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diff --git a/old/20051016-7958.txt b/old/20051016-7958.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd01f4f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/20051016-7958.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1144 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Napoleon of the People, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: The Napoleon of the People + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Ellen Marriage and Clara Bell + +Release Date: October 16, 2005 [EBook #7958] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + + + + + + THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE + + BY + + HONORE DE BALZAC + + + + PREPARER'S NOTE + + The Napoleon of the People was originally published in Le Medicin + de Campagne (The Country Doctor). It is a story told to a group of + peasants by the character of Goguelat, an ex-soldier who served + under Napoleon in an infantry regiment. It was later included in + Folk-tales of Napoleon: Napoleonder from the Russian, a collection + of stories by various authors. This translation is by Ellen + Marriage and Clara Bell. + + + +Napoleon, you see, my friends, was born in Corsica, which is a French +island warmed by the Italian sun; it is like a furnace there, +everything is scorched up, and they keep on killing each other from +father to son for generations all about nothing at all--'tis a notion +they have. To begin at the beginning, there was something +extraordinary about the thing from the first; it occurred to his +mother, who was the handsomest woman of her time, and a shrewd soul, +to dedicate him to God, so that he should escape all the dangers of +infancy and of his after life; for she had dreamed that the world was +on fire on the day he was born. It was a prophecy! So she asked God to +protect him, on condition that Napoleon should re-establish His holy +religion, which had been thrown to the ground just then. That was the +agreement; we shall see what came of it. + +Now, do you follow me carefully, and tell me whether what you are +about to hear is natural. + +It is certain sure that only a man who had had imagination enough to +make a mysterious compact would be capable of going further than +anybody else, and of passing through volleys of grape-shot and showers +of bullets which carried us off like flies, but which had a respect +for his head. I myself had particular proof of that at Eylau. I see +him yet; he climbs a hillock, takes his field-glass, looks along our +lines, and says, "That is going on all right." One of the deep +fellows, with a bunch of feathers in his cap, used to plague him a +good deal from all accounts, following him about everywhere, even when +he was getting his meals. This fellow wants to do something clever, so +as soon as the Emperor goes away he takes his place. Oh! swept away in +a moment! And this is the last of the bunch of feathers! You +understand quite clearly that Napoleon had undertaken to keep his +secret to himself. That is why those who accompanied him, and even his +especial friends, used to drop like nuts: Duroc, Bessieres, Lannes +--men as strong as bars of steel, which he cast into shape for his own +ends. And here is a final proof that he was the child of God, created +to be the soldier's father; for no one ever saw him as a lieutenant or +a captain. He is a commandant straight off! Ah! yes, indeed! He did +not look more than four-and-twenty, but he was an old general ever +since the taking of Toulon, when he made a beginning by showing the +rest that they knew nothing about handling cannon. Next thing he does, +he tumbles upon us. A little slip of a general-in-chief of the army of +Italy, which had neither bread nor ammunition nor shoes nor clothes--a +wretched army as naked as a worm. + +"Friends," he said, "here we all are together. Now, get it well +into your pates that in a fortnight's time from now you will be the +victors, and dressed in new clothes; you shall all have greatcoats, +strong gaiters, and famous pairs of shoes; but, my children, you will +have to march on Milan to take them, where all these things are." + +So they marched. The French, crushed as flat as a pancake, held up +their heads again. There were thirty thousand of us tatterdemalions +against eighty thousand swaggerers of Germans--fine tall men and well +equipped; I can see them yet. Then Napoleon, who was only Bonaparte in +those days, breathed goodness knows what into us, and on we marched +night and day. We rap their knuckles at Montenotte; we hurry on to +thrash them at Rivoli, Lodi, Arcola, and Millesimo, and we never let +them go. The army came to have a liking for winning battles. Then +Napoleon hems them in on all sides, these German generals did not know +where to hide themselves so as to have a little peace and comfort; he +drubs them soundly, cribs ten thousand of their men at a time by +surrounding them with fifteen hundred Frenchmen, whom he makes to +spring up after his fashion, and at last he takes their cannon, +victuals, money, ammunition, and everything they have that is worth +taking; he pitches them into the water, beats them on the mountains, +snaps at them in the air, gobbles them up on the earth, and thrashes +them everywhere. + +There are the troops in full feather again! For, look you, the +Emperor (who, for that matter, was a wit) soon sent for the +inhabitant, and told him that he had come there to deliver him. +Whereupon the civilian finds us free quarters and makes much of us, so +do the women, who showed great discernment. To come to a final end; in +Ventose '96, which was at that time what the month of March is now, we +had been driven up into a corner of the _Pays des Marmottes_; but after +the campaign, lo and behold! we were the masters of Italy, just as +Napoleon had prophesied. And in the month of March following, in one +year and in two campaigns, he brings us within sight of Vienna; we had +made a clean sweep of them. We had gobbled down three armies one after +another, and taken the conceit out of four Austrian generals; one of +them, an old man who had white hair, had been roasted like a rat in +the straw before Mantua. The kings were suing for mercy on their +knees. Peace had been won. Could a mere mortal have done that? No. God +helped him, that is certain. He distributed himself about like the +five loaves in the Gospel, commanded on the battlefield all day, and +drew up his plans at night. The sentries always saw him coming; he +neither ate nor slept. Therefore, recognizing these prodigies, the +soldier adopts him for his father. But, forward! + +The other folk there in Paris, seeing all this, say among themselves: + +"Here is a pilgrim who appears to take his instructions from Heaven +above; he is uncommonly likely to lay a hand on France. We must let +him loose on Asia or America, and that, perhaps, will keep him quiet." + +The same thing was decreed for him as for Jesus Christ; for, as a +matter of fact, they give him orders to go on duty down in Egypt. See +his resemblance to the Son of God! That is not all, though. He calls +all his fire-eaters about him, all those into whom he had more +particularly put the devil, and talks to them in this way: + +"My friends, for the time being they are giving us Egypt to stop our +mouths. But we will swallow down Egypt in a brace of shakes, just as +we swallowed Italy, and private soldiers shall be princes, and shall +have broad lands of their own. Forward!" + +"Forward, lads!" cry the sergeants. + +So we come to Toulon on the way to Egypt. Whereupon the English put +to sea with all their fleet. But when we are on board, Napoleon says +to us: + +"They will not see us: and it is right and proper that you should +know henceforward that your general has a star in the sky that guides +us and watches over us!" + +So said, so done. As we sailed over the sea we took Malta, by way of +an orange to quench his thirst for victory, for he was a man who must +always be doing something. There we are in Egypt. Well and good. +Different orders. The Egyptians, look you, are men who, ever since the +world has been the world, have been in the habit of having giants to +reign over them, and armies like swarms of ants; because it is a +country full of genii and crocodiles, where they have built up +pyramids as big as our mountains, the fancy took them to stow their +kings under the pyramids, so as to keep them fresh, a thing which +mightily pleases them all round out there. Whereupon, as we landed, +the Little Corporal said to us: + +"My children, the country which you are about to conquer worships a +lot of idols which you must respect, because the Frenchman ought to be +on good terms with all the world, and fight people without giving +annoyance. Get it well into your heads to let everything alone at +first; for we shall have it all by and by! and forward!" + +So far so good. But all those people had heard a prophecy of +Napoleon, under the name of _Kebir Bonaberdis_; a word which in our +lingo means, "The Sultan fires a shot," and they feared him like the +devil. So the Grand Turk, Asia, and Africa have recourse to magic, and +they send a demon against us, named the Mahdi, who it was thought had +come down from heaven on a white charger which, like its master was +bullet-proof, and the pair of them lived on the air of that part of +the world. There are people who have seen them, but for my part I +cannot give you any certain informations about them. They were the +divinities of Arabia and of the Mamelukes who wished their troopers to +believe that the Mahdi had the power of preventing them from dying in +battle. They gave out that he was an angel sent down to wage war on +Napoleon, and to get back Solomon's seal, part of their paraphernalia +which they pretended our general had stolen. You will readily +understand that we made them cry peccavi all the same. + +Ah, just tell me now how they came to know about that compact of +Napoleon's? Was that natural? + +They took it into their heads for certain that he commanded the +genii, and that he went from place to place like a bird in the +twinkling of an eye; and it is a fact that he was everywhere. At +length it came about that he carried off a queen of theirs. She was +the private property of a Mameluke, who, although he had several more +of them, flatly refused to strike a bargain, though "the other" +offered all his treasures for her and diamonds as big as pigeon's +eggs. When things had come to that pass, they could not well be +settled without a good deal of fighting; and there was fighting enough +for everybody and no mistake about it. + +Then we are drawn up before Alexandria, and again at Gizeh, and +before the Pyramids. We had to march over the sands and in the sun; +people whose eyes dazzled used to see water that they could not drink +and shade that made them fume. But we made short work of the Mamelukes +as usual, and everything goes down before the voice of Napoleon, who +seizes Upper and Lower Egypt and Arabia, far and wide, till we came to +the capitals of kingdoms which no longer existed, where there were +thousands and thousands of statues of all the devils in creation, all +done to the life, and another curious thing too, any quantity of +lizards. A confounded country where any one could have as many acres +of land as he wished for as little as he pleased. + +While he was busy inland, where he meant to carry out some wonderful +ideas of his, the English burn his fleet for him in Aboukir Bay, for +they never could do enough to annoy us. But Napoleon, who was +respected East and West, and called "My Son" by the Pope, and "My dear +Father" by Mahomet's cousin, makes up his mind to have his revenge on +England, and to take India in exchange for his fleet. He set out to +lead us into Asia, by way of the Red Sea, through a country where +there were palaces for halting-places, and nothing but gold and +diamonds to pay the troops with, when the Mahdi comes to an +understanding with the Plague, and sends it among us to make a break +in our victories. Halt! Then every man files off to that parade from +which no one comes back on his two feet. The dying soldier cannot take +Acre, into which he forces an entrance three times with a warrior's +impetuous enthusiasm; the Plague was too strong for us; there was not +even time to say "Your servant, sir!" to the Plague. Every man was +down with it. Napoleon alone was as fresh as a rose; the whole army +saw him drinking in the Plague without it doing him any harm whatever. + +There now, my friends, was that natural, do you think? + +The Mamelukes, knowing that we were all on the sick-list, want to +stop our road; but it was no use trying that nonsense with Napoleon. +So he spoke to his familiars, who had tougher skins than the rest: + +"Go and clear the road for me." + +Junot, who was his devoted friend, and a first-class fighter, only +takes a thousand men, and makes a clean sweep of the Pasha's army, +which had the impudence to bar our way. Thereupon back we came to +Cairo, our headquarters, and now for another story. + +Napoleon being out of the country, France allowed the people in Paris +to worry the life out of her. They kept back the soldiers' pay and all +their linen and clothing, left them to starve, and expected them to +lay down law to the universe, without taking any further trouble in +the matter. They were idiots of the kind that amuse themselves with +chattering instead of setting themselves to knead the dough. So our +armies were defeated, France could not keep her frontiers; The Man was +not there. I say The Man, look you, because that was how they called +him; but it was stuff and nonsense, for he had a star of his own and +all his other peculiarities, it was the rest of us that were mere men. +He hears this history of France after his famous battle of Aboukir, +where with a single division he routed the grand army of the Turks, +twenty-five thousand strong, and jostled more than half of them into +the sea, rrrah! without losing more than three hundred of his own men. +That was his last thunder-clap in Egypt. He said to himself, seeing +that all was lost down there, "I know that I am the saviour of France, +and to France I must go." + +But you must clearly understand that the army did not know of his +departure; for if they had, they would have kept him there by force to +make him Emperor of the East. So there we all are without him, and in +low spirits, for he was the life of us. He leaves Kleber in command, a +great watchdog who passed in his checks at Cairo, murdered by an +Egyptian whom they put to death by spiking him with a bayonet, which +is their way of guillotining people out there; but he suffered so +much, that a soldier took pity on the scoundrel and handed his flask +to him; and the Egyptian turned up his eyes then and there with all +the pleasure in life. But there is not much fun for us about this +little affair. Napoleon steps aboard of a little cockleshell, a mere +nothing of a skiff, called the _Fortune_, and in the twinkling of an +eye, and in the teeth of the English, who were blockading the place +with vessels of the line and cruisers and everything that carries +canvas, he lands in France for he always had the faculty of taking the +sea at a stride. Was that natural? Bah! as soon as he landed at +Frejus, it is as good as saying that he has set foot in Paris. +Everybody there worships him; but he calls the Government together. + +"What have you done to my children, the soldiers?" he says to the +lawyers. "You are a set of good-for-nothings who make fools of other +people, and feather your own nests at the expense of France. It will +not do. I speak in the name of every one who is discontented." + +Thereupon they want to put him off and to get rid of him; but not a +bit of it! He locks them up in the barracks where they used to argufy +and makes them jump out of the windows. Then he makes them follow in +his train, and they all become as mute as fishes and supple as tobacco +pouches. So he becomes Consul at a blow. He was not the man to doubt +the existence of the Supreme Being; he kept his word with Providence, +who had kept His promise in earnest; he sets up religion again, and +gives back the churches, and they ring the bells for God and Napoleon. +So every one is satisfied: _primo_ the priests with whom he allows no +one to meddle; _segondo_, the merchant folk who carry on their trades +without fear of the _rapiamus_ of the law that had pressed too heavily +on them; _tertio_, the nobles; for people had fallen into an unfortunate +habit of putting them to death, and he puts a stop to this. + +But there were enemies to be cleared out of the way, and he was not +the one to go to sleep after mess; and his eyes, look you, traveled +all over the world as if it had been a man's face. The next thing he +did was to turn up in Italy; it was just as if he had put his head out +of the window and the sight of him was enough; they gulp down the +Austrians at Marengo like a whale swallowing gudgeons! _Haouf_! The +French Victories blew their trumpets so loud that the whole world +could hear the noise, and there was an end of it. + +"We will not keep on at this game any longer!" say the Germans. + +"That is enough of this sort of thing," say the others. + +Here is the upshot. Europe shows the white feather, England knuckles +under, general peace all round, and kings and peoples pretending to +embrace each other. While then and there the Emperor hits on the idea +of the Legion of Honor. There's a fine thing if you like! + +He spoke to the whole army at Boulogne. "In France," so he said, +"every man is brave. So the civilian who does gloriously shall be the +soldier's sister, the soldier shall be his brother, and both shall +stand together beneath the flag of honor." + +By the time that the rest of us who were away down there in Egypt had +come back again, everything was changed. We had seen him last as a +general, and in no time we find that he is Emperor! And when this was +settled (and it may safely be said that every one was satisfied) there +was a holy ceremony such as was never seen under the canopy of heaven. +Faith, France gave herself to him, like a handsome girl to a lancer, +and the Pope and all his cardinals in robes of red and gold come +across the Alps on purpose to anoint him before the army and the +people, who clap their hands. + +There is one thing that it would be very wrong to keep back from you. +While he was in Egypt, in the desert not far away from Syria, _the Red +Man_ had appeared to him on the mountain of Moses, in order to say, +"Everything is going on well." Then again, on the eve of victory at +Marengo, the Red Man springs to his feet in front of the Emperor for +the second time, and says to him: + +"You shall see the world at your feet; you shall be Emperor of the +French, King of Italy, master of Holland, ruler of Spain, Portugal, +and the Illyrian Provinces, protector of Germany, saviour of Poland, +first eagle of the Legion of Honor and all the rest of it." + +That Red Man, look you, was a notion of his own, who ran on errands +and carried messages, so many people say, between him and his star. I +myself have never believed that; but the Red Man is, undoubtedly, a +fact. Napoleon himself spoke of the Red Man who lived up in the roof +of the Tuileries, and who used to come to him, he said, in moments of +trouble and difficulty. So on the night after his coronation Napoleon +saw him for the third time, and they talked over a lot of things +together. + +Then the Emperor goes straight to Milan to have himself crowned King +of Italy, and then came the real triumph of the soldier. For every one +who could write became an officer forthwith, and pensions and gifts of +duchies poured down in showers. There were fortunes for the staff that +never cost France a penny, and the Legion of Honor was as good as an +annuity for the rank and file; I still draw my pension on the strength +of it. In short, here were armies provided for in a way that had never +been seen before! But the Emperor, who knew that he was to be Emperor +over everybody, and not only over the army, bethinks himself of the +bourgeois, and sets them to build fairy monuments in places that had +been as bare as the back of my hand till then. Suppose, now, that you +are coming out of Spain and on the way to Berlin; well, you would see +triumphal arches, and in the sculpture upon them the common soldiers +are done every bit as beautifully as the generals! + +In two or three years Napoleon fills his cellars with gold, makes +bridges, palaces, roads, scholars, festivals, laws, fleets, and +harbors; he spends millions on millions, ever so much, and ever so +much more to it, so that I have heard it said that he could have paved +the whole of France with five-franc pieces if the fancy had taken him; +and all this without putting any taxes on you people here. So when he +was comfortably seated on his throne, and so thoroughly the master of +the situation, that all Europe was waiting for leave to do anything +for him that he might happen to want; as he had four brothers and +three sisters, he said to us, just as it might be by way of +conversation, in the order of the day: + +"Children, is it fitting that your Emperor's relations should beg +their bread? No; I want them all to be luminaries, like me in fact! +Therefore, it is urgently necessary to conquer a kingdom for each one +of them, so that the French nation may be masters everywhere, so that +the Guard may make the whole earth tremble, and France may spit +wherever she likes, and every nation shall say to her, as it is +written on my coins, 'God protects you.'" + +"All right!" answers the army, "we will fish up kingdoms for you +with the bayonet." + +Ah! there was no backing out of it, look you! If he had taken it into +his head to conquer the moon, we should have had to put everything in +train, pack our knapsacks, and scramble up; luckily, he had no wish +for that excursion. The kings who were used to the comforts of a +throne, of course, objected to be lugged off, so we had marching +orders. We march, we get there, and the earth begins to shake to its +centre again. What times they were for wearing out men and shoe-leather! +And the hard knocks that they gave us! Only Frenchmen could have stood +it. But you are not ignorant that a Frenchman is a born philosopher; +he knows that he must die a little sooner or a litter later. So we used +to die without a word, because we had the pleasure of watching the +Emperor do _this_ on the maps. + +[Here the soldier swung quickly round on one foot, so as to trace a +circle on the barn floor with the other.] + +"There, that shall be a kingdom," he used to say, and it was a +kingdom. What fine times they were! Colonels became generals whilst +you were looking at them, generals became marshals of France, and +marshals became kings. There is one of them still left on his feet to +keep Europe in mind of those days, Gascon though he may be, and a +traitor to France that he might keep his crown; and he did not blush +for his shame, for, after all, a crown, look you, is made of gold. The +very sappers and miners who knew how to read became great nobles in +the same way. And I who am telling you all this have seen in Paris +eleven kings and a crowd of princes all round about Napoleon, like +rays about the sun! Keep this well in your minds, that as every +soldier stood a chance of having a throne of his own (provided he +showed himself worthy of it), a corporal of the Guard was by way of +being a sight to see, and they gaped at him as he went by; for every +one came by his share after a victory, it was made perfectly clear in +the bulletin. And what battles they were! Austerlitz, where the army +was manoeuvred as if it had been a review; Eylau, where the Russians +were drowned in a lake, just as if Napoleon had breathed on them and +blown them in; Wagram, where the fighting was kept up for three whole +days without flinching. In short, there were as many battles as there +are saints in the calendar. + +Then it was made clear beyond a doubt that Napoleon bore the Sword of +God in his scabbard. He had a regard for the soldier. He took the +soldier for his child. He was anxious that you should have shoes, +shirts, greatcoats, bread, and cartridges; but he kept up his majesty, +too, for reigning was his own particular occupation. But, all the +same, a sergeant, or even a common soldier, could go up to him and +call him "Emperor," just as you might say "My good friend" to me at +times. And he would give an answer to anything you put before him. He +used to sleep on the snow just like the rest of us--in short, he +looked almost like an ordinary man; but I who am telling you all these +things have seen him myself with the grape-shot whizzing about his +ears, no more put out by it than you are at this moment; never moving +a limb, watching through his field-glass, always looking after his +business; so we stood our ground likewise, as cool and calm as John +the Baptist. I do not know how he did it; but whenever he spoke, a +something in his words made our hearts burn within us; and just to let +him see that we were his children, and that it was not in us to shirk +or flinch, we used to walk just as usual right up to the sluts of +cannon that were belching smoke and vomiting battalions of balls, and +never a man would so much as say, "Look out!" It was a something that +made dying men raise their heads to salute him and cry, "Long live the +Emperor!" + +Was that natural? Would you have done this for a mere man? + +Thereupon, having fitted up all his family, and things having so +turned out that the Empress Josephine (a good woman for all that) had +no children, he was obliged to part company with her, although he +loved her not a little. But he must have children, for reasons of +State. All the crowned heads of Europe, when they heard of his +difficulty, squabbled among themselves as to who should find him a +wife. He married an Austrian princess, so they say, who was the +daughter of the Caesars, a man of antiquity whom everybody talks +about, not only in our country, where it is said that most things were +his doing, but also all over Europe. And so certain sure is that, that +I who am talking to you have been myself across the Danube, where I +saw the ruins of a bridge built by that man; and it appeared that he +was some connection of Napoleon's at Rome, for the Emperor claimed +succession there for his son. + +So, after his wedding, which was a holiday for the whole world, and +when they let the people off their taxes for ten years to come (though +they had to pay them just the same after all, because the excisemen +took no notice of the proclamation)--after his wedding, I say, his +wife had a child who was King of Rome; a child was born a King while +his father was alive, a thing that had never been seen in the world +before! That day a balloon set out from Paris to carry the news to +Rome, and went all the way in one day. There, now! Is there one of you +who will stand me out that there was nothing supernatural in that? No, +it was decreed on high. And the mischief take those who will not allow +that it was wafted over by God Himself, so as to add to the honor and +glory of France! + +But there was the Emperor of Russia, a friend of our Emperor's, who +was put out because he had not married a Russian lady. So the Russian +backs up our enemies the English; for there had always been something +to prevent Napoleon from putting a spoke in their wheel. Clearly an +end must be made of fowl of that feather. Napoleon is vexed, and he +says to us: + +"Soldiers! You have been the masters of every capital in Europe, +except Moscow, which is allied to England. So, in order to conquer +London and India, which belongs to them in London, I find it +absolutely necessary that we go to Moscow." + +Thereupon the greatest army that ever wore gaiters, and left its +footprints all over the globe, is brought together, and drawn up with +such peculiar cleverness, that the Emperor passed a million men in +review, all in a single day. + +"Hourra!" cry the Russians, and there is all Russia assembled, a lot +of brutes of Cossacks, that you never can come up with! It was country +against country, a general stramash; we had to look out for ourselves. +"It was all Asia against Europe," as the Red Man had said to Napoleon. +"All right," Napoleon had answered, "I shall be ready for them." + +And there, in fact, were all the kings who came to lick Napoleon's +hand. Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Poland, and Italy, all +speaking us fair and going along with us; it was a fine thing! The +Eagles had never cooed before as they did on parade in those days, +when they were reared above all the flags of all the nations of +Europe. The Poles could not contain their joy because the Emperor had +a notion of setting up their kingdom again; and ever since Poland and +France have always been like brothers. In short, the army shouts, +"Russia shall be ours!" + +We cross the frontiers, all the lot of us. We march and better march, +but never a Russian do we see. At last all our watch-dogs are encamped +at Borodino. That was where I received the Cross, and there is no +denying that it was a cursed battle. The Emperor was not easy in his +mind; he had seen the Red Man, who said to him, "My child, you are +going a little too fast for your feet; you will run short of men, and +your friends will play you false." + +Thereupon the Emperor proposes a treaty. But before he signs it, he +says to us: + +"Let us give these Russians a drubbing!" + +"All right!" cried the army. + +"Forward!" say the sergeants. + +My clothes were all falling to pieces, my shoes were worn out with +trapezing over those roads out there, which are not good going at all. +But it is all one. "Since here is the last of the row," said I to +myself, "I mean to get all I can out of it." + +We were posted before the great ravine; we had seats in the front +row. The signal is given, and seven hundred guns begin a conversation +fit to make the blood spirt from your ears. One should give the devil +his due, and the Russians let themselves be cut in pieces just like +Frenchmen; they did not give way, and we made no advance. + +"Forward!" is the cry; "here is the Emperor!" + +So it was. He rides past us at a gallop, and makes a sign to us that +a great deal depends on our carrying the redoubt. He puts fresh heart +into us; we rush forward, I am the first man to reach the gorge. Ah! +_mon Dieu_! how they fell, colonels, lieutenants, and common soldiers, +all alike! There were shoes to fit up those who had none, and +epaulettes for the knowing fellows that knew how to write. . . . +Victory is the cry all along the line! And, upon my word, there were +twenty-five thousand Frenchmen lying on the field. No more, I assure +you! Such a thing was never seen before, it was just like a field when +the corn is cut, with a man lying there for every ear of corn. That +sobered the rest of us. The Man comes, and we make a circle round +about him, and he coaxes us round (for he could be very nice when he +chose), and persuades us to dine with Duke Humphrey, when we were +hungry as hunters. Then our consoler distributes the Crosses of the +Legion of Honor himself, salutes the dead, and says to us, "On to +Moscow!" + +"To Moscow, so be it," says the army. + +We take Moscow. What do the Russians do but set fire to their city! +There was a blaze, two leagues of bonfire that burned for two days! +The buildings fell about our ears like slates, and molten lead and +iron came down in showers; it was really horrible; it was a light to +see our sorrows by, I can tell you! The Emperor said, "There, that is +enough of this sort of thing; all my men shall stay here." + +We amuse ourselves for a bit by recruiting and repairing our frames, +for we really were much fatigued by the campaign. We take away with us +a gold cross from the top of the Kremlin, and every soldier had a +little fortune. But on the way back the winter came down on us a month +earlier than usual, a matter which the learned (like a set of fools) +have never sufficiently explained; and we are nipped with the cold. We +were no longer an army after that, do you understand? There was an end +of generals and even of the sergeants; hunger and misery took the +command instead, and all of us were absolutely equal under their +reign. All we thought of was how to get back to France; no one stooped +to pick up his gun or his money; every one walked straight before him, +and armed himself as he thought fit, and no one cared about glory. + +The Emperor saw nothing of his star all the time, for the weather was +so bad. There was some misunderstanding between him and heaven. Poor +man, how bad he felt when he saw his Eagles flying with their backs +turned on victory! That was really too rough! Well, the next thing is +the Beresina. And here and now, my friends, any one can assure you on +his honor, and by all that is sacred, that _never_, no, never since +there have been men on earth, never in this world has there been such +a fricasse of an army, caissons, transports, artillery and all, in +such snow as that and under such a pitiless sky. It was so cold that +you burned your hand on the barrel of your gun if you happened to +touch it. There it was that the pontooners saved the army, for the +pontooners stood firm at their posts; it was there that Gondrin +behaved like a hero, and he is the sole survivor of all the men who +were dogged enough to stand in the river so as to build the bridges on +which the army crossed over, and so escaped the Russians, who still +respected the Grand Army on account of its past victories. And Gondrin +is an accomplished soldier, [pointing at Gondrin, who was gazing at +him with the rapt attention peculiar to deaf people] a distinguished +soldier who deserves to have your very highest esteem. + +I saw the Emperor standing by the bridge, and never feeling the cold +at all. Was that, again, a natural thing? He was looking on at the +loss of his treasures, of his friends, and those who had fought with +him in Egypt. Bah! there was an end of everything. Women and wagons +and guns were all engulfed and swallowed up, everything went to wreck +and ruin. A few of the bravest among us saved the Eagles, for the +Eagles, look you, meant France, and all the rest of you; it was the +civil and military honor of France that was in our keeping, there must +be no spot on the honor of France, and the cold could never make her +bow her head. There was no getting warm except in the neighborhood of +the Emperor; for whenever he was in danger we hurried up, all frozen as +we were--we who would not stop to hold out a hand to a fallen friend. + +They say, too, that he shed tears of a night over his poor family of +soldiers. Only he and Frenchmen could have pulled themselves out of +such a plight; but we did pull ourselves out, though, as I am telling +you, it was with loss, ay, and heavy loss. The Allies had eaten up all +our provisions; everybody began to betray him, just as the Red Man had +foretold. The rattle-pates in Paris, who had kept quiet ever since the +Imperial Guard had been established, think that _he_ is dead, and hatch +a conspiracy. They set to work in the Home Office to overturn the +Emperor. These things come to his knowledge and worry him; he says to +us at parting, "Good-bye, children; keep to your posts, I will come +back again." + +Bah! Those generals of his lose their heads at once; for when he was +away, it was not like the same thing. The marshals fall out among +themselves, and make blunders, as was only natural, for Napoleon in +his kindness had fed them on gold till they had grown as fat as +butter, and they had no mind to march. Troubles came of this, for many +of them stayed inactive in garrison towns in the rear, without +attempting to tickle up the backs of the enemy behind us, and we were +being driven back on France. But Napoleon comes back among us with +fresh troops; conscripts they were, and famous conscripts too; he had +put some thorough notions of discipline into them--the whelps were +good to set their teeth in anybody. He had a bourgeois guard of honor +too, and fine troops they were! They melted away like butter on a +gridiron. We may put a bold front on it, but everything is against us, +although the army still performs prodigies of valor. Whole nations +fought against nations in tremendous battles, at Dresden, Lutzen, and +Bautzen, and then it was that France showed extraordinary heroism, for +you must all of you bear in mind that in those times a stout grenadier +only lasted six months. + +We always won the day, but the English were always on our track, +putting nonsense into other nations' heads, and stirring them up to +revolt. In short, we cleared a way through all these mobs of nations; +for wherever the Emperor appeared, we made a passage for him; for on +the land as on the sea, whenever he said, "I wish to go forward," we +made the way. + +There comes a final end to it at last. We are back in France; and in +spite of the bitter weather, it did one's heart good to breathe one's +native air again, it set up many a poor fellow; and as for me, it put +new life into me, I can tell you. But it was a question all at once of +defending France, our fair land of France. All Europe was up in arms +against us; they took it in bad part that we had tried to keep the +Russians in order by driving them back within their own borders, so +that they should not gobble us up, for those Northern folk have a +strong liking for eating up the men of the South, it is a habit they +have; I have heard the same thing of them from several generals. + +So the Emperor finds his own father-in-law, his friends whom he had +made crowned kings, and the rabble of princes to whom he had given +back their thrones, were all against him. Even Frenchmen and allies in +our own ranks turned against us, by orders from high quarters, as at +Leipsic. Common soldiers would hardly be capable of such abominations; +yet these princes, as they called themselves, broke their words three +times a day! The next thing they do is to invade France. Wherever our +Emperor shows his lion's face, the enemy beats a retreat; he worked +more miracles for the defence of France than he had ever wrought in +the conquest of Italy, the East, Spain, Europe, and Russia; he has a +mind to bury every foreigner in French soil, to give them a respect +for France, so he lets them come close up to Paris, so as to do for +them at a single blow, and to rise to the highest height of genius in +the biggest battle that ever was fought, a mother of battles! But the +Parisians wanting to save their trumpery skins, and afraid for their +twopenny shops, open their gates and there is a beginning of the +_ragusades_, and an end of all joy and happiness; they make a fool of +the Empress, and fly the white flag out at the windows. The Emperor's +closest friends among his generals forsake him at last and go over to +the Bourbons, of whom no one had ever heard tell. Then he bids us +farewell at Fontainebleau: + +"Soldiers!" . . . I can hear him yet, we were all crying just like +children; the Eagles and the flags had been lowered as if for a +funeral. Ah! and it was a funeral, I can tell you; it was the funeral +of the Empire; those smart armies of his were nothing but skeletons +now. So he stood there on the flight of steps before his chateau, and +he said: + +"Children, we have been overcome by treachery, but we shall meet +again up above in the country of the brave. Protect my child, I leave +him in your care. _Long live Napoleon II._!" + +He had thought of killing himself, so that no one should behold +Napoleon after his defeat; like Jesus Christ before the Crucifixion, +he thought himself forsaken by God and by his talisman, and so he took +enough poison to kill a regiment, but it had no effect whatever upon +him. Another marvel! he discovered that he was immortal; and feeling +sure of his case, and knowing that he would be Emperor for ever, he +went to an island for a little while, so as to study the dispositions +of those folk who did not fail to make blunder upon blunder. Whilst he +was biding his time, the Chinese and the brutes out in Africa, the +Moors and what-not, awkward customers all of them, were so convinced +that he was something more than mortal, that they respected his flag, +saying that God would be displeased if any one meddled with it. So he +reigned over all the rest of the world, although the doors of his own +France had been closed upon him. + +Then he goes on board the same nutshell of a skiff that he sailed in +from Egypt, passes under the noses of the English vessels, and sets +foot in France. France recognizes her Emperor, the cuckoo flits from +steeple to steeple; France cries with one voice, "Long live the +Emperor!" The enthusiasm for that Wonder of the Ages was thoroughly +genuine in these parts. Dauphine behaved handsomely; and I was +uncommonly pleased to learn that people here shed tears of joy on +seeing his gray overcoat once more. + +It was on March 1st that Napoleon set out with two hundred men to +conquer the kingdom of France and Navarre, which by March 20th had +become the French Empire again. On that day he found himself in Paris, +and a clean sweep had been made of everything; he had won back his +beloved France, and had called all his soldiers about him again, and +three words of his had done it all--"Here am I!" 'Twas the greatest +miracle God ever worked! Was it ever known in the world before that a +man should do nothing but show his hat, and a whole Empire became his? +They fancied that France was crushed, did they? Never a bit of it. A +National Army springs up again at the sight of the Eagle, and we all +march to Waterloo. There the Guard fall all as one man. Napoleon in +his despair heads the rest, and flings himself three times on the +enemy's guns without finding the death he sought; we all saw him do +it, we soldiers, and the day was lost! That night the Emperor calls +all his old soldiers about him, and there on the battlefield, which +was soaked with our blood, he burns his flags and his Eagles--the poor +Eagles that had never been defeated, that had cried, "Forward!" in +battle after battle, and had flown above us all over Europe. That was +the end of the Eagles--all the wealth of England could not purchase +for her one tail-feather. The rest is sufficiently known. + +The Red Man went over to the Bourbons like the low scoundrel he is. +France is prostrate, the soldier counts for nothing, they rob him of +his due, send him about his business, and fill his place with nobles +who could not walk, they were so old, so that it made you sorry to see +them. They seize Napoleon by treachery, the English shut him up on a +desert island in the ocean, on a rock ten thousand feet above the rest +of the world. That is the final end of it; there he has to stop till +the Red Man gives him back his power again, for the happiness of +France. A lot of them say that he is dead! Dead? Oh! yes, very likely. +They do not know him, that is plain! They go on telling that fib to +deceive the people, and to keep things quiet for their tumble-down +government. Listen; this is the whole truth of the matter. His friends +have left him alone in the desert to fulfil a prophecy that was made +about him, for I forgot to tell you that his name Napoleon really +means the _Lion of the Desert_. And that is gospel truth. You will hear +plenty of other things said about the Emperor, but they are all +monstrous nonsense. Because, look you, to no man of woman born would +God have given the power to write his name in red, as he did, across +the earth, where he will be remembered for ever! . . . Long live +"Napoleon, the father of the soldier, the father of the people!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Napoleon of the People, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE *** + +***** This file should be named 7958.txt or 7958.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/5/7958/ + +Produced by Dagny; and John Bickers + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Napoleon of the People + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7958] +[This file was first posted on June 5, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE *** + + + + +Etext prepared by Dagny <dagnypg@yahoo.com> and John Bickers +<jbickers@ihug.co.nz> + + + +THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE + +BY + +HONORE DE BALZAC + + + +PREPARER'S NOTE + + The Napoleon of the People was originally published in Le Medicin + de Campagne (The Country Doctor). It is a story told to a group of + peasants by the character of Goguelat, an ex-soldier who served + under Napoleon in an infantry regiment. It was later included in + Folk-tales of Napoleon: Napoleonder from the Russian, a collection + of stories by various authors. This translation is by Ellen + Marriage and Clara Bell. + + + +Napoleon, you see, my friends, was born in Corsica, which is a French +island warmed by the Italian sun; it is like a furnace there, +everything is scorched up, and they keep on killing each other from +father to son for generations all about nothing at all--'tis a notion +they have. To begin at the beginning, there was something +extraordinary about the thing from the first; it occurred to his +mother, who was the handsomest woman of her time, and a shrewd soul, +to dedicate him to God, so that he should escape all the dangers of +infancy and of his after life; for she had dreamed that the world was +on fire on the day he was born. It was a prophecy! So she asked God to +protect him, on condition that Napoleon should re-establish His holy +religion, which had been thrown to the ground just then. That was the +agreement; we shall see what came of it. + +Now, do you follow me carefully, and tell me whether what you are +about to hear is natural. + +It is certain sure that only a man who had had imagination enough to +make a mysterious compact would be capable of going further than +anybody else, and of passing through volleys of grape-shot and showers +of bullets which carried us off like flies, but which had a respect +for his head. I myself had particular proof of that at Eylau. I see +him yet; he climbs a hillock, takes his field-glass, looks along our +lines, and says, "That is going on all right." One of the deep +fellows, with a bunch of feathers in his cap, used to plague him a +good deal from all accounts, following him about everywhere, even when +he was getting his meals. This fellow wants to do something clever, so +as soon as the Emperor goes away he takes his place. Oh! swept away in +a moment! And this is the last of the bunch of feathers! You +understand quite clearly that Napoleon had undertaken to keep his +secret to himself. That is why those who accompanied him, and even his +especial friends, used to drop like nuts: Duroc, Bessieres, Lannes-- +men as strong as bars of steel, which he cast into shape for his own +ends. And here is a final proof that he was the child of God, created +to be the soldier's father; for no one ever saw him as a lieutenant or +a captain. He is a commandant straight off! Ah! yes, indeed! He did +not look more than four-and-twenty, but he was an old general ever +since the taking of Toulon, when he made a beginning by showing the +rest that they knew nothing about handling cannon. Next thing he does, +he tumbles upon us. A little slip of a general-in-chief of the army of +Italy, which had neither bread nor ammunition nor shoes nor clothes--a +wretched army as naked as a worm. + +"Friends," he said, "here we all are together. Now, get it well +into your pates that in a fortnight's time from now you will be the +victors, and dressed in new clothes; you shall all have greatcoats, +strong gaiters, and famous pairs of shoes; but, my children, you will +have to march on Milan to take them, where all these things are." + +So they marched. The French, crushed as flat as a pancake, held up +their heads again. There were thirty thousand of us tatterdemalions +against eighty thousand swaggerers of Germans--fine tall men and well +equipped; I can see them yet. Then Napoleon, who was only Bonaparte in +those days, breathed goodness knows what into us, and on we marched +night and day. We rap their knuckles at Montenotte; we hurry on to +thrash them at Rivoli, Lodi, Arcola, and Millesimo, and we never let +them go. The army came to have a liking for winning battles. Then +Napoleon hems them in on all sides, these German generals did not know +where to hide themselves so as to have a little peace and comfort; he +drubs them soundly, cribs ten thousand of their men at a time by +surrounding them with fifteen hundred Frenchmen, whom he makes to +spring up after his fashion, and at last he takes their cannon, +victuals, money, ammunition, and everything they have that is worth +taking; he pitches them into the water, beats them on the mountains, +snaps at them in the air, gobbles them up on the earth, and thrashes +them everywhere. + +There are the troops in full feather again! For, look you, the +Emperor (who, for that matter, was a wit) soon sent for the +inhabitant, and told him that he had come there to deliver him. +Whereupon the civilian finds us free quarters and makes much of us, so +do the women, who showed great discernment. To come to a final end; in +Ventose '96, which was at that time what the month of March is now, we +had been driven up into a corner of the /Pays des Marmottes/; but after +the campaign, lo and behold! we were the masters of Italy, just as +Napoleon had prophesied. And in the month of March following, in one +year and in two campaigns, he brings us within sight of Vienna; we had +made a clean sweep of them. We had gobbled down three armies one after +another, and taken the conceit out of four Austrian generals; one of +them, an old man who had white hair, had been roasted like a rat in +the straw before Mantua. The kings were suing for mercy on their +knees. Peace had been won. Could a mere mortal have done that? No. God +helped him, that is certain. He distributed himself about like the +five loaves in the Gospel, commanded on the battlefield all day, and +drew up his plans at night. The sentries always saw him coming; he +neither ate nor slept. Therefore, recognizing these prodigies, the +soldier adopts him for his father. But, forward! + +The other folk there in Paris, seeing all this, say among themselves: + +"Here is a pilgrim who appears to take his instructions from Heaven +above; he is uncommonly likely to lay a hand on France. We must let +him loose on Asia or America, and that, perhaps, will keep him quiet." + +The same thing was decreed for him as for Jesus Christ; for, as a +matter of fact, they give him orders to go on duty down in Egypt. See +his resemblance to the Son of God! That is not all, though. He calls +all his fire-eaters about him, all those into whom he had more +particularly put the devil, and talks to them in this way: + +"My friends, for the time being they are giving us Egypt to stop our +mouths. But we will swallow down Egypt in a brace of shakes, just as +we swallowed Italy, and private soldiers shall be princes, and shall +have broad lands of their own. Forward!" + +"Forward, lads!" cry the sergeants. + +So we come to Toulon on the way to Egypt. Whereupon the English put +to sea with all their fleet. But when we are on board, Napoleon says +to us: + +"They will not see us: and it is right and proper that you should +know henceforward that your general has a star in the sky that guides +us and watches over us!" + +So said, so done. As we sailed over the sea we took Malta, by way of +an orange to quench his thirst for victory, for he was a man who must +always be doing something. There we are in Egypt. Well and good. +Different orders. The Egyptians, look you, are men who, ever since the +world has been the world, have been in the habit of having giants to +reign over them, and armies like swarms of ants; because it is a +country full of genii and crocodiles, where they have built up +pyramids as big as our mountains, the fancy took them to stow their +kings under the pyramids, so as to keep them fresh, a thing which +mightily pleases them all round out there. Whereupon, as we landed, +the Little Corporal said to us: + +"My children, the country which you are about to conquer worships a +lot of idols which you must respect, because the Frenchman ought to be +on good terms with all the world, and fight people without giving +annoyance. Get it well into your heads to let everything alone at +first; for we shall have it all by and by! and forward!" + +So far so good. But all those people had heard a prophecy of +Napoleon, under the name of /Kebir Bonaberdis/; a word which in our +lingo means, "The Sultan fires a shot," and they feared him like the +devil. So the Grand Turk, Asia, and Africa have recourse to magic, and +they send a demon against us, named the Mahdi, who it was thought had +come down from heaven on a white charger which, like its master was +bullet-proof, and the pair of them lived on the air of that part of +the world. There are people who have seen them, but for my part I +cannot give you any certain informations about them. They were the +divinities of Arabia and of the Mamelukes who wished their troopers to +believe that the Mahdi had the power of preventing them from dying in +battle. They gave out that he was an angel sent down to wage war on +Napoleon, and to get back Solomon's seal, part of their paraphernalia +which they pretended our general had stolen. You will readily +understand that we made them cry peccavi all the same. + +Ah, just tell me now how they came to know about that compact of +Napoleon's? Was that natural? + +They took it into their heads for certain that he commanded the +genii, and that he went from place to place like a bird in the +twinkling of an eye; and it is a fact that he was everywhere. At +length it came about that he carried off a queen of theirs. She was +the private property of a Mameluke, who, although he had several more +of them, flatly refused to strike a bargain, though "the other" +offered all his treasures for her and diamonds as big as pigeon's +eggs. When things had come to that pass, they could not well be +settled without a good deal of fighting; and there was fighting enough +for everybody and no mistake about it. + +Then we are drawn up before Alexandria, and again at Gizeh, and +before the Pyramids. We had to march over the sands and in the sun; +people whose eyes dazzled used to see water that they could not drink +and shade that made them fume. But we made short work of the Mamelukes +as usual, and everything goes down before the voice of Napoleon, who +seizes Upper and Lower Egypt and Arabia, far and wide, till we came to +the capitals of kingdoms which no longer existed, where there were +thousands and thousands of statues of all the devils in creation, all +done to the life, and another curious thing too, any quantity of +lizards. A confounded country where any one could have as many acres +of land as he wished for as little as he pleased. + +While he was busy inland, where he meant to carry out some wonderful +ideas of his, the English burn his fleet for him in Aboukir Bay, for +they never could do enough to annoy us. But Napoleon, who was +respected East and West, and called "My Son" by the Pope, and "My dear +Father" by Mahomet's cousin, makes up his mind to have his revenge on +England, and to take India in exchange for his fleet. He set out to +lead us into Asia, by way of the Red Sea, through a country where +there were palaces for halting-places, and nothing but gold and +diamonds to pay the troops with, when the Mahdi comes to an +understanding with the Plague, and sends it among us to make a break +in our victories. Halt! Then every man files off to that parade from +which no one comes back on his two feet. The dying soldier cannot take +Acre, into which he forces an entrance three times with a warrior's +impetuous enthusiasm; the Plague was too strong for us; there was not +even time to say "Your servant, sir!" to the Plague. Every man was +down with it. Napoleon alone was as fresh as a rose; the whole army +saw him drinking in the Plague without it doing him any harm whatever. + +There now, my friends, was that natural, do you think? + +The Mamelukes, knowing that we were all on the sick-list, want to +stop our road; but it was no use trying that nonsense with Napoleon. +So he spoke to his familiars, who had tougher skins than the rest: + +"Go and clear the road for me." + +Junot, who was his devoted friend, and a first-class fighter, only +takes a thousand men, and makes a clean sweep of the Pasha's army, +which had the impudence to bar our way. Thereupon back we came to +Cairo, our headquarters, and now for another story. + +Napoleon being out of the country, France allowed the people in Paris +to worry the life out of her. They kept back the soldiers' pay and all +their linen and clothing, left them to starve, and expected them to +lay down law to the universe, without taking any further trouble in +the matter. They were idiots of the kind that amuse themselves with +chattering instead of setting themselves to knead the dough. So our +armies were defeated, France could not keep her frontiers; The Man was +not there. I say The Man, look you, because that was how they called +him; but it was stuff and nonsense, for he had a star of his own and +all his other peculiarities, it was the rest of us that were mere men. +He hears this history of France after his famous battle of Aboukir, +where with a single division he routed the grand army of the Turks, +twenty-five thousand strong, and jostled more than half of them into +the sea, rrrah! without losing more than three hundred of his own men. +That was his last thunder-clap in Egypt. He said to himself, seeing +that all was lost down there, "I know that I am the saviour of France, +and to France I must go." + +But you must clearly understand that the army did not know of his +departure; for if they had, they would have kept him there by force to +make him Emperor of the East. So there we all are without him, and in +low spirits, for he was the life of us. He leaves Kleber in command, a +great watchdog who passed in his checks at Cairo, murdered by an +Egyptian whom they put to death by spiking him with a bayonet, which +is their way of guillotining people out there; but he suffered so +much, that a soldier took pity on the scoundrel and handed his flask +to him; and the Egyptian turned up his eyes then and there with all +the pleasure in life. But there is not much fun for us about this +little affair. Napoleon steps aboard of a little cockleshell, a mere +nothing of a skiff, called the /Fortune/, and in the twinkling of an +eye, and in the teeth of the English, who were blockading the place +with vessels of the line and cruisers and everything that carries +canvas, he lands in France for he always had the faculty of taking the +sea at a stride. Was that natural? Bah! as soon as he landed at +Frejus, it is as good as saying that he has set foot in Paris. +Everybody there worships him; but he calls the Government together. + +"What have you done to my children, the soldiers?" he says to the +lawyers. "You are a set of good-for-nothings who make fools of other +people, and feather your own nests at the expense of France. It will +not do. I speak in the name of every one who is discontented." + +Thereupon they want to put him off and to get rid of him; but not a +bit of it! He locks them up in the barracks where they used to argufy +and makes them jump out of the windows. Then he makes them follow in +his train, and they all become as mute as fishes and supple as tobacco +pouches. So he becomes Consul at a blow. He was not the man to doubt +the existence of the Supreme Being; he kept his word with Providence, +who had kept His promise in earnest; he sets up religion again, and +gives back the churches, and they ring the bells for God and Napoleon. +So every one is satisfied: /primo/ the priests with whom he allows no +one to meddle; /segondo/, the merchant folk who carry on their trades +without fear of the /rapiamus/ of the law that had pressed too heavily +on them; /tertio/, the nobles; for people had fallen into an unfortunate +habit of putting them to death, and he puts a stop to this. + +But there were enemies to be cleared out of the way, and he was not +the one to go to sleep after mess; and his eyes, look you, traveled +all over the world as if it had been a man's face. The next thing he +did was to turn up in Italy; it was just as if he had put his head out +of the window and the sight of him was enough; they gulp down the +Austrians at Marengo like a whale swallowing gudgeons! /Haouf/! The +French Victories blew their trumpets so loud that the whole world +could hear the noise, and there was an end of it. + +"We will not keep on at this game any longer!" say the Germans. + +"That is enough of this sort of thing," say the others. + +Here is the upshot. Europe shows the white feather, England knuckles +under, general peace all round, and kings and peoples pretending to +embrace each other. While then and there the Emperor hits on the idea +of the Legion of Honor. There's a fine thing if you like! + +He spoke to the whole army at Boulogne. "In France," so he said, +"every man is brave. So the civilian who does gloriously shall be the +soldier's sister, the soldier shall be his brother, and both shall +stand together beneath the flag of honor." + +By the time that the rest of us who were away down there in Egypt had +come back again, everything was changed. We had seen him last as a +general, and in no time we find that he is Emperor! And when this was +settled (and it may safely be said that every one was satisfied) there +was a holy ceremony such as was never seen under the canopy of heaven. +Faith, France gave herself to him, like a handsome girl to a lancer, +and the Pope and all his cardinals in robes of red and gold come +across the Alps on purpose to anoint him before the army and the +people, who clap their hands. + +There is one thing that it would be very wrong to keep back from you. +While he was in Egypt, in the desert not far away from Syria, /the Red +Man/ had appeared to him on the mountain of Moses, in order to say, +"Everything is going on well." Then again, on the eve of victory at +Marengo, the Red Man springs to his feet in front of the Emperor for +the second time, and says to him: + +"You shall see the world at your feet; you shall be Emperor of the +French, King of Italy, master of Holland, ruler of Spain, Portugal, +and the Illyrian Provinces, protector of Germany, saviour of Poland, +first eagle of the Legion of Honor and all the rest of it." + +That Red Man, look you, was a notion of his own, who ran on errands +and carried messages, so many people say, between him and his star. I +myself have never believed that; but the Red Man is, undoubtedly, a +fact. Napoleon himself spoke of the Red Man who lived up in the roof +of the Tuileries, and who used to come to him, he said, in moments of +trouble and difficulty. So on the night after his coronation Napoleon +saw him for the third time, and they talked over a lot of things +together. + +Then the Emperor goes straight to Milan to have himself crowned King +of Italy, and then came the real triumph of the soldier. For every one +who could write became an officer forthwith, and pensions and gifts of +duchies poured down in showers. There were fortunes for the staff that +never cost France a penny, and the Legion of Honor was as good as an +annuity for the rank and file; I still draw my pension on the strength +of it. In short, here were armies provided for in a way that had never +been seen before! But the Emperor, who knew that he was to be Emperor +over everybody, and not only over the army, bethinks himself of the +bourgeois, and sets them to build fairy monuments in places that had +been as bare as the back of my hand till then. Suppose, now, that you +are coming out of Spain and on the way to Berlin; well, you would see +triumphal arches, and in the sculpture upon them the common soldiers +are done every bit as beautifully as the generals! + +In two or three years Napoleon fills his cellars with gold, makes +bridges, palaces, roads, scholars, festivals, laws, fleets, and +harbors; he spends millions on millions, ever so much, and ever so +much more to it, so that I have heard it said that he could have paved +the whole of France with five-franc pieces if the fancy had taken him; +and all this without putting any taxes on you people here. So when he +was comfortably seated on his throne, and so thoroughly the master of +the situation, that all Europe was waiting for leave to do anything +for him that he might happen to want; as he had four brothers and +three sisters, he said to us, just as it might be by way of +conversation, in the order of the day: + +"Children, is it fitting that your Emperor's relations should beg +their bread? No; I want them all to be luminaries, like me in fact! +Therefore, it is urgently necessary to conquer a kingdom for each one +of them, so that the French nation may be masters everywhere, so that +the Guard may make the whole earth tremble, and France may spit +wherever she likes, and every nation shall say to her, as it is +written on my coins, 'God protects you.'" + +"All right!" answers the army, "we will fish up kingdoms for you +with the bayonet." + +Ah! there was no backing out of it, look you! If he had taken it into +his head to conquer the moon, we should have had to put everything in +train, pack our knapsacks, and scramble up; luckily, he had no wish +for that excursion. The kings who were used to the comforts of a +throne, of course, objected to be lugged off, so we had marching +orders. We march, we get there, and the earth begins to shake to its +centre again. What times they were for wearing out men and shoe- +leather! And the hard knocks that they gave us! Only Frenchmen could +have stood it. But you are not ignorant that a Frenchman is a born +philosopher; he knows that he must die a little sooner or a litter +later. So we used to die without a word, because we had the pleasure +of watching the Emperor do THIS on the maps. + +[Here the soldier swung quickly round on one foot, so as to trace a +circle on the barn floor with the other.] + +"There, that shall be a kingdom," he used to say, and it was a +kingdom. What fine times they were! Colonels became generals whilst +you were looking at them, generals became marshals of France, and +marshals became kings. There is one of them still left on his feet to +keep Europe in mind of those days, Gascon though he may be, and a +traitor to France that he might keep his crown; and he did not blush +for his shame, for, after all, a crown, look you, is made of gold. The +very sappers and miners who knew how to read became great nobles in +the same way. And I who am telling you all this have seen in Paris +eleven kings and a crowd of princes all round about Napoleon, like +rays about the sun! Keep this well in your minds, that as every +soldier stood a chance of having a throne of his own (provided he +showed himself worthy of it), a corporal of the Guard was by way of +being a sight to see, and they gaped at him as he went by; for every +one came by his share after a victory, it was made perfectly clear in +the bulletin. And what battles they were! Austerlitz, where the army +was manoeuvred as if it had been a review; Eylau, where the Russians +were drowned in a lake, just as if Napoleon had breathed on them and +blown them in; Wagram, where the fighting was kept up for three whole +days without flinching. In short, there were as many battles as there +are saints in the calendar. + +Then it was made clear beyond a doubt that Napoleon bore the Sword of +God in his scabbard. He had a regard for the soldier. He took the +soldier for his child. He was anxious that you should have shoes, +shirts, greatcoats, bread, and cartridges; but he kept up his majesty, +too, for reigning was his own particular occupation. But, all the +same, a sergeant, or even a common soldier, could go up to him and +call him "Emperor," just as you might say "My good friend" to me at +times. And he would give an answer to anything you put before him. He +used to sleep on the snow just like the rest of us--in short, he +looked almost like an ordinary man; but I who am telling you all these +things have seen him myself with the grape-shot whizzing about his +ears, no more put out by it than you are at this moment; never moving +a limb, watching through his field-glass, always looking after his +business; so we stood our ground likewise, as cool and calm as John +the Baptist. I do not know how he did it; but whenever he spoke, a +something in his words made our hearts burn within us; and just to let +him see that we were his children, and that it was not in us to shirk +or flinch, we used to walk just as usual right up to the sluts of +cannon that were belching smoke and vomiting battalions of balls, and +never a man would so much as say, "Look out!" It was a something that +made dying men raise their heads to salute him and cry, "Long live the +Emperor!" + +Was that natural? Would you have done this for a mere man? + +Thereupon, having fitted up all his family, and things having so +turned out that the Empress Josephine (a good woman for all that) had +no children, he was obliged to part company with her, although he +loved her not a little. But he must have children, for reasons of +State. All the crowned heads of Europe, when they heard of his +difficulty, squabbled among themselves as to who should find him a +wife. He married an Austrian princess, so they say, who was the +daughter of the Caesars, a man of antiquity whom everybody talks +about, not only in our country, where it is said that most things were +his doing, but also all over Europe. And so certain sure is that, that +I who am talking to you have been myself across the Danube, where I +saw the ruins of a bridge built by that man; and it appeared that he +was some connection of Napoleon's at Rome, for the Emperor claimed +succession there for his son. + +So, after his wedding, which was a holiday for the whole world, and +when they let the people off their taxes for ten years to come (though +they had to pay them just the same after all, because the excisemen +took no notice of the proclamation)--after his wedding, I say, his +wife had a child who was King of Rome; a child was born a King while +his father was alive, a thing that had never been seen in the world +before! That day a balloon set out from Paris to carry the news to +Rome, and went all the way in one day. There, now! Is there one of you +who will stand me out that there was nothing supernatural in that? No, +it was decreed on high. And the mischief take those who will not allow +that it was wafted over by God Himself, so as to add to the honor and +glory of France! + +But there was the Emperor of Russia, a friend of our Emperor's, who +was put out because he had not married a Russian lady. So the Russian +backs up our enemies the English; for there had always been something +to prevent Napoleon from putting a spoke in their wheel. Clearly an +end must be made of fowl of that feather. Napoleon is vexed, and he +says to us: + +"Soldiers! You have been the masters of every capital in Europe, +except Moscow, which is allied to England. So, in order to conquer +London and India, which belongs to them in London, I find it +absolutely necessary that we go to Moscow." + +Thereupon the greatest army that ever wore gaiters, and left its +footprints all over the globe, is brought together, and drawn up with +such peculiar cleverness, that the Emperor passed a million men in +review, all in a single day. + +"Hourra!" cry the Russians, and there is all Russia assembled, a lot +of brutes of Cossacks, that you never can come up with! It was country +against country, a general stramash; we had to look out for ourselves. +"It was all Asia against Europe," as the Red Man had said to Napoleon. +"All right," Napoleon had answered, "I shall be ready for them." + +And there, in fact, were all the kings who came to lick Napoleon's +hand. Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Poland, and Italy, all +speaking us fair and going along with us; it was a fine thing! The +Eagles had never cooed before as they did on parade in those days, +when they were reared above all the flags of all the nations of +Europe. The Poles could not contain their joy because the Emperor had +a notion of setting up their kingdom again; and ever since Poland and +France have always been like brothers. In short, the army shouts, +"Russia shall be ours!" + +We cross the frontiers, all the lot of us. We march and better march, +but never a Russian do we see. At last all our watch-dogs are encamped +at Borodino. That was where I received the Cross, and there is no +denying that it was a cursed battle. The Emperor was not easy in his +mind; he had seen the Red Man, who said to him, "My child, you are +going a little too fast for your feet; you will run short of men, and +your friends will play you false." + +Thereupon the Emperor proposes a treaty. But before he signs it, he +says to us: + +"Let us give these Russians a drubbing!" + +"All right!" cried the army. + +"Forward!" say the sergeants. + +My clothes were all falling to pieces, my shoes were worn out with +trapezing over those roads out there, which are not good going at all. +But it is all one. "Since here is the last of the row," said I to +myself, "I mean to get all I can out of it." + +We were posted before the great ravine; we had seats in the front +row. The signal is given, and seven hundred guns begin a conversation +fit to make the blood spirt from your ears. One should give the devil +his due, and the Russians let themselves be cut in pieces just like +Frenchmen; they did not give way, and we made no advance. + +"Forward!" is the cry; "here is the Emperor!" + +So it was. He rides past us at a gallop, and makes a sign to us that +a great deal depends on our carrying the redoubt. He puts fresh heart +into us; we rush forward, I am the first man to reach the gorge. Ah! +/mon Dieu/! how they fell, colonels, lieutenants, and common soldiers, +all alike! There were shoes to fit up those who had none, and +epaulettes for the knowing fellows that knew how to write. . . . +Victory is the cry all along the line! And, upon my word, there were +twenty-five thousand Frenchmen lying on the field. No more, I assure +you! Such a thing was never seen before, it was just like a field when +the corn is cut, with a man lying there for every ear of corn. That +sobered the rest of us. The Man comes, and we make a circle round +about him, and he coaxes us round (for he could be very nice when he +chose), and persuades us to dine with Duke Humphrey, when we were +hungry as hunters. Then our consoler distributes the Crosses of the +Legion of Honor himself, salutes the dead, and says to us, "On to +Moscow!" + +"To Moscow, so be it," says the army. + +We take Moscow. What do the Russians do but set fire to their city! +There was a blaze, two leagues of bonfire that burned for two days! +The buildings fell about our ears like slates, and molten lead and +iron came down in showers; it was really horrible; it was a light to +see our sorrows by, I can tell you! The Emperor said, "There, that is +enough of this sort of thing; all my men shall stay here." + +We amuse ourselves for a bit by recruiting and repairing our frames, +for we really were much fatigued by the campaign. We take away with us +a gold cross from the top of the Kremlin, and every soldier had a +little fortune. But on the way back the winter came down on us a month +earlier than usual, a matter which the learned (like a set of fools) +have never sufficiently explained; and we are nipped with the cold. We +were no longer an army after that, do you understand? There was an end +of generals and even of the sergeants; hunger and misery took the +command instead, and all of us were absolutely equal under their +reign. All we thought of was how to get back to France; no one stooped +to pick up his gun or his money; every one walked straight before him, +and armed himself as he thought fit, and no one cared about glory. + +The Emperor saw nothing of his star all the time, for the weather was +so bad. There was some misunderstanding between him and heaven. Poor +man, how bad he felt when he saw his Eagles flying with their backs +turned on victory! That was really too rough! Well, the next thing is +the Beresina. And here and now, my friends, any one can assure you on +his honor, and by all that is sacred, that NEVER, no, never since +there have been men on earth, never in this world has there been such +a fricasse of an army, caissons, transports, artillery and all, in +such snow as that and under such a pitiless sky. It was so cold that +you burned your hand on the barrel of your gun if you happened to +touch it. There it was that the pontooners saved the army, for the +pontooners stood firm at their posts; it was there that Gondrin +behaved like a hero, and he is the sole survivor of all the men who +were dogged enough to stand in the river so as to build the bridges on +which the army crossed over, and so escaped the Russians, who still +respected the Grand Army on account of its past victories. And Gondrin +is an accomplished soldier, [pointing at Gondrin, who was gazing at +him with the rapt attention peculiar to deaf people] a distinguished +soldier who deserves to have your very highest esteem. + +I saw the Emperor standing by the bridge, and never feeling the cold +at all. Was that, again, a natural thing? He was looking on at the +loss of his treasures, of his friends, and those who had fought with +him in Egypt. Bah! there was an end of everything. Women and wagons +and guns were all engulfed and swallowed up, everything went to wreck +and ruin. A few of the bravest among us saved the Eagles, for the +Eagles, look you, meant France, and all the rest of you; it was the +civil and military honor of France that was in our keeping, there must +be no spot on the honor of France, and the cold could never make her +bow her head. There was no getting warm except in the neighborhood of +the Emperor; for whenever he was in danger we hurried up, all frozen as +we were--we who would not stop to hold out a hand to a fallen friend. + +They say, too, that he shed tears of a night over his poor family of +soldiers. Only he and Frenchmen could have pulled themselves out of +such a plight; but we did pull ourselves out, though, as I am telling +you, it was with loss, ay, and heavy loss. The Allies had eaten up all +our provisions; everybody began to betray him, just as the Red Man had +foretold. The rattle-pates in Paris, who had kept quiet ever since the +Imperial Guard had been established, think that HE is dead, and hatch +a conspiracy. They set to work in the Home Office to overturn the +Emperor. These things come to his knowledge and worry him; he says to +us at parting, "Good-bye, children; keep to your posts, I will come +back again." + +Bah! Those generals of his lose their heads at once; for when he was +away, it was not like the same thing. The marshals fall out among +themselves, and make blunders, as was only natural, for Napoleon in +his kindness had fed them on gold till they had grown as fat as +butter, and they had no mind to march. Troubles came of this, for many +of them stayed inactive in garrison towns in the rear, without +attempting to tickle up the backs of the enemy behind us, and we were +being driven back on France. But Napoleon comes back among us with +fresh troops; conscripts they were, and famous conscripts too; he had +put some thorough notions of discipline into them--the whelps were +good to set their teeth in anybody. He had a bourgeois guard of honor +too, and fine troops they were! They melted away like butter on a +gridiron. We may put a bold front on it, but everything is against us, +although the army still performs prodigies of valor. Whole nations +fought against nations in tremendous battles, at Dresden, Lutzen, and +Bautzen, and then it was that France showed extraordinary heroism, for +you must all of you bear in mind that in those times a stout grenadier +only lasted six months. + +We always won the day, but the English were always on our track, +putting nonsense into other nations' heads, and stirring them up to +revolt. In short, we cleared a way through all these mobs of nations; +for wherever the Emperor appeared, we made a passage for him; for on +the land as on the sea, whenever he said, "I wish to go forward," we +made the way. + +There comes a final end to it at last. We are back in France; and in +spite of the bitter weather, it did one's heart good to breathe one's +native air again, it set up many a poor fellow; and as for me, it put +new life into me, I can tell you. But it was a question all at once of +defending France, our fair land of France. All Europe was up in arms +against us; they took it in bad part that we had tried to keep the +Russians in order by driving them back within their own borders, so +that they should not gobble us up, for those Northern folk have a +strong liking for eating up the men of the South, it is a habit they +have; I have heard the same thing of them from several generals. + +So the Emperor finds his own father-in-law, his friends whom he had +made crowned kings, and the rabble of princes to whom he had given +back their thrones, were all against him. Even Frenchmen and allies in +our own ranks turned against us, by orders from high quarters, as at +Leipsic. Common soldiers would hardly be capable of such abominations; +yet these princes, as they called themselves, broke their words three +times a day! The next thing they do is to invade France. Wherever our +Emperor shows his lion's face, the enemy beats a retreat; he worked +more miracles for the defence of France than he had ever wrought in +the conquest of Italy, the East, Spain, Europe, and Russia; he has a +mind to bury every foreigner in French soil, to give them a respect +for France, so he lets them come close up to Paris, so as to do for +them at a single blow, and to rise to the highest height of genius in +the biggest battle that ever was fought, a mother of battles! But the +Parisians wanting to save their trumpery skins, and afraid for their +twopenny shops, open their gates and there is a beginning of the +/ragusades/, and an end of all joy and happiness; they make a fool of +the Empress, and fly the white flag out at the windows. The Emperor's +closest friends among his generals forsake him at last and go over to +the Bourbons, of whom no one had ever heard tell. Then he bids us +farewell at Fontainebleau: + +"Soldiers!" . . . I can hear him yet, we were all crying just like +children; the Eagles and the flags had been lowered as if for a +funeral. Ah! and it was a funeral, I can tell you; it was the funeral +of the Empire; those smart armies of his were nothing but skeletons +now. So he stood there on the flight of steps before his chateau, and +he said: + +"Children, we have been overcome by treachery, but we shall meet +again up above in the country of the brave. Protect my child, I leave +him in your care. LONG LIVE NAPOLEON II.!" + +He had thought of killing himself, so that no one should behold +Napoleon after his defeat; like Jesus Christ before the Crucifixion, +he thought himself forsaken by God and by his talisman, and so he took +enough poison to kill a regiment, but it had no effect whatever upon +him. Another marvel! he discovered that he was immortal; and feeling +sure of his case, and knowing that he would be Emperor for ever, he +went to an island for a little while, so as to study the dispositions +of those folk who did not fail to make blunder upon blunder. Whilst he +was biding his time, the Chinese and the brutes out in Africa, the +Moors and what-not, awkward customers all of them, were so convinced +that he was something more than mortal, that they respected his flag, +saying that God would be displeased if any one meddled with it. So he +reigned over all the rest of the world, although the doors of his own +France had been closed upon him. + +Then he goes on board the same nutshell of a skiff that he sailed in +from Egypt, passes under the noses of the English vessels, and sets +foot in France. France recognizes her Emperor, the cuckoo flits from +steeple to steeple; France cries with one voice, "Long live the +Emperor!" The enthusiasm for that Wonder of the Ages was thoroughly +genuine in these parts. Dauphine behaved handsomely; and I was +uncommonly pleased to learn that people here shed tears of joy on +seeing his gray overcoat once more. + +It was on March 1st that Napoleon set out with two hundred men to +conquer the kingdom of France and Navarre, which by March 20th had +become the French Empire again. On that day he found himself in Paris, +and a clean sweep had been made of everything; he had won back his +beloved France, and had called all his soldiers about him again, and +three words of his had done it all--"Here am I!" 'Twas the greatest +miracle God ever worked! Was it ever known in the world before that a +man should do nothing but show his hat, and a whole Empire became his? +They fancied that France was crushed, did they? Never a bit of it. A +National Army springs up again at the sight of the Eagle, and we all +march to Waterloo. There the Guard fall all as one man. Napoleon in +his despair heads the rest, and flings himself three times on the +enemy's guns without finding the death he sought; we all saw him do +it, we soldiers, and the day was lost! That night the Emperor calls +all his old soldiers about him, and there on the battlefield, which +was soaked with our blood, he burns his flags and his Eagles--the poor +Eagles that had never been defeated, that had cried, "Forward!" in +battle after battle, and had flown above us all over Europe. That was +the end of the Eagles--all the wealth of England could not purchase +for her one tail-feather. The rest is sufficiently known. + +The Red Man went over to the Bourbons like the low scoundrel he is. +France is prostrate, the soldier counts for nothing, they rob him of +his due, send him about his business, and fill his place with nobles +who could not walk, they were so old, so that it made you sorry to see +them. They seize Napoleon by treachery, the English shut him up on a +desert island in the ocean, on a rock ten thousand feet above the rest +of the world. That is the final end of it; there he has to stop till +the Red Man gives him back his power again, for the happiness of +France. A lot of them say that he is dead! Dead? Oh! yes, very likely. +They do not know him, that is plain! They go on telling that fib to +deceive the people, and to keep things quiet for their tumble-down +government. Listen; this is the whole truth of the matter. His friends +have left him alone in the desert to fulfil a prophecy that was made +about him, for I forgot to tell you that his name Napoleon really +means the LION OF THE DESERT. And that is gospel truth. You will hear +plenty of other things said about the Emperor, but they are all +monstrous nonsense. Because, look you, to no man of woman born would +God have given the power to write his name in red, as he did, across +the earth, where he will be remembered for ever! . . . Long live +"Napoleon, the father of the soldier, the father of the people!" + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE NAPOLEON OF THE PEOPLE *** + +This file should be named npppl10.txt or npppl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, npppl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, npppl10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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