
+not know whence it arises, but there is a charm about that man,
+indescribable and irresistible. I am no admirer of his; I dislike the
+power to which he has risen; yet I cannot help confessing that there is
+something in him which seems to speak him born to command. We went into
+his apartment, determined to declare our minds; to expostulate with him
+warmly; and not to depart till our subject of complaint should be
+removed. But in his manner of receiving us there was a certain tact
+which disarmed us in a moment; nor could we utter one word of what we
+had intended to say. He talked to us for a length of time, with an
+eloquence peculiarly his own, explaining with the utmost clearness and
+precision, the necessity of steadily pursuing the line of conduct he had
+adopted, and, without contradicting us in direct terms, controverted our
+opinions so ably, that we had not a word to offer in reply, we therefore
+retired, having done nothing but listen to, instead of expostulating
+with him, fully convinced, at least for the moment, that he was right,
+and that we were altogether in the wrong!"
+
+Towards the close of the year 1802 it became evident that the peace of
+Amiens was based on a hollow foundation, and was destined at no distant
+period to be overthrown. At an interview held with Lord Whitworth, an
+ambassador from England, Napoleon said: "No consideration on earth shall
+make me consent to your retention of Malta; I would as soon agree to put
+you in possession of the Faubourg St. Antoine. Every wind that blows
+from England brings nothing but hatred and hostility towards me. An
+invasion is the only means of offense that I can take against her, and I
+am determined to put myself at the head of the expedition. There are a
+hundred chances to one against my success; but I am not the less
+determined to attempt the descent, if war must be the consequence of the
+present discussion." He now quickly brought matters to a crisis. He
+attacked the ambassador in vigorous language at a diplomatic meeting at
+the Tuileries which ended in an abrupt termination of the conference by
+Napoleon leaving the room.
+
+The armistice lasted until March 18th, 1803, when England again declared
+war upon France. All commerce of the French nation was ordered seized,
+wherever found, and two hundred vessels, containing at least $15,000,000
+worth of property fell into the hands of England. Napoleon retaliated by
+arresting upwards of ten thousand Englishmen then in France. The tocsin
+of war was sounded in every part of Europe, and 160,000 French soldiers
+were marshaled on the coasts of France, again threatening an invasion of
+England. France at this time was totally unprepared for war; a proof
+sufficient to show that the First Consul had not desired the termination
+of peace. The army was completely on a peace establishment; great
+numbers of the troops were disbanded and the parks of artillery were
+broken up. New plans for re-casting the artillery had been proposed, and
+they had already begun to break up the cannon to throw them into the
+furnaces. The navy was in a still less serviceable condition. In an
+address to the Senate Napoleon said: "The negotiations are ended and we
+are attacked; let us at least fight to maintain the faith of treaties
+and the honor of the French name." The nation responded with enthusiasm
+to the call; sums of money were voted by the large towns for building
+ships and the army was rapidly recruited.
+
+The first hostile movement of Napoleon was upon the continental domains
+of George III. General Mortier invaded the Electorate of Hanover with
+15,000 men and the Hanoverian army laid down its arms. The second
+movement of the First Consul was the occupation of Naples. No resistance
+was attempted. These measures, besides enabling Napoleon to maintain his
+army by levies on the foreign states he occupied, also crippled the
+commerce of England by shutting up all communication with many of the
+best markets on the Continent. The First Consul now visited the
+principal towns, accompanied by Josephine, where he made observations
+and gave orders respecting the fortifications. These measures were all
+preparatory on the part of Napoleon to his determined plan to attempt
+the invasion of England. Funds were secured in part by the sale of
+Louisiana to the United States.
+
+Assassination was now again resorted to that Napoleon might be
+overthrown; but every attempt, as heretofore, proved futile. Conspiracy
+after conspiracy was detected--all traced to Napoleon's political
+enemies. The First Consul resolved on retaliation and ordered the arrest
+of the Duke d'Enghien at his castle in the Duchy of Baden. Three days
+afterwards the duke was conveyed to Paris, and after a few hours'
+imprisonment, was taken to the old State Prison of France, where he was
+tried by court martial, and in a most summary and hasty manner
+pronounced guilty of having fought against the Republic and condemned to
+death. He was led down a winding stairway by torchlight, and shot in a
+ditch in the castle at six o'clock in the morning. All Europe shuddered
+at the deed, but it produced exactly the result Napoleon intended by it;
+he was safe from attempts on his life forever afterwards.
+
+Before the discovery of this plot the French Senate had sent an address
+to Napoleon congratulating him on his escape from a former conspiracy in
+which one hundred persons had schemed to take his life. In answer he
+said: "I have long since renounced the hope of enjoying the pleasures of
+a private life; all my days are employed in fulfilling the duties which
+my fate and the will of the French people have imposed upon me. Heaven
+will watch over France, and defeat the plots of the wicked. The citizens
+may be without alarm; my life will last as long as it will be useful to
+the nation; but I wish the French people to understand that existence,
+without their confidence and affection, would be to me without
+consolation, and would for them have no object."
+
+The title of First Consul, by which Napoleon had been distinguished for
+more than four years, was exchanged on the 18th of May 1804 for that of
+Emperor by the advice of the Senate, where it was first publicly
+broached, and by the universal assent of the French nation. Upwards
+of 3,500,000 voted for the measure and about 2,000 against it. The
+debates in the Senate were somewhat protracted and so great was the
+impatience of the military that the garrison of Paris had resolved to
+proclaim their chief as Emperor, at the first review; and Murat,
+governor of the city, was obliged to assemble the officers at his house,
+and bind them by a promise to restrain the troops. The spirit of the
+army at Boulogne was soon manifested, by their voting the erection of a
+colossal statue of Napoleon, in bronze, to be placed in the midst of the
+camp. Every soldier subscribed a portion of his pay for the purpose; but
+there was a want of bronze. Soult, who presided over the completion of
+the undertaking, went, at the head of a deputation to Napoleon, and
+said: "Sire, lend me the bronze, and I will repay it in enemy's cannon
+at the first battle," and he kept his word.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by J. L. David
+
+ALLEGORIAL REPRESENTATION OF NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS]
+
+On the 27th of May Napoleon received the oath of the Senate, the
+constituted bodies, the learned corporations and the troops of the
+garrison of Paris. Louis XVIII. immediately addressed a protest to all
+the sovereigns of Europe against the usurpation of Napoleon. Fouché, who
+was the first who heard of this document, immediately communicated the
+intelligence to the Emperor, with a view to prepare the necessary orders
+to watch over those who might attempt its circulation; but great was his
+surprise, on receiving directions to have the whole inserted in "The
+Moniteur" the following morning, where it actually appeared. This was
+all the notice taken of the matter by Napoleon.
+
+On December 1st of the same year, the lists of votes in favor of the
+establishment of the hereditary succession of the Empire in his family
+were publicly presented by the Senate to Napoleon, and on the following
+day, in the midst of one of the most imposing and brilliant scenes ever
+enacted in France, Napoleon and Josephine were crowned Emperor and
+Empress of France by Pius VII., the Pontiff of Rome, in the Cathedral of
+Notre Dame.
+
+The Emperor took his coronation oath as usual on such occasions, with
+his hand upon the Scripture, and in the form repeated to him by the
+Pope; but in the act of coronation itself there was a marked deviation
+from the universal custom. The crown having been blessed by the Pope,
+Napoleon took it from the altar with his own hands and placed it on his
+brow. He then put the diadem on the head of Josephine. The heralds
+proclaimed that "the thrice glorious and thrice august Napoleon, Emperor
+of the French, was crowned and installed;" and so ended the pageant.
+"Those who remember having beheld it," says Sir Walter Scott, "must now
+doubt whether they were waking, or whether fancy had formed a vision so
+dazzling in its appearance, so extraordinary in its origin and progress,
+and so ephemeral in its endurance."
+
+The senators of the Italian Republic soon afterwards requested that
+Napoleon be crowned as their king, and on the following May 1805, in the
+ancient cathedral of Milan, he assumed the Iron Crown of the Lombard
+kings, saying as he did so, "God has given it to me; let him beware who
+would touch it!"
+
+The new order of knighthood, that of the Iron Crown, with these words
+for its motto, arose out of this ceremony.
+
+On the 8th of May, while on the road to Milan, Napoleon expressed a wish
+to visit the battlefield of Marengo, on which he had reconquered Italy
+five years before. All the French troops in that part of Italy were
+therefore mustered there, to the number of 30,000. Covered with the hat
+and uniform which he wore on the day of that memorable conflict--the
+Emperor passed the army in review on horseback, and distributed crosses
+of the Legion of Honor, with the same ceremonies which had been observed
+on the Champ de Mars and the same return of enthusiastic devotion on the
+parts of the troops. "It was remarked," says Bourrienne, "that the
+worms, who spare neither the costumes of living kings, nor the bodies of
+deceased heroes, had been busy with the trophies of Marengo, which,
+nevertheless, Bonaparte wore at the review." Napoleon did not continue
+his journey until after he had laid the first stone of the monument
+consecrated to those who had been slain on the battlefield, and on the
+same day he made his entry into Milan. Meanwhile the activity in France
+continued unabated, and scarcely a day passed without some trifling
+engagement, brought on by the rigorous pursuit of the squadrons of the
+French fleet, as they advanced to Boulogne.
+
+Scarcely had the Emperor entered Paris after his return from the
+coronation in Italy, before he learned that a new coalition had been
+formed against him, and that England, Russia, Austria and Sweden, with
+half a million men, were preparing once more for war. The objects
+proposed were, briefly, the independence of Holland and Switzerland; the
+evacuation of Hanover, and the north of Germany by the French troops;
+the restoration of Piedmont to the King of Sardinia; and the complete
+evacuation of Italy by France. Great Britain, besides affording the
+assistance of her forces by sea and land, was to pay large subsidies for
+supporting the armies of the coalition. Napoleon had, in a great degree,
+penetrated the schemes of the allied powers, but was not prepared for
+the sudden assumption of arms by Austria without any declaration of war;
+a measure which Austria justified by referring to the increasing
+encroachments of France in Italy.
+
+As the Emperor desired leisure to prosecute and perfect the great public
+works he had begun, or projected, he most earnestly wished for peace,
+and he again addressed a letter to the King of England, and which was
+treated with contempt. An envoy was sent to Frankfort-on-the-Main to
+ascertain definitely whether Austria really intended to trample another
+treaty in the dirt, and so soon after the fatal day at Marengo. The
+messenger soon returned with the best maps of the German Empire, and
+opening them on the council table of the Tuileries, said: "The Austrian
+general is advancing on Munich: the Russian army is in motion, and
+Prussia will join them."
+
+The Emperor of Russia had pushed on to Berlin to win over the Prussian
+monarch to the great Bourbon coalition, and to make the compact more
+impressive, he asked his royal brother to visit with him the tomb of
+Frederick the Great. They descended by torchlight to the vault, and
+there, over the honored dust of Frederick, Francis, his heir, took a
+solemn oath, as he pointed to the sword of his ancestor as it lay on the
+coffin, to join the European coalition. Some weeks afterwards Napoleon
+visited the tomb as a conqueror, and said to his attendant, as he seized
+the precious relics: "These orders and sword shall witness no other such
+scene of perjury over the ashes of Frederick!"
+
+The young Emperor of France now gathered his eagles to lead them toward
+the Danube. To the French Senate, whom Napoleon informed of the hostile
+conduct of Russia and Austria, the Emperor said: "I am about to quit my
+capital to place myself at the head of my army in order that I may
+render prompt assistance to my allies, and defend the dearest interests
+of my people.... I groan for the blood which it will cost Europe; but
+it will be the means of adding new lustre to the French name." Another
+campaign against the kings of Europe was inevitable, and he proceeded to
+achieve the destruction of Mack's army, not as at Marengo by one general
+battle, but by a series of grand manoeuvres, and a train of partial
+actions necessary to execute them, which rendered assistance and retreat
+alike impossible.
+
+The great army that had been assembled on the coast of France to invade
+England was now relieved from its inactivity and directed to march upon
+the German frontiers. The Count de Ségur, who had command of the
+detachment of the Guard at the Tuileries, and accompanied Napoleon on
+this campaign, relates in his "Memoirs" a remarkable scene in the
+Emperor's private quarters at Boulogne before Napoleon started for the
+frontier. The Emperor had just received news that Admiral Villeneuve had
+taken the French fleet to Ferrol and left the channel. On learning this
+the Emperor at once decided that the contemplated invasion of England
+was then impossible. Ségur then says: "Sit there," Napoleon said to M.
+Daru, then acting as intendant-general of the army "and write." And
+then, without a transition, without any apparent meditation, with his
+brief and imperious accent, he dictated to him, without hesitation, the
+plan of the campaign of Ulm as far as Vienna! The army of the coast,
+fronting the ocean for more than two hundred leagues, was at the first
+signal to turn round and march on the Danube, in several columns! The
+order of the marches, their duration, points of concentration, of
+reunion of the columns, surprises, attacks, various movements, the
+enemy's mistakes--all was foreseen.... The battlefields, the victories,
+even the dates on which we were to enter Munich and Vienna--all was then
+written just as it happened, and this two months in advance, at this
+very hour of the 13th of August, and from this quarter-general on the
+coast. Daru, however accustomed to the inspirations of his chief,
+remained dumfounded, and he was even more surprised when afterwards he
+saw these oracles realized. The Emperor returned to Paris without delay,
+and there laid before the Senate the state of the army and announced the
+commencement of hostilities.
+
+It was five years since the soldiers had been in battle; and for two and
+a half years they had been waiting in vain for an opportunity to cross
+over into England. It would be difficult to form any conception then of
+their joy or of their ardor when they learned they were going to be
+employed in a great war. Old and young ardently longed for battles,
+dangers, distant expeditions. They had conquered the Austrians, the
+Prussians, the Russians; they despised all the soldiers of Europe and
+did not imagine there was an army in the world capable of resisting
+them. They set off singing, and shouting, "Vive l'Empereur!"
+
+At the same time Massena received orders to assume the offensive in
+Italy, and force his way, if possible, into the hereditary States of
+Austria. The two French armies, one crossing the Rhine and the other
+pushing through the Tyrolese, looked forward to a junction before the
+walls of Vienna. After appointing Joseph Bonaparte to superintend the
+government in his absence Napoleon quitted Paris on the 24th of
+September 1805, accompanied as far as Strasbourg by Josephine: here they
+separated. The Emperor put himself at the head of his army and crossed
+the Rhine on the 1st of October. He now begun a series of grand
+manoeuvres and partial actions, requiring consummate skill, with a view
+to the destruction of the great Austrian army under General Mack.
+
+Mack, at the head of the Austrian forces, established his headquarters
+on the western frontier of Bavaria, at Ulm. Prudence would have
+suggested that he occupy the line of the river Inn, which, extending
+from the Tyrol to the Danube at Passau, affords a strong defense to the
+Austrian territory, and on which he might have awaited, in comparative
+safety, the arrival of the Russian forces, then on the march to aid
+Austria in the campaign.
+
+Napoleon hastened to profit by Mack's error, and by a combination of
+manoeuvres with his different divisions, the great body of the French
+army advanced into the heart of Germany by the left of the Danube, and
+then throwing himself across the river, took ground in the Austrian
+general's rear, when he expected to be assaulted in front of Ulm. As it
+was, Mack's communication with Vienna was interrupted, and he was
+completely isolated.
+
+Never was astonishment equal to that which filled all Europe on the
+unexpected arrival of the French army. It was supposed to be on the
+shores of the ocean, and in twenty days, scarcely time enough for the
+report of its march to spread to this point, it appeared on the Rhine.
+
+Napoleon did not effect his purpose of taking up a position in the rear
+of Mack without resistance, but in the various engagements with the
+different divisions of the Austrian army at Wertingen, Gunzburgh,
+Memingen and Elchingen, the French were uniformly successful. At
+Memingen General Spangenburg was forced to capitulate, and 5,000 men
+laid down their arms. Not less than 20,000 prisoners fell into the hands
+of the French between the 26th of September and the 13th of October.
+
+The Emperor passed in review the dragoons of the village of Zumershausen
+when he ordered to be brought before him a dragoon named Marente, of the
+4th regiment, one of the gallant soldiers who, at the passage of the
+Lech, had saved his captain, by whom he had, a few days before, been
+cashiered from his rank. Napoleon then bestowed upon him the eagle of
+the Legion of Honor.
+
+"I have only done my duty," observed the soldier, "my captain degraded
+me on account of some violation of discipline but he knows I have always
+proved a good soldier."
+
+The Emperor expressed his satisfaction to the dragoons for the bravery
+they had displayed at the battle of Wertingen and ordered each regiment
+to present a dragoon, on whom he also bestowed the decoration of the
+Legion of Honor.
+
+Napoleon looked upon the battle of Elchingen which followed the actions
+at Wertingen and Gunzburgh as one of the finest feats of arms that his
+army had ever accomplished. From this field of battle he sent the Senate
+forty standards taken by the French army in the various battles which
+had succeeded that of Wertingen. "Since my entry on this campaign," he
+wrote, "I have disposed of an army of 100,000 men. I have taken nearly
+half of them prisoners; the rest have either deserted, are killed,
+wounded, or reduced to the greatest consternation ... Assisted by Divine
+Providence I hope in a short time to triumph over all my enemies."
+
+By the 13th of October General Mack found himself completely surrounded
+at Ulm with a garrison of fully 20,000 good troops. On this day Napoleon
+made an exciting address to his soldiers on the bridge of the Lech, amid
+the most intense cold, the ground being covered with snow, and the
+troops sunk to the knees in mud. He warned them to expect a great
+battle, and explained the desperate condition of the enemy. He was
+answered with acclamations and repeated shouts of, "Vive l' Empereur!"
+In listening to his exciting words, the soldiers forgot their fatigues
+and privations and were impatient to rush into the fight.
+
+As Napoleon passed through a crowd of prisoners, an Austrian colonel
+expressed his astonishment on beholding the Emperor of the French
+drenched with rain, covered with dirt, and as much, or even more
+fatigued than the meanest drummer in his army. An aide-de-camp present
+having explained to him what the Austrian officer said, the Emperor
+ordered this answer to be given: "Your master wished me to recollect
+that I was a soldier; I hope that he will allow that the throne and the
+imperial purple have not made me forget my original profession."
+
+From the height of the Abbey of Elchingen Napoleon now beheld the city
+of Ulm at his feet, commanded on every side by his cannon; his
+victorious troops ready for the assault, and the great Austrian army
+cooped up within the walls. Four days later a flag of truce came from
+General Mack.
+
+Napoleon had called upon the commander to surrender, and unlike the
+brave Wurmser, who held Mantua to extremity during the campaign of
+Alvinzi, he capitulated without hazarding a blow. On the previous day
+Mack had published a proclamation urging his troops to prepare for the
+"utmost pertinacity of defense" and forbidding, on the pain of death,
+the very word "surrender" to be breathed within the walls of Ulm. He
+announced the arrival of two powerful armies, one of Austrians, the
+other of Russians, whose appearance "would presently raise the
+blockade." He even declared his intention of eating horseflesh rather
+than listen to any terms of capitulation!
+
+On the morning of October 15th Napoleon finally resolved to bring the
+affair to a close, and gave orders to Marshal Ney to storm the heights
+of Michaelsberg. All at once a battery unmasked by the Austrians, poured
+its grape-shot upon the imperial group. Lannes, who was to flank Ney,
+abruptly seized Napoleon's horse to lead him out of the galling fire.
+The latter had taken up a position to watch Ney, who had set his columns
+in motion. Changing to a safe position, the Emperor saw this intrepid
+leader climb the intrenchments raised on Michaelsberg, and carry them
+with the bayonet. Lannes secured another point of attack a moment later.
+
+Napoleon then suspended the combat until the next day, when he ordered a
+few shells to be thrown into Ulm, and in the evening sent Ségur to
+General Mack summoning him to surrender. The envoy had great difficulty
+in getting into the place. He was led blindfold before Mack, who,
+striving to conceal his anxiety, was nevertheless unable to dissemble
+his surprise and grief on learning the extent of his disaster and
+hopeless position.
+
+On the 17th Mack signed articles by which hostilities were immediately
+ceased and he with all his men agreed to surrender(!) themselves as
+prisoners of war within ten days, unless some Austrian or Russian force
+should appear and attempt to raise the blockade. On the 19th, after a
+personal visit to Napoleon's camp, Mack submitted to a "revision" of the
+treaty, and on the 20th a formal evacuation of Ulm took place.
+
+Thirty-six thousand soldiers filed off and laid down their arms before
+Napoleon and his staff. A large watchfire had been made, near which the
+Emperor posted himself to witness the ceremony. General Mack came
+forward and delivered his sword, exclaiming, with grief: "Here is the
+unfortunate Mack!" Napoleon received him and his officers with the
+greatest courtesy. Eighteen generals were dismissed on parole, an
+immense quantity of ammunition of all sorts fell into the hands of the
+victor, and a wagonful of Austrian standards was sent to Paris.
+
+Napoleon enforced the strictest silence on his troops while this
+ceremony, so painful to their enemies continued. In one instance he
+instantly ordered out of his presence one of his own generals from whom
+his quick ear caught some witticism passed on the occasion.
+
+All the Austrian officers were allowed to return home, on giving their
+word of honor not to serve against France until a general exchange of
+prisoners should take place.
+
+This campaign is perhaps unexampled in the history of warfare for the
+greatness of its results in comparison with the smallness of the expense
+at which they were obtained. Of the French army, scarcely fifteen
+hundred men were killed and wounded; while the Austrian army of almost
+ninety thousand men was nearly annihilated; all, with the exception of
+15,000 who escaped, being killed, wounded, or prisoners; and having lost
+also, 200 pieces of cannon and ninety flags. It was a common remark
+among the troops, "The Emperor has found a new method of carrying on
+war; he makes us use our legs instead of our bayonets." Five-sixths of
+the French army never fired a shot, at which the troops were much
+mortified!
+
+Massena was also successful in his advance from Lombardy, the Archduke
+Charles, who commanded an army of 80,000 men for Austria, being forced
+to abandon Italy, and Marshal Ney whom Napoleon had detached from his
+own main army with orders to advance in the Tyrol, was no less
+successful. The number of prisoners taken in this campaign was so great
+that Napoleon distributed them amongst the agriculturists that their
+work in the fields might make up for the absence of the conscripts, whom
+he had withdrawn from such labor.
+
+Rumors of the approach of the Russians, headed by the Emperor Alexander
+in person, came fast and frequent. The divisions of Massena and Ney were
+now at the disposal of Napoleon, who was concentrating his forces for
+the purpose of attacking Vienna, and, with the main body, now moved on
+the capital of the Austrian Emperor. The Emperor Francis, perceiving
+that Vienna was incapable of defense, quitted his palace on the 7th of
+November, and proceeded to the headquarters of Alexander at Brunn.
+
+While Napoleon was riding on horseback on the Vienna road, he perceived
+an open carriage approaching, in which were seated a priest, and a lady
+bathed in tears. The Emperor was dressed, as usual, in the uniform of a
+colonel of the chasseurs of the guard. The lady did not recognize him.
+He inquired the cause of her distress and where she was going.
+
+"Sir," said she, "I have been robbed, about two leagues hence, by a
+party of soldiers, who have killed my gardener. I am going to request
+that your emperor will grant me a guard; he once knew my family well,
+and lay under obligations to them."
+
+"Your name?" inquired Napoleon.
+
+"De Brunny" answered the lady. "I am the daughter of M. de Marbeuf,
+formerly governor of Corsica."
+
+"I am delighted to meet with you madame" exclaimed Napoleon with the
+most charming frankness, "and to have an opportunity of serving you,--I
+am the Emperor."
+
+The lady expressed much surprise and passed on agreeing to wait for the
+commander at headquarters. Here she was furnished a piquet of chasseurs.
+
+On the 13th the French entered Vienna, and Napoleon took up his
+residence in the Imperial Palace of Schoenbrunn, the home of the
+Austrian Cæsars. While at this point Napoleon learned of the success of
+the English at Trafalgar on October 19th,--the day after Mack
+surrendered at Ulm. It was a battle sternly contested and resulted in
+the final annihilation of the French fleet. Great as the triumph was for
+England, it was dearly purchased--for Nelson fell, mortally wounded,
+early in the action. He lived just long enough to hear the cheers of
+victory, and as he passed away, said, "Thank God! I have done my duty!"
+
+The tidings of Trafalgar served but as a new stimulus to Napoleon's
+energy. "Heaven has given the empire of the sea to England," he said,
+"but to us has fate decreed the dominion of the land." But though such
+signal success had crowned the commencement of the campaign, it was
+necessary to defeat the haughty Russians before the object of the war
+could be considered as attained. The broken and shattered remnant of the
+Austrian forces had rallied from different quarters around the yet
+untouched army of Alexander; Napoleon had therefore waited until the
+result of his skillful combinations had drawn around him the greatest
+force he could expect to collect, ere venturing upon a general battle.
+He then quitted Vienna and put himself at the head of his columns which
+soon found themselves within reach of the Russian and Austrian forces,
+at length combined and ready for action, and under the eye of their
+emperors.
+
+Now it was to be a battle of three emperors,--France, Russia and
+Austria. Napoleon fixed his headquarters at Brunn, where he arrived on
+the 20th of November, and riding over the plain between this point and
+Austerlitz, a village about two miles from Brunn, said to his generals:
+"Study this field well,--we shall, ere long, have to contest it."
+
+Napoleon, on learning that the Emperor Alexander was personally in the
+hostile camp, sent Savary to present his compliments to that sovereign,
+and of course "incidentally to observe as much as he could of the
+numbers and condition of the enemy's troops." The messenger reported
+that the Russians labored under a belief that the reverses of the
+previous campaign were the result of unpardonable cowardice among the
+Austrians, and the first general battle would show the sort of warriors
+the Russians were. Savary said that from the conversations he had for
+three days with nearly thirty coxcombs about the person of Alexander,
+that presumption, inconsiderateness, and imprudence, reigned in the
+decisions of the military as much as in the political cabinet, and that
+an army so conducted must of necessity commit great faults.
+
+The Czar sent a young aide-de-camp to return the compliment carried by
+Savary, and he found the French soldiery engaged in fortifying their
+position--a position which Napoleon had some time before determined to
+occupy; but the negotiations were of no avail: Napoleon wanted either an
+overwhelming battle or peace. The aide-de-camp sent by Alexander was
+impressed with what appeared to him to be evidence of fear and
+apprehension on the part of the French. The placing of strong guards and
+fortifications, thrown up with such haste, appeared to him like the
+precautions of an army half beaten. The Russian prince discussed every
+point with an air of impertinence difficult to be conceived. He spoke to
+Napoleon as if he had been conversing with a Russian officer; but the
+Emperor repressed his indignation, and the young man returned under a
+full conviction that the French army was on the brink of ruin. Several
+old Austrian generals, who had made campaigns against Napoleon, are said
+to have warned the Russian council against too much confidence as they
+were to march against old soldiers and able officers. They said they had
+seen Napoleon, when reduced to a handful of men, repossess himself of
+victory, under the most difficult circumstances, by rapid and unforseen
+operations, in which manner he had destroyed numerous armies. The
+presumptuous young man declared that the presence of the Russian Emperor
+would inspire the troops to victory especially as they would be aided by
+the picked troops of the imperial guard of Russia.
+
+On the 1st of December, on seeing the Russians begin to descend from a
+chain of heights on which they might have received an attack with great
+advantage to themselves, and have remained in safety until the Archduke
+Charles could come up with the 80,000 men in Bohemia and Hungary,
+Napoleon exclaimed rapturously, as he witnessed the rash manoeuvre: "In
+twenty-four hours that army will be mine!" In the meantime, withdrawing
+his outposts and concentrating his forces, he continued to imitate a
+conscious inferiority, which was far from existing. In the order of the
+day (December 1) before the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon inserted the
+following proclamation:
+
+"Soldiers, the Russians are before you, to avenge the Austrian army at
+Ulm. They consist of the same battalions you beat at Hollenbrun and have
+constantly pursued. The positions we occupy are formidable; and, while
+they march to my right, they shall present me their flank.--Soldiers, I
+will direct myself all your battalions. I shall keep at a distance from
+the firing, if, with your accustomed bravery, you carry confusion and
+disorder into the enemy's ranks; but, should victory appear for a moment
+doubtful, you shall see your Emperor expose himself to the first blows;
+for victory cannot hesitate on this day, in which the honor of the
+French infantry, of so much importance to the whole army, is concerned.
+Suffer not the ranks to be thinned, under pretense of carrying off the
+wounded; but let each man be well persuaded that we must conquer the
+hirelings of England, who are animated with so deep a hatred of our
+nation. This victory must terminate our campaign; when we shall resume
+our winter quarters, and be joined by the new armies forming in France.
+The peace which I make will be worthy of my people, of you and myself.
+
+    (Signed)
+
+      NAPOLEON."
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by Raffet
+
+FRENCH TROOPS CROSSING THE GREAT ST. BERNARD]
+
+At one o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of December, Napoleon, having
+slept for an hour by a watchfire, got on horseback and proceeded to
+reconnoitre the front of his position. He wished to do so without being
+recognized, but the soldiers penetrated the secret, and, lighting great
+fires of straw along the line, 80,000 men received him from post to post
+with great enthusiasm. They reminded him that it was the anniversary of
+his coronation, and declared that they would celebrate the day in a
+manner worthy of his glory.
+
+"Only promise us," cried one old grenadier, "that you will keep yourself
+out of the fire: I promise you in the name of the grenadiers of the army
+that you will have to fight only with your eyes, and we will bring you
+the flags and artillery of the Russian army to celebrate the anniversary
+of your coronation."
+
+"I will do so," answered the Emperor, "but I shall be with the reserve
+_until you need us_." This promise Napoleon soon repeated in his
+proclamation. As he threw down his pen after signing this document, he
+exclaimed: "This is the noblest evening of my life; but I shall lose too
+many of these brave fellows to-morrow. The anguish which I experience at
+this idea makes me feel they are really my children; and truly I am
+vexed with myself for these sensations, as I fear they will unman me on
+the field of battle."
+
+In his preparations for this decisive contest which he made immediately,
+ten battalions of the Imperial Guard, with ten of Oudinot's division,
+were to be kept in reserve in the rear of the line, under the eyes of
+Napoleon himself, who destined them, with forty field-pieces, to act
+wherever the fate of battle should render their services most
+necessary.
+
+"The battle was planned by Napoleon in every detail," says Ségur, "just
+as he had planned the strategic movements of the army. In the early
+morning he sent for all his aides-de-camp to come to the small house
+where he had spent the night. We had a slight repast, which, like
+himself, we ate standing; after which, putting on his sword, he said,
+'Now gentlemen, let us go and begin a great day.' We all ran to our
+horses. A moment afterwards we saw, on the top of the hill which the
+soldiers called 'the Emperor's hill,' arriving from the various points
+of our line, followed each by their aides-de-camp, all the chiefs of our
+army corps, Murat, Lannes, Bernadotte, Soult, Davoust,--all coming to
+receive final orders. If I were to live as long as the world shall last,
+I would never forget that scene."
+
+After a hazy, misty daybreak, the sun at last arose with uncommon
+brilliancy, so bright in fact that "the sun of Austerlitz" afterwards
+fell into a proverb with the French soldiery, who hailed similar dawns
+with exultation and as a sure omen of victory. The Emperor said, as he
+passed in front of several regiments: "Soldiers, we must finish this
+campaign by a thunderbolt which shall confound the pride of our
+enemies." Immediately they raised their hats on the bayonets' points and
+cries of, "Live the Emperor!" formed the actual signal for battle. A
+moment afterwards the horizon cleared up and as the sun darted forth its
+glistening rays the cannonading was heard at the extremity of the right
+line. The great battle of Austerlitz had begun.
+
+At the opening of the engagement, Kutusoff, the Russian
+general-in-chief, fell into a snare laid for him by Napoleon, and sent a
+large division of his army to turn the right of the French. His troops,
+detached for this purpose, met with unexpected resistance from Davoust,
+and were held in check. Napoleon at once seized the opportunity given
+him by the enemy in leaving a deep gap in their line, and upon that
+space Soult forthwith poured a force which entirely cut off all
+communication between the Russian centre and left.
+
+The Czar quickly perceived the fatal consequences of the movement, and
+ordered his guards to rush to the eminence called the hill of Pratzen,
+where the encounter was taking place, and beat back Soult. The Russians
+succeeded in driving the French before them, when Napoleon ordered
+Bessieres to their rescue with the Imperial Guards. The Russians had
+become somewhat disordered from the impatience of their temporary
+victory, and although they resisted Bessieres sternly, they were finally
+broken and fled. The regiment of the Grand Duke Constantine, who
+gallantly led the Russians, was now annihilated and the duke only
+escaped by the fleetness of his horse.
+
+The French centre now advanced, and the charges of Murat's cavalry were
+most decisive, while the left wing, under the command of Lannes, marched
+forward, _en echelons_, by regiments, in the same manner as if they had
+been exercising by divisions. A tremendous cannonade then took place
+along the whole line; two hundred and three pieces of cannon, and nearly
+two hundred thousand men, being engaged, so that it was indeed a giant
+combat. Success could not be doubtful: in a moment the Russians were all
+but routed, their colonel, artillery, standards and everything being
+already captured. At 1 o'clock the victory was decided; it had never
+been doubtful for a moment; and not a man of the reserves was required.
+
+From the heights of Austerlitz the Emperors of Russia and Austria beheld
+the total ruin of their centre as they had already of their left. The
+right wing only remained unbroken, it having contested well the
+impetuous charge of Lannes; but Napoleon could now gather round them on
+all sides, and, his artillery plunging incessant fire on them from the
+heights, they at length found it impossible to hold their ground and
+were driven from position to position. They were at last forced down
+into a hollow where some frozen lakes offered them the only means of
+escape from the closing cannonade. As they did so the French broke the
+ice about them by a storm of shot from 200 heavy cannon, and nearly
+2,000 men died on the spot, some swept away by artillery, but the
+greater part being drowned beneath the broken ice.
+
+The cries of the dying Russians, as they sank beneath the waters, were
+drowned, however, by the victorious shouts of the French, who were
+pursuing the scattering remnants of the enemy in every direction. In the
+bulletin of the engagement Napoleon compared the scene to that at
+Aboukir, "when the sea was covered with turbans."
+
+The Emperor had addressed his soldiers on the evening preceding the
+battle to heighten their courage, and presage to them the victory; he
+did not forget to address himself to them again after the fight, and
+felicitate them upon having so nobly contributed to verify his
+prediction. "Soldiers," he said to them, "You have on this day of
+Austerlitz justified all that which I expected from your intrepidity.
+You have decorated your eagles with immortal glory. When all that is
+necessary to assure the happiness and prosperity of our country is
+accomplished, I will lead you back to France. There you will be the
+objects of my tenderest solicitude. My people will joyously greet you
+again, and it will suffice for you to say: 'I was at the battle of
+Austerlitz,' and for them to reply, 'Behold a brave man!'"
+
+In later years Napoleon said of this engagement: "I have fought thirty
+battles like that, but I have never seen so decisive a victory, or one
+where the chances were so unevenly balanced." At another time while at
+St. Helena he said, "If I had not conquered at Austerlitz I should have
+had all Prussia on me."
+
+It was with great difficulty that the Emperors of Russia and
+Austria rallied some fragments of their armies around them, and,
+terror-stricken, effected their retreat. With the conqueror there
+remained 20,000 prisoners, 40 pieces of artillery, and all the standards
+of the Imperial Guard of Russia. Such was the battle of Austerlitz, or
+as the French soldiers delighted to call it, "The Battle of the
+Emperors"; and thus did Napoleon's army fulfill its pledge to celebrate
+the anniversary of his coronation.
+
+The fleeing Emperors halted at midnight for council, and decided to send
+a messenger to Napoleon at daylight with proposals for peace. The envoy
+was courteously received, and arrangements were at once made for a
+meeting of the Austrian and French Emperors at ten o'clock the next day.
+They met about three leagues from Austerlitz, near a mill. Napoleon was
+the first to arrive on the ground; he at once ordered that two fires be
+made, and with a squadron of his Guard drawn up at a distance of about
+two hundred paces, awaited the arrival of Francis and his personal
+suite. When Francis came in sight, accompanied by several princes and
+generals, and an escort of Hungarian cavalry, Napoleon advanced to his
+carriage, and embraced him. The two Emperors, each with an attendant,
+then went to one of the fires near the entrance to a military hut, while
+the suites of the two sovereigns drew around the other fire, a few paces
+distant.
+
+"Such are the palaces you have compelled me to occupy for these three
+months," said Napoleon, pointing to his modest quarters.
+
+"You have made such good use of them," answered Francis, "that you ought
+not to complain of their accommodation."
+
+The defeated Emperor is represented as having thrown the blame of the
+war upon the English. "They are a set of merchants," he said, "who would
+set the continent on fire, in order to secure themselves the commerce of
+the world."
+
+When the two great leaders separated, after an interview lasting an
+hour, they again embraced, Napoleon saying in the hearing of the
+gentlemen of the suites,--Prince John of Lichtenstein, near Francis, and
+Marshal Berthier, near Napoleon--: "I agree to it; but your Majesty must
+not make war upon me again." "No, I promise you I will not," said
+Francis in reply; "I will keep my word"--a promise that was soon
+violated.
+
+It was understood that the Emperor of Russia, although not present, was
+to abide by the agreement for an armistice. Alexander so assured Marshal
+Davoust, who had pursued him the night of the battle, and the Russians
+were allowed by Napoleon to retire unmolested to their own territory, on
+the royal word of Francis that Russia would adhere to his ally of
+Austria.
+
+"The Russian army is surrounded," said Napoleon to Francis; "Not a man
+can escape me but I wish to oblige their Emperor, and will stop the
+march of my columns if your Majesty promises me that these Russians
+shall evacuate Germany, and the Austrian and Prussian parts of Poland."
+"It is the purpose of the Emperor Alexander to do so," was the reply. No
+other engagement was required of the Czar than his word.
+
+When the negotiations had been completed, and the Emperor Francis had
+departed, Napoleon walked hurriedly to and fro for a short time, and
+after a deep silence he was heard to say: "I have acted very unwisely. I
+could have followed up my victory, and taken up the whole of the
+Austrian and Russian armies. They are both entirely in my power.
+But--let it be. It will at least cause some less tears to be shed."
+
+Napoleon then went over the field of battle, ordering the wounded to be
+removed, when some of those unfortunates, forgetting their sufferings
+asked, "Is the victory quite certain?" The foot guards of the Emperor,
+not having been permitted to engage, actually wept and insisted upon
+doing something to identify them with the victory.
+
+"Be satisfied," said Napoleon, "you are the reserve; it will be better
+if you have nothing to do today."
+
+The commander of the artillery of the imperial Russian guard having lost
+his cannon, met the French Emperor and said, "Sire, order me to be shot,
+I have lost my cannon."
+
+"Young man," replied Napoleon, "I esteem your grief; but one may be
+beaten by my army, and still retain some pretension to glory."
+
+The brief campaign was followed by a treaty with the Emperor of Austria,
+signed December 15th, 1805, and another with Prussia, signed December
+26th at Vienna. The victor of Austerlitz made his own terms in the
+negotiations. Austria gave up the last of her Italian usurpations to be
+annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, and the Tyrol to Bavaria, and yielded
+other stipulations which the conqueror demanded, but which were so
+moderate that they excited the wonder and admiration of all Europe.
+
+Previous to Napoleon's departure for Schoenbrunn on the 27th of December
+he issued the following proclamation to his army:
+
+"Soldiers! Peace between myself and the Emperor of Austria is signed.
+You have, in this late season of the year, made two campaigns. You have
+performed everything I expected. I am setting out for my capital. I have
+promoted and distributed rewards to those who have most distinguished
+themselves. I will perform everything I have promised. You have seen
+that your Emperor has shared all your dangers and fatigues; you shall
+likewise behold him surrounded by all that grandeur and splendor which
+become the sovereign of the first nation in the world. In the beginning
+of the month of May, I will give a grand festival in Paris; you shall
+all be there. We will celebrate the memory of those who, in these
+campaign have fallen on the field of honor. The world shall see that we
+are ready to follow their example, and, if necessary, do more than we
+have done, against those who suffer themselves to be misled by the gold
+of the eternal enemy of the continent."
+
+The news of the success of the army was received with the greatest
+enthusiasm by the majority of the French people.
+
+Madame de Rémusat in writing to her husband from Paris after the receipt
+of the news of the battle of Austerlitz, said: "You cannot imagine how
+excited everyone is. Praise of the Emperor is on everyone's lips; The
+most recalcitrant are obliged to lay down their arms, and to say with
+the Emperor of Russia, 'He is a man of destiny.'"
+
+The campaign had consolidated the Empire of Napoleon, and when he
+returned to France he was received with exultation by the citizens, who
+tendered him fête after fête such as had not been witnessed at the
+capital for years. This was followed by the elevation of many of his
+kinsmen and heroes to thrones of pomp and power, coronation following
+coronation in rapid succession, princedoms and dukedoms being
+accompanied with grants of extensive estates in the countries which the
+French armies had conquered. From that moment, the fanaticism of
+military glory quite effaced the few remaining impressions made by the
+love of liberty.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE BATTLE OF JENA
+
+
+The establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine, which was one of
+the great consequences of Austerlitz, rendered Napoleon in effect,
+sovereign of a large part of Germany. The kings of Bavaria and
+Wurtemberg, Prince Murat, the Grand Duke of Berg, and several other
+sovereigns of Germany, had leagued together in an alliance with the
+French Empire; and they constituted so formidable a power that the
+Emperor added a new title to his name--the "Protector" of this
+confederacy. Thus Napoleon became sovereign of a principal part of
+Germany, and his allies were obliged to furnish, at his call, 60,000
+armed men. The only method of counteracting the consolidation of French
+power over all Germany seemed to be that of creating another confederacy
+in the Northern circles, capable of balancing the league of the Rhine,
+and to be known as the Northern Alliance. This alliance Napoleon
+determined to suppress. The relations between France and Prussia
+continued in an unsettled state, Prussia refusing on the one hand to
+embrace the Confederation proposed by the cabinet of Berlin, and yet
+declining on the other to form part of the Rhenish league to which
+Bonaparte had frequently and urgently invited it.
+
+A year had elapsed since the Emperor of Russia had signed the famous
+treaty of Potsdam, wheedling the pliant King of Prussia and his wife
+with all sorts of promises, including an offer on the part of England to
+pay the costs of another campaign against Napoleon and his Empire. For
+some weeks strong hopes were entertained of a satisfactory conclusion to
+peace overtures, but in the end the negotiations broke up, on the
+refusal of Napoleon to concede Malta to England, unless England would
+permit him to conquer Sicily from the unfortunate sovereign whose
+Italian kingdom had already been transferred to his brother Joseph.
+
+The death of Fox, according to Napoleon himself, was the immediate cause
+of the failure of these negotiations. The Emperor maintained that had
+the great English statesman lived--he died on the 23rd of January,
+1806--the negotiations would have been resumed and pushed to a
+successful close. When the Emperor of Russia went to Berlin he offered
+Prussia all the forces of his own great Empire. War-like preparations of
+every kind filled the Kingdom of Prussia during August and September
+1806. Notwithstanding the protestations made almost daily by the
+Prussian government, through its minister at Paris, towards the middle
+of August her preparations assumed such a decided character that her
+real object could no longer be concealed. A friendly letter was even
+dispatched from the King of Prussia to Napoleon and the French
+ambassador at Berlin was treated with due consideration but which was
+far from honest at heart.
+
+On the 21st of September Napoleon wrote to the princes of the
+Confederation of the Rhine, requesting them to furnish their contingent
+troops for his army, and which was complied with, according to treaty.
+On the 25th the Emperor quitted his imperial residence to place himself
+at the head of the army. While at the theatre at St. Cloud he received a
+dispatch from Murat containing an account of an attack made on French
+troops by some Prussian detachments. "I see they are determined to try
+us," he said to Count Rapp and orders were immediately given to prepare
+for departure to the frontier. He arrived at Mayence on the 28th and on
+the 1st of October passed the Rhine.
+
+On this same day the Prussian minister at Paris presented a note to
+Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, an ultimatum in which Prussia
+demanded, among other things, that the formation of a Confederacy in the
+North of Germany should no longer be thwarted by French interference, to
+renounce the kingdoms of Holland and Italy, and that the French troops
+within the territories of the Rhenish league should recross the Rhine
+into France by the 8th of the same month of October,--a virtual
+declaration of war.
+
+The conduct of Prussia in thus rushing into hostilities, without waiting
+for the advance of her allies, the Russians, was as rash as her holding
+back from Austria during the campaign of Austerlitz was cowardly.
+Napoleon had not patience to finish reading this document, conveying
+those demands, but threw it down with contempt.
+
+Napoleon made answer to the Prussian note from his headquarters at
+Bamberg on October 6th. He addressed a proclamation to his army to
+inform them of the enemy they were about to fight. "Soldiers," said he,
+"the war-cry has been heard at Berlin; for two months our provocation
+has been increased each day ... Let us march--let the Prussian army meet
+with the same fate it evinced fourteen years ago on the plains of
+Champagne." Thiers, the eminent historian, says in his "History of the
+Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon": "It was the height
+of imprudence on the part of Prussia to enter into a contest with
+Napoleon at a moment when the French army, returning from Austerlitz,
+was still in the heart of Germany, and more capable of acting than any
+army ever was."
+
+It was evident that Napoleon did not feel the least concern about the
+approaching war. He wrote to his brothers in Naples and in Holland at
+this time assuring them that the present struggle would be terminated
+more speedily than the preceding. He called upon them to observe in what
+manner a German sovereign still dared to insult the soldiers of
+Austerlitz. Napoleon was then on the German side of the Rhine in person.
+The Prussian Council had directed their army to advance towards the
+French instead of lying on their own frontier, and the army accordingly
+invaded the Saxon provinces. The Elector of Saxony was compelled to
+accept the alliance which the cabinet of Berlin urged on him, and
+reluctantly joined his troops with those of Prussia.
+
+At Bamberg, on the same day he issued his proclamation to his soldiers,
+Napoleon said to Berthier: "Marshal, we have a rendezvous of honor
+appointed for the 8th; a Frenchman never fails to keep them; but as we
+are told that a beautiful queen wishes to be a witness of the fight, let
+us be courteous, and march, without sleeping, for Saxony." Napoleon
+alluded to the Queen of Prussia who was with the Prussian army, dressed
+as an Amazon, wearing the uniform of her regiment of dragoons, "writing
+twenty letters a day" said the first bulletin sent to Paris, "to fan the
+flame in all parts."
+
+No sooner did Napoleon learn that the Prussians had advanced into the
+heart of Saxony than he formed his plan of campaign: and they,
+persisting in their advance, and taking up a position on the Saale,
+afforded him the means of repeating at their expense, the very
+manoeuvres which had ruined the Austrians in the preceding campaign. The
+French commander at once perceived that the Prussian army was extended
+upon too wide a line, thus enabling him the better to destroy it in
+detail. He also discovered that the enemy had all its principal stores
+and magazines at Naumburg to the rearward, and he resolved to commence
+operations by an attempt to turn the flank and seize the magazines ere
+the main body of the Prussians, lying at Weimar, could be aware of his
+movement. The Emperor quitted Bamberg on the 8th, at three in the
+morning, and arrived on the same day at Cronach. Every corps of the army
+was then in motion.
+
+The French came forward in three great divisions; the corps of Ney and
+Soult in the direction of Hof; Davoust, Murat and Bernadotte towards
+Saalburg and Schleiz, and Lannes and Augereau upon Coburg and Saalfeld.
+These last generals were opposed at Saalfeld with much firmness by
+Prince Louis of Prussia, cousin-german to the king, who imprudently
+abandoned the bridge over the Saale,--which he might have defended with
+success,--and came out into the open plain where his troops were
+overpowered by the French. Fighting hand to hand with a subaltern who
+ran up to him and cried, "Surrender, General!" the brave young officer
+in brilliant uniform and adorned with all his decorations, replied with
+a sabre cut, and was immediately struck down by a mortal thrust in the
+face with a sabre, which occasioned it to be remarked in the second
+bulletin that "the first blow of the war had killed one of its authors."
+
+Prince Frederick Christian Louis of Prussia had been very impatient to
+commence the war and urged and hastened hostilities. He was, besides, a
+man of great courage and talent. Rapp in his "Memoirs" says: "Napoleon,
+who did not like this petulant eagerness, was conversing with us one
+evening respecting the generals of the enemy's army. Some one present
+happened to mention Prince Louis. 'As for him' said he, 'I foretell that
+he will be killed in this campaign.' Who could have thought the
+prediction would so soon have been fulfilled?"
+
+The Prussians fled, leaving the bridge which gave the French access to
+the country behind the Saale. The flank of the Prussian position was
+turned; the French army passed entirely around them, and Napoleon seized
+and blew up the magazines at Naumburg. The explosion announced to the
+King of Prussia and his generalissimo, the Duke of Brunswick, that
+Napoleon was in their rear. From this moment the Prussians were isolated
+and completely cut off from all their resources--as completely as the
+army of Mack was at Ulm the year before. The engagement at Schleiz
+contributed to hasten the retreat of the enemy which threw away upon the
+roads a great number of muskets and hats, and leaving in the hands of
+the French 400 prisoners and as many killed or wounded. But the moral
+effect of the action was greater than the material, the Prussians
+learning for the first time the sort of soldiers they had to deal with.
+
+Napoleon was extremely pleased with this first action at Schleiz, as it
+proved how little the Prussian cavalry, though excellently mounted and
+very skillful in the management of its horses, was to be feared by his
+solid infantry and bold horse soldiers.
+
+The Duke of Brunswick who flattered himself that the French could not
+debouch, hastily endeavored to concentrate his forces for the purpose of
+cutting his way back again to the frontier which he had so rashly
+abandoned. Napoleon, meanwhile, had posted his divisions so as to watch
+the chief passages of the Saale, and awaited the coming of his outwitted
+opponent.
+
+The manifesto of Frederick William had arrived at the capital a day or
+two after Napoleon had quitted Paris for the camp, and it was now that
+he found time to answer it by calling on his own marshals to witness
+how "The French army has done as it was bidden; this is the 8th of
+October, and we have evacuated the territories of the Confederation of
+the Rhine!"
+
+To the King of Prussia Napoleon wrote: "Believe me, my strength is such
+that your forces cannot long balance the victory. But wherefore shed so
+much blood? To what purpose? I will hold to your Majesty the same
+language I held to the Emperor Alexander two days before the battle of
+Austerlitz: 'Why should we make our subjects slay each other? I do not
+prize a victory which is purchased by the lives of so many of my
+children.' If I were just commencing my military career, and if I had
+any reason to fear the chances of war, this language would be wholly
+misplaced. Sire, your Majesty will be vanquished; you will have
+compromised the repose of your life, the existence of your subjects,
+without the shadow of a pretext. At present you are uninjured, and may
+treat with me in a manner conformable with your rank; before a month has
+passed you will treat, but in a different position."
+
+On learning of the fall of Naumburg, the Prussian king knew full well
+the imminent danger of his position. His army was at once set in motion
+in two great masses, one commanded by himself, advancing towards
+Naumburg, the other attempting in like manner to force its passage
+through the French line in the neighborhood of Jena. The king's march
+was arrested at Auerstadt by Davoust, who, after a severely contested
+action, at length repelled the assailant. Napoleon himself, meanwhile,
+was engaged with the other great body of the Prussians.
+
+Arriving on the evening of the 13th of October at Jena, he at once
+perceived that the enemy was ready to attempt the advance next
+morning, while his own heavy train was still thirty-six hours' march in
+his rear. "But," as the Emperor said in his bulletin of the battle
+fought next day, "there are moments in war when no consideration can
+balance the advantage of being before-hand with the enemy, and of
+attacking first."
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by Martinet
+
+CAPITULATION OF GENERAL MACK AT ULM]
+
+On the heights from Jena to Landgrafenberg he placed Gazan's division on
+the left, in the right Souchet's division, and in the centre and rear
+the foot guard. He made the latter encamp in a square of 4000 men, and
+in the centre of this square overlooking the plains below, he
+established his bivouac. Ever since that time the people have called
+that height "Napoleonsberg," marking by a heap of rough stones the spot
+where the Emperor had spent part of that memorable night.
+
+The Emperor labored hard, torch in hand, directing and encouraging his
+soldiery to cut a road through a ledge of rocks and draw up by that
+means such light guns as he had at command to a position on a lofty
+plateau in front of Jena. It was a most formidable position, and one
+that was destined to prove more decisive than that of a much larger one
+might have been under other circumstances. Napoleon spent the entire
+night among the men, helped drag the guns to the cliffs, and offering
+rewards for every piece of cannon that should be placed on the heights.
+He reminded his followers that the Prussians were about to fight--not
+for honor, but for their lives.
+
+"The night," says Napoleon, "offered a spectacle worthy of observation;
+that of the two armies, one of which embraced with its front an extent
+of six leagues, and peopled the atmosphere with its fires, the other,
+whose apparent fires were concentrated in a small point, and in both
+encampments activity and motion. The fires of the two armies were within
+half cannon-shot; the sentinels almost touched each other, and not a
+movement could be made without being heard."
+
+At about 5 o'clock Napoleon asked Marshal Soult, "Shall we beat them?"
+
+"Yes, if they are there," answered the marshal; "I am only afraid they
+have left."
+
+At that moment the first musketry was heard, "There they are," said the
+Emperor joyfully; "there they are! The business is beginning."
+
+Napoleon then rode through the ranks addressing his soldiers. He bade
+them remember that, a year ago, at the same period, they had conquered
+Ulm and recommended that they be on their guard against the Prussian
+cavalry, which had been represented as so formidable. "This cavalry," he
+said, "must be destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the
+Russian infantry at Austerlitz." He told them that if they should
+succeed in endeavoring to fight their way through any point, the corps
+that would suffer them to pass, must forfeit its honor and character.
+
+The soldiers answered his animated discourse by demanding to be led
+against the enemy; and the cries of, "Forward! Let us march!" were heard
+in every direction.
+
+Again, as at Austerlitz, a cloud of mist completely enveloped the
+contending hosts. Both armies were almost in the heat of battle before
+the different divisions were distinguishable. Augereau commanded the
+right wing, Soult the left, Cannes the centre and Murat the reserve of
+cavalry. Escorted by men carrying torches, Napoleon again went along in
+front of the troops, talking to the officers and soldiers. He exhorted
+them to keep on their guard against the Prussian cavalry and to receive
+it in square with their usual firmness. His words everywhere drew forth
+shouts of "Forward! Vive l'Empereur!" At that moment the corps of Lannes
+set itself in motion on a signal from Napoleon.
+
+The battle began on the right and left and the conflict proved terrible.
+Davoust, in particular, was placed in a situation sufficient to try a
+man of the most determined courage and firmness but Bernadotte refused
+to support him. He paraded around Apolda, while 26,000 French troops
+were engaged with 60,000 picked men, commanded by the Duke of Brunswick
+and the King of Prussia. Thus, says General Gourgaud, he caused the
+death of five or six thousand Frenchmen and hazarded the success of the
+day, for which he experienced a very short disgrace. Napoleon on this
+occasion observed that Bernadotte did not behave well, and that he would
+have felt gratified had Davoust been defeated; "but," added the Emperor,
+"the affair reflects the highest honor on the conqueror, and the more
+so, as Bernadotte rendered his situation a most difficult one."
+Bernadotte's conduct was such that a decree was signed by Napoleon that
+must have resulted in his being shot, but out of regard to his wife the
+Emperor destroyed the order the moment he was about to put it into the
+hands of one of his officers.
+
+A hand to hand struggle followed the first charge of the Prussians. It
+was received by Soult and was a doubtful engagement until Ney appeared
+with a fresh division and drove the Prussians back. Nothing but the
+smoke of battle now obstructed the view, the famous sun of Napoleon
+having mounted the heavens was throwing a flood of light on a terrific
+engagement. Charge after charge followed, both sides maintaining their
+positions with firmness and valor. The commanders were constantly
+executing manoeuvres as though on parade. At one time the Emperor
+observed Ney, whom he had supposed to be in the rear, engaged with the
+Prussians. He hastened up greatly displeased, but on discovering the
+brave marshal defending himself in the centre of two weak squares
+against the whole of the Prussian cavalry, his displeasure gave way to
+admiration, and an immediate relief was ordered and brought up by
+Bertrand and Lannes. During the time that elapsed before relief arrived
+he fought as intrepidly as before, and was not in the least disconcerted
+by his hazardous position. Davoust's plans were so well laid, and his
+generals and troops displayed such courage and skill, that Blucher, with
+12,000 cavalry, had not the satisfaction of penetrating through a single
+company. The king, the guards, and the whole army, attacked the French
+without obtaining better success. Amidst the deluge of fire that
+surrounded them on all sides, they preserved all their national gaiety.
+A French soldier, nick-named "the Emperor" impatient at the obstinacy of
+the Prussian guards, exclaimed, "On with me, grenadiers! Come, follow
+the Emperor!" when, rushing into the thickest of the battle, the troops
+followed, and the enemy was penetrated. For this deed he was raised to
+the rank of a corporal.
+
+Napoleon, field-glass in hand, at length ordered a general onslaught all
+along the lines, to be followed by a bold charge of Murat's cavalry at a
+point where the Emperor had detected a weakness in the enemy's lines.
+As the signal blast for advancing was sounded, the eager squadrons that
+had been smelling the smoke of battle for hours with impatience, rushed
+onward to glory or to death. On, on they charged with all the vehemence
+and impetuosity of the French cavalryman, each of whom believed that on
+him, and him alone, rested the fate of the day, and as on so many
+similar occasions, they were victorious. The sturdy Prussian columns
+were broken,--infantry, cavalry, guards and grenadiers were mowed down
+by thousands. The French infantry gave fresh proof of their valor and
+sustained their reputation at this engagement. In one of the charges
+which the divisions under Morand had to sustain from the numerous
+Prussian cavalry under Prince Henry, the 17th regiment, before
+presenting arms, placed their caps at the ends of their bayonets,
+crying, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Why not fire then?" exclaimed Colonel
+Lanusse who apprehended the enemy would be upon them before they were
+ready. "Oh, time enough for that" they replied, "at fifteen paces you
+shall see." In fact a murderous discharge at that distance made the
+Prussians turn their horses' heads and retire.
+
+The ardor of the troops on this important day was such that some corps,
+which circumstances prevented from taking part in the engagement, loudly
+expressed their dissatisfaction. One of these traits is sufficiently
+characteristic of the soldier and the Emperor under whose eyes they
+fought. At an early period of the conflict, while the French cavalry was
+anxiously expected, Napoleon seeing his infantry wings in a state of
+agitation, being threatened by the enemy's cavalry, set off at a full
+gallop to direct the manoeuvres and change the front into squares. The
+infantry of the imperial guard, seeing all the rest of the troops
+engaged, while the Emperor left them in inaction, many voices were heard
+to cry "Forward!" "Who is that?" asked the Emperor quickly, as he
+presented himself in front of the battalions; "This is some beardless
+young man, who wishes to anticipate what I intend to do. Let him wait
+until he has commanded in thirty pitched battles, before he pretends to
+give me advice."
+
+Out of the 70,000 Prussians who had appeared on the field of battle, not
+a single corps remained entire, not one retreated in order. Out of the
+100,000 French, composed of the corps of Marshals Soult, Lannes,
+Augereau, Ney, Murat and the Guard, not more than 50,000 had fought, and
+they had been sufficient to overthrow the Prussian army.
+
+This rout ended in the complete breaking up of the Prussian army, horse
+and foot all flying together, in the confusion of panic, upon the road
+to Weimar. At that point the fugitives met and mingled with their
+brethren, flying as confusedly as themselves, from Auerstadt.
+
+In his account of the battle of Jena Napoleon spoke with pleasure of the
+enthusiasm shown by his soldiers during the heat of battle. In
+conclusion he said: "In so warm a fight, in which the enemy lost almost
+all their generals, we should thank that Providence which watched over
+our army, that no man of note has been killed or wounded. Marshal Lannes
+had his breast scratched without being wounded. Marshal Davoust had his
+hat carried away and a great number of balls in his clothes." To
+Josephine, who was awaiting the results of the campaign at Mayence, he
+wrote on October 16th: "Everything has turned out as I planned, and
+never was an army more thoroughly beaten and destroyed." The Emperor
+confessed, that, during the night before the battle of Jena, he had been
+exposed to the most imminent danger, and might have disappeared without
+anyone knowing clearly his fate. He had approached the bivouacs of the
+Prussians in the dark, to reconnoitre, having only a few officers about
+his person. The French army was almost everywhere on the alert, under a
+persuasion that the Prussians were strongly addicted to nocturnal
+attacks. Returning from that survey, the Emperor was fired at by the
+first sentinel of his own camp, which proved a signal for the whole
+line; and he had no resource left but to throw himself flat on his face
+until the mistake should be discovered. His principal apprehension,
+however, was not realized; he feared least the Prussian line, then very
+near him, might act in the same manner.
+
+When the conflict ended 20,000 Prussians lay dead on the battle field,
+or were taken prisoners, including twenty generals. Among the trophies
+of war were 300 cannon and sixty royal standards.
+
+The Queen of Prussia was a fearless horsewoman and had faced great
+dangers at Jena. When she rode before her troops in her helmet of
+polished steel, shaded by a plume, in her glittering golden cuirass, her
+tunic of silver stuff, her red boots with gold spurs, she resembled
+Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into cries of enthusiasm as they
+saw their warlike queen: before her were bowed the flags she had
+embroidered with her own hands and the old, torn, and battle-stained
+standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she was obliged to
+take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the French
+hussars.
+
+The Duke of Brunswick, who had contended with Napoleon in this memorable
+engagement, was wounded in the face with a grape-shot early in the
+battle and was carried off the field never to recover.
+
+The various routed divisions roamed about the country seeking separately
+a means of escape, and fell an easy prey to the French. The Prince of
+Hohenlohe at length drew together not less than 50,000 of these
+wandering soldiers and threw himself at their head into Magdeburg, but
+that great fortress had been stripped of all its stores for the service
+of the Duke of Brunswick's army before Jena, and Hohenlohe was compelled
+to retreat. He was defeated in a number of skirmishes, and at length,
+finding himself devoid of ammunition or provisions, laid down his arms.
+The Duke of Wurtemburg, one of the Prussian generals, had taken a
+position at Halle and Bernadotte marched upon him. He attacked the enemy
+with the bayonet, killing and routing all who dared oppose him. The
+slaughter was dreadful and Napoleon, visiting the field of battle the
+ensuing day, was struck with the sight of the heaps of dead surrounding
+the bodies of the French soldiers. Observing on the uniforms some of the
+buttons of the 32d, he said with a sigh, "So many of that regiment were
+killed in Italy, Egypt, and elsewhere, I thought none could be
+remaining."
+
+General Blucher was shortly afterwards compelled to lay down his arms
+after a loss of 4,000 men out of 10,000 at Lubeck, where a severe action
+was fought in the streets of the town on the 6th of November. The
+fortresses of the Prussian monarch now capitulated as fast as their
+commanders were requested to do so, and Napoleon entered Berlin in
+triumph on the 25th of October. The honor of taking possession of that
+city Napoleon reserved for Davoust's corps, which had contributed so
+much to the victory at Jena.
+
+The Prussians could not comprehend the rapid marches and the promptitude
+with which they were met in their flights. As the Emperor said in his
+14th bulletin: "These gentry are doubtless accustomed to the manoeuvres
+of the 'Seven Years' War.' They would demand three days to bury their
+dead. 'Think of the living' replied the Emperor, 'and leave the care of
+interring the dead to us; there is no need of a truce for that.'"
+
+Thus in a campaign of a week's duration had the proud Prussian monarchy
+been leveled to the ground. The people, believing that the fall of the
+military meant necessarily the fall of the monarchy itself, the pride
+and strength of the nation disappeared and every bond of union among the
+various provinces of the crown seemed to be at once dissolved.
+
+On the 25th of October, 1806, after passing in review the Imperial foot
+guards, commanded by Lefebvre, Napoleon visited the tomb of Frederick
+the Great at Potsdam where were stored a number of mementos of the great
+warrior. The court of Prussia had fled with so much precipitancy from
+Potsdam, that nothing had been carried away. Even the sword of Frederick
+the Great, the belt and the cordon of his orders, were left there.
+
+On finding that the court had not thought of placing these relics out of
+the reach of invasion, the Emperor took possession of them. As he
+displayed the sword of Frederick, he said: "I prefer these trophies to
+all the King of Prussia's treasures. I will send them to my veterans who
+served in the campaigns of Hanover. I will present them to the Governor
+of the Hospital of the Invalides, who will preserve them as a testimony
+of the victories of the army, and the revenge it has taken for the
+disasters of Rosbach."
+
+"The door of the monument was open," says General Ségur; "Napoleon
+paused at the entrance in a grave and respectful attitude. He gazed into
+the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, and stood thus for nearly ten
+minutes motionless, silent, as if buried in deep thought. There were
+five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, an aide-de-camp and I.
+We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, imagining the two great
+men face to face, identifying ourselves with the thoughts we ascribed to
+our Emperor before that other genius whose glory survived the overthrow
+of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity as in success."
+
+During his stay at Berlin Napoleon issued the famous "Berlin Decrees" by
+which he attempted to establish the "continental system," whose object
+was to shut out the commerce and intercourse of Great Britain from the
+Continent of Europe. The ruin of France's maritime power at Trafalgar,
+and the almost universal supremacy of the French Empire on land left
+Napoleon in his own judgment, no other means of retaliation. Through
+this continental system he endeavored, for several years, to annihilate
+all commercial intercourse between the continent and England.
+
+The Prince of Hatzfeld was detected, during Napoleon's stay at Berlin,
+in sending secret information of the state and movements of the French
+army to the enemy. One of his letters fell into the hands of the French
+and he was arrested. His wife gained access to Napoleon's apartments,
+and, ignorant of her husband's conduct, spoke with the boldness of
+innocence in his favor. On being handed the letter written by her
+husband she was completely overcome and fell on her knees before the
+Emperor, imploring his forgiveness. "Throw that paper into the fire,
+madam," said Napoleon, "and the military commission will then have no
+proof of his guilt."
+
+With a cry of joy the princess did as she was directed and the order of
+arrest, which would have resulted in Hatzfeld's death in an hour, was
+recalled.
+
+While at Berlin the Emperor addressed his troops in a proclamation in
+which he said: "Our entrance into Potsdam and Berlin had been preceded
+by the fame of our victories. We have made 60,000 prisoners, taken
+sixty-five standards, among which are the colors of the King of
+Prussia's guards, six hundred pieces of cannon, and three fortresses.
+Among the prisoners there are upwards of twenty generals; yet,
+notwithstanding all this, more than half our troops regret their not
+having fired a single shot * * * Soldiers, the Russians boast of coming
+to meet us, but we will advance to encounter, and save them half their
+march; they shall meet another Austerlitz in the heart of Prussia. A
+nation that can so soon forget our generous treatment after that
+battle,--owed their safety only to the capitulation we granted them,--is
+a power that cannot successfully contend against us. We will not again
+be the dupes of a treacherous peace."
+
+Before leaving Berlin Napoleon received a deputation of the Senate, sent
+from Paris to congratulate him on the success of his campaign.
+Accompanied by representatives from the army, he made them the bearer of
+the trophies of his recent victories. He then prepared to extinguish
+whatever resistance existed in a few garrisons of the Prussian monarchy
+and to meet, before they could reach the soil of Germany, those Russians
+who were now advancing, too late, to the assistance of Frederic William.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE BATTLE OF EYLAU
+
+
+Before opening the great campaign with Russia Napoleon received the
+explanation of the Elector of Saxony, who truly stated that Prussia had
+forced him to take part in the war. The apology was accepted, and from
+this time the Elector adhered to the league of the Rhine and was a
+faithful ally of Napoleon. On November 25th, 1806, the Emperor of France
+left Berlin and established himself on the 27th at Posen, a central town
+of Poland, which country began to manifest an agitation arising from the
+animating prospect of restored independence. The unfortunate but brave
+Poles entreated his aid; but Napoleon could not make them a positive
+promise of their restoration as a kingdom. His observation on the
+subject was, "that, if the match should once be lighted, there was no
+knowing how long it might continue to burn."
+
+From the headquarters at Posen, Napoleon addressed his soldiers on
+December 2nd, saying: "It is a year ago to-day, at this very hour, that
+you were on the battlefield of Austerlitz. The dismayed Russian
+battalions fled in disorder, or, surrounded, gave up their arms to their
+victors. The next day they sued for peace, but we were imposed on:
+scarcely escaped by our, perhaps, overweening generosity, from the
+disasters of a third coalition, they ventured upon a fourth....
+Soldiers, we will not lay down our arms until the general peace shall
+have fixed and assured the power of our allies and restored to our
+commerce its safety and its colonies." The proclamation produced an
+exhilarating effect on the soldiers and throughout Germany.
+
+In the meantime Warsaw was put in a state of defense, and the auxiliary
+forces of Saxony and the new confederates of the Rhine were brought up
+by forced marches, while strong reinforcements from France repaired the
+losses of the early part of the campaign.
+
+The French army at length advanced in full force and crossed
+successively the rivers Vistula, the Narew and Bug, forcing a passage
+wherever it was disputed, the Russian detachments being repulsed as
+often as they presented themselves. But it was not the intention of
+Bennigsen, the Russian general, to give battle to forces superior to his
+own, and he therefore retreated behind the Wkra. On the 23rd of December
+Napoleon arrived in person upon the Wkra and ordered the advance of his
+army in three divisions. He was fully aware that he was approaching a
+conflict of a very different kind from that which he had maintained with
+Austria, and more lately against Prussia. These troops, however highly
+disciplined, wanted that powerful and individual feeling which was a
+strong characteristic of the Russians,--a feeling that induces the
+soldier to resist to the last moment, even when resistance can only
+assure him of revenge. They were, in fact, those same Russians of whom
+Frederick the Great said, "that he could kill, but could not defeat
+them." They were also of strong constitution and inured to the iron
+climate in which Frenchmen were now fighting for the first time. The
+Cossacks are trained from early childhood to the use of the lance and
+sword, and familiarized to a horse peculiar to the country,--tractable,
+hardy, swift and sure-footed, beyond any breed perhaps in the world. On
+the actual field of battle the Cossack's mode of attack is singular;
+instead of acting in line, a body of them about to charge disperse at
+the word of command, and joining in a loud yell and hurrah, each acting
+individually upon the object of attack, whether infantry, cavalry or
+artillery, to all of which they have been in this wild way of fighting
+most formidable assailants.
+
+In this campaign the Cossacks took the field in great numbers, under
+their celebrated hetman Platoff. The Russians also had in their service
+Tartar tribes who resemble the Cossacks in warfare; but they were little
+better than hordes of roving savages. On the plain between the town of
+Pultusk and the wood the right of the Russian position was formed, and
+on December 26th they were attacked by the French division of Lannes and
+Davoust with but partial success. The French lost nearly 8,000 men,
+killed and wounded, while the Russian loss amounted to about 5,000. The
+French retreated after nightfall. On the same day another division
+engaged in action at Golymin, driving back the French after which the
+Russian commander retreated for the purpose of concentrating his forces
+with the Grand Army. Both engagements were without immediate results,
+and instead of pressing their operations, the French retreated into
+winter quarters, Napoleon withdrawing his guard as far as Warsaw, while
+the other divisions were cantoned in the towns to the eastward.
+
+Bennigsen was now placed in supreme command of the Russian forces,
+amounting to 90,000 men, and he at once resolved not to wait for
+Napoleon's onset, but chose rather to anticipate him, wisely concluding
+that his enemy's desire of desisting from active operation, as evinced
+by cantoning his troops in winter quarters, ought to be a signal to the
+Russians to again take the field. Thus the French Emperor found himself
+forced into a winter campaign, and he at once issued general orders for
+drawing out his forces for the purpose of concentrating them at
+Willenberg, in the rear of the Russians, who were then stationed at
+Mohringen. The duration of the winter quarters, in which the French
+troops had been placed, lasted no longer than the weather would permit.
+The army reposed almost the whole of the month of December, and towards
+the beginning of January 1807, movements on both sides seemed to
+indicate more serious operations. It appeared the Russians had adopted a
+vast plan of defense. Their generals seemed to have regained confidence,
+on seeing Napoleon stop amidst the advantages he had acquired, and
+imputed that to fear which arose in him from motives of prudence. They
+could not imagine what other reason he could possibly have for going
+into cantonments upon the Vistula.
+
+Napoleon now proposed to force his enemies eastward towards the Vistula,
+as at Jena he had compelled the Prussians to fight with their rear
+turned to the Rhine. Bernadotte had orders to engage the attention of
+Bennigsen upon the right, and detain him in his present situation; or
+rather, if possible, to induce him to advance eastward so as to
+facilitate the operations he meditated.
+
+The Russian commander learned Bonaparte's intention from an intercepted
+dispatch, and changed his purpose of advancing on Ney and Bernadotte.
+Marches and counter-marches took place, through a country at all times
+difficult, and now covered with snow. Bennigsen was aware that it was to
+his advantage to protract the campaign in this manner, as he was near
+his reinforcements, and the French were distant from theirs:--every loss
+therefore telling more in proportion to the enemy than to his own army.
+
+Notwithstanding this apparent advantage, the distress of the Russian
+army was so extreme from the lack of suitable provisions that it induced
+General Bennigsen, against his judgment, to give battle at all risks,
+and for this purpose to concentrate his forces at Preuss-Eylau, which
+was decided upon as the field which he proposed to contest with
+Napoleon.
+
+It had been the intention to maintain the town itself which Bennigsen
+had entered on the 7th of February, and a body of troops had been left
+for that purpose; but in the confusion attending the movement of so
+large an army, the orders had been misunderstood, and the division
+designed for this service evacuated the place as soon as the rear-guard
+had passed through it. A Russian division was hastily ordered to
+re-occupy the town; but they found the French already in possession, and
+although they dislodged them, they were themselves driven out in turn by
+another division of French to whom Napoleon had promised unusual
+rewards. A third division of Russians now advanced, Bennigsen being
+desirous of protracting the contest for the town until the arrival of
+his heavy artillery which joined him by a different route. When it
+came up he would have discontinued the struggle for Eylau but it was
+impossible to control the ardor of the Russian columns who persevered in
+advancing, with drums beating, rushed into the town and surprised the
+French in the act of sacking it,--putting many of them to death by the
+bayonet.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by F. Gerard
+
+BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ]
+
+Another division of the French now advanced under cover of the hillocks
+and broken ground which skirt the village, threw their fire upon the
+streets and the Russians once more retreated with considerable loss. The
+town was now once more and finally occupied by the French. Night fell
+and the combat ceased only to be renewed with increased fury the next
+day.
+
+The Russians occupied a space of uneven ground, about two miles in
+length and a mile in depth, with the village of Serpallen on their left.
+In the front of their army lay the town of Preuss-Eylau, situated in a
+hollow and in possession of the French. The latter occupied Eylau with
+their left, while their centre and right lay parallel to the Russians,
+upon a chain of heights which commanded, in a great measure, the ground
+possessed by the enemy. The French also expected to be reinforced by
+Ney's division which had not yet come up, and which was destined to form
+on the extreme left. The space between the hostile armies was open and
+flat, covered with snow and intersected with frozen lakes. The soldiers
+could trace each other's positions by the pale glimmer of watch lights
+upon the snow.
+
+Napoleon, who slept but three or four hours that night in a chair in the
+postmaster's house, placed the corps of Marshal Soult at Eylau itself,
+partly within the town, partly on the right and left of it, Augereau's
+corps and the Imperial Guard a little in the rear, and all the cavalry
+upon the wings till daylight should enable him to make his final
+disposition of the fifty odd thousand men, exclusive of Ney's corps, and
+which were to meet the ninety thousand Russians and Prussians.
+
+At daybreak on the 8th of February, 1807, two strong columns of the
+French advanced for the purpose of turning the right and storming the
+centre of the Russians, who had commenced the firing at one and the same
+time; but they were driven back in great disorder by the heavy and
+sustained fire of the Russian artillery. An attack on the enemy's left
+was equally unsuccessful. The Russian infantry stood like stone
+ramparts, each time repulsing the French assault--their cavalry then
+came to the support, pursued the retiring assailants and took standards
+and eagles.
+
+About mid-day a heavy snowstorm set in, which the wind drove right in
+the faces of the Russians, adding to the obscurity caused by the smoke
+of the burning village of Serpallen that rolled along the line. The snow
+having now ceased, a melancholy spectacle presented itself. Thousands of
+dead and wounded lay on the ground, and several of the divisions were
+still hors de combat. Augereau's two divisions had been swept down by an
+unmasked battery of seventy-two pieces, and Augereau, wounded himself,
+but more affected by the disaster of his corps than by his personal
+danger, was carried to the cemetery of Eylau to the feet of Napoleon. To
+the Emperor he complained, not without bitterness, of the failure to
+send him timely succor. Silent grief pervaded every face in the imperial
+staff. Napoleon, calm and firm, addressed a few soothing words to
+Augereau, then sent him to the rear, and took measures for repairing the
+mischief.
+
+Dispatching in the first place the chasseurs of the Guard and some
+squadrons of dragoons which were at hand, he sent for Murat and ordered
+him to make a decisive effort on the line of the infantry which formed
+the centre of the Russian army, and which, taking advantage of
+Augereau's disaster began to press forward. At the first summons Murat
+came up at a gallop: "Well," said Napoleon, "are you going to let those
+fellows eat us up?" He then ordered the heroic chief of his cavalry to
+collect the chasseurs, the dragoons, the cuirassiers, and to fall upon
+the Russians with eighty squadrons, to see what effect such a mass of
+horse, charging furiously, would have on an infantry reputed not to be
+shaken. The cavalry of the Guard was brought forward ready to add its
+shock to that of the cavalry of the army.
+
+The moment was critical, for if the Russian infantry were not stopped it
+would soon attack the cemetery, the centre of the French position, and
+Napoleon had but six foot battalions of the Imperial Guard to defend it.
+Murat galloped off, collected his squadrons, made them pass between the
+cemetery and Rothenen where Augereau's corps had marched to almost
+certain destruction. Charge after charge was made and successfully
+resisted. At length one of them, rushing on with more violence, broke
+the enemy's infantry at one point and opened the breach through which
+cuirassiers and dragoons rushed, each eager to penetrate first. The
+Russians' first and second lines being broken, they turned the batteries
+of their artillery on the confused mass, killing as many of their own
+soldiers as those of the French, not caring whether they killed friends
+or foes so that they got rid of the formidable French force; but their
+efforts were useless.
+
+Napoleon, graver than usual, in a gray riding-coat and Polish cap, sat
+motionless in the cemetery, in which were heaped bodies of a great
+number of his officers; his Guard was behind him and before him the
+chasseurs, the dragoons, the cuirassiers; they formed anew and were
+ready to devote themselves as he might direct. The Emperor waited long
+before determining definitely on his last attack. Never had he nor his
+soldiers been engaged in such a hotly contested fight. The bullets
+whistled around and a shell burst within a few paces of him. Augereau's
+arm was broken and Lannes was wounded but not severely.
+
+Under cover of darkness six columns of the French now advanced with
+artillery and cavalry and were close on the Russian position ere they
+were opposed. Bennigsen, at the head of his staff, brought up the
+reserve in position, and, on uniting with the first line bore the French
+back at the point of the bayonet. Their columns, partly broken, were
+driven again to their own position where they rallied with difficulty. A
+French regiment of cuirassiers, which during this part of the action had
+made an opening in the Russian line, were charged by the Cossacks, and
+found their defensive armor no protection against the lance. All but
+eighteen were slain.
+
+At the moment when the Russians appeared to be the victors Davoust's
+division, which had been manoeuvring since the beginning of the action
+to turn the left and gain the rear of the Russian line, now made its
+appearance on the field. The effect was sudden and demoralizing to the
+Russians; Serpallen was lost, the Russian left wing, and a portion of
+its centre were thrown into disorder, and forced to retire and change
+front.
+
+At this point in the contest the Prussian reinforcements, long expected,
+appeared in turn suddenly on the field, and passing the left of the
+French and right of the Russians, pushed down in three columns to redeem
+the battle on the Russian centre and rear. The Prussians, under their
+gallant leader L'Estocq, never fired until within a few paces of the
+enemy and then used the bayonet with fearful effect. They redeemed the
+ground which the Russians had lost and drove back in their turn the
+troops of Davoust and Bernadotte who had lately been victorious. Ney, in
+the meantime appeared on the field with his advanced guard and occupied
+Schnaditten, a village on the road to Konigsberg. As this endangered the
+communication of the Russians with that town, it was thought necessary
+to carry it by storm; a resolution which was successfully executed, the
+enemy's rear-guard retreating in disorder.
+
+This was the last act of that bloody day at Eylau. It was ten o' clock
+at night and darkness put an end to the combat. After fourteen hours of
+fighting both armies occupied the same positions taken in the morning.
+It was in fact the longest and by far the severest battle Napoleon had
+yet been engaged in. At the beginning of the contest, Augereau was
+scarcely in his senses, from the severity of rheumatic pain to which he
+was subject; but the sound of the cannon awakens the brave: he flew at
+full gallop at the head of his corps, after causing himself to be tied
+to his horse! He was constantly exposed to the hottest of the fire, and
+was only slightly wounded.
+
+A few days after the battle Napoleon sent to Paris sixteen stands of
+colors taken on that occasion and ordered the cannon to be melted down
+and made into a statue of General d' Haulpoult, in the uniform of his
+regiment, he having gallantly commanded the second division of
+cuirassiers, when he was killed in the action.
+
+In three letters which the Emperor wrote to Josephine during the month
+of February he alluded with the deepest affection to the horrors of this
+engagement. "We had yesterday," he said, "a great battle. The victory
+was mine, but I have been deprived of a great many men. The loss of the
+enemy, still more considerable, does not console me." "The land is
+covered with dead and wounded," he adds in a second letter; "This is not
+the noble portion of war. One is pained, and the soul is oppressed at
+the sight of so many victims."
+
+In the biting frost, in face of thousands of dead and dying, when the
+gloomy day was sinking into a night of anguish, the Emperor had said:
+"This sight is one to fill rulers with a love of peace and a horror of
+war," and in his bulletin of the engagement he said: "Imagine, on a
+space of a league square, nine or ten thousand corpses, four or five
+thousand dead horses, lines of Russian knapsacks, fragments of guns and
+sabres; the earth covered with bullets, shells, supplies; twenty-four
+cannon, surrounded by their artillerymen, slain just as they were trying
+to take their guns away; and all that in plainest relief on the stretch
+of snow!"
+
+Twelve of Napoleon's eagles were in the hands of the Russians, and the
+field between them was covered with 50,000 corpses, of whom at least
+half were French. Each leader claimed the victory. The Russians retired
+from Eylau towards Konigsberg the very night after the battle, and the
+French made no effort to pursue but remained on the field nine days to
+allow the troops some repose.
+
+It was in truth a drawn battle. The point of superiority on this
+dreadful day would have been hard to decide, but the victory, if rightly
+claimed by either party, must be pronounced to have remained with
+Napoleon; for Bennigsen retreated and left him master of the field of
+battle where he slept and remained for days; but it was a ghastly
+triumph. During the whole time the contest lasted Napoleon's countenance
+was never observed to change; nor did he show any emotion whatever; but
+all accounts agree that he was deeply impressed with the horrors of the
+succeeding night.
+
+Finally, on the 19th of February, Napoleon left Eylau and retreated with
+his whole army to Osterode on the Vistula. Here he established his
+headquarters, living in a sort of barn, governing his Empire and
+controlling Europe. The doubtful issue of the battle of Eylau had given
+a shock to public opinion and it required all the Emperor's prudence and
+address to overcome it. Great despondency was produced in Paris by the
+bulletin of the battle and a marked depression took place in the funds.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+FRIEDLAND AND PEACE OF TILSIT
+
+
+Napoleon soon decided that it would be fatal rashness to engage in
+another campaign in Poland while several fortified towns, and above all,
+Dantzic, held out in his rear. He determined to capture all these places
+and to summon new forces from France before again meeting in the field
+such enemies as the Russians had proved themselves to be.
+
+Dantzic was at length compelled to surrender on May 7th 1807, Marshal
+Lefebvre receiving the title of Duke of Dantzic in commemoration of his
+important success, after which event Napoleon's extraordinary exertions
+in hurrying supplies from France, Switzerland and the Rhine country, and
+the addition of the division of 25,000 men which had captured Dantzic,
+enabled him to take the field again by the first of June at the head of
+not less than 280,000 men. The Russian general had also done all in his
+power to recruit his army which was now reinforced by 90,000 men, during
+this interval.
+
+The Russians were in the field by the 5th of June and were the first
+assailants; but nothing but skirmishes resulted until the Russian army
+was forced to retire towards Heilsberg where they halted, and there
+concentrating their forces, made a most desperate stand. They were,
+however, overpowered by superior numbers, after maintaining their
+position during a whole day. The battle had continued until midnight
+upon terms of equality, and when the morning dawned the space between
+the Russians and French was literally sheeted over with the bodies of
+the dead and wounded.
+
+The Russians retired after the battle, crossing the river Aller, and on
+the 13th of June reached Friedland, a town of some importance on the
+west side of the stream, communicating with the eastern, or right bank
+of the river by a long wooden bridge. It was the intention of Napoleon
+to induce the Russian general to pass by this narrow bridge by the left
+bank, and then to decoy him into a general action, in a position where
+the general difficulty of defiling through the town, and over the
+bridge, must render retreat almost impossible. For this purpose he
+showed only such portion of his forces as induced General Bennigsen to
+believe that the French troops on the western side of the Aller
+consisted only of Oudinot's division, which had been severely handled in
+the battle of Heilsberg, and which he now hoped to altogether destroy.
+Under this deception Bennigsen ordered a Russian division to pass the
+bridge, defile through the town and march to the assault. The French
+took great care to offer no such resistance as would show their real
+strength, and Bennigsen supposing he had only a single division of the
+French army before him, and forgetting the usual promptitude of
+combination for which Napoleon was distinguished, had pushed on and
+brought an action which he believed he could terminate quickly and
+triumphantly. He was soon led to reinforce this first division with
+another. This was followed by other still divisions, and as the
+engagement was now becoming heated the Russian general at length
+transported all his army, one division excepted, to the left bank of the
+Aller, by means of the wooden bridge and three pontoons, and arrayed
+them in front of the town of Friedland, to overpower, as he supposed,
+the crippled division of the French to which alone he believed himself
+exposed. But no sooner had he taken this irretrievable step than the
+mask was dropped.
+
+Napoleon was at first unable to believe that Bennigsen would venture to
+leave any part of his army for any period in so perilous a position as
+that in which he had placed it, maintaining a doubtful combat with no
+means of retreat but through the entanglement of the town of Friedland,
+and across the long narrow bridge of the Aller. His astonishment was
+great, therefore, when he learned from the officers he sent to
+reconnoitre that the whole Russian army was crossing the bridge, with
+the exception of one small division, and forming in front of the town.
+He had secured a victory by his numbers and position, but his remark to
+Savary, who carried him the information of the Russian movement, was
+characteristic, "Well," said he, "I am ready now, I have an hour's
+advantage of them, and will give them the battle, since they wish for
+it."
+
+The French skirmishers advanced in force, heavy columns of infantry
+began to show themselves, batteries of cannon were placed in position,
+and Bennigsen found himself in the presence of the whole French army.
+His position, a sort of plain surrounded by woods and broken ground, was
+difficult to defend; with the town and a large river in the rear it was
+dangerous to attempt a retreat, and an advance was prevented by the
+inequality of his force. Bennigsen found it expedient to detach 6,000
+men to defend the bridge at Allerberg, some six miles from Friedland on
+the Aller, and with the rest of his forces he resolved to maintain his
+present position until night, hoping for Prussian reinforcements from
+General L'Estocq, via the town of Wehlau.
+
+At about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 14th the French advanced to
+the attack. "This is the 14th of June; it will be a fortunate day for
+us," said Napoleon, recurring to the most glorious day of his life; "it
+is the anniversary of the battle of Marengo." The broken and wooded
+country which the French occupied enabled them to maintain and renew
+their efforts at pleasure, while the Russians in their exposed position
+could not make the slightest movement without being observed. At about
+noon the French seemed to be sickening of the contest and about to
+retire. This, however, was only a feint to give repose to such of the
+forces as had been engaged, and to bring up reinforcements. The
+cannonading continued until after 4 o'clock, the Russian line having
+sustained charge after charge and had neither recoiled or broken before
+infantry or cavalry. Napoleon, from his point of observation near the
+battlefield, had witnessed the failure of every strategem and the charge
+of every division, and at last finding the day waning, drew up his full
+force in person for the purpose of making one of those desperate and
+generally irrisistible efforts to which he often resorted to force a
+decision of a doubtful day.
+
+There was not a marshal in his Empire under whom the troops would not
+behave gallantly, but when the Emperor put himself at the head of his
+army and led them to the charge, nothing could resist the shock. The
+brave Oudinot, hastening up with coat perforated by balls, and his horse
+covered with blood, exclaimed to the Emperor: "Make haste, sire, give me
+a reinforcement, and I will drive all the Russians into the water!" The
+day was far advanced, and some of Napoleon's lieutenants were of the
+opinion that they ought to defer the final and decisive movement till
+the morrow. "No! No!" replied Napoleon. "One does not catch an enemy
+twice in such a scrape." He then made his disposition of the several
+corps for the final attack.
+
+Surrounded by his lieutenants, he explained to them, with energy and
+precision, the part which each of them had to act. Grasping the arm of
+Marshal Ney, and pointing to Friedland, the bridges, the Russians
+crowded together in front, he said: "Yonder is the goal, march to it
+without looking about you; break into that thick mass whatever it costs
+you; enter Friedland, take the bridges, and give yourself no concern
+about what may happen on your right, on your left or on your rear. The
+army and I shall be there to attend to that."
+
+Ney at once set out at a gallop to accomplish the formidable task.
+Struck with his martial attitude Napoleon, addressing Marshal Mortier,
+said with much satisfaction: "That man is a lion!"
+
+The order for attack all along the line with cavalry, infantry and
+artillery was now given, and simultaneously the Russians began to yield,
+the French advancing at the same time with shouts of assured victory.
+The Russians were now obliged to retreat in front of the enemy, and in
+half an hour the rout was complete. In vain did the enemy make all their
+reserves advance; Friedland was at last carried, but in the midst of a
+horrible carnage. The enemy left 20,000 men on the field, of whom 15,000
+were killed and 5,000 wounded, and among the number thirty generals.
+
+Dupont, who had been sent to assist Ney, met him in the heart of
+Friedland, then in flames, and they congratulated one another on the
+glorious success: Ney had continued to march straight forward, and
+Napoleon, placed in the centre of the divisions which he kept in
+reserve, had never ceased to watch his progress. It was now half past
+ten at night. Napoleon in his vast career had not gained a more splendid
+victory. He had for trophies eighty pieces of cannon, few prisoners, it
+is true, for the Russians chose rather to drown themselves than
+surrender. Twenty-five thousand Russians were killed as against 8,000
+French. Out of 80,000 French 25,000 had not fired a shot. Meanwhile the
+bridge and pontoons were set on fire to prevent the French who had
+forced their way into the town, from taking possession of them. The
+smoke rolling over the scene increased the horror of the surroundings.
+
+The Russian centre and right, which remained on the west side of the
+Aller, effected a retreat by a circuitous route, leaving on the right
+the town of Friedland with its burning bridges no longer practicable for
+friend or foe, and passed the Aller by a ford found in the very moment
+of extremity further down the river. Napoleon sent no cavalry in
+pursuit, though he had forty squadrons who might have cut them to
+pieces. Many animadversions have been cast upon him for not improving
+his victory in this manner; but the reason appeared clear: his object
+was to make peace with the Emperor Alexander, and the butchery of the
+broken battalions of the Russian guard would in no way have forwarded
+that object, and no power remained to oppose itself to the immense force
+under France's victorious warrior.
+
+Thus ended the great battle of Friedland. "My children," wrote Napoleon
+to Josephine, "have worthily celebrated the battle of Marengo. The
+battle of Friedland will be equally celebrated and glorious for my
+people.... It is a worthy sister of Marengo, Austerlitz and Jena."
+
+Napoleon visited the battlefield the next morning and beheld a frightful
+spectacle. The order of the Russian squares could be traced by a line of
+heaps of slain; and the position of their artillery might be guessed by
+the dead horses. As Savary well says: "It might be truly said that
+sovereigns ought to have great interests of their subjects at stake to
+justify such dreadful sacrifices."
+
+The Emperor Alexander, overawed by the genius of Napoleon which had
+triumphed over troops more resolute than had ever before opposed him,
+and alarmed for the consequences of some decisive measure towards the
+reorganization of the Poles as a nation, began to think seriously of
+peace. On the 21st of June General Bennigsen asked for an armistice and
+to this the victor of Friedland gave an immediate assent on his arrival
+at Tilsit. On the 22nd of June a proclamation was addressed by Napoleon
+to his army in which he said; "From the banks of the Vistula, we have
+arrived upon those of the Niemen with the rapidity of the eagle's
+flight. You celebrated at Austerlitz, the anniversary of the coronation,
+and you have this year celebrated, in an appropriate manner, the battle
+of Marengo, which put a period to the second coalition. Frenchmen, you
+have proved worthy of yourselves and me. You will return to France
+covered with laurels after having obtained a glorious peace, which
+carries with it the guarantee for its duration."
+
+It was known that the Emperor Alexander was on the other side of the
+Niemen, at a village not far distant, and Napoleon addressed his reply
+to the sovereign in person. Its purport was to the effect that he was
+quite ready to make peace but would not consent to an armistice, if war
+were to continue. The result was a proposal on the part of Alexander
+that an interview should take place between the Emperor of France and
+himself, which was accepted. The armistice was ratified on the 23rd of
+June and on the 25th the Emperors of France and Russia met personally,
+each accompanied by a few attendants, on a raft moored midstream in the
+river Niemen, near Tilsit, the town which gave its name to the secret
+treaty agreed upon at this time. The sovereigns embraced as they met,
+with their armies on the two banks of the river and retiring under a
+canopy, amid the cheers of the troops, had a long conversation, to which
+no one was a witness.
+
+At its termination the appearance of mutual good will and confidence was
+marked, and the two Emperors established their courts there and lived
+together, in the midst of the lately hostile armies, more like old
+friends than enemies and rivals, attempting by diplomatic means the
+arrangement of differences which had for years been deluging Europe with
+blood. By this treaty the King of Prussia was admitted as a party,
+Napoleon restoring to Frederick William ancient Prussia and the French
+conquests in Upper Saxony,--the king agreeing to adopt the "Continental
+System."
+
+The beautiful and fascinating Queen of Prussia also arrived at Tilsit,
+but too late to obtain more favorable terms for her country than had
+already been granted her husband. "Forgive us," she said, as Napoleon
+received her, "forgive us this fatal war; the memory of the great
+Frederick deceived us; we thought ourselves his equal because we are his
+descendants; alas! we have not proved such!"
+
+The Queen used every strategem which wit and genius could devise, and
+every fascination to which beauty could lend a charm, but without avail.
+Foiled in her ambition she died soon after, it is said, of chagrin.
+
+No single episode in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte has been more
+adversely commented on than his alleged breach of faith with the Queen
+of Prussia, when the domain of her husband was absolutely at his feet.
+He always denied that he had broken his word, and according to his own
+story, as told after his final retirement, the Queen had no cause of
+complaint.
+
+"The Queen of Prussia was still a beautiful woman," he said, "but she
+had lost many of the charms of youth. She evidently expected to use her
+powers of persuasion on me for the benefit of Prussia. At dinner I took
+a beautiful rose from the table and presented it to her. She took it,
+smiled sweetly, and exclaimed: 'At least with Magdeburg, I hope.' I
+answered: 'Your majesty will observe that I am doing the giving and you
+are receiving what I give.'
+
+"I hastened the preparations for the completion of the treaty, and it
+was signed. When the Queen learned that Magdeburg had not been given to
+Prussia she was very angry. She went to the Czar Alexander, and said,
+with tears in her eyes: 'That man has broken his word with me.' 'Oh,
+no!' the Czar answered. 'I can hardly think that. I believe I have been
+present on every occasion when you have met Napoleon, and I have
+listened more carefully than you have thought. But, if you can prove to
+me that he made any promise that he has not kept, I pledge you my word
+as a man I will see that he keeps it.'
+
+"'Oh, but he gave me to understand--'
+
+"'That is precisely the point,' responded the Czar. 'He has promised
+nothing.' The Queen turned quickly and left the apartment. She was too
+proud to acknowledge that in her effort to outwit me she had been
+outwitted."
+
+At a subsequent meeting with Napoleon the Queen said, "Is it possible,
+that, after having the honor of being so near the hero of the century
+and of history, he will not leave me the power and satisfaction of being
+enabled to assure him he has attached me to him for life?"
+
+"Madam" replied the Emperor, in a serious tone, "I am to be pitied; it
+is the result of my unhappy stars." He then took leave of the Queen,
+who, on reaching her carriage, threw herself on the seat in tears.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Baron Gros
+
+MEETING BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND FRANCIS II. OF AUSTRIA]
+
+Alexander was charmed by the presence of Napoleon. They spent some days
+at Tilsit together, and never did he leave the French Emperor without
+expressing his unbounded admiration of him. "What a great man," he said
+incessantly to those who approached him; "What a genius! What extensive
+views! What a captain! What a statesman! Had I but known him sooner how
+many faults he might have spared me! What great things we might have
+accomplished together!"
+
+In July Napoleon hastened back to Paris, arriving there on the 27th. He
+was received by the Senate and other public bodies as well as by the
+people with demonstrations similar to those which had been shown him on
+his return from the victory at Austerlitz. Fêtes and celebrations in
+honor of his achievements dazzled the world. He had now wrung from the
+last of his reluctant enemies, except England, the recognition of his
+imperial power, which already embraced a wider territory and a far
+greater number of subjects than Charlemagne ruled over, as Emperor of
+the West, a thousand years before. The power of Napoleon, the prosperity
+of France, and the splendor of Paris may be said to have been at their
+greatest height at this period. The regulation of the whole Empire lay
+in the hand of Napoleon himself, and as the glory of France had always
+been, and continued to be his grand object, every faculty of his
+intellect was bent to its promotion.
+
+"I am inclined to think that I was happiest at Tilsit," said Napoleon
+one day to Gourgaud at St. Helena on being asked at what time he was
+happiest. "I had experienced vicissitudes, cares, and reverses," he
+continued, "Eylau had reminded me that fortune might abandon me, and I
+found myself victorious, dictating peace, with emperors and kings to
+form my court. After all that is not a real enjoyment. Perhaps I was
+really more happy after my Italian victories hearing the people raise
+their voices, only to bless their liberator, and all that at twenty-five
+years of age! From that time I saw what I might become, I already saw
+the world flying beneath me, as if I had been carried through the air."
+
+Napier, the eminent historian, and himself an actor in many of the
+scenes he describes, says: "Up to the peace of Tilsit, the wars of
+France were essentially defensive; for the bloody contest that wasted
+the Continent so many years was not a struggle for pre-eminence between
+ambitious powers--not a dispute for some acquisition of territory--nor
+for the political ascendancy of one or another nation--but a deadly
+conflict to determine whether aristocracy or democracy should
+predominate--whether aristocracy or privilege should henceforth be the
+principle of European governments."
+
+On the 15th of August the Emperor repaired in great pomp to Notre Dame,
+where the Te Deum was sung and thanksgiving offered up for the peace of
+Tilsit--a peace that gave much glory to France, but which as has
+generally been conceded, was "poor politics"; but, as Thiers has well
+said: "In war Napoleon was guided by his genius, in politics by his
+passions."
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+WAR WITH SPAIN
+
+
+At the signing of the treaty of Tilsit Napoleon had attained an eminence
+which, had his career ended at that time, would have left him a name
+revered by all the world--except, perhaps, it be by those enemies whom
+he had defeated on the field of battle. His star of destiny, however,
+was soon to be dimmed by acts which he ever afterwards regretted, and
+which, as he himself more than once declared, were the means to the end
+which finally caused his decline and fall.
+
+Napoleon now turned his attention to Spain, where scenes shocking to
+morality were being enacted under the protection of Charles IV., the old
+and imbecile Bourbon king, in order, as he then believed, to insure the
+success of his "continental system." Ferdinand, the crown prince, had
+formed a party against his father and was attempting to dethrone him,
+while murderous courtiers filled the halls of the royal palace of
+Madrid, and dictated laws to the crumbling monarchy.
+
+The vast extent to which the prohibited articles and colonial
+manufactures of England found their way into the Spanish peninsula, and
+especially into Portugal, and thence through the hands of whole legions
+of audacious smugglers into France itself, had fixed the attention of
+Napoleon, who was exasperated at the violation of his "Berlin decrees"
+against the continental traffic with England. In truth, a proclamation
+issued at Madrid shortly before the battle of Jena, and suddenly
+recalled on the intelligence of that great victory, had prepared the
+Emperor to regard with keen suspicion the conduct of the Spanish court,
+and to trace every violation of his system to its deliberate and hostile
+connivance. Napoleon knew that the Spanish cabinet, like that of
+Austria, was ready to declare itself the ally of Russia, Prussia and
+England, when the battle of Jena came to deceive the hopes of the
+coalition. The last hour of the ancient regime was at hand beyond the
+Pyrenees; Napoleon felt himself called upon to give the signal to sound
+the fearful knell of its interment.
+
+A treaty was ratified at Fontainebleau on the 29th of October 1807
+between France and Spain, providing for the immediate invasion of
+Portugal by a force of 28,000 French soldiers, under the orders of
+Junot, and of 27,000 Spaniards; while a reserve of 40,000 French troops
+were to be assembled at Bayonne ready to take the field by the end of
+November, in case England should lend an army for the defense of
+Portugal, or the people of that country meet Junot by a national
+insurrection. Junot forthwith commenced his march through Spain, where
+the French soldiery were everywhere received with coldness and
+suspicion, but nowhere by any hostile movement of the people. He arrived
+in Portugal, on a peremptory order from Napoleon, late in November. The
+contingent of Spaniards arrived there also, and placed themselves under
+Junot's command.
+
+On November 29th, and but a few hours before Junot made his appearance
+at the gates of Lisbon, the prince-regent fled precipitately and sailed
+for the Brazils. The disgust of the Portugese at this cowardly act was
+eminently useful to the invaders, and with the exception of one trivial
+insurrection, when the conqueror took down the Portugese arms and set up
+those of Napoleon in their place, several months passed in apparent
+tranquility. "The House of the Braganza (Bourbon's), had ceased to
+reign," as announced in the "Moniteur" at Paris.
+
+Napoleon thus saw Portugal in his grasp; but he had all along considered
+it as a place of minor importance, and availing himself of the treaty of
+Fontainebleau,--although there had been no insurrection of the
+Portugese, he ordered his army of 40,000 men, named in the treaty, to
+proceed slowly but steadily into the heart of Spain and, without
+opposition. The royal family quietly acquiesced in this movement for
+some months, being apparently much more interested in its own petty
+conspiracies and domestic broils. A sudden panic at length seized the
+king and his minister, who prepared for flight. On the 18th of March,
+1808, the house of Godoy, the court favorite, was sacked by the
+populace, Godoy himself assaulted, and his life saved with extreme
+difficulty by the royal guards, who placed him under arrest. At this
+Charles IV. abdicated his throne in terror, and on the 20th of March
+Ferdinand his son was proclaimed king at Madrid amid a tumult of popular
+applause.
+
+Murat had, ere this, assumed command of all the French troops in Spain,
+and hearing of the extremities to which the court factions had gone, he
+now moved rapidly on Madrid, surrounded the capital with 30,000 troops
+and on the 23rd of March took possession of it in person at the head of
+10,000 more. Charles IV., meanwhile, dispatched messengers both to
+Napoleon and to Murat asserting that his abdication had been
+involuntary, and invoking their assistance against his son.
+
+Ferdinand entered Madrid on the 24th, found the French general in
+command of the capital, and in vain claimed his recognition as king.
+Napoleon heard with regret of the action of Murat, who had risked
+arousing the pride and anger of the Spaniards. He therefore sent Savary,
+in whose practiced skill he hoped to find a remedy for the military
+rashness of Murat, and who was to assume the chief direction of affairs
+at Madrid.
+
+Ferdinand was at length persuaded by Savary that his best chance of
+securing the aid and protection of Napoleon lay in meeting him on his
+way to the Spanish capital and strive to gain his ear before the
+emissaries of Godoy should be able to make an impression concerning
+Charles' rights. Ferdinand, therefore, took his departure, and passing
+the frontier, arrived at Bayonne on the 20th of April where he was
+received by Napoleon with courtesy. In the evening he was informed by
+Savary, who had accompanied him, that his doom was sealed,--"that the
+Bourbon dynasty had ceased to reign in Spain," and that his personal
+safety must depend on the readiness with which he should resign all his
+pretensions into the hands of Napoleon.
+
+Murat was now directed to employ means to have the old king and queen
+repair also to Bayonne, which they did, arriving there on May 4th.
+Following a bitter family quarrel, Charles IV. resigned the crown of
+Spain for himself and his heirs, accepting in return from the hands of
+Napoleon a safe retreat in Italy and a splendid mansion. At the first
+interview Charles IV. and his son were irrevocably judged. "When I
+beheld them at my feet," Napoleon said later, "and could judge of all
+their incapacity, I took pity on the fate of a great nation; I seized
+the only opportunity which fortune presented me with, for regenerating
+Spain, separating her from England and closely uniting her with our
+system." A few days afterward Ferdinand VII. followed the example of his
+father and executed a similar act of resignation.
+
+A suspicion that France meditated the destruction of the national
+independence in Spain now began to spread, and on the 2nd of May when
+Don Antonio, president of the Council of Regency at Madrid, and uncle of
+Ferdinand, began preparations for departing from the capital, the
+inhabitants became much enraged. A crowd collected around the carriage
+intended, as they concluded, to convey the last of the royal family out
+of Spain; the traces were cut and imprecations heaped upon the French.
+Colonel La Grange, Murat's aide-de-camp, happening to appear on the
+spot, was cruelly maltreated, and in a moment the whole capital was in
+an uproar. The French soldiery were assaulted everywhere, about seven
+hundred being slain. The French cavalry, hearing the tumult, entered the
+city and a bloody massacre ensued. Many hundreds were made prisoners.
+The troops then charged through the streets from end to end, released
+their comrades, and ere nightfall had apparently restored tranquility.
+Murat ordered all the prisoners to be tried by a military commission,
+which doomed them to instant death.
+
+The reports of the insurrection spread rapidly throughout the peninsula,
+and in almost every town in Spain depredations were committed against
+the French citizens, many of the acts being fomented by agents of
+England, whose navies hung along the coast inflaming the passions of the
+multitude.
+
+Napoleon received this intelligence with alarm, but he had already gone
+too far to retreat. He proceeded, therefore, to act precisely as if no
+insurrection had occurred. Tranquility being re-established in Madrid
+the Council of Castile was convoked and Napoleon's brother Joseph was
+chosen by an imperial decree as their ruler. Ninety-five notables met
+him in Bayonne and swore fealty to him and a new constitution. Joseph on
+entering Spain was met by many demonstrations of disapproval and hatred,
+but the main road being occupied with Napoleon's troops, he reached
+Madrid in safety.
+
+England now became anxious to afford the Spaniards every assistance
+possible. On the 4th of July the king addressed the English parliament
+on the subject, declaring that Spain could no longer be considered the
+enemy of Great Britain, but was recognized by him as a natural friend
+and ally. Supplies of arms and money were liberally transmitted
+thither, and Portugal, catching the flame, and bursting into general
+insurrection, a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive was soon
+concluded between England and the two kingdoms of the peninsula.
+
+It was impossible for Napoleon to concentrate the whole of his gigantic
+strength of 500,000 men on the soil of Spain, as his relations with
+those powers on the Continent whom he had not entirely subdued, were of
+the most unstable character. His troops, moreover, being drawn from a
+multitude of different countries and tongues, could not be united in
+heart or discipline like the soldiers of a purely national army. On the
+other hand the military genius at his command had never been surpassed
+in any age or country. His officers were accustomed to victory, and his
+own reputation exerted a magical influence over both friends and foes.
+
+At the moment when the insurrection occurred, 20,000 Spanish troops were
+in Portugal under the orders of Junot; 15,000 more under the Marquis de
+Roma were serving Napoleon in Holstein. There remained 40,000 Spanish
+regulars, 11,000 Swiss and 30,000 militia to combat 80,000 French
+soldiers then in possession of half of the chief fortresses of the
+country.
+
+After various petty skirmishes, in which the French were uniformly
+successful, Bessieres came upon the united armies of Castile, Leon and
+Galicia, commanded by Generals Cuesta and Blak on the 14th of July at
+Riosecco, and defeated them in a desperate action in which not less than
+20,000 Spaniards were killed. This calamitous battle opened the gates of
+Madrid to the new king, who arrived at the capital on the 20th of the
+month only to quit it again in less than a fortnight to take up his head
+quarters at Vittoria to preserve his safety. The English government,
+meanwhile, had begun its preparations for interfering effectually in the
+affairs of the peninsula. Thousands of English troops were landed,
+Dupont, Lefebvre and Junot meeting with reverses that resulted finally
+in the evacuation of the whole French army from Portugal.
+
+The battle of Baylen was one of the first and most fatal reverses of the
+French. Here, after a desperate engagement on the 23rd of July, upwards
+of 18,000 men, under General Dupont, surrendered to the Spaniards,
+defiled before the Spanish army with the honors of war, and deposited
+their arms in the manner agreed on by both parties. General Dupont and
+all the officers concerned in the capitulation, who were permitted to
+return to France, were arrested and held in prison. Napoleon deeply
+appreciated the importance of the reverse which his armies had
+sustained, but he still more bitterly felt the disgrace. It is said that
+to the latest period of his life he manifested uncontrollable emotion at
+the mention of this disaster. Subsequently an imperial decree appeared,
+which prohibited every general, or commander of a body of men, to treat
+for any capitulation while in the open field; and declared disgraceful
+and criminal, and as such, punishable with death, every capitulation of
+that kind, of which the result should be to make the troops lay down
+their arms.
+
+The catastrophe at Baylen and the valiant defense of Saragossa had in
+some measure opened the eyes of Napoleon to the character of the nation
+with whom he was contending. He acknowledged, too late, that he had
+imprudently entered into war, and committed a great fault in having
+commenced it with forces too few in number and too wildly scattered. On
+hearing of the ill-luck of his three generals, he at once perceived that
+affairs in the peninsula demanded a keener eye and a firmer hand than
+his brother's, and he at once resolved to take the field himself, to
+cross the Pyrenees in person at the head of a force capable of sweeping
+the whole peninsula "at one fell swoop," and restore to his brother's
+reign the auspices of a favorable fortune.
+
+When setting out from Paris in the early part of October, 1808, the
+Emperor announced that the peasants of Spain had rebelled against their
+king, that treachery had caused the ruin of one corps of his army, and
+that another had been forced by the English to evacuate Portugal.
+Recruiting his armies on the German frontier and in Italy, he now
+ordered his veteran troops to the amount of 200,000, including a vast
+and brilliant cavalry and a large body of the Imperial Guards, to be
+drafted from those frontiers and marched through France towards Spain.
+
+As these warlike columns passed through Paris Napoleon addressed to them
+one of those orations that never failed to fill them with enthusiasm.
+"Comrades," said he at a grand review which was held at the Tuileries on
+the 11th of September, "after triumphing on the banks of the Danube and
+the Vistula, with rapid steps you have passed through Germany. This day,
+without a moment of repose, I command you to traverse France. Soldiers,
+I have need of you. The hideous presence of the English leopard
+contaminates the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. In terror he must fly
+before you. Let us bear our triumphant eagles to the pillars of
+Hercules; there also we have injuries to avenge. Soldiers! You have
+surpassed the renown of modern armies; but you have not yet equalled the
+glory of those Romans, who, in one and the same campaign were victorious
+on the Rhine and the Euphrates, in Illyria and on the Tagus! A long
+peace, a lasting prosperity, shall be the reward of your labors. A real
+Frenchman could not, should not rest, until the seas are free and open
+to all. Soldiers, what you have done and what you are about to do, for
+the happiness of the French people, and for my glory, shall be eternal
+in my heart."
+
+Having thus dismissed his faithful troops, Napoleon himself traveled
+rapidly to Erfurt, where he had invited the Emperor Alexander to confer
+with him. Here they addressed a joint letter to the King of England,
+proposing once more a general peace, but as they both refused to
+acknowledge any authority in Spain save that of King Joseph, the answer
+was in the negative. Austria also positively refused to recognize Joseph
+Bonaparte as King of Spain, and this answer was enough to satisfy
+Napoleon that she was determined on another campaign.
+
+On the 14th of October the conference at Erfurt terminated, Napoleon
+sincerely believing himself the friend of Alexander, and little thinking
+he would one day say of him: "He is a faithless Greek!" Ten days later
+Napoleon was present at the opening of the legislative session at Paris,
+where he spoke with confidence of his designs and hopes in regard to
+Spain. "I depart in a few days to place myself at the head of my
+troops," he said, "and, with the aid of God, to crown the king of Spain
+in Madrid, and plant my eagles on the forts of Lisbon."
+
+Two days later he left the capital and reached Bayonne on the 3rd of
+November, where he remained directing the movements of the last columns
+of his army until the morning of the 8th. He arrived at Vittoria, the
+headquarters of his brother Joseph, on the same evening. At the gates of
+the town he was met by the civil and military authorities, where
+sumptuous preparations had been provided, but instead of accepting their
+hospitality, entered the first inn he observed, and calling for maps and
+a detailed report of the position of all the armies, French and Spanish,
+proceeded instantly to draw up his plan for the prosecution of the war.
+Within two hours he had completed his task. Soult, who had accompanied
+him from Paris, set off on the instant, and within a few hours the whole
+machinery of the army, comprising 200,000 men, was in motion.
+
+Ere long Napoleon saw the main way to Madrid open before him, except
+some forces said to be posted at the strong defile of the Somosierra,
+within ten miles of the capital. Saragossa on the east, the British army
+in Portugal on the west, and Madrid in front were the only far-separated
+points on which any show of opposition was still to be traced from the
+frontiers of France to those of Portugal, and from the sea cost to the
+Tagus.
+
+Having regulated everything on his wings and rear, the Emperor with his
+Imperial Guards and the first division of the army, now marched towards
+Madrid, his vanguard reaching the foot of the Somosierra chain on the
+30th of November. Here he found that a corps of 12,000 or 13,000 men had
+been assembled for the defense of that pass under General San Juan, an
+able and valiant officer who had established an advance guard of 3,000
+men at the very foot of the slope which the French would have to ascend,
+and then distributed over 9,000 men at the pass of Somosierra, at the
+bottom of the gorge; there the advancing army would be obliged to go
+through. One part of San Juan's force, posted on the right and left of
+the road, which formed numerous windings, was to stop the advance of the
+French by a double fire of musketry. The others barred the causeway
+itself, near the most difficult part of the pass, with the battery. The
+defile was narrow and excessively steep, and the road completely swept
+by sixteen pieces of cannon.
+
+At daybreak on the 1st of December the French began their attempts to
+turn the flank of San Juan, who imagined himself invincible in his
+position. Three battalions scattered themselves over the opposite sides
+of the defile and a warm skirmishing fire had begun. At this moment
+Napoleon came up, at the head of the cavalry of his Guard rode into the
+mouth of the pass, surveyed the scene for an instant, and perceiving
+that his infantry was making no progress, at once conceived the daring
+idea of causing his brave Polish lancers to charge up the causeway in
+face of the battery.
+
+The Emperor had stopped near the foot of the mountain and attentively
+examined the enemy's position, the fire from which seemed to redouble,
+many balls falling near him, or passing over his head. Colonel Piré was
+first dispatched at the head of the Poles and having reconnoitred the
+position, countermanded the advance, and sent an officer to notify
+Napoleon "that the undertaking was impossible." Upon this information
+the Emperor much irritated and striking the pommel of his saddle
+exclaimed, "Impossible! Why, there is nothing impossible to my Poles."
+
+General Wattier, who was present endeavored to calm him but he still
+continued to exclaim, "Impossible! I know of no such word. What, my
+Guard checked by the Spaniards,--by armed peasants?" At this moment the
+balls began to whistle about him and several officers came forward and
+persuaded him to withdraw. Among these Napoleon observed Major Philip
+Ségur; to him he said, "Go, Ségur, take the Poles, and make them take
+the Spaniards, or let the Spaniards take them."
+
+Colonel Piré, having informed Kozietulski, commander of the Polish
+troops, of what the Emperor had said, that officer replied, "Come then
+alone with me, and see if the devil himself, made of fire as he is,
+would undertake this business."
+
+Advancing, they saw 13,000 Spaniards placed as if in an amphitheatre in
+such a way that no one battalion was masked by another, and they could
+only join in columns. From that point the Poles had to sustain forty
+thousand discharges of musketry and as many of cannon, every minute.
+However, the order was positive.
+
+"Commandant," said Ségur, "let us go, it is the Emperor's wish; the
+honors will be ours; Poles advance. Vive l'Empereur!" Napoleon wished to
+teach his soldiers that with the Spaniards they must not consider
+danger, but drive them wherever found.
+
+The smoke of the skirmishers on the side hills mingled with the thick
+fog and vapors of the morning, and under this veil the brave cavalry of
+the Guard led the way fearlessly and rushed up the ascent. A brilliant
+cavalry officer, General Montbrun, at this time somewhat out of favor
+with the Emperor, advanced at the head of the Polish light horse, a
+young troop of elite which Napoleon had formed at Warsaw that he might
+have all nations and costumes in his Guard. General Montbrun with those
+gallant young soldiers dashed at a gallop upon the cannon of the
+Spaniards, and in defiance of a horrible fire of musketry. The first
+squadron received a discharge which threw it into disorder, sweeping
+down thirty or forty men in the ranks; but those that followed, passing
+beyond the wounded, reached the pieces, cut down the gunners and took
+all the cannon.
+
+As the rushing steeds passed the Spanish infantry the latter fired and
+then threw down their guns, abandoned their intrenchments and fled. The
+brave San Juan, covered with blood, having received several wounds,
+strove in vain to stop his soldiers, who fled to the right and to the
+left in the mountains, leaving colors, artillery, 200 wagons with stores
+and almost all the officers in the hands of the victors. By the time the
+Emperor reached the top not only was the French flag found floating over
+Buitrago, but Montbrun's cavalry was pursuing the routed Spanish a
+league beyond the town.
+
+Napoleon was delighted to have proved to his generals what the Spanish
+insurgents were, what his soldiers were, and in what estimation both
+were to be held, and to have overcome an obstacle which some had seemed
+to think extremely formidable. The Poles had about fifty men killed or
+wounded. That evening Napoleon complimented and rewarded the survivors
+and included in the distribution of his favors M. Philippe de Ségur who
+had received several shot wounds in this charge; he also destined him to
+carry to the Legislative Body at Paris the colors taken at Somosierra
+and appointed Montbrun general of division.
+
+On the morning of the 2nd three divisions of French cavalry made their
+appearance on the high ground to the north-west of the capital. The
+inhabitants of Madrid for eight days had been preparing to resist an
+invasion. Six thousand regular troops were within the town, and crowds
+of citizens and of the peasantry of the adjacent country were in arms
+with them. The pavement had been taken up, the streets barricaded, the
+houses on the outskirts loop-holed and occupied by a strong garrison.
+Many persons, suspected of adhering to the side of the French, were put
+to death, and amid the ringing of the bells of churches and convents, a
+general uprising for all means of defense was in operation when the
+French cavalry appeared.
+
+The day was the anniversary of Napoleon's coronation and of the battle
+of Austerlitz, and for the Emperor as well as his soldiers a
+superstition was attached to that memorable date. The fine cavalry, on
+beholding its glorious chief, raised unanimous acclamations, which
+mingled with the shouts of rage sent up by the Spaniards on seeing the
+French at their portals.
+
+At noon the town was summoned to open its gates. The young officer
+carrying the message barely escaped with his life, the mob being
+determined to massacre him. Only the interference of the Spanish
+regulars saved his life by snatching him out of the hands of the
+assassins. The Junta directed a Spanish general to convey a negative
+answer to the summons of the French. When sent back he was assured that
+firing would commence immediately, although told that in resisting they
+would only expose a population of women, and children and old men to the
+slaughter, and was informed that the city could not hold out long
+against the French army.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Horace Vernet
+
+NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF JENA]
+
+Napoleon waited until his artillery and infantry came up in the evening
+and then the place was invested on one side. The Emperor made a
+reconnaissance himself on horseback around Madrid and formed the plan of
+attack which might be divided into several successive acts, so as to
+summon the place after each of them, and to reduce it rather by
+intimidation than by the employment of formidable military means.
+
+At midnight the city was again summoned and the answer still being
+defiant, the batteries began to open. Terror now began to prevail
+within, and shortly afterward the city was summoned for the third time.
+Thomas de Morla, the governor, came to demand a suspension of arms. He
+said that all sensible men in Madrid were convinced of the necessity of
+surrendering; but that it was necessary to make the French troops retire
+and allow the Junta time to pacify the people and to induce them to lay
+down their arms.
+
+Napoleon replied with some show of anger that Morla himself had excited
+and misled the people: "Assemble the clergy, the heads of the convents,
+the alcaldes, the principal proprietors," he said "and if between this
+and six in the morning the city has not surrendered it shall have ceased
+to exist. I neither will nor ought to withdraw my troops.... Return to
+Madrid. I give you till six tomorrow morning. Go back, then; you have
+nothing to say to me about the people but to tell me that they have
+submitted. If not, you and your troops shall be put to the sword."
+
+Morla returned to the town and urged the necessity of instantly
+capitulating, to which all the authorities but Costellas, the commander
+of the regular troops agreed. The peasantry and citizens continued
+firing on the French outposts during the night and then Costellas,
+seeing that further resistance was useless, withdrew his troops and
+sixteen cannon in safety.
+
+At eight o'clock on the morning of the 4th Madrid surrendered. The
+Spaniards were at once disarmed and the French troops filled the town
+and established themselves in the great buildings. Napoleon took up his
+residence in a country house near the capital. He gave orders for a
+general and immediate disarming, and tranquility was once more restored,
+the shops and theatres being opened as usual.
+
+Napoleon now exercised all the rights of a conqueror and issued edicts
+abolishing, among other evils, the Inquisition of the Jesuits, as well
+as the feudal institutions of the Middle Ages. He received a deputation
+of the chief inhabitants who came to signify their desire to see his
+brother Joseph among them again. His answer was that Spain was his own
+by right of conquest; that he could easily rule it by viceroys; but if
+they chose to assemble in their churches, priests and people, and swear
+allegiance to Joseph, he was not indisposed to listen to their request.
+He distinctly affirmed that he would, in case they proved disloyal, put
+the crown upon his own head, treat the country as a conquered province
+and find another kingdom for his brother: "for" added he, "God has given
+me both the inclination and the power to surmount all obstacles."
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon was making arrangements for the completion of his
+conquest. His plan was to invade Andalusia, Valencia and Galicia by his
+lieutenants, and march in person to Lisbon.
+
+On learning on December 19th that the English army under Sir John Moore,
+amounting to 20,000, men, had put itself in motion, had advanced into
+Spain and left Salamanca to proceed to Valladolid; that a separate
+British corps of 13,000 men under Sir David Baird had recently landed at
+Corunna with orders to march through Galicia and effect a junction with
+Moore, either at Salamanca or Valladolid, Napoleon resolved to advance
+in person and overwhelm Moore. His resolution was instantly taken with
+that promptness of decision and unerring judgment which never forsook
+him. He instantly put himself at the head of 50,000 men and marched
+with incredible rapidity, with the view of intercepting Moore's
+communications with Portugal, and in short hemming the English commander
+in between himself and Soult.
+
+Moore no sooner heard that Napoleon was approaching than he perceived
+the necessity of an immediate retreat; and he commenced, accordingly, a
+most calamitous one through the naked mountains of Galicia, in which his
+troops displayed a most lamentable want of discipline. They ill-treated
+the inhabitants, straggled from their ranks, and in short lost the
+appearance of an army except when the trumpet warned them that they
+might expect the French to charge.
+
+Leaving Chamartin on the morning of the 22nd of December Napoleon
+arrived at the foot of the Guadarrama as the infantry of his Guard was
+beginning to ascend it. The weather, which till then had been superb,
+had suddenly become terrible, and at the very moment when forced marches
+were to be performed, as it was necessary that they lose no time in
+coming up with the English.
+
+Napoleon, seeing the infantry of his Guard accumulating at the entrance
+of the gorge, in which the gun-carriages were also crowded together,
+spurred his horse into a gallop, and gained the head of the column which
+he found detained by the hurricane. The peasants declared that it was
+impossible to pass without being exposed to the greatest dangers. This,
+however, was not sufficient to stop the conqueror of the Alps. He made
+the chasseurs of his Guard dismount, and ordered them to advance first
+in close column, conducted by guides. These bold fellows, marching at
+the head of the army, and trampling down the snow with their own feet
+and those of their horses, formed a beaten track for the troops who
+followed.
+
+The Emperor himself climbed the mountain on foot, amidst the chasseurs
+of his Guard, merely leaning, when he felt fatigued, on the arm of
+General Savary. The cold, which was as severe as at Eylau, did not
+prevent him from crossing the Guadarrama. General Marbot, who
+accompanied Napoleon on the journey, says in his "Memoirs": "A furious
+snowstorm, with a fierce wind, made the passage of the mountains almost
+impracticable. Men and horses were hurled over precipices. The leading
+battalions had actually begun to retreat; but Napoleon was resolved to
+overtake the English at all cost. He spoke to the men, and ordered that
+the members of each section should hold one another by the arm. The
+cavalry, dismounting, did the same. The staff was formed in similar
+fashion, the Emperor between Lannes and Duroc, we following with locked
+arms; and so, in spite of wind, snow and ice, we proceeded, though it
+took us four hours to reach the top. Half way up the marshals and
+generals, who wore jackboots, could go no farther. Napoleon, therefore,
+got hoisted on to a gun, and bestrode it; the marshals and generals did
+the same, and in this grotesque order they reached the convent at the
+summit. There the troops were rested and wine served out. The descent
+though awkward, was better."
+
+Napoleon spent the night in a miserable post-house in the little
+village of Espinar. On the mules laden with his baggage had been
+brought the wherewithal to serve him with supper, and which he shared
+with his officers, cheerfully conversing with them on that series of
+extraordinary adventures which had commenced at the school of
+Brienne--to end, he knew not where!
+
+Next day the Emperor proceeded with his Guard; but the infantry advanced
+with difficulty and the artillery could not stir owing to the frightful
+quagmires. The stragglers and baggage came up slowly while Napoleon,
+anxious to meet the fleeing English troops, pushed on with his advance
+guard and with his chasseurs until Benevento was reached. Here he came
+up with his own troops in pursuit of Moore at Benevento, on the 29th of
+December, and enjoyed for a moment, from his headquarters established
+there, the spectacle of the English army in full retreat.
+
+The French columns seemed to rival each other in their efforts to
+overtake the enemy. In their precipitation the English abandoned their
+sick, hamstrung their horses, when unable to keep up with them, and
+destroyed the greater part of their ammunition and baggage.
+
+Marshal Soult, who had taken another road, was much nearer the enemy.
+His orders to follow the English intermission were difficult of
+accomplishing as the mud was deep and the soldiers sank up to their
+knees.
+
+Napoleon now decided that Moore was no longer worthy of his own
+attention and intrusted the consummation of his ruin to Soult, who was
+ordered to pursue the English to the last extremity, and "with his sword
+at their loins." He therefore set out at once, his troops marching past
+the Emperor.
+
+Soult hung close on the rear of the English; he came up with them in the
+mountains of Leon and continued to pursue them until they reached the
+port of Corunna. Here Moore perceived that it would be impossible to
+embark without a convention or battle and he chose the latter. The
+attack was made by the French on the 16th of January in heavy columns
+and with their usual vivacity; but it was sustained and repelled by the
+English and they were permitted to embark without further molestation.
+Sir John Moore fell in the action mortally wounded by a cannon shot. His
+body was wrapped in a military cloak, instead of the usual vestments of
+the tomb, and deposited in a grave hastily dug on the ramparts of the
+citadel of Corunna, while the guns of the enemy paid him funeral honors.
+The next morning the grenadiers of France, who had been struck with
+admiration at the chivalry of the English commander, gathered reverently
+around the new-made grave, and while the English fleet was yet visible
+on the bosom of the Mediterranean, they erected a monument over his
+body and placed thereon an appropriate inscription.
+
+Napoleon, having been informed of the embarkation of the English army,
+instead of returning to Madrid to complete his Spanish conquest,
+proceeded at once towards Astorga where his fears with reference to
+Austria were heightened by news from Paris by courier. The storm that
+was gathering once more along the shores of the Danube was of more vital
+consequence to France than the kingdom of Joseph Bonaparte. On his
+arrival at Astorga he changed all his plans. "It was late at night when
+the Emperor and Lannes, escorted only by their staffs, and some hundred
+cavalry, entered Astorga," says General Marbot. "So tired and anxious
+for shelter and warmth was everyone that the place was scarcely
+searched. If the enemy had had warning of this, and returned on their
+tracks, they might perhaps have carried off the Emperor; fortunately
+they were in too great a hurry, and we did not find one of them in the
+town. Every minute fresh bodies of French troops were coming up and the
+safety of the Imperial headquarters was soon secured."
+
+Proceeding to Valladolid with his Guard, which he wished to keep as near
+to events in Germany as himself, after placing Joseph on the throne at
+Madrid again, he soon afterwards hastened to Paris with all speed,
+riding on post horses on one occasion not less than eighty-five miles in
+five and one-half hours. He had traversed Spain with the rapidity of
+lightning, followed by his Guard, to the spot where new dangers and
+triumphs awaited him. He left behind a feeble king, equally as incapable
+of keeping as obtaining a conquest; and marshals who, no longer
+restrained by the presence of an inflexible chief, for the most part
+delivered themselves over to their own self-love or private jealousies.
+
+In his "Memorial" written in exile at St. Helena, Napoleon said "that
+the war of Spain destroyed him, and that all the circumstances of his
+disasters connect themselves with this fatal knot." "In the crisis
+France was placed in," he said at another time, "in the struggle of new
+ideas in the great cause of the age against the rest of Europe, we could
+not leave Spain behind."
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+WAR WITH AUSTRIA, 1809.
+
+
+Before Napoleon returned to Paris from Spain he learned that, yielding
+to England's instigations, Austria was about to take advantage of his
+being so far away, to cross its borders, invade Bavaria, carry the war
+to the banks of the Rhine, and then effect the liberation of Germany.
+The opportunity was an excellent one for attempting such an undertaking.
+The Emperor had been compelled to send the pick of his battalions to the
+other side of the Pyrenees, thus greatly reducing the number of French
+foes in Germany. The French minister of foreign affairs, Talleyrand, had
+during Napoleon's absence made every effort to conciliate the Emperor
+Francis, but the warlike preparations throughout the Austrian dominions
+proceeded with increasing vigor.
+
+After the declaration of war by Austria on the 6th of April, couriers
+were at once dispatched with orders to the armies on the Rhine, and
+beyond the Alps, to concentrate themselves on the field. To the
+ambassadors at Paris the Emperor spoke most freely of the coming
+conquest. "They have forgotten the lessons of experience there," he
+said; "They want fresh ones; they shall have them, and this time they
+shall be terrible I promise you. I do not desire war; I have no interest
+in it, and all Europe is witness that my whole attention and all my
+efforts were directed towards the field of battle which England had
+selected, that is to say, Spain. Austria, which saved the English in
+1805 when I was about to cross the straits of Calais, has saved them
+once more by stopping me when I was about to pursue them to Corunna. She
+shall pay dearly for this new diversion in their favor. Either she shall
+disarm instantly, or she shall have to sustain a war of destruction. If
+she disarms in such a manner as to leave no doubt on my mind as to her
+further intentions, I will myself sheathe my sword, for I have no wish
+to draw it except in Spain against the English; otherwise the conflict
+shall be immediate and decisive, and such that England shall for the
+future have no allies on the Continent."
+
+The instant Napoleon ascertained that Bavaria was invaded by the
+Archduke Charles, he at once proceeded, without guards, without
+equipage, accompanied solely by the faithful Josephine, to Frankfort and
+thence to Strasbourg. Here he assumed command of the army on the 13th of
+April, and immediately formed the plan of his campaign. He found the two
+wings of his army, the one under Massena, the other under Davoust, at
+such a distance from the centre that, had the Austrians seized the
+opportunity, the consequences might have been fatal to the French.
+
+On the 17th of April, while at Donawerth, Napoleon commanded Davoust and
+Massena to march simultaneously towards a position in front, and then
+pushed forward the centre in person, to the same point. The Archduke
+Louis, who commanded the Austrian divisions in advance, was thus hemmed
+in unexpectedly by three armies, moving at once from three different
+points.
+
+At Donawerth Napoleon addressed his troops in a proclamation in which he
+said: "Soldiers, the territory of the Confederation has been violated.
+The Austrian general expects us to fly at the sight of his arms, and to
+abandon our allies to him. I arrive with the rapidity of lightning.
+Soldiers, I was surrounded by you when the sovereign of Austria came to
+my camp in Moravia; you have heard him implore my clemency, and swear an
+eternal friendship towards me. Victors, in three wars Austria has owed
+everything to your generosity; three times has she perjured herself. Our
+past successes are a safe guarantee of the victory which awaits us. Let
+us march, and at our aspect may the enemy acknowledge his conqueror."
+
+It should be remembered that at this time, while Napoleon was
+astonishing Europe by the rapidity of his movements, and the display of
+the resources of his military and political genius, he had left an army
+in the Peninsula, distributed over an immense space of territory,
+weakened by diseases, reduced by partial combats, and without receiving
+reinforcements from the interior of the Empire. During the whole of the
+German campaign of 1809, the French in Spain were merely able to
+maintain themselves in the positions they had occupied soon after
+Napoleon's departure.
+
+Austria had reckoned on the absence of Napoleon and his Guard, and on
+the veteran troops of Marengo and Austerlitz being far distant. She knew
+that there did not remain more than 80,000 French scattered throughout
+Germany, while her army divided into nine bodies, under the orders of
+the Archduke Charles, had not less than 500,000 men.
+
+The Archduke Louis was defeated and driven back at Abensberg on the
+20th, and utterly routed at Landshut on the 21st, losing 9,000 men,
+thirty guns and all his stores. Those unfortunate Austrians who had been
+led from Vienna singing songs, under a persuasion that there was no
+longer a French army in Germany, and that they should only have to deal
+with Wurtemburgers and Bavarians, experienced the greatest terror when
+they came to conflict and found themselves defeated. The Prince of
+Lichtenstein and General Lusignan, were wounded, while the loss of the
+Austrians in colonels, and officers, of lower rank was considerable.
+
+In the battle of Abensberg which occurred on the 20th, Napoleon was
+resolved to destroy the corps of the Archduke Louis, and of General
+Keller, amounting to sixty thousand men. The enemy only stood his ground
+for an hour and left eighteen thousand prisoners. The cannonade of the
+French was successful at all points and the Austrians, disconcerted by
+Napoleon's brilliant movements, beat a hasty retreat leaving eight
+standards and twelve pieces of cannon. The French loss was very small.
+
+Before this engagement Napoleon saw defile before him on the plateau in
+front of Abensberg the Wurtemberg and Bavarian troops, allies of the
+French, who were going to put themselves in line and whom the pride of
+fighting under a general of his renown filled with enthusiasm. The
+Emperor caused them to be drawn up and proceeded to harangue them, one
+after the other, the officers translating his words to the troops. He
+said that he was making them fight, not for himself, but for themselves;
+against the ambition of the house of Austria, which was enraged at not
+having them, as of yore, under its yoke; that this time he would soon
+restore them peace, and forever, and with such an increase of power that
+for the future they should be able to defend themselves against the
+pretensions of their old dominators. His presence and words electrified
+his German allies, who were flattered to see him amongst them, he
+trusting entirely to their honor, for at that moment he had no other
+escort than some detachments of Bavarian cavalry.
+
+When Napoleon arrived that evening at Rotterburg he was intoxicated with
+joy. The engagement, which was of short duration, had cost the Austrians
+7,000 or 8,000 men, and he saw his adversary driven back on the Iser at
+the very beginning of the campaign, and the Austrian soldiers
+disheartened, like the Prussians after Jena.
+
+The battle of Landshut completed the defeat of the preceding evening. On
+this day General Mouton, at the head of a column of grenadiers rushed
+through the flames that were consuming one of the bridges of the Iser;
+"Forward, but reserve your fire!" he shouted to the soldiers in a voice
+of thunder; and in a few moments he had penetrated into the town, which
+then became the seat of a sanguinary struggle, and which the Austrians
+were not long in abandoning.
+
+Next day Napoleon executed a variety of manoeuvres, considered as
+amongst the most admirable of his science, by means of which he brought
+his whole force, by different routes, at one and the same moment upon
+the position of the Archduke Charles, who was strongly posted at Eckmuhl
+with 100,000 men. On both sides all was ready for a decisive action.
+Until 8 o'clock a thick fog enveloped that rural scene which was soon to
+be drenched with the blood of thousands of men. As soon as it cleared
+away both sides prepared for action. Not a musket or a cannon shot was
+fired before noon, however.
+
+There was no need of a signal for battle as the terrible contest began
+on both sides simultaneously about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Napoleon
+commanding and leading the charge, and accompanied by Lannes and
+Massena. One of the most beautiful sights war could produce now
+presented itself; one hundred and ten thousand men were attacked on all
+points, turned to their left, and successively driven from all their
+positions, although not a half of the French troops were engaged. The
+battle was stern and lasted until twilight, ending with the utter defeat
+of the Archduke's army, and leaving Napoleon with 20,000 prisoners,
+fifteen imperial standards and a vast number of cannon in his hands,
+while the defeated and routed enemy fled back in confusion on the city
+of Ratisbon. The Austrian cavalry, strong and numerous, attempted to
+cover the retreat of the infantry, but was attacked by the French both
+on the right and left. The Archduke Charles was only indebted for his
+safety to the fleetness of his horse, when darkness at length compelled
+the victors to halt.
+
+While the French were galloping along the road in pursuit of the
+Austrians, finding the plain to which they had retreated swampy, they
+endeavored to regain the road, and thus became mingled with the mass of
+victorious cavalry. A multitude of single combats then took place by the
+uncertain light of the moon, and nothing was heard but the clashing of
+sabres on their cuirasses, the shouts of the commandants, and the heavy
+tramp of horses. The French cuirassiers, wearing double cuirasses, which
+covered them all round, could more easily defend themselves than the
+Austrians, who, having only breastplates, fell in great numbers,
+mortally wounded by the thrusts dealt them from behind. Night put an end
+to a contest where there were scenes of carnage that had not been
+equalled in years.
+
+At the battle of Abensberg the Emperor beat separately the two corps of
+the Archduke Louis and General Keller; at the battle of Landshut he took
+the centre of their communications and the general depot of their
+magazines and artillery; and, finally, at the battle of Eckmuhl, the
+corps of Hohenzollern, Rosenberg, and Lichtenstein, were defeated.
+
+The Austrians, astonished by rapid movements beyond their calculation,
+were soon deprived of their sanguine hopes, and precipitated from a
+delirium of presumption to a despondency bordering on despair. Two days
+later the Archduke made an attempt to rally his troops, and not only to
+hold Ratisbon, but to meet Napoleon. He was obliged to give up the place
+at the storming of the walls by the French, who drove the Austrians
+through the streets. All who resisted were slain. The enemy's commander
+fled precipitately into Bohemia, abandoning once more the capital of
+the Austrian Empire to the mercy of the Conqueror.
+
+Napoleon was wounded in the foot during the storming of Ratisbon. He had
+approached the town amidst a fire of sharpshooters kept up by the
+Austrians from the walls, and by the French from the edge of a ditch.
+Whilst he was looking through a telescope he received a ball in the
+instep, and said, with the coolness of an old soldier: "I am hit!" When
+the Emperor received his wound he was talking with Duroc. "This," said
+he to his marshal, "can only come from a Tyrolian; no other marksman
+could take an aim at such a distance; those fellows are very clever."
+
+The wound might have been dangerous for had it been higher up the foot
+would have been shattered and amputation inevitable. The first surgeon
+of the Guard, Dr. Larrey, being near took off his boot and prepared to
+dress the wound, which was not serious.
+
+At the news that the Emperor was wounded the troops crowded around him
+in great alarm. Officers and soldiers ran up from all sides; in a moment
+he was surrounded by thousands of men, in spite of the fire which the
+enemy's guns concentrated on the vast group. The Emperor, wishing to
+withdraw his troops from this useless danger, and to calm the anxiety of
+the more distant corps who were getting unsteady in their desire to come
+and see what was the matter, mounted his horse the instant his wound was
+dressed and rode down the front of the whole line amid loud cheers.
+Those around remonstrated with him for continually exposing his person,
+to which he replied: "What can I do? I must see how things are going
+on."
+
+"It was at this extempore review," says General Marbot, "held in
+presence of the enemy, that Napoleon first granted gratuities to private
+soldiers, appointing them Knights of the Empire and members, at the same
+time, of the Legion of Honor. The regimental commanders recommended, but
+the Emperor also allowed soldiers who thought they had claims, to come
+and represent them before him; he then decided upon them himself."
+
+An old grenadier, who had made the campaigns of Italy and Egypt, not
+hearing his name called, came up, and in a calm tone of voice asked for
+the cross.
+
+"But," said Napoleon, "what have you done to deserve it?"
+
+"It was I, sir, who, in the desert of Joppa, when it was so terribly
+hot, gave you a watermelon!"
+
+"I thank you for it again," said the Emperor, "but the gift of the fruit
+is hardly worth the cross of the Legion of Honor." Then the grenadier,
+who up till then had been as cool as ice, working himself up into a
+frenzy, shouted at the top of his voice, "Well, and don't you reckon
+seven wounds received at the bridge of Arcola, at Lodi, at Castiglione,
+at the Pyramids, at Acre, Austerlitz, Friedland; eleven campaigns in
+Italy, Egypt, Austria, Prussia, Poland--."
+
+But the Emperor cut him short laughing, and mimicking his excited
+manner, cried;--"There, there, how you work yourself up when you come to
+the essential point! That is where you ought to have begun; it is worth
+much more than your melon. I make you a Knight of the Empire, with a
+pension of 1200 francs. Does that satisfy you?"
+
+"But your Majesty, I prefer the cross."
+
+"You have both one and the other since I make you a Knight."
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by L. Marin
+
+ENTRY OF NAPOLEON INTO BERLIN]
+
+"Well, I would rather have the cross," and the worthy grenadier could
+not be moved from that point. It took much explaining to make him
+understand that the title of Knight of the Empire carried with it the
+Legion of Honor. He was not appeased on this point until the Emperor had
+fastened the decoration on his breast, and he seemed to think a great
+deal more of this than of his annuity of 1200 francs.
+
+It was by familiarities of this kind that the Emperor made the soldiers
+adore him, but as Marbot again well says, it was a means that was only
+available to a commander whom frequent victories had made illustrious;
+any other general would have impaired his reputation by it.
+
+Napoleon now sent an aide-de-camp to Lannes urging him to expedite the
+taking of Ratisbon. This intrepid marshal had directed all his artillery
+against a projecting house which rose above the wall surrounding the
+town. The house was knocked down and the ruins fell into the ditch.
+Still there were two fortified positions to take. Ladders were procured
+and placed at the critical points by the grenadiers, but every time one
+of them appeared he was instantly brought down by the well-aimed balls
+of the Austrian sharpshooters. After some men had been thus struck, the
+rest appeared to hang back. Thereupon Lannes advanced, covered with
+decorations, seized one of the ladders and cried out: "You shall see
+that your marshal, for all he is a marshal, has not ceased to be a
+grenadier!" Two aides-de-camp sprang forward and snatched the ladder out
+of his hands, and the grenadiers followed them, took the ladders, and,
+notwithstanding the continued fire of the sharpshooters, made the
+crossing in safety, followed by hundreds of others in an instant.
+
+The walls being scaled, the town was soon in the hands of the French,
+who rushed along the blazing streets taking prisoners in all directions.
+Suddenly they were stopped with a cry of terror uttered by the
+Austrians; "Take care, we shall all be blown up!" shouted an officer.
+There were some barrels of powder left in the street which were in
+danger of being fired by the shots exchanged on either side. The
+belligerents stopped with one accord and joined hands in removing the
+barrels to a place of safety. The Austrians then withdrew and left the
+town to the French troops.
+
+After the taking of Ratisbon Napoleon issued an address to his soldiers
+complimenting them highly on their valor. "You have justified my
+expectations," he said. "You have made up for numbers by your courage;
+you have gloriously marked the difference which exists between the
+soldiers of Cæsar and the armies of Xerxes. In a few days we have
+triumphed in the three battles of Tann, Abensberg and Eckmuhl, and the
+affairs of Peising, Landshut and Ratisbon. One hundred pieces of cannon,
+fifty thousand prisoners, three equipages, three thousand baggage
+wagons, all the funds of the regiments, are the results of the rapidity
+of your marches, and of your courage.... Before a month we shall be in
+Vienna!"
+
+Thus in five days, in spite of inferiority of numbers and of the
+unfavorable manner in which his lieutenants had distributed an inferior
+force; by the sole energy of his genius, did Napoleon triumph over the
+main force of his opponent. The Emperor reviewed his army on the 24th,
+distributing rewards of all sorts with a lavish hand. Upon Davoust he
+bestowed the title of Duke of Eckmuhl.
+
+On May 3rd a body of 30,000 Austrians remaining from the army of
+Landshut, fell back upon Ebersberg, where Massena engaged in a stubborn
+battle, General Claparéde being obliged to defend himself for three
+hours with but 7,000 men against 30,000 Austrians. Reinforcements at
+last arrived and the enemy retired in disorder upon the Ens, where they
+burned the bridge so as to protect their flight in the direction of
+Vienna. The battle cost the Austrians 12,000 men, of whom 7,500 were
+prisoners. The field of carnage was hideous, and the town of Ebersberg
+was so wrapped in flames that the wounded could not be withdrawn. To
+prevent the fire from reaching the bridge it had been necessary to cut
+off the approach at either end, so that communication was interrupted
+for several hours between the troops who had crossed the river and those
+coming to their aid. Napoleon had galloped up on hearing the cannonade,
+and though inured to all the horrors of war, is said to have been
+greatly shocked at the sight he beheld.
+
+Passing before the ruins of the castle of Dirnstein, on an eminence
+beyond the Molck, and in the direction of Vienna, whither he was going,
+Napoleon said to Marshal Lannes, who was at his side: "Look! Behold the
+prison of Richard Coeur de Lion. Like us, he went to Syria and
+Palestine. Coeur de Lion, my brave Lannes, was not braver than thou. He
+was more fortunate than I at St. Jean d'Acre. The Duke of Austria sold
+him to an emperor of Germany who had him imprisoned there. That was in
+the barbarous ages. How different to our own civilization! You have seen
+how I treat the Emperor of Austria, whom I could have taken prisoner.
+Ah! well! I shall treat him again in the same manner. It is not my wish,
+but that of the age!"
+
+From Molck the headquarters of the Emperor were transferred to St.
+Polten and two days later, at 9 o'clock in the morning, Napoleon was at
+Vienna, which he desired to take forthwith, but to take without
+destroying if possible.
+
+Meeting with resistance in entering the city, the inhabitants having
+prepared for a vigorous defense, Napoleon began to play with his heavy
+batteries upon the city. The bombardment soon convinced them that it was
+hopeless to resist, and Vienna surrendered May 12th after suffering
+severely. In a few hours eighteen hundred shells had fallen in the city.
+The streets were narrow, the houses high, and the population crowded
+within the narrow fortifications, were terrified and infuriated at the
+sight of the damage caused by the shells which started fires in every
+direction. Who would have said to the Viennese, who were then hurling
+all manner of imprecations at Napoleon, the author of all their woes,
+that ten months later they would be singing the praise of this detested
+Emperor, and would be voluntarily setting French flags in their windows
+as symbols of friendship?
+
+All the royal family had fled except the young Archduchess Marie Louise,
+who was detained in the palace, suffering from small-pox. When Napoleon
+heard she was sequestered there he ordered that no battery should be
+directed to that part of the town in which lay she who was destined to
+be his bride within less than a year! At this time Napoleon himself
+would no doubt have laughed heartily had he been told that in that
+palace was a woman who was to succeed Josephine in his struggle for a
+dynasty, to be Empress of the French, and later, to bear him the long
+wished for son and heir.
+
+That Marie had no such thoughts or inclinations can readily be guessed
+from the fact of the present campaign in which her father, the Emperor,
+was battling for his Empire. The Emperor Francis had left his capital on
+April 8th, 1809, leaving there his wife and children, but all of whom
+departed, except Marie, on May 5th. From Vienna Marie wrote frequently
+to her father. A rumor had reached the capital that the battle of
+Eckmuhl had been a brilliant victory for the Austrians, and the young
+Archduchess wrote to her father on April 25th: "We have heard with
+delight that Napoleon was present at the great battle which the French
+lost. May he lose his head as well! There are a great many prophecies
+about his speedy end, and people say that the Apocalypse applies to him.
+They maintain that he is going to die this year at Cologne, in an inn
+called the 'Red Crawfish.' I do not attach much importance to these
+prophecies, but how glad should I be to see them come true!"
+
+On May 13th the capitulation of the Austrian capital was signed, and
+Napoleon's army again entered Vienna, the Emperor taking up his old
+quarters at the imperial palace of Schoenbrunn. He said to his soldiers:
+"The people of Vienna, according to the expression of the deputation,
+wearied, deserted, widowed, shall be the object of your regards. I take
+the inhabitants under my special protection. As for the turbulent and
+ill-disposed, I will make a severe example of them. Let us be kind
+towards the poor peasants, towards these good people, who have so many
+claims upon our esteem. Let us not be vain of all our successes; but
+look upon them as a proof of that divine justice which punishes
+ingratitude and perjury."
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM
+
+
+The Austrian army, in abandoning the capital of the Empire, had not
+renounced the war, although in thirty-three days Napoleon had, with one
+stroke of his sword, cut in two the mass of their armies, and with a
+second burst open the gates of Vienna. He was now firmly established in
+that capital, and master of the main resources of the monarchy; but his
+work was far from being done, either in Austria or in Germany. A great
+difficulty remained to be overcome,--that of crossing a vast river in
+the face of the enemy, and to give battle with the river behind him.
+This difficulty Napoleon had been unable to prevent, and it resulted
+inevitably from the nature of things. On leaving Ratisbon he had been
+obliged to take the route which was shortest, thus keeping the two main
+divisions of the Austrian army separated from each other. He was
+consequently obliged to march along the right bank of the Danube,
+abandoning the left to the Austrians, but securing to himself
+exclusively the means of crossing from the one to the other.
+
+The Archduke Charles was soon tempted to quit the fastness of Bohemia,
+and try once more the fortune of a battle. Having re-established the
+order, and recruited the numbers of his army to 100,000 men, he was soon
+posted on the banks of the Danube. Opposite were the French, and the
+river being greatly swollen, and all the bridges destroyed, the two
+armies seemed separated by an impassable barrier. Napoleon determined to
+pass it and after an unsuccessful attempt at Nussdorff, met with better
+fortune at Ebersdorff, where the river is broad and intersected by a
+number of low and woody islands, the largest of which bears the name of
+Lobau. Here Massena had thrown several bridges over the arms of the
+Danube.
+
+On these islands Napoleon established the greater part of his army on
+May 19th, and on the following day made good his passage by means of a
+bridge of boats to the left bank of the Danube, where he took possession
+of the villages of Asperne and Essling, with so little show of
+opposition that it became evident that the Archduke wished the
+inevitable battle to take place with the river between his enemy and
+Vienna.
+
+On the 21st, at daybreak, the Archduke appeared on a rising ground,
+separated from the French position by an extensive plain. His whole
+force was divided into five heavy columns and protected by not less than
+two hundred pieces of artillery. The battle began at 4 o'clock in the
+afternoon with a furious assault on the village of Asperne, which was
+taken and retaken several times, and remained at nightfall in the
+occupation partly of the French and partly of the assailants, who had
+established themselves in the church and churchyard. Essling sustained
+three attacks also, but there the French remained in complete
+possession. At one time Lannes, who defended this point, was so hard
+pressed, that he must have given way had not Napoleon relieved him, and
+obtained him a breathing spell by a well-timed and terrific charge of
+cavalry under Bessieres, which fell upon their centre.
+
+Night finally interrupted the action, the Austrians exulting in their
+partial success; and Napoleon surprised that he should not have been
+wholly victorious. On either side the carnage had been terrible, and
+the pathways of the villages were literally choked with the dead.
+
+Just as Napoleon was about to retire for a few hours' rest he was
+interrupted by a violent altercation between two of his chief
+lieutenants, Bessieres and Lannes, the former of whom complained of the
+language used by the latter, his inferior in rank, in giving a necessary
+order for a charge of cuirassiers and chasseurs, then under the orders
+of Marshal Bessieres himself. Massena, who was on the spot, was obliged
+to interfere between these gallant men, who after having braved for a
+whole day the cross-fire of 300 pieces of cannon, were ready to draw
+their swords for the sake of their offended pride. Napoleon allayed
+their quarrel, which was to be terminated next day by the enemy in the
+saddest way for themselves and for the army.
+
+Next morning the battle recommenced at 4 o'clock with equal fury, the
+French recovering Asperne; but the Austrian right wing renewed its
+assaults on that point, and in such numbers that Napoleon guessed that
+their centre and left had been weakened for the purpose of strengthening
+their right. Believing this he instantly moved such masses upon the
+Austrian centre that the Archduke's line was shaken, and for a moment it
+seemed as if the victory of the French was secure. In fact it was
+extremely doubtful if the Austrian centre could withstand the mass of
+20,000 infantry and 6,000 horse which Lannes had thrown upon it.
+
+The Archduke Charles now hastened to the spot to prevent the catastrophe
+that threatened his centre, and in this critical moment discharged at
+once the duties of a general and a common soldier. He brought up
+reserves, replaced the gaps which had been made in his line by the
+furious onslaught of the French, and while awaiting the execution of
+these orders, seized a standard and himself led the grenadiers to the
+charge, while his bravest officers were struck down by his side. Lannes,
+who also headed his soldiers in person, seeing the Austrian infantry
+disordered, let loose upon them Bessieres and his own cuirassiers, who,
+charging Hohenzollern's corps, broke several squares and took prisoners,
+cannon and flags.
+
+Success now seemed certain, and Lannes sent a staff officer to acquaint
+Napoleon of his progress and asked him to cover his rear whilst he was
+advancing in the plain and leaving so large a space between him and
+Essling. The officer found Napoleon watching the grand spectacle
+of which he was the director. He did not express anything like
+the satisfaction he might have been expected to feel at such a
+communication. The fact was, an unfortunate accident had occurred. At
+this critical moment the bridge connecting the island of Lobau was being
+wholly swept away by means of fire-ships sent down the river by the
+Austrians. Napoleon at once perceived that if he wished to preserve his
+communication with the right of the Danube, where his reserve still lay,
+he must instantly fall back on Lobau. The want of troops, however, was
+not the first consequence of the rupture of the bridge, for the 60,000
+already passed over were enough to beat the Austrians. What was most to
+be regretted was the want of ammunition, a prodigious quantity of which
+had already been consumed, and of which there would soon be a scarcity.
+
+Napoleon therefore resolved upon a painful sacrifice in order not to
+expose himself to risks which prudence forbade him to brave. Having
+formed this resolution, in an instant he ordered the staff officer to
+return to Lannes as fast as possible and tell him to suspend the
+movement and fall back gradually on the Essling and Asperne line. He was
+also to recommend the marshal to be sparing of ammunition.
+
+On receiving this order Lannes and Bessieres were compelled, to their
+deep regret, to halt in the midst of the vast plain of Marchfield. No
+sooner did the French troops commence their backward movement than the
+Austrians recovered their order and zeal, charged in turn, and finally
+made themselves masters of Asperne.
+
+Essling, where Massena commanded, held firm, and under the protection of
+that village and numerous batteries erected near it, Napoleon succeeded
+in withdrawing his whole force during the night. The Commander had sent
+earlier in the day to inquire of Massena if he could rely on the
+possession of Asperne; for as long as it and Essling remained, the safe
+retreat of the army was insured. The staff officer who took the message
+found Massena on a heap of rubbish, harassed with fatigue, with
+blood-shot eyes, but with unabated energy of spirit.
+
+On receiving the message he stood up and replied with extraordinary
+emphasis: "Go tell the Emperor I will hold out two hours,--twenty-four
+--so long as it is necessary for the safety of the army!"
+
+It was during this exciting retreat that a dreadful calamity befell the
+army. Whilst Lannes was galloping in front of the line from one corps to
+another, encouraging the soldiers by his voice and example, an officer
+who was alarmed at seeing him exposed to so much danger, entreated him
+to dismount for greater safety. He followed the advice, though it was
+far from his habit to be careful of his life. At that instant he was
+struck by a cannon ball that shattered both his knees. Bessieres and an
+aide raised him up, and found him bathed in blood and almost senseless.
+Bessieres, with whom he had quarreled on the preceding day, pressed his
+weak hand. He was laid on a cuirassier's cloak and carried to a little
+bridge where an ambulance was stationed. The news soon spread through
+the army and filled it with sorrow. The surgeon declared his wounds to
+be mortal.
+
+In his frenzy the brave marshal called for Napoleon, his friend. The
+latter observed a group advancing, supporting Lannes on a bier formed of
+crossed fire-locks and some branches of oak. Twelve old grenadiers,
+covered with blood and dust, bore this illustrious warrior along. As
+soon as the Emperor saw it was the Duke of Montebello he hastened to
+meet him. The grenadiers stopped, and Napoleon, throwing himself upon
+his old companion-in-arms, who had fainted from the loss of blood, in a
+voice scarcely articulate, said, several times, "Lannes, my friend, do
+you know me? It is the Emperor, it is Bonaparte, your friend."
+
+At these words Lannes opened his eyes, till then closed, collected his
+spirits, and made some attempts to speak; but, being unable, he could
+only lift his dying arms to pass them round the neck of Napoleon. The
+fear of exhausting the little life still remaining in the marshal
+determined the Emperor to leave him.
+
+Sometime later Napoleon visited his wounded friend and conversed with
+him briefly. "My noble marshal," said the Emperor, "It is all over."
+"What!" cried the dying man, "can't _you_ save me?" He died in delirium
+some days later in the arms of his chief, who wept over him as he had
+done at the death of Desaix at Marengo. The French soldiery delighted to
+call him the "Roland of the Camp," and Napoleon said, "It was impossible
+to be more brave than Lannes." No man could inspire his troops with more
+confidence than could this brave soldier who had been the companion of
+the fortunes and glory of Napoleon from the very beginning of his public
+career.
+
+Napoleon had charged Lannes to maintain Essling at all hazards and he
+valiantly fulfilled his task. At length, at nine at night, the
+sanguinary conflict ceased; the French preserving the position they had
+occupied in the morning, and the Austrians bivouacking where they were.
+Both sides sustained an equal loss, from fifteen to twenty thousand men
+having been killed, or wounded, on both sides. Among the Austrians were
+four field-marshals, eight generals and six hundred and sixty-three
+officers killed or wounded.
+
+On the morning of the 23rd of May the French were cooped up in Lobau and
+the adjacent islands,--Asperne and Essling--the whole left bank of the
+river, remaining in the possession of the Austrians. On either side a
+victory was claimed. In the eyes of Europe it was a check for Napoleon,
+accustomed to crush his enemy, to have been unable at this time to drive
+the Austrians from their position.
+
+The situation of the French Emperor was imminently hazardous; he was
+separated from Davoust and his reserves, and, had the enemy either
+attacked him in the islands, or passed the river higher up and so
+overwhelmed Davoust and relieved Vienna, the results might have been
+fatal. But the Archduke's loss in these two days had been very great;
+and, in place of risking an offensive movement, he contented himself
+with strengthening the position of Asperne and Essling, and awaiting
+quietly the moment when his enemy should choose to attempt once more the
+passage to the left bank, and the reoccupation of these stubbornly
+contested villages.
+
+Napoleon availed himself of this pause with his usual skill. That he had
+been checked was true, and that the news would be heard with enthusiasm,
+he well knew. It was necessary, therefore, to regain the fame which had
+surrounded the beginning of the campaign, and he made every preparation
+for another decisive battle. Some weeks elapsed ere he ventured to
+assume the offensive.
+
+On the 4th of July, 1809, Napoleon at last re-established his
+communication with the right bank, and arranged the means of passing to
+the left at a point where the Archduke had made hardly any preparation
+for receiving him. On the 5th of July, at 10 o'clock at night, the
+French began to cross from the islands in the Danube to the left bank.
+Gunboats prepared for the purpose silenced some of the Austrian
+batteries; others were avoided by passing the river out of reach of
+their fire on bridges that had been secretly erected by the French. When
+Napoleon had a river to be crossed he began the operation by suddenly
+conveying some determined men to the opposite side in boats. These
+proceeded to disarm or kill the enemy's advanced posts, and to fix the
+moorings to which the boats were to be attached that were to carry the
+bridge. The army then passed over as quickly as possible.
+
+The first of these operations was the most difficult in presence of an
+enemy so numerous and so well prepared as were the Austrians. To
+facilitate it, Napoleon had large flat boats constructed, capable of
+carrying 300 men each, and having a moving gunwale to protect the men
+from musketry, which on being let down, would serve instead of planks
+for landing. Every corps was provided with five of these flat-boats,
+which made an advance guard of 1500 men carried over at once, and the
+enemy, not knowing exactly where the crossing would be made, could not
+confront the French with advanced posts in sufficient numbers to prevent
+their landing.
+
+The Austrians having rashly calculated that Asperne and Essling must
+needs be the object of the next contest, as of the preceding, they were
+taken almost unawares by Napoleon's appearance in another quarter. They
+changed their line on the instant and occupied a position, the centre
+and key of which was the little town of Wagram. Here, on the 6th of
+July, the final and decisive battle was to be fought. Adding together
+the troops of Massena, Oudinot, Davoust, Bernadotte, Prince Eugene,
+Macdonald, Marmont, de Wrede and the Guard, there appeared to be 150,000
+men; of whom 26,000 were cavalry and 12,000 artillerymen serving 550
+guns; an enormous force, such as Napoleon had never yet mustered on a
+field of battle, and according to some authorities, such a host as had
+never been brought into action by any leader. Besides this vast force
+Napoleon had with him the invincible Massena, who was then suffering
+from a fall from his horse, but who was capable of mastering all
+physical sufferings on a day of battle; the stubborn Davoust, the
+impetuous Oudinot, the intrepid Macdonald, and a multitude of others who
+were ready to purchase the triumph of the French arms with their blood.
+The heroic Lannes was the only one missing. Fate had forbidden him to
+witness a victory to which he had powerfully contributed by his conduct
+in this campaign.
+
+When the day dawned on the banks of the river, about 4 o'clock in the
+morning, a most imposing spectacle presented itself to both armies. The
+sun glistened on thousands of bayonets and helmets, and seventy thousand
+men were already in line of battle on the enemy's side of the river
+capable of making a good fight with the Archduke's forces. Seeing
+Napoleon ride along the front of the lines his soldiers raised their
+shakos on their bayonets and cried: "Vive l'Empereur!" The ground
+covered by the two armies was about two leagues in extent. The troops
+nearest were about 1200 fathoms from the city of Vienna, so that the
+towers, steeples, and tops of the highest houses, were covered by the
+numerous population, thus become spectators of the terrible contest then
+preparing.
+
+The Archduke had extended his line over too wide a space, and his former
+error enabled Napoleon to at once see an opportunity to ruin him by his
+old device of pouring the full shock of his strength on the centre. In
+fact, so apparently weak was the position of the Austrians at this time
+that the Emperor, in his bulletin of the engagement sent to Paris, had
+this to say: "This disposition of the army appeared so absurd that some
+snare was dreaded, and the Emperor hesitated some time before ordering
+the easy dispositions which he had to make in order to annul those of
+the enemy, and render them fatal to him." At sunrise the cannonade
+commenced upon the two lines. Napoleon, perceiving that the Prince of
+Rosemberg was moving upon Marshal Davoust, repaired in person to the
+right wing, which he reinforced with the cuirassiers under General
+Arrighe, and caused twelve pieces of light artillery to advance upon
+the flank of the enemy's columns. After an obstinate engagement of two
+hours' duration, Davoust succeeded in repulsing his adversary as far as
+Neusiedel.
+
+While the French army thus signalized itself by success in the beginning
+of the day, the battle was carried along the rest of the line with great
+determination. The fire of musketry and cannon was now general on that
+vast front of nearly three leagues, along which 300,000 men and 1100
+pieces of cannon were arrayed against each other. It was a principle of
+Napoleon's that by concentrating on one point the action of certain
+special arms that grand effects were to be produced, and therefore it
+was that he bestowed an immense amount of artillery on the Guard and had
+kept under his hand a reserve of fourteen regiments of cuirassiers.
+
+The Emperor now ordered that the whole of the artillery of the Guard,
+together with all that could be spared by the several corps, advance at
+a gallop. Just then General de Wrede arrived on the ground with
+twenty-five pieces of excellent artillery, and solicited the honor of
+taking part in the decisive movement, to which Napoleon consented. He
+then sent for General Macdonald, his design being to shake the Austrian
+centre with 100 guns, and then pierce it with Macdonald's bayonets and
+Nansouty's sabres. These orders were obeyed on the instant.
+
+While awaiting the carrying out of these movements, impatient for the
+arrival of Macdonald and Lauriston, Napoleon rode about the field on his
+Persian horse of dazzling whiteness, giving orders to his aides
+constantly. The cannonading had by this time acquired the frequency of
+musket-firing, and everybody shuddered at the thought of seeing the
+man, on whose life so many destinies depended, struck by one of those
+blind messengers of death. The hundred guns were now ranged in line and
+instantly began the most tremendous slaughter ever known to those who
+witnessed it. Napoleon observed with his glass the effect of that
+formidable battery, saw the enemy's artillery dismounted, and was
+satisfied with the correctness of his own conceptions. But artillery was
+not sufficient to break the Austrian centre; bayonets, too, were
+requisite.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Baron Gros
+
+NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF EYLAU]
+
+The intrepid Macdonald now advanced at the head of his corps under a
+deluge of fire, leaving the ground covered at every step with his dead
+and wounded, still closing the ranks without wavering, and communicating
+his own gallant bearing to his soldiers. "What a brave man!" Napoleon
+exclaimed several times, as he saw him thus march under the shower of
+grape and bullets. The Archduke's centre, shaken by the fire of a
+hundred pieces of ordinance, retreats, as does also his right. Davoust
+now shakes the Austrian left wing, and as he does so Napoleon exclaims:
+"The battle is won!",--and so it was. Lauriston, with a hundred pieces
+of cannon, and Macdonald at the head of a chosen division, charged the
+Austrians in the centre and broke through it. The victory was for the
+French once more.
+
+At length the Austrian army fell into disorder, their centre was driven
+back two or three miles out of the line; cries of alarm were heard, the
+right wing gave way and the left soon followed. The rout was now
+complete. At the close of the battle there remained 20,000 prisoners,
+besides all the artillery and baggage in the hands of the French.
+Napoleon showed all his courage and talents on this day, and was ever
+in the hottest of the action, though the appearance of his retinue drew
+on him showers of grape by which he was repeatedly endangered. From
+early morning, he was occupied in galloping through the different lines,
+encouraging the troops by his presence and persuasive eloquence; many
+being killed by the balls that flew about him. It was observed that the
+enemy's fire was particularly directed against the Emperor; in
+consequence of which Napoleon was obliged to change his surtout three
+times. The aides-de-camp and officers of the staff were also given to
+understand that they should keep more at a distance, and the regiments
+were instructed not to salute the Emperor with acclamations at the
+moment he was passing.
+
+On the following morning, after surveying the field of battle, Napoleon
+went to place himself in the midst of his troops who were about to
+pursue the retreating enemy. He walked round the bivouacs without either
+hat or sword, his hands being crossed behind him, and as he talked with
+the soldiers of his Guard his manner and countenance expressed the
+utmost satisfaction and confidence. On passing Macdonald, with whom he
+had lost favor, and who had not followed the fortunes of the Emperor for
+some years, Napoleon stopped and held out his hand, saying: "Shake
+hands, Macdonald; no more animosity between us, we must henceforth be
+friends; and, as a pledge of my sincerity, I will send you your
+marshal's staff, which you so gloriously earned in yesterday's battle."
+The general, pressing the Emperor's hand affectionately, exclaimed: "Ah,
+sire; with us it is henceforth for life and for death." The act was
+heightened by the grace and good will with which it was performed. The
+same rank was granted a few days after to General Oudinot and the Duke
+of Ragusa (Marmont), for their eminent services.
+
+After the battle Napoleon recognized among the dead a colonel who had
+displeased him. He stopped and looked at the mangled body for a moment
+and then said, "I regret not having told him before the battle that I
+had forgotten everything."
+
+The Archduke fled in great confusion as far as Znaim in Moravia,
+abandoning, as trophies of his defeat, ten standards, forty pieces of
+cannon, nearly 18,000 prisoners, nine thousand wounded, and a great
+quantity of equipage.
+
+The loss of the French, while much less than that of the enemy, was
+6,000 wounded and 2,600 killed. Marshal Bessieres was among the former.
+The French army had to lament the loss of the valiant LaSalle, one of
+the first generals of light cavalry. His death was greatly regretted
+both by the Emperor and the army. He was considered the best light
+cavalry officer for outpost duty and had the surest eye. He could take
+in a whole district in a moment, and seldom made a mistake, so that his
+reports on the enemy's position were clear and precise. He was a
+handsome man of bright wit, an excellent horseman and brave to the point
+of rashness. He first attracted the notice of General Bonaparte at the
+battle of Rivoli when he galloped down a descent to which the fleeing
+Austrians had resorted to escape, and took some thousand prisoners under
+the eyes of General Bonaparte and the army. From that time LaSalle was
+in high favor with Napoleon who promoted him rapidly and took him to
+Egypt where he made him colonel. He distinguished himself at Austerlitz
+and in Prussia.
+
+The Imperial Council perceived that further resistance was useless and
+an armistice was agreed to at Znaim. Napoleon, on returning to Vienna,
+continued occupied until October. For the third time he found himself
+master of the destinies of the House of Lorraine, which he had accused
+of ingratitude and perjury before Europe and in the face of history; for
+the third time this conqueror, so violent in his menaces, so
+overwhelming in his reproaches, eagerly received the proposals of those
+who had provoked the war, whose hopes had been overthrown, and whose
+resources were destroyed on the day of Wagram. The results of the
+battle, without being as extraordinary as those of Austerlitz, Jena or
+Friedland, were great nevertheless.
+
+The announcement of the armistice with Austria put an end, in effect, to
+all hostile demonstrations on the Continent, except in the Peninsula,
+and Germany in apparent tranquility awaited the result of the
+negotiations of Vienna.
+
+A few days after Napoleon had returned to Schoenbrunn from Moravia he
+narrowly escaped the dagger of a young man who rushed upon him at a
+grand review of the Imperial Guard, and while in the midst of all his
+staff. Berthier and Rapp threw themselves upon the would-be assassin and
+disarmed him at the moment when his knife was about to enter the
+Emperor's body.
+
+Napoleon demanded to know what motive had actuated the assassin. "What
+injury," said he, "have I done to you?"
+
+"To me personally, none," answered the youth, "but you are the oppressor
+of my country; the tyrant of the world; and to have put you to death
+would have been the highest glory of a man of honor."
+
+The youth, a son of a clergyman of Erfurt named Staaps, was condemned to
+death. It is said Napoleon wished to pardon Staaps, whose frankness and
+courage had struck him, and in whom, besides, he saw but a blind
+instrument of the passions incited by the monarchy; but his orders
+arrived too late. The young German met his death with the greatest
+coolness, exclaiming: "Hail, Liberty! Germany forever! Death to the
+tyrant!"
+
+The length to which the negotiations with Austria were protracted
+excited much wonder, but Napoleon, who was occupied incessantly with his
+ministers and generals, and seldom showed himself in public, had other
+business on hand besides his treaty with the Emperor Francis. His
+long-standing quarrel with the Pope now reached its crisis, growing out
+of the Concordat, involving affairs in Spain and Portugal, and finally
+by a refusal of the pontiff to acquiesce in the Berlin and Milan decrees
+against England's commerce. On the 17th of May Napoleon had issued from
+Vienna his final decree declaring the temporal sovereignty of the Pope
+to be wholly at an end, incorporating Rome with the French Empire, and
+declaring it to be his second city, settling a handsome pension on the
+holy father in his spiritual capacity, and appointing a committee of
+administration for the civil government of Rome. The Pope replied with a
+bull of excommunication against Napoleon which finally resulted in the
+removal of His Holiness to Fontainebleau where he continued a prisoner,
+though treated personally with respect and magnificence, during more
+than three years.
+
+The treaty with Austria was at last signed at Schoenbrunn on the 14th of
+October, Austria giving up territory to the amount of 45,000 square
+miles, with a population of four millions, and depriving her of her
+last seaport. Yet, when compared with the signal triumphs of the
+campaign at Wagram, the terms on which the conqueror signed the peace
+were universally looked upon as remarkable for moderation. Napoleon
+afterwards expressed himself as highly culpable in having left Austria
+too powerful after the affair at Wagram, using the following words on
+that occasion: "The day after the battle I ought to have published in
+the order of the day that I would ratify no treaty with Austria, until
+after a previous separation of the crown of Austria, Hungary, and
+Bohemia; to be placed on three different heads."
+
+Napoleon quitted Vienna on the 16th of October, and was congratulated by
+the public bodies of Paris at Fontainebleau on the 14th of November as
+"the greatest of heroes, who never achieved victories but for the
+happiness of the world." When he reappeared at the palace at
+Fontainebleau on Oct. 26th 1809, crowned with the victory of Wagram,
+there was one to whom dark forebodings came--Josephine felt that her
+fate was sealed. In fact, as a modern writer has said, the immediate
+result of Wagram was the divorce from the Empress.
+
+The first public intimation of a measure which had for a considerable
+period occupied Napoleon's thoughts came from the Emperor himself when
+he said, in an imperial speech in which he described the events of the
+past year, and the state of France: "I and my house will ever be found
+ready to sacrifice everything, even our own dearest ties and feelings,
+to the welfare of the French people."
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+CAMPAIGN OF RUSSIA
+
+
+Long before Napoleon assumed the imperial title his hopes of offspring
+from the union with Josephine were at an end, but the Empress lived for
+a time in hope that the Emperor would be content to adopt her son
+Eugene. Louis Bonaparte married Hortense Beauharnais, daughter of
+Josephine, and an infant son became so much the favorite of Napoleon
+that the Empress, as well as others, come to regard this boy as the heir
+of France. But the child died early and the Emperor then began to direct
+his thoughts towards the best means of dissolving his marriage with
+Josephine, in order that he might form an alliance with some daughter of
+Russia, or other imperial family. The Emperor Alexander was approached
+on this subject, and informed that one of his sisters, the Grand Duchess
+Anne, would be acceptable, but the Empress-mother hesitated, and this
+being taken by Napoleon as a refusal, he sought the hand of the
+Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of the Emperor Francis of Austria.
+
+On the 15th of December, 1809, the Emperor summoned his council and
+announced to them, that at the expense of all his personal feelings, he,
+devoted wholly to the welfare of the State, had resolved to separate
+himself from his most dear consort. "Arrived at the age of forty years"
+he said, "I may conceive the hope of living sufficiently long to
+elevate, in my mind and after my ideas, the children with which it shall
+please Providence to bless me. God knows how much this resolution has
+cost my heart; * * * I should also add, that, far from ever having to
+complain, I have on the contrary, only had cause to laud the attachment
+and tenderness of my beloved wife. She has adorned fifteen years of my
+life. The recollection thereof will always remain graven on my heart."
+
+Josephine then appeared among them, and not without tears, expressed her
+acquiescence in the decree. "I believe I acknowledge all these
+sentiments," she said, "by consenting to the dissolution of a marriage
+which, at present, is an obstacle to the welfare of France, which
+deprives it of being one day governed by the descendants of a great man,
+so evidently raised by Providence to efface the ills of a terrible
+revolution, and re-establish the altar, the throne, and social order."
+
+The council, after addressing the Emperor and Empress on the nobleness
+of their mutual sacrifice, accepted and ratified the dissolution of
+marriage. The title of Empress was preserved to Josephine for life and a
+pension of two million francs, to which Napoleon afterwards added a
+third million from his privy purse. She then retired from the Tuileries,
+residing thenceforth mostly at Malmaison, and in the course of a few
+weeks Austria was called upon for her daughter.
+
+Having given her hand at Vienna on the 11th of March, 1810, to Berthier,
+who had the honor to represent the person of the Emperor, the young
+Archduchess set out for France on the 13th.
+
+On the 28th, as her carriage was proceeding towards Soissons, Napoleon
+rode up to it, in a plain dress, altogether unattended, and introduced
+himself to his proxy bride. She had never seen his person till then,
+and it is said her first exclamation was, "Your Majesty's pictures have
+not done you justice."
+
+They spent the evening at the chateau of Compiegne and a religious
+marriage was celebrated on the 1st of April at St. Cloud amidst every
+circumstance of splendor; the next day they made their entry into the
+capital. Napoleon in his exile said that "the Spanish ulcer" and the
+Austrian match were the two main causes of his ruin;--and they both
+contributed to it largely, although by no means equally. The Exile's own
+opinion was that the error lay, not in seeking a bride of imperial
+birth, but in choosing her at Vienna. Had he persisted in his demands,
+the Czar, he doubted not, would have granted him his sister; the proud
+dreams of Tilsit would have been realized, and Paris and St. Petersburg
+become the only two capitals of Europe. Possibly, then, he would not
+have had occasion to say that he "set his foot upon an abyss of roses"
+when he married Marie.
+
+Had he married a daughter of France, or even an imperial princess of
+Russia, he could have done so without the sacrifice of the prestige of
+the nobility, and even the divinity of the people he had so gloriously
+contended for; but when it was announced that he had contracted an
+alliance with the House of Hapsburg,--that hated race against whom and
+whose principles he had fought a hundred battles, they were convinced
+that no good would come of it--and they were right.
+
+The war, meanwhile, continued without interruption in the Peninsula;
+whither, but for his marriage Napoleon would certainly have repaired in
+person, after the peace of Schoenbrunn left him at ease. So illy was
+that Spanish campaign conducted during Napoleon's absence that not an
+inch of soil could be counted by the French beyond their outposts. Their
+troops were continually harassed and thinned by the indomitable
+guerrillas who acted singly or in bands as occasion offered.
+
+The Emperor's marriage was speedily followed on the 20th of April, 1811,
+by the birth of a son and heir whom Napoleon announced to the waiting
+courtiers in these words: "It is a King of Rome!" The happy event,
+announced to the populace by the firing of one hundred and one guns, was
+received with many demonstrations of loyal enthusiasm. Even Josephine
+joined in expressing her satisfaction at the event which seemed to
+portend so much for the founding of a Napoleonic dynasty which the
+Emperor now saw possible by direct lineage.
+
+When the Emperor of Russia was informed of Napoleon's approaching
+nuptials with the Austrian princess his first exclamation was, "Then the
+next thing will be to drive us back into our forests." In truth the
+conferences at Erfurt had but skinned over a wound which nothing could
+have cured but a total alteration of Napoleon's policy. The Russian
+nation suffered so much from the continental system that the Czar soon
+found himself compelled to relax the decrees drawn up at Tilsit in the
+spirit of those previously declared at Berlin and Milan. Certain harbors
+were opened partially for the admission of colonial produce and the
+export of native productions; and there ensued a series of indignant
+reclamations on the part of Napoleon, and haughty evasions on that of
+the Czar, which, ere long, satisfied all near observers that Russia
+would not be slow to avail herself of any favorable opportunity of once
+more appealing to arms.
+
+During the summer of 1811 the relations of Russia and France were
+becoming every day more dubious and when towards the close of it the
+Emperor of Austria published a rescript granting a free passage through
+his territories to the troops of his son-in-law, England, ever watchful
+of her great enemy, perceived clearly that France was about to have an
+ally. Alexander had long since ceased to regard the friendship of the
+great man as a blessing of heaven. Of the solemn cordiality of Tilsit,
+and the more recent meeting at Erfurt, there remained in the soul of the
+Czar naught but the displeasure and resentment arising from extinct
+affection and deceived hopes.
+
+From the moment in which the Russian government began to reclaim
+seriously against certain parts of his conduct, Napoleon increased by
+degrees his military force in the north of Germany, and the Grand Duchy
+of Warsaw, and advanced considerable bodies of troops nearer and nearer
+to the Czar's Polish frontier. These preparations were met by similar
+movements on the other side; yet, during many months, the hope of
+terminating the differences by negotiations was not abandoned. The
+regulations of the Continental System were especially objected to by
+Russia, and the Czar having lent his ear to the representations of the
+English cabinet, asked that they be dispensed with as he declared he
+could no longer submit to see the commerce of an independent Empire
+trammeled for the purpose of serving the policy of a foreign power.
+
+Napoleon admitted that it might be necessary to modify the system
+complained of, and expressed his belief that it would be found possible
+to devise some middle course by which the commercial interests of France
+and Russia might be reconciled. A very considerable relaxation in the
+enforcement of the Berlin code was at last effected, and a license
+system arranged which admitted Alexander to a share in the pecuniary
+advantages. Had there been no cause of quarrel between these powers
+except what appeared on the face of their negotiations, it is hardly to
+be doubted but a new treaty might have been effected. The Czar, however,
+from the hour of Marie Louise's marriage, felt a conviction that the
+diminution of the Russian power in the north of Europe would form the
+next great object of Napoleon's ambition. The Czar therefore assured
+himself that if war must come, there could be no question as to the
+policy of bringing it on before Austria had entirely recovered from the
+effects of the campaign of Wagram, and, above all, while the Peninsula
+continued to occupy 200,000 of Napoleon's troops.
+
+As concerned the Spanish armies, it might still be said that King Joseph
+was in military possession of all but some fragments of his kingdom. The
+English had been victorious in Portugal and the French troops in Spain
+lost more lives in this incessant struggle, wherein no glory could be
+achieved, than in any similar period spent in any regular campaign; and
+Joseph, while the question of peace or war with Russia was yet
+undecided, became so weary of his situation, that he earnestly entreated
+Napoleon to place the crown of Spain on some other head. Such were the
+circumstances under which the eventful year of 1812 began.
+
+Most persuasive appeals were made to Napoleon by his ministers to
+refrain from entering into a campaign of aggression against Russia. To
+Fouché, minister of police, Napoleon is reported to have said, in reply,
+"Is it my fault that the height of power which I have attained compels
+me to ascend to the dictatorship of the world? My destiny is not yet
+accomplished,--the picture exists as yet only in outline. There must be
+one code, one court of appeal, and one coinage for all Europe. The
+states of Europe must be melted into one nation, and Paris be its
+capital."
+
+In the arguments used by Napoleon's advisers at this time they attempted
+to show him, among other things, the great extent of Alexander's
+resources,--his 400,000 regulars, and 50,000 Cossacks, already known to
+be in arms--and the enormous population on which he had the means of
+drawing for recruits; the enthusiastic national feeling of the
+Muscovites; the distance of their country; the severity of their
+climate; the opportunity which a war would afford to England of urging
+her successes in Spain; and the chance of Germany rising in insurrection
+in case of any reverses.
+
+With the greater part of the population of France, and especially with
+the army, the threatened war was exceedingly popular. Russia, the most
+extensive Empire in Europe, it was fondly imagined, was on the point of
+falling before the power of the Great Nation; and England would then be
+left to struggle, unaided, for mastery with France. It was deemed a
+certain pledge of victory, since the Emperor himself was to lead his
+veteran legions to the new scene of triumph.
+
+Cardinal Fesch, uncle of the Emperor, appealed to him on other grounds.
+The Cardinal had been greatly affected by the treatment of the Pope, and
+he contemplated this new war with dread,--as likely to bring down the
+vengeance of heaven upon the head of one who had dared to trample on
+its vice-regent. Napoleon led the Cardinal to the window, opened it, and
+pointing upwards, said, "Do you see yonder star?"
+
+"No Sire," replied the Cardinal. "But I see it," answered Napoleon; and
+the churchman was dismissed.
+
+Trusting to this star,--his "Star of Destiny" in which he yet firmly
+believed,--he was far from being awed when in April, 1812, Russia
+declared war against France. It was an indefensible violation of the
+treaty of Tilsit, but it showed Napoleon that Europe was determined to
+crush him, and he rallied the forces of his Empire for a more terrible
+conflict than he had yet been summoned to.
+
+Not satisfied with disposing everything for war in the bosom of the
+Empire, Napoleon, who wished to march into Russia at the head of his
+vast army of Europe, busied himself in forming and cementing,
+externally, powerful allies. Two treaties were concluded to this effect;
+the one with Prussia and the other with Austria on the 24th of February
+and 14th of March, 1812.
+
+Alexander's minister was ordered in the beginning of April to demand the
+withdrawal of the northern troops, together with the evacuation of the
+fortress in Pomerania, in case the French government still entertained a
+wish to negotiate. Napoleon replied that he was not accustomed to
+regulate the distribution of his forces by the suggestions of a foreign
+power. The ambassador then demanded his passports and quitted Paris.
+
+The Emperor of France was confident, and seems to have entertained no
+doubt of his success in the coming campaign. "The war" he said, "is a
+wise measure, called for by the true interests of France and the general
+welfare. The great power I have already attained compels me to assume
+an universal dictatorship. My views are not ambitions. I desire to
+obtain no further acquisition; and reserve to myself only the glory of
+doing good, and the blessings of posterity."
+
+Leaving Paris with the Empress on the 9th of May, 1812, on his way to
+join the Grand Army then forming on the Polish frontier, the imperial
+pair were accompanied by a continual triumph. Not merely in France but
+throughout Germany the ringing of bells, music and the most enthusiastic
+greetings awaited them wherever they appeared. On May 16th, the Emperor
+arrived at Dresden where the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Prussia,
+Naples, Wirtemberg, and Westphalia and almost every German sovereign of
+inferior rank had been invited to meet him. He had sent to request the
+Czar also to appear in this brilliant assemblage, as a last chance of an
+amicable arrangement, but the messenger could not obtain admission to
+Alexander's presence.
+
+Marie Louise was now sent back to France and the Russian campaign began.
+Marshal Ney, with one great division of the army, had already passed the
+Vistula; Junot, with another, occupied both sides of the Oder. The Czar
+was known to be at Wilna, collecting the forces of his immense Empire
+and entrusting the general arrangements of the approaching campaign to
+Marshal Barclay de Tolly, an officer who had been born and educated in
+Germany. The season was advancing and it was time that the question of
+peace or war should be forced to a decision.
+
+Napoleon, before leaving the gay court of Dresden, where he was hailed
+as "the king of kings," dispatched Count de Narbonne to the Emperor
+Alexander to make a fresh attempt at negotiation in order to spare the
+shedding of more blood. On his return Narbonne stated that "he had found
+the Russians neither depressed nor boasting; that the result of all the
+replies of the Czar was, that they preferred war to a disgraceful peace;
+that they would take special care not to risk a battle with an adversary
+so formidable; and, finally, that they were determined to make every
+sacrifice to protract the war, and drive back the invader."
+
+Napoleon arrived at Dantzic on the 7th of June, and during the fortnight
+which ensued, it was known that the final communications between him and
+Alexander were taking place. On the 22nd the French Emperor broke
+silence in a bulletin in which he said: "Soldiers, Russia is dragged on
+by her fate; her destiny must be accomplished. Let us march; let us
+cross the Niemen, let us carry war into her territories. Our second
+campaign of Poland will be as glorious as the first; but our second
+peace shall carry with it its own guarantee. It shall put an end forever
+to that haughty influence which Russia has exercised for fifty years
+over the affairs of Europe."
+
+The Czar announced the termination of the negotiations by stating the
+innumerable efforts to obtain peace and concluded in these words:
+"Soldiers, you fight for your religion, your liberty and your native
+land. Your Emperor is amongst you; and God is the enemy of the
+aggressor."
+
+Napoleon reviewed the greater part of his troops on the battlefield of
+Friedland, and having assured them of still more splendid victories over
+the same enemy, issued his final orders to the chief officers of his
+army. The disposition of his forces when the campaign commenced was
+as follows:--The left wing, commanded by Macdonald, and amounting to
+30,000 men, had orders to march through Courland, with the view, if
+possible, of outflanking the Russian right, and gaining the possession
+of sea coast in the direction of Riga. The right wing, composed almost
+wholly of Austrians, 30,000 in number, and commanded by Schwartzenberg,
+was stationed on the Volhynian frontier. Between these moved the various
+corps forming the grand central army under the general superintendence
+of Napoleon himself, viz., those of Davoust, Ney, Jerome Bonaparte,
+Eugene Beauharnais, Prince Poniatowski, Junot and Victor; and in numbers
+amounting to 250,000 men. The communication of the centre and the left
+was maintained by the corps of Oudinot, and those of the centre and the
+extreme right by the corps of Regnier, who had with him the Saxon
+auxiliaries and the Polish legion of Dombrowski. The chief command of
+the whole cavalry of the host was assigned to Murat who was in person at
+the headquarters of the Emperor, having immediately under his order
+three divisions of horse--those of Grouchy, Montbrun and Nantousy.
+Augereau, with his division was to remain in the north of Germany to
+watch over Berlin and protect the communications with France. Napoleon's
+base of operations, as will be seen by the map, extended over full one
+hundred leagues, and the heads of his various columns were so
+distributed that the Russians could not guess whether St. Petersburg or
+Moscow formed the main object of his march.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Lionel Royer
+
+THE 14TH LINE AT EYLAU]
+
+The Russian army, under de Tolly, had its headquarters at Wilna, and
+consisted, at the opening of the campaign, of 120,000 men. Considerably
+to the left lay "the second army," as it was called, of 80,000 men
+under Bagration with whom were Platoff and 12,000 of his Cossacks; while
+at the extreme of that wing, "the army of Volhynia," 20,000 strong,
+commanded by Tormazoff, watched Schwartzenberg. On the right of de Tolly
+was Witgenstein with 30,000 men and between these again and the sea, the
+corps of Essen 10,000 strong. Behind the whole line two armies of
+reserve were rapidly forming at Novogorod and Smolensk, each, probably,
+of about 20,000 men. The Russians actually in the field at the opening
+of the campaign were, then, as nearly as can be computed, 260,000; while
+Napoleon was prepared to cross the Niemen at the head of 470,000 men.
+
+The Czar was resolved from the beginning to act entirely on the
+defensive and to draw Napoleon, if possible, into the heart of his own
+country ere he gave him battle. The various divisions of the Russian
+force had orders to fall back leisurely as the enemy advanced,
+destroying whatever they could not take with them, and halting only at
+certain points where intrenched camps had already been formed for their
+reception.
+
+The difficulty of feeding half a million men in a country deliberately
+wasted beforehand, and separated by so great a space from Germany, to
+say nothing of France, was sure to increase at every hour and every
+step. Alexander's great object was, therefore, to husband his own
+strength until the Polar winter should set in around the strangers, and
+bring the miseries which he thus foresaw to a crisis.
+
+Napoleon, on the other hand, had calculated on being met by the Russians
+at, or even in advance of their own frontier, (as he had been by the
+Austrians in the campaign of Austerlitz and by the Prussians in that of
+Jena); of gaining a great battle, marching immediately either to St.
+Petersburg or Moscow, and dictating a peace within the walls of one of
+the Czar's own palaces.
+
+On June 24th the Grand Imperial Army, consolidated into three masses,
+began their passage of the Niemen,--Jerome Bonaparte at Grodno, Eugene
+at Pilony, and Napoleon himself near Kowno. The Emperor rode on in front
+of his army at two o'clock in the morning to reconnoitre the banks,
+escaping observation by wearing a Polish cloak and hat; his horse
+stumbled and he fell to the ground. "A bad omen--a Roman would return,"
+some one remarked. After a minute investigation he discovered a spot
+near the village of Poinemen, above Kowno, suitable for the passage of
+his troops, and gave orders for three bridges to be thrown across at
+nightfall. The first who crossed the river were a few sappers in a boat.
+All was deserted and silent on the foreign soil, and no one appeared to
+oppose their proceedings with the exception of a single armed Cossack,
+who asked, with an appearance of surprise, who they were and what they
+wanted. "Frenchmen," was the reply; "we come to make war upon your
+Emperor; to take Wilna, and deliver Poland."
+
+The Cossack struck spurs into his horse and three French soldiers
+discharged their pieces into the gloomy depths of the woods, where they
+had lost sight of him, in token of hostility. There came on at the same
+moment a tremendous thunder storm. Thus began the fatal invasion.
+
+The passage of the troops was impeded for a time; as the bridge over the
+Vilia, a stream running into the Niemen, had been broken by the
+Russians. The Emperor, however, despising this obstacle, ordered a
+Polish squadron of horse to swim the river. They instantly obeyed; but
+on reaching the middle the current proved too strong for them, broke
+their ranks, and swept away and engulfed many of them. Even during their
+last struggles the brave fellows turned their faces towards the shore,
+where Napoleon was watching their unavailing efforts with the deepest
+emotion, and shouted with their dying breath, "Vive l'Empereur!"
+
+Three of these noble-spirited patriots uttered this cry when only a part
+of their faces was above the waters. The army was struck with a mixture
+of horror and admiration. Napoleon watched the scene apparently unmoved,
+but gave every order he could devise for the purpose of saving as many
+of them as possible, though with little effect. It is probable that his
+strongest feeling, even at the time, was a presentiment that this
+disastrous event was but the beginning of others, at once tremendous and
+extensive.
+
+As these enormous hosts advanced into the Russian territory Alexander
+withdrew his armies as deliberately as the invader pushed on. Wilna, the
+capital itself, was evacuated two days before the French came in sight
+of it, and Napoleon took up his quarters there on the 28th of June. Here
+it was found that all the magazines, which he counted on seizing, had
+been burnt before the Russians withdrew. Already the imperial bulletins
+began to denounce the "barbarous method" in which the enemy resolved to
+conduct his defense.
+
+Napoleon remained twenty days at Wilna during which time he redoubled
+his efforts to secure quantities of provisions which were to be conveyed
+along with his army; these were to render him independent of the
+countries through which he might pass. The destruction of the magazines
+at Wilna reassured him that he had judged well in departing from the old
+system of marauding, which had been adopted in previous campaigns with
+success. At the end of this period Napoleon became aware that while the
+contracts entered into by his war minister were adequate for the army's
+needs, the handling of such enormous quantities of provisions, under the
+most favorable circumstances, must be slow and in some degree uncertain.
+Thus the Emperor found himself under the necessity, either of laying
+aside his invasion for another year, or of urging it in the face of
+every difficulty, all of which he had forseen except the slowness of a
+commissariat department.
+
+When Napoleon arrived at Wilna, he was regarded by the people as their
+liberator. A deputation was sent to him by the Diet of Warsaw entreating
+his assistance towards the restoration of their ancient kingdom, the
+re-establishment of Poland having been proclaimed. They came, they said,
+to solicit Napoleon the Great to pronounce these few words: "Let the
+kingdom of Poland exist!" and then it would exist; that all the Poles
+would devote themselves to the orders of the fourth French dynasty, to
+whom ages were but a moment, and space no more than a point.
+
+Napoleon's reply was not satisfactory, "In my position, I have many
+interests to reconcile," he said "and many duties to fulfill." His
+answer was so extremely guarded, that the Poles became dissatisfied and
+offered little or no support to the French. "Had Poland been
+regenerated" says Bourrienne, "Napoleon would have found the means of
+succeeding in his expedition. In his march upon Moscow, his rear and
+supplies would have been protected, and he would have secured that
+retreat which subsequent reverses rendered but too needful."
+
+During this delay Alexander was enabled to withdraw the troops which he
+had been maintaining on the flanks of his European domains and bring
+them all to the assistance of his main army. The enthusiasm of the
+Russian nation appeared in the extraordinary rapidity with which
+supplies of every kind were poured at the feet of the Czar. From every
+quarter he received voluntary offers of men, money, and whatever might
+assist in the prosecution of the war. The Grand Duchess Anne, whose hand
+Napoleon had solicited, set the example by raising a regiment on her
+estate. Platoff, the veteran hetman of the Cossacks, promised his only
+daughter and 200,000 rubles to the man by whose hand Napoleon should
+fall. Noblemen everywhere raised troops, and displayed their patriotism
+by serving in the ranks themselves and entrusting the command to
+experienced officers chosen by the government.
+
+Napoleon at length re-entered the field without having done much to
+remedy the disorders of his commissariat. He at first determined to make
+St. Petersburg his mark, counting much on the effects which a triumphal
+entry into the capital would produce throughout the country, but his
+troops meeting with some reverses at Riga and Dunaburg, he changed his
+plans and resolved to march on Moscow instead.
+
+The centre of the army was now thrown forward under Davoust with the
+view of turning Barclay's position and cutting off his communication
+with Bagration. This brought about an engagement with the latter on the
+23rd of July near Mohilow, the French remaining in possession of the
+town. The Russian commander in retreating informed Barclay that he was
+now marching, not on Vitepsk, but on Smolensk.
+
+During the three days of the 25th, 26th and 27th of July the French were
+again victorious. Napoleon halted at Vitepsk for several days in order
+to allow his troops to recuperate. On the 8th of August the Emperor
+quitted Vitepsk and after a partial engagement at Krasnoi on the 14th,
+came in sight of Smolensk on the 16th. On the 10th of August Napoleon
+was observed to write eight letters to Davoust, and nearly as many to
+each of his commanders. "If the enemy defends Smolensk" he said in one
+of his letters to Davoust, "as I am tempted to believe he will, we shall
+have a decisive engagement there, and we cannot have too large a force.
+Orcha will become the central point of the army. Everything induces me
+to believe that there will be a great battle at Smolensk."
+
+The day on which the combat at Krasnoi was fought happened to be the
+Emperor's birthday. There was no intention of keeping it in these
+immense solitudes, and under the present circumstances of peril and
+anxiety. There could be no heartfelt festival without a complete
+victory. Murat and Ney, however, on giving in the report of their recent
+success, could not refrain from complimenting the Emperor on the
+anniversary of his nativity. A salute from a hundred pieces of artillery
+was now heard,--fired according to their orders.
+
+Napoleon, with a look of displeasure, observed, that in Russia it was
+important to be economical of French powder; but he was informed in
+reply, that it was Russian powder, and had been taken the night before.
+The idea of having his birthday celebrated at the expense of the
+Russians made Napoleon smile.
+
+Prince Eugene also paid his compliments to the Emperor on this occasion,
+but was cut short by Napoleon saying, "Everything is preparing for a
+battle. I will gain that, and then we will see Moscow." Ségur says that
+Eugene was heard to observe, on leaving the imperial tent, "Moscow will
+destroy us!"
+
+The first and second armies of the Czar, under Bagration and Barclay,
+having at length effected a junction, retired with 120,000 men behind
+the river which flows at the back of this town.
+
+As soon as Napoleon saw these masses of men approaching from the
+distance he clapped his hands with joy, exclaiming, "At last I have
+them!" The moment that was to decide the fate of Russia or the French
+army, had apparently arrived.
+
+Napoleon passed along the line, and assigned to each commander his
+station, leaving an extensive plain unoccupied in front between himself
+and the Dneiper. This he offered to the enemy as a field of battle, but
+instead of accepting the challenge Barclay and Bagration were seen next
+morning in full retreat.
+
+During the night the Russian garrison had withdrawn and joined the army
+across the river. Before they departed they committed the city to
+flames, and, the buildings being chiefly of wood, the conflagration,
+according to the French bulletin, "resembling in its fury an eruption of
+Vesuvius." "Never," said Napoleon, "was war conducted with such
+inhumanity; the Russians treat their own country as if it were that of
+an enemy." It now, however, began to be difficult in the extreme to
+extinguish the flames created by the retreating Russians. The Emperor in
+person used every effort to stop the progress of the devouring element
+and render succor to the wounded. "Napoleon," says Gourgaud, "is of all
+generals, whether ancient or modern, the one who has paid the greatest
+attention to the wounded. The intoxication of victory never could make
+him forget them, and his first thought, after every battle, was always
+of them."
+
+It was very evident that the Russian commander had no desire that
+Napoleon should establish himself in winter quarters at this point. From
+Smolensk the Russians retreated to Dorogoburg, and thence to Viasma;
+halting at each of these towns and deliberately burning them in face of
+the enemy. Having returned to Smolensk, Napoleon became a prey to the
+most harassing reflections on the opportunity which had so lately
+escaped him of destroying the whole of the Russian army, and attaining a
+speedy conclusion of peace. Uncertainty began to gain ground with him;
+vague presentiments made him desire to terminate as soon as possible
+this distant campaign. "We are too far engaged to fall back," said the
+Emperor on arriving at Ougea; "and if I only proposed to myself the
+glory of warlike exploits, I should have but to return to Smolensk,
+there plant my eagles, and content myself with extending my right and
+left arms which would crush Witgenstein and Tormasoff. These operations
+would be brilliant; they would finish the campaign very satisfactorily,
+but they would not terminate the war. Our troops may advance, but are
+incapable of remaining stationary, motion may keep them together: a halt
+or retreat would at once dissolve them. Ours is an army of attack, not
+of defense; of operation, not of position. We must advance upon Moscow,
+gain possession of that capital, and there dictate terms of peace to the
+Czar! Peace is before us; we are but eight days march from it; when the
+object is so nearly attained, it would be unwise to deliberate. Let us,
+therefore, march upon Moscow!"
+
+At this period Barclay was appointed to the war ministry at St.
+Petersburg, and Kutusoff, who assumed the command in his stead, was
+beginning to doubt whether the system of retreat had not been far enough
+persisted in. Napoleon ordered a vigorous pursuit of the enemy, hoping
+to come up with and crush him, before he could reach his ancient
+capital. The honor of marching with the advance guard devolved upon
+Marshal Ney, who gloriously justified the confidence of Napoleon by the
+intelligence and bravery which he displayed at the battle of Valoutina.
+This was a most sanguinary fight. Four times were the Russians driven
+from their positions, and on each occasion, brought up reinforcements,
+and retook them; at length they were finally overthrown by the valorous
+Gudin who charged at the head of his division, the vigor and impetuosity
+of which led the enemy to believe that they were exposed to the shock of
+the Imperial Guard. Thirty thousand men were brought into action on
+either side, and the slaughter was terrible. Much individual bravery was
+also displayed on this occasion. But for the failure of Junot,--who had
+begun to show signs of approaching insanity,--to faithfully execute his
+orders, the victory might have been decisive. The Emperor was much
+gratified, however, at the conduct of his troops at Valoutina. He
+repaired in person to the field of battle and passed in review the
+divers regiments which had distinguished themselves there. "Arrived at
+the 7th light infantry" says Gourgaud, "he ordered the captains to
+advance, and said to them, 'Show me the best officer of the regiment.'
+'Sire, they are all good--' 'that is no answer; come at least to the
+conclusion of Themistocles; 'I am the first; the second is my
+neighbor.''"
+
+At length Captain Moncey, who was absent on account of his wounds, was
+named. "What," said the Emperor, "Moncey who was my page! the son of the
+marshal! Seek another!" "Sire, he is the best." "Ah, well!" said
+Napoleon, "I shall give him the decoration."
+
+Up till this time the 127th regiment had marched without an eagle,
+having had no opportunity of distinguishing itself. The Imperial ensign
+was now delivered to it by Napoleon's own hands.
+
+The new Russian general at length resolved to comply with the clamorous
+entreaties of his troops and fixed on a strong position between Borodino
+and Moskowa on the highroad to Moscow, where he determined to await the
+attack of Napoleon who was pushing the war vigorously, sword in hand, in
+the hopes of closing hostilities by one pitched battle.
+
+On the 5th of September Napoleon came in sight of the position of
+Kutusoff and succeeded in carrying a redoubt which had been erected to
+guard the high-road to Moscow. This was effected at the bayonet point,
+though not without great slaughter on either side.
+
+The next day the two armies lay in presence of each other preparing for
+a great contest. On the eve of, and before daybreak on the 6th, the
+Emperor was on horseback, wrapped in his gray coat, and exhibited all
+the alacrity of his younger days. On his return to headquarters he
+found a courier had arrived with dispatches announcing Marmont's defeat
+and the deliverance of Salamanca into the hands of Wellington. M. de
+Beausset also arrived bringing from Paris a portrait of Napoleon's son
+which deeply moved the Emperor. He caused the picture to be placed
+outside his tent where it was viewed by his officers. He then said to
+his secretary, "Take it away, and guard it carefully; he sees a field of
+battle too early."
+
+The Russians were posted on an elevated plain; having a wood on their
+right flank, their left on one of the villages, and a deep ravine, the
+bed of a small stream, in front. Extensive field-works covered every
+prominent point of this naturally very strong ground; and in the centre
+of the whole line, a gentle eminence was crowned by an enormous battery,
+serving as a species of citadel. The Russian army numbered about 120,000
+men against which were opposed almost an equal number of French troops.
+In artillery, also, the armies were equal. The Emperor fixed his
+headquarters in the redoubt whence he had issued the order for battle in
+the morning; the elevation of the ground permitted him to observe the
+greatest part of the Russian line, and the various movements of the
+enemy. The young guard and the cavalry were before him, and the old
+guard in his rear.
+
+Before the engagement Napoleon addressed his troops: "Here is the battle
+you have looked for,"--he said, "for it brings us plenty; good
+winter-quarters, and a safe retreat to France. Behave yourselves so that
+posterity may say of each of you,--'He was in that great battle beneath
+the walls of Moscow.'"
+
+At 4 o'clock on the morning of the 7th the French advanced under cover
+of a thick fog, and assaulted at once the centre, the right, and the
+left of Kutusoff's position. Such was the impetuosity of the charge that
+they drove the Russians from their redoubts but this was for a short
+time only as they rallied under every line of the fire from the French,
+and instantly advanced. Russian peasants who, till that hour, had never
+seen war, and who still wore their usual rustic dress, distinguished
+only by a cross sewed on it in front, threw themselves into the thickest
+of the combat. As they fell, others rushed on and filled their places.
+Some idea may be formed of the obstinacy of the contest from the fact
+that one division of the Russians which mustered 30,000 in the morning
+only 8,000 survived. These men had fought in close order, and unshaken,
+under the fire of eighty pieces of artillery. The Russians had the
+advantage of ground, of speaking but one language, of one uniform, of
+being a single nation, and fighting for the same cause. By 2 o'clock,
+however, according to the imperial bulletin, all hope had abandoned the
+enemy; the battle was at an end, although the cannonade was not yet
+discontinued. The Russians fought for their retreat and safety, but no
+longer for the victory.
+
+The result of this terrible day, in which the French fired sixty-six
+thousand cannon balls, was that while the Russians were defeated they
+were far from routed. "However great may have been the success of this
+day," says Ségur, "it might have been still more so if Napoleon, instead
+of finishing the battle at 4 o'clock in the afternoon had profited by
+the remainder of the day to bring his Guard into the field, and thus
+changed the defeat of the enemy into a complete rout."
+
+That the Emperor suffered intensely during the day is well-known. He had
+passed a restless night and a violent and incessant cough cut short his
+breathing.
+
+As to his desire of preserving a reserve uninjured, and forming it from
+a chosen and devoted body, such as his Guard, Napoleon explained it to
+his marshals by saying: "And if there should be a second battle
+tomorrow, what could I oppose to it?"
+
+General Gourgaud has added: "If the Guard had been destroyed at the
+battle of Moskowa, the French army, of which their guard constantly
+formed the core, and whose courage it supported during the retreat,
+could scarcely have ever repassed the Niemen."
+
+This refusal of Napoleon to engage his Guard is generally held to have
+been one of his greatest military lapses. At the time they were demanded
+by Ney and others the enemy was all but beaten and the appearance of the
+Emperor at their head would in all probability have closed the day with
+a great victory to his credit, and, according to the opinions of many
+military men of this day, have ended the Russian campaign by this one
+battle.
+
+Night found either army on the ground they had occupied at daybreak. The
+number of guns and prisoners taken by the French and the Russians was
+about equal; and of either host there had fallen not less than 40,000
+men. Some accounts give the total number of the slain as 100,000.
+
+The Russian commander fought desperately but was at last compelled to
+retire. His army was the mainstay of the country and had it been
+destroyed, the Czar would have found it difficult to form another.
+Having ascertained then the extent of his loss and buried his dead,
+among whom was the gallant Bagration, the Russian withdrew from his
+intrenchment and marched on Mojaisk. Marshal Ney was rewarded for the
+noble share he had in the success of this battle, by the title of Prince
+of the Moskowa.
+
+The small number of prisoners taken at Moskowa,--or Borodino as the
+battle is frequently called,--the circumstance of the Russians being
+able to carry away their wounded, and many other considerations amply
+prove that such another contest would have ruined Napoleon. The Russians
+ordered _Te Deums_ to be chanted at Moscow in honor of what they termed
+a victory for themselves and Napoleon sent similar instructions to his
+bishops in France.
+
+Napoleon was so fortunate as to be joined exactly at this time by two
+fresh divisions from Smolensk which nearly restored his muster to what
+it had been when the battle began, and thus reinforced commanded that
+the pursuit be pushed. On the 9th the French vanguard came in sight of
+the Russian rear again and Napoleon prepared for battle but once more
+Kutusoff fled precipitately in the direction of the capital.
+
+The Emperor reached the "Hill of Salvation,"--so called because from
+that eminence the Russian traveler obtains his first view of the ancient
+metropolis affectionately called "Mother Moscow," and hardly less sacred
+in his eyes than Jerusalem. The soldiery beheld with joy and exultation
+the magnificent extent of the place; its mixture of Gothic steeples and
+oriental domes; and high over all the rest the huge towers of the
+Kremlin, at once the palace and citadel of the old Czars. The cry of
+"Moscow! Moscow!" ran through the lines. Napoleon himself reined in his
+horse, and exclaimed, "Behold, at last, that celebrated city!"
+
+It was soon observed that no smoke came from the chimneys, and again,
+that no military appeared on the battlements of the old walls and
+towers. Murat, who commanded the van, now came riding up and informed
+the Emperor that he had held a parley with Milarodowitch, general of the
+Russian rear-guard, and that he had declared that unless two hours were
+granted for the safe withdrawing of his troops, he would at once set
+fire to Moscow. Napoleon immediately granted the armistice. When the
+Emperor halted at the barrier he had the exterior of the city
+reconnoitred; Eugene was ordered to surround it on the north, and
+Poniatowski to embrace the south, whilst Davoust remained near the
+centre; the Guard was then ordered to march, and, under the command of
+Lefebvre, Napoleon entered Moscow, and prepared to establish himself in
+the city. He found the capital deserted by all but the very lowest and
+most wretched of its vast population. The French soldiers soon spread
+themselves over its innumerable streets filling the magnificent palaces,
+the bazaars of the merchants, the churches, convents and public
+buildings of every description. The meanest soldier clothed himself in
+silk and furs and drank at his pleasure the costliest wines. Napoleon,
+perplexed at the abandonment of so great a city, had great difficulty in
+keeping together 30,000 men under Murat, who followed Milarodowitch, and
+watched the walls on that side.
+
+At midnight the Emperor, who had retired to rest in a suburban palace,
+was awakened by the cry of "Fire!" The chief market-place was in flames
+and it was some hours before it could be extinguished. While the fire
+still burned Napoleon established his quarters in the Kremlin, and wrote
+by that fatal light, a letter to the Czar, containing proposals for
+peace. In his letter he assured the Czar, "that whatever might be the
+vicissitudes of war, nothing could diminish the esteem entertained for
+him by his friend of Tilsit and Erfurt."
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Horace Vernet
+
+NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF FREIDLAND]
+
+The letter was committed to a prisoner of rank but no answer was ever
+received to it. On the next day the flames broke out again and in a
+short time various detached parts of the city were in flames,
+combustibles and matches were found in many places, and the water-pipes
+cut so that attempts to control the spreading flames were almost
+useless. The wind changed three times in the course of the night and the
+flames always broke out again with new vigor in the quarter from which
+the prevailing breeze blew right on the Kremlin. It was now found that
+the governor, in abandoning the city, had set all the malefactors in the
+numerous jails at liberty.
+
+For four days the fire continued with more or less fury and four-fifths
+of the city was wholly consumed. "Palaces and temples," says Karamsin
+the Russian author, "monuments of arts and miracles of luxury, the
+remains of ages long since past, and the creation of yesterday, the
+tombs of ancestors, and the cradles of children were indiscriminately
+destroyed. Nothing was left of Moscow save the memory of her people, and
+their deep resolution to avenge her fall."
+
+On the third night the equinoctial gale arose, the Kremlin itself, from
+which point Napoleon had witnessed the spread of this fearful
+devastation, took fire and it became doubtful whether it would be
+possible for the Emperor to withdraw in safety.
+
+About 4 o'clock in the morning, one of Napoleon's officers awoke him, to
+inform him of the conflagration. He had thrown himself on the bed only
+a few minutes before, after having dictated orders to the various corps
+of his army, and labored with his secretaries. He watched from the
+windows the course of the fire which devoured his fair conquest, and the
+exclamation burst from him: "This is then how they make war! The
+civilization of St. Petersburg has deceived us; they are indeed
+Scythians!"
+
+During several hours he remained immovable at the Kremlin. The palace
+was now surrounded by the flames and he consented to be conducted out of
+the city. He rode out through streets in many parts arched over with
+flames, and buried, where this was not the case, in one dense mantle of
+smoke. "It was then" says Ségur, "that we met the Prince of Eckmuhl
+(Davoust). This marshal, who had been wounded at the Moskowa, had
+desired to be carried back among the flames to rescue Napoleon, or to
+perish with him. He threw himself into his arms with transport; the
+Emperor received him kindly, but with that composure which in danger he
+never lost for a moment."
+
+"Not even the fictions of the burning of Troy" said the Emperor, "though
+heightened by all the powers of poetry, could have equalled the
+destruction of Moscow."
+
+It was in the afternoon of the 16th that Napoleon left Moscow and before
+nightfall had reached Petrowsky, a country palace of the Czar, about a
+league distant, and where he fixed his headquarters.
+
+On the 20th, the flames being at length subdued, or exhausted, Napoleon
+returned to the Kremlin still hoping that the Czar would relent on
+learning of the destruction of his ancient and sacred metropolis. Day
+after day passed and still there came no answer from Alexander. The
+Emperor's position was becoming hourly more critical. On every side
+there was danger; the whole forces of Russia appeared to be gathering
+around him. Then, too, the season was far advanced; the stern winter of
+the North was at hand and the determined hostility of the peasants
+prevented the smallest supplies of provisions from being introduced into
+the capital.
+
+Daru advised the Emperor to draw in all his detachments, convert Moscow
+into an intrenched camp, kill and salt every horse, and trust to
+foraging parties for the rest--in a word to lay aside all thoughts of
+keeping up communication with France, or Germany, or even Poland; and
+issue forth from Moscow, with his army entire and refreshed, in the
+commencement of the Spring. But Napoleon feared, and not without reason,
+that were he and his army cut off from all communication, during six
+months, the Prussians and the Austrians might throw off the yoke; while,
+on the other hand, the Russians could hardly fail, in the course of so
+many months, to accumulate, in their own country, a force before which
+his isolated army, on re-issuing from their winter quarters would appear
+but a mere speck.
+
+Another letter was now sent by Napoleon to the headquarters of Kutusoff
+for Alexander. Count Lauriston was received by the commander in the
+midst of his generals and answered with such civility that the envoy
+doubted not of success. In the end, however, he was informed that no
+negotiations could be entertained and he declared his inability to even
+sanction the journey of any French messenger to St. Petersburg, without
+the authorization of his master. Kutusoff offered, finally, to send
+Napoleon's letter by one of his own aides-de-camp, and to this
+Lauriston was obliged to agree. The interview occurred on the 6th of
+October; no answer could be expected before the 20th. There had already
+been one fall of snow, and the dangers attendant on a longer sojourn in
+the ruined capital were increasing every hour.
+
+It was under such circumstances that Napoleon lingered on in the Kremlin
+until the 19th of October when he decided to depart from Moscow. That
+evening several divisions were put in motion and the metropolis was
+wholly evacuated on the morning of the 22nd. This sudden departure was
+due in part to Murat's engagement with Bennigsen at Vincovo on the 18th,
+the day on which the suspension of arms expired, causing him to lose
+3,000 prisoners and forty pieces of artillery. General Milarodowitch,
+during a conversation with Murat a few days before, talked very frankly
+of the situation. Murat looked upon peace as indispensable to Russia,
+and was enlarging upon "the continued success of the French" and
+having opened for them the gates of Moscow. "Yes General," replied
+Milarodowitch, briskly, "the campaign is over with the French, and it is
+now time it should commence with the Russians."
+
+On the 19th of October the Emperor with 6,000 chosen horse began his
+journey towards Smolensk, the care of bringing up the main body being
+given to Eugene Beauharnais, while Ney commanded the rear.
+
+As Napoleon left Moscow he said to Mortier: "Pay every attention to the
+sick and wounded. Sacrifice your baggage,--everything to them. Let the
+wagons be devoted to their use, and, if necessary your own saddles. This
+was the course I pursued at St. Jean d' Acre. The officers will first
+relinquish their horses, then the sub-officers, and finally the men.
+Assemble the generals and officers under your command, and make them
+sensible how necessary, in their circumstances, is humanity. The Romans
+bestowed civic crowns on those who preserved their citizens; I shall not
+be less grateful."
+
+From the commencement of this march hardly a day elapsed in which some
+new calamity did not befall those hitherto invincible legions. The
+Cossacks of Platoff came upon one division at Kolotsk, near Borodino, on
+the 1st of November, and gave them a total defeat. A second division was
+attacked the day after and with nearly equal success, by the irregular
+troops of Count Orloff Denizoff. The French now became separated by
+attacks made by Milarodowitch and the soldiers began to suffer from
+extreme hunger. On the 6th of November their miseries were heightened by
+the setting in of the Russian winter. Thenceforth, between the heavy
+columns of regular troops which on every side watched and threatened
+them, the continued assaults of the Cossacks who hung around them in
+clouds by day and by night, rushing on every detached party like the
+Mamelukes of Egypt, disturbing every bivouac, breaking up bridges
+before, and destroying every straggler behind them, to the terrible
+severity of the climate, the frost, the snow, the wind--the sufferings
+of this once magnificent army were such as have hardly been equalled in
+the world's history.
+
+The enormous train of artillery which Napoleon brought from Moscow was
+soon diminished and the roads were blocked up with the spoils of the
+city, abandoned of necessity, as the means of transport failed. The
+horses, having been ill-fed for months, were altogether unable to resist
+the united effects of cold and fatigue. They sank and stiffened by
+hundreds and by thousands. The starving soldiery slew others of these
+animals that they might drink their warm blood and wrap themselves in
+their yet reeking skins! All discipline had vanished.
+
+They were able to keep together some battalions of the rear-guard, and
+present a bold aspect to the pursuers, the heroic Marshal Ney not
+disdaining to bear a firelock, and share the meanest fatigues of his
+brave followers.
+
+The main Russian army, having advanced side by side with the French, was
+now stationed to the southwest of Smolensk, in readiness to break the
+enemy's march whenever Kutusoff should choose. Milarodowitch and Platoff
+were hanging close behind, and thinning every hour the miserable bands
+which had no longer heart, nor, for the most part, arms of any kind
+wherewith to resist them. All the reports brought to headquarters by the
+officers, represented Kutusoff as disposed to oppose the French army and
+risk a battle, rather than abandon his positions which were on the road
+he wished to close against the continued retreat of the Emperor.
+Napoleon was not convinced by these reports. At daybreak, mounted on
+horseback, he started out to reconnoitre the camp and disposition of the
+enemy who was preparing to dispute Kalouga. As the Emperor arrived near
+Malojaroslawetz a body of Cossacks was seen approaching. Napoleon and
+his escort prepared to defend themselves. Rapp had scarcely time to
+seize his chief's bridle and say, "It is the Cossacks, turn back!" ere a
+fierce band galloped towards them. The Emperor, scorning flight, drew
+his sword, and reigned his horse to the side of the road. The troop
+dashed past wounding Rapp and his horse. "When Napoleon saw my horse
+covered with blood," says Rapp in his "Memoirs," "he demanded if I had
+been wounded. I replied that I had come off with a few bruises, upon
+which he began to laugh at our adventure, although I, for my part, found
+it anything but amusing." The appearance of Marshal Bessieres, who
+arrived at the head of some squadrons of grenadiers of the Guard,
+sufficed to stay the disorder and put the Cossacks to flight.
+
+The Grand Army had mustered 120,000 men when it left Moscow. Including
+the fragments of various divisions which met the Emperor at Smolensk it
+was with great difficulty that 40,000 men could now be brought together
+in anything like fighting condition. These Napoleon divided into four
+columns, nearly equal in numbers; of the first which included 6,000 of
+the Imperial Guard, he himself took the command, and marched with it
+towards Krasnoi. The second corps was that of Eugene Beauharnais; the
+third Davoust's; and the fourth destined for the perilous service of the
+rear, and accordingly strengthened with 3,000 of the Guard, was
+intrusted to the guidance of Marshal Ney.
+
+Eugene and Ney at length entered Smolensk. The name of that town had
+hitherto been the only spell that preserved any hope within the soldiers
+of the retreat. There, they had been told, they should find food,
+clothing, and supplies of all kinds, and there being once more assembled
+under the eye of Napoleon, speedily reassume an aspect such as none of
+the northern barbarians would dare to brave.
+
+These expectations were far from realized. Smolensk had been almost
+entirely destroyed by the Russians in the early part of the campaign.
+Its ruined walls afforded only a scant shelter to the famished and
+shivering fugitives, and the provisions assembled there were so
+inadequate to the demands of the troops, that after the lapse of a few
+days Napoleon found himself under the necessity of once more renewing
+his disastrous march. While at Smolensk Napoleon received dispatches
+from France, informing him that a false report of his death had
+occasioned an outbreak and which threatened for a brief period the
+colossal Empire he controlled. On receiving the news he exclaimed, with
+deep feeling, and in the presence of his generals: "Does my power then,
+hang on so slender a thread? Is my tenure of sovereignty so frail that a
+single person can place it in jeopardy? Truly my crown is but ill-fitted
+to my head if, in my very capital, the audacious attempt of two or three
+adventurers can make it totter. After twelve years of government,--after
+my marriage--after the birth of my son--after my oaths--my death would
+have again plunged the country into the midst of revolutionary horrors.
+And Napoleon II., was he no longer thought of?"
+
+Napoleon left Smolensk on the 13th of November, 1812, having ordered
+that the other corps should follow him on the 14th, 15th and 16th
+respectively thus interposing a day's march between every two divisions.
+
+It seems to be generally accepted that the name of Napoleon saved
+whatever part of his host finally escaped from the territory of Russia.
+Kutusoff appears to have exhausted the better part of his daring at
+Borodino and thenceforth adhered to the plan of avoiding battle. He
+seems to have been unable to again shake off that awe which had been the
+growth of a hundred of Napoleon's victories;--had he been able to do so
+the Emperor would probably have died on some battlefield between
+Smolensk and the Beresina, or been taken a prisoner in the country
+which three months before he had invaded at the head of half a million
+of men. The army of Napoleon had been already reduced to a very small
+fragment of its original strength, and even that fragment was now split
+into four divisions against any one of which it would have been easy to
+concentrate a force overwhelmingly superior.
+
+The Emperor reached Krasnoi unmolested although the whole of the Russian
+army, moving on a parallel road, were in full observation of his march;
+Eugene, who followed him, was, however, intercepted on his way by
+Milarodowitch, and after sustaining the contest gallantly against very
+disproportionate numbers, and a terrible cannonade, was at length saved
+only by the fall of night. During the darkness Eugene executed a long
+and hazardous _detour_, and joined the Emperor at Krasnoi on the 17th;
+the two leading divisions now united, mustered scarcely 15,000 men. It
+was then thought advisable to await the arrival of Davoust's and Ney's
+divisions before proceeding. Kutusoff was again urged to seize this
+opportunity of pouring an irresistible force on the French position, and
+although he thinned the ranks of the enemy with 100 pieces of artillery
+well placed, he ventured on no closer collision than one or two isolated
+cavalry charges. Napoleon, therefore, held his ground in face of all
+that host, until nightfall, when Davoust's division, surrounded and
+pursued by innumerable Cossacks, at length was enabled to rally once
+more around his headquarters. Ney, however was still at Smolensk.
+
+The Emperor now pushed on to relieve Eugene who was in command of the
+van with orders to march on Liady and secure the passage of the Dneiper
+at that point.
+
+Davoust and Mortier were left at Krasnoi with orders to hold out as long
+as possible in the hope of being there joined by Ney. Long, however,
+before that gallant leader could reach this point, the Russians, as if
+the absence of Napoleon had at once restored all their energy, rushed
+down and forced on Davoust and Mortier the battle which Napoleon had in
+vain solicited. On that fatal field the French left forty-five cannon
+and 6,000 prisoners, besides the slain and wounded. The remainder with
+difficulty effected their escape to Liady, where Napoleon once more
+received them, and crossed the Dneiper.
+
+Ney, meanwhile, having as directed by the Emperor, blown up whatever
+remained of the walls and towers of Smolensk, at length set his
+rear-guard in motion and advanced to Krasnoi, without being harassed by
+any except Platoff whose Cossacks entered Smolensk ere he could wholly
+abandon it. Ney continued to advance on the footsteps of those who had
+thus shattered Davoust and Mortier and met with no considerable
+interruption until he reached the ravine in which the rivulet Losmina
+has its channel. A thick mist lay on the ground and Ney was almost on
+the brink of the ravine before he perceived that it was manned
+throughout by Russians, while the opposite banks displayed a long line
+of batteries deliberately arranged, and all the hills behind covered
+with troops.
+
+A Russian officer appeared and summoned Ney to surrender. "A Marshal of
+France never surrenders!" was his intrepid answer, and immediately the
+batteries, distant only two hundred and fifty yards, opened a tremendous
+storm of grape-shot. Ney, nevertheless, had the hardihood to plunge into
+the ravine, clear a passage over the stream, and charge the Russians at
+their arms. His small band was repelled with fearful slaughter; but he
+renewed his efforts from time to time during the day, and at night,
+though with numbers much diminished, still occupied his original
+position in the face of a whole army interposed between him and
+Napoleon. The Emperor had by this time given up all hopes of ever again
+seeing anything of his rear column.
+
+During the ensuing night Ney effected his escape--an escape so
+miraculous that the history of war can scarcely furnish a parallel. The
+marshal broke up his bivouac at midnight, and marched back from the
+Losmina, until he came on another stream, which he concluded must also
+flow into the river Dneiper. He followed this guide, and at length
+reached the great river at a place where it was frozen over, though so
+thinly, that the ice bent and cracked beneath the feet of the men who
+crossed it in single files. The wagons laden with the wounded, and what
+great guns were still with Ney, were too heavy for this frail bridge.
+They attempted the passage at different points, and one after another
+went down, amid the shrieks of the dying and the groans of the
+onlookers.
+
+The Cossacks had by this time gathered hard behind, and swept up many
+stragglers, besides the sick. But Ney had achieved his great object; and
+on the 20th of November he, with his small and devoted band of 1500 men,
+joined the Emperor once more at Orcha. Napoleon, on seeing him received
+him in his arms, and exclaimed, "What a man! What a soldier!" He could
+not find words to express the admiration which the intrepid marshal had
+inspired him with; he hailed him as "the bravest of the brave" and
+declared with transport: "I have two hundred millions (of francs) in
+the cellars of the Tuileries, and I would have given them all to save
+Marshal Ney!"
+
+The Emperor was once more at the head of his united "grand army"--a sad
+remnant of its former glory and power. Between Smolensk and the Dneiper
+the Russians had taken 228 guns, and 26,000 prisoners. At leaving
+Smolensk Napoleon had mustered 40,000 effective men--he now could count
+only 12,000, after Ney joined him at Orcha. Of these there were but one
+hundred and fifty cavalry; and, to remedy this defect, officers still in
+possession of horses, to the number of 500, were now formed into a
+"sacred band," as it was called, commanded by General Grouchy, under
+Murat, for immediate attendance upon the Emperor's person.
+
+The Russians were now uniting all their forces for the defense of the
+next great river on Napoleon's route,--the Beresina. The Emperor had
+hardly resolved to cross this river at Borizoff, ere, to renew all
+perplexities, he received intelligence that by a combat with Dombrowski
+there the enemy had retained possession of the town and bridge. Victor
+and Oudinot advanced immediately to succor Dombrowski and retook
+Borizoff; but the Russians burned the bridge before re-crossing the
+Beresina.
+
+Napoleon now decided to pass the Beresina higher up, at Studzianska, and
+forthwith threw himself into the huge forests which border the river,
+adopting every stratagem by which his enemies could be puzzled as to the
+immediate object of his march. His 12,000 brave and determined men were
+winding their way amidst these dark woods, when suddenly the air around
+them was filled with sounds which could only proceed from the march of
+some far greater host. They were preparing for the worst when they
+found themselves in the presence of the advanced guard of the united
+army of Victor and Oudinot, who, although they had been defeated by
+Witgenstein, still mustered 50,000 men, completely equipped and hardly
+shaken in discipline.
+
+Napoleon now continued his march on Studzianska, employing, however, all
+his wit to confirm the belief among the Russians that he meant to pass
+the Beresina at a different place, and this with so much success that
+the Russian rear-guard abandoned a strong position commanding the river,
+during the very night which preceded the Emperor's appearance there.
+
+Two bridges were erected, and Oudinot had passed over before Tchaplitz,
+in command of the Russian rear-guard, perceived his mistake, and
+returned again toward Studzianska. Discovering that the passage had
+already begun, and that in consequence of the narrowness of the only two
+bridges, it must needs proceed slowly, Tchichagoff and Witgenstein now
+arranged a joint plan of attack. Platoff and his indefatigable Cossacks
+joined Witgenstein arriving long before the rear-guard of Napoleon could
+pass the river. The French that had made the passage were attacked by
+Tchaplitz, and being repelled by Oudinot left them in unmolested
+possession, not only of the bridges on the Beresina, but of a long train
+of wooden causeways extending for miles beyond the river over deep and
+dangerous morasses which but a few sparks were needed to ignite and
+destroy.
+
+Victor with the rear division, consisting of 8,000 men, was still on the
+eastern side when Witgenstein and Platoff appeared on the heights. The
+still numerous retainers of the camp, crowds of sick, wounded, and
+women, and the greater part of the artillery were in the same situation.
+
+When the Russian cannon began to open upon this multitude, crammed
+together near the bank, and each anxiously expecting the turn to pass, a
+shriek of utter terror ran through them, and men, women, horses and
+wagons rushed pell-mell upon the bridges. The larger of these, intended
+solely for wagons and cannon, ere long broke down precipitating all that
+were upon it into the dark and half-frozen stream. "The scream that
+arose at this moment," says one that heard it, "did not leave my ears
+for weeks; it was heard clear and loud over the hurrahs of the Cossacks,
+and all the roar of artillery."
+
+The remaining bridge was now the only resource, and all indiscriminately
+endeavored to gain a footing on it; exposed to the incessant shower of
+Russian cannonade they fell and died in thousands. Victor stood his
+ground bravely until late in the evening, and then conducted his
+division over the bridge. Behind was left a great number of the
+irregular attendants besides those soldiers who had been wounded during
+the battle, and guns and baggage-carts in great quantities. The French
+now fired the bridge and all those were abandoned to their fate. The
+Russian account states that when the Beresina broke up in the Spring
+36,000 bodies were found in the bed of the river.
+
+On the 3d of December Napoleon reached Morghoni, and announced to his
+marshals that the news he had received from Paris at Smolensk concerning
+Mallet's attempt to overthrow his government by announcing the death of
+the Emperor, and the uncertain relations with some of his allies,
+rendered it indispensable for him to quit his army without further delay
+and return to Paris with all possible speed. They were now, he said,
+almost within sight of Poland; they would find plenty of everything at
+Wilna. It was his business to prepare at home the means of opening the
+next campaign in a manner worthy of the great nation.
+
+At Morghoni, on the 5th, the garrison at Wilna met the Emperor and then,
+having intrusted to these fresh troops, the protection of the rear, and
+given the chief command to Murat, he finally bade adieu to the rulers of
+his host. He set off in a sledge at midnight, accompanied by
+Caulaincourt, whose name he assumed. Having narrowly escaped being taken
+by a party of irregular Russians at Youpranoni, the Emperor reached
+Warsaw at nightfall on the 10th of December. Here he met his ambassador,
+the Abbé de Pradt, to whom he said, "I quit my army with regret; but I
+must watch Austria and Prussia, and I have more weight on my throne than
+at headquarters. The Russians will be rendered fool-hardy by their
+successes. I shall beat them in a battle or two on the Oder, and be on
+the Niemen again within a month--Monsieur L'Ambassadeur, from the
+sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step."
+
+Resuming his journey, Napoleon reached Dresden on the evening of the
+14th of December, where the King of Saxony visited him, and reassured
+him of his fidelity. He then resumed the road to his capital and arrived
+at the Tuileries on the 18th, late at night, after the Empress had
+retired.
+
+The remnant of the Grand Army meanwhile moved on towards France in
+straggling columns. They passed the Niemen at Kowno, and the Russians
+did not pursue them into Prussian territory. Here about 1000 men in
+arms, and perhaps 20,000 more utterly demoralized, were received with
+compassion. They took up their quarters and remained for a time
+unmolested, in and near Konigsberg. The French army crossed the Niemen
+on the ice, on the 13th of December, defended still by Ney, who had to
+fight with the Russians in Kowno. He now fought at the head of only
+thirty men and was the last individual of the French army who left
+Russian territory, as he did so he threw his musket into the river
+defying the enemy with his last breath. When he came up with General
+Dumas in Prussian Poland he was scarcely recognizable, and on being
+asked who he was replied, with eyes red and glaring, "I am the
+rear-guard of the Grand Army; I have fired the last musket shot on the
+bridge of Kowno!"
+
+The few who survived all these horrors, men who had fought in all
+Napoleon's campaigns, and wore the cross of the Legion of Honor on their
+breasts, were now so wasted with famine that they wept when they saw a
+loaf of bread!
+
+The total loss in this terrible campaign was somewhere near 450,000 men;
+fatigue, hunger and cold had caused the death of 132,000; and the
+Russians had taken prisoners of 193,000--including forty-eight generals
+and three thousand regimental officers. The eagles and standards left in
+the enemy's hands were seventy-five in number and the pieces of cannon
+nearly one thousand.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by H. Bellange
+
+REVIEW OF TROOPS IN THE PLACE DU CARROUSEL, PARIS]
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813
+
+
+To the premature cold, and burning of Moscow, Napoleon attributed the
+failure of his campaign in Russia. His arrival at the Tuileries had been
+preceded by the 29th bulletin in which the fatal events of the campaign
+were fully and graphically recited. While he had not been able to
+conquer the elements he found the Senate and all the public bodies full
+of adulation and willingness to obey his commands. However, what had
+been foreseen by almost every person of discernment, except Napoleon,
+soon followed, viz., an alliance against France by Prussia, Russia and
+Austria.
+
+New conscriptions were now called for and yielded; regiments arrived
+from Spain and Italy; every arsenal resounded with the preparation of
+new artillery. "The wonderful energies of Napoleon's mind," says Scott,
+"and the influence which he could exert over the minds of others, were
+never so striking as at this period of his reign. He had returned to the
+seat of his Empire at a dreadful crisis, and in a most calamitous
+condition. His subjects had been ignorant for three weeks whether he was
+dead or alive. When he arrived it was to declare a dreadful catastrophe.
+* * * Yet Napoleon came, and seemed but to stamp on the earth, and armed
+legions arose at his call: the doubts and discontents of the public
+disappeared as mists at sunrising, and the same confidence which had
+attended his prosperous fortunes, revived in its full extent, despite of
+his late reverses."
+
+Ere many weeks had elapsed Napoleon found himself once more in a
+condition to take the field with not less than 350,000 soldiers. Such
+was the effect of his new appeal to the national feelings of the French
+people. Meanwhile the French garrisons dispersed over the Prussian
+territory were wholly incompetent to overawe a nation which thirsted
+for vengeance. The king endeavored to protect Napoleon's soldiers
+but it soon became manifest that their safety must depend on their
+concentrating themselves in a small number of fortified towns. Murat now
+resigned command of the troops, being succeeded by Eugene Beauharnais
+who had the full confidence of the Emperor. The new commander found that
+Frederick William could no longer, even if he would, repress the
+universal enthusiasm of the Prussians who were clamorous for war. On the
+31st of January, 1813, the king made his escape to Breslau, in which
+neighborhood no French were garrisoned, erected his standard and called
+on the nation to rise in arms. Eugene, thereupon, retired to Magdeburg
+and shut himself up in that great fortress, with as many of the troops
+as he could assemble to the west of the Elbe. When Napoleon heard that
+Prussia had declared war against France he said with perfect calmness,
+"It is better to have a declared enemy, than a doubtful ally."
+
+It was now six years since the fatal day of Jena, and in spite of all of
+Napoleon's watchfulness the Prussian nation had recovered, in a great
+measure, its energies. The people answered the call as with the heart
+and voice of one man. Youths of all ranks, the highest and the lowest,
+flocked indiscriminately to the standard. The women poured their
+trinkets into the king's treasure, the gentlemen melted their
+plate,--England poured in her gold with a lavish hand. The thunder of
+the cannon of the Beresina had raised the hopes of the House of Bourbon
+until Louis XVIII. finally caused to be published in England, and
+distributed throughout the Continent, a proclamation in which he
+addressed himself to the people adroitly supporting the common opinion
+which attributed to Napoleon the prolongation of the war, and promising,
+among other things, "to abolish the conscription."
+
+The Emperor of Russia was no sooner aware of this great movement, than
+he resolved to advance into Silesia. Having masked several French
+garrisons in Prussian Poland, and taken others, he pushed on with his
+main army to support Frederick William. Evidently he did not intend to
+permit the Prussians to stand alone the first onset of Napoleon, of
+whose extensive arrangements all Europe was aware.
+
+The two sovereigns met at Breslau on the 15th of March. Tears rushed
+down the cheeks of Frederick William, as he fell into the arms of
+Alexander; "Wipe them," said the Czar; "they are the last that Napoleon
+shall ever cause you to shed."
+
+The aged Kutusoff having died, the command of the Russian army was now
+given to Witgenstein; while that of the Prussians was intrusted to
+Blucher, an officer who had originally trained under the great Frederick
+and who, since the battle of Jena, had lived in retirement. The soldiers
+had long before bestowed on him the title "Marshal Forwards" and they
+heard of his appointment with delight. Blucher hated the very names of
+France and Bonaparte, and once more permitted to draw his sword, he
+swore never to sheathe it until the revenge of Prussia was complete.
+Bernadotte, now the Crown Prince of Sweden, and an ingrate,--owing not
+only his position but his very existence to Napoleon,--now landed at
+Stralsund, and advanced through Mecklenburg while the sovereigns of
+Russia and Prussia were concentrating their armies in Silesia. It was
+announced and expected that German troops would join Bernadotte, so as
+to enable him to open the campaign on the lower Elbe with a separate
+army of 100,000 men. Wellington, too, was about to advance once more
+into Spain with his victorious armies. Three great armies, two of which
+might easily communicate with each other, were thus taking the field
+against Napoleon at once.
+
+Ere the Emperor once more left Paris, he named Marie Louise
+Empress-Regent of France in his absence. As the time approached when he
+was expected to assume the command of his army in the field his devoted
+subjects again and again expressed their loyalty to him and to France.
+He quitted Paris in the middle of April.
+
+On starting to join his youthful and inexperienced army at Erfurt,
+Napoleon said, "I envy the lot of the meanest peasant in my dominion. At
+my age he has fulfilled his duties to his country, and he may remain at
+home, enjoying the society of his wife and children; while I--I must fly
+to the camp and engage in the strife of war. Such is my fate."
+
+"My good Louise" he said at the same time, "is gentle and submissive, I
+can trust her. Her love and fidelity for me will never fail(!). In the
+current of events there may arise circumstances which decide the fate of
+an Empire. In that case I hope the daughter of the Cæsars will be
+inspired by the spirit of her grand-mother, Maria Theresa."
+
+In three months an army of 350,000 men was raised, equipped and brought
+together, and General Ségur says: "At any hour of the day or night the
+Emperor, whatever he was doing, could have told the numbers, the
+composition, the strength of every one of the thousands of detachments
+of every branch of the service which he set in movement from every part
+of the Empire, the way they were uniformed or equipped, the number of
+marches each one had to make, the day, the place, even the hour at which
+each was to arrive."
+
+On the 18th he reached the banks of the Saale where the troops he had
+been mustering and organizing in France had now been joined by Eugene
+and the garrison of Magdeburg.
+
+The Czar and his Prussian ally were known to be at Dresden, and it soon
+appeared that, while they meditated a march westwards on Leipsic, the
+French intended to move eastward with a view of securing the possession
+of that great city. He had a host nearly 200,000 strong concentrating
+for action while reserves of almost equal numbers were gradually forming
+behind him on the Rhine. Napoleon arrived at Erfurt on the 23d of April,
+whilst Marshal Ney was taking possession of Weissenfels, after a contest
+which caused him to say "he had never at any one time, seen so much
+enthusiasm and _sang froid_ in the infantry." And yet the veterans of
+Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland and Wagram had nearly all disappeared from
+the ranks, and the honor of those eagles, so long victorious, had been
+committed to young conscripts, hardly conversant with their exercise,
+and by no means habituated to the fatigues of war.
+
+The armies met on the first of May,--sooner than Napoleon had ventured
+to hope,--near the town of Lutzen, then celebrated as the scene of the
+battle in which King Gustavus Adolphus died. The evening before the
+battle Marshal Bessieres was forcing a defile near Poserna, and having,
+according to custom, advanced into the very midst of the skirmishers, a
+musket-ball struck him in the breast, and extended him lifeless on the
+ground. His death was concealed from the brave men he had so long
+commanded and by whom he was greatly beloved, until after the victory of
+the following day.
+
+The allies crossed the Elster suddenly, under the cover of a thick
+morning fog, and attacked the left flank of the French, who had been
+advancing in column, and who thus commenced the action under heavy
+disadvantages. But the Emperor so skillfully altered the arrangement of
+his army, that, ere the day closed, the allies were more afraid of being
+enclosed to their ruin within his two wings, than hopeful of being able
+to cut through and destroy that part of his force which they had
+originally charged and weakened, and which had now become his centre.
+
+Night interrupted the conflict and the next morning the enemy retreated,
+leaving Napoleon in possession of the field. His victory was less
+complete than was desirable although he lost but ten or twelve thousand
+men while the allies lost above twenty thousand.
+
+A great moral effect was, however, produced by the battle. Napoleon, who
+had been regarded as already conquered, was again victorious. The
+Emperor immediately sent dispatches to every court in alliance with
+France, to announce the event. "In my young soldiers," he said, "I have
+found all the valor of my old companions-in-arms. During the twenty
+years that I have commanded the French troops I have never witnessed
+more bravery and devotion. If all the Allied Sovereigns, and the
+ministers who direct their cabinets, had been present on the field of
+battle, they would have renounced the vain hope of causing the Star of
+France to decline."
+
+Beaten at Lutzen, Alexander and the King of Prussia fell back on
+Leipsic, thence on Dresden, and finally across the Elbe to Bautzen. A
+want of cavalry prevented their pursuit.
+
+Napoleon entered Dresden on the 11th of May, and on the 12th was joined
+by the King of Saxony who still adhered to him. The Saxon troops once
+more decided to act in concert with the French. As Napoleon approached
+Dresden, he was waited upon by the magistrates who had been treacherous
+to him and to their king, and had welcomed the allies.
+
+"Who are you?" Napoleon asked severely.
+
+"Members of the municipality," replied the trembling burgomasters.
+
+"Have you bread for my troops?" inquired Napoleon.
+
+"Our resources," they answered, "have been entirely exhausted by the
+requisitions of the Russians and Prussians."
+
+"Ah!" replied Napoleon, "it is impossible, is it? I know no such word.
+Get ready bread, meat and wine. You richly deserve to be treated as a
+conquered people. But I forgive all from regard for your king. He is the
+saviour of your country. You have been already punished by the presence
+of the Russians and Prussians, and having been governed by Baron
+Stein."
+
+On becoming master of Dresden, the Emperor, as usual, sent proposals of
+a pacific nature to the allies, suggesting that a general congress
+should assemble at Prague to treat for peace. Neither Russia nor
+Prussia, however, would listen favorably to what they considered would
+be an admission of their incapacity to realize their boast of speedily
+dethroning "the scourge and tyrant of Europe and mankind."
+
+Austria had been sounded, and expressed her willingness to join the
+coalition on the first favorable opportunity. She was at this time
+increasing her military establishment largely, and a great body of
+troops was already concentrated behind the mountainous frontier of
+Bohemia. Austria, therefore, was enabled to turn the scale on whichever
+side she might choose.
+
+Napoleon now determined to crush the army which had retreated from
+Lutzen, ere the ceremonious cabinet of Vienna should have time to come
+to a distinct understanding with the headquarters of Alexander and
+Frederick William. That victory was the best method of securing
+Austria's help, Napoleon clearly saw.
+
+The allies, on their retreat, had blown up the magnificent bridge over
+the Elbe at Dresden, and this being replaced in part by some arches of
+wood, Napoleon now moved towards Bautzen and came in sight of the enemy
+on the morning of the 21st of May. The position of the allies was almost
+perfect: in their front was the river Spree; wooded hills supported
+their right, and eminences well fortified their left.
+
+The action began with an attempt to turn their right, but Barclay de
+Tolly anticipated this movement and repelled it with such vigor that a
+whole column of 7,000 dispersed and fled into the hills of Bohemia for
+safety.
+
+Napoleon now determined to pass the Spree in front of the enemy, and
+they permitted him to do so, rather than come down from their position.
+He took up his quarters in the town of Bautzen, and his whole army
+bivouacked in presence of the allies.
+
+The battle was resumed at daybreak on the 22d; when Ney on the right,
+and Oudinot on the left, attempted simultaneously to turn the flanks of
+the position; while Soult and Napoleon himself directed charge after
+charge on the centre. During four hours the struggle was maintained with
+unflinching obstinacy. The wooded heights, where Blucher commanded, had
+been taken and retaken several times, ere the allies perceived the
+necessity of retiring or losing the engagement. They finally withdrew,
+panic-stricken, continuing their retreat with such celerity as to gain
+time to rally on the roads leading to Bohemia, all others being closed
+against them. The want of cavalry, however, again prevented Napoleon
+from turning his success to account.
+
+During the whole of the ensuing day Napoleon, at the head of the cavalry
+of the Guard, urged pursuit and exposed at all times his own person in
+the very hottest of the fire. By his side was Duroc, grand master of the
+palace--his dearest friend. "Duroc," said the Emperor, on the morning of
+the battle, "fortune has a spite at us to-day."
+
+About 7 o'clock in the evening, Duroc was conversing on a slight
+eminence, and at a considerable distance from the firing, with Marshal
+Mortier and General Kirgener,--all three on foot,--when a cannon-ball,
+aimed at the group, ploughed up the ground near Mortier, ripped open
+Duroc's abdomen and struck General Kirgener dead on the spot.
+
+Napoleon hastened to Duroc as soon as he heard of the event and was
+deeply moved on beholding him. The latter, who was still conscious, said
+to the Emperor: "All my life has been devoted to your service, and I
+only regret its loss for the use which it might still have been to you."
+
+"Duroc," replied the Emperor, "there is another life! it is there that
+you will await me and there we shall one day meet."--"Yes, Sire, but
+that will be in thirty years, when you shall have triumphed over your
+enemies, and realized the hopes of your country; I have lived an honest
+man and have nothing to reproach myself with. I leave a daughter, your
+Majesty will be a father to her."
+
+At Duroc's own solicitation the Emperor retired to spare him further
+grief. Napoleon had ordered his troops to halt, and he remained all the
+afternoon in front of his tent, surrounded by the Guard, who did not
+witness his affliction without tears. He stood by Duroc while he died
+and drew up with his own hand an epitaph, to be placed over his remains
+by the pastor of the place, and who received two hundred napoleons to
+defray the expense of a fitting monument. Thus closed the 22d.
+
+That night Napoleon, after dictating the bulletin of the battle, wrote
+the following decree, "which," says Alison, "all lovers of the arts, as
+well as admirers of patriotic virtue, must regret was prevented by his
+fall from being carried into execution:"--"A monument shall be erected
+on Mount Cenis; on the most conspicuous space the following inscription
+shall be written: 'The Emperor Napoleon, from the field of Wurschen, has
+ordered the erection of this monument in testimony of his gratitude to
+the people of France and of Italy. This monument will transmit, from age
+to age, the remembrance of that great epoch, when, in the space of
+three months, twelve hundred thousand men flew to arms, to protect the
+integrity of the French Empire.'"
+
+The allies, although strongly posted during the most of the day, had
+lost 10,000 men. They continued to retreat into Upper Silesia, and
+Napoleon advanced to Breslau and released the garrison of Glogau.
+General Regnier obtained fresh advantage over the Russians in the affair
+of Gorlitz on the following day, and on the 24th Marshal Ney forced the
+passage of the Neiss and in the morning of the 25th was beyond the
+Quiess where he met the Emperor.
+
+Meanwhile, the Austrians, having watched these indecisive though bloody
+fields, and daily defeats of the allies, sought to bring about an
+armistice, but only with a view of gaining them time to recuperate. The
+sovereigns of Russia and Prussia expressed a willingness to accept it,
+and Napoleon also was desirous of bringing his disputes to a peaceful
+termination until the 10th of August. He agreed to an armistice, and in
+arranging its conditions, agreed to fall back out of Silesia, thus
+enabling the allies to reopen communications with Berlin. On the first
+of June the lines of truce to be occupied by the armies was signed, the
+French Emperor returned to Dresden, and a general congress of
+diplomatists prepared to meet at Prague, England alone refusing to send
+a representative alleging that Napoleon had as yet signified no
+intention to recede from his position with regard to Spain.
+
+The armistice was arranged purely to gain time. Napoleon's successes,
+while unproductive, were dazzling in their execution, and the allies
+found it of the utmost importance to stop hostilities until the advance
+of Bernadotte, and secure further time for the arrival of new
+reinforcements from Russia; for the completion of the Prussian
+organization and, above all, for determining the policy of Vienna.
+
+While inferior diplomatists wasted much time in endless discussions at
+Prague one interview between Prince Metternich and Napoleon, at Dresden,
+brought the whole question to a definite issue. The Emperor, during the
+course of their conversation, is said to have asked "What is your price?
+Will Illyria satisfy you? I only wish you to be neutral--I can deal with
+these Russians and Prussians single-handed."
+
+Metternich answered that the time in which Austria could be neutral was
+past; that the situation of Europe at large must be considered. He
+declared that the Rhenish Confederacy must be broken up, that France
+must be contented with the boundary of the Rhine and pretend no longer
+to maintain her unnatural influence in Germany. Napoleon replied, "Come
+Metternich, tell me honestly how much the English have given you to take
+their part against me?"
+
+At length the Austrian Court sent a formal document containing its
+ultimatum, the tenor of which Metternich had indicated in his
+conversation. Napoleon was urged by his ministers, Talleyrand and
+Fouché, two arch-intriguers, to accede to the proffered terms. Their
+arguments were backed by intelligence of the most disastrous character
+from Spain. Wellington, on perceiving that Napoleon had greatly weakened
+his armies in that country, while preparing for his campaign against
+Prussia and Russia, had once more advanced and was now in possession of
+the supreme authority over the Spanish armies as well as the Portugese
+and English, and had appeared in greater force than ever. The French
+had suffered defeat at several points and on the 21st of June, Joseph
+Bonaparte and Marshal Jourdan had sustained a total defeat, and the
+former was now retreating towards the Pyrenees.
+
+Berthier concurred in pressing upon the Emperor the desirability of
+making peace on the terms proposed, or to draw in his garrisons on the
+Oder and Elbe, whereby he would strengthen his army with 50,000 veterans
+and retire to the Rhine. There, it was urged, with such a force
+assembled on such a river, and with all the resources of France behind
+him, he might bid defiance to the united armies of Europe, and, at
+worst, obtain a peace that would leave him in secure tenure of a nobler
+dominion than any of the kings, his predecessors, had even hoped to
+possess. "Ten lost battles," he replied, "would not sink me lower than
+you would have me place myself by my own voluntary act; but one battle
+gained enables me to seize Berlin and Breslau and make peace on terms
+compatible with my glory."
+
+Finally, Metternich suddenly broke off all negotiations, and on the 12th
+of August, Austria declared war against France. It was an act of bold
+and shameless perfidy; but Metternich was richly rewarded for his
+treachery by the crowned heads of Europe. It was then that Napoleon
+discovered the depth of the abyss on which he had set his foot. He had
+lived in the hopes that his alliance with the House of Austria, by
+marriage with Marie Louise, would prevent the Archduchess' father from
+taking the field against him, but in this he was sadly disappointed.
+Austria now signed an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Russia and
+Prussia. Thus was consolidated at last the great coalition. The
+sovereigns of the nations of Europe had leagued together and sworn to
+crush the Emperor of France.
+
+On the night between the 10th and 11th rockets answering rockets, from
+height to height along the frontiers of Bohemia and Silesia, had
+announced to all the armies of the allies this accession of strength and
+the immediate recommencement of hostilities. Napoleon had now been
+several weeks with his army at Dresden and it had been fondly hoped by
+the populace that on the birthday of the French Emperor, a peace with
+Europe would be signed. They had prepared a magnificent festival in his
+honor and to celebrate the restoration of peace. Their hopes were
+considerably lessened, however, by an order for the fête to take place
+on the 10th in conjunction with a grand review of the army. On the great
+plain of Ostra-Gehege, near Dresden, the imperial troops were drawn up,
+and in the presence of the King of Saxony, the Emperor's brothers,
+marshals, and the chief dignitaries of the Empire, Napoleon held his
+last review. Twenty thousand of the Old Guard, five thousand of whom
+were mounted on fine horses richly caparisoned, with the whole of his
+vast army, defiled before their Imperial Commander. At night a banquet
+was spread for his gallant veterans.
+
+Military preparations had been progressing on both sides during the
+cessation of hostilities. Napoleon now had a force of 250,000 men
+distributed as follows: Macdonald lay with 100,000 at Buntzlaw, on the
+border of Silesia; another corps of 50,000 had their headquarters at
+Zittau, in Lusatia; St. Cyr, with 20,000 was at Pirna on the great pass
+from Bohemia; Oudinot at Leipsic, with 60,000; while with the Emperor
+himself at Dresden remained 25,000 of the Imperial Guard, the flower of
+France.
+
+Behind the Erzgebirge, or Metallic Mountains, and having their
+headquarters at Prague, lay the grand army of the allies, consisting of
+120,000 Austrians and 80,000 Russians and Prussians; commanded in chief
+by the Austrian general Schwartzenberg. The French corps at Zittau and
+Pirna were prepared to encounter these, should the attempt to force
+their way into Saxony, either on the right or the left of the Elbe. The
+second army of the allies, consisting of 80,000 Russians and
+Prussians,--called the army of Silesia,--and commanded by Blucher, lay
+in advance of Breslau. Lastly, the Crown Prince of Sweden, Bernadotte,
+who had been influenced by a belief that he was to succeed to the throne
+of France, was at Berlin, with 30,000 of his own troops, and 60,000
+Russians and Prussians. Oudinot and Macdonald were so stationed that he
+could not approach the upper valley of the Elbe without encountering one
+of them, and they also had the means of mutual communication and
+support.
+
+Napoleon had evidently arranged his troops with the view of making
+isolated assaults, and beating them in detail. He was opposed, however,
+by generals who were well acquainted with his tactics but none of whom,
+except Blucher, was above mediocre in generalship. The three allied
+commanders had prepared counter schemes to frustrate his arrangements,
+having agreed that whosoever of them should be first assailed or pressed
+by the French, they should on no account accept battle, but retreat;
+thus tempting Napoleon in person to follow, leaving Dresden open to the
+assault of some other great branch of their confederacy, and to enable
+them at once to seize all his magazines, to break the communications
+between the remaining divisions of his army, and interpose a hostile
+force in the rear of them all--between the Elbe and the Rhine.
+
+This plan of campaign is believed to have been drawn up by two of
+Napoleon's old marshals--Bernadotte and Moreau--both traitors. The
+latter had just returned from America on the invitation of the Emperor
+Alexander, whither he had gone after being exiled, and had joined the
+Allies in their warfare on the French Emperor.
+
+The first movement was made by Blucher, and no sooner did Napoleon
+become aware that he was threatening the position of Macdonald than he
+quitted Dresden. He left with his Guard and a powerful force of cavalry
+on the 15th of August, and proceeded to the support of his marshal. The
+Prussian commander adhered faithfully to the general plan and retired
+across the Katsbach, in the face of his enemies. While in pursuit of him
+Napoleon was informed that Schwartzenberg had rushed down from the
+Bohemian hills and abandoning Blucher to the care of Macdonald, sent his
+Guard back to Dresden leaving for the same point himself on the 23d.
+
+Schwartzenberg made his appearance on the heights to the south of the
+Saxon capital on the 25th, having driven St. Cyr and his 20,000 men
+before him.
+
+The army of St. Cyr had thrown itself into the city of Dresden and on
+the 26th were assailed in six columns, each more numerous than its
+garrison. The French marshal had about begun to despair when the
+Imperial Guard made its appearance, crossing the bridge from the eastern
+side of the Elbe, and in their midst was the Emperor himself. His
+arrival was most timely and the two sallies executed by those troops,
+hot and tired from their long and tiresome march, caused the allies to
+be driven back some distance. Night then set in and the two armies
+remained very near together until the next morning when the battle was
+renewed amidst a storm of wind and rain.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
+
+INSURRECTION IN MADRID]
+
+The Emperor, by movements most phenomenal, now had 200,000 men gathered
+round him, and he poured them out with such skill on either flank of the
+enemy's line, that ere the close of the day they were forced to
+withdraw. At 3 o'clock the battle of Dresden was definitely gained for
+Napoleon. The allied monarchs, in danger of losing their communication
+with Bohemia, were obliged to provide for their safety and beat a
+retreat leaving in the power of the Conqueror from twenty-five to thirty
+thousand prisoners, forty flags, and sixty pieces of cannon.
+
+Napoleon remained on the field until his victory was decided, and then
+returned to Dresden on horseback; his gray-coat, and weather-worn hat
+streaming with water, and his whole appearance forming a singular
+contrast to that of Murat, who rode by his side with all the splendor
+of his usual battle-dress. The latter had, however, especially
+distinguished himself during the action.
+
+On either side 8,000 men had been slain or wounded and one of the ablest
+of all the enemy's generals--Moreau, had fallen. Early in the day
+Napoleon had observed a group of reconnoitring officers and ordered that
+ten cannon be prepared at once. He believed that he recognized in the
+group "the traitor Moreau." He at once ordered that the heavy guns,
+charged with all their power, be pointed in that direction. He
+superintended the operation and decided himself the angle of elevation,
+the aim and the moment to fire. Ten pieces went off at once, carrying a
+storm of cannon-shot over the heads of the contending armies. This was
+followed by a movement which was thought to indicate that some person of
+importance had been wounded.
+
+A peasant came in the evening and brought with him a bloody boot and a
+grey-hound, both the property, he said, of a great man who was no more;
+the words on the dog's collar were: "I belong to General Moreau." Moreau
+was dead. Both his legs had been shot off. It is said he continued to
+smoke a cigar while the surgeon dressed his wounds, in the presence of
+Alexander, and died shortly after.
+
+The fatigues Napoleon had undergone between the 15th and 28th of August
+now overcame him and he was unable to remain with the columns in the
+rear of Schwartzenberg, but returned to Dresden. Here he learned of
+Vandamme's failure in an engagement in the valley of Culm with a
+Prussian corps commanded by Count D'Osterman, wherein the French
+lieutenant laid down his arms with 8,000 prisoners. This news reached
+Napoleon, still sick, at Dresden. "Such," he said to Murat, "is the
+fortune of war--high in the morning, low ere night; between triumph and
+ruin there intervenes but one step."
+
+No sooner did Blucher perceive that Napoleon had retired from Silesia
+than he resumed the offensive, still carrying out Moreau's advice,
+"attack Napoleon where he is not!" and descended from the position he
+had taken at Jauer. He encountered Macdonald,--who was by no means
+prepared for him,--on the plains between Wahlstadt and the river
+Katsbach, on the 26th of August, and after a hard fought day, gained a
+complete victory. The French lost 15,000 men and 100 guns and fell back
+on Dresden. Oudinot was defeated on the 23d of August by Bernadotte at
+Gross-Beeren and Ney suffered like reverses on the 7th of September at
+Dennewitz, leaving 10,000 prisoners and forty-six guns in the hands of
+Bernadotte.
+
+Napoleon now recovered his health and activity, and the exertions he
+made at this time were never surpassed, even by himself. On the 3d of
+September he was in quest of Blucher who had now advanced near to the
+Elbe, but the Prussians retired and baffled him as before. Returning to
+Dresden he received the news of Dennewitz and immediately afterwards
+heard that Witgenstein had a second time descended towards Pirna. He
+flew thither on the instant, the Russian gave way, according to the plan
+of campaign, and Napoleon returned once more to Dresden. Again he was
+told that Blucher on the one side, and Witgenstein on the other, were
+availing themselves of his absence, and advancing. He once more returned
+to Pirna; a third time the Russian retired. Napoleon followed him as far
+as Peterswald and once more returned to his centre point.
+
+Bernadotte and Blucher finally effected a junction to the west of the
+Elbe, despite the heroic exertions of Ney who, on witnessing the
+combination of these armies retreated to Leipsic. Napoleon now ordered
+Regnier and Bertrand to march suddenly from Dresden to Berlin in the
+hope of recalling Blucher, but without success. Meantime Schwartzenberg
+was found to be skirting round the hills to the westward, as if for the
+purpose of joining Blucher and Bernadotte, in the neighborhood of
+Leipsic.
+
+It became manifest that Leipsic was now becoming the common centre
+towards which the forces of France and all her enemies were converging.
+Napoleon reached that venerable city on the 15th of October and almost
+immediately the heads of Schwartzenberg's columns began to appear
+towards the south. Napoleon, having made all his preparations,
+reconnoitred every outpost in person, and distributed eagles to some new
+regiments which had just joined him. The young soldiers, with a splendid
+ceremony, swore to die rather than witness the dishonor of France. Five
+hundred thousand men were now in presence of each other under the walls
+or in the environs of Leipsic and a grand battle had become inevitable.
+
+At midnight three rockets, emitting a brilliant white light, sprang into
+the heavens to the south of the city. These marked the position on which
+Schwartzenberg--having with him the Emperor of Austria, as well as
+Alexander and Frederick William, had fixed his headquarters. They were
+answered by four rockets of a deep red color ascending from the northern
+horizon.
+
+Napoleon now became convinced that he was to sustain, on the morrow, the
+assault of Blucher and Bernadotte as well as the grand army of the
+allies. Blucher was indeed ready to co-operate with Schwartzenberg, and
+though the Crown Prince had not yet reached his ground, the numerical
+strength of the enemy was very great. Napoleon had with him to defend
+the line of villages to the north and south of Leipsic, 134,000 infantry
+and 22,000 cavalry; while, even in the absence of Bernadotte, who might
+be hourly looked for, the allies mustered not less than 340,000
+combatants, including 54,000 cavalry.
+
+At daybreak on the 16th of October, the battle began on the southern
+side, the allies charging the French line there six times in succession,
+and were as often repelled. But it was not sufficient for the Emperor to
+resist with success and to hold his positions; he had, more than ever,
+need of a signal triumph, of a decisive victory; and when his enemies
+failed in their first attack, it was for him to attack them briskly in
+turn without giving them time to stay the disorder and discouragement of
+their columns, and to replace by fresh troops the fatigued and beaten
+soldiers; and this Napoleon did. He at once charged and with such
+effect, that Murat's cavalry were at one time in possession of a great
+gap between the two wings of the enemy. The Cossacks of the Russian
+Imperial Guard, however, encountered the French horse, and pushed them
+back again, preserving the army of the allies from a total defeat. The
+combat raged without intermission until nightfall, when both armies
+bivouacked exactly where the morning light had found them. "The allies
+were so numerous" said Napoleon at St. Helena, "that when their troops
+were fatigued they were regularly relieved as on dress parade!" With
+such a numerical superiority, they could scarcely be definitely beaten;
+therefore, notwithstanding the prodigies of valor performed by the
+French army, the victory remained almost undecided. In the centre and to
+the right the French had maintained their position but on the left
+treachery made them lose ground.
+
+Marmont commanded on this side. Blucher attacked him with a vastly
+superior force in numbers and while nothing could be more obstinate than
+his defense, he lost many prisoners and guns, was driven from his
+original ground, and occupied when the day closed, a new position, much
+nearer the walls of the city.
+
+Napoleon became convinced that he must at last retreat from Leipsic and
+he now made an effort to obtain peace. General Merfeld, the same
+Austrian officer who had come to his headquarters after the battle of
+Austerlitz, to pray for an armistice on the part of the Emperor
+Francis, had been made prisoner in the course of the day, and Napoleon
+resolved to employ him as his messenger. Merfeld informed him that the
+King of Bavaria had at length acceded to the alliance, thus adding
+greatly to his perplexities in finding a new enemy stationed on the line
+of his march to France.
+
+The Emperor asked the Austrian to request for him the personal
+intervention of Francis. "I will renounce Poland and Illyria" said he,
+"Holland, the Hanse Towns, and Spain. I will consent to lose the
+sovereignty of the kingdom of Italy, provided that state remain as an
+independent one, and I will evacuate all Germany. Adieu! Count Merfeld.
+When on my part you name the word armistice to the two emperors, I doubt
+not the sound will awaken many recollections."
+
+Napoleon received no answer to his message. The allied princes had sworn
+to each other to entertain no treaty while one French soldier remained
+on the eastern side of the Rhine. He therefore prepared for the
+difficult task of retreating with 100,000 men, through a crowded town,
+in presence of an enemy already twice as numerous, and in hourly
+expectation of being joined by a third great and victorious army. During
+the 17th the battle was not renewed except by a distant and partial
+cannonade. The allies were determined to have the support of Bernadotte
+in the decisive contest.
+
+On the morning of the 18th the battle began again about 8 o'clock and
+continued until nightfall without intermission. Never was Napoleon's
+generalship or the gallantry of his troops more thoroughly tested than
+on this terrible day. He again commanded on the south and again, in
+spite of the vast superiority of the enemy's numbers, the French
+maintained their ground to the end. On the north the arrival of
+Bernadotte enabled Blucher to push his advantages with irresistible
+effect; and the situation of Marmont and Ney was further perplexed by
+the shameful defection of 12,000 Saxons who went over with all their
+artillery to the enemy in the very midst of the battle. These Saxons,
+forming nearly a third of the left, ran over to the Russians, entered
+their ranks, and at Bernadotte's request discharged their artillery on
+the French, their fellow-soldiers, whom they had just abandoned!
+
+The loss on either side had been very great. Napoleon's army consisted
+chiefly of very young men, many were merely boys, yet they fought as
+bravely as the Guard. The failure of the Emperor was partly occasioned
+by a want of ammunition; as in the course of five days, having fired
+more than two hundred and fifty thousand shots, his troops had not
+sufficient to continue the firing two hours longer. As the nearest
+reserves were at Magdeburg and Erfurt, Napoleon determined to march for
+the latter place. He gave orders at midnight for the commencement of the
+inevitable retreat, and while the darkness lasted, the troops continued
+to file through the town, and across the two bridges, over the Pleisse,
+beyond its walls. One of these bridges was a temporary fabric and broke
+down ere daylight came to show the enemy the movement of the retreating
+French.
+
+The confusion necessarily accompanying the march of a whole army,
+through narrow streets, and upon a single bridge, was fearful. The
+allies stormed at the gates on either side, and, but for the heroism of
+Macdonald and Poniatowski, to whom Napoleon intrusted the defense of
+the suburbs, it is doubted whether he himself could have escaped in
+safety. At 9 in the morning of the 19th Napoleon bade farewell to the
+King of Saxony who had remained all the while in the heart of his
+ancient city. The King was left to make whatever terms he could with the
+Allied Sovereigns.
+
+The battle was now raging all round the walls and at 11 o'clock the
+allies had gathered close to the bridge. The officer to whom Napoleon
+had committed the task of blowing up the structure, when the advance of
+the enemy should render this necessary, set fire to the train much too
+soon. The crowd of men, urging each other on to a point of safety could
+not at once be stopped and soldiers, horses and cannon, rolled headlong
+into the deep, but narrow river. Marshal Macdonald swam the stream in
+safety, but the gallant Poniatowski, who defended the suburbs inch by
+inch, and had been twice wounded ere he plunged his horse into the
+current, sank to rise no more. This order was given to Poniatowski by
+the Emperor himself: "Prince" said Napoleon to him, "you will defend the
+southern faubourg." "Sire" he replied, "I have but few people." "Ah!
+well! you will defend yourself with what you have." "Ah! Sire, we will
+maintain it! We are always ready to perish for your Majesty." The
+illustrious, unfortunate Pole kept his word; he was never again to
+behold the Emperor. Later Napoleon said of him: "Poniatowski was a noble
+man, honorable and brave. Had I succeeded in Russia, I intended to make
+him king of Poland."
+
+The body of the Prince was found on the fifth day by a fisherman. He had
+on his gala uniform, the epaulets of which were studded with diamonds,
+and upon his fingers were several rings covered with brilliants, while
+his pockets contained snuff-boxes of considerable value, and other
+trinkets. Many of these were eagerly purchased by Polish officers who
+had been made prisoners. Twenty-five thousand Frenchmen, the means of
+escape being entirely cut off, now laid down their arms within the city
+with more than two hundred pieces of cannon. In killed, wounded and
+prisoners, Napoleon lost at Leipsic at least 50,000 men.
+
+"This defeat at Leipsic" says St. Amand, "was for Napoleon a combination
+of grief and surprise. Of all the battles he had fought, this was the
+first that he had lost. Up to that time he could boast that if he had
+been conquered by the elements he had never been conquered by man; and
+now he was to know for himself the sufferings he had inflicted on
+others. He was to learn by personal experience the bitterness of defeat,
+the anguish of retreat, the desperation of useless bloodshed. War, which
+up to this time had been a source of gratification to his unparalleled
+pride, now showed to him its horrors, with its humiliations and
+inexpressible anguish. The hour had struck when he could make tardy
+reflections on the emptiness of genius and glory on the intoxication of
+pride that had turned his head."
+
+The retreat of the French through Saxony was a sad ending to the
+auspicious beginning which the Emperor had opened the campaign with.
+Napoleon conducted himself as became a great mind amidst great
+misfortunes; he appeared at all times calm and self-possessed, receiving
+every day that he advanced new tidings of evil, for the peasantry was
+hostile, supplies scarce, and added to this was the persevering pursuit
+of the Cossacks who attacked at every opportunity.
+
+The Emperor halted for two days at Erfurt, where extensive magazines had
+been established, employing all his energies in the restoring of
+discipline. He resumed his march on the 25th of October, 1813, towards
+the Rhine. The Austro-Bavarians hastened to meet him and had taken up a
+position amidst the woods near Hanau before the Emperor reached the
+Mayne. He came up with them on the morning of the 30th, and his troops
+charged on the instant with the fury of desperation. Napoleon cut his
+way through ere nightfall, and Marmont, with the rear, had equal success
+on the 31st. In these actions the French lost 6,000 men but the enemy
+had 10,000 killed or wounded, and lost 4,000 prisoners.
+
+The mill on the river Kinzig which runs without the town, was the scene
+of many desperate struggles. Here the French drove the Bavarians to the
+banks, precipitating hundreds into the deep stream. The miller, however,
+at the risk of his life, at length coolly went out, amidst a shower of
+balls and stopped the flood-gates, so as to leave a safe retreat to the
+Bavarians over the mill-dam. The side of the town next to the scene of
+battle was constantly taken and retaken by the contending armies, and
+during the night of the 30th the watch-word was changed not less than
+seven times. Six of the Austro-Bavarian's generals were killed or
+wounded and both cannon and flags were left in the power of the
+conqueror.
+
+The pursuit of Napoleon, which had been intrusted to the Austrians, was
+far from vigorous and no considerable annoyance succeeded the battle of
+Hanau. The relics of the French host, now reduced to 60,000 men, at
+length passed the Rhine; and the Emperor, having quitted them at
+Mayence, arrived in Paris on the 9th of November.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE INVASION OF FRANCE
+
+
+By the defeat of the Emperor in the campaign of 1813 the Confederation
+of the Rhine was dissolved forever. The princes who adhered to that
+league were now permitted to sue for forgiveness by bringing a year's
+revenue and a double conscription to the banner of the Allies.
+Bernadotte turned from Leipsic to reduce the garrisons which Napoleon
+had not seen fit to call in, and one by one they fell, though in most
+cases, particularly at Dantzic, Wirtemberg and Hamburg, the resistance
+was obstinate and long.
+
+The Crown Prince of Sweden having witnessed the reduction of some of
+these fortresses, and intrusted the siege of others to his lieutenants,
+invaded Denmark and the government of that country severed its long
+adhesion to Napoleon by a treaty concluded at Kiel on the 14th of
+January, 1814. Sweden yielded Pomerania to Denmark; Denmark gave up
+Norway to Sweden; and 10,000 Danish troops having joined his standard,
+Bernadotte turned his face towards the Netherlands. Holland also
+revolted after Leipsic, the Prince of Orange returning in triumph from
+England and assumed administration of affairs in the November following.
+On the side of Italy, Eugene Beauharnais was driven beyond the Adige by
+an Austrian army headed by General Hiller, and it was not at all likely
+that he could hope to maintain Lombardy much longer. To complete
+Napoleon's perplexity his brother-in-law, Murat, was negotiating with
+Austria and willing, provided Naples was guaranteed to him, to array
+the force of that state on the side of the Confederacy. Beyond the
+Pyrenees, Soult, who had been sent from Dresden to retrieve, if
+possible, the fortunes of the army defeated in June at Vittoria, had
+been twice defeated; the fortresses had fallen, and except a detached,
+and now useless force under Suchet in Catalonia, there remained no
+longer a single French soldier in Spain.
+
+Such were the tidings which reached Napoleon from his Italian and
+Spanish frontiers at the very moment when it was necessary for him to
+make head against the Russians, the Austrians, and the Germans, chiefly
+armed and supplied at the expense of England, and now rapidly
+concentrating in three great masses on different points of the valley of
+the Rhine. The royalists, too, were exerting themselves indefatigably in
+the capital and the provinces, having recovered a large share of their
+ancient influence in the society of Paris even before the Russian
+expedition. The Bourbon princes watched the course of events with eager
+hope. The republicans, meanwhile, were not inactive. They had long since
+been alienated from Napoleon by his assumption of the imperial dignity,
+his creation of orders and nobles, and his alliance with the House of
+Austria; these men had observed, with hardly less delight than the
+royalists, that succession of reverses which had followed Napoleon in
+his last two campaigns. Finally, not a few of Napoleon's own ministers
+and generals were well prepared to take a part in his overthrow.
+Talleyrand, and others only second to him in influence, were in
+communication with the Bourbons, before the allies crossed the Rhine.
+"Ere then," said Napoleon, "I felt the reins slipping from my hands."
+
+The Allied Princes issued at Frankfort, a manifesto on the 1st of
+December in which the sovereigns announced their belief that it was for
+the interests of Europe that France should continue to be a powerful
+state, and their willingness to concede to her, even now, greater extent
+of territory than the Bourbon kings had ever claimed--the boundaries,
+namely, of the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. Their object in
+invading France was to put an end to the authority which Napoleon had
+usurped over other nations. The hostility of Europe, they said, was
+against,--not France, but Napoleon--and even as to Napoleon, against not
+his person but his system. These terms were tendered to the Emperor
+himself, and although he authorized Caulaincourt to commence
+negotiations in his behalf, it was merely for the purpose of gaining
+time.
+
+Napoleon's military operations were now urged with unremitting energy.
+New conscriptions were called for, and granted; every arsenal sounded
+with the fabrication of arms. The press was thoroughly aroused and with
+its mighty voice warned the allies against an invasion of the sacred
+soil of France. The French Senate was somewhat reluctant, however; they
+ventured to hint to the Emperor that ancient France would remain to him,
+even if he accepted the proposals of the allies. "Shame on you," cried
+the Emperor, "Wellington has entered the south, the Russians menace the
+northern frontier, the Prussians, Austrians, and Bavarians the eastern.
+Shame! Wellington is in France and we have not risen _en masse_ to drive
+him back! All my allies have deserted--the Bavarian has betrayed me. No
+peace until we have burned Munich! I demand a levy of 300,000 men--with
+this and what I already have, I shall see a million in arms. I will
+form a camp of 100,000 at Bordeaux; another at Mentz; a third at Lyons.
+But I must have grown men: these boys only serve to incumber the
+hospitals and the road-sides. Abandon Holland! Sooner yield it back to
+the sea! Senators, an impulse must be given--all must march--you are
+fathers of families--the head of the nation--you must set the example.
+Peace! I hear of nothing but peace when all around should echo to the
+cry of war!"
+
+The Senate drew up and presented a report which renewed the Emperor's
+wrath. He reproached them openly with designing to purchase inglorious
+ease for themselves, at the expense of his honor. "In your address" he
+said, "you seek to separate the sovereign from the nation. I alone am
+the representative of the people. And which of you could charge himself
+with a like burden? The throne is but of wood, decked with velvet. If I
+believed you, I should yield the enemy more than he demands; in three
+months you shall have peace, or I will perish. It is against me that our
+enemies are more embittered than against France, but on that ground
+alone am I to be suffered to dismember the State? Do not sacrifice my
+pride and my dignity to obtain peace. Yes, I am proud because I am
+courageous; I am proud because I have done great things for France.
+* * * You wished to bespatter me with mud, but I am one of those men who
+may be killed yet not dishonored.
+
+"Return to your homes * * * even supposing me to have been in the wrong,
+there was no occasion to reproach me publicly; dirty linen should be
+washed at home. For the rest; _France has more need of me, than I have
+of France_."
+
+Having uttered these words the Emperor repaired to his council of state
+and there denounced the Legislative Senate as one composed of one part
+of traitors and eleven of dupes. "In place of assisting," he said, "they
+impede me. Our attitude alone could have repelled the enemy--they invite
+him. We should have presented a front of brass--they lay open wounds to
+his view. I will not suffer their report to be printed. They have not
+done their duty, but I will do mine--I dissolve the Legislative Senate!"
+
+The Pope was now released from his confinement and returned to Rome
+which he found in the hands of Murat, who had ere then concluded his
+treaty with Francis and was advancing into the north of Italy, with the
+view of co-operating in the campaign against Beauharnais, with the
+Austrians on one side and on the other with an English force recently
+landed at Leghorn, under Lord William Bentinck. Ferdinand also returned
+to Spain, after five years of captivity, amid universal acclamations.
+"When first informed of Murat's treason, by the Viceroy (Eugene)," says
+Bourrienne "the Emperor refused to believe it. 'No!' he exclaimed to
+those about him, 'It cannot be! Murat--to whom I have given my sister!
+Eugene must be misinformed. It is impossible that Murat has declared
+himself against me.' It was, however, not only possible but true." As
+St. Amand well says, in speaking of Murat's desertion: "He might have
+united his forces with those of Prince Eugene and have attacked the
+invasion in the rear; he would have saved the Empire of France; he would
+have died on the throne, covered with glory, instead of being shot!"
+
+For a time the inhabitants of the French provinces on the frontier
+believed it impossible that any foreign army would dare to invade their
+soil, and it was not until Schwartzenberg had crossed the Rhine between
+Basle and Schaffhausen on the 20th of December, that they were willing
+to believe in the sincerity of the Allies and their determination to
+carry the war into France itself. Disregarding the claim of the Swiss to
+preserve neutrality, Schwartzenberg advanced through that territory with
+his grand army, unopposed--an indefensible act in itself, and began to
+show himself in Franche-Compté, in Burgundy, even to the gates of Dijon.
+
+On the 1st of January, 1814, the Silesian army, under Blucher, crossed
+the river at various points between Rastadt, and Coblentz; and shortly
+after, the army of the north, commanded by Witzingerode and Bulow, began
+to penetrate the frontier of the Netherlands.
+
+The Pyrenees had been crossed by Wellington and the Rhine by three
+mighty hosts, amounting altogether to 300,000 men and including every
+tongue and tribe from the Germans of Westphalia to the wildest
+barbarians of Tartary. "Seven hundred thousand men," says Dumas,
+"trained by their very defeats in the great school of Napoleonic war,
+were advancing into the heart of France, passing by all fortified places
+and responding, the one to the other, by the single cry, 'Paris!
+Paris!'"
+
+The allies proclaimed everywhere as they advanced, that they came as the
+friends, not the enemies of the French nation, and that any of the
+peasantry who took up arms to oppose them must be content to abide the
+treatment of brigands; a flagrant outrage against the most sacred and
+inalienable rights of mankind.
+
+Meanwhile, nearer and nearer each day the torrent of invasion rolled on,
+sweeping before it, with but slight resistance, the various corps which
+had been left to watch the Rhine. Ney, Marmont, Victor and Mortier,
+commanding in all about 50,000 men, retired of necessity before the
+enemy.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by H. Bellange
+
+NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM]
+
+It now became apparent that the allies had resolved to carry the war
+into the interior without waiting for the reduction of the great
+fortresses on the Rhenish frontier. They passed on with hosts
+overwhelmingly superior to all those of Napoleon's lieutenants, who
+withdrew, followed by crowds of the rustic population, rushing onwards
+towards Paris by any means of transport. Carts and wagons, filled with
+terrified women and children thronged every avenue to the capital.
+
+The Emperor now resolved to break silence to the Parisians and prepared
+to reappear in the field. On the 22d of January, 1814, the official news
+of the invasion appeared. The next morning--Sunday--the officers of the
+National Guard to the number of nine hundred were summoned to the
+Tuileries. Napoleon took his station in the centre of the hall and
+immediately the Empress, with her son, the King of Rome, carried in the
+arms of Countess Montesquiou, appeared at his side.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Emperor "France is invaded; I go to put myself at
+the head of my troops, and with God's help and their valor, I hope soon
+to drive the enemy beyond the frontier." Here he took Marie Louise in
+one hand and her son in the other, and continued, "But if they should
+approach the capital, I confide to the National Guard the Empress and
+the King of Rome--my wife and my child!"--Several officers stepped from
+their places and approached with tears in their eyes.
+
+The Emperor spent part of the 24th of January in reviewing troops in the
+court-yard of the Tuileries, while the snow was falling, and at 3
+o'clock in the morning of the 25th once more left his capital, after
+having burnt his most secret papers, and embraced his wife and son for
+the last time, to begin his fifteenth campaign. Thiers says of this
+farewell: "Napoleon, when he left, unconscious that he was embracing
+them for the last time, hugged tenderly his wife and son. His wife was
+in tears, and she feared she would never see him again. She was in fact
+fated never to see him, although the enemy's bullets were not to kill
+him. She would certainly have been much surprised if she had been told
+that this husband, then the object of all her care, was to die on a
+distant island, the prisoner of Europe, and forgotten by her. As for
+him, no prediction would have astonished him,--whether the cruelest
+desertion, the most ardent devotion,--for he expected anything from men;
+he knew them to the core, though he treated them as if he did not know
+what they really were."
+
+The Emperor again appointed Marie Louise Empress-Regent, placed his
+brother Joseph at the head of her council, gave orders for raising
+military defenses around Paris, and for converting many public buildings
+into hospitals. He arrived at Chalons ere midnight and found that
+Schwartzenberg with 97,000 men, and Blucher with 40,000 men, were now
+occupying an almost complete line between the Marne and the Seine.
+Blucher was in his own neighborhood and he immediately resolved to
+attack the right of the Silesian army,--which was pushing down the
+valley of the Marne, while its centre kept the parallel course of the
+Aube,--ere the Prussian marshal could concentrate all his own strength
+or be supported by Schwartzenberg who was advancing down the Seine
+towards Bar.
+
+On the 27th of January a sharp skirmish took place at St. Dizier; and
+Blucher, who had committed all sorts of excesses during the last two
+days, warned of Napoleon's arrival, at once called in his detachments
+and took a post of defense at Brienne--the same town where Bonaparte had
+received his military education.
+
+The Emperor marched through a thick forest upon the scene of his
+youthful studies and appeared there on the 29th, having moved so rapidly
+that Blucher was at dinner in the chateau when the French thundered at
+his gates, and with difficulty escaped to the rear through a passage, on
+foot and at the head of his staff.
+
+The invaders maintained their place in the town courageously, and some
+Cossacks, throwing themselves upon the rear of the French, the Emperor
+was involved in the mêlée; he quickly drew his sword and fought like a
+private dragoon and General Gourgaud shot a Cossack while in the act of
+thrusting a spear at Napoleon's back. The town of Brienne was burned to
+the ground by the Prussians in order to cover their retreat.
+
+Alsusieff, the Russian commander, and Hardenberg, a nephew of the
+Chancellor of Prussia, were made prisoners and there was considerable
+slaughter on both sides. Blucher retired further up the Aube with a loss
+of 4,000 men and posted himself at La Rothiere, where Schwartzenberg,
+warned by the cannonade, hastened to co-operate with him.
+
+While at St. Helena Napoleon said that during the charge of the Cossacks
+at Brienne defending himself, sword in hand, he recognized a particular
+tree under which, when a boy, he used to sit and read the "Jerusalem
+Delivered" of Tasso. The field had been in those days, part of the
+exercise-ground of the students, and the chateau, whence Blucher escaped
+so narrowly, their lodging.
+
+Blucher now assumed the offensive, having joined Schwartzenberg, and on
+the 1st of February assaulted the rear-guard of the French army. Proud
+of their numerical superiority they reckoned upon an easy triumph. The
+battle lasted all day. At nightfall the French were left in possession
+of their original positions. A battery of guns had been taken, however,
+and Napoleon lost on this occasion seventy-three guns, and some hundred
+prisoners, besides a number of killed and wounded. The result of this
+action was equivalent to a defeat of the French army. The cannoniers
+saved themselves, with their baggage, by forming a squadron and fighting
+vigorously as soon as they perceived that there was no time to use their
+pieces.
+
+The battle of Brienne and the defense of La Rothiere, Dienville and La
+Giberie, had gloriously opened the campaign, but Blucher and
+Schwartzenberg had such considerable forces at their disposal that
+Napoleon might fear being surrounded, or cut off from his capital, if he
+persisted in retaining his position in the environs of Brienne. The
+allies had now definitely resolved to march on Paris.
+
+While the division of Marmont retired down the Aube before Blucher,
+Napoleon himself struck across the country to Troyes which he had
+reasons to fear must be immediately occupied by Schwartzenberg. Here he
+was joined by a considerable body of his Guard, in high order and
+spirits, whose appearance restored, in a great measure, the confidence
+of the troops who had been engaged in the defense of La Rothiere. On the
+3rd of February the Emperor received a dispatch from Caulaincourt,
+informing him that Lord Castlereagh, the English Secretary of State for
+Foreign Affairs, had arrived at the headquarters of the allies, that
+negotiations were to be resumed the morning after at Chatillon, and
+requesting him to intimate distinctly at what price he would be willing
+to purchase peace.
+
+Napoleon replied by granting Caulaincourt full powers to do everything
+necessary "to keep the negotiations alive and save the capital." The
+Duke was unwilling to act upon so broad a basis and sent back once more
+for a specific detail of the Emperor's purposes.
+
+Napoleon had his headquarters at Nogent, on the Seine, some leagues
+below Troyes, when the dispatch reached him on the evening of the 8th of
+February, and his counsellors urged him to make use of this, probably
+last, opportunity. He was prevailed upon to agree to abandon Belgium,
+the left of the Rhine, Italy and Piedmont, but in the night after the
+consultation, and before the ultimatum had his signature, he received
+information which caused him to change all his views. When Maret visited
+him with his dispatches ready for signing Napoleon was poring over his
+maps, tracing the route of Blucher on Paris. "Oh here you are!" he
+exclaimed as Maret entered, "but I am now thinking of something very
+different--I am beating Blucher on the map. He is advancing by the road
+to Montmirail; I will set out and beat him to-morrow. Should this
+movement prove as successful as I expect it will, the state of affairs
+will be entirely changed, and we shall then see what can be done."
+
+The Emperor had learned that Blucher, instead of continuing his march
+down the Aube, and in communication with Schwartzenberg on the Seine,
+had transferred his whole army to the Marne, and was now advancing
+towards Paris by the Montmirail road.
+
+The separation of their forces by the allies was a great blunder and the
+Emperor, who at once detected it, could not resist the temptation which
+it presented to make one warlike effort more. Napoleon, therefore,
+refused to sign the dispatch on the morning of the 9th and having left
+small forces to defend the bridge over the Seine at Nogent and at Bray,
+commenced his march, with the main body of his army, upon Sezanne,
+prepared for one of the most extraordinary and successful manoeuvres
+which has ever been recorded in the annals of war.
+
+Forty miles were traversed over a most difficult country, usually
+considered impassable in winter,--ere the troops halted with the dark.
+Next morning the army moved again with equal alacrity, and at length
+debouched on the road by which Blucher's army was advancing, at
+Champaubert.
+
+The central division was passing when Napoleon suddenly appeared at this
+point, and was altogether unable to resist his assault. They dispersed
+in confusion with great loss and fled towards the Marne. The
+General-in-chief, Ousouwieff, at the head of twelve regiments was
+completely routed. He was taken with 6,000 of his men, and the remainder
+were drowned in a swamp, or killed on the field of battle. Forty pieces
+of cannon, and all the ammunition and baggage were left in the power of
+the victor. Napoleon had now interposed his army between the advanced
+guard of the Silesian army, commanded by Sacken, and the rear commanded
+by Blucher himself.
+
+The van of the same army turned, on hearing the cannonade of
+Champaubert, and countermarched with the view of supporting Alsusieff
+only to share the fate of the centre, and were put to flight after the
+loss of one-fourth of the division.
+
+Now it was Blucher's turn to be beaten. Napoleon mounted his horse at
+midnight on the 13th and came up with him at Montmirail. At 8 o'clock in
+the morning the shouting of the soldiers announced the presence of the
+Emperor. Blucher would gladly have declined battle, but it was out of
+his power. He was conquered but retreated with great skill and courage.
+After many hours of hard fighting his retreat became a flight. Blucher
+was frequently obliged to defend himself with his sabre during the day,
+surrounded by his staff, and chiefly owed his escape to the darkness of
+the night.
+
+He retired in alternate squares, sustaining all day the charges of the
+French with much loss of life and at length cut his way, at Etoges,
+through a column of heavy horse, sent round to intercept him, and drawn
+up on the causeway.
+
+On the following day there was a fresh success. A hostile column,
+endeavoring to protect Blucher's retreat, was taken at Chateau Thierry,
+where the French troops entered pell-mell upon the Russians and
+Prussians. Five generals of these two nations were among the prisoners.
+
+Blucher finally crossed the Marne at Chalons. In five days Napoleon's
+armies had been successful three times; he had shattered and dispersed
+the Silesian army, and above all, recovered the spirits of his own
+soldiery.
+
+A column of 7,000 Prussian prisoners, with a considerable number of guns
+and standards, reminded the Parisians that the commander of the French
+troops had not forgotten the art of warfare and their hopes were
+considerably heightened on hearing of these successes against the
+allies. But these allied armies, annihilated each day, reappeared
+incessantly, and always ready for battle. All Europe was now contending
+against the Emperor and her beaten and dispersed soldiers were
+immediately replaced by fresh troops. "So alarmed were the Allies at the
+near approach of their terrible enemy," says Scott, "that a message was
+sent to Napoleon, from the Allied Sovereigns, by Prince Schwartzenberg's
+aide-de-camp, Count Par, stating their surprise at his offensive
+movements, since they had given orders to their plenipotentiaries at
+Chatillon to sign the preliminaries of peace, on the terms which had
+been assented to by the French envoy." Napoleon had, however, learned
+the meaning of such messages in the course of his career, and paid no
+attention to this one.
+
+Scarcely had the Parisians seen the prisoners from Montmirail marched
+along their boulevards, before they heard that the Cossacks were in
+possession of Fontainebleau. Napoleon had left small divisions of his
+army to guard the Seine at Nogent and Bray, and the enemy soon
+discovered that the Emperor and his chief force were no longer in that
+quarter. While he was beating Alsusieff, Sacken and Blucher had made
+good the passage of the Seine at three different points, driving the
+discomfited guardians of these important places before them.
+Schwartzenberg now had his quarters at Nangis, and was, obviously,
+resolved to reach Paris, if possible, while Napoleon was on the Marne.
+The light troops of the grand allied army were scattering confusion on
+both sides of the Seine, and one party of them was so near the capital
+as Fontainebleau.
+
+Napoleon now committed to Marmont and Mortier the care of watching the
+Chalons road and the remains of Blucher's army, and marched with his
+main body on Meaux where on the 15th of February he received
+reinforcements of 20,000 veterans from Spain, commanded by Grouchy.
+
+The latter's troops had aided Marmont on the 14th in a victory over
+Blucher at the village of Vauchamp which cost the allies ten thousand
+prisoners, ten flags, ten pieces of cannon and many prisoners, including
+General Ouroussoff, in command of the Russian rear-guard.
+
+On the 16th Victor and Oudinot were engaged with the van of
+Schwartzenberg, on the plains of Guignes, when the Emperor came rapidly
+to their assistance. The enemy immediately drew back, and concentrated
+his strength at Nangis. Napoleon attacked that position on the morning
+of the 17th, and with such effect that the allies were completely routed
+and retreated after considerable loss. They halted, however, at
+Montereau and Victor, who commanded the pursuers on that route, failed
+to dislodge them because of greatly inferior numbers. Napoleon came up
+on the morning of the 18th and rebuked Victor; then dismissed him from
+the service. The marshal, with tears streaming down his face, said: "I
+will procure a musket, I have not forgotten my old trade; Victor will
+place himself in the ranks of the Guard."
+
+The Emperor was vanquished by this noble language. "Well! Well! Victor,"
+said he, tendering his hand, "remain; I cannot restore you your corps,
+since I have given it to Gerard, but I award you two divisions of the
+Guard; go and take the command of them, and let there be no longer a
+question of anything between us."
+
+The attack then commenced with fury and the bridge and town of Montereau
+were carried. The defense was long and stern, however, and Napoleon was
+occasionally seen pointing cannon with his own hand, under the heaviest
+of the fire. The artillerymen protested at the exposure of his person
+and entreated him to withdraw. He persisted in his work, answering
+gaily, "My children! the bullet that shall kill me is not yet cast." The
+inhabitants of Montereau associated themselves with this triumph by
+firing from their windows on the Austrians as they passed through the
+town.
+
+After distributing praises and rewards to the generals who had
+contributed to gaining this battle, Napoleon thought of those who had
+delayed their march, or exhibited negligence in their command, and among
+those reprimanded were Generals Guyot, Digeon and Montbrun, the latter
+for having abandoned the forest of Fontainebleau to the Cossacks,
+without resistance.
+
+Pursuing his advantage Napoleon saw the grand army of the invaders
+continue their retreat in the direction of Troyes, and on the morning of
+the 22d arrived before Mery. This town he found occupied, much to his
+astonishment, not by a feeble rear-guard of Schwartzenberg but by a
+powerful division of Russians, commanded by Sacken and therefore
+belonging to the apparently indestructible army of Blucher. These
+unexpected enemies were charged in the streets, and at length retired
+out of the town,--which was burnt to the ground in the struggle,--and
+thence beyond the Aube. The Emperor then halted, and spent the night of
+the 22d of February in a charcoal burner's cottage at Chatres.
+
+Meanwhile negotiations were still pending at Chatillon. Caulaincourt,
+receiving no answer to his second dispatch sent to Napoleon at Nogent on
+the 8th of February, proceeded to act on the instructions dated at
+Troyes on the 3d; and in effect accepted the basis of the Allies. When
+Schwartzenberg was attacked at Nangis, on the 17th, he had just received
+the intelligence of Caulaincourt's having signed the preliminary
+articles, and he, therefore, sent a messenger to ask why the Emperor, if
+aware of his ambassador's act, persisted in hostilities; but received no
+answer.
+
+Napoleon sent instead a private letter to the Emperor of Austria, once
+more trying to gain his friendship. The reply of Francis, written to him
+from Nangis, reached Napoleon at Chatres on the 23d. It announced
+Francis' resolution on no account to abandon the general cause, but
+declared that he lent no support to the Bourbonists, and urged Napoleon
+to avert by concession, ere it was too late, total ruin from himself and
+his House. Napoleon returned the envoy with a note signifying that now
+he would not consent to a day's armistice, unless the Allies would fall
+back so as to leave Antwerp in their front. The same evening news came
+from Paris that the Council of State had discussed the proposals of the
+Allied Powers, and with only one dissenting voice, now entreated the
+Emperor to accept them. He was urged, anew, to send to Chatillon and
+accept the basis to which Caulaincourt had agreed. He answered that he
+had sworn at his coronation to preserve the territory of the Republic
+entire, and that he could not sign this treaty without violating his
+oath. "If I am to be scourged" said he, "let the whip come on me of
+necessity, and not through any voluntary stooping of my own." The truth
+of these attempts at negotiation is that the Allies merely desired a
+simple suspension of arms, in order to gain time to reinforce
+themselves, and also in order to interrupt the too rapid course of
+Napoleon's successes in the last eight days. This the Emperor easily
+discerned through the maze of the contrary declarations of the foreign
+negotiators, and in fact is avowed by the historians of the campaigns of
+the Allies.
+
+Napoleon now resolved to push on as far as Troyes, at the same time
+permitting proposals for an armistice to be considered at Lusigny, and
+negotiations for peace to proceed at Chatillon. The Emperor had
+meanwhile requested Oudinot and Macdonald, with their divisions, to
+manoeuvre in the direction of Schwartzenberg, in order to keep the
+Austrians in check.
+
+Napoleon learned at Troyes, in the night of the 26th of February, that
+the Prussian army was in motion. His resolution was soon taken. He again
+hastened to the succor of his capital, and came, with the prodigious
+celerity which rendered his marches and manoeuvres so distinguishing, to
+fall upon the rear of Blucher, who still had Marmont and Mortier in
+front. Marching rapidly across the country to Sezanne he received
+intelligence that these two generals, finding themselves inferior in
+numbers to Blucher, had retired before him in the direction of
+Ferté-sous-Jouarre, and were in full retreat to Meaux. This point he
+considered as almost a suburb to Paris and he quickened his speed
+accordingly. Hurrying on, at Ferté-Goucher he was at once met and
+overtaken by evil tidings. Schwartzenberg, having discovered the
+Emperor's absence, had immediately assumed the offensive, defeated
+Oudinot and Macdonald at Bar-sur-Aube on the 27th, and driven them
+before him as far as Troyes; and Augereau, who commanded in the
+neighborhood of Lyons, announced the arrival of a new and great army of
+the Allies in that quarter. On the 1st of March an important treaty was
+ratified at Chaumont between the sovereigns of Austria, England, Russia
+and Prussia, by which the four contracting powers bound themselves each
+to maintain in the field an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men
+until the objects of the war were attained; England, as usual, engaging,
+over and above, to furnish a subsidy of four millions sterling. In a
+second clause, each of the four powers was bound never to make a
+separate peace with the common enemy. About the same time the
+commissioners at Lusigny broke up the negotiations for an armistice, on
+the plea of inability to settle the line of demarcation.
+
+Napoleon's operations were not checked, however. Having been detained
+for some time at Ferté, in consequence of the destruction of the bridge,
+he took the direction of Chateau Thierry and Soissons, where he hoped to
+receive Blucher, while Mortier and Marmont received orders to assume the
+offensive in front of Meaux. The Emperor hoped in this manner to throw
+himself on the flank of Blucher's march, as he had done before at
+Champaubert; but the Prussian received intelligence of his approach and
+drawing his troops together, retired to Soissons. Napoleon proceeded
+thither with alacrity, believing that the French garrison intrusted with
+the care of that town, and its bridge over the Marne, was still in
+possession of it, and would enable him, therefore, to force Blucher into
+action with this formidable obstacle in his rear. He did not know that
+Soissons had been taken by a Russian corps, retaken by a French one and
+fallen once more into the hands of the enemy, ere the Emperor came in
+sight of it. He assaulted the place with much vigor but the Russians
+repelled the attack. Learning that Blucher had filed his main body
+through the town and posted himself behind the Marne, Napoleon marched
+up the left bank of the river and crossed it also at Bery.
+
+A few leagues in front of this place, on the height of Craonne, two
+Russian corps,--those of Sacken and Witzingerode,--were already in
+position, and the Emperor lost no time in charging them there, in the
+hope of destroying them ere they could unite with Blucher. The battle of
+Craonne began at 11 a. m. on the 7th of March and lasted until 4 o'clock
+in the afternoon. The resistance of the enemy was most stubborn and the
+Emperor was preparing for a final effort, when suddenly the Russians
+began to retreat and he remained master of the field. He followed them;
+but they continued to withdraw having been ordered to fall back on the
+plateau of Laon, in order to form thereon the same line with Blucher,
+who was once more eager for a decisive conflict,--having been reinforced
+by the vanguard of Bernadotte's army.
+
+On the 9th of March Napoleon found his enemy strongly posted along an
+elevated ridge, covered with wood, and further protected in front by a
+succession of terrace walls,--the enclosures of vineyards. There was a
+heavy mist on the lower ground and the French were advancing up the hill
+ere their movement was discovered. They were met by a storm of cannonade
+which broke their centre, and on either flank the French were all but
+routed. On all points they were repelled, except at the village of
+Athies, where Marmont had some advantage. Night interrupted the
+contest, and the armies bivouacked in full view of each other. Napoleon,
+although he had suffered severely, resolved to renew the attack and
+mounted his horse accordingly at 4 o'clock in the morning of the 10th.
+At that moment news came that Marmont's corps had just been assaulted at
+Athies and were compelled to fly towards Corbeny.
+
+The battle of Laon continued, all day, however; Napoleon was unable to
+turn his adversaries and on the 11th he commenced his retreat, leaving
+thirty cannon and 10,000 men. Soissons had been evacuated by the allies
+when concentrating themselves for the battle of Laon, and Napoleon threw
+himself into that town, and was making rapid efforts to strengthen it in
+expectation of the Prussian advance, when he learned that a detached
+Russian corps had seized Rheims.
+
+The possession of this city could hardly fail to establish Blucher's
+communications with Schwartzenberg, and Napoleon instantly marched
+thither in person leaving Marmont to hold out as well as he could in
+case that should be the direction of Blucher's march. The Emperor came
+upon Rheims with his usual rapidity and on the 13th took the place by
+assault.
+
+In this crisis, in which Napoleon was battling against numbers
+overwhelmingly his superior, it is remarkable to note the energy with
+which he turned from enemy to enemy, and behold his fearless assaults on
+vastly superior numbers, his unwearied resolution and exhaustless
+invention. In his every movement he seemed a perfect master of warfare;
+but he was battling against odds which even his indomitable will,
+courage and foresight, could not overcome. It should not be forgotten,
+also, that in addition to this extraordinary series of campaigns, he
+continued to conduct, from his perpetually changing quarters, the civil
+business of his Empire.
+
+The Allies, by a series of victories in various quarters, were now, to
+all appearance, in full march upon Paris, both by the valley of the
+Marne, and by that of the Seine, at a moment when Napoleon had thought
+to defeat their movements by taking up a position between them at
+Rheims. When Schwartzenberg learned that the Emperor was at this point
+his old terror returned, and the Austrian instantly proposed to fall
+back from Troyes. This did not please Lord Castlereagh who announced
+that the Grand Army might retire if the sovereigns pleased, but that if
+such a movement took place the subsidies of England must be considered
+at an end. The Czar also opposed the over-caution of Schwartzenberg, who
+then took courage, and his columns instantly resumed their march down
+the Seine, to offer battle to Napoleon at Arcis.
+
+The Emperor was now struggling to decide which of two courses to pursue;
+should he hasten after Blucher on the Marne, what was to prevent
+Schwartzenberg from reaching Paris ere the Silesians, already victorious
+at Laon, could once more be brought to action by an inferior force:
+should he throw himself on the march of Schwartzenberg, would not the
+fiery Prussian be at the Tuileries long before the Austrian could be
+checked on the Seine? There remained a third course--namely, to push at
+once into the country in the rear of the Grand Army and thus strike the
+advancing Allies, both the Austrians and Prussians, with terror, and
+paralyze their movements. Would they persist in their cry, "On to
+Paris!" when they knew Napoleon to be posting himself between them
+and their resources, and at the same time relieving and rallying around
+him all the garrisons of the great fortresses of the Rhine? While
+Napoleon was thus tossed with anxiety for means to avert, if it were yet
+possible, the visitation of these mighty armies upon Paris, and unaware
+of Castlereagh's very effective threat, the capital showed small
+symptoms of sympathizing with him. The machinery of government was
+clogged in every wheel, and the necessity of purchasing peace by
+abandoning him was the common burden of conversation.
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by Eug. Charpentier
+
+ARRIVAL OF THE GRAND ARMY AT MOSCOW]
+
+In this extreme situation, the gravity and peril of which he measured
+with a glance, the Emperor felt that he could only escape by a striking
+and decisive action, and he did not hesitate to direct the intended blow
+towards Schwartzenberg, whose approach already spread alarm throughout
+the capital. The Emperor Alexander, on learning the successes of
+Napoleon at Craonne and Rheims, had feared that Schwartzenberg, by
+approaching the capital alone, would be again beaten separately, and
+that all these daily and isolated defeats would end by discouraging the
+troops of the Coalition, already filled with apprehension and alarm. The
+Czar, therefore, insisted in that council of war held at Troyes, that
+the two grand allied armies should forthwith manoeuvre so as to effect
+their junction in the environs of Chalons, in order to march thence on
+Paris, and crush everything which might be opposed to their passage.
+
+This advice had prevailed and Napoleon met, on the 20th, before Arcis,
+the entire army of Schwartzenberg, which was bearing in a mass for this
+town, in order to cross the Aube, and rapidly gain the plains of
+Champagne where the junction was to be effected.
+
+This sudden change of system in the military operations of the Allies
+completely disarranged all the plans of Napoleon, who quickly perceived
+the difficult and perilous position in which he was placed, by
+encountering an army three times as strong as his own, where he had only
+thought to find a rear-guard. However, he quickly decided to take the
+chance by casting into the struggle the weight of his own example, and
+reckoning his personal dangers for nothing. His cavalry had orders to
+attack the Austrian light troops while the infantry debouched from
+Arcis; but they were repulsed by the overpowering numbers opposed to
+them and driven back upon the town. In this extremity, Napoleon evinced
+the same heroic and almost reckless courage which he had shown at Lodi
+and Arcola, and on other occasions. He threw himself, sword in hand,
+among the broken cavalry, called on them to remember their former
+victories, and checked the enemy by an impetuous charge in which he and
+his staff-officers fought hand to hand with the invaders. "Surrounded in
+the crowd by the charges of cavalry," says Baron Fain, in a volume
+called "The Manuscript of 1814," giving an account of the engagement at
+Arcis, "he freed himself only by making use of his sword. On divers
+occasions, he fought at the head of his escort, and, far from avoiding
+the dangers, he seemed, on the contrary, to brave them. A shell fell at
+his feet; he awaited its bursting, and disappeared in a cloud of dust
+and smoke; he was believed to be lost; presently he arose, flung himself
+upon another horse, and again went to place himself beneath the fire of
+the batteries! * * * Death would have nothing to do with him!"
+
+In spite of the prodigious efforts of the French army, and the
+unchangeable heroism of its chief, the battle of Arcis could not hinder
+the passage of the Aube, by the Austrians. The Emperor retired in good
+order, on the 21st, after having done the enemy much harm, and held him
+in check for a whole day; but Schwartzenberg ended by gaining the road
+which was to conduct him to Blucher.
+
+Napoleon now decided on throwing himself upon the rear of the Allies.
+They were for some time quite uncertain of his movements after he
+quitted Rheims, until an intercepted letter to Marie Louise informed
+them that he was at St. Dizier, where Napoleon had slept on the 23d. He
+continued to manoeuvre on the country beyond this point for several
+days. Having seized the roads by which the Allies had advanced, he took
+many prisoners of distinction on their way to headquarters and at one
+time the Emperor of Austria himself escaped narrowly a party of French
+hussars. At St. Dizier, Caulaincourt rejoined the Emperor and announced
+to him the definite rupture of the negotiations with the Allies. This,
+however, was no surprise; but was expected. The only real discomfiture
+it caused was among the malcontents in the army, whose chief regret was
+at being from Paris, and who asked each other, barely out of hearing of
+the Emperor, "Where are we going? What is to become of us? If he falls,
+shall we fall with him?"
+
+On the 26th of March the distant roaring of artillery was heard at
+intervals on the boulevards of Paris and the alarm began to be violent.
+On Sunday the 27th, Joseph Bonaparte held a review in the Place
+Carrousel. That same evening the allies passed the Marne at various
+points and at 3 o'clock in the morning they took Meaux. The regular
+troops now marched out of the capital, leaving all the barriers in
+charge of the National Guard. On the 29th the Empress, her son, and most
+of the members of the Council of State, set off attended by 700
+soldiers, for Rambouillet from which they continued their journey to
+Blois. Queen Hortense, afflicted at seeing the Empress-Regent and her
+son abandon the capital to intriguers and conspirators, strongly pressed
+her to remain, and said with a prophetic conviction: "If you leave the
+Tuileries, you will never see them again!"
+
+"One of the most astonishing circumstances of the moment," says Pons de
+L' Herault, a historian of the period, "is undeniably, the obstinacy
+with which the King of Rome refused to depart. This obstinacy was so
+great, that it became necessary to use violence in order to remove the
+young prince. The cries of the infant-king were heart-rending. He
+repeated several times: 'My father told me not to go away!' All the
+spectators shed tears." The young prince had declared again and again
+that "his papa was betrayed" and his declaration has never been
+satisfactorily accounted for and can only be explained by the
+supposition that he had heard the subject discussed among those who
+considered that all was lost in abandoning the capital.
+
+Joseph now published the following proclamation: "Citizens of Paris! A
+hostile column has descended on Meaux. It advances; but the Emperor
+follows close behind, at the head of a victorious army. The Council of
+Regency has provided for the safety of the Empress and the King of Rome.
+I remain with you. Let us arm ourselves to defend this city, its
+monuments, its riches, our wives, our children--all that is dear to us.
+Let this vast capital become a camp for some moments; and let the enemy
+find his shame under the walls which he hopes to overleap in triumph.
+The Emperor marches to our succor. Second him by a short and vigorous
+resistance, and preserve the honor of France."
+
+The appeal did not produce the results hoped for. Some officers urged
+Savary to have the streets unpaved and persuade the people to arm
+themselves with stones and prepare for a defense such as Saragossa. He
+answered, shaking his head, "the thing cannot be done."
+
+On the 30th the Allies fought and won the final battle. The French
+occupied the whole of the range of heights from the Marne at Charenton,
+to the Seine beyond St. Denis; the Austrians beginning the attack about
+11 o'clock towards the former of these points, while nearly in the midst
+between them, a charge was made by the Russians on Pantin and
+Belleville. The French troops of the line were commanded by Marmont and
+Mortier; those battalions of the National Guard, whose spirit could be
+trusted, and who were adequately armed, took their orders from Marshal
+Moncey and formed a second line of defense. The scholars of the
+Polytechnic School volunteered to serve at the great guns, and the
+artillery though weak in numbers, was well arranged. At the barrier of
+Clichy, in particular, the Allies met with a spirited resistance. The
+pattern of the French soldiers, the brave Moncey, was there, with his
+son, and with him Allent, the leader of his staff; celebrated artists
+and distinguished writers surrounded him and shared his perils. Among
+the former was Horace Vernet whose Napoleonic pictures have since
+become famous in two continents. The defense of the city, while brave
+and determined was ineffectual, and courage was at length compelled to
+yield to numbers.
+
+By 2 o'clock the Allies were victorious at all points except Montmartre.
+Marmont then sent several aides-de-camp to request an armistice and
+offer a capitulation in order to save the capital. The Czar and the King
+of Prussia professed their willingness to spare the city, provided the
+regular troops would evacuate it.
+
+Blucher meanwhile continued pressing on at Montmartre and shortly after
+4 o'clock, the victory being completed in that direction, the French
+cannon were turned on the city and shot and shells began to spread
+destruction within its walls. The capitulation was drawn up at 5
+o'clock, close to the barrier St. Denis.
+
+It was not until the 27th that Napoleon distinctly ascertained the fact
+of both the allied armies having marched directly on Paris. He instantly
+resolved to hasten after them, in hopes of arriving on their rear ere
+they had mastered the heights of Montmartre. Arriving at Doulevent on
+the 29th he received a message from Lavalette, his Post-Master General,
+who wrote: "The partisans of the Stranger are making head, aided by
+secret intrigues. The presence of the Emperor is indispensable--if he
+desires to prevent his capital from being delivered to the enemy. There
+is not a moment to be lost!"
+
+Urging his advance accordingly, Napoleon reached Troyes on the night of
+the 29th, his men having marched fifteen leagues since daybreak. General
+Dejean, his aide-de-camp, rode on before him bound for Paris to announce
+to the Parisians that the Emperor flew to succor them.
+
+On the 30th Macdonald attempted to convince him that the fate of Paris
+must have been decided ere he could reach it, and advised him to march,
+without further delay, so as to form a conjunction with Augereau. "In
+that case," said the marshal, "we may unite and repose our troops, and
+yet give the enemy battle on a chosen field. If Providence has decreed
+our last hour, we shall at least die with honor, instead of being
+dispersed, pillaged and slaughtered by Cossacks."
+
+The Emperor was unwilling to abide by the counsel of his marshal, but
+continued to advance; finding the road beyond Troyes clear he threw
+himself into a postchaise and traveled on before his army at full speed.
+At Villeneuve L'Archereque he mounted on horseback and galloping without
+a pause, reached Fontainebleau late at night. Here he ordered a
+carriage, and taking Caulaincourt and Berthier, drove on towards Paris.
+He was still of the belief that he was yet in time--until, while he was
+changing horses at an inn called "La Cour de France," but a few miles
+from Paris, General Belliard came up, at the head of a weary column of
+cavalry marching towards Fontainebleau, in consequence of the provisions
+of Marmont's treaty with the Allies. He was too late! Paris had
+capitulated!
+
+Leaping from his carriage as the words reached his ears, the Emperor
+exclaimed, "What means this? Why here with your cavalry, Belliard? And
+where are the enemy? Where are my wife and boy? Where Marmont? Where
+Mortier?"
+
+Belliard, walking by his side, told him of the events of the day. Still
+the Emperor insisted on continuing his journey although again informed
+there was no longer an army in Paris; that the regulars were all coming
+behind, and that neither they nor he himself, having left the city in
+consequence of a convention, could possibly return to it. It seemed
+impossible for him to comprehend the astounding intelligence of Belliard
+who said; "Paris is surrounded by one hundred and thirty thousand
+enemies."
+
+Napoleon bade Belliard turn with his cavalry and follow him. "Come" said
+he "we must return to Paris,--nothing goes aright when I am away--they
+do nothing but blunder!" As he progressed he continued, "You should have
+held out longer--you should have raised Paris--they cannot like the
+Cossacks--they would surely have defended their walls. Go! Go! I see
+everyone has lost his senses. This comes of employing fools and
+cowards."
+
+The Emperor and Belliard continued Paris-ward, until they were met, a
+mile beyond the post-house, by the first column of the retreating
+infantry. Their commander, General Curial, reiterated what Belliard had
+said. "In proceeding to Paris," he said, "you rush on to death or
+captivity." The Emperor then became at once perfectly composed and
+abandoned his design, gave orders that the troops, as they arrived,
+should draw up behind the little river Essonne, and dispatched
+Caulaincourt to Paris to ascertain if it were yet possible for him to
+interpose in the treaty. Having taken this measure he turned back
+towards Fontainebleau.
+
+Caulaincourt reached the Czar's quarters at Pantin early in the morning
+of the 31st of March where he found a deputation from the municipality
+of Paris waiting to present the keys of the city and invoke the
+protection of the conqueror. The Czar received them immediately on
+arriving and promised that the capital, and all within it, should be
+treated with perfect consideration.
+
+Caulaincourt then found his way to Alexander; but he was dismissed
+immediately. The Allies had practically agreed in favoring the
+restoration of the Bourbons, ere any part of their forces entered the
+capital, and a proclamation signed, "Schwartzenberg, Commander of the
+Chief of the Allied Armies" was distributed throughout Paris in which
+there were many phrases not to be reconciled with any other position.
+The royalists welcomed with exultation the dawn of the 31st and issued
+proclamations of their own appealing for restoration, besides parading
+the streets without interruption from either the civil authorities or of
+the National Guard, although decorated with the symbols of their cause.
+
+At noon the first of the Allied troops began to pass the barrier and
+enter the city, and the triumphal procession lasted for several hours.
+Fifty thousand troops, horse, foot and artillery, marched along the
+boulevards and in their midst appeared the youthful Czar and the King of
+Prussia, followed by a dazzling suite of princes, ambassadors and
+generals.
+
+The Czar repaired to the hotel of Talleyrand where a council was
+convened. Alexander and Frederick were urged to re-establish the House
+of Bourbon. They hesitated: "It is but a few days ago" said the Czar,
+"since a column of five or six thousand troops suffered themselves to be
+cut in pieces before my eyes, when a single cry of '_Vive le Roi!_'
+would have saved them." One of those present answered "Such things will
+go on as long as you continue to treat with Bonaparte even although at
+this moment he has a halter round his neck." The Czar did not understand
+this allusion until it was explained to him that the Parisians were busy
+pulling down Napoleon's statue from the top of the great pillar in the
+Place Vendome.
+
+Alexander now signed a proclamation asserting the resolution of the
+Allies "to treat no more with Napoleon Bonaparte, or any of his family."
+That same evening the Czar, by his minister, declared that "Louis XVIII
+will immediately ascend the throne." A few days later myriads of hands
+were busy in every corner of the city pulling down the statues and
+pictures and effacing the arms of Napoleon.
+
+Caulaincourt returned to Fontainebleau in the night between the 2d and
+3d of April and informed Napoleon that the monarchs he had so often
+spared, and whose royal destinies he could have closed after Austerlitz,
+Jena, and Wagram, refused to treat with him,--and demanded his
+abdication. He added that the Allies had not yet, in his opinion, made
+up their minds to resist the scheme of a regency, but that he was
+commissioned to say that nothing could be arranged as to ulterior
+questions, until he, the Emperor, had formally abdicated.
+
+Napoleon was not yet prepared to give up his throne; the news both
+irritated him and made him indignant. He again wished to try the lot of
+arms; but his old companions-in-arms declared they would take no further
+part in the war. The next day, the 4th of April, he reviewed some of his
+troops, addressed them on "the treasonable proceedings in the capital,"
+and announced his intention of instantly marching thither, being
+answered by shouts of "Paris! Paris!" Nearly 50,000 men were now
+stationed around Fontainebleau. On parade, Napoleon looked pale and
+thoughtful, while his convulsive motions manifested his internal
+struggles, and he did not stop many minutes. On retiring to the
+chateau, after the review, the Emperor was followed by his marshals, who
+informed him that if he refused to negotiate on the basis of his
+personal abdication, and persisted in risking an attack on Paris, they
+would not accompany him. He paused for a moment in silence--then a long
+debate ensued, ending in his drawing up and signing the following: _The
+Allied Powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon was the sole
+obstacle to the re-establishment of peace in Europe, he, faithful to his
+oath, declares that he is ready to descend from the throne, to quit
+France, and even to relinquish life, for the good of his country; which
+is inseparable from the rights of his Son, from those of the Regency in
+the person of the Empress, and from the maintenance of the laws of the
+Empire._
+
+_Done at our Palace of Fontainebleau, April the 4th, 1814._
+
+      NAPOLEON.
+
+Caulaincourt was appointed to bear this document to Paris and the
+marshals proposed that Ney should accompany him. It was suggested that
+Marmont should also form a part of the deputation but he being in
+command at Essonne, Macdonald was named in his stead. The officers now
+desired to know on what stipulations, as concerned the Emperor
+personally, they were to insist. "On none," he answered; "obtain the
+best terms you can for France--for myself I ask nothing." They then
+departed.
+
+Shortly afterwards Napoleon asked Oudinot if the troops would follow
+him. "No, Sire" answered the marshal, "you have abdicated."
+
+"Yes, upon certain conditions."
+
+"The soldiers" resumed Oudinot, "do not comprehend the difference; they
+think you have no more any right to command them."
+
+"Well then," said Napoleon, "it is no more to be thought of; let us wait
+for accounts from Paris."
+
+Marmont, whom he had loaded with favors, had in the meantime joined the
+Allies, and by a nocturnal march of his army passed over into the midst
+of the enemy, enabling them to appear more exacting than ever, and which
+caused Napoleon to denounce his treason to the army by an order of the
+day in which he scanned the conduct of the Senate who had also, on April
+2d, declared Napoleon Bonaparte and his family expelled from the throne
+of France. "Marshal Marmont's desertion was a mortal blow to the
+Imperial cause," says Meneval. "It decided the Emperor Alexander, who
+till then had appeared to hesitate on the question of a regency, to
+exact in the name of the Allied Powers, the unconditional abdication of
+the Emperor." Talleyrand said dryly, when someone called Marmont a
+traitor, "his watch only went a little faster than the others," and in
+this he spoke truthfully, for officers of all ranks now rapidly
+abandoned the camp at Fontainebleau, and presented themselves to swear
+allegiance to the new government, impatient to enjoy in peace the honors
+and riches with which Napoleon had loaded them.
+
+Caulaincourt, Ney and Macdonald, on being admitted to the presence of
+the Czar, the act of abdication was produced. Alexander was surprised
+that it should have contained no stipulations for Napoleon personally;
+"but I have been his friend" said he "and I will willingly be his
+advocate. I propose that he shall retain his imperial title, with the
+sovereignty of Elba, or some other island."
+
+When Napoleon's envoys retired from the presence of the Czar it still
+remained doubtful whether the abdication would be accepted in its
+present form, or the Allies would insist on an unconditional surrender.
+At length they signified their intention to accept of nothing but an
+unconditional abdication. These terms were finally borne by the marshals
+to their waiting chief. The marshals returned in the night about twelve.
+Ney entered first: "Well, have you succeeded?", said Napoleon.
+
+"Revolutions do not retrograde," answered the veteran marshal, "this has
+begun its course; it was too late: tomorrow the Senate will recognize
+the Bourbons."
+
+"Where shall I be able to live with my family?"
+
+"Where your Majesty pleases; for example, in the isle of Elba, with a
+revenue of six millions."
+
+"Six millions! that is a great deal for a soldier as I am. I see very
+well I must submit."
+
+The form of abdication submitted by the marshals was to the following
+purport:
+
+1st. The imperial title to be preserved by Napoleon, with the free
+sovereignty of Elba, guards, and a navy suitable to the extent of that
+island; a pension, from France, of six millions of francs annually.
+
+2d. The Duchies of Parma, Placentia and Guastalla to be granted in
+sovereignty to Marie Louise and her heirs, and
+
+3d. Two millions and a half of francs annually to be paid, by the French
+government, in pensions to Josephine and other members of the Bonaparte
+family.
+
+Napoleon hesitated when he received the formal ultimatum of the invading
+powers. He thought seriously of continuing the war, but the group of his
+personal followers had been rapidly thinned by desertion.
+
+On the 11th of April he at length abandoned all hope and the next day
+executed an instrument called the treaty of Fontainebleau formally
+"renouncing for himself and his heirs, the thrones of France and Italy."
+Concerning the act Napoleon said, "I blush for it; what avails a treaty,
+since they will not settle the interests of France with me. If only my
+personal interests are concerned, there is no need of a treaty. I am
+conquered; I yield to the fate of arms. All I ask is, not to be
+accounted a prisoner of war." To all suggestions referring to his
+providing for his future wants he replied, "What matters it? A horse and
+a crown a day are all I want!"
+
+"Napoleon, when he affixed his name to the abdication" says Baron Fain,
+his secretary, "made two or three scratches, and a dent, with the stump
+of his pen, or back of a knife, on the little, round, claw-footed,
+yellow table, on which it was signed. After the resignation of the
+Empire, he spent his time either in conversation in his apartment, or in
+a small English garden at the back of the palace.... Napoleon, during
+those days of distress, was seated alone for hours and amused himself by
+kicking a hole, a foot deep, with his heel, in the gravel beneath.... At
+the moment of Bonaparte's abdication, he remarked that instruments of
+destruction had been left in his way; he seemed to think that they were
+placed there purposely, in order that he might attempt his own life; and
+with a sardonic smile, said, 'Self-murder is sometimes committed for
+love--what folly! Sometimes for the loss of fortune--there it is
+_cowardice_! Another cannot live after he has been disgraced--_what
+weakness_! But to survive the loss of Empire, to be exposed to the
+results of one's contemporaries,--_that is true courage_!'"
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+EXILE TO ELBA
+
+
+The armies of the Allies had gradually pushed forward from Paris and now
+nearly surrounded Fontainebleau. When the last of the marshals had
+quitted Napoleon's presence for the night, after imperiously demanding
+his resignation, he revolted at the humiliations he had to undergo and
+disgusted at their cowardice, exclaimed: "These men have neither hearts
+nor entrails. I am conquered less by fortune than by the selfishness and
+ingratitude of my brothers-in-arms!" The same night, in a fit of despair
+he swallowed a weak poison contained in a bag that he had worn around
+his neck since 1808. The palace was aroused by his cries and Dr. Yvan
+hastily summoned by his valet. An antidote was given him and his life
+saved. To Caulaincourt he said an hour later: "God would not allow it. I
+could not die. Why did they not let me die? It is not the loss of my
+throne that makes existence insupportable to me. My military career is
+enough glory for one man. Do you know what is more difficult to bear
+than reverses of fortune? It is the baseness, the horrible ingratitude
+of men. I turned my head away with horror from the sight of their
+meanness and their contemptible selfishness, and I am disgusted with
+life. What I have suffered during the last three weeks, no one can
+tell."
+
+Some months later, while at Elba, Napoleon ascribed his ruin entirely to
+Marmont, to whom he had confided some of his best troops, and a post of
+the greatest importance, as a person on whose devotion to him he could
+most depend. "For how could I expect to be betrayed," he said, "by a man
+whom I had loaded with kindness from the time he was fifteen years of
+age? Had he stood firm, I could have driven the Allies out of Paris, and
+the people there,--as well as throughout France,--would have risen, in
+spite of the Senate, if they had had a few troops to support them."
+
+The Emperor remained long enough at Fontainebleau to hear of the
+restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, and on the 20th of April, the
+commissioners of the Allied Sovereigns having arrived, he once more
+called his loyal officers about him and signified that they were
+summoned to receive his last adieu. A few of the marshals and others who
+had sworn fealty to the new monarch were also present. "Louis" (the
+King), Napoleon said, "has talents and means: he is old and infirm; and
+will not, I think, choose to give a bad name to his reign. If he is
+wise, he will occupy my bed, and only change the sheets. He must treat
+the army well, and take care not to look back on the past, or his time
+will be brief. For you, gentlemen, I am no longer to be with you;--you
+have another government; and it will become you to attach yourselves to
+it frankly, and serve it faithfully as you have served me."
+
+As he passed along he beheld all that now remained of the most brilliant
+and numerous courts in Europe, reduced to about sixteen individuals, who
+thus waited to manifest their regard and respect for the fallen Emperor.
+Junot, had died the year before, and Caulaincourt and General Flahault
+were absent on missions. Napoleon shook hands with them all; then
+hastily passing the range of carriages, he advanced towards the relics
+of the Imperial Guard which he had desired to be drawn up in the
+courtyard of the castle. He advanced to them on horseback and tears
+dropped from his eyes as he dismounted in their midst. "Soldiers of the
+Old Guard," said he, "I bid you farewell! During twenty years you have
+been my constant companions in the path of honor and glory. In our last
+disasters, as well as in the days of our prosperity, you invariably
+proved yourselves models of courage and fidelity. With such men as you,
+our cause could not have been lost; but a protracted civil war would
+have ensued, and the miseries of France would thereby have been
+augmented. I have, therefore, sacrificed all our interests to those of
+the country. I depart: you, my friends, will continue to serve France,
+whose happiness has ever been the only object of my thoughts, and still
+will be the sole object of my wishes. Do not deplore my fate. If I
+consent to live, it is that I may still contribute to your glory. I will
+record the great achievements we have performed together. Farewell, my
+comrades! I should wish to press you all to my bosom. Let me at least
+embrace your standard."
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by E. Meissonier
+
+RETREAT FROM MOSCOW--"1814"]
+
+At these words, General Petit took the eagle and came forward. Napoleon
+received the general in his arms, and kissed the flag. The silence of
+this affecting scene was only interrupted by the occasional sobs of the
+soldiers. Having kissed the flag, Napoleon said with great emotion,
+"Farewell once more my old comrades! Let this kiss be impressed on all
+your hearts!"
+
+On this occasion the English commissioner who stood near him, and had
+previously been his inveterate enemy, was so deeply moved that he was
+affected in the same degree as Napoleon's attendants. When leaving
+Napoleon called for Rustan, his Mameluke servant, but the latter had
+concealed himself, though on the preceding day he had received from his
+master, at Fontainebleau, a present of 30,000 francs to provide for his
+wife and family during his absence. The Emperor, in speaking afterwards
+of this man who nightly slept across his doorway, said, "I am by no
+means astonished at his conduct, as he was imbued with the sentiments of
+a slave; and, finding me no longer master, he imagined his services
+might be dispensed with."
+
+Napoleon now hurried through the group that surrounded him--stepped into
+his carriage, and instantly drove off. The carriages took the road to
+Lyons.
+
+Four commissioners, one each from the great Allied Powers, Austria,
+Russia, Prussia and England, accompanied him on his journey. He was
+attended by the ever faithful Bertrand, Grand Master of the Palace, and
+some other attached friends and servants. While fourteen carriages were
+conveying him and his immediate suite towards Elba, 700 infantry and
+about 150 cavalry of the Imperial Guard,--all picked men and
+volunteers,--marched in the same direction to take on them the military
+duties of the exiled court.
+
+Not far from Lyons Napoleon met Augereau, general-in-chief of the Army
+of the East, whose conduct during the late campaign had been that of a
+traitor. When Augereau had taken his leave from his ex-chief one of the
+commissioners ventured to express surprise that Napoleon should have
+treated him with such a show of affection. "Why should I not?" he asked.
+
+"Your Majesty is perhaps unacquainted with his conduct. Sire, he entered
+into an understanding with us several weeks ago!"
+
+The Emperor afterwards confirmed this anecdote, adding: "The conqueror
+of Castiglione might have left behind him a name dear to his country;
+but France will execrate the memory of the traitor of Lyons."
+
+During the early part of his progress the Exile was received
+respectfully by the civil functionaries of the different towns and
+departments, and many tokens of sympathy on the part of the people were
+expressed. As he increased the distance between himself and his capital,
+and was carried into provinces wherein his name had never been extremely
+popular, he was once or twice subjected to personal insult, and danger
+of violence, when the horses were changing. At Lyons, an old woman in
+mourning, and with a countenance full of enthusiasm, rushed forward to
+the door of the carriage. "Sire" said she, with an air of solemnity,
+"may the blessing of heaven attend your endeavor to make yourself happy.
+They tear you from us; but our hearts are with you, wheresoever you go."
+
+The Austrian commissioner, quite disconcerted, said to his companion,
+"Let us go; I have no patience with this mad woman!"
+
+At length Napoleon disguised himself and sometimes appearing in an
+Austrian uniform, at others riding on before the carriages in the garb
+of a courier, reached in safety the place of embarkation. A French
+vessel had been sent round from Toulon to Cannes, for the purpose of
+conveying him to Elba; but there happened to be an English frigate also
+in the roads and he preferred sailing under any flag rather than the
+Bourbon. The voyage to Elba was uneventful. Napoleon succeeded in making
+a favorable impression on the English crew and when, on finally leaving
+the "Undaunted," he caused some two hundred napoleons ($800) to be
+distributed among the sailors, the boatswain undertook to return thanks
+in the name of the crew by "wishing him a long life--_and better luck
+next time_!" As he left the vessel a royal salute was fired.
+
+The Emperor of the little island of Elba came in view of his new
+dominions on the afternoon of May 4th, 1814, and went ashore in disguise
+the same evening, in order to ascertain for himself whether the feelings
+of the Elbans were favorable or otherwise. He found the people
+considered his residence as likely to increase in every way the
+importance and prosperity of their island, and returned on board the
+ship; at noon the day following he made his public entry into the town
+of Porto-Ferrajo amidst many popular demonstrations of welcome and
+respect. The English and Austrian commissioners landed with him, those
+from Russia and Prussia having departed at the coast of Provence. When
+the Exile climbed to the hill above Ferrajo, and looked down upon the
+whole of his territory, as upon a map, he remarked to Sir Neil Campbell,
+the English commissioner, "It must be confessed that my island is very
+small."
+
+The island, however, mountainous and rocky, for the most part barren,
+and of a circumference not exceeding sixty miles, was his. He forthwith
+devoted to it the same anxious care and industry that had sufficed for
+the whole affairs of France, and a large portion of Europe besides. In
+less than three weeks he had thorougly acquainted himself with its
+history, resources and the character of its people, had explored every
+corner of the island "and projected more improvements of all sorts"
+according to one historian, "than would have occupied a life-time to
+complete." He even extended his "Empire" by sending some soldiers to
+take possession of a small adjacent islet, hitherto unoccupied for fear
+of Corsairs. He established residences in four different corners of Elba
+and was continually in motion from one to the other. All the etiquette
+of the Tuileries was adhered to as far as possible, and Napoleon's eight
+or nine hundred veterans were reviewed as frequently and formally as if
+they had been the army of Austerlitz or Friedland, and over which hung
+the flag of Elba which the Emperor had adopted, and which was that of
+the island,--white, striped with purple and studded with stars. Sometime
+later he adopted a new flag as King of Elba; silver with a red band, the
+latter having bees of gold on it. The Emperor wore the uniform of the
+Colonel of the Horse Chasseurs of the Guard. He had substituted on his
+chapeau the red and white cockade of the island for the tri-colored
+cockade. His presence gave a new stimulus to the trade and industry of
+the island and the port of Ferrajo was crowded with vessels from the
+opposite coast of Italy.
+
+Napoleon received no money whatever from the Bourbon court, his pension
+having been entirely forgotten by his successors at the capital. His
+complaints on this head were not even considered, and the exchequer of
+the Exile being rapidly depleted by his generous expenditures, he soon
+became in need of many necessities. These new troubles imbittered the
+spirit of the fallen Chief and but for the course of events at Paris, of
+which he was kept fully advised, would have become overpowered by a
+listlessness which at one time affected him seriously.
+
+While on the island the Emperor observed that his new flag had become
+the first in the Mediterranean. It was held sacred, he said, by the
+Algerians, who usually made presents to the Elban captains, telling them
+they were paying the debt of Moscow. Some Algerian ships once anchoring
+off the island, great alarm was caused among the inhabitants, who
+questioned the pirates, and asked them plainly whether they came with
+any hostile views. "Against the Great Napoleon;" they replied, "Oh!
+never; we do not wage war on God!"
+
+Louis XVIII. had made his public entry into Paris on the 21st of April.
+He was advanced in years, gross and infirm in person, yet he was,
+perhaps, less unpopular than the rest of his family; but it was his
+fatal misfortune to continue to increase day by day the bitterness of
+those who had never been sincerely his friends. The King had been called
+to the throne by the French Senate in a decree which provided that he
+should preserve the political system "which Napoleon had violated," and
+which declared the legislative constitution as composed of a hereditary
+sovereign and two houses of assembly; to be fixed and unchangeable.
+Louis, however, though he proceeded to France on this invitation, did
+not hesitate to date his first act in the twentieth year of his reign.
+The Senate saw in such assumptions the traces of those old doctrines of
+"the divine right of kings," of which Louis was a shining example, and
+which they, who though not originally of his party, had consented to his
+recall--although they had through life abhorred and combatted such
+principles; and they asked themselves, why, if all their privileges were
+but the gifts of the King, they might not, on any tempting opportunity,
+be withdrawn by the same authority. They, whose titles had all been won
+since the death of Louis XVI., were startled when they found, that,
+according to the royal doctrine, _there had been no legitimate
+government all that time in France_!
+
+The first tumult of the Restoration being over, and the troops of the
+Allies withdrawn, things began to so shape themselves that there were
+many elements of discontent amongst all classes, one of the most
+powerful of which was in the army itself. The Allies had restored,
+without stipulation, the whole of the prisoners who had fallen into
+their hands during the war. At least 150,000 veteran soldiers, all of
+whom had fought under Napoleon on many battlefields, were thus poured
+into France ere Louis was well seated on the throne; men, too, who had
+witnessed nothing of the last disastrous campaigns; who had sustained
+themselves in their exile by recounting their earlier victories; and who
+now, returning fresh and vigorous to their native soil, had but one
+answer to every tale of misfortune which met them: "These things could
+never have happened had we been here!"
+
+The Empress Marie was at Blois at the time Napoleon signed his
+abdication, and Savary has described her grief as very great, but her
+own reverses were sufficiently severe to account for this, without any
+strong feeling for Napoleon. By direction of Napoleon she applied for
+protection to the Emperor of Austria and went to Rambouillet to meet
+him, where he explained to her that she was to be separated from her
+husband "for a time." The Emperor Alexander visited her also, very much
+against her will, and a few days afterwards she departed for Vienna.
+Alexander also visited Josephine, and found her distress at Napoleon's
+abdication very great. She appears never to have recovered from the
+shock for she survived it only about six weeks. She died on the 29th of
+May, 1814, at Malmaison, and was buried in the church of Ruel. Her
+funeral was attended by several generals of the allied armies, and
+marshals and generals of France. The body was afterwards placed in a
+magnificent tomb of white marble, erected by her two children, and
+bearing the simple inscription: "Eugene and Hortense to Josephine."
+
+Napoleon's mother, and sister Pauline, as well as a number of ancient
+and attached servants of his civil government and his army, visited him
+during the summer of 1814. Not the least of these was Pauline, who made
+repeated voyages to Italy, and returned again as mysteriously. In the
+circles of Ferrajo new and busy faces now appeared and disappeared--no
+one knew whence they had come or whither they went and an air of bustle
+and mystery pervaded the atmosphere of the place. The Emperor continued
+to review his handful of veteran soldiers with as much pride as if
+they had been the innumerable hosts he had led to victory on the
+Continent, and seemed to be fairly well contented with his situation
+notwithstanding he had fallen from an eminence that had been reached by
+no other man in modern times. The only notable change observed in his
+habits was that he became grave, and reserved, and seemed no longer to
+take any interest in the improvements he had effected on the island.
+
+It was evident, however, that something was preparing; but the
+commissioners who watched over Napoleon were unable to fathom it. They
+repeatedly remarked on the absurdity of the Allied Powers in withholding
+his pension, which they had solemnly pledged should be paid every
+quarter, thereby tempting him to release himself; but their reports were
+left unnoticed by those in whose hands they fell. This obliged the
+Emperor to sell every luxury and comfort around him to raise the means
+of paying his current expenses. Then it was that he began to forecast
+the future and to contemplate a bold stroke, not only for liberty, but
+to regain his lost throne before he could be transported to St. Helena
+which he had been informed privately was being discussed at Vienna.
+
+In this he was aided by a nation which was far from satisfied with the
+man whose possession of the royal sceptre had only been made possible by
+the force of foreign armies, and it was apparent to nearly everyone that
+Louis XVIII. could not long rule France tranquilly, even though Napoleon
+did not return.
+
+Ere autumn closed Napoleon granted furloughs on various pretexts to
+about two hundred of his Guard, and these at once scattered themselves
+over France singing his praises. It now began to be whispered that the
+Exile would return to the soil of France in the spring of the coming
+year. Among the soldiery and elsewhere he was toasted under the
+_sobriquet_ of "Corporal Violet," a flower or a ribbon of its color
+being the symbol of rebellion, and worn openly in the sight of the
+unsuspecting Bourbons. It was by this secret symbol that Napoleon's
+friends knew each other. Rings of a violet color with the device, "It
+will re-appear in the spring," became fashionable; women wore
+violet-colored silks and the men displayed watch-strings of the same
+color; while the mutual question when these friends met was generally,
+"Are you fond of the violet?" to which the answer of a confederate was,
+"Ah! well."
+
+The representatives of all the European princes had met in Vienna to
+settle finally a number of questions left undecided at the termination
+of the war, including a division of the "spoils." Talleyrand was there
+for France, Wellington for England, Metternich for Austria. On the 11th
+of March these representatives, who were then discussing among other
+things "how to get rid of the Man of Elba," were thrown into a panic by
+the news that Napoleon Bonaparte had reared his standard once more in
+France and was marching on Paris!
+
+Of the state of affairs in France Napoleon had been fully advised as
+well as of the sessions of the ministers at the Congress of Vienna, who
+had suggested that, as the French government would not honestly pay his
+pension, he should be taken to some place of greater safety, and St.
+Helena was even mentioned at this time. This determined Napoleon to act,
+especially as he was fully convinced that he had a good chance of being
+well received by the twenty or thirty millions of people who were being
+treated with contempt by Louis XVIII. and his followers. The arrival
+also of M. Fleury de Chaboulon, with secret messages from Maret, (Duke
+of Bassano) then at Paris, had much to do with the hasty determination
+of Napoleon to quit Elba at the earliest moment possible. Reserved as
+the Exile was with others he told his mother of his plans. "I cannot die
+on this island," he said to her, "and terminate my career in a repose
+unworthy of me. Besides, want of money would soon leave me here alone,
+exposed to the attack of my enemies." His mother reflected for some time
+in silence and then replied, "Go, my son--go and fulfill your destiny!
+You will fail perhaps, and your failure will soon be followed by your
+death. But I see with sorrow that you cannot remain here; let us hope
+that God, who has protected you amid so many battles, will save you once
+more!"
+
+Bertrand, who was sharing Napoleon's exile, was now informed of the
+Emperor's decision as was also Druot who at once commenced secret
+preparations for the approaching expedition. Eleven hundred soldiers
+were collected of whom 800 belonged to the Guard and 300 to the 35th
+light infantry that Napoleon had found in the island. None of these men
+had any idea of the projected enterprise. Colonel Campbell, who was
+watching proceedings in Elba for the English, had left Ferrajo and gone
+to Leghorn. There remained then only the cruisers that were easily
+deceived or avoided. In order to keep his preparations a profound
+secret, Napoleon, two days before embarking, laid an embargo on the
+vessels in the harbors of Elba, and cut off all communication with the
+sea. He then ordered his ordnance officer, Vantini, to seize one of the
+large vessels lying in the port, which, with the "Inconstant" of
+twenty-six cannon, and six other smaller craft, making in all seven
+vessels, he secured the means of embarking his eleven hundred men and
+four pieces of field artillery. He had decided to commence his romantic
+enterprise on the 26th of February, 1815. On this day he allowed his
+soldiers to remain at their usual employment until the middle of the
+day. They were suddenly summoned in the afternoon and after being
+lightly fed, were assembled with arms and baggage on the pier where they
+were informed that they were to go on board the vessels. The inhabitants
+of the island regretted the Exile's departure as they feared its
+prosperity would go with him. Napoleon's staff and about three hundred
+men embarked on board the "Inconstant," the others being distributed in
+the other vessels of the flotilla.
+
+The discharge of a single cannon at about 7 o'clock in the evening was
+the signal agreed upon for weighing anchor, and when the sails were
+unfurled, and the little fleet steered its course, reiterated cries of
+"Paris or death!" were heard from the exultant troops. The Emperor had
+said to them, "Grenadiers! we are going to France; we must march to
+Paris!"
+
+The English commissioner immediately attempted to get Napoleon's mother
+and sister to betray his destination and being unsuccessful, at once
+pursued; but was unable to overtake his charge. On the voyage a French
+ship-of-war crossed his path; but the Emperor made all his soldiers and
+those persons who could be suspected descend under the deck, and the
+steersman of the "Inconstant," who happened to be well acquainted with
+the commanding officer, had received and answered the usual challenge
+without exciting any suspicion. In reply to the question of how they
+left the Emperor at Elba, Napoleon himself made answer by signal that,
+"He was very well."
+
+During the voyage he dictated two proclamations which were copied by
+almost all his soldiers and attendants who could write. These were to be
+duplicated on landing and distributed throughout France.
+
+The Emperor, having left Elba on the 26th of February, arrived off
+Cannes, near Fréjus, on March 1st,--the very spot he had touched when he
+arrived from Egypt, and from which he had embarked ten months before. He
+landed without opposition, and his handful of men,--500 grenadiers of
+the Guard, 200 dragoons and 100 Polish lancers, these last without
+horses and carrying their saddles on their backs, were reviewed and
+immediately began their march on Paris. He bivouacked that night in a
+plantation of olives, with all his men about him. As soon as the moon
+rose, the reveillé sounded. A laborer who was going thus early to work
+in the fields recognized the Emperor's person, and uttering a cry of
+joy, said he had served in the Army of Italy and would join the ranks.
+"Here is a reinforcement already!" said Napoleon to Bertrand, and after
+spending the balance of the evening in chatting familiarly with his
+Guard, the march towards Paris recommenced.
+
+Early in the morning they passed through the town of Grasse, and halted
+on the height beyond it. There the whole population of the place
+surrounded them, some cheering and many others maintaining perfect
+silence; but none offered any show of opposition. The peasants blessed
+his return; but, on viewing his little band looked upon him with pity,
+and entertained no hope of his ultimate success. The roads were so bad
+that the pieces of cannon which they had with them were abandoned in the
+course of the day, but they marched full twenty leagues ere they halted
+for the night at Seranon. "Before arriving at this stopping place," says
+Thiers, "the Emperor stopped a few minutes in a hut, occupied by an old
+woman and some cows. Whilst he warmed himself before a brushwood fire he
+entered into conversation with the old country-woman, who little
+imagined what guests she entertained beneath her humble thatch, and was
+asked, 'What news from Paris?' She seemed surprised at a question to
+which she was little accustomed, and replied very naturally that she
+knew of none. 'You don't know what the King is doing then?' said
+Napoleon.
+
+"'The King?' answered the old woman, still more astonished, 'the King!
+You mean the Emperor--he is always _yonder_.'"
+
+This dweller in the Alpine country was wholly ignorant that Napoleon had
+been hurled from his throne and replaced by Louis XVIII. All present
+were struck with astonishment at witnessing this extraordinary
+ignorance. Napoleon, who was not less surprised than the others, looked
+at Druot and said, "Well, Druot, of what use is it to disturb the world
+to fill it with one's name?"
+
+On the 5th of March the Emperor reached Gap, where he published his
+first proclamations,--one to the army and another to the French people.
+The former said: "Soldiers! We have not been conquered. Two men, raised
+from our ranks, (Marmont and Augereau) have betrayed our laurels, their
+country, their prince, their benefactor. In my exile I have heard your
+voice. I have arrived once more among you, despite all obstacles, and in
+all perils. We ought to forget that we have been the masters of the
+world; but we ought never to suffer foreign interference in our affairs.
+Who dares pretend to be master over us? Take again the eagles which you
+followed at Ulm, at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Eylau, at Friedland, at
+Tudela, at Eckmuhl, at Essling, at Smolensk, at Moskowa, at Lutzen, at
+Wurtchen, at Montmirail. Soldiers! come and range yourselves under the
+banners of your old chief. Victory shall march at the charging step. The
+eagle, with the national colors, shall fly from steeple to steeple, till
+it reaches the towers of Notre Dame! In your old age, surrounded and
+honored by your fellow-citizens, you shall be heard with respect when
+you recount your high deeds. You shall then say with pride, 'I also was
+one of that great army which entered twice within the walls of Vienna,
+which took Rome, and Berlin, and Madrid and Moscow, and which delivered
+Paris from the stain printed on it by domestic treason, and the
+occupation of strangers.'"
+
+Between Mure and Vizele, Cambronne, who commanded Napoleon's advanced
+guard of forty grenadiers, met suddenly a battalion sent forward from
+Grenoble to arrest the march. The colonel refused to parley with
+Cambronne and either party halted until the Emperor came up. Napoleon
+did not hesitate for a moment but dismounted and advanced alone; some
+paces behind him came about a hundred of his Guard, with their arms
+reversed. There was perfect silence on all sides until the returned
+Exile was within a few yards of the men. He then halted, threw open his
+surtout, so as to show the star of the Legion of Honor, and exclaimed,
+"If there be among you a soldier who desires to kill his general--his
+Emperor--let him do it now. Here I am!"
+
+The old cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" burst instantly from every lip.
+Napoleon threw himself among them, and taking a veteran private, covered
+with scars and medals, by his beard, said, "Speak honestly, old
+Moustache, couldst thou have had the heart to kill thy Emperor?"
+
+The old soldier dropped his ramrod into his piece to show that it was
+not loaded, and answered, "Judge if I could have done thee much
+harm--_all the rest are the same_!" The soldiers had now broken their
+ranks and were surrounding the Emperor, kissing his hands and calling
+him their general, their Emperor, their father. The commander of the 5th
+battalion, thus abandoned by his soldiers, knew not what to do, when
+Napoleon, freeing himself from the throng stepped forward, asked his
+name, his grade, his services and then added: "My friend, who made you
+chief of battalion?" "You, Sire," "Who made you captain?" "You, Sire,"
+"And would you fire on me?" "Yes" replied the brave man, "in the
+performance of my duty." He then gave his sword to Napoleon, who took
+it, pressed his hand and in a voice that clearly indicated that the
+weapon would be restored at that point, said, "Meet me at Grenoble."
+Turning to Bertrand and Druot the Emperor then said: "All is decided:
+within ten days we shall be in the Tuileries!"
+
+Napoleon now gave the word, and the old adherents and the new began the
+march together towards Grenoble. Ere they reached that town Colonel
+Labedoyere, an officer of noble family, and who had been promoted by
+Louis XVIII., appeared on the road before them at the head of his
+regiment, the seventh of the line. These men and the Emperor's little
+column, on coming within view of each other, rushed simultaneously from
+their ranks and embraced with mutual shouts of, "Live Napoleon! Live the
+Guard! Live the Seventh!"
+
+Labedoyere now produced an eagle, which he had kept concealed about his
+person, and broke open a drum which was found to be filled with
+tri-colored cockades. As these ancient ensigns were exhibited by the
+first officer of superior rank who voluntarily espoused the side of the
+returned Exile, renewed enthusiasm was apparent on all sides. Napoleon
+then questioned young Labedoyere concerning the state of Paris, and
+France in general. That gallant officer answered with much frankness:
+"Sire, the French will do everything for your Majesty; but your Majesty
+must do everything in return for them; no more ambition, no more
+despotism; we are determined to be free and happy. It is necessary,
+Sire, to renounce that system of conquest and power which occasioned the
+misfortune of France and yourself."
+
+[Illustration: From a Drawing by L. Marin
+
+DEPARTURE OF NAPOLEON FOR PARIS]
+
+Napoleon replied, "I know that. I return to revive the glory of France,
+to establish the principles of the Revolution and to secure to the
+nation a degree of liberty which, though difficult at the commencement
+of my reign, is now become not only possible but necessary."
+
+This act of Labedoyere was most decisive, for in spite of all the
+efforts of General Marchand, commandant at Grenoble, the whole of that
+garrison, when he approached the walls, shouted "Vive l'Empereur!"
+Though welcoming Napoleon with their voices and shaking hands with his
+followers through the wicket below, they would not so far disobey the
+governor as to throw open the gates. Neither could any argument prevail
+upon them to open fire on the advancing party and in the very teeth of
+all their batteries Napoleon calmly planted a howitzer or two and blew
+the gates open. Then, as if the spell of discipline was at once
+dissolved, the garrison broke from their lines and dragging the Emperor
+from his horse, bore him aloft on their shoulders towards the principal
+inn of the place, amidst the clamors of enthusiastic and delirious joy.
+The inhabitants of Grenoble, being unable to bring him the keys of the
+city, brought him with acclamations, the shattered gates instead,
+exclaiming: "For want of the keys of the good city of Grenoble, here are
+the gates for you!" Next morning he reviewed his troops, now amounting
+to about 7,000, and on the 9th recommenced his march.
+
+On the 10th of March Napoleon came within sight of Lyons and was
+informed that Marshal Macdonald had arrived to take the command, had
+barricaded the bridge of Guillotierre, and posted himself at the head of
+a large force to dispute the entrance of the town. Nothing daunted with
+this intelligence, the column moved on, and at the bridge of Lyons, as
+at the gates of Grenoble, all opposition vanished when the person of the
+Emperor was recognized by the soldiery. Macdonald was forced to retire
+and Napoleon entered the second city of France in triumph. Macdonald
+would have been taken prisoner by his own troops, had not some of them,
+more honorable than the rest, insisted on his escape being unobstructed.
+He thereupon returned to Paris where he once more hoped to make a stand.
+
+A guard of mounted citizens who had been formed to attend on the person
+of Count d'Artois, the heir of the Empire, and who had accompanied
+Macdonald, were the foremost to offer their services to the Emperor
+after he reached the hotel; but he rejected their assistance and
+dismissed them with contempt. Finding that one of their number had
+followed the Prince until his person was out of all danger, Napoleon
+immediately sent to that individual the cross of the Legion of Honor.
+
+Meanwhile, during the week that the Emperor had continued his march
+Parisward without opposition, the newspapers of the capital were silent,
+and none ventured to make any allusion whatever to his successes. There
+then appeared a royal decree, proclaiming Napoleon Bonaparte "an
+outlaw," and convoking, on the instant, the two Chambers. Next day the
+"Moniteur" announced that, surrounded on all hands by faithful
+garrisons and a loyal population, this "outlaw and invader" was already
+stripped of most of his followers, was wandering in despair among the
+hills, and certain to be a prisoner within two or three days at the
+utmost! Louis received many addresses full of loyalty and devotion from
+the public bodies of Paris, from towns and departments, and, above all,
+from the marshals, generals and regiments who happened to be near the
+capital. The partisans of Napoleon at Paris, however, were far more
+active than the royalists. They gave out everywhere that, as the
+proclamation addressed "To the French people" from Gap had stated,
+Napoleon came back thoroughly cured of that ambition which had armed
+Europe against his throne; that he considered his act of abdication
+void, because the Bourbons had not accepted the crown on the terms which
+it was offered, and had used their authority in a spirit, and for
+purposes at variance with the feelings and the interests of the French
+people; that he was come to be no longer the dictator of a military
+despotism, but the first citizen of a nation which he had resolved to
+make the freest of the free; that the royal government wished to
+extinguish by degrees all memory of the Revolution; that he was
+returning to consecrate once more the principles of liberty and
+equality, ever hateful to the eyes of the old nobility of France, and to
+secure the proprietors of forfeited estates against all machinations of
+that dominant faction;--in a word, that he was fully sensible of the
+extent of his past errors, both of domestic administration and of
+military ambition, and desirous of nothing but the opportunity of
+devoting, to the true welfare of peaceful France, those unrivalled
+talents and energies which he had been rash enough to abuse in former
+days.
+
+Napoleon's friends declared, too, and with much show of authority, that
+the army was, high and low, on the side of the Emperor; that every
+detachment sent to intercept him would but swell his force so that
+nothing could prevent him from taking possession of the Tuileries ere a
+fortnight more had passed over the head of the Bourbon King.
+
+Napoleon remained at Lyons from the 10th to the 13th of March. Here he
+formally resumed the functions of civil government, published various
+decrees, one of which commanded that justice be administered everywhere
+in his name after the 15th, another abolishing the Chambers of the Peers
+and the Deputies and summoning all the electoral colleges to meet in
+Paris to witness the coronation of Marie Louise and her son, and settle
+definitively the constitution of the State; a third, ordering into
+banishment all those whose names had not been erased from the list of
+emigrants prior to the abdication of Fontainebleau; a fourth, depriving
+all strangers and emigrants of their commissions in the army; a fifth,
+abolishing the order of St. Louis, and bestowing all its revenues on the
+Legion of Honor; and a sixth restoring to their authority all
+magistrates who had been displaced by the Bourbon government.
+
+These publications soon reached Paris and caused much alarm among the
+adherents of the King.
+
+Marshal Ney now received orders from the Minister of War to take command
+of a large body of troops whose fidelity was considered sure, and who
+were about to be sent to Lons-le-Saunier, to intercept and arrest the
+returning Exile before he could make further progress. Ney immediately
+rode to Paris from his retired country-seat and there, for the first
+time, learned of the disembarkation of Napoleon from Elba. He is even
+said to have declared that he would bring his former chief to Paris in a
+cage, like a wild beast, in the course of a week. On reaching
+Lons-le-Saunier he received a letter from Napoleon reminding him of
+their former campaigns and summoning him to join his standard as the
+"bravest of the brave." Ney had a secret interview with a courier who
+brought this letter, with one from Bertrand. Generals Lecourbe and
+Bourmont, by whom the marshal was attended, advised him not to oppose a
+torrent which was too powerful for any resistance he could bring against
+it. While in this state of doubt and indecision, sorely perplexed as to
+his exact duty, he received intelligence that his vanguard, posted at
+Bourg, had gone over to Napoleon, and that the inhabitants of
+Chalons-sur-Saone had seized the park of artillery. All this confirming
+what Ney had just been told by the courier, he exclaimed, "It is
+impossible for me to stop the incoming water of the ocean with the palm
+of my hand!" Accordingly, on the following morning, he published an
+order of the day, declaring that "the cause of the Bourbons was lost
+forever, and that the legitimate dynasty which the French nation had
+adopted was about to reascend the throne." This order was read to the
+troops and was received by them with rapture; some of the officers,
+however, remonstrated and left their command. One, before he went away,
+broke his sword in two, and threw the pieces at Ney's feet, saying, "It
+is easier for a man of honor to break iron than to infringe his word."
+
+Ney put his soldiery in motion forthwith, and joined the march of the
+Emperor on the 17th of March at Auxerre, being received by Napoleon
+with open arms. Ney avowed later that he had chosen the part of Napoleon
+long ere he pledged his oath to Louis, adding that the greater number of
+the marshals were, like himself, original members of the Elban
+conspiracy to again place him on the throne.
+
+In and about the capital there still remained troops sufficient in
+numbers to overwhelm the advancing column, and Louis intrusted the
+command of these battalions to Marshal Macdonald, who proceeded to
+establish himself at Melun with the King's army, in the hopes of being
+supported by his soldiers in the discharge of his commission.
+
+On the 19th Napoleon slept once more in the chateau of Fontainebleau,
+and on the morning of the 20th he advanced through the forest, alone,
+and with the full knowledge of Macdonald's arrangements. About noon the
+marshal's troops, who had been for some time under arms on an eminence
+beyond the wood, perceived suddenly a single open carriage coming at
+full speed towards them from among the trees. A handful of Polish
+horsemen, with their lances reversed, followed the equipage. The little
+flat cocked hat; the gray surtout; then the person of Napoleon was
+recognized. In an instant the men burst from their ranks, surrounded him
+with the cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" and trampled their white cockades
+in the dust. Macdonald escaped to Paris but Louis had not awaited his
+last stand. He had set off from the Tuileries in the middle of the
+preceding night, amidst the tears and lamentations of several courtiers,
+taking the road to Lisle. McDonald soon overtook and accompanied him to
+the frontier of the Netherlands, which he reached in safety.
+
+Napoleon once more entered Paris on the evening of the 20th of March. He
+came preceded and followed by the soldiery on horseback, and on whom
+alone he had relied. At the Tuileries he was received with every
+possible demonstration of joy and was almost stifled by the pressure of
+those enthusiastic adherents who, the moment he stopped in the
+court-yard of the palace, mounted him on their shoulders and carried him
+in triumph up the great staircase of the palace. The Emperor, during
+this dramatic proceeding, continued to exclaim, "Be steady my good
+children; be steady I entreat you." A piece of his coat being either
+purposely or by accident torn off, was instantly divided into hundreds
+of scraps, for the procurement of each remnant of which, by way of
+relic, there was as much struggling as if the effort had been made to
+become possessed of so many ingots of gold. He found in the apartments,
+which the King had but lately vacated, a brilliant assemblage of those
+who had in former times filled the most prominent places in his own
+councils and court.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Napoleon, as he walked round the circle, "it is
+disinterested people who have brought me back to my capital. It is the
+subalterns and the soldiers that have done it all. I owe everything to
+the people and the army."
+
+All night long the cannon of Marengo and Austerlitz pealed forth their
+joyous sounds, the city was brilliantly illuminated, and all except the
+Bourbons, who, as Thiers happily says, "during twenty-five years had
+neither learned or forgotten anything," were rejoicing at the return of
+the Exile. Napoleon had now proved that he was not only Emperor of the
+army but of the citizens, the people, the peasantry, and the masses.
+With a handful of men he had marched from one end of the kingdom to the
+other, entered the capital and taken possession of the throne, and that
+without shedding even one drop of blood!
+
+He assigned, among other reasons for leaving Elba, that in addition to
+the violation of the treaty of Fontainebleau in failing to pay his
+pension, that his wife and child had been seized, detained, and never
+permitted to join him; that the pensions to his mother and brothers were
+alike refused, and that assassins had been sent over to Elba, for the
+express purpose of murdering him. This last charge has also been made by
+Savary with much positiveness. "Last year," said Napoleon, "it was said
+that I recalled the Bourbons; this year they recall me; so we are
+equal!"
+
+Previous to the morning of the 20th of March the nights had been rainy
+and the days sombre and cloudy; but on this morning, the anniversary of
+the birth of the young King of Rome, the day was ushered in by a
+brilliant sun and which produced a strong effect on the populace who
+again referred in their acclamations to the "sun of Napoleon" as they
+had that of Austerlitz, ten years before. On the following day the whole
+population of the capital directed their steps towards the Tuileries and
+repeated anon and anon their pleasure at the return of the Emperor who
+had, between the 1st and the 20th of March, fulfilled that strange
+prophecy in which he said, victory would march at the charging step, and
+that the imperial eagle would fly, without pause, from steeple to
+steeple, to the towers of Notre Dame, even to the dome of the Palace of
+the Tuileries!
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE HUNDRED DAYS. WATERLOO.
+
+
+The instant that news of Napoleon's daring movement reached Vienna, the
+Congress, although on the point of dissolution, published a proclamation
+in which it was said: "By breaking the Convention which had established
+him in Elba, Bonaparte destroyed the only legal title on which his
+existence depended; and by appearing again in France, with projects of
+confusion and disorder, he has deprived himself of the protection of the
+laws, and has manifested to the universe that there can be neither peace
+or truce with him. The powers consequently declare, that Napoleon
+Bonaparte has placed himself without the pale of civil and social
+relations, and that as an enemy and disturber of the tranquility of the
+world, he has rendered himself liable to public vengeance."
+
+All Europe was now prepared once more for war. A formal treaty was
+entered into by which the four great powers, England, Austria, Russia
+and Prussia, bound themselves to maintain, each of them, at least
+150,000 troops in arms until Napoleon should either be dethroned, or
+reduced so low as no longer to endanger the peace of Europe. The other
+states of the Continent were to be invited to join the alliance,
+furnishing contingents adequate to their respective resources.
+
+It was stipulated that in case England should not furnish all the men
+agreed upon she would compensate by paying at the rate of $150 per annum
+for every cavalry soldier, and $100 for every foot soldier under the
+full number.
+
+On the day following his return from Elba, Napoleon reviewed all the
+troops in Paris, and addressed them in one of those stirring and
+eloquent speeches which had never failed to excite their enthusiasm. In
+beginning his address, he said: "Soldiers, I am returned to France with
+twelve hundred men, because I relied upon the love of the people, and
+the remembrance of me with the veteran troops. I have not been deceived
+in my expectations; I thank you, soldiers. The glory of all that is
+achieved is due to the people and yourselves. My only merit consists in
+having justly appreciated you."
+
+Cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" filled the air and were redoubled when
+General Cambronne entered at the head of the officers of the battalion
+of the Guard, which had accompanied him to and from Elba, and carrying
+the imperial eagles. On observing the ancient emblems, Napoleon
+exclaimed, "Behold the officers of the battalion who accompanied me in
+the hour of misfortune! They are all my friends; they are dear to my
+heart; whenever I beheld them, they presented to my view the different
+regiments composing the army; for, in the number of these six hundred
+brave men, there are individuals of every corps. In loving them, it is
+all of you, soldiers of the whole army, that I loved. They come to
+restore you those eagles; let them prove to you the rallying point!
+Swear that they shall be found everywhere, when the interests of the
+country shall require them; that the traitors, and those who would
+subjugate our territory, may never be able to support their view." "We
+swear!" came the vociferous replies of the soldiers to the strains of
+the band playing: "Let us watch over the safety of the Empire."
+
+Among the peals that rent the air, those of the working class were
+particularly audible, their incessant cries being couched in these
+terms: "The Great Contractor is returned; we shall now eat bread!"
+
+Napoleon was hardly reseated on his throne ere he learned that he must
+in all likelihood defend himself against 225,000 Russians, 300,000
+Austrians, 236,000 Prussians, an army of 150,000 men furnished by the
+minor States of Germany, 50,000 contributed by the government of the
+Netherlands, and 50,000 English, commanded by the Duke of Wellington; in
+all 1,100,000 soldiers! From the moment he re-established himself in the
+Tuileries, he began that period of his government, which has been
+designated the "Hundred Days," in order to meet this gigantic
+confederation. Carnot became once more Minister of War, and showed the
+same energy he had manifested during the Consulate. Napoleon had the
+nation with him at that moment, notwithstanding the proclamations of
+Louis XVIII.,--which had found their way into the capital,--announced
+the speedy arrival of a million foreign soldiers under the walls of
+Paris to replace him on his throne and drive away the "usurper."
+
+The Duchess d'Angoulême was the last of the royal family who remained in
+France. She had thrown herself into Bordeaux, trusting to the friendly
+feeling of the mayor and citizens. She made strong efforts to maintain
+the Bourbon cause, and behaved with so much spirit as to make Napoleon
+pass an eulogium on her as "the only man of her family." But her efforts
+failed.
+
+The effective force of the army in France, when Napoleon landed at
+Cannes, consisted of but about 93,000 men. The cavalry had been greatly
+reduced, and the disasters of 1812, 1813 and 1814 were still visible in
+the deficiency of military stores, and arms,--especially of artillery.
+By almost incredible exertions, although now unable to adopt the old
+method of conscription, by the middle of May the Emperor had over
+375,000 men in arms,--including an Imperial Guard of 40,000 chosen
+veterans,--all in a splendid state of equipment and discipline; a large
+and brilliant force of cavalry, and a train of artillery of proportional
+extent and excellence. He had labored unremittingly to raise the
+military strength of France to a height sufficient once more to repel
+the attack of all Europe, and was employed fifteen or sixteen hours a
+day during the whole of this period. Men, clothing, arms, horses, and
+discipline were wanting.
+
+All the veterans were now recalled to the ranks. They came in crowds,
+leaving the employments to which they had applied themselves to the
+number of one hundred thousand men. All the officers on half pay were
+also summoned to action.
+
+Napoleon made several attempts to open a negotiation with the Allies,
+and urged three arguments in defense of his "breach of the Convention"
+by which he had become sovereign of Elba: 1st, the detention of his wife
+and son by the Court of Austria: 2d, the non-payment of his pension, and
+3d, the voice of the French nation which he had heard and obeyed, as
+evidenced by the fact that by the end of March the tri-colored flag was
+displayed on every tower in France.
+
+During the last days of the Congress of Vienna, Murat's possession of
+the throne of Naples was under discussion, and Talleyrand was
+endeavoring to dethrone him and place thereon the King of the Sicilies.
+When Napoleon landed on the shores of France, Murat resolved to rival
+his brother-in-law's daring and without further pause marched to Rome,
+at the head of 50,000 men, the Pope and cardinals fleeing at his
+approach. Murat then advanced into the north of Italy, inviting "all
+true Italians" to rally round him, and assist in the erection of their
+country into one free and independent state, with himself at their head.
+
+The Austrian commander in Lombardy put his troops in motion at once to
+meet Murat, and the latter's followers fleeing in confusion, their
+leader sought personal safety in flight. On quitting his wretched
+remnant of an army he returned incognito to his capital on the evening
+of the 18th of May. As he embraced his queen,--Napoleon's sister,--he
+exclaimed, with emotion, "All is lost, Caroline, except my own life, and
+that I have been unable to throw away!"
+
+He departed in a fishing vessel which landed him near Toulon about the
+end of May. Here he lingered for some time, entreating Napoleon to
+receive him at Paris, and being unsuccessful, after a series of
+extraordinary hardships, relanded on the coast of Naples after the King
+of the Two Sicilies had been re-established on that throne.
+
+Murat hoped to invite an insurrection and recover what he had lost; but
+was seized, tried, and executed, meeting his fate with heroic fortitude.
+To those who took his life he said at the last moment, "Save my face;
+aim at my heart!" At St. Helena, Napoleon often said that the fortune of
+the world might have been changed had there been a Murat to head the
+French cavalry at Waterloo.
+
+Austria was now concentrating all her Italian forces for the meditated
+re-invasion of France; the Spanish army began to muster towards the
+passes of the Pyrenees, the Russians, Swedes and Danes were already
+advancing from the north, while the main armies of Austria, Bavaria and
+the Rhenish princes were rapidly consolidating themselves along the
+Upper Rhine. Blucher was once more in command of the Prussians in the
+Netherlands; and Wellington, commanding in chief the British,
+Hanoverians and Belgians, had also established his headquarters at
+Brussels by the end of May. It was very evident to Napoleon that the
+clouds were thickening fast and he at once began preparations to defend
+himself ere his frontier had been crossed on all sides.
+
+Among other preparations, the Emperor had now strongly fortified Paris
+and all the positions in advance of it on the Seine, the Marne, and the
+Aube, and among the passes of the Vosgesian hills. Lyons, also, had been
+guarded by very formidable outworks. Massena, at Metz, and Suchet, on
+the Swiss frontier, commanded divisions which the Emperor judged
+sufficient to restrain Schwartzenberg for some time on the Upper Rhine.
+Should he drive them, in the fortresses behind could hardly fail to
+detain him much longer.
+
+Meanwhile Napoleon had resolved to himself attack the most alert of his
+enemies, the Prussians and the English, beyond the Sambre,--while the
+Austrians were thus held in check on the Upper Rhine; and ere the armies
+of the North could debouch upon Manheim, to co-operate by their right
+with Wellington and Blucher, and by their left with Schwartzenberg.
+
+On the 14th of May, previously appointed as the day of procession and
+solemn festival of the "Federates,"--operatives and artisans of
+Paris--the Emperor rode along their ranks, received their acclamations,
+and harangued them in his usual strain of eloquence. In the meantime,
+however, Fouché, Minister of Police, had already begun to hold
+traitorous communications with the Austrian government. In one instance
+Napoleon had discovered this fact, and had nearly caused him to be
+arrested; but he abstained, apparently from apprehension of the
+Republican party, amongst whom Fouché was a busy pretender.
+
+The ceremony of the "Champ-de-Mai" took place on the 1st of June, in the
+open space facing the Military School. The Imperial and National Guards
+and troops of the line, amounting in all to 15,000 soldiers, were drawn
+up in squares in the Champ-de-Mars and an immense concourse of
+spectators thronged every vacant space from which a view of the scene
+could be gained. After a religious solemnity, a patriotic address was
+delivered to the Emperor by the electors of the departments, to which he
+replied: "Emperor, Consul, Soldier--I hold all from the people. In
+prosperity, in adversity, in the field of battle, in council, on the
+throne, in exile, France has been the sole object of all my thoughts and
+actions."
+
+The Emperor then proceeded to the altar and took an oath to observe the
+new constitution, which had been adopted by upwards of a million and a
+half votes, and in which he was followed by his ministers and the
+electoral deputations. The ceremony concluded with the distribution of
+the eagles to the troops, and with loud and repeated acclamations, and
+cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" from the soldiers and multitude assembled.
+On the following day the Emperor gave a grand fête, in the gallery of
+the Louvre, to the deputies of the army and the electors, on which
+occasion he was again greeted with every manifestation of devotion and
+fidelity. On the 4th of June, Napoleon attended in person the opening of
+the Chambers and delivered addresses which were both firm, open and
+sensible.
+
+By this time the Emperor had made most extraordinary progress in his
+preparations for war. The effective strength of the army had been raised
+to 365,000 men, of whom 117,000 were under arms, clothed, disciplined
+and ready to take the field. They were formed into seven grand corps,
+besides several corps of observation stationed along the whole line of
+the frontiers, which were then threatened on every side. What Napoleon
+now required was time to prepare the means of defense; but this his
+enemies were far from intending to allow.
+
+Their immense armaments were already passing on towards the frontiers of
+France, in different lines, and at considerable intervals, for the
+convenience of subsistence. The Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the
+King of Prussia, had once more placed themselves at the head of their
+respective armies. The Austrians, amounting to 300,000 men, commanded in
+chief by Schwartzenberg, were divided into two bodies, one of which was
+to enter France by Switzerland, the other by the Upper Rhine. Two
+hundred thousand Russians were marching towards Alsace, under the
+Archduke Constantine. The Prussian army amounted to two hundred and
+thirty-six thousand men; of whom one half were already in the field. The
+minor states of Germany had furnished one hundred and fifty thousand;
+the Netherlands, fifty thousand; England, eighty thousand, including the
+king's German legion, and other troops in British pay, under the command
+of the Duke of Wellington;--in all 1,016,000 soldiers!
+
+Among these hosts it was the army commanded by the Duke of Wellington,
+and the Prussians under Blucher, which were first in the field. They
+occupied Belgium and amounted to upwards of two hundred thousand men,
+of whom rather less than one half were ranged under the English
+commander-in-chief.
+
+[Illustration: RETURN OF NAPOLEON FROM ELBA]
+
+Two plans of campaign presented themselves to the mind of Napoleon. One
+was to remain entirely on the defensive, leaving to the Allies the odium
+of striking the first blow against the liberties of nations. He believed
+that as they would not begin the invasion until the middle of July, it
+would be the middle of August before they could make their way through
+the fortresses, and appear in force before Lyons and Paris. Large
+armies, could, before that time, be concentrated by him under the walls
+of these two cities, and there the battles must be fought and decided.
+The second plan was to assume the offensive before the Allies had
+completed their operations, by marching into Belgium and attacking the
+armies of Wellington and Blucher. His numbers would be inferior, but his
+tactics would aim at preventing the junction of the two armies opposed
+to him and beating them separately, in which event Belgium would to a
+certainty rise and join his cause. He finally resolved on the latter
+plan of campaign. His calculations, were, in part, disturbed by a
+serious insurrection in La Vendée, which obliged him to send 20,000 men
+into that province, in order to quell it, and reduced his disposable
+forces to one hundred and twenty thousand men; but did not alter his
+determination. The army was put in motion, and every preparation made
+for the approaching struggle.
+
+The Emperor left Paris on the night between the 11th and 12th of June,
+as some writers declare "to measure himself against Wellington." The
+Imperial Guard had commenced its march on the 8th, and all the
+different corps of the army were in motion towards Maubeuge and
+Phillipville. When he had made known his intention of commencing the
+war, Caulaincourt solicited the favor of attending him. "If I do not
+leave you at Paris" answered Napoleon, "on whom can I depend?" Even then
+he felt that it was not the Allies alone that he had to contend against;
+and when he had left Paris he seemed less apprehensive of the enemies
+before, than those he had left behind him. To Bertrand's wife he said,
+as he took her hand at departing, "Let us hope, Madame Bertrand, that we
+may not soon have to regret the Island of Elba."
+
+Napoleon arrived at Vervins on the 12th of June and assembled and
+reviewed at Beaumont on the 14th, the whole of the army which had been
+prepared to act immediately under his own orders. They had been most
+carefully selected, and formed, and it was, perhaps, the most perfect
+force, though far from the most numerous, with which he had ever taken
+the field. The returns showed that his army amounted to one hundred and
+twenty-two thousand four hundred men, with three hundred and fifty
+pieces of cannon. These included 25,000 of his Imperial Guard, 25,000
+cavalry in the highest condition, and artillery admirably served. "The
+whole army was superb and full of ardor;" says Count Labedoyere, "but
+the Emperor, more a slave than could have been credited to recollections
+and old habits, committed the great fault of replacing his army under
+the command of its former chiefs, most of whom, notwithstanding their
+previous addresses to the King, did not cease to pray for the triumph of
+the Imperial cause; yet were not disposed to serve it with that ardor
+and devotion demanded by imperious circumstances. They were no longer
+men full of youth and ambition, generously prodigal of their lives to
+acquire rank and fame; but veterans, weary of warfare, who, having
+attained the summit of promotion, and being enriched by the spoils of
+the enemy, or the bounty of Napoleon, indulged no other wish, than the
+peaceable enjoyment of their good fortune under the shade of those
+laurels, they had so dearly acquired."
+
+The Emperor reminded his soldiers, in a fiery proclamation issued on the
+14th of June, that the day was the anniversary of the battle of Marengo
+and of Friedland. "Then, as after Austerlitz and Wagram" he said "we
+were too generous. We gave credit to the protestations and oaths of the
+princes whom we suffered to remain on their thrones. Now, however,
+having coalesced among themselves, they aim at the independence and the
+most sacred rights of France. They have commenced the most unjust of
+aggressions. Are we no longer the same men? Fools that they are! A
+moment of prosperity blinds them. The oppression and the humiliation of
+the French people are out of their power. If they enter France, there
+will they find their tomb. Soldiers! We have forced marches to make;
+battles to wage; perils to encounter; but with constancy the victory
+will be ours. The rights--the honor of the country--will be honored. For
+every Frenchman who has a heart, the moment has now arrived either to
+conquer or perish!"
+
+The army of Blucher numbered at this time about 120,000 men. They
+communicated on their right with the left of the Anglo-Belgian army,
+under Wellington, whose headquarters were at Brussels. Blucher's forces
+extended along the line of the Sambre and the Meuse, occupied Charleroi,
+Namur, Givet, and Liege. The Duke of Wellington's host amounted in
+all to 75,000 men; his first division occupied Enghien, Brain-le-Compte
+and Nivelles, communicating with the Prussian right at Charleroi. The
+second division,--Lord Hills',--was cantoned in Halle, Oudenard and
+Gramont, together with the greater part of the cavalry. The reserve,
+under Sir Thomas Picton, was quartered at Brussels and Ghent. The
+English and Prussian commanders had thus arranged their troops with the
+view of being able to support each other, wherever the French might
+hazard their assault.
+
+In the night between the 14th and 15th, scouts returned to the
+headquarters of the French, reporting that there was no movement among
+the invaders at Charleroi, Namur or Brussels, thus verifying the
+Emperor's belief that the plans for concealing the movements of his army
+during the last few days were successful. The Duke of Wellington, in a
+letter to Lord Bathurst, on the 13th, declared his disbelief in the
+report that Napoleon had joined the army, and it was not until the
+afternoon of the 15th that he possessed any knowledge of the position
+and intentions of Napoleon. On that day, an officer of high rank arrived
+at Wellington's headquarters in Brussels with the intelligence of
+Napoleon's decisive operations.
+
+General Bourmont, a protegé of Ney, with Colonels Clouet and
+Villoutreys, and two other officers, had gone over to the enemy with all
+the Emperor's plans. Napoleon knew from Marshal Ney that Bourmont had
+shown some hesitation, and he had been backward in employing him.
+Bourmont, however, having given General Gerard his word of honor to
+serve the Emperor faithfully; and the general in question, whom Napoleon
+valued highly, having answered for his integrity, the Emperor consented
+to admit him into the service. He had covered himself with glory in
+1814, and it was not to be expected that he would in 1815 go over to the
+enemy on the eve of a battle. A drum-major, who deserted from the French
+ranks some hours before General Bourmont and his two companions, was
+conducted under an escort to the headquarters of Blucher, at Namur,
+where he gave the first intelligence of Napoleon's intended attack. This
+was confirmed by Bourmont, Clouet and Villoutreys who added details with
+which the drum-major could not possibly have been acquainted.
+
+Later on, in speaking of these traitors, Napoleon said, "Their names
+will be held in execration so long as the French people form a nation.
+This desertion increased the anxiety of the soldiers."
+
+The Emperor immediately made those alterations in his plan of attack, as
+such unexpected treason rendered necessary, and then proceeded to carry
+out the details of his campaign. He had determined on first attacking
+the Prussians, as he believed Blucher would give him battle at once, in
+order to allow the English time to collect their forces. He believed
+also, that if the English army were attacked first, Blucher would more
+rapidly arrive to the support of the English than the latter were likely
+to do if the Prussians were first attacked.
+
+Ney had been placed in command of 43,000 men, with orders to advance on
+the road to Brussels and make himself master of the position of
+Quatre-Bras, at all points, so as to prevent Wellington from supporting
+the Prussians. He was to march at daybreak, on the 16th, occupy the
+position and intrench himself.
+
+On Thursday, the 15th of June, the French drove in all the outposts on
+the west bank of the Sambre at daybreak and at length assaulted
+Charleroi, it being the intention of the Emperor to crush Blucher ere he
+could concentrate all his own forces,--far less be supported by the
+advance of Wellington,--and then rush on Brussels. Zietten held out with
+severe loss at Charleroi; but long enough for the alarm to spread along
+the whole Prussian line and then fell back on a position between Ligny
+and Amand, where Blucher now awaited Napoleon's attack at the head of
+his whole army, except the division of Bulow, which had not yet come up
+from Liege.
+
+The design of beating the Prussians in detail was not a success but the
+second part of the plan--that of separating them wholly from Wellington,
+might still succeed. With this view, while Blucher was concentrating his
+force about Ligny, the French held the main road to Brussels from
+Charleroi, beating some Nassau troops at Frasnes, and following them as
+far as Quatre-Bras, a farm-house, so-called because it is there that the
+roads from Charleroi to Brussels, and from Nivelles to Namur cross each
+other.
+
+On Thursday a Prussian officer arrived at Wellington's headquarters in
+Brussels, with the intelligence of Napoleon's decisive operations. It is
+still an open question just what hour this news was received by the
+Duke, the time being variously stated at from 1 to 6 o'clock p.m. This
+news was to the effect that the attack had commenced and the outposts of
+the Allies had been driven back--much to Wellington's surprise, as he
+was not wholly prepared for the news. There was to be a ball in Brussels
+on Thursday evening, at the Duchess of Richmond's hotel, attended by the
+Duke of Wellington and most of his general officers. Notwithstanding the
+intelligence, they all went; but a second dispatch arrived at 11
+o'clock, announcing that "the French had entered Charleroi that morning,
+and continued to march in order of battle on Brussels; that there were
+one hundred and fifty thousand strong; and that the Emperor was at their
+head!" It was now but too clear that no more time should be lost and the
+Duke and all of his officers hurried out of the ball-room.
+
+Wellington, now fully aware of his situation, at once issued orders for
+the breaking up of his cantonments, and the concentration of the forces,
+which were spread over a very great extent. He rode off at an early hour
+on the 16th, to Quatre-Bras, to visit the position, and thence to Bry,
+where he had an interview with Blucher.
+
+Napoleon, whose manoeuvres had thus far succeeded to his wish, on coming
+up from Charleroi about noon on the 16th, was undecided whether Blucher
+at Ligny, or Wellington at Quatre-Bras, ought to form the main object of
+his attack. He at length determined to give his own personal attention
+to Blucher.
+
+The advanced guards met at the village of Fleurus, and those belonging
+to the Prussians having retreated, their army now appeared drawn up in
+battle array;--their left on Sombref; their centre on Ligny; their right
+on St. Amand. The reserves were on the heights of Bry. Upon the summit
+of this high ground the mill of Bry was conspicuous, and behind the
+mill, in a depression, stood the village of Bry, whose steeple only was
+visible.
+
+The Prussian forces occupied a line nearly four miles in extent. The
+French army, not including Ney's division, amounting to 60,000 men,
+halted and formed. The Emperor now rode to some windmills on the chain
+of outposts on the heights, and reconnoitred the enemy.
+
+The Prussians displayed to him a force of about 80,000 men. Their front
+was protected by a deep ravine; but their right was exposed, and had
+Ney's division at Quatre-Bras, as the Emperor supposed, in the rear. A
+staff officer now arrived from Ney, to inform Napoleon that he had not
+yet occupied Quatre-Bras, in consequence of reports which made him
+apprehensive of being turned by the enemy; but that he would advance, if
+the Emperor still required it. Napoleon blamed him for having lost eight
+hours, repeated the order, and added that, as soon as Ney had made good
+that position, he (Ney) was to send a detachment by the causeway of
+Namur and the village of Marchais, whence it should attack the heights
+of Bry in the Prussian rear. Ney received this order at 12 o'clock,
+noon; his detachment might reach Marchais by about 2 o'clock.
+
+At this latter hour, therefore, the Emperor having descended from the
+heights whence he had formed a correct view of his position, gave orders
+for an immediate attack by a change of the whole front, divided into
+several columns, on Fleurus. The attack extended all along the line of
+the enemy, and which would be enclosed between two fires on the arrival
+of the detachment from Ney's division in the rear of the Prussians. "The
+fate of the war," said Napoleon, in answer to a question from Count
+Gérard, "may be decided in three hours. If Ney executes his orders well,
+not a gun of the Prussian army will escape." The soldiers had hardly
+advanced a few paces, amid vociferous cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" when
+terrible ravages were made in their ranks by the chain-shot from the
+village and the balls from the batteries above. A single ball killed
+eight men in one of the columns. But the enthusiasm of the troops, all
+eager for battle, was too great to cause them to waver and they advanced
+almost without firing, drove the Prussians at the point of the bayonet
+from their positions in the gardens and orchards, and entered the
+village after a stout resistance, only to retire a short time later
+being unable to conquer the masses of infantry drawn up in a semi-circle
+on a slope which surmounted the hill of Bry. The action at Ligny had
+commenced a little later but not less aggressively. As Gérard's three
+columns approached the village of Ligny they were received with such a
+volley that they were obliged to fall back. A large body of artillery
+was then thrown forward and riddled the village of Ligny and Gérard's
+columns again advanced, finally taking possession of the place. This was
+followed by a series of combats, exceedingly ferocious, as the French
+gave no quarter nor did they receive any from the Prussians.
+
+Blucher now advanced at the head of his soldiers and made a vigorous
+attempt upon the three St. Amands; but with only partial success for a
+time. At length, by a series of skillful attacks and manoeuvres, the
+French became masters of these three points, but had not been able to
+cross the sinuous stream of Ligny. It was now 5:30 o'clock and Napoleon
+was directing the Imperial Guard upon Ligny in support of the advantages
+already gained by Count Gérard at the head of 5,000 men, at St. Amand,
+when he was informed that an army of 30,000 was advancing upon Fleurus.
+The Emperor suspended the movement of his Guard in order to meet this
+new force; but the alarm was unfounded. It proved to be the first
+corps,--Count d'Erlon's,--which formed part of Ney's division, at last
+complying with Napoleon's repeated orders, and had come up to take the
+enemy in the rear:--their unexpected appearance had occasioned the loss
+of two hours.
+
+The Old Guard now resumed its suspended movements upon Ligny: the ravine
+was passed by General Pecheux, at the head of his division, supported by
+the infantry, cavalry, artillery and Milhaud's cuirassiers. The reserves
+of the Prussians were driven back with the bayonet, and the centre of
+the line broken and routed. A bloody conflict ensued in which the French
+were victorious. The slaughter among the Prussians, was most remarkable.
+They, however, divided into two parts, effected a retreat, favored by
+the night and by the failure of that attack in the rear which Ney had
+been so expressly ordered to make by a detachment from his force. Their
+loss amounted to the prodigious number of 18,000 men, killed, wounded or
+prisoners; forty pieces of cannon and eight stands of colors, while the
+French loss was between 8,000 and 9,000.
+
+For five hours, two hundred pieces of ordnance deluged the field with
+slaughter, blood and death, during which period the French and
+Prussians, alternately vanquished and victors, disputed that ensanguined
+post hand to hand and foot to foot, so that no less than seven times in
+succession Ligny was taken and lost.
+
+The Emperor had repeatedly sent to Ney saying "that the destiny of
+France rested in his hands" but the veteran marshal failed to appreciate
+the importance of the orders and did not act promptly.
+
+Many of the Prussian generals were killed or wounded; and Blucher
+himself was overthrown, man and horse, by a charge of cuirassiers, and
+galloped over by friends and foes. Night was coming on and the marshal,
+who was much battered and bruised, effected his escape. He joined a body
+of his troops, directed the retreat upon Wavres, and continued to mask
+his movements so skilfully, that Napoleon knew not until noon on the
+17th what way he had taken.
+
+The total loss of the French amounted to no more than nine thousand,
+killed or wounded--the extraordinary disproportion being occasioned by
+the more skillful disposition of the French troops, whereby all their
+shots took effect, while more than half of those of the enemy were
+wasted.
+
+On the same day as the battle of Ligny,--June 16th,--was also fought
+the battle of Quatre-Bras, and at about the same time. Ney, with 45,000
+men, began an attack on the position of Wellington at Quatre-Bras. At
+this point the French were posted among growing corn as high as the
+tallest man's shoulder, and which enabled them to draw up a strong body
+of cuirassiers close to the English, and yet entirely out of their view.
+The 49th and 42d regiments of Highlanders were thus taken by surprise,
+and the latter would have been destroyed but for the coming up of the
+former. The 42d, formed into a square, was repeatedly broken, and as
+often recovered, though with terrible loss of life, for out of 800 that
+went into action, only ninety-six privates and four officers remained
+unhurt.
+
+The pressing orders of Napoleon not allowing the marshal time for
+reflection, and doubtless anxious to repair the precious time lost in
+which he might have taken possession of Quatre-Bras, he did not
+sufficiently reconnoitre but entered into the contest without being
+wholly prepared. The first successful attack was soon suspended by the
+arrival of fresh reinforcements, led by the Duke of Wellington, and the
+shining bravery of the Scotch, Belgians and the Prince of Orange
+suspended the success of the French. They were repulsed by a shower of
+bullets from the British infantry added to a battery of two guns which
+strewed the causeway with men and horses.
+
+Ney was desirous of making the first corps, which he had left in the
+rear, advance; but Napoleon had dispatched positive orders to Count
+d'Erlon, at the head of that body, to join him, for which purpose the
+latter had commenced his march. Ney, when made acquainted with this
+fact, was stationed amidst a cross-fire from the enemies' batteries. "Do
+you see those bullets?" cried the marshal, his brow clouded by despair;
+"would that they would all pass through my body!" and he instantly sent
+General Delcambre with all speed after Count d'Erlon, directing that
+whatsoever might have been his orders, although received from the
+Emperor himself, he must return. This he did, but when he arrived in the
+evening, Ney, dispirited by the checks already received, and
+dissatisfied with himself and others, had discontinued the engagement.
+D'Erlon had spent the day in useless marches, his valor wasted by a
+fatality over which he had no control. Between 5 and 6 o'clock General
+Delcambre had overtaken the first corps on its march to Bry and brought
+it back towards Quatre-Bras!
+
+Night found the English, after a severe and bloody day, in possession of
+Quatre-Bras, the French being obliged to retreat. The gallant Duke of
+Brunswick, fighting in front of the line, fell almost in the beginning
+of the battle. The killed and wounded on the side of the French was
+4,000 and the Allies' loss was nearly 6,000, in consequence of their
+having scarcely any artillery. As at Ligny, little quarter was either
+asked or given, there being much hatred between the French and
+Prussians. The French were next driven out from the Bois de Bossu by the
+Belgians, and the English divisions of Alten, Halket, Maitland, Cooke,
+and Byng, successively arrived.
+
+By neglecting to move the whole of his division upon Quatre-Bras early
+in the morning, Ney failed to cut off the means of junction between the
+Prussian and English armies; and by not sending the detachment to attack
+the Prussians in the rear at Ligny, it now appears that the whole
+Prussian army was saved from being destroyed, or made prisoners, before
+it could receive the full support which had been promised by the Duke of
+Wellington. The latter intended to advance on Quatre-Bras at 2 o'clock,
+and debouch on St. Amand at 4 p. m. Ney, however, did an important act
+in checking the advance of five or six divisions of the main army during
+the rest of the day while the battle of Ligny was decided, and in this
+repaired, in a measure, his various faults committed on the 16th.
+
+The French bivouacked, on the night of the 16th, on the battlefield of
+Ligny, with the exception of Grouchy's division, which encamped at
+Sombref. The Duke of Wellington passed the night at Quatre-Bras,--his
+army gradually joining him till the morning of the 17th,--when they
+amounted to 50,000 men. The victory acquired by Napoleon at Ligny did
+not fulfill his expectations. "If Marshal Ney had attacked the British
+with his united forces," said the Emperor, "they must inevitably have
+been crushed; after which, he might have given the Prussians a
+conclusive blow; but, even if after neglecting that first step he had
+not committed a second, in impeding the movement of Count d' Erlon, the
+appearance of the first corps would have curtailed Blucher's resistance,
+and secured his overthrow without a possibility of doubt; then his
+entire army must have been captured or annihilated."
+
+Ney was now ordered to advance on Quatre-Bras at daybreak, and attack
+the British rear-guard, while Count Lobau was to proceed along the
+causeway of Namur, and take the British in flank. General Pajol, at
+daybreak, also went in pursuit of the Prussians under Blucher. He was
+supported by Grouchy, with Excelmans' cavalry, and the third and fourth
+corps of infantry, amounting in all to about 32,000 men. Grouchy was
+ordered by the Emperor to "above all things, pursue the Prussians
+briskly, and keep up a communication with me to the left" so as to
+rejoin the main army whenever required.
+
+Napoleon rode over the field of battle at Ligny, and directed every
+assistance be given to the wounded. He then hurried to the support of
+Ney's attack on Quatre-Bras. He learned that it was still held by the
+British, and that Ney had not made the attack. He reproached Ney on
+meeting him, and the marshal excused his delay by declaring he believed
+the whole British army was there. This, however, was not the case.
+
+The Duke of Wellington, who intended a junction with the Prussians at
+Quatre-Bras,--but had been frustrated by their disastrous defeat at
+Ligny,--now ordered a retreat on Brussels, leaving the Earl of Uxbridge,
+with his cavalry, as a rear-guard. Napoleon directed Count Lobau's
+division to advance, and the British cavalry then began to retire in
+battle-array. The French army moved forward in pursuit, the Emperor
+leading the way.
+
+The weather was extremely bad, the rain falling in torrents, so that the
+roads were scarcely passable. The attack of cavalry on the British
+rear-guard was, therefore, impracticable, but they were much discomfited
+by the French artillery. About 6 o'clock the air became extremely foggy,
+so that all further attack was relinquished for the night; but not until
+the Emperor had ascertained that the whole English army was encamped on
+the field of Waterloo, in front of the forest of Soignies.
+
+Napoleon, having ascertained the retreat of Blucher on Wavres, and
+committed the pursuit of him to Marshal Grouchy, believed that the
+latter was close to the same place,--as he ought to have been; but was
+not. At 10 o'clock on the night of the 17th the Emperor dispatched an
+officer to Wavres, to inform Grouchy that there would be a great battle
+next day; that the English and Belgian armies were posted on the field
+of Waterloo, its left supported by the village of La Haye; and ordered
+him to detach seven thousand men, of all arms, and six pieces of cannon,
+before day break to St. Lambert, to be near to the right of the French
+army, and co-operate with it; that as soon as Blucher evacuated Wavres,
+either towards Brussels, or in any other direction, he should instantly
+march with the rest of his force, and support the detachment sent to St.
+Lambert. About an hour after this dispatch was sent off, the Emperor
+received a report from Grouchy, dated from Gembloux at 5 o'clock,
+stating that "he was still at this village, and had not learned what
+direction Blucher had taken!"
+
+At 4 o'clock in the morning a second officer was sent to Grouchy to
+repeat the communication, and the orders which had been sent to Wavres
+at 10 o'clock. Another dispatch soon after arrived from Grouchy,--who
+had not at that time been found by either of the officers sent by the
+Emperor, to state that, "he had learned that Blucher was in Wavres, and
+would follow him--in the morning!"
+
+The Emperor was now convinced that he had not an hour to spare. He saw
+the possibility of the Duke's retreat with Blucher through the forest,
+their subsequent junction, while the great armies of Russia and Austria
+were about to cross the Rhine and advance on Paris. He now regretted
+more than ever that he had been unable to attack the English army before
+the night had intervened, and determined to follow and attack it now, if
+it commenced a retreat.
+
+It was not until 6 o'clock on the 17th of June that the advance guard of
+the French army arrived on the plains of Waterloo,--a delay being
+occasioned by unfortunate occurrences upon the road,--otherwise the
+forces would have gained the spot by 3 o'clock in the day. The
+circumstance appeared to disconcert the Emperor extremely, who, pointing
+to the sun, exclaimed with much emphasis, "What would I not give, to be
+this day possessed of the power of Joshua, and enabled to retard thy
+march for two hours!"
+
+The Duke of Wellington, on being made aware of Blucher's march on Wavre,
+and in adherence to the common plan of campaign, had given orders for
+falling back from Quatre-Bras. He had before now been heard to say, that
+if it ever were his business to defend Brussels, he would choose to give
+battle on the field of Waterloo, in advance of the forest of Soignies;
+and he now retired thither, in the confidence of being joined there in
+the morning by Blucher. The English at last reached the destined field,
+over roads covered with deep mud, and in the face of considerable
+rain. The troops, although somewhat discouraged by the command to
+retreat, were enthusiastic when they heard of their leader's purpose,
+and having taken up their allotted stations, bivouacked for the night
+assured of a battle on the morrow--the 18th of June.
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by Hte. Bellange
+
+NAPOLEON ON THE HEIGHTS AT LIGNY]
+
+Arrangements having been effected early in the evening, Wellington now,
+it appears, according to Lockhart, although the statement is not fully
+substantiated, rode across the country to Blucher to inform him
+personally that he had thus far effected the plan agreed on, and to
+express his hope to be supported on the morrow by two Prussian
+divisions. Blucher replied that he would reserve a single corps to hold
+Grouchy at bay as well as they could, and march himself, with the rest
+of his army upon Waterloo. Wellington then returned to his post.
+
+The cross-roads at Mont St. Jean were in an almost impassable condition
+and the rain continued to fall in torrents. Wellington was before the
+village of Mont St. Jean, about a mile and a half in advance of the
+small town of Waterloo, on a rising ground, having a gentle and regular
+declivity before it,--beyond this a plain of about a mile in
+breadth,--and then the opposite heights of La Belle Alliance, on which
+the French were expected to form their line. The Duke had 76,700 men in
+all; of whom about 30,000 were English. He formed his first line of the
+troops on which he could most surely rely,--the greater part of the
+British infantry, with the troops of Brunswick and Nassau, and three
+corps of Hanoverians and Belgians. Behind this the ground sinks and then
+rises again. The second line, formed in the rear of the first, was
+composed of the troops whose spirit and discipline were more
+doubtful--or who had suffered most in the action at Quatre-Bras; and
+behind all these was placed the cavalry. The position crossed the two
+highways from Nivelles and Charleroi to Brussels, nearly where they
+unite. These roads gave every facility for movement from front to rear
+during the action; and two country roads running behind, and parallel
+with the first and second lines, favored movements from wing to wing.
+The chateau and gardens of Hougomont, and the farm-house and inclosures
+of La Haye Sainte, about 1,500 yards apart, on the slope of the
+declivity, were strongly occupied and formed the important out-works of
+defense. The opening of the country road leading directly from Wavre to
+Mont St. Jean, through the wood of Ohain, was guarded by the British
+left, while those running further in advance might be expected to bring
+the first of the Prussians on the right flank of the French, during
+their expected attack. The British front extended in all over about a
+mile, with the strong outposts of Hougomont (situated near the centre of
+the right) and La Haye (which was in front of the centre) and in the
+rear the village of Mont St. Jean with the reserve force stationed
+there,--further back, the town of Waterloo (which has given its name to
+the battle because it was thence that the English general dated his
+dispatches)--and the forest of Soignies, as positions to retire upon, to
+make a stand or cover a retreat. A more advantageous ground for
+receiving an attack could not easily be obtained in any open country,
+not previously fortified. It was, therefore, sufficiently evident that
+the Duke of Wellington had availed himself of all these means of
+defense, by a circumspect and masterly disposition of his forces.
+
+It was Wellington's design to hold Napoleon at bay until the Prussian
+advance should enable him to charge the French with superior numbers,
+while it was Napoleon's wish to beat the Anglo-Belgian army, or at least
+to divide it, as well as to cut off its communications, ere Blucher
+could arrive on the field.
+
+Napoleon hoped to turn the left wing of the Duke's army, it being the
+weakest, and divide it from the right wing because he should thus
+intercept its junction with the Prussians by the road from Wavre,--and
+because he was in constant expectation of being joined himself by
+Grouchy from that side. Having effected this separation of the wings,
+and made a vigorous attack on both wings to distract the attention, it
+was his design to fall suddenly on the centre, break it, and rout all
+its component parts in detail. The Duke considered it his business to
+defeat, if possible, all these attempts; not to venture a general attack
+in return, but to hold his defensive position in the most cautious and
+determined manner until the arrival of Blucher.
+
+The Emperor had in the field 72,000 men, all French veterans--each of
+whom was, as he declared, worth one Englishman and two Prussians, Dutch
+or Belgians. Napoleon's forces, however, unlike those of Wellington's,
+had been on the march all through the tempestuous darkness, many of them
+had not had sufficient food, and the greater part of them did not reach
+the heights of La Belle Alliance until the morning of the 18th was
+considerably advanced. The Duke's followers had by that time had
+refreshment and some hours of repose.
+
+At 1 o'clock in the morning, the Emperor having issued the necessary
+orders for the battle during the earlier part of the night, went out on
+foot, accompanied by his grand marshal, and visited the whole line of
+the main guards. The forest of Soignies, occupied by the British,
+appeared as one continued blaze, while the horizon between that spot and
+the farms of La Belle Alliance and La Haye Sainte, was brightened by the
+fires of numerous bivouacs; the most profound silence reigning. Some
+time later the rain began to fall in torrents. Napoleon feared more than
+anything else that Wellington would continue his retreat on Brussels and
+Antwerp,--thus deferring the great battle until the Russians should
+approach the valley of the Rhine. The night of June 17-18, often called
+the "Vigil of Waterloo" was solemn, dark and without unusual incident
+during the early hours. Several officers sent to reconnoitre, and others
+who returned to headquarters at half-past three, announced that the
+British had made no movement. At 4 o'clock the scouts brought in a
+peasant, who had served as a guide to a brigade of English cavalry which
+had proceeded to secure a position on the left at the village of Ohain.
+Two Belgian deserters, who had just quitted their regiments, also
+reported that their army was preparing for a battle; and that no
+retrograde movement had taken place; that Belgium prayed for the success
+of the Emperor, as the English and Prussians were alike unpopular.
+
+The French troops bivouacked amidst deep mud and the officers thought it
+impossible to give battle on the following day; the ground being so
+moistened that artillery and cavalry could not possibly manoeuvre, while
+it would require twelve hours of fine weather to dry the soil. On
+reaching the eminence of La Belle Alliance at sunrise, and beholding the
+enemy drawn up on the opposite side and in battle array, the Emperor
+exclaimed, with evident joy, "At last! at last, then, I have these
+English in my grasp!" And yet, at this time, his exertions had been most
+phenomenal, and he was far from being in the physical condition
+necessary for such a contest as he had every reason to expect. He had
+been eighteen hours in the saddle on June 15th, and had slept but three
+hours before the battle of Ligny. On the 16th he was again for eighteen
+hours on horseback. On the 17th he rose at five in the morning and that
+night was almost continually astir.
+
+The Emperor's breakfast was served at 8 o'clock and many officers of
+distinction were present. "The enemy's army" said Napoleon, "is superior
+to ours by nearly a fourth; there are, nevertheless, ninety chances in
+our favor, to ten against us." The Emperor now mounted his horse, and
+rode forward to reconnoitre the English lines; after which he remained
+thoughtful for a few moments, and then dictated the order of battle. It
+was written down by two generals seated on the ground, after which two
+aides-de-camp promptly distributed it among the different corps. The
+army moved forward in eleven columns, and as they descended from the
+heights of La Belle Alliance the trumpets played "To the Field!" and the
+bands alternately struck up airs which recalled the memories of many
+victories.
+
+The French line of battle was formed in front of Planchenois, having the
+heights of La Belle Alliance in the rear of its centre. The forces were
+drawn up in six lines, on each side of the causeway of Charleroi. The
+first and second lines were of infantry, having the light cavalry at
+each of its wings, so as to unite them with the six lines of the main
+force. The artillery was placed in the intervals between the brigades.
+All the troops were in their stations by about 10:30 o'clock.
+
+Amidst this mass of men there was an almost painful silence until the
+Emperor rode through the ranks when he was received with the utmost
+enthusiasm; then, giving his last orders, he galloped to the heights of
+Rossome, which commanded a complete view of both armies below, with a
+considerable range on each side beyond.
+
+While Napoleon's design for making his grand attack from the centre, on
+La Haye Sainte,--which was directly in front of the enemy's centre,--was
+preparing, he gave orders for the commencement of the battle.
+
+The grand attack on the centre of the Anglo-Belgian army was to be made
+by Marshal Ney. The marshal had sent word to Napoleon that everything
+was ready, and he only awaited the order to begin. Before giving it
+Napoleon looked over the field of battle and the surrounding
+country,--the last he was ever to contest. He then perceived a dark mass
+at a distance in the direction of St. Lambert, where he had ordered
+Grouchy to send a detachment. The glasses of all the officers were
+instantly turned towards the object. Some thought it only a mass of dark
+trees. To remove all doubts the Emperor dispatched General Daumont, with
+a body of three thousand light cavalry, to form a junction with them if
+they were the troops of Grouchy, or to keep them in check if they were
+hostile. Through a Prussian hussar, who was brought in a prisoner, it
+was learned that the dark mass was the advanced guard of Bulow, who was
+coming up with thirty thousand fresh men; that Blucher was at Wavres
+with his army, and that Grouchy had not appeared there.
+
+A messenger was immediately dispatched to Marshal Grouchy, to march on
+St. Lambert, without a moment's delay, and take Bulow's division in the
+rear. It was believed that Grouchy must be near at hand, whether he had
+received the various orders sent him or not, as he himself had sent word
+that he should leave Gembloux in the morning, and from this place to
+Wavres was only three leagues distance.
+
+Napoleon had a high opinion of Grouchy and his punctuality, he being an
+officer of great experience; but the Emperor was in a state of great
+suspense on account of his failure to hear from him. He now ordered
+Count Lobau to follow and support the cavalry of Daumont, and to take up
+a strong position, where, with ten thousand men, he might keep thirty
+thousand in check; also to redouble the attack directly he found that
+Grouchy had arrived on the rear of the Prussians. Napoleon thus early
+found himself deprived of the services of ten thousand men on this grand
+field of battle. These events caused some change in his first plans,
+being deprived of the men whom he was thus obliged to send against
+General Bulow.
+
+"We had ninety chances for us in the morning," said Napoleon to Soult;
+"but the arrival of Bulow reduces them to thirty; we have still,
+however, sixty against forty; and if Grouchy repairs the horrible fault
+he has committed by amusing himself at Gembloux, victory will therefore
+be more decisive for the corps of Bulow must in that case be entirely
+lost."
+
+It was now 11:30 o'clock and the Emperor at once turned his attention to
+the main attack and sent word to Ney to begin his movement. Instantly
+one hundred and twenty pieces of artillery were unmasked. Then the
+French opened their fire of musketry on the advanced post of Hougomont
+and Jerome Bonaparte, under cover of its fire, charged impetuously on
+the Nassau troops in the wood about the house. They were driven before
+the French, but a party of English guards instantly unmasked forty
+pieces of cannon and maintained themselves in the chateau and garden,
+despite the desperate character of many repeated assaults. Jerome,
+masking the post thus resolutely held, pushed on his cavalry and
+artillery against Wellington's right. The English formed in squares to
+receive them and defied all their efforts. For some time both parties
+opposed each other here, without either gaining or losing a foot of
+ground. At length the English forced back the French, and the garrison
+of Hougomont was relieved and strengthened. There was great loss on the
+side of the British, owing to the suddenness of the attack, and the
+fixed position and dense array of the squares. The loss of the French
+was also considerable; and as the squares remained unbroken, no apparent
+advantage was gained by the assault.
+
+The French, being again repelled, a communication was reopened with
+Hougomont and the small body of English guards, defending the chateau,
+received a reinforcement under Colonel Hepburn. The garrison of
+Hougomont now made a combined charge; and, after a furious struggle, in
+which the utmost valor, both individual and collective was displayed on
+either side, drove back the French once more out of the wood, and
+recovered the position. The French in their turn rallied,--returned with
+renewed vigor,--and the English were now dislodged and driven out with
+great slaughter. They rallied in turn and immediately returned, and
+again they recovered the position. The French charged again but the
+martial spirit of the English guards was now wrought up to the highest
+pitch, and all the attempts of the assailants to dislodge them proved
+unavailing. This contest lasted through the greater part of the day. The
+killed and wounded on both sides during the struggle for this single
+outpost has been estimated at upwards of four thousand.
+
+The Emperor, calmly observing the whole from the heights, praised the
+valor of the English guards highly. He now ordered Hougomont to be
+attacked by a battery of howitzers and shells. The roofs and barns then
+took fire, and the remnant of the English guards remaining were obliged
+to retreat before the flames, over the mingled heaps of dead and dying
+bodies of their comrades and assailants.
+
+The first onslaught of the French made a series of dreadful gaps along
+the whole of the enemy's left and one of its divisions was completely
+swept away. The gaps were quickly filled by fresh men, however, as a
+column of French began to advance. Before it could be supported a grand
+charge of English cavalry was made, which broke the column of French
+infantry, routed it, and took two eagles and several pieces of cannon.
+While the English were wheeling off triumphantly, they were met by a
+brigade of Milhaud's cuirassiers. A desperate conflict ensued at sword's
+length, the combat lasting much beyond the usual time, the result of a
+meeting of two bodies of cavalry being generally determined in a few
+minutes. A quartermaster of the lancers, named Urban, rushed into the
+thickest of the fight, and took prisoner the brave Ponsonby, commander
+of the 1,200 Scotch dragoons,--called the "Scotch Greys," from the color
+of their horses. The Scotch sought to free their general but Urban
+struck him dead at his feet; he was then attacked by several dragoons,
+but instantly rushing at the holder of the standard of the 45th he
+unhorsed him with a blow of his lance, killed him with a second, seized
+the colors, killed another of the Scotch who pursued him close, and
+then, covered with blood, returned to his colonel with the trophy which
+had but a short time before been captured from Marcognet's division.
+
+Desperate charges of infantry and cavalry now followed in rapid
+succession, the immediate object of the French being the occupation of
+the outpost of the Anglo-Belgian army at the farm of La Haye Sainte, and
+thence to push on to the farm of Mont St. Jean. Some of the Scotch
+regiments made a gallant defense, but were overpowered; the 5th and 6th
+English divisions were nearly destroyed, and General Picton, who
+commanded the English left, was laid dead on the field.
+
+The French eventually carried La Haye Sainte; a body of their infantry
+pushed forward beyond the farm, and overwhelmed and scattered several
+regiments; but were charged in their turn by two brigades of English
+foot and heavy cavalry and routed. In consequence of this the farm of La
+Haye Sainte was vigorously assaulted by the English; and with the
+assistance of cannon and shells, was recovered.
+
+This important post was taken and retaken several times, with an energy
+that never relaxed on either side. An error in tactics, of which Ney and
+d'Erlon had been guilty, had left four or five columns of French
+infantry at the mercy of the enemy's cavalry, and cost them 3,000 men in
+dead, wounded and prisoners. The English had lost part of their
+dragoons, part of Kempt and Pack's cavalry, and Generals Picton and
+Ponsonby,--all amounting to about the same number as the French had
+lost; but the English had maintained their position and the whole
+operation was to be recommenced under the disadvantage of having foiled
+in the first attempt.
+
+The French were still masters of a part of La Haye Sainte farm and were
+rallying again on the side of the valley which lay between them and the
+English. Napoleon joined them, and walked in front of their ranks midst
+bullets rebounding from one line to another, and howitzers resounding in
+the air, General Desvaux, commander of the artillery of the Guard being
+killed at his side.
+
+During these assaults on the centre of the British line, the French
+cuirassiers had advanced to the charge in the face of a terrific fire
+from the artillery in front of the British infantry. The infantry
+awaited it, formed in a double line of squares, placed checkerwise, so
+that the sides of each square could fire a volley on the advancing
+cavalry, and protected in front by a battery of thirty field-pieces. The
+French cuirassiers rode up to the very mouths of the cannon, charged the
+artillerymen, drove them from their guns, and then rode fiercely on the
+squares behind. These remained steadfast, withholding their fire until
+the French were within a few yards of their bayonets, and then opened on
+them with deadly effect. The cavalry was all but broken, then rallied
+and renewed their charge. This they did several times, and always with
+the same result. Sometimes they even rode between the squares, and
+charged those of the second line. As the cuirassiers retired the
+artillerymen rushed from behind the squares, formed four deep, manned
+their guns, and fired grape-shot with terrible effect on the retreating
+body of gallant but ineffective cavalry.
+
+At length protracted exposure to such a murderous fire completed the
+ruin of these fearless cavaliers, the far greater part being annihilated
+in this part of the battle.
+
+When the relics of the cuirassiers at last withdrew, the French
+cannonade opened up furiously once more all along the line. It was
+vigorously returned, but the effect was far more devastating amidst the
+British ranks than in those of their assailants. The English were then
+commanded by Wellington to lie flat on the ground for some space, in
+order to diminish its effects. The Duke had by this time lost 10,000 men
+and Napoleon possibly a few more.
+
+It was now 4 o'clock and about this time the Emperor received
+intelligence from Gembloux, that, notwithstanding his repeated orders,
+Marshal Grouchy had not left his encampment at that place till after 10
+o'clock in the morning, in consequence, it was said, of the state of the
+weather. The body of ten thousand men, under Count Lobau and General
+Daumont, were now in action with the Prussians under Bulow, near St.
+Lambeth. The cannonade continued for considerable time; the Prussian
+centre was then attacked and beaten back, but its wings advancing, Count
+Lobau was obliged to retire.
+
+At this crisis Napoleon dispatched General Dufresne, with two brigades
+of infantry of the young guard, and twenty-four pieces of cannon, and
+the Prussian advance was checked. They still endeavored to out-flank the
+French right, when several battalions of the Old Guard, with sixteen
+pieces of cannon, were sent forward; the Prussian line was then
+out-flanked, and Bulow driven back.
+
+At about 5 o'clock Count d'Erlon had taken possession of the village of
+Ter-la-Haye; out-flanking the English left and Bulow's right. It appears
+that Count Milhaud's cuirassiers--which Ney had so often led against
+the enemy, and who were behind d'Erlon--and the Chasseurs of the
+Guard, supported by an incessant fire from the infantry of General
+Lefebvre-Desnoettes, dashed across the plain beyond the farm of La
+Haye Sainte. The advance of eight regiments and four brigades of
+their formidable horsemen created a great sensation, as it was
+believed the final moment was come. As General Milhaud passed before
+Lefebvre-Desnoettes, he grasped his hand and said, "I am going to
+charge, support me!" The commander of the light cavalry of the Guard
+believed it was by order of the Emperor he was desired to support the
+cuirassiers, and following their movement he took up a position behind
+them. It was Ney's belief, as he had said to Druot, that were he allowed
+to act he could, unaided, with such a body of noble cavalry at his
+disposal, now put an end to the English army.
+
+A fierce struggle ensued in which Ney had some advantage over the
+English, but not what had been expected. He now hastened towards
+Lefebvre-Desnoettes, made a signal to advance, and precipitated him on
+the Duke of Wellington's English and German cavalry. This charge allowed
+the somewhat disorganized cuirassiers time to form again, and they, with
+the chasseurs and lancers, fell again upon the English cavalry.
+Thousands of hand-to-hand conflicts now were in progress, ending in the
+enemy retreating behind the squares of the English infantry, thus
+stopping the onward progress of the French horsemen.
+
+Ney had two horses killed under him, but he was still determined to
+fulfill his vow to break the English lines. Observing now, on the other
+side of the plateau, 3,000 cuirassiers and 2,000 mounted grenadiers of
+the Guard that had not been yet engaged, the Marshal asked that they be
+given him to complete the victory.
+
+About 6 o'clock there was disorder in a great part of the Duke of
+Wellington's army. The ranks were thinned by the number killed, by those
+carried off wounded, and by desertions. Soldiers of various nations,
+Belgian, Hanoverian and English "crowded to the rear" and fled in a
+panic from this dreadful action. "A number of our own dismounted
+dragoons" says Captain Pringle, "together with a portion of our
+infantry, were glad to escape from the field. These thronged the road
+leading to Brussels, in a manner that none but an eye-witness could have
+believed."
+
+Cries of "Victory!" now resounded from the French over different parts
+of the field. Napoleon on hearing this, observed,--"It is an hour too
+soon; but we must support what is done." He then sent an order for a
+grand charge of three thousand cuirassiers under Kellerman on the left,
+and who were to move forward briskly and support the cavalry on the low
+grounds.
+
+A distant cannonade was now heard in the direction of Wavres. It
+announced the approach of Grouchy--or Blucher!
+
+At 12:30 o'clock Grouchy was midway between Gembloux and Wavres. The
+tremendous cannonade of Waterloo resounded from the distance. General
+Excelmans rode up to the marshal, and told him that "he was convinced
+that the Emperor must be in action with the Anglo-Belgian army; that so
+terrible a fire could not be an affair of outposts or skirmishing; and
+that they ought to march to the scene of action, which, by turning to
+the left, they might reach within two hours."
+
+Grouchy paused awhile, and then reverted to his orders to follow
+Blucher, although he did not know where Blucher really was. Count Girard
+came up, and joined in the advice of General Excelmans. Still Grouchy
+remained doubtful, and as if stupefied. "At one moment" says Hazlitt "he
+appeared convinced; but just then a report came that the Prussians were
+at Wavres, and he set out once more after them," instead of instantly
+hurrying off to join the Emperor in his great battle.
+
+It was a rear-guard which Blucher had left at Wavres; and the Prussian
+leader had gone to Waterloo, at the head of 30,000 men, having been
+advised, as previously stated, that the Duke of Wellington would hazard
+a battle on the morning of the 18th, if he could depend on the
+co-operation of the Prussians. The veteran marshal, at an early hour,
+had detached the corps of Bulow, with orders to march on St. Lambert,
+leaving Mielman with his corps at Wavres.
+
+The Duke had expected to be joined by Blucher as early as 11 o'clock;
+but the roads were in such a condition that the Prussians could not
+accomplish the march in any such time as had been calculated. Their
+advance was necessarily slow,--but it was in the right direction!
+
+Meanwhile, the Emperor on the battlefield of Waterloo, had reluctantly
+ordered the charge of Kellerman's three thousand cuirassiers, asked for
+by Ney, to sustain and follow up the advantage of the cuirassiers of
+Milhaud and the chasseurs of the Guard, on the plain below. The
+marshal's contest had been carefully watched by Napoleon who declared at
+once that Ney was too impatient, and had begun an hour too soon. "This
+man is always the same." said Marshal Soult. "He will compromise
+everything as he did at Jena and Eylau."
+
+Kellerman was now all ready for action, but he condemned the desperate
+use which at this moment was to be made of the cavalry. Distrusting the
+result, he kept back one of his brigades, the carbineers, and most
+unwillingly sent the remainder to Ney, whom he accused of foolish zeal.
+
+These twenty squadrons, led on by their generals and officers, now
+advanced at full gallop as if in pursuit of the English army, shouting,
+"Vive l'Empereur!" and under the cannonade of the Prussians, for Bulow
+was still pressing upon the flank and rear. Other bodies of cavalry also
+advanced upon the centre of the Anglo-Belgian army, making a spectacle
+which General Foy, an eye-witness, afterwards declared that during his
+long military career he had never been present at such a fearful scene
+as he then beheld.
+
+While Napoleon was watching their several charges, General Guyot's
+division of heavy cavalry was seen following the cuirassiers of
+Kellerman. This latter movement was without the Emperor's orders, and
+seems to have been the result of ungovernable excitement on the part of
+the officers and men, who thought they could finish the battle by a
+_coup de main_.
+
+The Emperor instantly sent Count Bertrand to recall them; but it was too
+late! The cavalry, once started, nothing could arrest its rush--they
+were in action before the order could reach them; and to recall them now
+would have been dangerous, even if possible. This division was the
+reserve, and ought by all means to have been held back. Thus was the
+Emperor deprived of his reserve of cavalry as early as 5 o'clock.
+
+[Illustration: From an old Drawing by F. Grenier
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR THE ADVANCE OF THE OLD GUARD AT WATERLOO]
+
+It is said that during the preparation of this grand charge of 12,000
+French cavalry,--the finest in the world,--the Duke of Wellington ran
+forward with his glass in front of the lines, amidst the hot fire which
+preceded the charge. He was reminded that he was exposing himself too
+much. "Yes," said the Duke, "I know I am,--but I must see what they are
+doing." To an officer who asked for instructions in case he should be
+slain, he answered; "I have no instructions to give; there is only one
+thing to be done--to fight to the last man and the last moment!"
+
+Some years later the Duke said, "I have never seen anything more
+admirable in war than those ten or twelve reiterated charges of the
+French cuirassiers upon our troops of all arms."
+
+It was obvious to the English commander, as he viewed this splendid
+spectacle, that unless this last and decisive onset should drive him
+from the post which he had continued to hold during nearly seven hours
+of intermitting battle, his allies would come fully into the field and
+give him a vast superiority of numbers wherewith to close the work of
+the day. The Duke now decided to sacrifice the remainder of his cavalry,
+and he moved them forward to meet the shock of the advancing foe.
+
+The matchless body of French cavalry continued to dash forward towards
+the hostile lines, in successive masses, and with all the triumphant
+fury of a charge upon a retreating enemy. Breaking through many squares
+of infantry, overthrowing the opposing cavalry, and overwhelming the
+artillery in front of the lines, they were received by the squares of
+British infantry, first with a volley of musket-balls, and then upon
+the immovable array of bristling bayonets. Men and horses, struggling in
+the agonies of violent death, bestrewed the ground. In his extremity
+Wellington determined on employing Cumberland's one thousand hussars,
+who had not yet been engaged; but at sight of this scene of slaughter
+the hussars fell back in disorder.
+
+The resistance of the Duke was most stubborn but Ney still hoped to
+destroy the English army at the point of the sword by keeping up a
+continued charge, having been reinforced by the heavy cavalry of the
+Guard whose advance had been made apparently without orders.
+
+Meanwhile Ney, seeing Kellerman's carbineers in reserve, hastened to
+where they were, asked what they were doing and then, despite
+Kellerman's resistance, led them to the front where they succeeded in
+making fresh breaches in the British infantry, but were unable to get
+beyond the second line.
+
+For the eleventh time Ney led on his 10,000 horse to the attack. The
+cuirassiers wheeled about, reformed, and again charged with tremendous
+energy, and a valor that set at contemptuous defiance the tempest of
+grape-shot, and balls of the artillery and musketry which opposed their
+advance. Men rolled off, and horses fell plunging; even pistols were
+discharged in their faces, and swords thrust over their bayonets in
+vain. The British infantry, though shaken for a moment again closed
+their ranks, fell into line and continued to fire. About this time Ney
+was heard to say to General d'Erlon, "Be sure, my friend, that for you
+and me, if we do not die here under the English balls, nothing remains
+but to fall miserably under those of the émigrés." To his artillery a
+few moments before he had said, "It is here, my friends, that the fate
+of our country is about to be decided; it is here that we must conquer
+in order to secure our independence!"
+
+The Emperor, who was now suffering great bodily pain, scarcely able to
+sit upon his horse, and falling at times into a sort of lethargy, was
+much moved by this spectacle. He had never before commanded in person
+against the English soldiery; but he knew them now--when it was too
+late! He observed their wonderful self-command, and unflinching courage,
+and praised it;--but it was his ruin!
+
+Again and again did the brilliant cavalry of the French rush forward to
+the charge with redoubled fury. They frequently passed between the
+squares of the first line amidst their united cross-fire from front and
+rear, and charged the squares of the second line whose fire they also
+received, but no general effect was produced, no real advantage gained
+beyond an occasional breaking of the squares in both lines, particularly
+the second. The baffled cuirassiers were always obliged to retire,
+receiving the terrible cross-fire of the squares as they passed between
+them and followed by a volley of musketry and often by the grape-shot of
+the artillery.
+
+Four thousand of the French cavalry now strewed the ground, while 10,000
+English, horse and foot had laid down their lives. Many were the deeds
+of individual gallantry performed by officers and men on both sides,
+among cavalry and infantry all over the field. During the conflict
+Colonel Heymes hastened to Napoleon to ask for the infantry of which Ney
+was in need. "Infantry!" cried the Emperor, with considerable
+irritation, "where does he suppose I can get them? Does he expect me to
+make them? You can see the task before me, and you see what troops I
+have!" When the Emperor's irritation had somewhat subsided he sent
+another message to Ney, more hopeful than the former. He made Colonel
+Heymes tell the marshal that if he were in a difficult position at Mont
+St. Jean, he was himself in still greater difficulties on the banks of
+the Lasne, where he was opposed by the entire Prussian army, but when he
+had repelled, or even checked them, he, with the Guard, would hasten to
+complete the conquest of the English; until then the plateau was to be
+held at any cost for an hour when he might reckon on reinforcements.
+
+The desperate assaults of the French cavalry ought to have been
+supported by strong bodies of infantry; they could not, however, be
+spared, being needed for the contest with Bulow, on the French right and
+to prevent his advance.
+
+By 7 o'clock, Bulow's corps of 30,000 men was successfully repulsed, and
+Count Lobau, with 10,000 men, occupied the positions from which the
+Prussian general had been driven.
+
+Still the French cavalry could do no more than maintain itself on the
+plateau from which the Duke's 36,000 men had made a slight retrograde
+movement. A fresh cannonade was opened by the French along the British
+line, after the assaults of the cuirassiers, but no further advance was
+attempted by the former. As one authority truly says, the British were
+beaten to a stand-still--_but there they stood!_ It was, in effect, a
+drawn battle up to this time.
+
+There was not the least demonstration on the part of the Duke of
+Wellington to make any general advance during this almost interminable
+contest,--nor had there been all day,--and as little sign of his moving
+back. About twenty thousand men had already been killed, or otherwise
+lost, on each side.
+
+It was now nearly 7 o'clock. The distant cannonade, which had been
+faintly heard in the direction of Wavres, opened nearer at hand. It was
+the announcement,--not of the arrival of Grouchy, in the rear of Bulow's
+division; but that of the two columns of Blucher, amounting to about
+31,000 fresh troops!
+
+The relative strength of the two armies, allowing twenty thousand as
+lost on both sides, was now considerably over two to one against the
+French,--the majority on the other side being chiefly composed of fresh
+men. Wellington was heard to say during the day, "Would to God that
+Blucher or night would come!" and now both were at hand.
+
+The presence of mind of the Emperor now became most alert, and it was
+never so clearly manifested as at this critical moment when everything
+hung in the balance.
+
+The fresh army, advancing to the assistance of the Anglo-Belgian forces,
+was soon discovered by the French troops, who were in action on the
+field. The cavalry on the plain were waiting in constant expectation of
+the Emperor's orders for the advance of his reserves of the infantry of
+the Guard. They were not alarmed when they saw the communication finally
+effected between Bulow and the English, but when they perceived the
+approach of the dense columns of Blucher, they were confounded, and
+several regiments began to fall back.
+
+Napoleon now sent his aides-de-camp along the whole line to announce the
+arrival of succor, and that Blucher's advance was only a retreat before
+Grouchy, who was pressing on his rear. It was a clever ruse, and
+warranted by the situation in which he now found himself, as it
+momentarily revived the spirits of the weary troops to a wonderful
+degree.
+
+At the head of four battalions of the infantry of the Guard, the Emperor
+now advanced on the left in front of La Haye Sainte. He ordered General
+Reille to concentrate the whole of his corps near Hougomont and make an
+attack. He then sent General Friant to support the cavalry on the plain
+with four battalions of the middle guard. If, by sudden charge, they
+could break and disorder the centre of the British line before the
+columns of Blucher could force their way into the plain, a last chance
+of success still remained. Blucher was hurrying on to La Haye; there was
+not a moment to lose!
+
+The attack was made, the infantry drove back all that opposed them, and
+repeated charges of the French cavalry disordered the hostile ranks.
+Presently some battalions of the Old Guard came up. They too were going
+to the attack to retrieve the ground lost by the young guard who had
+fallen back, for, as Thiers says, "It is the privilege of the Old Guard
+to repair every disaster." The Emperor ranged his veterans by brigades;
+two battalions being in line, and two in column. As he rode along in
+front of these battle-scarred battalions, he said, "My friends, the
+decisive moment is come; it will not do to fire; you must come hand to
+hand with the enemy, and drive them back at the point of the bayonet
+into the ravine whence they have issued to threaten the army, the Empire
+and France."
+
+General Friant was now carried by, wounded. He said that all was going
+well, but that the attack could not be successful till the balance of
+the Guard were employed. This movement could not be effected on the
+instant and in a few minutes it was too late, as the Prussians were
+coming up in great numbers. The British still stood on the defensive and
+Blucher had reached the village of La Haye. A violent struggle now
+ensued, but it was of brief duration; the overwhelming mass of fresh men
+soon bore down all opposition.
+
+The Duke of Wellington now prepared,--for the first time during the
+day,--to advance his entire line. He was aware that the decisive moment
+was at hand and that his safety, as well as that of his gallant men,
+depended on this last effort.
+
+A panic soon seized some of the French soldiers, exhausted and maddened
+by the terrible strain they had undergone during the day, and at the
+sudden appearance before them of the dark mass of fresh assailants, the
+cry of "Sauve qui peut!" (Every man for himself!) was raised. The
+disorder soon became general and the men fled as the columns of
+Prussians poured into the plain.
+
+Napoleon instantly changed the front of the Guard so as to throw its
+left on La Haye Sainte and its right on La Belle Alliance; he then met
+the fugitives and led them back to their post. They at once faced the
+Prussians, whom they immediately charged. The fresh brigade of the
+English cavalry from Ohain arrived at this crisis and forced their way
+between General Reille's corps and the Guard, to their utter separation.
+The Emperor now ordered his four reserve squadrons to charge the fresh
+brigade of English cavalry but their attack met with no success. As he
+was leading the four battalions destined to their place of attack on the
+Charleroi road he met Ney, who was greatly excited, and who declared
+that the cavalry would certainly give way if a large reinforcement of
+infantry did not immediately arrive. Napoleon gave him the battalions he
+was bringing up and promised to send six more.
+
+The ranks of the French were now in general confusion all over the
+field. Napoleon had barely time to gallop into one of the squares of the
+Guard which still maintained its position; Ney, Jerome, Soult, Bertrand,
+Druot, Corbineau, de Flahaut, Labedoyere, Gourgaud and others drew their
+swords, became soldiers again and followed close to their chiefs heels.
+They entered the square of the last battalion of reserve,--the
+illustrious and unfortunate remains of the "granite column" of the
+fields of Marengo, who had remained unshaken amidst the tumultuous waves
+of the army. The old grenadiers, incapable of fear for themselves, were
+alarmed at the danger threatening the Emperor, and appealed to him to
+withdraw. "Retire" said one of them, "You see that death shuns you!" The
+Emperor resisted, and commanded them to fire.
+
+The four battalions of the Guard, and the cavalry which had so long held
+the plains below in opposition to the whole Anglo-Belgian army, were
+being rapidly depleted. Wellington had ordered Maitland's guards to fire
+on them at short range as they moved forward for the last time. The
+sudden shock did not cause the advancing soldiers to stop, but closing
+their ranks they continued to push on. They were soon beaten, however,
+by overwhelming numbers of cavalry, both English and Prussian, and were
+at last compelled to retire that they might not be cut off from the
+centre of the army, while the enemy continued to advance, preceded by
+their artillery, which poured forth a most destructive fire.
+
+But one last effort to stem the torrent still remained. If the British
+centre could be broken, and their advance checked, some favorable chance
+was just possible. The Emperor therefore ordered the advance of the
+reserve infantry of the Imperial Guard,--the flower of his army. He
+exhorted them, by a hasty personal appeal, and confided the direction of
+their efforts to "the bravest of the brave," who had had five horses
+killed under him and who now advanced on foot, sword in hand. The 2900
+heroic stalwarts moved forward in two columns, headed by Ney, and
+supported by a heavy fire of artillery, while four battalions of the Old
+Guard, formed into squares, took post in their rear as a reserve and to
+protect the march of the columns.
+
+Either wing of the English had by this time advanced in consequence of
+the repulses of the French and their line now presented a concave. They
+were formed in an unbroken array, four deep, and as the French advanced
+poured on them a shower which never intermitted, each man firing as
+often as he could reload. Wellington gave the order to advance in the
+familiar and brusque terms of, "Up guards and at them!" The English
+wings kept moving on all the while; and when the heads of the French
+columns, who continued to advance till within forty or fifty yards,
+approached to this point, they were met with such a storm of musketry in
+front, and on either flank, that they in vain endeavored to deploy into
+line for the attack, under a terrific and unremitting fire. They stopped
+to make this attempt, reeled, lost order, and the 800 men who were left
+standing fled at last in one mass of confusion.
+
+The Duke of Wellington now dismounted, placed himself at the head of his
+line and led his men against the remaining numbers of four battalions
+of the Old Guard--the only unbroken troops remaining behind, while Ney
+was striving to rally his fugitives. His cocked hat was gone, and his
+clothes were literally riddled with bullets, though he himself remained
+untouched. The intrepid marshal, at Wellington's approach, took part
+once more in the mêlée, sword in hand, and on foot. But nothing could
+withstand the impetuous assault of the victorious British.
+
+Napoleon, who had watched this last terrible contest from the heights of
+La Belle Alliance suddenly exclaimed, "They are mingled together, all is
+lost for the present," and accompanied by but three or four officers, he
+gave the signal for retreat and hurried to the left of Planchenois, to a
+second position, where he had placed a regiment of the Guard, with two
+batteries in reserve.
+
+The four battalions of the Old Guard, under General Cambronne, still
+remained to protect the retreat of the French army. If they could
+succeed in holding the British in check, and prevent their advance
+during half an hour longer, darkness would enable the army to retreat in
+safety, and partially recover its disorder by morning. The Old Guard
+formed in square, flanked by a few pieces of artillery, and by a brigade
+of red lancers. "The Duke of Wellington" says Captain Pringle, "now
+ordered his whole line to advance and attack their position." They
+advanced to the charge in embattled array, condensed and tremendous,
+against the remnant of noble veterans of that old Imperial Guard, which,
+during twenty years of slaughterous wars, had never once been
+vanquished. Gathering round the standards of their former glory, they
+received the dreadful onset with souls prepared for death. Nothing
+could now withstand the vigor of the attack of the British soldiers who
+thus had an opportunity to relieve their breasts of the heavy burden
+they had borne all day when compelled, for hours, to stand the fierce
+attacks of the French, being frequently driven back, and never making an
+advance.
+
+The Old Guard, as was to be expected, were beaten down,--slaughtered.
+Their general, Cambronne, was called upon to surrender by some British
+officers who seemed to revolt at the uneven contest. The only reply made
+by him was,--not the generally believed, but inaccurate declaration
+recorded by some historians, "The Old Guard dies, but does not
+surrender!" but was a single word of military jargon frequently used by
+French soldiers. Almost immediately afterwards he fell from his horse,
+cut down by a fragment of a shell striking him on the head; but he would
+not allow his men to leave their ranks to bear him away.
+
+Once more these heroes, now reduced to but one hundred and fifty men,
+are commanded to surrender; "We will not yield!" they answer back, and
+discharging their muskets for the last time, rush on the cavalry and
+with their bayonets, kill many men and horses, and then sink to the
+earth exhausted or in death.
+
+The Old Guard was destroyed,--not defeated! The advancing British troops
+rode over their prostrate bodies piled in ghastly heaps,--a monument to
+their valor and heroism, even in death. Ney, bareheaded, his clothes
+hanging in shreds, and with his broken sword in his hand, seeing a
+handful of his followers still remaining, ran forward to lead them
+against a Prussian column that was pursuing them. As the fearless
+marshal threw himself once more into the fray he exclaimed, "Come my
+friends; come see how a marshal of France can die!" But his time had not
+come: he was not destined to die upon the battlefield. His small band
+was soon overpowered and scarcely two hundred escaped death. Rulliere,
+who commanded the battalion, broke the flag-staff, hid the eagle beneath
+his coat, and followed Ney who had been unhorsed for the fifth time, but
+who was still unwounded. Under cover of the darkness they made their
+escape.
+
+The Emperor attempted to protect the retreat and rally the fugitives;
+but it was now fast growing dark. The soldiers could not see him or they
+might have rallied, while many believed the report that he had been
+killed. "He is wounded," said some, "He is dead" cried others. Nothing
+could be heard above the uproar and hideous confusion that everywhere
+prevailed. The Prussian cavalry, supported by some battalions of
+infantry, and the whole of Bulow's corps, now advanced by the right of
+Planchenois.
+
+In a few minutes the Emperor was almost surrounded by hostile forces. He
+had formed the regiment into a square, and was still lingering, when
+Marshal Soult seized the bridle of his horse, exclaimed that he would
+not be killed, but taken prisoner, and, pulling him away, the Emperor at
+last yielded to his destiny! Behind him on the battlefield lay 60,000
+French, English and Prussians, dead or wounded. The battle of Waterloo
+was lost and this hitherto almost invincible warrior was obliged to
+gallop across the fields in the dark, amidst the whistling of the
+Prussian bullets, and detachments of their cavalry which were scouring
+the field in all directions.
+
+Napoleon was so fatigued, on the road to Genappe, that he would no doubt
+have fallen from his horse, had he not been supported by General
+Gourgaud and two other persons, who remained his only attendants for
+some time.
+
+Wellington and Blucher met about 10 o'clock, at the farm-house of La
+Belle Alliance, and after congratulating each other on the success of
+the day, the Prussian commander, whose men were still fresh, eagerly
+undertook to continue the pursuit during the night, while the English
+general halted to rest his weary men and care for the dead and wounded.
+
+The English loss on this eventful day was 100 officers slain and 500
+wounded; very many mortally. The Duke who was himself exposed to great
+danger throughout the day, and one other person, were the only two among
+his numerous staff who escaped unhurt. The enemy, according to their own
+accounts, lost over thirty thousand men, including Hanoverians, Belgian
+troops of Nassau, Brunswick, etc.; those of the English army alone
+amounted to 22,800; to which are to be added 8,000 to 10,000 Prussians.
+Of the 72,000 men whom Napoleon headed in this, his 85th pitched battle
+and greatest defeat, not more than 30,000 were ever again collected in
+arms. The remainder were either killed or wounded on the battlefield, or
+deserted and fled separately to their homes, or were murdered by the
+Prussians who followed hard on the miserable and defenseless fugitives,
+cutting down all they overtook without resistance or mercy.
+
+Several French officers blew out their brains to escape their brutality
+and some of the veterans of the Imperial Guard, who lay wounded upon the
+battlefield, killed themselves when they heard the Emperor had lost the
+battle, in order that they might not fall into the hands of the enemy,
+or through remorse at the downfall of their chief.
+
+Napoleon made a brief halt at Genappe, at about 11 o'clock at night; but
+all his attempts to rally the frantic masses were in vain. He then
+continued his course towards Quatre-Bras, where he dismounted at a
+bivouac at about 1 o'clock in the morning. At Phillipville, he received
+news of Grouchy's movements, and sent him word of the loss of Mont St.
+Jean, (Waterloo).
+
+At this point he caused orders to be dispatched to Generals Rapp,
+Lecourbe and Lamarque, to proceed by forced marches to Paris, and to
+commanders of fortified towns to defend themselves to the last
+extremity. He also dictated two letters to his brother Joseph, one to be
+communicated to the council of ministers relating imperfectly the fatal
+issue of the day, and the other for his private perusal giving a
+faithful account of the total rout of the army, and declaring that he
+would soon have an army of 300,000 troops with which to oppose the
+enemy. The Duke of Bassano (Maret) and Baron Fleury now came up and
+greeted the Emperor who was much affected at meeting them, and was
+scarcely able to suppress his emotions. He then prepared to set off in a
+calash, accompanied by Bertrand. At Rocroi, where Napoleon stopped to
+take refreshments, his attendants appeared in a pitiable state; their
+clothes were covered with blood and dust, their looks were haggard, and
+their eyes were filled with tears. Napoleon continued his journey to
+Paris, via Laon, accompanied by two or three hundred fugitives, who had
+been collected to form an escort, arriving at the capital on the evening
+of the 20th of June.
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The "military career" of Napoleon Bonaparte having ended at Waterloo,
+but little remains to be added here. Other writers, especially those
+noble self-sacrificing friends who shared with the Exile his life at St.
+Helena, have told in detail of his weary hours on the rocks in the
+Atlantic Ocean, and a brief summary of the events which finally ended in
+Napoleon becoming a prisoner of England for life will only be recited.
+
+The arrival of the Emperor at Paris had been preceded by the
+news--received on June 19th, of the victories at Charleroi and Ligny,
+and one hundred cannon had been fired in honor of his successes. On the
+morning of the 21st it became known that the Emperor had arrived the
+night before, at the Elysée. When he stopped at the flight of steps
+leading to the palace General Druot, who had accompanied him exclaimed,
+"All is lost!" "Except honor," answered Napoleon quickly. He had not
+spoken before since leaving Laon.
+
+Immediately on his arrival the Emperor was received by Caulaincourt--his
+censor in prosperity and real friend in adversity. To him he said, with
+head bowed by grief and fatigue, "The army performed prodigies; a panic
+seized it, and all was lost. Ney conducted himself like a madman; he got
+my cavalry massacred. I can say no more--I must have two hours' rest,
+to enable me to prepare for business"; "I am choking here!" he exclaimed
+a moment later, laying his hand upon his heart. After ordering a bath,
+and a few moments silence he said: "My intention is to assemble the two
+Chambers in an imperial sitting and demand the means of saving the
+country."
+
+He was then informed that the deputies appeared hostile towards him, and
+were little disposed to grant his requests. While he remained in his
+bath the ministers and great officers of state hastened towards the
+Elysée. When they arrived, his clothes were still covered with dust, as
+he had left the field of Waterloo; yet, exhausted by the fatigues of
+three battles, and the dreadful events of his flight and the hurry of
+his journey being still vivid in his mind, he gave a rapid but distinct
+view of the resources of the country, the strength already organized for
+resistance, and the far greater power still capable of development.
+Among his listeners were his brothers Joseph and Lucien.
+
+While consulting with his ministers, presided over by Joseph, on the
+morning of the 21st, as to what manner he should inform the Chambers of
+his great misfortune, news was received that both assemblies had met on
+learning of his defeat and resolutions passed,--one of which declared
+the State to be in danger, and the other that their own sittings be made
+permanent. Thus the Chamber of Representatives overturned the new
+constitution, and put aside the authority of the Emperor. These
+resolutions were also adopted by the Chamber of Peers. Lucien Bonaparte,
+and some of Napoleon's more intimate friends, wished him to instantly
+put himself at the head of 6,000 of the Imperial Guard, who were then in
+the capital, and dissolve the Senate, which was unfriendly to him. The
+Emperor, however, was undecided; as Lucien said of him ever after
+that, "the smoke of Mont St. Jean had turned his brain."
+
+[Illustration: From a Painting by C. Steuben
+
+NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO]
+
+Late in the evening of the 21st Napoleon held a council to which the
+presidents and vice presidents of both Chambers were admitted, but no
+decision was arrived at. Lafayette, the friend of Washington, declared
+that nothing could be done until "a great sacrifice could be made." The
+Emperor heard all in silence and broke up the meeting without having
+come to any decision.
+
+"I have often asked myself," said Napoleon to Las Casas at St Helena,
+"whether I have done for the French people all that they could expect of
+me--for that people did much for me. Will they ever know all that I
+suffered during the night that preceded my final decision? In that night
+of anguish and uncertainty, I had to choose between two great courses;
+the one was to save France by violence, and the other to yield to the
+general impulse." He finally decided that abdication was the only step
+he could adopt, and his determination was taken.
+
+Early next morning--the 22d--the Chambers again met, and the necessity
+of the Emperor's abdication was discussed with vigor. It was demanded on
+all hands, and without any reservation or condition whatever. Finally,
+Lafayette instructed that word should be sent Napoleon that he would be
+given an hour in which to abdicate, and be told if he had not done so by
+that time he would be deposed. Between noon and 1 o'clock the abdication
+was signed and carried by Carnot to the Chamber of Peers, and by Fouché
+to the Chamber of Deputies.
+
+When Fouché appeared, the Deputies were about to declare the Emperor
+deposed, and he saved them that trouble by producing the following
+proclamation, in the handwriting of Joseph Bonaparte, to whom it had
+been dictated, and addressed to the French people:
+
+    "Frenchmen! When I began war for the maintenance of the national
+    independence, I relied upon the union of all efforts, all wills
+    and all the national authorities. I had reason to hope for
+    success, and I braved all the declarations of the powers against
+    my person. Circumstances appear to be changed. I offer myself as
+    a sacrifice to the hatred against France. May they prove sincere
+    in their declarations, and to have aimed only at me! My
+    political life is ended. I proclaim my son under the title of
+    Napoleon II., Emperor of the French. The present ministers will
+    provisionally form the council of the Government. The interest
+    which I take in my son induces me to recommend the Chambers
+    should immediately enact a law for the organization of a
+    Regency; unite together for the general safety, and to the end
+    of securing your national independence. Done at the Palace of
+    the Elysée, June the 22d, 1815.--NAPOLEON."
+
+The Chambers had awaited this reply in a state of the greatest
+impatience in both houses. In the Chamber of Peers, Carnot, having
+received some exaggerated accounts of the force and success of Grouchy,
+endeavored to persuade the Assembly that the marshal must ere then have
+added 60,000 men at Laon to Soult, the relics of Waterloo, thus forming
+an army capable, under proper guidance, of yet effectually retrieving
+the affairs of France.
+
+Ney, who had arrived in Paris the same morning, declared otherwise.
+"Grouchy" said he, "cannot have more than twenty, or at most, more than
+twenty-five thousand men; and as to Soult, I myself commanded the Guard
+in the last assault--I saw them all massacred before I left the field.
+Be assured there is but one course,--negotiate and recall the Bourbons.
+In their return I see nothing but the certainty of being shot as a
+deserter. I shall seek all I have henceforth to hope for in America.
+Take you the only course that remains for France."
+
+Ney's prophecy was soon to be fulfilled, for on the return of the
+Bourbons to the throne he was shot as a traitor to France, although, as
+has been frequently said of him, he fought more than five hundred
+battles for his country and never raised arms against her!
+
+A deputation from the Senate waited on the Emperor at the Elysée, and in
+respectful terms thanked him for the sacrifice he had made, but he was
+unable to exact from them the avowal that his abdication necessarily
+carried with it the immediate proclamation of Napoleon II.
+
+The Emperor, for the last time clothed in imperial garb, and surrounded
+by his great officers of state, received the deputation with calmness
+and dignity. "I thank you for the sentiments which you express," he
+said, "I desire that my abdication may produce the happiness of France;
+but I cannot hope it; the State is left by it without a chief, without a
+political existence. The time lost in overturning the Empire might have
+been employed in placing France in a position to crush the enemy. I
+recommend that the Chamber promptly reinforce the armies; whoever wishes
+for peace must be ready for war. Do not place this great nation at the
+mercy of strangers. Beware of being deceived in your hopes. This is the
+real danger. In whatever position I may be placed, I shall always be
+satisfied, if France is happy."
+
+He perceived clearly that there was no hope for his son. Thus ended the
+second reign--the "Hundred Days" of Napoleon. His public career was
+ended. The council of ministers broke up, and the palace of the Elysée
+soon presented the appearance of being deserted. Napoleon, surrounded
+only by a few friends, had now become a private individual. When
+Caulaincourt advised him to seek safety from the Allies in flight to the
+United States, he replied; "What have I to fear? I have abdicated--it is
+the business of France to protect me!"
+
+The repeated protestations of Napoleon and his friends, that unless
+Napoleon II. was recognized the abdication of his father was null, and
+that the country that could hesitate about such an act of justice was
+worthy of nothing but slavery, began to produce a powerful effect among
+the soldiery in Paris, and Napoleon was called upon to signify to the
+army that he no longer claimed any authority over them, to which he
+complied.
+
+A provisional government was now proclaimed, consisting of Fouché,
+Carnot, Caulaincourt and Generals Grenier and Quinette, and installed in
+the Tuileries. Fouché declared that Napoleon's continued presence at the
+capital might produce disturbance, and Carnot was deputed to request him
+to withdraw to Malmaison, which he was compelled to do on the 25th.
+Arriving there he soon became aware of the fact that he was in effect a
+prisoner, for Fouché's police surrounded him on all sides--ostensibly
+"to protect his person." It was at Malmaison, in compliance with the
+suggestions of some members of the government, that Napoleon addressed
+his last proclamation to the army; "Soldiers!" he said, "When I yield to
+the necessity which forces me to separate myself from the brave French
+army, I take away with me the happy conviction that it will justify, by
+the eminent services which the country expects from it, the high
+character which our enemies themselves are not able to refuse to it.
+Soldiers! I shall follow your steps, though absent. I know all the
+corps, and not one among them will obtain a single advantage over the
+enemy that I shall not render homage to the courage which it will have
+shown. You, and I, have been calumniated. Men, incapable of appreciating
+your actions, have seen, in the marks of attachment which you have given
+me, a zeal of which I was the whole object; let your future success
+teach them that it was the country, above all, that you served in
+obeying me, and that if I have any part in your affection, I owe it to
+my ardent love of France, our common mother. Soldiers, some efforts
+more, and the coalition will be destroyed. Napoleon will know you by the
+blows that you will give to it. Save the honor, the independence of the
+French; be what I have known you for twenty years, and you will be
+invincible."
+
+This address, however, although written at the instigation of the
+government, its representatives would not allow to be published in the
+"Moniteur."
+
+The relics of Waterloo, and Grouchy's division, were now marching
+towards Paris under Soult, followed closely by Wellington and Blucher.
+The provisional government began to feel some anxiety concerning
+Napoleon, whom they feared might make his escape from Malmaison and
+place himself at the head of an armed force to take the field against
+the invaders, and in favor of Napoleon II.
+
+General Becker, who had been appointed by Fouché to the unthankful
+office of guarding Napoleon, was prevailed upon to repair to Paris and
+convey a letter to the government, in which the ex-Emperor offered to
+assume the command of the army and beat the enemy, not with an intention
+of seizing the sovereign power, but agreeing to pursue his journey as
+soon as victory should give a favorable turn to the negotiations. In
+this letter, which was addressed to the Committee of Government,
+Napoleon said: "In abdicating the sovereign authority, I did not
+renounce the noblest right of a citizen, that of defending my country.
+The approach of the Allies upon the capital leaves no doubt of their
+intentions and bad faith. Under these weighty circumstances, I offer my
+service as general, still considering myself the first soldier of my
+country!"
+
+Fouché read the letter aloud, and then exclaimed, "Is he laughing at us?
+Come, this is going too far." His proposal was of course rejected,
+although Carnot was desirous that his prayer should be granted.
+
+General Becker was instructed to carry back to Malmaison this response;
+"The duties of the Committee toward the country do not permit it to
+accept the proposition and the active assistance of the Emperor
+Napoleon."
+
+He found the Emperor in uniform, believing a favorable reply would be
+returned. When he had finished the missive Napoleon said: "These men are
+incapable of energy. Since that is the case, let us go into exile."
+
+Fouché now urged his prisoner to consent to depart at once for some
+foreign port--naming the United States as a haven in which he might find
+relief from outside interference. If Napoleon had acted promptly, as he
+had all his life been accustomed to do, he might in all probability have
+made his escape to this country, as our vessels were in every French
+port--and he could have crossed the Atlantic; but he hesitated, and
+those golden moments, which meant so much to him, even liberty itself,
+were soon irretrievably lost. Fouché, who was extremely anxious to have
+the man who had made him all he was out of the way, did not hesitate to
+resort to questionable means of pressure to get Napoleon to leave
+France. One of these was the stimulating of the personal creditors of
+the dethroned Emperor, and his family, who repaired incessantly to
+Malmaison to torment him with their demands.
+
+Meanwhile Fouché sent to the Duke of Wellington announcing that Napoleon
+had declared his intention of departing for America, and requesting for
+him a safe conduct across the Atlantic. The Duke replied that he had no
+authority to grant passports to Napoleon Bonaparte but the request, as
+Fouché hoped, had the effect of causing the English admirality to
+quicken their diligence and there was immediately stationed no less than
+thirty cruisers along the western coasts of France in order to intercept
+Napoleon should he attempt to depart. No one could be deceived as to the
+intention of this proceeding; it clearly denoted that the men, who, for
+the moment, possessed the government of France, had determined that the
+late Emperor should not leave the country freely. The fear that he might
+return to the capital, and to his throne, had made them take a step
+which was certain to place him in the power of the English government.
+
+The next move was to inform Napoleon of the Duke's reply and with it the
+declaration that two frigates, and some smaller vessels, awaited his
+orders at Rochefort. He was informed that "if he repaired thither on the
+instant" he would still be in time. For a moment he hesitated, wavering
+between hope and doubt. Baron Fleury then went to Paris and learned that
+the Prussians designed to carry off the Emperor; that Blucher had said,
+"If I can catch Bonaparte, I will hang him up at the head of my army,"
+but that Wellington had strenuously opposed such a cowardly design. At
+half past 3 o'clock in the morning Napoleon was informed that Wellington
+had refused him safe conduct, and he was ordered to depart immediately
+from Malmaison. Preparations were hurriedly made, and on the 29th of
+June, eleven days after the battle of Waterloo, he left Malmaison,
+accompanied by Savary, Bertrand and Las Casas, and others of his
+attached servants, and attended by a guard of mounted men.
+
+If one of his followers had not taken the precaution to have the bridges
+in front of Malmaison burned, Napoleon would have run a great risk of
+falling into the hands of the Allies, as three corps of Prussian cavalry
+appeared there in quest of him very soon after he started. They had
+arrived by a circuitous route, and must have been led by a guide well
+acquainted with the locality. Napoleon, however, had escaped this
+danger. He slept at Rambouillet the first night, at Tours on the 30th,
+and at Niort on the 1st of July. He was well received wherever he was
+recognized; but at the last named place the enthusiasm of the people and
+troops was extreme.
+
+Rochefort was reached on the 3rd of July. Here Napoleon, who was joined
+by his brother Joseph, took up his residence in the prefect's house with
+the view of embarking immediately, but he was informed that a British
+line-of-battle ship, and some smaller vessels of war, were off the
+roads, watching the roadstead and harbor, and his departure was
+therefore impossible.
+
+Meanwhile the French army had once more retired from before the walls of
+Paris under a convention, and Blucher and Wellington were about to enter
+the capital and reseat Louis on the throne. The only alternative,
+therefore, was to open negotiations with Captain Maitland, who commanded
+the Bellerophon, an English man-of-war which had taken up its station at
+Rochefort two days before the arrival of the ex-Emperor.
+
+On being asked for a safe conduct to America the English commander
+replied that his orders were to make every effort to prevent "Bonaparte"
+from escaping, and if so fortunate as to obtain possession of his
+person, to sail at once with him for England. Savary and Las Casas, who
+conducted the negotiations, were unable to exact a definite promise from
+the captain, when they visited him on the 10th of July, or to learn from
+him if it was the intention of the British government to throw any
+impediment in the way of his voyage to the United States. In the course
+of the conversation, Captain Maitland, according to his own statement,
+threw out the suggestion, "Why not seek an asylum in England?" to which
+various objections were urged by Savary, and thus the interview
+terminated.
+
+The succeeding days were passed by Napoleon in discussing various plans
+devised for his escape, but they were all abandoned by him. He saw no
+possible chance of success, for, as he himself said: "Wherever wood can
+float, there is the flag of England. I will throw myself into her
+hands--a helpless foe." Then, too, Napoleon was weary of strife, and had
+the feelings of one who had done with action, and whose part it was to
+endure. He at last rejected all such proposals, and once more dispatched
+Las Casas, accompanied by Lallemand, to Capt. Maitland, on the 14th of
+July, with instructions to inquire again whether the intentions of the
+British government were yet declared as to a passage to America, or if
+permission for Napoleon to pass in a neutral vessel could be obtained.
+The answer was in the negative; but Capt. Maitland again suggested his
+embarkation on board the Bellerophon, in which case he should be
+conveyed to England. The words of Captain Maitland, quoted by himself to
+Lord Keith were; "If he chooses to come on board the ship I command, I
+think, under the orders I am acting with, I may venture to receive him,
+and carry him to England." Upon this a negotiation took place, which
+terminated in Las Casas saying; "Under all circumstances, I have little
+doubt that you will see the Emperor on board the Bellerophon."
+
+Las Casas returned to the Isle of Aix after his interview with Captain
+Maitland on the 14th. The result of his mission appeared to be "that
+Captain Maitland had authorized him to tell the Emperor if he decided
+upon going to England, he was authorized to receive him on board; and he
+accordingly placed his ship at his disposal." Napoleon then finally made
+up his mind to place himself on board the British vessel. On the same
+day Gourgaud delivered to Captain Maitland the following letter
+addressed to the Prince Regent of England:
+
+    "Royal Highness:--Exposed to the factions which divide my
+    country, and to the hostility of the greatest powers of Europe,
+    I have closed my political career. I come, like Themistocles to
+    seek the hospitality of the English nation. I place myself under
+    the protection of their laws, which I claim from your Royal
+    Highness as the most powerful, and most constant, and the most
+    generous of my enemies.
+
+    Rochefort, July the 13th, 1815.
+
+          NAPOLEON."
+
+The letter was received by the royal commander and sent to England, but
+no answer was returned.
+
+On the 15th Napoleon and his friends decided to board the Bellerophon
+and were transported thither by a barge sent by Captain Maitland. The
+parting scenes with those left behind were most affecting. The English
+commander received his charge in a respectful manner, but without salute
+or distinguished honors; Napoleon uncovered himself, on reaching the
+quarter-deck, and said in a firm tone of voice, "I come to place myself
+under the protection of your prince and laws!"
+
+The captain then led him into the cabin, which was given up to his use,
+and afterwards, by his own request, presented all the officers to him.
+He visited every part of the ship during the morning, conversing with
+much freedom with those on board, about naval and other affairs. About
+noon the ship got under weigh and made sail for England.
+
+On the 23d of June the Bellerophon passed Ushant, and for the last time
+Napoleon gazed long and mournfully on his beloved country, but said
+nothing. At daybreak on the 24th they were close to Dartmouth, and when
+the ship was at anchor the captain was instantly admonished by the Lords
+of the Admiralty to permit no communication of any kind between his ship
+and the coast. On the 26th the commander was ordered to Plymouth Sound,
+where he was the object of great curiosity on the part of thousands of
+people who swarmed about the vessel in small boats, eager to behold the
+man who had had the attention of the world for so many years. Napoleon
+appeared on deck and was greeted with loud cheers, to which he bowed and
+smiled in return, and remarked to Captain Maitland: "The English appear
+to have a very large portion of curiosity." On one occasion the captain
+counted upwards of a thousand boats within view, each containing on an
+average eight people.
+
+On the 31st of July Napoleon was visited by Sir Henry Bunbury,
+under-Secretary of State, and Lord Keith admiral of the channel fleet,
+who came on board and announced the final decision of the British
+government respecting him, and which was that "General Bonaparte," their
+prisoner, should not be landed on the shores of England, but removed
+forthwith to St. Helena, as being the situation which, more than any
+other at their command, the government thought safe against a second
+escape, and the indulgence to himself of personal freedom and exercise,
+and which might be reconciled with the "indispensable precautions which
+it would be necessary to employ for the security of his person."
+Secondly, with the exception of Savary and Lallemand, he was to be
+permitted to take with him any three officers he chose, besides one
+surgeon and twelve domestics, none of whom were to be allowed, however,
+to quit the island without the sanction of the British government.
+
+Napoleon, on listening to the decree which sealed his fate for life,
+made no comment whatever until the reading of the decision had ended. He
+then solemnly protested against their cruel and arbitrary act. He
+protested, not only against the order, but against the right claimed by
+the English government to dispose of him as a prisoner of war. "I came
+into your ship" said he, "as I would into one of your villages. If I had
+been told I was to be a prisoner I would not have come. I asked him if
+he was willing to receive me on board, and convey me to England. Captain
+Maitland said he was, having received, or telling me he had received,
+special orders of government concerning me. It was a snare then, that
+had been spread for me. As for the Island of St. Helena, it would be my
+sentence of death. I demand to be received as an English citizen." He
+objected strenuously to the title given him, declared his right to be
+considered as a sovereign prince, that his father-in-law, or the Czar,
+would have treated him far differently, and concluded by expressing his
+belief that "if your government act thus, it will disgrace you in the
+eyes of Europe." "Even your own people will blame it," he added.
+
+His protests were in vain, however, and at length, the interview having
+terminated, he was informed that Admiral Sir George Cockburn was ready
+to receive him on board the Northumberland to convey him to St. Helena.
+Napoleon then declared with animation, "No, no, I will not go there; I
+am not a Hercules; but you shall not conduct me to St. Helena. I prefer
+death in this place. You found me free--send me back again; replace me
+in the condition in which I was, or permit me to go to America." Still
+his protests were ignored and preparations were at last begun for
+departure. In a private conversation with Captain Maitland, Napoleon
+reverted to the painful subject in the following terms: "The idea is a
+perfect horror to me. To be placed for life on an island within the
+tropics, at an immense distance from any land, cut off from all
+communication with the world, and everything I hold dear to it! It is
+worse than Tamerlane's iron cage. I would prefer being given up to the
+Bourbons."
+
+Napoleon's suite, as finally arranged, consisted of Counts Bertrand,
+Montholon and Las Casas, General Gourgaud, and Dr. O'Meara, an Irish
+naval surgeon. Bertrand and Montholon were accompanied by their ladies
+and children, and twelve upper domestics of the late imperial household,
+who desired to share in the fortunes of their master. The money,
+diamonds and salable effects Napoleon had with him he was deprived of.
+When the search of his belongings was in progress, Bertrand was invited
+to attend, but he was so indignant at the measure that he positively
+refused. Four thousand gold napoleons ($16,000) were taken from him; the
+rest of the money, amounting to about one thousand five hundred
+napoleons, were returned to enable the Exile to pay such of is servants
+as were about to leave him.
+
+The Northumberland sailed for St. Helena on the 8th of August. After a
+voyage of about seventy days, without unusual incident, on the 15th of
+October, 1815, Napoleon had his first view of his destined retreat. He
+was then forty-six years of age, enjoyed fairly good health, and but for
+the repeated denials of many necessary comforts to which he was now to
+be subjected might, in a measure, have enjoyed the remaining years of
+his life. Here he found himself immured for life in a small volcanic
+island, in the southern Atlantic, measuring ten miles in length and
+seven in breadth, at a distance of two thousand leagues from the scenes
+of his immortal exploits in arms, and separated from the two great
+continents of Africa and America by the unfathomable ocean.
+
+The admiral landed about noon with a view of finding a fitting abode for
+Napoleon and his suite, returning in the evening. On the 16th the
+imperial prisoner landed, and as he left the Northumberland the officers
+all assembled on the quarter-deck with nearly the whole of the crew
+stationed in the gangways. Before he stepped into the small boat to be
+taken ashore he took leave of the captain and desired him to convey his
+thanks to his officers and men. He then made off for the shore to take
+up his residence at "the Briars," a small cottage about half a mile from
+Jamestown, during the interval which must elapse before other quarters
+could be provided for him. On the 10th of December he took possession of
+his newly appointed abode at Longwood, a villa about six miles distant
+from Jamestown. At this latter place he died on the 5th of May 1821 at
+half past 5 o'clock in the evening, after an exile of nearly six years.
+His death was no doubt hastened by a succession of petty annoyances on
+the part of his "jailer," Sir Hudson Lowe, governor of the island, which
+began on his arrival, and were followed up during all the years of his
+exile, despite his repeated protestations. He had already lived much
+longer than he desired, and had completed all his preparations for
+death's coming, during his last year of bad health. In his final hours
+he was surrounded by Bertrand, Montholon and other devoted friends to
+whom he had given his final instructions.
+
+Four days later, or on May 9th, with the cloak he had worn at Marengo
+thrown over his feet, and clothed in the uniform of the Chasseurs of his
+Guard, he was buried with military honors, surrounded by the sorrowing
+friends who had shared his long confinement. The only inscription
+permitted on the tablet over his body was "General Bonaparte."
+
+Nineteen years later, at the request of the French government, England
+honored a request for his ashes, and his body was disinterred and
+conveyed to France to rest once more "on the banks of the Seine, among
+the French people whom he had loved so well." On December 15th 1840, in
+the midst of the most imposing and magnificent ceremonies Paris had
+ever witnessed, the body of the Emperor was borne to the Invalides where
+it lay for many days publicly exposed. On the 6th of February 1841 the
+coffin was taken from the imperial cenotaph and placed in the chapel of
+St. Jerome, in the Church of the Invalides where it was to remain till
+the completion of the mausoleum some years later. Beneath the golden
+dome which crowns the Invalides, and towards which the faces of all
+visitors to Paris are most frequently turned, there still rests all that
+is mortal of this most wonderful warrior and statesman. His magic name
+continues to defy even time itself, and as the years roll on each
+generation inquires of its predecessors what they knew of this man who
+was so great that his name fills more pages in the world's solemn
+history than that of any other mortal.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  A
+
+  Abensberg, battle of, 277.
+
+  Abercromby, Sir Ralph, victory of over the French in Egypt, 178.
+
+  Aboukir, battle of, 134.
+
+  Abrantes, Duchess d', 20.
+
+  Abdication, Napoleon's first, 405.
+    Second, 491-2.
+
+  Acre, siege of, 128.
+
+  Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon, 11.
+    Destruction of, 25.
+    Landing of Napoleon on return from Egypt at, 138.
+
+  Alexander, Czar, at Austerlitz, 200.
+    Interview of, with Napoleon on the Niemen, 248.
+    Meeting of, with Napoleon at Erfurt, 261.
+    Alliance of, with King of Prussia, 349.
+    In Paris, 1814, 403.
+    Visit of, to Josephine, 417.
+
+  Alexandria, conquest of, 113.
+
+  Alps, passage of the, 154-61,
+
+  Alessandria, conditions of peace signed at, 173.
+
+  Alvinzi, Austrian general, in Italy, 82.
+    Success of, on the Tyrol, 83.
+    Defeated at Arcola, 88.
+
+  Amiens, peace of, 179.
+    Rupture of peace of, 183.
+
+  Ancients, Council of, conduct of on 18th Brumaire, 143.
+
+  Angouleme, Duchess d', 437.
+
+  Anne, Grand Duchess, of Russia, 320.
+
+  Arcola, battle of, 85.
+
+  Arcis, battle of, 396.
+
+  Astorga, Napoleon at, 273.
+
+  Augereau, (Marshal and General) at Millessimo, 53.
+    At Arcola, 86.
+    At Castiglione, 74.
+    At Jena, 220.
+    At Eylau, 235.
+    Conduct of in 1814, 412.
+
+  Austerlitz, battle of, 204.
+
+  Autun, College of, 15.
+
+  Austria, efforts of, in Italy, 1796, 50.
+    Insincere policy of, to France, 1800, 177.
+    Joins Bourbon coalition, 189.
+    French campaign in, results of, 1805, 197.
+    Treaty with France after Austerlitz, 209.
+    Declares war against France, 1809, 274.
+    Armistice with France after Wagram, 302.
+    Treaty with France, 1812, 312.
+    Policy of 1813, to France, 354.
+    Joins alliance to dethrone Napoleon, 435.
+    Preparations of, for re-invasion of France, 439.
+
+  Avignon, Napoleon victorious at, 27.
+
+
+  B
+
+  Bagration, Russian general, in 1812, 320.
+    Death of, 329.
+
+  Bamberg, Napoleon's headquarters at, 214.
+
+  Barras, member of French Directory, 32.
+    Selects Napoleon to defend the Convention, 38.
+
+  Bassano, battle of, 79.
+
+  Bauer, M., tutor of Napoleon, 20.
+
+  Bautzen, battle of, 354.
+
+  Bavaria, invasion of, 275.
+    King of, joins the Allies, 368.
+
+  Baylen, battle of, 259.
+
+  Bayonne, meeting of Charles IV. and Napoleon at, 256.
+
+  Beauharnais, Eugene, first meeting of, with Napoleon, 43.
+    In Egypt, 130.
+    At Wagram, 296.
+    In retreat from Russia, 334.
+    Succeeds Murat in command of troops, 348.
+    Defeated in Italy, 1813, 373.
+
+  Beauharnais, Hortense, 305.
+
+  Beaulieu, Austrian gener'l, in Italy, 51.
+
+  Beaulieu, defeated by Napoleon, 72.
+
+  Bellerophon, Napoleon on board the, 501-3.
+
+  Belliard, General, defeated at Alexandria, 178.
+    In campaign of 1813, 401.
+
+  Bennigsen, Russian general, retreat behind the Wkra, 231.
+    At Eylau, 234.
+    Defeat of at Friedland, 248.
+
+  Beresina, passage of the, 343.
+
+  Berlin, entry of Napoleon into, 1806, 226.
+
+  Berlin decrees, 228.
+
+  Berthier, Major-General to Napoleon, 48.
+    Marshal and General, at Rivoli, 91.
+
+  Bessieres, (Marshal and General) in Italy, 68.
+    At Austerlitz, 205.
+    In Spain, 259.
+    At Essling, 290.
+    Death of, before Lutzen, 352.
+
+  Bernadotte, (Marshal and General) in Italy, 100.
+    On the 18th Brumaire, 144.
+    At Austerlitz, 204.
+    Conduct of, at Jena, 221.
+    At Wagram, 296.
+    Joins the Allies, (Crown Prince of Sweden), 350.
+    In campaign of 1813, 361.
+
+  Bertrand, General, at Elba, 421.
+    At Waterloo, 482.
+    Accompanies Napoleon to St. Helena, 503.
+
+  Blucher, Prussian general, at Jena, 222.
+    Defeat of, at Lubeck, 226.
+    Commander-in-Chief Prussian army, 1813, 349.
+    In command of Silesian army, 1814, 378.
+    In campaign of 1815, 440.
+    Narrow escape at Ligny, 452.
+    At Waterloo, 479-88.
+
+  Bonaparte, Letitia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon, 9.
+
+  Bonaparte, Charles, father of Napoleon, 15.
+
+  Bonaparte, Eliza, 23.
+
+  Bonaparte, Jerome, in Russian campaign, 317.
+    At Waterloo, 466.
+
+  Bonaparte, Joseph, at Autun, 15.
+    Made King of Spain, 258.
+    Head of the Council in Paris, 380.
+
+  Bonaparte, Lucien, President of Council of Five Hundred, 142.
+    In 1815, 490.
+
+  Bonaparte, Napoleon (see Napoleon).
+
+  Bonaparte, Pauline, at Elba, 418.
+
+  Bourbon, Monarchy, restoration of, 410.
+
+  Bourmont, General, treason of, 446.
+
+  Bourrienne, Napoleon's early friendship with, 15.
+    In Egypt, 132.
+
+  Borodino, battle of, 325-29.
+
+  Boulogne, headquarters of French army at, 191.
+
+  Brienne, Military school of, 9.
+    Arrival of Napoleon at, 15.
+    Battle of, 381.
+
+  Brueyes, Admiral, death of, 122.
+
+  Brumaire, the 18th and 19th, Revolution of, 143-61.
+
+  Brune, General, defeats Austrians on the Mincio, 177.
+
+  Brunswick, Charles William Frederick, Duke, defeat of, at Jena, 226.
+
+  Brunswick, Frederick William, Duke of, killed at Quatre-Bras, 454.
+
+  Brussels, headquarters of British army 1815, 440.
+
+  Bulow, General, at Waterloo, 464.
+    Repulsed by Count Lobau, 478.
+
+
+  C
+
+  Cartaux, General, in command at Toulon, 28.
+
+  Carnot, member of French Directory, 32.
+    Appoints Napoleon commander of Army of Italy, 44.
+    Minister of war under Consulate, 154.
+    In 1815, 437.
+
+  Cairo, French army march on, 114.
+    In the occupation of the French, 121.
+    Revolt at, 124.
+
+  Cambacérès, Consul with Napoleon, 151.
+
+  Cambronne, General, commander of the Guard, 425.
+    Wounded at Waterloo, 484-5.
+
+  Campo-Formio, treaty of, 104.
+
+  Castiglione, battle of, 74.
+
+  Caulaincourt, French diplomatist, in retreat from Russia, 345.
+    Employed to negotiate treaty in 1814, 383.
+    Pleads Napoleon's cause before Czar Alexander, 402.
+    At Fontainebleau, 404.
+    After Waterloo, 494.
+
+  Cervoni, Adjutant, interview with Napoleon, 26.
+
+  Causse, General, at Dego, 54.
+
+  Charleroi, engagement at, 448.
+
+  Chebreis, engagement at, 116.
+
+  Champaubert, battle of, 384.
+
+  Champ de Mai, ceremony of, 441.
+
+  Charles, the Archduke, Austrian commander in Italy, 98.
+    Forced to abandon Italy, 198.
+
+  Charles, the Archduke, invades Bavaria, 275.
+    Defeated at Eckmuhl, 279.
+    Defeated at Essling, 289.
+    At Wagram, 301.
+
+  Charles IV., King of Spain, abdicates, 255.
+
+  Clouet, Colonel, treason of, 446.
+
+  Coalition, Bourbon, 190.
+
+  Code Napoleon, anecdote of, 36.
+    Formation of, 180.
+
+  Colli, General, defeated by Napoleon, 53.
+
+  Colombier, Madame du, 21.
+
+  Committee of Public Safety, 34.
+
+  Concordat, signing of, 179.
+
+  Conspiracy, to assassinate Napoleon, 176.
+
+  Convention, French, Napoleon undertakes defense of, 39.
+
+  Confederation of the Rhine, established, 211.
+    Dissolved, 373.
+
+  Consuls of the French Republic, 148.
+
+  Continental System, adopted by Prussia, 249.
+    Modification of, 309.
+
+  Consular Government, organization of, 149.
+
+  Corunna, combat at, 272.
+
+  Consul, life, Napoleon appointed, 182.
+
+  Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon, 9.
+    Revolution in, 24-5.
+
+  Craonne, battle of, 392.
+
+  Culm, engagement at, 364.
+
+
+  D
+
+  Dantzic, surrender of, 242.
+
+  Davidowich, General, defeat of, at Roveredo, 78.
+
+  Danube, French army crosses the, 295.
+
+  Daru, M., at Boulogne, 191.
+
+  Daru, Count, at Moscow, 353.
+
+  Davoust, (Marshal and General) at Austerlitz, 205.
+    At Jena, 221.
+    At Eylau, 238.
+    At Eckmuhl, 284.
+    At Wagram, 296.
+    In Russia, 315.
+    At Moscow, 332.
+
+  Desaix, General, in Egypt, 114.
+    In Italy, 163.
+    Death of, at Marengo, 169.
+
+  Dego, battle of, 54.
+
+  Dennewitz, battle of, 364.
+
+  Desvaux, General, killed at Waterloo, 469.
+
+  Dneiper, Ney crossing the, 341.
+
+  Dresden, arrival of Napoleon at, in 1812, 313.
+    Entry of Napoleon into, 1813, 353.
+    Engagement at, 362.
+
+  Druot, General, at Elba, 421.
+    At Waterloo, 482.
+
+  Duroc, General, Napoleon's first meeting with, 29.
+
+  Duroc, death of, at Bautzen, 355-6.
+
+  Dugommier, General, at Toulon, 31.
+
+  Dubois, General, death of, 78.
+
+  Ducos, Roger, Consul with Napoleon, 148.
+    Surrenders at Baylen, 259.
+
+  Dufresne, General, at Waterloo, 470.
+
+  Dupont, General, at Friedland, 246.
+
+
+  E
+
+  Ebersberg, battle of, 285.
+
+  Eckmuhl, battle of, 279.
+
+  Egypt, French expedition to, determined upon, 110.
+    Disembarkation in, of Napoleon, 113.
+    Improved condition of, under Napoleon, 123.
+    Napoleon leaves, 136.
+    Lost to France, 178.
+
+  Elchingen, battle of, 194.
+
+  Elba, exile of Napoleon to, 413.
+    Arrival of Napoleon at, 414.
+    Napoleon on the island of, 415.
+    Departure of Napoleon from, 421.
+
+  Emperor, Napoleon proclaimed, 1804, 186.
+
+  Enghien, Duke d', execution of, 185-6.
+
+  England, French project of invasion of, 1797, 108.
+    Refuses to treat with Consular Government, 152.
+    French preparations for invasion, 1802, 179.
+    Declares war on France, 184.
+    Alliance with Spain, 258.
+    Joins alliance to dethrone Napoleon, 435.
+
+  Erfurt, meeting between Napoleon and Alexander at, 261.
+
+  Erlon, Count d', at Quatre-Bras, 454.
+    At Waterloo, 468, 471.
+
+  Essling, battle of, 289.
+
+  Eylau, battle of, 234-41.
+
+
+  F
+
+  Fesch, Cardinal, uncle of Napoleon, 311.
+
+  Ferdinand, Prince of Spain, disputes of, with his father, 253.
+    Proclaimed King of Spain, 255.
+    Resigns his throne. 257.
+
+  Five Hundred, Council of, dissolved 147.
+
+  Fox, English statesman, 42.
+    Effect of the death of, 212.
+
+  Fouché, Minister of Police, 142.
+    Opposed to Russian campaign, 310.
+    Treason of, 440.
+    Conduct of, after Waterloo, 494-97.
+
+  Fontainebleau, treaty of, between France and Spain, 254.
+
+  Fontainebleau, arrival of Napoleon at, 1814, 401.
+    Treaty of, (abdication) 408.
+    Napoleon attempts suicide at, 409.
+    Adieu of Napoleon and Old Guard at, 410.
+    Arrival of Napoleon at, on return from Elba, 432.
+
+  Francis II., Emperor of Austria, meeting of, with Napoleon, 207.
+    Advice to Napoleon in 1814, 389.
+    After surrender of Paris, 417.
+
+  France, condition of, on Napoleon's return from Egypt, 140.
+    Invasion of, 378.
+
+  Frankfort, manifesto issued by Allied Princes, 375.
+
+  Fréjus, arrival of Napoleon at, on return from Egypt, 139.
+    Arrival of Napoleon at, on return from Elba, 422.
+
+  Frederick the Great, Napoleon at tomb of, 227.
+
+  Frederick William, King of Prussia, 349.
+
+  Friedland, battle of, 242-47.
+
+
+  G
+
+  Gasparin, Representative of the people, at Toulon, 29.
+
+  Gap, Napoleon at, 424.
+
+  Genoa surrender of, to Napoleon, 172.
+
+  Gerard, General, at Ligny, 451.
+
+  Godoy, Minister of Spain, 255.
+
+  Gourgaud, General, at battle of Brienne, 381.
+    At retreat from Waterloo, 487.
+    Accompanies Napoleon to St. Helena, 503.
+
+  Grenoble, arrival of Napoleon, on return from Elba, 427.
+
+  Gross-Beeren, battle of, 364.
+
+  Grouchy, (Marshal and General) in Russian campaign, 342.
+    Operations of, before Waterloo, 456-57, 465.
+    One cause of defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, 472-3.
+
+  Guadarrama, passage of the, by Napoleon, 270.
+
+
+  H
+
+  Hanover, conquest of, 185.
+
+  Hanau, battle of, 372.
+
+  Hatzfeld, Princess, Napoleon's clemency to, 228.
+
+  Haulpoult, General d' death of, 240.
+
+  Heilsberg, battle of, 242.
+
+  Holland, Napoleon's appointment in, 38.
+
+  Hohenlinden, battle of, 177.
+
+  Hundred Days, the, 437.
+
+
+  I
+
+  Institute of Cairo, organized by Napoleon, 123.
+
+  Imperial Guard, organization of, 68.
+
+  Iron Crown, order of, instituted, 188.
+
+  Italy, Army of, Napoleon appointed commander-in-chief, 44.
+    Condition of, in 1796, 45.
+    Improved state of, 65.
+    Napoleon crowned King of, 188.
+
+  Invalides, Hotel des, resting place of Napoleon, 506.
+
+
+  J
+
+  Jaffa, massacre of prisoners at, 126.
+    Retreat of French army from, 131.
+
+  Jena, battle of, 218-25.
+
+  Joubert, General, at Rivoli, 89.
+
+  Jourdan, Marshal, commander of Army of the Danube, 153.
+    Defeated in Spain, 359.
+
+  Josephine, marriage with Napoleon, 44.
+    Coronation of, as Empress, 187.
+    Divorce of, 304-6.
+    Visited by Alexander, 417.
+    Death of, 418.
+
+  Junot, General, first meeting of, with Napoleon, 29.
+    In Italy, 75.
+    In Egypt, 129.
+    Invades Portugal, 254.
+    In Russia, 324.
+
+
+  K
+
+  Keith, Lord, announces decision of British Government effecting
+              Napoleon, 502.
+
+  King of Rome, (Napoleon's son) birth of, 308.
+    Anecdote of, 398.
+
+  Kirgener, General, death of, 355.
+
+  Kellerman, General, in Italy, 100.
+    At Marengo, 169.
+    At Waterloo, 472-77.
+
+  Kléber, General, at Alexandria, 114.
+    Commander of the Army of Egypt, 137.
+    Death of, 178.
+    Flight of Napoleon from, 332.
+
+  Krasnoi, engagement at, 321.
+    Battle of, in retreat from Russia, 340.
+
+  Kozietulski, Polish general, in Spain, 264.
+
+  Kremlin, (Moscow) Napoleon at, 330.
+
+  Kutusoff, Russian general, at Austerlitz, 204.
+    At Borodino, 325.
+    In pursuit of French army in Russian retreat, 338.
+
+
+  L
+
+  Lafayette, member of French government, 1815, 491.
+
+  Laon, battle of, 392.
+
+  Labedoyere, Colonel, loyalty of, to Napoleon, 426.
+    At Waterloo, 482.
+
+  Lannes, (Marshal and General) at Dego, 54.
+    At Lodi, 61.
+    At Bassano, 79.
+    In Egypt, 129.
+    At Montebello, 162.
+    At Ulm, 196.
+    At Austerlitz, 205.
+    At Jena, 220.
+    At Eckmuhl, 279.
+    At Ratisbon, 283.
+    At Essling, 289.
+    Death of, 293.
+
+  Landshut, battle of, 278.
+
+  Lauriston, Count, at Wagram, 298.
+    In Russia, 333.
+
+  La Belle Alliance, Napoleon on heights of, 462.
+
+  La Salle, General, French cavalry leader, death of, 301.
+
+  Las Casas, General, accompanies Napoleon to St. Helena, 503.
+
+  Lavalette, in Egypt, 130.
+    In 1814, 400.
+
+  Le Brun, Consul with Napoleon, 151.
+
+  Lefebvre, (Marshal and General) at Jena, 227.
+    At Dantzic, 242.
+    In Spain, 259.
+    In Russia, 330.
+
+  Lefebvre-Desnoettes, General, at Waterloo, 471.
+
+  Leipsic, battle of, 365-71.
+
+  Leoben, provisional treaty of, 102.
+
+  Legion of Honor, established by Napoleon, 180.
+
+  Ligny, battle of, 449-53.
+
+  Lobau, Count, at Waterloo, 470.
+    Repulses Bulow's corps, 478.
+
+  Lobau, Napoleon decides to fall back on, 291.
+    Napoleon on the island of, 294.
+
+  Lodi, battle of, 59-63.
+
+  Lombardy, conquest of, 97.
+
+  Lonato, battle of, 74.
+    Napoleon's escape from capture at, 76.
+
+  Louis XVI. attacked by the mob, 22.
+    Execution of, 26.
+
+  Louis XVIII., correspondence with Napoleon, 174-5.
+    Protests against Napoleon's usurpation, 187.
+    Restoration of, 416.
+    Flight from Paris, 432.
+    Restored to the throne in 1815, 499.
+
+  Louis, Prince of Prussia, death of, 216.
+
+  Louis, the archduke, defeated at Abensberg, 277.
+
+  Louisiana, sale of, by Napoleon, to U. S., 185.
+
+  Lubeck, battle of, 226.
+
+  Luneville, treaty of, 178.
+
+  Lutzen, battle of, 352.
+
+  Lyons, Napoleon issues proclamations at, 430.
+
+
+  M
+
+  Maitland, Captain, negotiations with on Napoleon's behalf, 499-501.
+
+  Macdonald, (Marshal and General) at Wagram, 298-301.
+    In Russian campaign, 315.
+    In campaign of 1813, 360.
+    At Leipsic, 369.
+    At Lyons, 428.
+
+  Mack, Austrian general, 193.
+    Surrenders at Ulm, 196.
+
+  Madrid, insurrection at, 257.
+    Surrender of, 266-68.
+
+  Mallet, conspiracy of, 344.
+
+  Malta, capture of, by Napoleon, 112.
+
+  Mamelukes, Egyptian cavalry, Napoleon's opinion of, 114.
+
+  Mantua, siege and fall of, 81, 96.
+
+  Marboeuf, Bishop of Autun, 15.
+
+  Marbot, General, in Spain, 270.
+
+  Marengo, battle of, 164-71.
+    Napoleon visits battlefield of, 188.
+
+  Marie Louise, illness of at Vienna, 286.
+    Napoleon's marriage with, 306.
+    Empress-Regent, 350.
+    Last interview with Napoleon, 380.
+    Departure from Paris in 1814, 398.
+    Return to Vienna 417.
+
+  Marseilles, Napoleon at, 26.
+
+  Maret, French diplomatist, at Nogent, 383.
+    Sends secret message to Napoleon, 420.
+
+  Marmont, (Marshal and General) at Nice, 34.
+    In Italy, 81.
+    At Wagram, 296.
+    Defeated at Salamanca, 326.
+    At capitulation of Paris, 400.
+    Joins the Allies, 406.
+
+  Massena, (Marshal and General) at Montenotte, 52.
+    At Biestro, 53.
+    At Lonato, 74.
+    In Switzerland, 153.
+    Appointed commander of the Army of Italy, 173.
+    Success of, in Lombardy, 198.
+    At Eckmuhl, 279.
+    At Ebersberg, 285.
+    At Essling, 289.
+    At Wagram, 296.
+
+  Melas, Austrian general, in Italy, 73.
+    Defeat of, by Napoleon, 172.
+
+  Memingen, capitulation of, 193.
+
+  Meneval, private secretary to Napoleon, 20.
+
+  Menou, at Alexandria, 178.
+
+  Menou, General, defeat of, 41.
+    Released from prison at Napoleon's request, 43.
+
+  Merfeld, General, at Leipsic, 367.
+
+  Metternich, Diplomatist and Minister of Austria, 358-9.
+
+  Milan, entry of Napoleon into, 64.
+    Surrender of, 71.
+    Arrival of Napoleon in 1800, 161.
+
+  Milarodowitch, Russian General, 330.
+
+  Milhaud, General, at Waterloo, 471.
+
+  Millessimo, battle of, 53.
+
+  Mincio, French Army advances on, 67.
+
+  Moncey, Marshal, at the defense of Paris, 399.
+
+  Moncey, Captain, in Russia, 325.
+
+  Mondovi, battle of, 54.
+
+  Mont St. Jean, village of, near Waterloo, 459.
+
+  Montbrun, General, in Spain, 265.
+
+  Montenotte, battle of, 51.
+
+  Montholon, General, accompanies Napoleon to St. Helena, 503.
+
+  Moore, Sir John, in Spain, 269.
+    Death of, at Corunna, 272.
+
+  Montebello, battle of, 163.
+
+  Montereau, battle of, 387.
+
+  Montmirail, battle of, 385.
+
+  Morla, Thomas de, governor of Madrid, 267.
+
+  Moreau, General, operations in Italy, 155.
+    At Hohenlinden, 177.
+    Joins the Allies in 1813, 362.
+    Death of, at Dresden, 363.
+
+  Mortier, (Marshal and General,) invades Hanover, 185.
+    At Krasnoi, 340.
+    At capitulation of Paris, 399.
+
+  Moses, fountains of, Napoleon visits, 124.
+
+  Moscow, arrival of French army at, 329.
+    Conflagration of, 330-32.
+    French retreat from, 334.
+
+  Moskowa, battle at, (see Borodino.) 325.
+
+  Mourad Bey, Mameluke chief, defeated, 120.
+
+  Mouton, General, at Abensberg, 278.
+
+  Murat, (Marshal and General; King of Naples), at battle of Sections,
+            40.
+    Takes Captured Standards to Paris, 56.
+    In Egypt, battle of Aboukir, 134.
+    At Austerlitz, 205.
+
+  Murat, at Jena, 220.
+    At Eylau, 237.
+    In Spain, 255.
+    In Russia, 315.
+    Resigns command of troops, 348.
+    Negotiates with Allies, 373.
+    Treason of, to Napoleon, 377.
+    Efforts of, to regain his throne, 438.
+    Death of, 439.
+
+  Muiron, death of, at Arcola, 87.
+
+
+  N
+
+  Napoleon, (As the name "Napoleon" appears several times on almost
+            every page of this book, and the events chronicled herein
+            relating to him are indexed under their separate titles,
+            it has been thought advisable to omit their repetition
+            under this heading).
+
+  "Napoleon's Grotto," 14.
+
+  Naples, Napoleon's policy towards, 71.
+
+  National Assembly, French, 23.
+
+  National Guards, take up arms against French government, 38.
+    Napoleon's address to, 379.
+
+  Naumburg, fall of, 217.
+
+  Nelson, Admiral, in pursuit of French fleet, 111.
+    Defeats French in Bay of Aboukir, 121.
+    Death of, at Trafalgar, 199.
+
+  Ney, (Marshal and General) at Ulm, 196.
+    At Jena, 221.
+    At Friedland, 245.
+    In Russia, 324.
+    At Moskowa, 329.
+    Heroism of, in retreat from Russia, 337.
+    Rejoins the Emperor at Orcha, 341.
+    At Kowno, 346.
+    Sent to arrest Napoleon, 430.
+    Rejoins the Emperor, 431.
+    At Quatre-Bras, 453.
+    At Waterloo, 464-486.
+    Execution of, 493.
+
+  Nice, Napoleon at the headquarters of the French army at, 33.
+    Napoleon imprisoned at, 34.
+
+  Niemen, passage of the, 317.
+
+  Nile, arrival of the French army at the, 115.
+    Battle of the, 122.
+
+  Notre Dame, Cathedral of, Napoleon's coronation at, 188.
+
+  Northumberland, Napoleon transferred to, 503.
+    Napoleon's departure from, 504.
+
+
+  O
+
+  O'Meara, Doctor, incidents of Napoleon related by, 10, 44.
+    Accompanies Napoleon to St. Helena, 503.
+
+  Orcha, Marshal Ney's arrival at, 341.
+
+  Osterode, Napoleon establishes headquarters at, 241.
+
+  Oudinot, (Marshal and General,) at Friedland, 245.
+    At Wagram, 296.
+    In Russian campaign 315.
+    In 1813, 360.
+
+
+  P
+
+  Paoli, General, Governor of Corsica, 24.
+
+  Pavia, submission of, 64,
+    Insurrection at, 67.
+
+  Paris, Napoleon's first arrival at, 19.
+    Napoleon solicits employment in, 37.
+    Napoleon returns to, after first Italian campaign, 106.
+    Welcomes Napoleon after Marengo, 173-4.
+    Return of the Emperor to, after Friedland, 251.
+    Return of French army to, after Russian campaign, 346.
+    Defense of, 1814, 399.
+    Capitulation of, 400.
+    Entry of the Allied Army into, 1814, 403.
+    Napoleon returns after exile to Elba, 433.
+    Napoleon's departure from, to begin campaign, 1815, 443.
+    Entry of the Allies in 1815, 498.
+    Interment of Napoleon's body in 1840, at, 505-6.
+
+  Pius VI., Pope, peace negotiations of, with Napoleon, 71.
+
+  Pius VII., Pope, signs concordat, 179.
+    At coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, 188.
+    Imprisonment of at Fontainebleau, 303.
+    Release of, 377.
+
+  Platoff, hetman of the Cossacks, 232, 320.
+
+  Poland, Napoleon fixes his headquarters in, 280.
+    Policy of Napoleon to, 1812, 319.
+
+  Poniatowski, Polish prince, death of, 370.
+
+  Ponsonby, General, death of at Waterloo, 467.
+
+  Portugal, invasion of, 254.
+    Insurrection in, 258.
+
+  Prague, congress of diplomatists at, 357.
+    Headquarters of the Allies, 361.
+
+  Prussia, prepares for war against France, 213.
+    Treaty with France, 1812, 312.
+    Declares war against France, 348.
+    Joins alliance to dethrone Napoleon, 435.
+
+  Pradt, Abbe, French ambassador at Warsaw, 345.
+
+  Provera, General, defeat of in Italy, 94.
+
+  Pyramids, battle of, 117.
+
+
+  Q
+
+  Quatre-Bras, battle of, 453.
+
+  Queen of Prussia, with Prussian army, 215.
+    At Jena 225.
+    At Tilsit, 249.
+    Quasdonowich, Austrian general, defeated by Napoleon, 73.
+
+
+  R
+
+  Rapp, General, in Russia, 336.
+
+  Ratisbon, storming of, 280.
+    Napoleon wounded at, 281.
+
+  Rastadt, Congress of, 105.
+
+  Revolution, French, 23, 25.
+
+  Reign of Terror, 26.
+
+  Regnier, General, in Russia, 315.
+    In campaign of 1813, 357.
+
+  Rheims, battle of, 393.
+
+  Rivoli, battle of, 90-2.
+
+  Rochefort, Napoleon at, 498, 500.
+
+  Robespierre, intercession of, for Napoleon, 34.
+
+  Rome, incorporated with French Empire, 303.
+
+  Roveredo, battle of, 78.
+
+  Royal Military School, Napoleon at, 18.
+
+  Russia, joins Bourbon coalition, 1805, 189.
+    Relations with France in 1811, 309.
+    Declares war against France 1812, 312.
+    Invasion of, by Napoleon, 318.
+    Results of French campaign in, 346.
+    Joins alliance to dethrone Napoleon, 435.
+
+
+  S
+
+  Saalfeld, battle of, 216.
+
+  St. Helena, arrival of Napoleon at, 504.
+    Death of Napoleon at, 505.
+
+  St. Cyr, (Marshal and General) in campaign of 1813, 360.
+
+  St. Dizier, engagement at, 381.
+
+  St. Domingo, expedition to, 179.
+
+  St. George, battle of, 94.
+
+  Salamanca, battle of, 326.
+
+  Sardinia, annihilation of army of, 55.
+
+  Savary, (Duke of Rovigo,) in Egypt, 119.
+    At Marengo, 166.
+    Diplomatist, in Spain, 256.
+    Negotiates with Captain Maitland, 499.
+
+  Saxony, Elector of, ally of Napoleon, 230.
+    Fidelity to Napoleon, 345.
+
+  Saxons, defection of, at Leipsic, 369.
+
+  Saragossa, siege of, 260.
+
+  San Juan, Spanish General, 263.
+
+  Schleiz, engagement at, 217.
+
+  Schwartzenberg, Austrian general, in 1813, 361.
+    In the invasion of France, 378.
+
+  Schoenbrunn, attempt to assassinate Napoleon at, 302.
+    Treaty of, 303.
+    At Ulm, 196.
+
+  Ségur, Count, in Spain, 264, 266.
+
+  Senate, French, conduct of in 1813, 375-77.
+
+  Serrurier, Austrian general, at Mantua, 95.
+
+  Sections, defeat of the, 40.
+
+  Sieyes, member of the French Directory, 142.
+    Consul with Napoleon, 148.
+
+  Smith, Sir Sydney, at the siege of Acre, 127.
+
+  Smolensk, capture of, 321.
+    Retreat of the French army to, 337.
+
+  Somosierra, combat at, 263.
+
+  Soult, (Marshal and General) at Austerlitz, 205.
+    At Jena, 220.
+    At Eylau, 235.
+    In campaign of Spain, 272.
+    At Waterloo, 482.
+    Marches towards Paris, 495.
+
+  Spain, policy of Napoleon to, 253.
+    Napoleon exercises rights of a conqueror in, 268.
+    Results of war with, 274.
+    Conditions in, 1812, 310.
+    Disasters of French in, 1813, 374.
+
+  Suchet, (Marshal and General) in Italy, 163.
+    In Spain, 374.
+
+  Sweden, joins Bourbon coalition, 189.
+
+  Syria, Napoleon's expedition to, 125.
+
+
+  T
+
+  Tallien, member of French Directory, 38.
+
+  Tagliamento, passage and battle of, 99.
+
+  Talleyrand, French diplomatist, 109.
+    Perfidy of, to Napoleon, 374.
+
+  Thabor, Mount, battle of, 129.
+
+  Tilsit, treaty of, 248.
+    Arrival of Queen of Prussia at, 249.
+
+  Tolentino, treaty of, 98.
+
+  Tolly de, Barclay, Russian general, 313.
+    At Wilna, 315.
+
+  Torre di Capitello, Napoleon reduces fortress of, 24.
+
+  Toulon, delivered to the English, 26.
+    Napoleon in command at, 27.
+    Re-capture of, 31.
+
+  Trafalgar, naval battle of, 199.
+
+  Tuileries, Palace of, storming, 22.
+    Napoleon takes up his residence at, 150.
+    Return of Napoleon to, after exile at Elba, 433.
+
+  Turreau, commander of military force at Nice, 46.
+
+  Turkey, Napoleon seeks a commission to, 37.
+
+
+  U
+
+  Ulm, surrender of, 195.
+
+  Ushant, Napoleon's last view of France, 501.
+
+
+  V
+
+  Valence, Napoleon at, 21-2.
+
+  Vandamme, General, defeated at Culm, 364.
+
+  Valoutina, battle of, 324.
+
+  Vaubois, General, defeat of in Italy, 83-4.
+
+  Vendemiaire, 13th, 41.
+
+  Venice, Republic, fall of, 102.
+
+  Vernet, French artist, at defense of Paris, 399.
+
+  Victor, (Marshal and General) at Marengo, 164.
+    At the Beresina, 342.
+    At Montereau, 387.
+
+  Vienna, entry of Napoleon into, 1805, 199.
+    Treaty of, after Austerlitz, 210.
+    Surrender of, 1809, 286.
+    Congress of, 420, 435.
+
+  Villoutreys, Colonel, treason of, 446.
+
+  Vittoria, defeat of French at, 374.
+
+
+  W
+
+  Wagram, battle of, 296-99.
+
+  Washington, Napoleon honors, 151.
+
+  Waterloo, bivouac of, 458-62.
+    Battle of, 463-86.
+
+  Wellington, Duke of, in Spain, 326.
+    In Spain, 1813, 350.
+    Final success in Spain, 358.
+    Commander-in-chief British army, 1815, 440.
+    At Waterloo, 458-88.
+
+  Wertingen, battle of, 193.
+
+  Wilna, headquarters of Napoleon at, 318.
+
+  Witgenstein, Russian general, 316.
+    In command of Russian army, 349.
+
+  Wrede de, General, at Wagram, 298.
+
+  Wurmser, Austrian general, in Italy, 70.
+
+  Wurmser, replaces General Beaulieu, 72.
+    Defeat of, 77.
+
+
+  Z
+
+  Znaim, armistice at, 302.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
+
+
+Punctuation standardized; minor typographical errors silently corrected.
+
+Spelling inconsistencies resolved when a word or name is mostly spelled
+the same way in this book, but unchanged when no clear preference can
+be found.
+
+Page 187: 'Allegorial' unchanged; it's spelled this way in several
+editions.
+
+Page 263: 'and from the sea cost' could be 'coast' or 'east'
+
+Pages 151, 182, 508: "Cambacérès" spelled three different ways; all
+changed to "Cambacérès".
+
+Page 315: refers to a map "as will be seen by the map," but there are
+no maps in this book.
+
+Page 411: caption reads "1814" but should be "1812".
+
+Index: Many alphabetizing sequence errors corrected.
+
+Some pages included decorative head-, center-, and tail-pieces. Those
+are not indicated here.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Military Career of Napoleon the Great, by 
+Montgomery B. Gibbs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41220 ***