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diff --git a/17579-8.txt b/17579-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2623e7b --- /dev/null +++ b/17579-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20142 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Napoleon Buonaparte, by +John Gibson Lockhart + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of Napoleon Buonaparte + +Author: John Gibson Lockhart + +Release Date: January 23, 2006 [EBook #17579] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. + + + + + + + + A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed + & treasured upon purpose to a life beyond life. + + Milton + + + + +THE HISTORY +OF NAPOLEON +BUONAPARTE + +BY + +JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART + + +LONDON & TORONTO J.M. DENT & SONS LTD. +NEW YORK E.P. DUTTON & CO + + +First issue of this edition: _February 1906_ + +Reprinted: _April 1906_; _May 1907_; + _July 1909_; _November 1910_; + _November 1912_; _March 1915_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +[LOCKHART, 1794-1854] + + +"Nations yet to come will look back upon his history as to some grand +and supernatural romance. The fiery energy of his youthful career, and +the magnificent progress of his irresistible ambition, have invested his +character with the mysterious grandeur of some heavenly appearance; and +when all the lesser tumults and lesser men of our age shall have passed +away into the darkness of oblivion, history will still inscribe one +mighty era with the majestic name of Napoleon." + +These enthusiastic words, too, are Lockhart's, though they are not from +this history, but from some "Remarks on the Periodical Criticism of +England," which he published in _Blackwood's Magazine_. They serve, if +they are taken in conjunction with his book, to mark his position in the +long list of the historians, biographers and critics who have written in +English, and from an English or a British point of view, upon "Napoleon +the Great." Lockhart, that is to say, was neither of the idolaters, like +Hazlitt, nor of the decriers and blasphemers. + +One recalls at once what he said of "the lofty impartiality" with which +Sir Walter Scott had written of Napoleon before him, and with which he +appears to have faced his lesser task. As a biography, as a writing of +history, as an example of historic style, Lockhart's comparatively +modest essay must be called a better performance than Scott's. But "the +real Napoleon" has not yet been painted. + +Lord Rosebery, in his book on _Napoleon: the Last Phase_, asks if there +will ever be an adequate portrait? The life is yet to be written that +shall profit by all the new material that has come to light since Scott +wrote his nine volumes in 1827, and Lockhart published his in 1829. But +Lockhart's book has still the value of one written by a genuine man of +letters, who was a born biographer, and one written while the +world-commotion of Napoleon was a matter of personal report. It is +tinged by some of the contemporary illusions, no doubt; but it is +clearer in its record than Scott's, and while it is less picturesque, it +is more direct. + +His comparative brevity is a gain, since he has to tell how, in brief +space, "the lean, hungry conqueror swells," as Lord Rosebery says, "into +the sovereign, and then into the sovereign of sovereigns." + +In view of the influence of the one book upon the other, and the one +writer upon the other, it is worth note that Lockhart had a fit of +enthusiasm over Scott's _Napoleon_ when it first appeared, or rather +when he first read the first six volumes of the work, before they were +"out," in 1827. He thought Scott would make as great an effect by it as +by any two of his novels. This proved a mistaken forecast, but Scott was +paid an enormous price--some eighteen thousand pounds. When then John +Murray, who had already co-opted Lockhart as his _Quarterly_ editor, +thought of inaugurating a "Family Library," and he proposed to his +editor this other Napoleon book, it must have seemed in many ways a very +attractive piece of work. But owing partly to Lockhart's relations with +Scott, and partly to the need of avoiding any literary comparisons, +these small, fat duodecimos appeared anonymously. That was, as it has +been already mentioned, in 1829, two years after Scott's book. + +To-day, it makes a capital starting-point for the long Napoleon +adventure, whose end, so far as it is prolonged by fresh literary +divigations, seems to be as remote as ever. + +It is from the French side that one might chiefly draw those vivid and +sometimes questionable glimpses at first-hand, that can best add to +Lockhart's presentment. One must compare his retreat from Russia with +Rapp's and other remembrancers' accounts, and be reminded by Rapp to go +on to Jomini's _Vie Militaire_, and even turn for a single personal +reminiscence to a flagrant hero-worshipper like Dumas, in his rapid and +military biography. + +"Only twice in his life," said Dumas, "had he who writes these lines +seen Napoleon. The first time on the way to Ligny; the second, when he +returned from Waterloo. The first time in the light of a lamp; the first +time amid the acclamations of the multitude; the second, amid the +silence of a populace. Each time Napoleon was seated in the same +carriage, in the same seat, dressed in the same attire; each time, it +was the same look, lost and vague; each time, the same head, calm and +impassible, only his brow was a little more bent over his breast in +returning than in going. Was it from weariness that he could not sleep, +or from grief to have lost the world?" + +This is the French postscript to many English books about the victor and +loser of the world. + + * * * * * + +The following is a list of the works of John Gibson Lockhart +(1794-1854):-- + +Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, by Peter Morris the Odontist (pseud.) +1819; Valerius, a Roman Story, 1821; Some Passages in the Life of Mr. +Adam Blair, 1822; Reginald Dalton, a Story of English University Life, +1823; Ancient Spanish Ballads (trans.) 1823; Matthew Wald, a Novel, +1824; Life of Robert Burns, 1828; History of Napoleon Buonaparte, 1829; +History of the late War, with Sketches of Nelson, Wellington and +Napoleon, 1832; Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, 7 vols. 1836-8; +Theodore Hook, a Sketch, 1852. + +Lockhart was a Contributor to "Blackwood," and Editor of the "Quarterly +Review" from 1825 to 1853. + + + + +LIFE OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + Birth and Parentage of Napoleon Buonaparte--His Education at + Brienne and at Paris--His Character at this Period--His Political + Predilections--He enters the Army as Second Lieutenant of + Artillery--His First Military Service in Corsica in 1793. + + +Napoleon Buonaparte was born at Ajaccio on the 15th of August, 1769. The +family had been of some distinction, during the middle ages, in Italy; +whence his branch of it removed to Corsica, in the troubled times of the +Guelphs and Gibellines. They were always considered as belonging to the +gentry of the island. Charles, the father of Napoleon, an advocate of +considerable reputation, married his mother, Letitia Ramolini, a young +woman eminent for beauty and for strength of mind, during the civil +war--when the Corsicans, under Paoli, were struggling to avoid the +domination of the French. The advocate had espoused the popular side in +that contest, and his lovely and high-spirited wife used to attend him +through the toils and dangers of his mountain campaigns. Upon the +termination of the war, he would have exiled himself along with Paoli; +but his relations dissuaded him from this step, and he was afterwards +reconciled to the conquering party, and protected and patronised by the +French governor of Corsica, the Count de Marboeuff. + +It is said that Letitia had attended mass on the morning of the 15th of +August; and, being seized suddenly on her return, gave birth to the +future hero of his age, on a temporary couch covered with tapestry, +representing the heroes of the Iliad. He was her second child. Joseph, +afterwards King of Spain, was older than he: he had three younger +brothers, Lucien, Louis, and Jerome; and three sisters, Eliza, Caroline, +and Pauline. These grew up. Five others must have died in infancy; for +we are told that Letitia had given birth to thirteen children, when at +the age of thirty she became a widow. + +In after-days, when Napoleon had climbed to sovereign power, many +flatterers were willing to give him a lofty pedigree. To the Emperor of +Austria, who would fain have traced his unwelcome son-in-law to some +petty princes of Treviso, he replied, "I am the Rodolph of my race,"[1] +and silenced, on a similar occasion, a professional genealogist, with, +"Friend, my patent dates from Monte Notte."[2] + +Charles Buonaparte, by the French governor's kindness, received a legal +appointment in Corsica--that of _Procureur du Roi_ (answering nearly to +Attorney-General); and scandal has often said that Marboeuff was his +wife's lover. The story received no credence in Ajaccio. + +Concerning the infancy of Napoleon we know nothing, except that he ever +acknowledged with the warmest gratitude the obligations laid on him, at +the threshold of life by the sagacity and wisdom of Letitia. He always +avowed his belief that he owed his subsequent elevation principally to +her early lessons; and indeed laid it down as a maxim that "the future +good or bad conduct of a child depends entirely on the mother." Even of +his boyish days few anecdotes have been preserved in Corsica. His chosen +plaything, they say, was a small brass cannon; and, when at home in the +school-vacations, his favourite retreat was a solitary summer-house +among the rocks on the sea-shore, about a mile from Ajaccio, where his +mother's brother (afterwards Cardinal Fesch) had a villa. The place is +now in ruins, and overgrown with bushes, and the people call it +"Napoleon's Grotto." He has himself said that he was remarkable only for +obstinacy and curiosity: others add, that he was high-spirited, +quarrelsome, imperious; fond of solitude; slovenly in his dress. Being +detected stealing figs in an orchard, the proprietor threatened to tell +his mother, and the boy pleaded for himself with so much eloquence, that +the man suffered him to escape. His careless attire, and his partiality +for a pretty little girl in the neighbourhood, were ridiculed together +in a song which his playmates used to shout after him in the streets of +Ajaccio: + + "Napoleone di mezza calzetta + Fa l'amore a Giacominetta."[3] + +His superiority of character was early felt. An aged relation, Lucien +Buonaparte, Archdeacon of Ajaccio, called the young people about his +death-bed to take farewell and bless them: "You, Joseph," said the +expiring man, "are the eldest; but Napoleon is the head of his family. +Take care to remember my words." Napoleon took excellent care that they +should not be forgotten. He began with beating his elder brother into +subjection. + +From his earliest youth he chose arms for his profession. When he was +about seven years old (1776) his father was, through Marboeuff's +patronage, sent to France as one of a deputation from the Corsican +_noblesse_ to King Louis XVI.; and Napoleon, for whom the count had also +procured admission into the military school of Brienne, accompanied him. +After seeing part of Italy, and crossing France, they reached Paris; and +the boy was soon established in his school, where at first everything +delighted him, though, forty years afterwards, he said he should never +forget the bitter parting with his mother ere he set out on his travels. +He spoke only Italian when he reached Brienne; but soon mastered French. +His progress in Latin, and in literature generally, attracted no great +praise; but in every study likely to be of service to the future +soldier, he distinguished himself above his contemporaries. Of the +mathematical tutors accordingly he was a great favourite. One of the +other teachers having condemned him for some offence or neglect to wear +a course woollen dress on a particular day, and dine on his knees at the +door of the refectory, the boy's haughty spirit swelling under this +dishonour, brought on a sudden vomiting, and a strong fit of hysterics. +The mathematical master passing by, said they did not understand what +they were dealing with, and released him. He cared little for common +pastimes; but his love for such as mimicked war was extreme; and the +skill of his fortifications, reared of turf, or of snow, according to +the season, and the address and pertinacity with which he conducted +their defence, attracted the admiration of all observers. Napoleon was +poor and all but a foreigner[4] among the French youth, and underwent +many mortifications from both causes. His temper was reserved and proud; +he had few friends--no bosom-companion; he lived by himself, and among +his books and maps. M. Bourienne, whose friendship for him commenced +thus early, says--"Buonaparte was noticeable at Brienne for his Italian +complexion, the keenness of his look, and the tone of his conversation +both 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 every since his birth, and the impression which the conquest +of his country had made on his early years." One day, at dinner, the +principal of the school happened to say something slightingly of Paoli. +"He was a great man," cried young Buonaparte, "he loved his country; and +I shall never forgive my father, who had been his adjutant, for +consenting to the union of Corsica with France. He ought to have +followed the fortunes of Paoli." + +There is reason to believe that the levity and haughtiness with which +some of the young French gentlemen at this seminary conducted themselves +towards this poor, solitary alien, had a strong effect on the first +political feelings of the future Emperor of France. He particularly +resented their jokes about his foreign name _Napoleon_. Bourienne says +he often told him--"Hereafter I will do the French what harm I can; as +for you, you never make me your jest--you love me." + +From the beginning of the revolutionary struggle, boy and youth, he +espoused and kept by the side of those who desired the total change of +government. It is a strange enough fact, that Pichegru, afterwards so +eminent and ultimately so unfortunate, was for some time his monitor in +the school of Brienne. Being consulted many years later as to the chance +of enlisting Buonaparte in the cause of the exiled Bourbons, this man is +known to have answered: "It will be lost time to attempt that--I knew +him in his youth--he has taken his side, and he will not change it." + +In 1783 Buonaparte was, on the recommendation of his masters, sent from +Brienne to the Royal Military School at Paris; this being an +extraordinary compliment to the genius and proficiency of a boy of +fifteen.[5] Here he spent nearly two years, devoted to his studies. That +he laboured hard, both at Brienne and at Paris, we may judge; for his +after-life left scanty room for book-work, and of the vast quantity of +information which his strong memory ever placed at his disposal, the far +greater proportion must have been accumulated now. He made himself a +first-rate mathematician; he devoured history--his chosen authors being +Plutarch and Tacitus; the former the most simple painter that antiquity +has left us of heroic characters--the latter the profoundest master of +political wisdom. The poems of Ossian were then new to Europe, and +generally received as authentic remains of another age and style of +heroism. The dark and lofty genius which they display, their indistinct +but solemn pictures of heroic passions, love, battle, victory, and +death, were appropriate food for Napoleon's young imagination; and, his +taste being little scrupulous as to minor particulars, Ossian continued +to be through life his favourite poet. While at Paris, he attracted much +notice among those who had access to compare him with his fellows; his +acquirements, among other advantages, introduced him to the familiar +society of the celebrated Abbé Raynal. Napoleon, shortly after entering +the school at Paris, drew up a memorial, which he in person presented to +the superintendents of the establishment. He complained that the mode of +life was too expensive and delicate for "poor gentlemen," and could not +prepare them either for returning to their "modest homes," or for the +hardships of the camp. He proposed that, instead of a regular dinner of +two courses daily, the students should have ammunition bread, and +soldiers' rations, and that they should be compelled to mend and clean +their own stockings and shoes. This memorial is said to have done him no +service at the military school. + +He had just completed his sixteenth year when (in August, 1785,) after +being examined by the great Laplace, he obtained his first commission as +second lieutenant in the artillery regiment _La Fere_. His corps was at +Valance when he joined it; and he mingled, more largely than might have +been expected from his previous habits, in the cultivated society of the +place. His personal advantages were considerable; the outline of the +countenance classically beautiful; the eye deep-set and dazzlingly +brilliant; the figure short, but slim, active, and perfectly knit. +Courtly grace and refinement of manners he never attained, nor perhaps +coveted; but he early learned the art, not difficult probably to any +person possessed of such genius and such accomplishments, of rendering +himself eminently agreeable wherever it suited his purpose or +inclination to be so. + +On the 27th February in this year his father died of a cancer in the +stomach, aged forty-five; the same disease which was destined, at a +somewhat later period of life, to prove fatal to himself. + +While at Valance Buonaparte competed anonymously for a prize offered by +the Academy of Lyons for the best answer to Raynal's Question: "What are +the principles and institutions by the application of which mankind can +be raised to the highest happiness?" He gained the prize: what were the +contents of his Essay we know not. Talleyrand, long afterwards, obtained +the manuscript, and, thinking to please his sovereign, brought it to +him. He threw his eye over two or three pages, and tossed it into the +fire. The treatise of the Lieutenant probably abounded in opinions which +the Emperor had found it convenient to forget. + +Even at Brienne his political feelings had been determined. At Valance +he 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. He sided openly with the latter. "Had I been a +general," said Napoleon 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 he 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 the +king and his family, after undergoing innumerable insults and +degradations, with the utmost difficulty preserved their lives. He +followed the crowd into the garden before the palace; and when Louis +XVI. appeared on a balcony with the red cap on his head, could no longer +suppress his contempt and indignation. "Poor driveller!" said Napoleon, +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." He was also a witness of the +still more terrible 10th of August, when, the palace being once more +invested, the National Guard assigned for its defence took part with the +assailants; the royal family were obliged to take refuge in the National +Assembly, and the brave Swiss Guards were massacred almost to a man in +the courts of the Tuileries. Buonaparte was a firm friend to the +Assembly, to the charge of a party 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." At this time Napoleon was without +employment and very poor; and De Bourienne describes him as wandering +idly about Paris, living, chiefly at his (M. de B.'s) expense, at +restaurateurs' shops, and, among other wild-enough schemes, proposing +that he and his schoolfellow should take some houses on lease, and +endeavour to get a little money by subletting them in apartments. Such +were the views and occupations of Buonaparte--at the moment when the +national tragedy was darkening to its catastrophe. As yet he had been +but a spectator of the Revolution, destined to pave his own path to +sovereign power; it was not long before circumstances called on him to +play a part. + +General Paoli, who had lived in England ever since the termination of +that civil war in which Charles Buonaparte served under his banner, was +cheered, when the great French Revolution first broke out, with the hope +that liberty was about to be restored to Corsica. He came to Paris, was +received with applause as a tried friend of freedom, and appointed +governor of his native island, which for some time he ruled wisely and +happily. But as the revolution advanced, Paoli, like most other wise +men, became satisfied that license was more likely to be established by +its leaders, than law and rational liberty; and avowing his aversion to +the growing principles of Jacobinism, and the scenes of tumult and +bloodshed to which they gave rise, he was denounced in the National +Assembly as the enemy of France. An expedition was sent to deprive him +of his government, under the command of La Combe, Michel, and Salicetti, +one of the Corsican deputies to the Convention; and Paoli called on his +countrymen to take arms in his and their own defence. + +Buonaparte happened at that time (1793) to have leave of absence from +his regiment, and to be in Corsica on a visit to his mother. He had +fitted up a little reading-room at the top of the house as the quietest +part of it, and was spending his mornings in study, and his evenings +among his family and old acquaintance, when the arrival of the +expedition threw the island into convulsion. Paoli, who knew him well, +did all he could to enlist him in his cause; he used, among other +flatteries, to clap him on the back, and tell him he was "one of +Plutarch's men." But Napoleon had satisfied himself that Corsica was too +small a country 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. He therefore resisted all Paoli's +offers, and tendered his sword to the service of Salicetti. He was +appointed provisionally to the command of a battalion of National +Guards; and the first military service on which he was employed 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 defence, and living for some time on +horseflesh, were glad to evacuate the tower, and escape to the sea. The +English government now began to reinforce Paoli, and the cause of the +French party seemed for the moment to be desperate. The Buonapartes were +banished from Corsica, and their mother and sisters took refuge first at +Nice, and afterwards at Marseilles, where for some time they suffered +all the inconveniences of exile and poverty. Napoleon rejoined his +regiment. He had chosen France for his country; and seems, in truth, to +have preserved little or no affection for his native soil. + +After arriving at supreme power, he bestowed one small fountain on +Ajaccio; and succeeded, by the death of a relation, to a petty olive +garden near that town. In the sequel of his history the name of Corsica +will scarcely recur. + +[Footnote 1: Rodolph of Hapsburg was the founder of the Austrian +family.] + +[Footnote 2: His first battle.] + +[Footnote 3: Napoleon, with his stockings about his heels, makes love to +Giacominetta.] + +[Footnote 4: Corsica became by law a French department only two months +before Napoleon was born.] + +[Footnote 5: The report, in consequence of which Buonaparte received +this distinction, is in these words: "M. de Buonaparte (Napoleon), born +the 15th August, 1769, height four feet ten inches ten lines; good +constitution; health excellent; character docile, upright, grateful; +conduct very regular: has always distinguished himself by his +application to the mathematics. He is passably acquainted with history +and geography: is weak enough as to his Latin diction and other elegant +accomplishments: would make an excellent sea-officer: deserves to be +transferred to the Military School at Paris."] + + + + +CHAPTER II + + Buonaparte commands the Artillery at Toulon--Fall of Toulon--The + Representatives of the People--Junot. + + +Buonaparte's first military service occurred, as we have seen, in the +summer of 1793. The king of France had been put to death on the 21st of +January in that year; and in less than a month afterwards the convention +had declared war against England. The murder of the king, alike +imprudent as atrocious, had in fact united the princes of Europe against +the revolutionary cause; and within France itself a strong reaction took +place. The people of Toulon, the great port and arsenal of France on the +Mediterranean, partook these sentiments, and invited the English and +Spanish fleets off their coast to come to their assistance, and garrison +their city. The allied admirals took possession accordingly of Toulon, +and a motley force of English, Spaniards, and Neapolitans, prepared to +defend the place. In the harbour and roads there were twenty-five ships +of the line, and the city contained immense naval and military stores of +every description, so that the defection of Toulon was regarded as a +calamity of the first order by the revolutionary government. + +This event occurred in the midst of that period which has received the +name of _the reign of terror_. The streets of Paris were streaming with +innocent blood; Robespierre was glutting himself with murder; fear and +rage were the passions that divided mankind, and their struggles +produced on either side the likeness of some epidemic frenzy. Whatever +else the government wanted, vigour to repel aggressions from without was +displayed in abundance. Two armies immediately marched upon Toulon; and +after a series of actions, in which the passes in the hills behind the +town were forced, the place was at last invested, and a memorable siege +commenced. + +It was conducted with little skill, first by Cartaux, a vain coxcomb who +had been a painter, and then by Doppet, an ex-physician, and a coward. +To watch and report on the proceedings of these chiefs, there were +present in the camp several Representatives of the People, as they were +called--persons holding no military character or rank, but acting as +honourable spies for the government at Paris. The interference of these +personages on this, as on many other occasions, was productive of +delays, blunders, and misfortunes; but the terror which their ready +access to the despotic government inspired was often, on the other hand, +useful in stimulating the exertions of the military. The younger +Robespierre was one of the deputies at Toulon, and his name was enough +to make his presence formidable. + +Cartaux had not yet been superseded, when Napoleon Buonaparte made his +appearance at headquarters, with a commission to assume the command of +the artillery. It has been said that he owed his appointment to the +private regard of Salicetti; but the high testimonials he had received +from the Military Academy were more likely to have served him; nor is it +possible to suppose that he had been so long in the regiment of La Fere +without being appreciated by some of his superiors. He had, besides, +shortly before this time, excited attention by a pamphlet, called the +_Supper of Beaucaire_, in which the politics of the Jacobin party were +spiritedly supported; and of which he was afterwards so ashamed, that he +took great pains to suppress it. However this may have been, he was +received almost with insolence by Cartaux, who, strutting about in an +uniform covered with gold lace, told him his assistance was not wanted, +but he was welcome to partake in _his_ glory. + +The commandant of the artillery, on examining the state of affairs, +found much to complain of. They were still disputing which extremity of +the town should be the chief object of attack; though at the one there +were two strong and regular fortifications, and at the other only a +small and imperfect fort called Malbosquet. On inspecting their +batteries, he found that the guns were placed about two gunshots from +the walls; and that it was the custom to heat the shot at a distance +from the place where they were to be discharged; in other words, to heat +them to no purpose. Choosing officers of his own acquaintance to act +under him, and exerting himself to collect guns from all quarters, +Buonaparte soon remedied these disorders, and found himself master of an +efficient train of 200 pieces; and he then urged the general to adopt a +wholly new plan of operations in the future conduct of the siege. + +The plan of Buonaparte appears _now_ the simplest and most obvious that +could have been suggested; yet it was not without great difficulty that +he could obtain the approbation of the doctor, who had by this time +superseded the painter. "Your object," said he, "is to make the English +evacuate Toulon. Instead of attacking them in the town, which must +involve a long series of operations, endeavour to establish batteries so +as to sweep the harbour and roadstead. If you can do this--the English +ships must take their departure, and the English troops will certainly +not remain behind them." He pointed out a promontory nearly opposite the +town, by getting the command of which he was sure the desired effect +must be accomplished. "Gain _La Grasse_" said he, "and in two days +Toulon falls." His reasoning at length forced conviction, and he was +permitted to follow his own plan. + +A month before nothing could have been more easy; but within that time +the enemy had perceived the importance of the promontory, which commands +the narrow passage between the port and the Mediterranean, and fortified +it so strongly, that it passed by the name of the Little Gibraltar. It +was necessary, therefore, to form extensive batteries in the rear of La +Grasse, before there could be a prospect of seizing it. Buonaparte +laboured hard all day, and slept every night in his cloak by the guns, +until his works approached perfection. He also formed a large battery +behind Malbosquet; but this he carefully concealed from the enemy. It +was covered by a plantation of olives, and he designed to distract their +attention by opening its fire for the first time when he should be about +to make his great effort against Little Gibraltar. But the +Representatives of the People had nearly spoiled everything. These +gentlemen, walking their rounds, discovered the battery behind the +olives, and inquiring how long it had been ready, were told for eight +days. Not guessing with what views so many guns had been kept so long +idle, they ordered an immediate cannonade. The English made a vigorous +sally, and spiked the guns before Buonaparte could reach the spot. On +his arrival at the eminence behind, he perceived a long deep ditch, +fringed with brambles and willows, which he thought might be turned to +advantage. He ordered a regiment of foot to creep along the ditch, which +they did without being discovered until they were close upon the enemy. +General O'Hara, the English commander, mistook them for some of his own +allies, and, rushing out to give them some direction, was wounded and +made prisoner. The English were dispirited when they lost their general; +they retreated, and the French were at liberty to set about the repair +of their battery. In this affair much blood was shed. Napoleon himself +received a bayonet-thrust in his thigh, and fell into the arms of +Muiron, who carried him off the field. Such was the commencement of +their brotherly friendship. His wound, however, did not prevent him from +continuing his labours behind Little Gibraltar. + +That fort had very nearly been seized, by a sort of accident, some time +before his preparations were completed; a casual insult excited a sudden +quarrel between the men in Buonaparte's trenches and the Spaniards in +Little Gibraltar. The French soldiers, without waiting for orders, +seized their arms, and rushed to the assault with fury. Napoleon coming +up, perceived that the moment was favourable, and persuaded Doppet to +support the troops with more regiments; but the doctor, marching at the +head of his column, was seized with a panic, on seeing a man killed by +his side, and ordered a retreat, before anything could be effected. + +A few days after, this poltroon was in his turn superseded by a brave +veteran, General Dugommier, and Napoleon could at last count on having +his efforts backed. But, for the second time, the Representatives did +their best to ruin his undertaking. The siege had now lasted four +months, provisions were scarce in the camp, and these civilians, never +being able to comprehend what was meant by bestowing all this care on a +place so far below the city as Little Gibraltar, wrote to Paris that +they saw no chance of success, and hoped the government would agree with +them that the siege ought to be abandoned. Two days before this letter +reached Paris, Toulon had fallen, and the Representatives gave out that +the despatch was a forgery. + +The moment had at last come when Buonaparte judged it right to make his +grand attempt. During the night of the 17th of December he threw 8000 +bombs and shells into Little Gibraltar, and the works being thus +shattered, at daybreak Dugommier commanded the assault. The French, +headed by the brave Muiron, rushed with impetuous valour through the +embrasures, and put the whole garrison to the sword. The day was spent +in arranging the batteries, so as to command the shipping; and next +morning--so true had been Buonaparte's prophecy--when the French stood +to their posts, the English fleet was discovered to be already under +weigh. + +Then followed a fearful scene. The English would not quit Toulon without +destroying the French ships and arsenals that had fallen into their +possession; nor could they refuse to carry with them the Antijacobin +inhabitants, who knew that their lives would be instantly sacrificed if +they should fall into the hands of the victorious Republicans, and who +now flocked to the beach to the number of 14,000, praying for the means +of escape. The burning of ships, the explosion of magazines, the roar of +artillery, and the cries of these fugitives, filled up many hours. At +last the men-of-war were followed by a flotilla bearing those miserable +exiles; the walls were abandoned; and Dugommier took possession of the +place. + +The Republicans found that all persons of condition, who had taken part +against them, had escaped; and their rage was to be contented with +meaner victims. A day or two having been suffered to pass in quiet, a +proclamation, apparently friendly, exhorted the workmen, who had been +employed on the batteries of the besieged town, to muster at +headquarters. One hundred and fifty poor men, who expected to be +employed again in repairing the same fortifications obeyed this +summons--were instantly marched into a field--and shot in cold blood; +not less than a thousand persons were massacred under circumstances +equally atrocious. Buonaparte himself repelled with indignation the +charge of having had a hand in this butchery. Even if he had, he was not +the chief in command, and durst not have disobeyed orders but at the +sacrifice of his own life. It is on all sides admitted that a family of +royalists, being shipwrecked on the coast near Toulon a few days after, +were rescued from the hands of the ferocious Republicans, solely by his +interference and address. Putting himself at the head of some of his +gunners, he obtained possession of the unhappy prisoners; quieted the +mob by assuring them that they should all be publicly executed the next +morning; and meanwhile sent them off during the night in artillery +waggons supposed to be conveying stores. + +The recovery of Toulon was a service of the first importance to the +government. It suppressed all insurrectionary spirit in the south of +France; and placed a whole army at their disposal elsewhere. But he, to +whose genius the success was due, did not at first obtain the credit of +his important achievement at Paris. The Representatives of the People +never made their appearance on the eventful morning at Little Gibraltar, +until three hours after the troops were in possession of the best part +of the fortifications. Then, indeed, they were seen sword in hand in the +trenches, blustering and swaggering in safety. Yet these men did not +blush to represent themselves as having headed the assault, while, in +their account of the conflict, even the name of Buonaparte did not find +a place. The truth could not, however, be concealed effectually; and he +was appointed to survey and arrange the whole line of fortifications on +the Mediterranean coast of France. + +It was during the siege of Toulon that Napoleon, while constructing a +battery under the enemy's fire, had occasion to prepare a despatch, and +called out for some one who could use a pen. A young sergeant, named +Junot, leapt out, and, leaning on the breastwork, wrote as he dictated. +As he finished, a shot struck the ground by his side, scattering dust in +abundance over him and everything near him. "Good," said the soldier, +laughing, "this time we shall spare our sand." The cool gaiety of this +pleased Buonaparte; he kept his eye on the man; and Junot came in the +sequel to be Marshal of France and Duke of Abrantes. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Buonaparte Chief of Battalion at Nice--Fall of Robespierre--He is + superseded--Buonaparte at Paris in 1795--The day of the + Sections--Commands the Army of the Interior--Marries Josephine de + Beauharnois--Appointed to the command of the Army of Italy. + + +From this time Napoleon advanced by rapid strides to greatness. His +admirable skill was still further displayed in his survey of the +fortifications above mentioned; and having completed this service, he +was appointed to join the army of Italy, then stationed at Nice, with +the rank of Chief of Battalion. + +Here his advice suggested a plan by which the Sardinians were driven +from the Col di Tende on the 7th March, 1794; Saorgio, with all its +stores, 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, his superior officers reaped as +yet the honour. He was even superseded (Aug. 6, 1794) very shortly after +their success. But this, which at the moment seemed a heavy misfortune, +was, in truth, one of the luckiest circumstances that ever befell him. + +It is not true that he was put under arrest in consequence of the +downfall of Robespierre; although there is no doubt that he was supposed +to belong to the party which that monster had made the instrument of his +crimes, and known to have lived on terms of friendship with his younger +brother. He incurred the suspicion of Laporte and the other +"Representatives" attached to "the army of Italy," in consequence of a +journey to the Gulf of Genoa, which he performed in obedience to secret +orders from Paris; and, so soon as his absence from headquarters was +thus explained, he regained his freedom. The officer, who came to +release him, was surprised to find him busy in his dungeon over the map +of Lombardy. The "Representatives," however, had certainly taken up a +general prejudice against him; for he did not reassume his functions at +Nice; and seems to have spent some time in obscurity with his own +family, who were then in very distressed circumstances, at Marseilles. +It was here that he fell in love with Mademoiselle Clery, whom, but for +some accident, it appears he would have married. Her sister was shortly +afterwards united to his brother Joseph, and she herself became in the +sequel the wife of Bernadotte, now King of Sweden. It is supposed that +Buonaparte found himself too poor to marry at this time; and +circumstances interfered to prevent any renewal of his proposals. + +Before the end of the year he came to Paris to solicit employment; but +at first he met with nothing but repulses. The President of the Military +Committee, Aubry, objected to his youth. "Presence in the field of +battle," said Buonaparte, "might be reckoned in place of years." The +President, who had not seen much actual service, thought he was +insulted, and treated Napoleon very coldly. After a little while, +however, he was asked to go to _La Vendée_, as commandant of a brigade +of infantry. This he declined, alleging, that nothing could reconcile +him to leave the artillery, but really, if we are to follow De +Bourienne, considering the Vendean warfare as unworthy of him. His +refusal was followed by the erasure of his name from the list of general +officers _in employment_; and for a time his fortunes seemed to be in a +desperate condition. He thought of settling in some way in Paris; and +said to Bourienne, that, if he could afford to have a small house in the +street where his school-fellow lived, and to keep a cabriolet, he would +be contented. His elder brother had about this time married Mademoiselle +Clery, whose father, the merchant of Marseilles, gave her a handsome +dowry. "How fortunate," Napoleon would often exclaim, "is that fool +Joseph!"[6] + +Talma, the celebrated tragedian, was one of his chief associates at this +time, and even then talked with confidence of the future fortunes of +"little Buonaparte." This player's kindness and Aubry's opposition were +both remembered. The Emperor always patronised Talma; and Aubry died in +exile. + +Napoleon, despairing of employment at home, now drew up a memorial to +the government, requesting to be sent with a few other officers of +artillery into Turkey, for the purpose of placing that branch of the +Grand Seignior's service in a condition more suitable to the +circumstances of the times--in which it seemed highly probable that the +Porte might find itself in alliance with France, and assaulted by the +combined armies of Russia and Austria. No answer was returned to this +memorial, over which he dreamt for some weeks in great enthusiasm. "How +strange," he said to his friends, "would it be if a little Corsican +soldier should become King of Jerusalem!" Go where he might, he already +contemplated greatness. + +At length Napoleon 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 on a nearer +and a more important field. + +The French nation were now heartily tired of the National Convention: it +had lost most of its distinguished members in the tumults and +persecutions of the times; and above all it had lost respect by +remaining for two years the slave and the tool of the Terrorists. The +downfall of Robespierre, when it did take place, showed how easily the +same blessed deliverance might have been effected long before, had this +body possessed any sense of firmness or of dignity. Even the restoration +of the members banished by the tyrant did not serve to replace the +Convention in the confidence of the public. They themselves saw clearly +that a new remodelling of the government was called for and must be; and +their anxiety was to devise the means of securing for themselves as +large a share as possible of substantial power, under some arrangement +sufficiently novel in appearance to throw dust in the eyes of the +people. + +A great part of the nation, there is no doubt, were at this time anxious +to see the royal family restored, and the government settled on the +model of 1791. Among the more respectable citizens of Paris in +particular such feelings were very prevalent. But many causes conspired +to surround the adoption of this measure with difficulties, which none +of the actually influential leaders had the courage, or perhaps the +means, to encounter. The soldiery of the Republican armies had been +accustomed to fight against the exiled princes and nobility, considered +them as the worst enemies of France, and hated them personally. The +estates of the church, the nobles, and the crown, had been divided and +sold; and the purchasers foresaw that, were the monarchy restored at +this period, the resumption of the forfeited property would be pressed +with all the powers of government. And, lastly, the men who had earned +for themselves most distinction and influence in public affairs, had +excellent reasons for believing that the Bourbons and nobility, if +restored, would visit on their own heads the atrocities of the +Revolution, and above all the murder of the King. + +The Conventionalists themselves, however, had learned by this time that +neither peace nor security could be expected, unless some form of +government were adopted, in which the legislative and the executive +functions should at least appear to be separated; and they were also at +length inclined to admit the excellence of that part of the British +constitution, which, dividing the legislatorial power between two +assemblies of senators, thus acquires the advantage of a constant +revision of counsels, and regulates the political machine by a system of +mutual checks and balances. They were desirous, therefore, of proposing +some system which might, in a certain degree, satisfy those who had been +endeavouring to bring about the restoration of the monarchy; and the new +constitution of the year _three_ of the Republic (1795) presented the +following features. I. The executive power was to be lodged in Five +Directors, chosen from time to time, who were to have no share in the +legislation. II. There was to be a Council of Five Hundred, answering +generally to our House of Commons: and III. A smaller assembly, called +the Council of Ancients, intended to fulfil in some measure the purposes +of a House of Peers. + +The outline of this scheme might perhaps have been approved of; but the +leading members of the Convention, from views personal to themselves, +appended to it certain conditions which excited new disgust. They +decreed, first, that the electoral bodies of France, in choosing +representatives to the two new Councils, must elect at least two-thirds +of the present members of Convention; and, secondly, that if full +two-thirds were not returned, the Convention should have the right to +supply the deficiency out of their own body. It was obvious that this +machinery had no object but the continuance of the present legislators +in power; and the nation, and especially the superior classes in Paris, +were indignant at conduct which they considered as alike selfish and +arbitrary. The royalist party gladly lent themselves to the diffusion of +any discontents; and a formidable opposition to the measures of the +existing government was organised. + +The Convention meantime continued their sittings, and exerting all their +skill and influence, procured from many districts of the country reports +accepting of the New Constitution, with all its conditions. The +Parisians, being nearer and sharper observers, and having abundance of +speakers and writers to inform and animate them, assembled in the +several sections of the city, and proclaimed their hostility to the +Convention and its designs. The National Guard, consisting of armed +citizens, almost unanimously sided with the enemies of the Convention; +and it was openly proposed to march to the Tuileries, and compel a +change of measures by force of arms. + +The Convention, perceiving their unpopularity and danger, began to look +about them anxiously for the means of defence. There were in and near +Paris 5000 regular troops, on whom they thought they might rely, and who +of course contemned the National Guard as only half-soldiers. They had +besides some hundreds of artillerymen; and they now organized what they +called "the Sacred Band," a body of 1500 ruffians, the most part of them +old and tried instruments of Robespierre. With these means they prepared +to arrange a plan of defence; and it was obvious that they did not want +materials, provided they could find a skilful and determined head. + +The Insurgent Sections placed themselves under the command of _Danican_, +an old general of no great skill or reputation. The Convention opposed +to him _Menou_; and he marched at the head of a column into the section +Le Pelletier to disarm the National Guard of that district--one of the +wealthiest of the capital. The National Guard were found drawn up in +readiness to receive him at the end of the Rue Vivienne; and Menou, +becoming alarmed, and hampered by the presence of some of the +"Representatives of the People," entered into a parley, and retired +without having struck a blow. + +The Convention judged that Menou was not master of nerves for such a +crisis; and consulted eagerly about a successor to his command. Barras, +one of their number, had happened to be present at Toulon, and to have +appreciated the character of Buonaparte. He had, probably, been applied +to by Napoleon in his recent pursuit of employment. Deliberating with +Tallien and Carnot, his colleagues, he suddenly said, "I have the man +whom you want; it is a little Corsican officer, who will not stand upon +ceremony." + +These words decided the fate of Napoleon and of France. Buonaparte had +been in the Odéon Theatre when the affair of Le Pelletier occurred, had +run out, and witnessed the result. He now happened to be in the gallery, +and heard the discussion concerning the conduct of Menou. He was +presently sent for, and asked his opinion as to that officer's retreat. +He explained what had happened, and how the evil might have been +avoided, in a manner which gave satisfaction. He was desired to assume +the command, and arrange his plan of defence as well as the +circumstances might permit; for it was already late at night, and the +decisive assault on the Tuileries was expected to take place next +morning. Buonaparte stated that the failure of the march of Menou had +been chiefly owing to the presence of the "Representatives of the +People," and refused to accept the command unless he received it free +from all such interference. They yielded: Barras was named +Commander-in-Chief; and Buonaparte second, with the virtual control. His +first care was to dispatch Murat, then a major of Chasseurs, to Sablons, +five miles off, where fifty great guns were posted. The Sectionaries +sent a stronger detachment for 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 minutes later. + +On the 4th of October (called in the revolutionary almanack the 13th +Vendemaire) the affray accordingly occurred. Thirty thousand National +Guards advanced, about two p.m., by different streets, to the siege of +the palace: but its defence was now in far other hands than those of +Louis XVI. + +Buonaparte, having planted artillery on all the bridges, had effectually +secured the command of the river, and the safety of the Tuileries on one +side. He had placed cannon also at all the crossings of the streets by +which the National Guard could advance towards the other front; and +having posted his battalions in the garden of the Tuileries and Place du +Carousel, he awaited the attack. + +The insurgents had no cannon; and they came along the narrow streets of +Paris in close and heavy columns. When one party reached the church of +St. Roche, in the Rue St. Honoré, they found a body of Buonaparte's +troops drawn up there, with two cannons. It is disputed on which side +the firing began; but in an instant the artillery swept the streets and +lanes, scattering grape-shot among the National Guards, and producing +such confusion that they were compelled to give way. The first shot was +a signal for all the batteries which Buonaparte had established; the +quays of the Seine, opposite to the Tuileries, were 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 dead and wounded: the troops of the Convention +marched into the various sections, disarmed the terrified inhabitants, +and before nightfall everything was quiet. + +This eminent service secured the triumph of the Conventionalists, who +now, assuming new names, continued in effect to discharge their old +functions. Barras took his place at the head of _the Directory_, having +Sieyes, Carnot, and other less celebrated persons, for his colleagues; +and the First Director took care to reward the hand to which he owed his +elevation. Within five days from _the day of the Sections_ Buonaparte +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-in-chief of the same army to his "little +Corsican officer." + +He had no lack of duties to perform in this new character. The National +Guard was to be re-organised; a separate guard for the representative +body to be formed; the ordnance and military stores were all in a +dilapidated condition. The want of bread, too, was continually producing +popular riots, which could rarely be suppressed but by force of arms. On +one of these last occasions, a huge sturdy fishwife exhorted the mob to +keep to their places, when Buonaparte had almost persuaded them to +disperse. "These coxcombs with their epaulettes and gorgets," said she, +"care nothing for us; provided they feed well and fatten, we may +starve." "Good woman," cried the general of the interior, who at this +time was about the leanest of his race, "only look at me,--and decide +yourself which of the two is the fatter." The woman could not help +laughing: the joke pleased the multitude, and harmony was restored. + +Buonaparte, holding the chief military command in the capital, and daily +rising in importance from the zeal and firmness of his conduct in this +high post, had now passed into the order of marked and distinguished +men. He continued, nevertheless, to lead in private a quiet and modest +life, studying as hard as ever, and but little seen in the circles of +gaiety. An accident which occurred one morning at his military levee, +gave at once a new turn to his mode of life, and a fresh impetus to the +advance of his fortunes. + +A fine boy, of ten or twelve years of age, presented himself; stated to +the general that his name was Eugene Beauharnois, son of Viscount +Beauharnois, who had served as a general officer in the Republican +armies on the Rhine, and been murdered by Robespierre; and said his +errand was to recover the sword of his father. Buonaparte caused the +request to be complied with; and the tears of the boy, as he received +and kissed the relic, excited his interest. He treated Eugene so kindly, +that next day his mother, Josephine de Beauharnois, came to thank him; +and her beauty and singular gracefulness of address made a strong +impression. + +This charming lady, the daughter of a planter, by name Tascher de la +Pagerie, was born in the island of Martinico, 24th June, 1763. While yet +an infant, according to a story which she afterwards repeated, a negro +sorceress had prophesied that "she should one day be greater than a +queen, and yet outlive her dignity."[7] + +The widow of Beauharnois had been herself imprisoned until the downfall +of Robespierre. In that confinement she had formed a strict friendship +with another lady who was now married to Tallien, one of the most +eminent of the leaders of the Convention. Madame Tallien had introduced +Josephine to her husband's friends; and Barras, the First Director, +having now begun to hold a sort of court at the Luxembourg, these two +beautiful women were the chief ornaments of its society. It was +commonly said--indeed it was universally believed--that Josephine, whose +character was in some respects indifferent, possessed more than +legitimate influence over the First Director. Buonaparte, however, +offered her his hand; she, after some hesitation, accepted it; and the +young general by this marriage (9th March, 1796) cemented his connection +with the society of the Luxembourg, and in particular with Barras and +Tallien, at that moment the most powerful men in France. + +Napoleon had a strong tendency to the superstition of fatalism, and he +always believed that his fortunes were bound up in some mysterious +manner with those of this graceful woman. She loved him warmly, and +served him well. Her influence over him was great, and it was always +exerted on the side of humanity. She, and she alone, could overrule, by +gentleness, the excesses of passion to which he was liable; and her +subsequent fate will always form one of the darkest pages in the history +of her lord. + +Tranquillity was now restored in Paris; and the Directory had leisure to +turn their attention to the affairs of the army of Italy, which were in +a most confused and unsatisfactory condition. They determined to give it +a new general; and Buonaparte was appointed to the splendid command. It +is acknowledged, in one of Josephine's letters, that the First Director +had promised to procure it for him before their marriage took place. +"Advance this man," said Barras to his colleagues, "or he will advance +himself without you." + +Buonaparte quitted his wife ten days after their marriage; paid a short +visit to his mother at Marseilles; and arrived, after a rapid journey, +at the headquarters at Nice. From that moment opened the most brilliant +scene of his existence; yet, during the months of victory and glory that +composed it, his letters, full of love and home-sickness, attest the +reluctance with which he had so soon abandoned his bride. + +[Footnote 6: De Bourienne.] + +[Footnote 7: According to some, the last clause ran "die in an +hospital," and this was in the sequel interpreted to mean Malmaison--a +palace which (like our own St. James's) had once been an hospital.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + The Army of Italy--Tactics of Buonaparte--Battle of Monte + Notte--Battle of Millesimo--Battle of Mondovi--Armistice of + Cherasco--Close of the Campaign of Piedmont--Peace granted to + Sardinia. + + +Buonaparte at the age of twenty-six assumed the command of the army of +Italy; exulting in the knowledge that, if he should conquer, the honour +would be all his own. He had worked for others at Toulon, at the Col di +Tende, at Saorgio: even in the affair of the Sections the first command +had been nominally in the hands of Barras. Henceforth he was to have no +rivals within the camp. "In three months," said he, "I shall be either +at Milan or at Paris." He had already expressed the same feeling in a +still nobler form. "You are too young," said one of the Directors, +hesitating about his appointment as general. "In a year," answered +Napoleon, "I shall be either old or dead." + +He found the army in numbers about 50,000; but wretchedly deficient in +cavalry, in stores of every kind,[8] in clothing and even in food; and +watched by an enemy greatly more numerous. It was under such +circumstances that he at once avowed the daring scheme of forcing a +passage to Italy, and converting the richest territory of the enemy +himself into the theatre of the war. "Soldiers," said he, "you are +hungry and naked; the Republic owes you much, but she has not the means +to pay her debts. I am come to lead you into the most fertile plains +that the sun beholds. Rich provinces, opulent towns, all shall be at +your disposal. Soldiers! with such a prospect before you, can you fail +in courage and constancy?" This was his first address to his army. The +sinking hearts of the men beat high with hope and confidence when they +heard the voice of the young and fearless leader; and Augereau, Massena, +Serrurier, Joubert, Lannes--distinguished officers might themselves +have aspired to the chief command--felt, from the moment they began to +understand his character and system, that the true road to glory would +be to follow the star of Napoleon. + +He perceived that the time was come for turning a new leaf in the +history of war. With such numbers of troops as the infant Republic could +afford him, he saw that no considerable advantages could be obtained +against the vast and highly-disciplined armies of Austria and her +allies, unless the established rules and etiquettes of strategy were +abandoned. It was only by such rapidity of motion as should utterly +transcend the suspicion of his adversaries, that he could hope to +concentrate the whole pith and energy of a small force upon some one +point of a much greater force opposed to it, and thus _rob_ them +(according to his own favourite phrase) of the victory. To effect such +rapid marches, 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 subsistence on the resources of the +countries into which their leader might conduct them. They must be +contented to conquer at whatever hazard; to consider no sacrifices or +hardships as worthy of a thought. The risk of destroying the character +and discipline of the men, by accustoming them to pillage, was obvious. +Buonaparte trusted to victory, the high natural spirit of the nation, +and the influence of his own genius, for the means of avoiding this +danger; and many years, it must be admitted, elapsed, before he found +much reason personally to repent of the system which he adopted. Against +the enemies of the Republic its success was splendid, even beyond his +hopes. + +The objects of the approaching expedition were three: first, to compel +the King of Sardinia, who had already lost Savoy and Nice, but still +maintained a powerful army on the frontiers of Piedmont, to abandon the +alliance of Austria: secondly, to compel the Emperor, by a bold invasion +of Lombardy, to make such exertions in that quarter as might weaken +those armies which had so long hovered on the Rhine; and, if possible, +to stir up the Italian subjects of that crown to adopt the revolutionary +system and emancipate themselves for ever from its yoke. The third +object, though more distant, was not less important. The influence of +the Romish Church was considered by the Directory as the chief, though +secret, support of the cause of royalism within their own territory; and +to reduce the Vatican into insignificance, or at least force it to +submission and quiescence, appeared indispensable to the internal +tranquillity of France. The Revolutionary Government, besides this +general cause of hatred and suspicion, had a distinct injury to avenge. +Their agent, Basseville, had three years before been assassinated in a +popular tumult at Rome: the Papal troops had not interfered to protect +him, nor the Pope to punish his murderers; and the haughty Republic +considered this as an insult which could only be washed out with a sea +of blood. + +Napoleon's plan for gaining access to the fair regions of Italy differed +from that of all former conquerors: they had uniformly penetrated the +Alps at some point or other of 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 which intervenes between +those enormous barriers and the Mediterranean Sea, and forcing a passage +at the point where the last of the Alps melt, as it were, into the first +and lowest of the Apennine range. No sooner did he begin to concentrate +his troops towards this region, than the Austrian general, Beaulieu, +took measures for protecting Genoa, and the entrance of Italy. He +himself took post with one column of his army at Voltri, a town within +ten miles of Genoa: he placed D'Argenteau with another Austrian column +at Monte Notte, a strong height further to the westward; and the +Sardinians, under Colli, occupied Ceva--which thus formed the extreme +right of the whole line of the allied army. The French could not advance +towards Genoa but by confronting some one of the three armies thus +strongly posted, and sufficiently, as Beaulieu supposed, in +communication with each other. + +It was now that Buonaparte made his first effort to baffle the science +of those who fancied there was nothing new to be done in warfare. On the +10th of April, D'Argenteau came down upon Monte Notte, and attacked some +French redoubts, in front of that mountain and the villages which bear +its name, at Montelegino. At the same time General Cervoni and the +French van were attacked by Beaulieu near Voltri, and compelled to +retreat. The determined valour of Colonel Rampon, who commanded at +Montelegino, held D'Argenteau at bay during the 10th and 11th: and +Buonaparte, contenting himself with watching Beaulieu, determined to +strike his effectual blow at the centre of the enemy's line. During the +night of the 11th various columns were marched upon Montelegino, that of +Cervoni and that of Laharpe from the van of the French line, those of +Augereau and Massena from its rear. On the morning of the 12th, +D'Argenteau, preparing to renew his attack on the redoubts of +Montelegino, found he had no longer Rampon only and his brave band to +deal with; that French columns were in his rear, on his flank, and drawn +up also behind the works at Montelegino; in a word, that he was +surrounded. He was compelled to retreat among the mountains; he left his +colours and cannon behind him, 1000 killed, and 2000 prisoners. The +centre of the allied army had been utterly routed, before either the +Commander-in-Chief at the left, or General Colli at the right of the +line, had any notion that a battle was going on. + +Such was the battle of Monte Notte, the first of Napoleon's fields. +Beaulieu, in order that he might re-establish his communication with +Colli (much endangered by the defeat of D'Argenteau) was obliged to +retreat upon Dego; the Sardinian, with the same purpose in view, fell +back also, and took post at Millesimo; while D'Argenteau was striving to +re-organise his dispirited troops in the difficult country between. It +was their object to keep fast in these positions until succours could +come up from Lombardy; but Napoleon had no mind to give them such +respite. + +The very next day after this victory he commanded a general assault on +the Austrian line. Augereau, with a fresh division, marched at the left +upon Millesimo; Massena led the centre towards Dego; and Laharpe, with +the French right wing, manoeuvred to turn the left flank of Beaulieu. + +Augereau rushed upon the outposts of Millesimo, seized and retained the +gorge which defends that place, and cut off Provera with two thousand +Austrians, who occupied an eminence called Cossaria, from the main body +of Colli's army. Next morning Buonaparte himself arrived at that scene +of the operations. He forced Colli to accept battle, utterly broke and +scattered him, and Provera, thus abandoned, was obliged to yield at +discretion. + +Meanwhile Massena on the same day had assaulted the heights of Biastro, +and carrying them at the point of the bayonet, cut off Beaulieu's +communication with Colli; then Laparpe came in front and in flank also +upon the village of Dego, and after a most desperate conflict, drove the +Austrian commander-in-chief from his post. From this moment Colli and +Beaulieu were entirely separated. After the affairs of Dego and +Millesimo, the former retreated in disorder upon Ceva; the latter, hotly +pursued, upon Aqui; Colli, of course, being eager to cover Turin, while +the Austrian had his anxious thoughts already upon Milan. Colli was +again defeated at Mondovi in his disastrous retreat; he there lost his +cannon, his baggage, and the best part of his troops. The Sardinian army +might be said to be annihilated. The conqueror took possession of +Cherasco, within 10 miles of Turin, and there dictated the terms on +which the King of Sardinia was to be permitted to retain any shadow of +sovereign power. + +Thus, in less than a month, did Napoleon lay the gates of Italy open +before him. He had defeated in three battles forces much superior to his +own; inflicted on them in killed, wounded and prisoners, a loss of +25,000 men; taken eighty guns and twenty-one standards; reduced the +Austrians to inaction; utterly destroyed the Sardinian king's army; and +lastly, wrested from his hands Coni and Tortona, the two great +fortresses called "the keys of the Alps,"--and indeed, except Turin +itself, every place of any consequence in his dominions. This +unfortunate prince did not long survive such humiliation. He was +father-in-law to both of the brothers of Louis XVI., and, considering +their cause and his own dignity as equally at an end, died of a broken +heart, within a few days after he had signed the treaty of Cherasco. + +Buonaparte meanwhile had paused for a moment to consolidate his columns +on the heights, from which the vast plain of Lombardy, rich and +cultivated like a garden, and watered with innumerable fertilising +streams, lay at length within the full view of his victorious soldiery. +"Hannibal forced the Alps," said he gaily, as he now looked back on +those stupendous barriers, "and we have turned them." + +"Hitherto" (he thus addressed his troops) "you have been fighting for +barren rocks, memorable for your valour, but useless to your country; +but now your exploits equal those of the armies of Holland and the +Rhine. You were utterly destitute, and you have supplied all your wants. +You have gained battles without cannon, passed rivers without bridges, +performed forced marches without shoes, bivouacked without strong +liquors, and often without bread. None but republican phalanxes, +soldiers of liberty, could have endured such things. Thanks for your +perseverance! But, soldiers, you have done nothing--for there remains +much to do. Milan is not yet ours. The ashes of the conquerors of +Tarquin are still trampled by the assassins of Basseville." + +The consummate genius of this brief campaign could not be disputed; and +the modest language of the young general's despatches to the Directory, +lent additional grace to his fame. At this time the name of Buonaparte +was spotless: and the eyes of all Europe were fixed in admiration on his +career. + +[Footnote 8: Berthier used to keep, as a curiosity, a general order, by +which three louis-d'or were granted as a great supply to each general of +division, dated on the very day of the victory at Albegna.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + + The French cross the Po at Placenza--The Battle of Fombio--The + Bridge of Lodi--Napoleon occupies Milan--Resigns, and resumes his + command--Insurrection of Pavia--Military Executions--The French + pass the Mincio at Borghetto--Beaulieu retreats behind the + Adige--Mantua besieged--Peace with the King of the Two + Sicilies--The Pope buys a Respite. + + +Piedmont being now in the hands of Buonaparte, the Austrian general +concentrated his army behind the Po, with the purpose of preventing the +invader from passing that great river and making his way to the capital +of Lombardy. + +Napoleon employed every device to make Beaulieu believe that he designed +to attempt the passage of the Po at Valenza; and the Austrian, a man of +routine, who had himself crossed the river at that point, was easily +persuaded that these demonstrations were sincere. Meanwhile his crafty +antagonist executed a march of incredible celerity upon Placenza, fifty +miles lower down the river; and appeared there on the 7th of May, to the +utter consternation of a couple of Austrian squadrons, who happened to +be reconnoitring in that quarter. He had to convey his men across that +great stream in the common ferry boats, and could never have succeeded +had there been anything like an army to oppose him. Andreossi +(afterwards so celebrated) was commander of the advanced guard; Lannes +(who became in the sequel Marshal Duke of Montebello) was the first to +throw himself ashore at the head of some grenadiers. The German hussars +were driven rapidly from their position. Buonaparte himself has said +that no operation in war is more critical than the passage of a great +river; on this occasion the skill of his arrangements enabled him to +pass one of the greatest in the world without the loss of a single man. + +Beaulieu, as soon as he ascertained how he had been outwitted, advanced +upon Placenza, in the hope of making the invader accept battle with the +Po in his rear, and therefore under circumstances which must render any +check in the highest degree disastrous. Buonaparte, in the meantime, had +no intention to await the Austrian on ground so dangerous, and was +marching rapidly towards Fomboi, where he knew he should have room to +manoeuvre. The advanced divisions of the hostile armies met at that +village on the 8th of May. The Imperialists occupied the steeples and +houses, and hoped to hold out until Beaulieu could bring up his main +body. But the French charged so impetuously with the bayonet, that the +Austrian, after seeing one-third of his men fall, was obliged to +retreat, in great confusion, leaving all his cannon behind him, across +the Adda; a large river which, descending from the Tyrolese mountains, +joins the Po at Pizzighitone--and thus forms the immediate defence of +the better part of the Milanese against any enemy advancing from +Piedmont. Behind this river Beaulieu now concentrated his army, +establishing strong guards at every ford and bridge, and especially at +Lodi, where as he guessed (for once rightly) the French general designed +to force his passage. + +The wooden bridge of Lodi formed the scene of one of the most celebrated +actions of the war; and will ever be peculiarly mixed up with the name +of Buonaparte himself. It was a great neglect in Beaulieu to leave it +standing when he removed his headquarters to the east bank of the Adda: +his outposts were driven rapidly through the old struggling town of Lodi +on the 10th; and the French sheltering themselves behind the walls and +houses, lay ready to attempt the passage of the bridge. Beaulieu had +placed a battery of thirty cannon so as to sweep it completely; and the +enterprise of storming it in the face of this artillery, and the whole +army drawn up behind, is one of the most daring on record. + +Buonaparte's first care was to place as many guns as he could get in +order in direct opposition to this Austrian battery. A furious cannonade +on his side of the river also now commenced. The General 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; and it was on this +occasion that the soldiery, delighted with his dauntless exposure of his +person, conferred on him his honorary nickname of _The Little Corporal_. +In the meantime he had sent General Beaumont and the cavalry to attempt +the passage of the river by a distant ford (which they had much +difficulty in effecting), and awaited with anxiety the moment when they +should appear on the enemy's flank. When that took place, Beaulieu's +line, of course, showed some confusion, and Napoleon instantly gave the +word. A column of grenadiers, whom he had kept ready drawn up close to +the bridge, but under shelter of the houses, were in a moment wheeled to +the left, and their leading files placed upon the bridge. They rushed +on, shouting _Vive la Republique!_ but the storm of grape-shot for a +moment checked them. Buonaparte, Lannes, Berthier, and Lallemagne, +hurried to the front, and rallied and cheered the men. The column dashed +across the bridge in despite of the tempest of fire that thinned them. +The brave Lannes was the first who reached the other side, Napoleon +himself the 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 became involved in +inextricable confusion, broke up, and fled. The slaughter on their side +was great; on the French there fell only 200 men. With such rapidity, +and consequently with so little loss, did Buonaparte execute this +dazzling adventure--"the terrible passage," as he himself called it, "of +the bridge of Lodi." + +It was indeed, terrible to the enemy. It deprived them of another +excellent line of defence, and blew up the enthusiasm of the French +soldiery to a pitch of irresistible daring. Beaulieu, nevertheless, +contrived to withdraw his troops in much better style than Buonaparte +had anticipated. He gathered the scattered fragments of his force +together, and soon threw the line of the Mincio, another tributary of +the Po, between himself and his enemy. The great object, however, had +been attained: the Austrian general escaped, and might yet defend +Mantua, but no obstacle remained between the victorious invader and the +rich and noble capital of Lombardy. The garrison of Pizzighitone, seeing +themselves effectually cut off from the Austrian army, capitulated. The +French cavalry pursued Beaulieu as far as Cremona, which town they +seized; and Napoleon himself prepared to march at once upon Milan. + +It was after one of these affairs that an old Hungarian officer was +brought prisoner to Buonaparte, who entered into conversation with him, +and among other matters questioned him "what he thought of the state of +the war?" "Nothing," replied the old gentleman, who did not know he was +addressing the general-in-chief,--"nothing can be worse. Here is a young +man who knows absolutely nothing of the rules of war; to-day he is in +our rear, to-morrow on our flank, next day again in our front. Such +violations of the principles of the art of war are intolerable!" + +The Archduke, who governed in Lombardy for the Emperor, had made many a +long prayer and procession; but the saints appeared to take no +compassion on him, and he now withdrew from the capital. A revolutionary +party had always existed there, as indeed in every part of the Austrian +dominions beyond the Alps; and the tricolor cockade, the emblem of +France, was now mounted by multitudes of the inhabitants. The +municipality hastened to invite the conqueror to appear among them as +their friend and protector; and on the 14th of May, four days after +Lodi, Napoleon accordingly entered, in all the splendour of a military +triumph, the venerable and opulent city of the old Lombard kings. + +He was not, however, to be flattered into the conduct, as to serious +matters, of a friendly general. He levied immediately a heavy +contribution (eight hundred thousand pounds sterling) at Milan,--taking +possession, besides, of twenty of the finest pictures in the Ambrosian +gallery. + +The conqueror now paused to look about and behind him; and proceeded +still farther to replenish his chest by exactions, for which no +justification can be adduced from the ordinary rules of international +law. With Sardinia he had already reckoned; of the Austrian capital in +Italy he had possession; there was only one more of the Italian +governments (Naples) with which the French Republic was actually at war; +although, indeed, he had never concealed his intention of revenging the +fate of Basseville on the court of Rome. The other powers of Italy were, +at worst, neutrals; with Tuscany and Venice, France had friendly +relations. But Napoleon knew or believed, that all the Italian +governments, without exception, considered the French invasion of Italy +as a common calamity; the personal wishes of most of the minor princes +(nearly connected as these were, by blood or alliance, with the imperial +house of Austria) he, not unreasonably, concluded were strongly against +his own success in this great enterprise. Such were his pretences--more +or less feasible; the temptation was, in fact, great; and he resolved to +consider and treat whatever had not been with him as if it had been +against him. The weak but wealthy princes of Parma and Modena, and +others of the same order, were forthwith compelled to purchase his +clemency not less dearly than if they had been in arms. Besides money, +of which he made them disburse large sums, he demanded from each a +tribute of pictures and statues, to be selected at the discretion of +Citizen Monge and other French connoisseurs, who now attended his march +for such purposes. + +In modern warfare the works of art had hitherto been considered as a +species of property entitled in all cases to be held sacred; and +Buonaparte's violent and rapacious infraction of this rule now excited a +mighty clamour throughout Europe. Whether the new system originated with +himself, or in the commands of the Directory, is doubtful. But from this +time the formation of a great national gallery of pictures and statues +at Paris was considered as an object of the first importance; and every +victorious general was expected to bring trophies of this kind in his +train. Whether the fine arts themselves are likely to be improved in +consequence of the accumulation in any one place of such vast treasures +as the Louvre were long exhibited, there has been, and will no doubt +continue to be, much controversy. It is certain that the arts of France +derived no solid advantage from Napoleon's museum. The collection was a +mighty heap of incense for the benefit of the national vanity; and the +hand which brought it together was preparing the means of inflicting on +that vanity one of the most intolerable of wounds, in its ultimate +dispersion. + +The Duke of Modena would fain have redeemed the famous St. Jerome, of +Correggio, at the price of £80,000; and Buonaparte's lieutenants urged +him to accept the money. "No," said he, "the duke's two millions of +francs would soon be spent; but his Correggio will remain for ages to +adorn Paris, and inspire the arts of France." The prophecy was not +inspired. Of one thing there can be no doubt; namely, that the +abstraction of these precious monuments of art from the Italian +collections was deeply and permanently resented by the Italian people. +This sacrilege, as those enthusiastic and intelligent lovers of all the +elegant arts considered it, turned back many a half-made convert from +the principles of the French Revolution. + +Buonaparte remained but five days in Milan; the citadel of that place +still held out against him; but he left a detachment to blockade it, and +proceeded himself in pursuit of Beaulieu. The Austrian had now planted +the remains of his army behind the Mincio, having his left on the great +and strong city of Mantua, which has been termed "the citadel of Italy," +and his right at Peschiera a Venetian fortress, of which he took +possession in spite of the remonstrances of the Doge. Peschiera stands +where the Mincio flows out of "its parent lake," the Lago di Guarda. +That great body of waters, stretching many miles backwards towards the +Tyrolese Alps, at once extended the line of defence, and kept the +communication open with Vienna. The Austrian veteran occupied one of the +strongest positions that it is possible to imagine. The invader hastened +once more to dislodge him. + +The French Directory, meanwhile, had begun to entertain certain not +unnatural suspicions as to the ultimate designs of their young general, +whose success and fame had already reached so astonishing a height. They +determined to check, if they could, the career of an ambition which they +apprehended might outgrow their control. Buonaparte was 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 contest with Beaulieu, under the +orders of Kellerman. But he acted on this occasion with the decision +which these Directors in vain desired to emulate. He answered by +resigning his command. "One half of the army of Italy," said he, "cannot +suffice to finish the matter with the Austrian. 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 durst not persist in displacing the chief whose name was +considered as the pledge of victory. Napoleon resumed the undivided +command, to which now, for the last time, his right had been questioned. + +Another unlooked-for occurrence delayed, for a few days longer, the +march upon Mantua. The heavy exactions of the French, and even more +perhaps the wanton contempt with which they treated the churches and the +clergy, had produced or fostered the indignation of a large part of the +population throughout Lombardy. Reports of new Austrian levies being +poured down the passes of the Tyrol were spread and believed. Popular +insurrections against the conqueror took place in various districts: at +least 30,000 were in arms. At Pavia the insurgents were entirely +triumphant; they had 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 Benasco, stormed the +place, plundered and burnt it, and put the inhabitants to the sword +without mercy. The general in person appeared before Pavia; blew the +gates open; easily scattered the townspeople; and caused the leaders to +be executed, as if they had committed a crime in endeavouring to rescue +their country from the arm of a foreign invader. Everywhere the same +ferocious system was acted on. The insurgent commanders were tried by +courts-martial, and shot without ceremony. At Lugo, where a French +squadron of horse had been gallantly and disastrously defeated, the +whole of the male inhabitants were massacred. These bloody examples +quelled the insurrections; but they fixed the first dark and indelible +stain on the name of Napoleon Buonaparte. + +The spirit of the Austrian and Catholic parties in Lombardy thus +crushed, the French advanced on the Mincio. The general made such +disposition of his troops, that Beaulieu doubted not he meant to pass +that river, if he could, at Peschiera. Meantime he had been preparing to +repeat the scene of Placenza;--and actually, on the 30th of May, forced +the passage of the Mincio, not at Peschiera, but further down at +Borghetto. The Austrian garrison at Borghetto in vain destroyed one arch +of the bridge. Buonaparte supplied the breach with planks; and his men, +flushed with so many victories, charged with a fury not to be resisted. +Beaulieu was obliged to abandon the Mincio, as he had before the Adda +and the Po, and to take up the new line of the Adige. + +Meanwhile an occurrence, which may be called accidental, had nearly done +more than repay the Austrians for all their reverses. The left of their +line, stationed still further down the Mincio,--at Puzzuolo, no sooner +learned from the cannonade that the French were at Borghetto, than they +hastened to ascend the stream, with the view of assisting the defence of +their friends. They came too late for this; the commander at Borghetto +had retreated before they arrived. They, however, came unexpectedly; +and, such was the chance, reached Valleggio after the French army had +pursued the Austrians through it and onwards--and, at the moment when +Buonaparte and a few friends, considering the work of the day to be +over, and this village as altogether in the rear of both armies, were +about to sit down to dinner in security. Sebetendorff, who commanded the +Puzzuolo division, came rapidly, little guessing what a prize was near +him, into the village. The French general's attendants had barely time +to shut the gates of the inn, and alarm their chief by the cry "To +arms." Buonaparte threw himself on horseback, and galloping out by a +back passage, effected the narrowest of escapes from the most urgent of +dangers. Sebetendorff was soon assaulted by a French column, and +retreated, after Beaulieu's example, on the line of the Adige. +Buonaparte, profiting by the perilous adventure of Valleggio, instituted +a small corps of picked men, called _Guides_, to watch continually over +his personal safety. Such was the germ from which sprung the famous +Imperial Guard of Napoleon. + +The Austrian had, in effect, abandoned for the time the open country of +Italy. He now lay on the frontier, between the vast tract of rich +provinces which Napoleon had conquered, and the Tyrol. The citadel of +Milan, indeed, still held out; but the force there was not great, and, +cooped up on every side, could not be expected to resist much longer. +Mantua, which possessed prodigious natural advantages, and into which +the retreating general had flung a garrison of full 15,000 men, was, in +truth, the last and only Italian possession of the imperial crown, +which, as it seemed, there might still be a possibility of saving. +Beaulieu anxiously waited the approach of new troops from Germany, to +attempt the relief of this great city; and his antagonist, 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 defended by strong and regular fortresses +or entrenched camps, the other two by gates, drawbridges, and batteries. +Situated amidst stagnant waters and morasses, its air is pestilential, +especially to strangers. The garrison were prepared to maintain the +position with their usual bravery; and it remained to be seen whether +the French general possessed any new system of attack, capable of +abridging the usual operations of the siege, as effectually as he had +already done by those of the march and the battle. His commencement was +alarming: of the five causeways, by sudden and overwhelming assaults, he +obtained four; and the garrison were cut off from the main land, except +only 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 beyond Mantua, should be occupied by the French. The power +of this ancient government was no longer such as to inspire much +respect, and Buonaparte resolved that the claim of neutrality should +form no obstacle to his measures. The French Directory had already most +ungenerously trampled on the dignity of Venice, by demanding that she +should no longer afford a retreat to the illustrious exile, the Count of +Provence, eldest surviving brother of Louis XVI.[9] That unfortunate +prince had, accordingly, though most reluctantly, been desired to quit +the Venetian states, and had already passed to the Rhine, where his +gallant cousin, the Prince of Condé, had long been at the head of a +small and devoted army composed of the expatriated gentry of France. +Buonaparte, however, chose to treat the reluctance with which Venice had +been driven to this violation of her hospitality, as a new injury to his +government: he argued that a power who had harboured in friendship, and +unwillingly expelled, the _Pretender_ to the French monarchy, had lost +all title to forbearance on the part of the Revolutionary forces. This +was a gross and ungenerous insult, and it was a gratuitous one; for he +had a far better argument behind. The imperial general had, as we have +seen, neglected the reclamations of the Doge, when it suited his purpose +to occupy Peschiera. "You are too weak," said Buonaparte, when the +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." In +effect, garrisons were placed forthwith in Verona, and all the strong +places of that domain. The tricolor flag now waved at the mouth of the +Tyrolese passes; and Napoleon, leaving Serrurier to blockade Mantua, +returned to Milan, where he had important business to arrange. + +The King of Naples, utterly confounded by the successes of the French, +was now anxious to procure peace, almost on whatever terms, with the +apparently irresistible Republic. Nor did it, for the moment, suit +Buonaparte's views to contemn his advances. A peace with this prince +would withdraw some valuable divisions from the army of Beaulieu; and +the distance of the Neapolitan territory was such, that the French had +no means of carrying the war thither with advantage, so long as Austria +retained the power of sending new forces into Italy by the way of the +Tyrol. He concluded an armistice accordingly, which was soon followed by +a formal peace, with the King of the Two Sicilies; and the Neapolitan +troops, who had recently behaved with eminent gallantry, abandoning the +Austrian general, began their march to the south of Italy. + +This transaction placed another of Napoleon's destined victims entirely +within his grasp. With no friend behind him, the Pope saw himself at the +mercy of the invader; and in terror prepared to submit. Buonaparte +occupied immediately his legations of Bologna and Ferrara, making +prisoners in the latter of these towns four hundred of the papal troops, +and a cardinal, under whose orders they were. The churchman militant was +dismissed on parole; but, being recalled to headquarters, answered that +his master, the Pope, had given him a dispensation to break his promise. +This exercise of the old dispensing power excited the merriment of the +conquerors. The Vatican, meanwhile, perceived that no time was to be +lost. The Spanish resident at the Roman court was despatched to Milan; +and the terms on which the holy father was to obtain a brief respite +were at length arranged. Buonaparte demanded and obtained a million +sterling, a 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. + +He next turned his attention to the grand duke of Tuscany,--a prince who +had not only not taken any part in the war against the Republic, but had +been the very first of the European rulers to recognise its +establishment, and had kept on terms of friendship with all its +successive authorities. Buonaparte, however, in pursuance of his system, +resolved that the brother of the emperor should pay for his presumed +inclinations. For the present, the Florentine museum and the grand +duke's treasury were spared; but Leghorn, the seaport of Tuscany and +great feeder of its wealth, was seized without ceremony; the English +goods in that town were confiscated to the ruin of the merchants; and a +great number of English vessels in the harbour made a narrow escape. The +grand duke, in place of resenting these injuries, was obliged to receive +Buonaparte with all the appearances of cordiality at Florence; and the +spoiler repaid his courtesy by telling him, rubbing his hands with glee, +during the princely entertainment provided for him, "I have just +received letters from Milan; the citadel has fallen;--your brother has +no longer a foot of land in Lombardy." "It is a sad case," said Napoleon +himself long afterwards--speaking of these scenes of exaction and +insolence,--"it is a sad case when the dwarf comes into the embrace of +the giant; he is like enough to be suffocated--but 'tis the giant's +nature to squeeze hard." + +In the meantime the general did not neglect the great and darling plan +of the French government, of thoroughly revolutionising the North of +Italy, and establishing there a group of Republics modelled after their +own likeness, and prepared to act as subservient allies in their mighty +contest with the European monarchies. The peculiar circumstances of +Northern Italy, as a land of ancient fame and high spirit, long split +into fragments, and ruled, for the most part, by governors of German +origin, presented many facilities for the realisation of this design; +and Buonaparte was urged constantly by his government at Paris, and by +a powerful party in Lombardy, to hasten its execution. He, however, had +by this time learned to think of many idols of the Directory with about +as little reverence as they bestowed on the shrines of Catholicism; in +his opinion more was to be gained by temporising with both the +governments and the people of Italy, than by any hasty measures of the +kind recommended. He saw well the deep disgust which his exactions had +excited. "You cannot," said he, "at one and the same moment rob people +and persuade them you are their friends." He fancied, moreover, that the +Pope and other nerveless rulers of the land might be converted into at +least as convenient ministers of French exaction, as any new +establishments he could raise in their room. Finally he perceived that +whenever the Directory were to arrange seriously the terms of a +settlement with the great monarchy of Austria, their best method would +be to restore Lombardy, and thereby purchase the continued possession of +the more conveniently situated territories of Belgium and the +Luxembourg. The general, therefore, temporised; content, in the +meantime, with draining the exchequers of the governments, and cajoling +from day to day the population. The Directory were with difficulty +persuaded to let him follow his own course; but he now despised their +remonstrances, and they had been taught effectually to dread his +strength. + +Napoleon, it is clear enough, had no intention to grant these Italian +governments anything but a respite; nor is it to be doubted that their +disposition to take part with Austria remained as it had been before +they entered into these treaties with France. That the purpose of deceit +was mutual, affords, however, no plea of justification--least of all to +the stronger party. "It will be well," says Sir Walter Scott, "with the +world, when falsehood and finesse are as thoroughly exploded in +international communication as they are among individuals in civilised +countries." + +[Footnote 9: The same who became afterwards Louis XVIII. of France.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + Wurmser supersedes Beaulieu--Jourdan and Moreau march into Germany, + and are forced to retreat again--The Austrians advance from the + Tyrol--Battle of Lonato--Escape of Napoleon--Battle near + Castiglione--Wurmser retreats on Trent, and is recruited--Battle of + Roveredo--Battle of Primolano--Battle of Bassano--Battle of St. + George--Wurmser shut up in Mantua. + + +The general was now recalled to the war. The cabinet of Vienna, apt to +be slow, but sure to be persevering, had at last resolved upon sending +efficient aid to the Italian frontier. Beulieu had been too often +unfortunate to be trusted longer: Wurmser, who enjoyed a reputation of +the highest class, was sent to replace him: 300,000 men were drafted +from the armies on the Rhine to accompany the new general; and he +carried orders to strengthen himself further, on his march, by whatever +recruits he could raise among the warlike and loyal population of the +Tyrol. + +The consequences of thus weakening the Austrian force on the Rhine were, +for the moment, on that scene of the contest, inauspicious. The French, +in two separate bodies, forced the passage of the Rhine--under Jourdan +and Moreau; before whom the imperial generals, Wartensleben and the +Archduke Charles, were compelled to retire. But the skill of the +Archduke ere long enabled him to effect a junction with the columns of +Wartensleben; and thus to fall upon Jourdan with a great superiority of +numbers, and give him a signal defeat. The loss of the French in the +field was great, and the bitter hostility of the German peasantry made +their retreat a bloody one. Moreau, on the other hand, learning how +Jourdan was discomfited, found himself compelled to give up the plan of +pursuing his march further into Germany, and executed that famous +retreat through the Black Forest which has made his name as splendid as +any victory in the field could have done. But this reverse, however +alleviated by the honours of Moreau's achievement, was attended with +appearances of the most perilous kind. The genius of Carnot had devised +a great scheme of operations, of which one half was thus at once cut +short. He had meant Moreau and Jourdan, coalescing beyond the Rhine, to +march upon the Tyrol; while Buonaparte should advance from the scene of +his Italian conquests, join his brother generals on that frontier, and +then march in union with them to dictate a peace before the gates of +Vienna. All hope of this junction of forces was now at an end for this +campaign. The French saw themselves compelled to resume the defensive on +the western frontier of Germany; and the army of Italy had to await the +overwhelming war which seemed ready to pour down upon Lombardy from the +passes of the Tyrol. + +Wurmser, when he fixed his headquarters at Trent, mustered in all +80,000; while Buonaparte had but 30,000, to hold a wide country, in +which abhorrence of the French cause was now prevalent, to keep up the +blockade of Mantua, and to oppose this fearful odds of numbers in the +field. He was now, moreover, to act on the defensive, while his +adversary assumed the more inspiriting character of invader. He awaited +the result with calmness. + +Wurmser might have learned from the successes of Buonaparte the +advantages of compact movement; yet he was unwise enough to divide his +great force into three separate columns, and to place one of these upon +a line of march which entirely separated it from the support of the +others. He himself, with his centre, came down on the left bank of the +Lago di Guarda, with Mantua before him as his mark: his left wing, under +Melas, was to descend the Adige, and drive the French from Verona; while +the right wing, under Quasdonowich, were ordered to keep down the valley +of the Chiese, in the direction of Brescia, and so to cut off the +retreat of Buonaparte upon the Milanese;--in other words, to interpose +the waters of the Lago di Guarda between themselves and the march of +their friends--a blunder not likely to escape the eagle eye of Napoleon. + +He immediately determined to march against Quasdonowich, and fight him +where he could not be supported by the other two columns. This could +not be done without abandoning for the time the blockade of Mantua; but +it was not for Buonaparte to hesitate about purchasing a great ultimate +advantage by a present sacrifice, however disagreeable. The guns were +buried in the trenches during the night of the 31st July, and the French +quitted the place with a precipitation which the advancing Austrians +considered as the result of terror. + +Napoleon meanwhile rushed against Quasdonowich, who had already come +near the bottom of the Lake of Guarda. At Salo, close by the lake, and, +further from it, at Lonato, two divisions of the Austrian column were +attacked and overwhelmed. Augereau and Massena, leaving merely +rear-guards at Borghetto and Peschiera, now marched also upon Brescia. +The whole force of Quasdonowich must inevitably have been ruined by +these combinations, had he stood his ground; but by this time the +celerity of Napoleon had overawed him, and he was already in full +retreat upon his old quarters in the Tyrol. Augereau and Massena, +therefore, countermarched their columns, and returned towards the +Mincio. They found that Wurmser had forced their rear-guards from their +posts: that of Massena, under Pigeon, had retired in good order to +Lonato; that of Augereau, under Vallette, had retreated in confusion, +abandoning Castiglione to the Austrians. + +Flushed with these successes, old Wurmser now resolved to throw his +whole force upon the French, and resume at the point of the bayonet his +communication with the scattered column of Quasdonowich. He was so +fortunate as to defeat the gallant Pigeon at Lonato, and to occupy that +town. But this great new success was fatal to him. In the exultation of +victory he extended his line too much towards the right; and this +over-anxiety to open the communication with Quasdonowich had the effect +of so weakening his centre, that Massena, boldly and skilfully seizing +the opportunity, poured two strong columns on Lonato, and regained the +position; whereon the Austrian, perceiving that his army was cut in two, +was thrown into utter confusion. Some of his troops, marching to the +right, were met by those of the French, who had already defeated +Quasdonowich in that quarter, and obliged to surrender: the most +retreated in great disorder. At Castiglione alone a brave stand was +made. But Augereau, burning to wipe out the disgrace of Vallette,[10] +forced the position, though at a severe loss. Such was the battle of +Lonato. Thenceforth nothing could surpass the discomfiture and disarray +of the Austrians. They fled in all directions upon the Mincio, where +Wurmser himself, meanwhile, had been employed in revictualling Mantua. + +A mere accident had once more almost saved the Imperialist. One of the +many defeated divisions of the army, wandering about in anxiety to find +some means of reaching the Mincio, came suddenly on Lonato, the scene of +the late battle, at a moment when Napoleon was there with only his staff +and guards about him. He knew not that any considerable body of the +enemy remained together in the neighbourhood; and, but for his presence +of mind, must have been their prisoner. The Austrian had not the skill +to profit by what fortune threw in his way; the other was able to turn +even a blunder into an advantage. The officer sent to demand the +surrender of the town was brought blindfolded, as is the custom, to his +headquarters; Buonaparte, by a secret sign, caused his whole staff to +draw up around him, and when the bandage was removed from the +messenger's eyes, saluted him thus: "What means this insolence? Do you +beard the French general in the middle of his army?" The German +recognised the person of Napoleon, and retreated stammering and +blushing. He assured his commander that Lonato was occupied by the +French in numbers that made resistance impossible. Four thousand men +laid down their arms; and then discovered that, if they had used them, +nothing could have prevented Napoleon from being their prize. + +Wurmser collected together the whole of his remaining force, and +advanced to meet the conqueror. He, meanwhile, had himself determined on +the assault, and was hastening to the encounter. They met between Lonato +and Castiglione. Wurmser was totally defeated, and narrowly escaped +being a prisoner; nor did he without great difficulty regain Trent and +Roveredo, those frontier positions from which his noble army had so +recently descended with all the confidence of conquerors. In this +disastrous campaign the Austrians lost 40,000: Buonaparte probably +understated his own loss at 7000. During the seven days which the +campaign occupied he never took off his boots, nor slept except by +starts. The exertions which so rapidly achieved this signal triumph were +such as to demand some repose; yet Napoleon did not pause until he saw +Mantua once more completely invested. The reinforcement and +revictualling of that garrison were all that Wurmser could show, in +requital of his lost artillery, stores, and 40,000 men. + +During this brief campaign the aversion with which the ecclesiastics of +Italy regarded the French manifested itself in various quarters. At +Pavia, Ferrara, and elsewhere, insurrections had broken out, and the +spirit was spreading rapidly at the moment when the report of Napoleon's +new victory came to re-awaken terror and paralyse revolt. The conqueror +judged it best to accept for the present the resubmission, however +forced, of a party too powerful to be put down by examples. The Cardinal +Mattei, Archbishop of Ferrara, being brought into his presence, uttered +the single word _peccavi_: the victor was contented with ordering him a +penance of seven days' fasting and prayer in a monastery: but he had no +intention to forget these occurrences whenever another day of reckoning +with the Pope should come. + +While he was occupied with restoring quiet in the country, Austria, ever +constant in adversity, hastened to place 20,000 fresh troops under the +orders of Wurmser; and the brave veteran, whose heart nothing could +chill, prepared himself to make one effort more to relieve Mantua, and +drive the French out of Lombardy. His army was now, as before, greatly +the superior in numbers; and though the bearing of his troops was more +modest, their gallantry remained unimpaired. Once more the old general +divided his army; and once more he was destined to see it shattered in +detail. + +He marched from Trent towards Mantua, through the defiles of the Brenta, +at the head of 30,000; leaving 20,000 under Davidowich at Roveredo, to +cover the Tyrol. Buonaparte instantly detected the error of his +opponent. He suffered him to advance unmolested as far as Bassano, and +the moment he was there, and consequently completely separated from +Davidowich and his rear, drew together a strong force, and darted on +Roveredo, by marches such as seemed credible only after they had been +accomplished. + +The battle of Roveredo (Sept. 4) is one of Napoleon's most illustrious +days. The enemy had a strongly entrenched camp in front of the town; and +behind it, in case of misfortune, Calliano, with its castle seated on a +precipice over the Adige, where that river flows between enormous rocks +and mountains, appeared to offer an impregnable retreat. Nothing could +withstand the ardour of the French. The Austrians, though they defended +the entrenched camp with their usual obstinacy, were forced to give way +by the impetuosity of Dubois and his hussars. Dubois fell, mortally +wounded, in the moment of his glory: he waved his sabre, cheering his +men onwards with his last breath. "I die," said he, "for the +Republic;--only let me hear, ere life leaves me, that the victory is +ours." The French horse, thus animated, pursued the Germans, who were +driven, unable to rally, through and beyond the town. Even the gigantic +defences of Calliano proved of no avail. Height after height was carried +at the point of the bayonet; 7000 prisoners and fifteen cannon remained +with the conquerors. The Austrians fled to Levisa, which guards one of +the chief defiles of the Tyrolese Alps, and were there beaten again. +Vaubois occupied this important position with the gallant division who +had forced it. Massena fixed himself in Wurmser's late headquarters at +Trent; and Napoleon, having thus totally cut off the field-marshal's +communication with Germany, proceeded to issue proclamations calling on +the inhabitants of the Tyrol to receive the French as friends, and seize +the opportunity of freeing themselves for ever from the dominion of +Austria. He put forth an edict declaring that the sovereignty of the +district was henceforth in the French Republic, and inviting the people +themselves to arrange, according to their pleasure, its interior +government. + +The French general made a grievous mistake when he supposed that the +Tyrolese were divided in their attachment to the Imperial government, +because he had found the Italian subjects of that crown to be so. The +Tyrol, one of the most ancient of the Austrian possessions, had also +been one of the best governed; the people enjoyed all the liberty they +wished under a paternal administration. They received with scornful +coldness the flattering exhortations of one in whom they saw only a +cunning and rapacious enemy; and Buonaparte was soon satisfied that it +would cost more time than was then at his disposal to republicanise +those gallant mountaineers. They, in truth, began to arm themselves, and +waited but the signal to rise everywhere upon the invaders. + +Wurmser heard with dismay the utter ruin of Davidowich; and doubted not +that Napoleon would now march onwards into Germany, and joining Jourdan +and Moreau, whose advance he had heard of, and misguessed to have been +successful, endeavour to realise the great scheme of Carnot--that of +attacking Vienna itself. The old general saw no chance of converting +what remained to him of his army to good purpose, but by abiding in +Lombardy, where he thought he might easily excite the people in his +emperor's favour, overwhelm the slender garrisons left by Buonaparte, +and so cut off, at all events, the French retreat through Italy, in case +they should meet with any disaster in the Tyrol or in Germany. Napoleon +had intelligence which Wurmser wanted. Wurmser himself was his mark; and +he returned from Trent to Primolano where the Imperialist's vanguard +lay, by a forced march of not less than sixty miles performed in two +days. The surprise with which this descent was received may be imagined. +The Austrian van was destroyed in a twinkling. The French, pushing +everything before them, halted that night at Cismone--where Napoleon was +glad to have half a private soldier's ration of bread for his supper. +Next day he reached Bassano where the aged Marshal once more expected +the fatal rencounter. The battle of Bassano (Sept. 8) was a fatal +repetition of those that had gone before it. Six thousand men laid down +their arms. Quasdonowich, with one division of 4000, escaped to Friuli; +while Wurmser himself, retreating to Vicenza, there collected with +difficulty a remnant of 16,000 beaten and discomfited soldiers. His +situation was most unhappy; his communication with Austria wholly cut +off--his artillery and baggage all lost--the flower of his army no more. +Nothing seemed to remain but to throw himself into Mantua, and there +hold out to the last extremity, in the hope, however remote, of some +succours from Vienna; and such was the resolution of this often +outwitted but never dispirited veteran. + +In order to execute his purpose, it was necessary to force a passage +somewhere on the Adige; and the Austrian, especially as he had lost all +his pontoons, would have had great difficulty in doing so, but for a +mistake on the part of the French commander at Legnago, who, conceiving +the attempt was to be made at Verona, marched to reinforce the corps +stationed there, and thus left his proper position unguarded. Wurmser, +taking advantage of this, passed with his army at Legnago, and after a +series of bloody skirmishes, in which fortune divided her favours pretty +equally, was at length enabled to throw himself into Mantua. Napoleon +made another narrow escape, in one of these skirmishes, at Arcola. He +was surrounded for a moment, and had just galloped off, when Wurmser +coming up and learning that the prize was so near, gave particular +directions to bring him in alive! + +Buonaparte, after making himself master of some scattered corps which +had not been successful in keeping up with Wurmser, re-appeared once +more before Mantua. The battle of St. George--so called from one of the +suburbs of the city--was fought on the 13th of September, and after +prodigious slaughter, the French remained in possession of all the +causeways; so that the blockade of the city and fortress was henceforth +complete. The garrison, when Wurmser shut himself up, amounted to +26,000. Before October was far advanced the pestilential air of the +place, and the scarcity and badness of provisions, had filled his +hospitals, and left him hardly half the number in fighting condition. +The misery of the besieged town was extreme; and if Austria meant to +rescue Wurmser, there was no time to be lost. + +[Footnote 10: Vallette was cashiered. Augereau was afterwards created +Duke of Castiglione, in memory of this exploit.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + Affairs of Corsica--Alvinzi assumes the Command of the Austrians on + the Italian frontier--The three Battles of Arcola--Retreat of + Alvinzi--Battle of Rivoli--Battle of La Favorita--Surrender of + Mantua--Victor marches on Ancona--Despair of the Pope--Treaty of + Tollentino. + + +The French party in Corsica had not contemplated without pride and +exultation the triumphs of their countryman. His seizure of Leghorn, by +cutting off the supplies from England, greatly distressed the opposite +party in the island, and an expedition of Corsican exiles, which he now +despatched from Tuscany, was successful in finally reconquering the +country. To Napoleon this acquisition was due; nor were the Directory +insensible to its value. He, meanwhile, had heavier business on his +hands. + +The Austrian council well knew that Mantua was in excellent keeping; and +being now relieved on the Rhenish frontier, by the failure of Jourdan +and Moreau's attempts, were able to form once more a powerful armament +on that of Italy. The supreme command was given to Marshal Alvinzi, a +veteran of high reputation. He, having made extensive levies in Illyria, +appeared at Friuli; while Davidowich, with the remnant of Quasdonowich's +army, amply recruited among the bold peasantry of the Tyrol, and with +fresh drafts from the Rhine, took ground above Trent. The marshal had in +all 60,000 men under his orders. Buonaparte had received only twelve new +battalions, to replace all the losses of those terrible campaigns, in +which three imperial armies had already been annihilated. The enemy's +superiority of numbers was once more such, that nothing but the most +masterly combinations on the part of the French general could have +prevented them from sweeping everything before them in the plains of +Lombardy. + +Buonaparte heard in the beginning of October that Alvinzi's columns were +in motion: he had placed Vaubois to guard Trent, and Massena at Bassano +to check the march of the field-marshal: but neither of these generals +was able to hold his ground. The troops of Vaubois were driven from +that position of Calliano, the strength of which has been already +mentioned, under circumstances which Napoleon considered disgraceful to +the character of the French soldiery. Massena avoided battle; but such +was the overwhelming superiority of Alvinzi, that he was forced to +abandon the position of Bassano. Napoleon himself hurried forward to +sustain Massena; and a severe rencontre, in which either side claimed +the victory, took place at Vicenza. The French, however, retreated, and +Buonaparte fixed his headquarters at Verona. The whole country between +the Brenta and the Adige was in the enemy's hands; while the still +strong and determined garrison of Mantua in Napoleon's rear, rendering +it indispensable for him to divide his forces, made his position +eminently critical. + +His first care was to visit the discomfited troops of Vaubois. "You have +displeased me," said he, "you have suffered yourselves to be driven from +positions where a handful of determined men might have bid an army +defiance. You are no longer French soldiers! You belong not to the army +of Italy." At these words, tears streamed down the rugged cheeks of the +grenadiers. "Place us but once more in the van," cried they, "and you +shall judge whether we do not belong to the army of Italy." The general +dropped his angry tone; and in the rest of the campaign no troops more +distinguished themselves than these. + +Having thus revived the ardour of his soldiery, Buonaparte concentrated +his columns on the right of the Adige, while Alvinzi took up a very +strong position on the heights of Caldiero, on the left bank, nearly +opposite to Verona. In pursuance of the same system which had already so +often proved fatal to his opponents, it was the object of Buonaparte to +assault Alvinzi, and scatter his forces, ere they could be joined by +Davidowich. He lost no time, therefore, in attacking the heights of +Caldiero; but in spite of all that Massena, who headed the charge, could +do, the Austrians, strong in numbers and in position, repelled the +assailants with great carnage. A terrible tempest prevailed during the +action, and Napoleon, in his despatches, endeavoured to shift the blame +to the elements. + +The country behind Caldiero lying open to Davidowich, it became +necessary to resort to other means of assault, or permit the dreaded +junction to occur. The genius of Buonaparte suggested to him on this +occasion a movement altogether unexpected. During the night, leaving +1,500 men under Kilmaine to guard Verona, he marched for some space +rearwards, as if he had meant to retreat on Mantua, which the failure of +his recent assault rendered not unlikely. But his columns were ere long +wheeled again towards the Adige: and finding a bridge ready prepared, +were at once placed on the same side of the river with the enemy,--but +in the rear altogether of his position, amidst those wide-spreading +morasses which cover the country about Arcola. This daring movement was +devised to place Napoleon between Alvinzi and Davidowich; but the unsafe +nature of the ground, and the narrowness of the dykes, by which alone he +could advance on Arcola, rendered victory difficult, and reverse most +hazardous. He divided his men into three columns, and charged at +daybreak (Nov. 15) by the three dykes which conduct to Arcola. The +Austrian, not suspecting that the main body of the French had evacuated +Verona, treated this at first as an affair of light troops; but as day +advanced the truth became apparent, and these narrow passages were +defended with the most determined gallantry. Augereau headed the first +column that reached the bridge of Arcola, and was there, after a +desperate effort, driven back with great loss. Buonaparte, perceiving +the necessity of carrying the point ere Alvinzi could arrive, now threw +himself on the bridge, and seizing a standard, urged his grenadiers once +more to the charge. + +The fire was tremendous: once more the French gave way. Napoleon +himself, lost in the tumult, was borne backwards, forced over the dyke, +and had nearly been smothered in the morass, while some of the advancing +Austrians were already between him and his baffled column. His imminent +danger was observed: the soldiers caught the alarm, and rushing +forwards, with the cry, "Save the general," overthrew the Germans with +irresistible violence, plucked Napoleon from the bog, and carried the +bridge. This was the first battle of Arcola. + +This movement revived in the Austrian lines their terror for the name of +Buonaparte; and Alvinzi saw that no time was to be lost if he meant to +preserve his communication with Davidowich. He abandoned Caldiero, and +gaining the open country behind Arcola, robbed his enemy for the moment +of the advantage which his skill had gained. Napoleon, perceiving that +Arcola was no longer in the rear of his enemy but in his front, and +fearful lest Vaubois might be overwhelmed by Davidowich, while Alvinzi +remained thus between him and the Brenta, evacuated Arcola, and +retreated to Ronco. + +Next morning, having ascertained that Davidowich had not been engaged +with Vaubois, Napoleon once more advanced upon Arcola. The place was +once more defended bravely, and once more it was carried. But this +second battle of Arcola proved no more decisive than the first; for +Alvinzi still contrived to maintain his main force unbroken in the +difficult country behind; and Buonaparte again retreated to Ronco. + +The third day was decisive. On this occasion also he carried Arcola; +and, by two stratagems, was enabled to make his victory effectual. An +ambuscade, planted among some willows, suddenly opened fire on a column +of Croats, threw them into confusion, and, rushing from the concealment, +crushed them down into the opposite bog, where most of them died. +Napoleon was anxious to follow up this success by charging the Austrian +main body on the firm ground behind the marshes. But it was no easy +matter to reach them there. He had, in various quarters, portable +bridges ready for crossing the ditches and canals; but the enemy stood +in good order, and three days' hard fighting had nearly exhausted his +own men. In one of his conversations at St. Helena, he thus told the +sequel. "At Arcola I gained the battle with twenty-five horsemen. I +perceived the critical moment of lassitude in either army--when the +oldest and bravest would have been glad to be in their tents. All my men +had been engaged. Three times I had been obliged to re-establish the +battle. There remained to me but some twenty-five _Guides_. I sent them +round on the flank of the enemy with three trumpets, bidding them blow +loud and charge furiously. _Here is the French cavalry_, was the cry; +and they took to flight."... The Austrians doubted not that Murat and +all the horse had forced a way through the bogs; and at that moment +Buonaparte commanding a general assault in front, the confusion became +hopeless. Alvinzi retreated finally, though in decent order, upon +Montebello. + +It was at Arcola that Muiron, who ever since the storming of Little +Gibraltar had lived on terms of brotherlike intimacy with Napoleon, +seeing a bomb about to explode threw himself between it and his general, +and thus saved his life at the cost of his own. Napoleon, to the end of +his life, remembered and regretted this heroic friend. + +In these three days Buonaparte lost 8000 men: the slaughter among his +opponents must have been terrible. Davidowich, in never coming up to +join Alvinzi after his success over Vaubois, and Wurmser, in remaining +quiet at Mantua, when by advancing with his garrison he might have +incommoded the French rear, were guilty of grievous misjudgment or +indecision. Once more the rapid combinations of Napoleon had rendered +all the efforts of the Austrian cabinet abortive. For two months after +the last day of Arcola, he remained the undisturbed master of Lombardy. +All that his enemy could show, in set-off for the slaughter and +discomfiture of Alvinzi's campaign, was that they retained possession of +Bassano and Trent, thus interrupting Buonaparte's access to the Tyrol +and Germany. This advantage was not trivial; but it had been dearly +bought. + +A fourth army had been baffled; but the resolution of the Imperial Court +was indomitable, and new levies were diligently forwarded to reinforce +Alvinzi. Once more (January 7, 1797) the Marshal found himself at the +head of 60,000: once more his superiority over Napoleon's muster-roll +was enormous; and once more he descended from the mountains with the +hope of relieving Wurmser and reconquering Lombardy. The fifth act of +the tragedy was yet to be performed. + +We may here pause to notice some civil events of importance which +occurred ere Alvinzi made his final descent. The success of the French +naturally gave new vigour to the Italian party, who, chiefly in the +large towns, were hostile to Austria, and desirous to settle their own +government on the republican model. Napoleon had by this time come to be +anything but a Jacobin in his political sentiments: his habits of +command; his experience of the narrow and ignorant management of the +Directory; his personal intercourse with the ministers of sovereign +powers; his sense daily strengthened by events, that whatever good was +done in Italy proceeded from his own skill and the devotion of his +army,--all these circumstances conspired to make him respect himself and +contemn the government, almost in despite of which he had conquered +kingdoms for France. He therefore regarded now with little sympathy the +aspirations after republican organisation which he had himself +originally stimulated among the northern Italians. He knew, however, +that the Directory had, by absurd and extravagant demands, provoked the +Pope to break off the treaty of Bologna, and to raise his army to the +number of 40,000,--that Naples had every disposition to back his +Holiness with 30,000 soldiers, provided any reverse should befall the +French in Lombardy,--and, finally, that Alvinzi was rapidly preparing +for another march, with numbers infinitely superior to what he could +himself extort from the government of Paris;[11] and considering these +circumstances, he felt himself compelled to seek strength by gratifying +his Italian friends. Two Republics accordingly were organised; the +Cispadane and the Transpadane--handmaids rather than sisters of the +great French democracy. These events took place during the period of +military inaction which followed the victories of Arcola. The new +Republics hastened to repay Napoleon's favour by raising troops, and +placed at his disposal a force which he considered as sufficient to keep +the Papal army in check during the expected renewal of Alvinzi's +efforts. + +Buonaparte at this period practised every art to make himself popular +with the Italians; nor was it of little moment that they in fact +regarded him more as their own countryman than a Frenchman; that their +beautiful language was his mother tongue; that he knew their manners and +their literature, and even in his conquering rapacity displayed his +esteem for their arts. He was wise enough too, on farther familiarity +with the state of the country, to drop that tone of hostility which he +had at first adopted towards the priesthood; and to cultivate the most +influential members of that powerful order by attentions which the +Directory heard of with wonder, and would have heard of, had he been any +other than Napoleon, with scorn and contempt.[12] Wherever he could +have personal intercourse with the priesthood, he seems to have +considerably softened their spleen. Meanwhile the clergy beyond the +Apennines, and the nobility of Romagna, were combining all their efforts +to rouse the population against him; and the Pope, pushed, as we have +seen, to despair by the French Directory, had no reason to complain that +his secular vassals heard such appeals with indifference. + +Alvinzi's preparations were in the meantime rapidly advancing. The +enthusiasm of the Austrian gentry was effectually stirred by the +apprehension of seeing the conqueror of Italy under the walls of Vienna, +and volunteer corps were formed everywhere and marched upon the +frontier. The gallant peasantry of the Tyrol had already displayed their +zeal; nor did the previous reverses of Alvinzi prevent them from once +more crowding to his standard. Napoleon proclaimed that every Tyrolese +caught in arms should be shot as a brigand. Alvinzi replied, that for +every murdered peasant he would hang a French prisoner of war: +Buonaparte rejoined, that the first execution of this threat would be +instantly followed by the gibbeting of Alvinzi's own nephew, who was in +his hands. These ferocious threats were laid aside, when time had been +given for reflection; and either general prepared to carry on the war +according to the old rules, which are at least sufficiently severe. + +Alvinzi sent a peasant across the country to find his way if possible +into the beleaguered city of Mantua, and give Wurmser notice that he was +once more ready to attempt his relief. The veteran was commanded to make +what diversion he could in favour of the approaching army; and if things +came to the worst, to fight his way out of Mantua, retire on Romagna, +and put himself at the head of the Papal forces. The spy who carried +these tidings was intercepted, and dragged into the presence of +Napoleon. The terrified man confessed that he had swallowed the ball of +wax in which the despatch was wrapped. His stomach was compelled to +surrender its contents; and Buonaparte prepared to meet his enemy. +Leaving Serrurier to keep up the blockade of Mantua, he hastened to +resume his central position at Verona, from which he could, according to +circumstances, march with convenience on whatever line the Austrian main +body might choose for their advance. + +The Imperialists, as if determined to profit by no lesson, once more +descended from the Tyrol upon two different lines of march; Alvinzi +himself choosing that of the Upper Adige; while Provera headed a second +army, with orders to follow the Brenta, and then, striking across to the +Lower Adige, join the marshal before the walls of Mantua. Could they +have combined their forces there, and delivered Wurmser, there was +hardly a doubt that the French must retreat before so vast an army as +would then have faced them. But Napoleon was destined once more to +dissipate all these victorious dreams. He had posted Joubert at Rivoli, +to dispute that important position, should the campaign open with an +attempt to force it by Alvinzi; while Augereau's division was to watch +the march of Provera. He remained himself at Verona until he could learn +with certainty by which of these generals the first grand assault was to +be made. On the evening of the 13th of January, tidings were brought him +that Joubert had all that day been maintaining his ground with +difficulty; and he instantly hastened to what now appeared to be the +proper scene of action for himself. + +Arriving about two in the morning (by another of his almost incredible +forced marches) on the heights of Rivoli, he, the moonlight being clear, +could distinguish five separate encampments, with innumerable +watch-fires, in the valley below. His lieutenant, confounded by the +display of this gigantic force, was in the very act of abandoning the +position. Napoleon instantly checked this movement; and bringing up more +battalions, forced the Croats from an eminence which they had already +seized on the first symptoms of the French retreat. Napoleon's keen eye, +surveying the position of the five encampments below, penetrated the +secret of Alvinzi; namely, that his artillery had not yet arrived, +otherwise he would not have occupied ground so distant from the object +of attack. He concluded that the Austrian did not mean to make his +grand assault very early in the morning, and resolved to force him to +anticipate that movement. For this purpose, he took all possible pains +to conceal his own arrival; and prolonged, by a series of petty +manoeuvres, the enemy's belief that he had to do with a mere outpost of +the French. Alvinzi swallowed the deceit; and, instead of advancing on +some great and well-arranged system, suffered his several columns to +endeavour to force the heights by insulated movements, which the real +strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. It is true that at +one moment the bravery of the Germans had nearly overthrown 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 lain down to rest in the extreme of +weariness, and seconded by them and their gallant general,[13] swept +everything before him. The French artillery was in position: the +Austrian (according to Napoleon's shrewd guess) had not yet come up, and +this circumstance decided the fortune of the day. The cannonade from the +heights, backed by successive charges of horse and foot, rendered every +attempt to storm the summit abortive; and the main body of the +Imperialists was already in confusion, and, indeed, in flight, before +one of their divisions, which had been sent round to outflank +Buonaparte, and take higher ground in his rear, was able to execute its +errand. When, accordingly, this division (that of Lusignan) at length +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 Buonaparte. "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 made the 14th of January one of the darkest, +instead of one of the brightest days, in the military chronicles of +Napoleon. + +He, who in the course of this trying day had three horses shot under +him, hardly waited to see Lusignan surrender, and to entrust his +friends, Massena, Murat, and Joubert, with the task of pursuing the +flying columns of Alvinzi. He had heard during the battle, that Provera +had forced his way to the Lago di Guarda, and was already, by means of +boats, in communication with Mantua. The force of Augereau having proved +insufficient to oppose the march of the Imperialists' second column, it +was high time that Napoleon himself should hurry with reinforcements to +the Lower Adige, and prevent Wurmser from either housing Provera, or +joining him in the open field, and so effecting the escape of his own +still formidable garrison whether to the Tyrol or the Romagna. + +Having marched all night and all next day, Napoleon reached the vicinity +of Mantua late on the 15th. He found the enemy strongly posted, and +Serrurier's situation highly critical. A regiment of Provera's hussars +had but a few hours before nearly 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; and advancing towards +the gate, would certainly have been admitted as friends--but for the +sagacity of one sergeant, who could not help fancying that the white +cloaks had too much of the gloss of novelty about them, to have stood +the tear and wear of three Buonapartean campaigns. This danger had been +avoided, but the utmost vigilance was necessary. The French general +himself passed the night in walking about the outposts, so great was his +anxiety. + +At one of these he found a grenadier asleep by the root of a tree; and +taking his gun, without wakening 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, +"here is your musket. You had fought hard, and marched long, and your +sleep is excusable; but a moment's inattention might at present ruin the +army. I happened to be awake, and have held your post for you. You will +be more careful another time." + +It is needless to say how the devotion of his men was nourished by such +anecdotes as these flying ever and anon from column to column. Next +morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as the battle of St. +George. Provera was compelled to retreat, and Wurmser, who had sallied +out and seized the causeway and citadel of La Favorita, was fain to +retreat within its old walls, in consequence of a desperate assault +headed by Napoleon in person. + +Provera now found himself entirely cut off from Alvinzi, and surrounded +with the French. He and 5000 men laid down their arms on the 16th of +January. Various bodies of the Austrian force, scattered over the +country between the Adige and the Brenta, followed the example;[14] and +the brave Wurmser, whose provisions were by this time exhausted, found +himself at length under the necessity of sending an offer of +capitulation. + +General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade, received Klenau, the +bearer of Wurmser's message, and heard him state, with the pardonable +artifice usual on such occasions, that his master was still in a +condition to hold out considerably longer, unless honourable terms were +granted. Napoleon had hitherto been seated in a corner of the tent +wrapped in his cloak; he now advanced to the Austrian, who had no +suspicion in whose presence he had been speaking, and taking his pen, +wrote down the conditions which he was willing to grant. "These," said +he, "are the terms to which your general's bravery entitles him. He may +have them to-day; a week, a month hence, he shall have no worse. +Meantime, tell him that General Buonaparte is about to set out for +Rome." The envoy now recognised Napoleon; and on reading the paper +perceived that the proposed terms were more liberal than he had dared to +hope for. The capitulation was forthwith signed. + +On the 2nd of February, Wurmser and his garrison marched out of Mantua; +but when the aged chief was to surrender his sword, he found only +Serrurier ready to receive it. Napoleon's generosity, in avoiding being +present personally to witness the humiliation of this distinguished +veteran, forms one of the most pleasing traits in his story. The +Directory had urged him to far different conduct. He treated their +suggestions with scorn: "I have granted the Austrian," he wrote to them, +"such terms as were, in my judgment, due to a brave and honourable +enemy, and to the dignity of the French Republic." + +The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted, first and last, to not +less than 27,000 men. Besides innumerable military stores, upwards of +500 brass cannon fell into the hands of the conqueror; and Augereau was +sent to Paris, to present the Directory with _sixty_ stands of colours. +He was received with tumults of exultation, such as might have been +expected, on an occasion so glorious, from a people less vivacious than +the French. + +The surrender of Provera and Wurmser, following the total rout of +Alvinzi, placed Lombardy wholly in the hands of Napoleon; and he now +found leisure to avenge himself on the Pope for those hostile +demonstrations which, as yet, he had been contented to hold in check. +The terror with which the priestly court of the Vatican received the +tidings of the utter destruction of the Austrian army, and of the +irresistible conqueror's march southwards, did not prevent the Papal +troops from making some efforts to defend the territories of the Holy +See. General Victor, with 4000 French and as many Lombards, advanced +upon the route of Imola. A Papal force, in numbers about equal, lay +encamped on the river Senio in front of that town. Monks with crucifixes +in their hands, ran through the lines, exciting them to fight bravely +for their country and their Faith. The French general, by a rapid +movement, threw his horse across the stream a league or two higher up, +and then charged with his infantry through the Senio in their front. The +resistance was brief. The Pope's army, composed mostly of new recruits, +retreated in confusion. Faenza was carried by the bayonet. Colli and +3000 more laid down their arms; and the strong town of Ancona was +occupied.[15] On the 10th of February the French entered Loretto, and +rifled that celebrated seat of superstition of whatever treasures it +still retained; the most valuable articles had already been packed up +and sent to Rome for safety.[16]--Victor then turned westwards from +Ancona, with the design to unite with another French column which had +advanced into the papal dominion by Perugia. + +The panic which the French advance had by this time spread was such, +that the Pope had no hope but in submission. The peasants lately +transformed into soldiers abandoned everywhere their arms, and fled in +straggling groups to their native villages. The alarm in Rome itself +recalled the days of Alaric. + +The conduct of Buonaparte at this critical moment was worthy of that +good sense which formed the original foundation of his successes, and of +which the madness of pampered ambition could alone deprive him +afterwards. He well knew that, of all the inhabitants of the Roman +territories, the class who contemplated his approach with the deepest +terror were the unfortunate French priests, whom the Revolution had made +exiles from their native soil. One of these unhappy gentlemen came forth +in his despair, and surrendering himself at the French headquarters, +said he knew his fate was sealed, and that they might as well lead him +at once to the gallows. Buonaparte dismissed this person with courtesy, +and issued a proclamation that none of the class should be molested; on +the contrary, allotting to each of them the means of existence in +monasteries, wherever his arms were or should be predominant. + +This conduct, taken together with other circumstances of recent +occurrence, was well calculated to nourish in the breast of the Pope the +hope that the victorious general of France had, by this time, discarded +the ferocious hostility of the revolutionary government against the +church of which he was head. He hastened, however, to open a +negotiation, and Napoleon received his envoy not merely with civility, +but with professions of the profoundest personal reverence for the holy +father. The Treaty of Tollentino (Feb. 12, 1797) followed. By this the +Pope conceded formally (for the first time), his ancient territory of +Avignon. He resigned the legations of Ferrara, Bologna, and Romagna, and +the port of Ancona; agreed to pay about a million and a half sterling, +and to execute to the utmost the provisions of Bologna with respect to +works of art. On these terms Pius was to remain nominal master of some +shreds of the patrimony of St. Peter. + +The French Directory heard with indignation that any semblance of +sovereignty was still left to an enemy whose weakness had been made so +manifest. But Buonaparte had now learned to act for himself. He knew +that any formal dethronement of the Pope would invest his cause with +tenfold strength wherever the Romish religion prevailed; that a new +spirit of aversion would arise against France; and that Naples would +infallibly profit by the first disturbances in the north of Italy, to +declare war, and march her large army from the south. He believed +also--and he ere long knew--that even yet Austria would make other +efforts to recover Lombardy; and was satisfied, on the whole, that he +should best secure his ultimate purposes by suffering the Vatican to +prolong, for some time further, the shadow of that sovereignty which had +in former ages trampled on kings and emperors. + +[Footnote 11: Buonaparte, to replace all his losses in the two last +campaigns, had received only 7000 recruits.] + +[Footnote 12: He found among them a wealthy old canon of his own name, +who was proud to hail the Corsican as a true descendant of the Tuscan +Buonapartes; who entertained him and his whole staff with much +splendour; amused the general with his anxiety that some interest should +be applied to the Pope, in order to procure the canonisation of a +certain long defunct worthy of the common lineage, by name Buonventara +Buonaparte; and dying shortly afterwards, bequeathed his whole fortune +to his new-found kinsman.] + +[Footnote 13: Hence, in the sequel, Massena's title, "Duke of Rivoli."] + +[Footnote 14: Such was the prevailing terror, that one body of 6000 +under René surrendered to a French officer who had hardly 500 men with +him.] + +[Footnote 15: The priests had an image of the Virgin Mary at this place, +which they exhibited to the people in the act of shedding tears, the +more to stimulate them against the impious Republicans. On entering the +place, the French were amused with discovering the machinery by which +this trick had been performed; the Madonna's tears were a string of +glass beads, flowing by clockwork within a shrine which the worshippers +were too respectful to approach very nearly. Little ormolu fountains, +which stream on the same principle, are now common ornaments for the +chimney-piece in Paris.] + +[Footnote 16: The _Santa Casa_, or _holy house_ of Loretto, is a little +brick building, round which a magnificent church has been reared, and +which the Romish calendar states to have been the original +dwelling-house of the Virgin Mary in Nazareth, transported through the +air to Italy by miracle. This was for ages the chief resort of Romish +pilgrims, and the riches of the place were _once_ enormous.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + Neutrality of Venice--The Archduke Charles--Battle of + Tagliamento--Retreat of the Archduke--Treaty of Leoben--War with + Venice--Venice conquered. + + +Napoleon was now master of all northern Italy, with the exception of the +territories of Venice, which antique government, though no longer +qualified to keep equal rank with the first princes of Europe, was still +proud and haughty, and not likely to omit any favourable opportunity of +aiding Austria in the great and common object of ridding Italy of the +French. Buonaparte heard without surprise that the Doge had been raising +new levies, and that the senate could command an army of 50,000, +composed chiefly of fierce and semi-barbarous Sclavonian mercenaries. He +demanded what these demonstrations meant, and was answered that Venice +had no desire but to maintain a perfect neutrality. Meantime there was +not wanting a strong party, throughout the Venetian territories of the +mainland, who were anxious to emulate the revolutionary movements of the +great cities of Lombardy, and to emancipate themselves from the yoke of +the Venetian oligarchy, as their neighbours had done by that of the +Austrian crown. Insurrections occurred at Bergamo, Brescia, and +elsewhere; and Buonaparte, though little disposed to give the +inhabitants of these places the boon they were in quest of, saw and +profited by the opportunity of dividing, by their means, the resources, +and shaking the confidence, of the senate. After some negotiation, he +told the Venetian envoy that he granted the prayer of his masters. "Be +neuter," said he, "but see that your neutrality be indeed sincere and +perfect. If any insurrection occur in my rear, to cut off my +communications in the event of my marching on Germany--if any movement +whatever betray the disposition of your senate to aid the enemies of +France, be sure that vengeance will follow--from that hour the +independence of Venice has ceased to be." + +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 towns on the Adige, to watch the neutrality of +Venice, Napoleon hastened to carry the war into the hereditary dominions +of the Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had recently joined his +victorious standard from France; and, at the head of perhaps a larger +force than he had ever before mustered, he proceeded to the frontier of +the Frioul, 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 same +who had already by his combinations baffled two such masters in the art +of war as Jourdan and Moreau--the Archduke Charles; a prince on whose +high talents the last hopes of the empire seemed to repose. + +To give the details of the sixth campaign, which now commenced, would be +to repeat the story which has been already five times told. The +Archduke, fettered by the Aulic Council of Vienna, saw himself compelled +to execute a plan which he had discrimination enough to condemn. The +Austrian army once more commenced operations on a double basis--one +great division on the Tyrolese frontier, and a greater under the +Archduke himself on the Friulese; and Napoleon--who had, even when +acting on the defensive, been able, by the vivacity of his movements, to +assume the superiority on whatever point he chose to select--was not +likely to strike his blows with less skill and vigour, now that his +numbers, and the acquiescence of Italy behind him, permitted him to +assume the offensive. + +Buonaparte found the Archduke posted behind the river Tagliamento, in +front of the rugged Carinthian mountains, which guard the passage in +that quarter from Italy to Germany. Detaching Massena to the Piave, +where the Austrian division of Lusignan were in observation, he himself +determined to charge the Archduke in front. Massena was successful in +driving Lusignan before him as far as Belluno, (where a rear guard of +500 surrendered,) and thus turned the Austrian flank. Buonaparte then +attempted and effected the passage of the Tagliamento. After a great and +formal display of his forces, which was met by similar demonstrations +on the Austrian side of the river, he suddenly broke up his line and +retreated. The Archduke, knowing that the French had been marching all +the night before, concluded that the general wished to defer the battle +till another day; and in like manner withdrew to his camp. About two +hours after Napoleon rushed with his whole army, who had merely lain +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 action which followed (March 12) the troops of the +Archduke displayed much gallantry, but every effort to dislodge Napoleon +failed; at length retreat was judged necessary. The French followed hard +behind. They stormed Gradisca, where they made 5000 prisoners; and--the +Archduke pursuing 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 Buonaparte ten times, but +the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never recovered; and the Archduke, +after defending Styria inch by inch as he had Carinthia, at length +adopted the resolution of reaching 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. + +This plan, at first sight the mere dictate of despair, was in truth that +of a wise and prudent general. The Archduke had received intelligence +from two quarters of events highly unfavourable to the French. General +Laudon, the Austrian commander on the Tyrol frontier, had descended +thence with forces sufficient to overwhelm Buonaparte's lieutenants on +the upper Adige, and was already in possession of the whole Tyrol, and +of several of the Lombard towns. Meanwhile the Venetian Senate, on +hearing of these Austrian successes, had plucked up courage to throw +aside their flimsy neutrality, and not only declared war against France, +but encouraged their partizans in Verona to open the contest with an +inhuman massacre of the French wounded in the hospitals of that city. +The vindictive Italians, wherever the French party was inferior in +numbers, resorted to similar atrocities. The few troops left in Lombardy +by Napoleon were obliged to shut themselves up in garrisons, which the +insurgent inhabitants of the neighbouring districts invested. The +Venetian army passed the frontier; and, in effect, Buonaparte's means +of deriving supplies of any kind from his rear were for the time wholly +cut off. It was not wonderful that the Archduke should, under such +circumstances, anticipate 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, they should have to abide the encounter of an imperial +army, animated by all the best motives that can lend vigour to the arm +of man; fighting for their own hearths under the eyes of their own +sovereign; seconded everywhere by the loyalty of the peasants; and well +convinced that, if they could compel their enemy to a retreat, his total +ruin must be the consequence. + +The terror of the Aulic Council stepped in to prevent the Archduke from +reaping either the credit or the disgrace of this movement. Vienna was +panic-struck on hearing that Buonaparte had stormed the passes of the +Julian Alps; the imperial family sent their treasure into Hungary; the +middle ranks, whose interest is always peace, became clamorous for some +termination to a war, which during six years had been so unfortunate; +and the Archduke was ordered to avail himself of the first pretence +which circumstances might afford for the opening of a negotiation. + +That prince had already, acting on his own judgment and feelings, +dismissed such an occasion with civility and with coldness. Napoleon had +addressed a letter to his Imperial Highness from Clagenfurt, in which he +called on him, as a brother soldier, to consider the certain miseries +and the doubtful successes of war, and put an end to the campaign by a +fair and equitable treaty. The Archduke replied, that he regarded with +the highest esteem the personal character of his correspondent, but that +the Austrian government had committed to his trust the guidance of a +particular army, not the diplomatic business of the empire. The prince, +on receiving these new instructions from Vienna, perceived, however +reluctantly, that the line of his duty was altered; and the result was a +series of negotiations--which ended in the provisional treaty of Leoben, +signed April 18, 1797. + +It was here, at Leoben, that Buonaparte's schoolfellow, De Bourienne, +who had been summoned to act as secretary to the general, reached +headquarters. He found his old comrade (whom he had not met with since +the days of his envying small houses and cabriolets in Paris) in the +midst of a splendid staff. "So thou art come at last," cried Napoleon, +in the ancient tone of familiarity; but De Bourienne knew the world, and +greeted the general of the army of Italy with profound and distant +respect. When the company were gone, Buonaparte signified that he +understood and approved this change of demeanour. + +But to resume--no sooner was the negotiation in a fair train, than +Napoleon, abandoning for the moment the details of its management to +inferior diplomatists, hastened to retrace his steps, and pour the full +storm of his wrath on the Venetians. The Doge and the Senate, whose only +hopes had rested on the successes of Austria on the Adige, heard with +utter despair that the Archduke had shared the fate of Beaulieu, of +Wurmser, and of Alvinzi, and that the preliminaries of peace were +actually signed. The rapidity of Buonaparte's return gave them no +breathing-time. They hastened to send offers of submission, and their +messengers were received with anger and contempt. "French blood has been +treacherously shed," said Napoleon; "if you could offer me the treasures +of Peru, if you could cover your whole dominion with gold--the atonement +would be insufficient--the lion of St. Mark[17] must lick the dust." +These tidings came like a sentence of death upon the devoted Senate. +Their deliberations were unceasing; their schemes innumerable; their +hearts divided and unnerved. Those secret chambers, from which that +haughty oligarchy had for so many ages excluded every eye and every +voice but their own, were invaded with impunity by strange-faced men, +who boldly criticised their measures, and heaped new terrors on their +heads, by announcing that the mass of the people had ceased to consider +the endurance of their sway as synonymous with the prosperity of Venice. +Popular tumults filled the streets and canals; universal confusion +prevailed. The commanders of their troops and fleets received +contradictory orders, and the city which + + "--had held the gorgeous East in fee," + +seemed ready to yield everything to a ruthless and implacable enemy, +without even striking a blow in defence. + +Buonaparte appeared, while the confusion was at its height, on the +opposite coast of the Lagoon. Some of his troops were already in the +heart of the city, when (31st May) a hasty message reached him, +announcing that the Senate submitted wholly. He exacted severe revenge. +The leaders who had aided the Lombard insurgents were delivered to him. +The oligarchy ceased to rule, and a democratical 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; 3,000,000 francs in gold, and as many more in naval stores; twenty +of the best pictures, and 500 manuscripts. Lastly, the troops of the +conqueror were to occupy the capital until tranquillity was established. +It will be seen in what that tranquillity was destined to consist. + +Such was the humiliation of this once proud and energetic, but now +worn-out and enfeebled, oligarchy: so incapable was that hoary polity of +contending with the youthful vigour of Napoleon. + +[Footnote 17: The armorial bearing of Venice.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Pichegru--The Directory appeal to Buonaparte--The 18th + Fructidor--The Court of Montebello--Josephine--The Treaty of + Campo-Formio--Buonaparte leaves Italy. + + +In their last agony the Venetian Senate made a vain effort to secure the +personal protection of the general, by offering him a purse of seven +millions of francs. He rejected this with scorn. He had already treated +in the same style a bribe of four millions, tendered on the part of the +Duke of Modena. The friend employed to conduct the business reminded him +of the proverbial ingratitude of all popular governments, and of the +little attention which the Directory had hitherto paid to his personal +interests. "That is all true enough," said Napoleon, "but for four +millions I will not place myself in the power of this duke." Austria +herself, it is said, did not hesitate to tamper in the same manner, +though far more magnificently, as became her resources, with his +republican virtue. He was offered, if the story be true, an independent +German principality for himself and his heirs. "I thank the emperor," he +answered, "but if greatness is to be mine, it shall come from France." + +The Venetian Senate were guilty, in their mortal struggle, of another +and a more inexcusable piece of meanness. They seized the person of +Count D'Entraigues, a French emigrant, who had been living in their city +as agent for the exiled house of Bourbon; and surrendered him and all +his papers to the victorious general. Buonaparte discovered among these +documents ample evidence that Pichegru, the French general on the Rhine, +and universally honoured as the conqueror of Holland, had some time +before this hearkened to the proposals of the Bourbon princes, and, +among other efforts in favour of the royal cause, not hesitated even to +misconduct his military movements with a view to the downfall of the +government which had entrusted him with his command. + +This was a secret, the importance of which Napoleon could well +appreciate;[18] and he forthwith communicated it to the Directory at +Paris. + +The events of the last twelve months in France had made Pichegru a +person of still higher importance than when he commenced his intrigues +with the Bourbons as general on the Rhine. Some obscure doubts of his +fidelity, or the usual policy of the Directory, which rendered them +averse (wherever they could help it) to continue any one general very +long at the head of one army, had induced them to displace Pichegru, and +appoint Hoche, a tried republican, in his room. Pichegru, on returning +to France, became a member of the Council of Five Hundred, and (the +royalist party having at this season recovered all but a preponderance) +was, on the meeting of the chambers, called to the chair of that in +which he had his place. + +The Five Directors had in truth done everything to undermine their own +authority. They were known to be divided in opinion among themselves; +three only of their number adhered heartily to the existing +constitution: one was a royalist: another was a democrat of the +Robespierre school. One of these new and uncourtly men excited laughter +by affecting a princely state and splendour of demeanour and equipage. +Another disgusted one set of minds, and annoyed all the rest, by +procuring a law for the observation of the tenth day as the day of +repose, and declaring it a crime to shut up shops on the Sabbath. A +ridiculous ritual of an avowedly heathen worship followed, and was +received with partial horror, universal contempt. A tyrannical law about +the equalisation of weights and measures spread confusion through all +mercantile transactions, and was especially unpopular in the provinces. +A contemptible riot, set on foot by one who called himself Gracchus +Barboeuf, for the purpose of bringing back the reign of _terrorism_ was +indeed suppressed; but the mere occurrence of such an attempt recalled +too vividly the days of Robespierre, and by so doing tended to +strengthen the cause of the royalists in public opinion. The truth is, +that a vast number of the emigrants had found their way back again to +Paris after the downfall of Robespierre, and that the old sway of +elegant manners and enlightened saloons was once more re-establishing +itself where it had so long been supreme. The royalist club of Clichy +corresponded with the exiled princes, and with the imperial government, +and was gaining such influence as to fill Buonaparte himself with alarm. +Everything indicated that the Directory (the _five majesties_ of the +Luxembourg, as they were called in derision) held their thrones by a +very uncertain tenure; and those gentlemen, nothing being left them but +a choice among evils, were fain to throw themselves on the protection of +the armies which they dreaded, and of Hoche and Buonaparte--which last +name in particular had long filled them with jealousy proportioned to +its splendour and popularity. + +Napoleon's recent conduct, in more important points than one, had +excited powerfully the resentment of the Directory, which now appealed +to him for aid. He had taken upon himself the whole responsibility of +the preliminary treaty of Leoben, although the French government had +sent General Clarke into Italy for the express purpose of controlling +him, and acting as his equal at least in the negotiation. A clause in +that treaty, by which Mantua, the strongest fortress in Italy, was to be +surrendered back to Austria, had been judged necessary at the time by +the general, in order to obtain from the emperor the boundary of the +Rhine and the cession of Belgium. But the Directory thought the +conqueror underrated the advantages of his own position and theirs in +consenting to it, and but for Carnot would never have ratified it.[19] +At the other side of the Italian Peninsula, again, the victorious +general, immediately after the fall of Venice, had to superintend the +revolution of Genoa; in which great city also the democratic party +availed themselves of the temper and events of the time, to emancipate +themselves from their hereditary oligarchy. They would fain have +excluded the nobility from all share in the remodelled government; and +Napoleon rebuked and discountenanced this attempt in terms little likely +to be heard with approbation by the "_Sires_ of the Luxembourg." He told +the Genoese, that to exclude the nobles was in itself as unjust as +unwise, and that they ought to be grateful for the means of +re-organising their constitution, without passing _like France_ through +the terrible ordeal of a revolution. The rulers of France might be +excused for asking at this moment--Does the lecturer of the Ligurian +Republic mean to be our Washington, our Monk, or our Cromwell? + +He, however, received with alacrity the call of the trembling Directory. +He harangued his soldiery, and made himself secure of their readiness to +act as he might choose for them. He not only offered large pecuniary +supplies, and sent his lieutenant Augereau to Paris to command the +National Guard for the government, should they find it necessary to +appeal immediately to force, but announced that he was himself prepared +to "pass the Rubicon," (an ominous phrase) and march to their +assistance, with 15,000 of his best troops. + +The Directory, meanwhile, had in their extremity ventured to disregard +the law against drawing regular troops within a certain distance of the +capital, and summoned Hoche to bring a corps of his Rhenish army for +their instant protection. + +It was by this means that the new revolution, as it may be called, of +the 18th Fructidor was effected. On that day, (Sept. 4, 1797,) the +majority of the Directory, marching their army into Paris, dethroned +their two opposition colleagues. Pichegru and the other royalists of +note in the assemblies, to the number of more than 150, were arrested +and sent into exile. The government, for the moment, recovered the +semblance of security; and Buonaparte heard, with little satisfaction, +that they had been able to accomplish their immediate object without the +intervention of his personal appearance on the scene. He remonstrated, +moreover, against the manner in which they had followed up their +success. According to him, they ought to have executed Pichegru and a +few ring-leaders, and set an example of moderation, by sparing all those +whose royalism admitted of any doubt, or, if it was manifest, was of +secondary importance. It would have been hard for the Directory at this +time to have pleased Buonaparte, or for Buonaparte to have entirely +satisfied them; but neither party made the effort. + +The fall of Venice, however, gave Napoleon the means, which he was not +disposed to neglect, 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, the general took up his residence at the noble castle of +Montebello, near Milan. Here his wife, who, though they had been married +in March, 1796, was still a bride, and with whom, during the intervening +eventful months, he had kept up a correspondence full of the fervour, if +not of the delicacy of love,[20] had at length rejoined him. Josephine's +manners were worthy, by universal admission, of the highest rank; and +the elegance with which she did the honours of the castle, filled the +ministers and princes, who were continually to be seen in its precincts, +with admiration. While Napoleon conducted his negotiations with as much +firmness and decision as had marked him in the field, it was her care +that nature and art should lend all their graces to what the Italians +soon learnt to call _the Court_ of Montebello. Whatever talent Milan +contained, was pressed into her service. Music and dance, and festival +upon festival, seemed to occupy every hour. The beautiful lakes of +Lombardy were covered with gay flotillas; and the voluptuous retreats +around their shores received in succession new life and splendour from +the presence of Napoleon, Josephine, and the brilliant circle amidst +whom they were rehearsing the imperial parts that destiny had in reserve +for them. Montebello was the centre from which Buonaparte, during the +greater part of this autumn, negotiated with the emperor, controlled all +Italy, and overawed the Luxembourg. + +The final settlement with the emperor's commissioners would have taken +place shortly after the fall of Venice, but for the successful intrigues +of the royalist Clichyens, the universal belief that the government of +France approached some new crisis, and the Austrians' hope that from +such an event their negotiation might derive considerable advantages. +Buonaparte well knew the secret motive which induced Cobentzel, the +emperor's chief envoy, to protract and multiply discussions of which he +by this time was weary. One day, in this ambassador's own chamber, +Napoleon suddenly changed his demeanour; "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, "but mark me--within two months I will shatter +Austria like this potsherd." So saying, he dashed the vase on the ground +in a thousand pieces, and moved towards the door. Cobentzel followed +him, and made submissions which induced him once more to resume his +negotiations. + +The result was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so-called from the village at +which it was signed, on the 3d of October, 1797. By this act the emperor +yielded to France, Flanders and the boundary of the Rhine, including the +great fortress of Mentz. The various new republics of Lombardy were +united and recognised under the general name of the Cisalpine Republic. +To indemnify Austria for the loss of those territories, the fall of +Venice afforded new means--of which Napoleon did not hesitate to +propose, nor Austria to accept the use. The French general had indeed +conquered Venice, but he had entered into a treaty subsequently, and +recognised a wholly new government in place of the oligarchy. The +emperor, on the other hand, well knew that the Doge and Senate had +incurred ruin by rising to his own aid. Such considerations weighed +little on either side. France and Austria agreed to effect a division of +the whole territories of the ancient republic. Venice herself, and her +Italian provinces, were handed over to the emperor in lieu of his lost +Lombardy; and the French assumed the sovereignty of the Ionian islands +and Dalmatia. This unprincipled proceeding excited universal disgust +throughout Europe. It showed the sincerity of Buonaparte's love for the +cause of freedom; and it satisfied all the world of the excellent title +of the imperial court to complain of the selfishness and rapacity of the +French democracy. + +The emperor set his seal at Campo-Formio to another of Buonaparte's acts +of dictatorship, which, though in one point of view even more +unjustifiable than this, was not regarded by the world with feelings of +the same order. The Italian territory of the Valteline had for ages been +subject to the Grison League. The inhabitants, roused by the prevailing +spirit all around them, demanded Napoleon's intercession with their +Swiss masters, to procure their admission to all the political +privileges of the other cantons. They refused; and Napoleon, in the +plenitude of his authority, immediately supported the Valteline in +throwing off the Grison yoke, and asserting its utter independence. This +territory was now annexed to the Cisalpine Republic. A government, with +which France was on terms of alliance and amity, was thus robbed of its +richest possession; but the Valteline belonged by natural position, +religion, and language, to Italy, and its annexation to the new Italian +republic was regarded as in itself just and proper, however questionable +Buonaparte's title to effect that event. He himself said at the time, +"It is contrary to the rights of man that any one people should be +subject to another;" a canon on which his after history formed a lucid +commentary. + +In concluding, and in celebrating the conclusion of his treaty, +Napoleon's proud and fiery temperament twice shone out. Cobentzel had +set down as the first article, "The Emperor recognises the French +Republic." "Efface that," said Napoleon, sternly, "it is as clear as +that the sun is in heaven. Woe to them that cannot distinguish the light +of either!" At the TE DEUM after the proclamation of the peace, +the imperial envoy would have taken the place prepared for Buonaparte, +which was the most eminent in the church. The haughty soldier seized his +arm and drew him back. "Had your master himself been here," said he, "I +should not have forgotten that in my person the dignity of France is +represented." + +Various minor arrangements remained to be considered; and a congress of +all the German powers being summoned to meet for that purpose at +Rastadt, Napoleon received the orders of the Directory to appear there, +and perfect his work in the character of ambassador of France. He took +an affecting leave of his soldiery, published a temperate and manly +address to the Cisalpine Republic, and proceeded, by way of Switzerland, +(where, in spite of the affair of the Valteline, he was received with +enthusiasm,) to the execution of his duty. He carried with him the +unbounded love and devotion of one of the finest armies that ever the +world had seen; and the attachment, hardly less energetic, of all those +classes of society throughout Italy, who flattered themselves with the +hope that the Cisalpine Republic, the creature of his hands, would in +time prepare the way for, and ultimately merge in a republican +constitution common to the whole Italian people. With what hopes or +fears as to his future fortunes he abandoned the scene and the +companions of his glory, the reader must form his own opinion. + +[Footnote 18: Moreau knew it some months sooner, and said so _after_ +Napoleon had communicated it to the Directory. This is a suspicious +circumstance when considered along with the sequel of Moreau's history.] + +[Footnote 19: Mantua, as will appear hereafter, was saved to France +under Napoleon's final treaty with Austria; but the events which +rendered this possible were as yet unknown and unexpected.] + +[Footnote 20: It would be painful to show, as might easily be done, from +this correspondence, the original want of delicacy in Napoleon's mind. +Many of his letters are such as no English gentleman would address to a +_mistress_. In others, the language is worthy of a hero's passion. +"Wurmser," says he, "shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you to +shed."] + + + + +CHAPTER X + + Napoleon at Rastadt--He arrives in Paris--His reception by the + Directory--His Conduct and Manners--He is appointed to command the + Army for the Invasion of England--He recommends an Expedition to + Egypt--Reaches Toulon--Embarks. + + +Napoleon was received by the ministers assembled at Rastadt with the +respect due to the extraordinary talents which he had already displayed +in negotiation as well as in war. But he stayed among them only two or +three days, for he perceived that the multiplicity of minor arrangements +to be discussed and settled, must, if he seriously entered upon them, +involve the necessity of a long-protracted residence at Rastadt; and he +had many reasons for desiring to be quickly in Paris. His personal +relations with the Directory were of a very doubtful kind, and he +earnestly wished to study with his own eyes the position in which the +government stood towards the various orders of society in the +all-influential capital. He abandoned the conduct of the diplomatic +business to his colleagues, and reached Paris at the beginning of +December. Nor was he without a feasible pretext for this rapidity. On +the 2nd of October, the Directory had announced to the French people +their purpose to carry the war with the English into England itself; the +immediate organisation of a great invading army; and their design to +place it under the command of "Citizen General Buonaparte." + +During his brief stay at Rastadt the dictator of Campo-Formio once more +broke out. The Swedish envoy was Count Fersen, the same nobleman who had +distinguished himself in Paris, during the early period of the +Revolution, by his devotion to King Louis and Marie-Antoinette. +Buonaparte refused peremptorily to enter into any negotiation in which a +man, so well known for his hostility to the cause of the Republic, +should have any part; and Fersen instantly withdrew. + +On quitting this congress Napoleon was careful to resume, in every +particular, the appearance of a private citizen. Reaching Paris, he +took up his residence in the same small modest house that he had +occupied before he set out for Italy, in the _Rue Chantereine_, which, +about this time, in compliment to its illustrious inhabitant, received +from the municipality the new name of _Rue de la Victoire_. Here he +resumed with his plain clothes his favourite studies and pursuits, and, +apparently contented with the society of his private friends, seemed to +avoid, as carefully as others in his situation might have courted, the +honours of popular distinction and applause. It was not immediately +known that he was in Paris, and when he walked the streets his person +was rarely recognised by the multitude. His mode of life was necessarily +somewhat different from what it had been when he was both poor and +obscure; his society was courted in the highest circles, and he from +time to time appeared in them, and received company at home with the +elegance of hospitality over which Josephine was so well qualified to +preside. But policy as well as pride moved him to shun notoriety. Before +he could act again, he had much to observe; and he knew himself too well +to be flattered by the stare either of mobs or of saloons. "They have +memories for nothing here"--he said at this time to his secretary--"if I +remain long without doing anything, I am done. Fame chases fame in this +great Babylon. If they had seen me three times at the spectacle, they +would no longer look at me." Another day Bourienne could not help +congratulating him on some noisy demonstration of popular favour. "Bah!" +he answered, "they would rush as eagerly about me if I were on my way to +the scaffold." + +In his intercourse with society at this period, he was, for the most +part, remarkable for the cold reserve of his manners. He had the +appearance of one too much occupied with serious designs, to be able to +relax at will into the easy play of ordinary conversation. If his eye +was on every man, he well knew that every man's eye was upon him; nor, +perhaps, could he have chosen a better method (had that been his sole +object) for prolonging and strengthening the impression his greatness +was calculated to create, than this very exhibition of indifference. He +did not suffer his person to be familiarised out of reverence. When he +did appear, it was not the ball or _bon mot_ of the evening before, that +he recalled:--he was still, wherever he went, the Buonaparte of Lodi, +and Arcola, and Rivoli. His military bluntness disdained to disguise +itself amidst those circles where a meaner _parvenu_ would have been +most ambitious to shine. The celebrated daughter of Necker made many +efforts to catch his fancy and enlist him among the votaries of her wit, +which then gave law in Paris. "Whom," said she, half wearied with his +chillness, "do you consider as the greatest of women?" "Her, madam," he +answered, "who has borne the greatest number of children." From this +hour he had Madame de Staël for his enemy; and yet, such are the +inconsistencies of human nature, no man was more sensitive than he to +the assaults of a species of enemy whom he thus scorned to conciliate. +Throughout his Italian campaigns--as consul--as emperor--and down to the +last hour of the exile which terminated his life--Buonaparte suffered +himself to be annoyed by sarcasms and pamphlets as keenly and constantly +as if he had been a poetaster. + +The haughtiness, for such it was considered, of his behaviour in the +society of the capital, was of a piece with what he had already +manifested in the camp. In the course of his first campaigns, his +officers, even of the highest rank, became sensible, by degrees, to a +total change of demeanour. An old acquaintance of the Toulon period, +joining the army, was about to throw himself into the general's arms +with the warmth of the former familiarity. Napoleon's cold eye checked +him; and he perceived in a moment how he had altered with his elevation. +He had always, on the other hand, affected much familiarity with the +common soldiery. He disdained not on occasion to share the ration or to +taste the flask of a sentinel; and the French private, often as +intelligent as those whom fortune has placed above him, used to address +the great general with even more frankness than his own captain. +Napoleon, in one of his Italian despatches, mentions to the Directory +the pleasure which he often derived from the conversation of the men: +"But yesterday," says he, "a common trooper addressed me as I was +riding, and told me he thought he could suggest the movement which ought +to be adopted. I listened to him, and heard him detail some operations +on which I had actually resolved but a little before." It has been +noticed (perhaps by over-nice speculators) as a part of the same +system, that Napoleon, on his return to Paris, continued to employ the +same tradespeople, however inferior in their several crafts, who had +served him in the days of his obscurity.[21] + +If we may follow M. de Bourienne, Napoleon at this time laboured under +intense anxiety of mind. Conscious of the daring heights to which he had +ere now accustomed his ambitious imagination, he was fearful that others +had divined his secret, and was haunted with the perpetual dread that +some accident might unite Royalists and Republicans in the work of his +personal ruin. + +The first public appearance of Buonaparte occurred (January 2, 1798) +when the treaty of Campo-Formio was to be formally presented to the +Directory. The great court of the Luxembourg was roofed over with flags; +an immense concourse, including all the members of the government and of +the two legislative bodies, expected the victorious negotiator; and when +he appeared, followed by his staff, and surrounded on all hands with the +trophies of his glorious campaign, the enthusiasm of the mighty +multitude, to the far greater part of which his person was, up to the +moment, entirely unknown, outleaped all bounds, and filled the already +jealous hearts of the directors with dark presentiments. They well knew +that the soldiery, returning from Italy, had sung and said through every +village that it was high time to get rid of the lawyers, and make the +"little corporal" king. With uneasy hearts did they hear what seemed too +like an echo of this cry, from the assembled leaders of opinion in Paris +and in France. Anxious curiosity and mutual distrust were written in +every face. The voice of Napoleon was for the first time heard in an +energetic speech, ascribing all the glories that had been achieved to +the zeal of the French soldiery--for "the glorious constitution of the +year THREE"--the same glorious constitution which, in the year _eight_, +was to receive the _coup de grace_ from his own hand; and Barras, as +presiding director, answering, that "Nature had exhausted all her powers +in the creation of a Buonaparte," awoke a new thunder of unwelcome +applauses. + +Carnot had been exiled after the 18th Fructidor, and was at this time +actually believed to be dead. The institute nominated Buonaparte to fill +his place; and he was received by this learned body with enthusiasm not +inferior to that of the Luxembourg. He thenceforth adopted, on all +public occasions, the costume of this academy; and, laying aside as far +as was possible, the insignia of his military rank, seemed to desire +only the distinction of being classed with those whose scientific +attainments had done honour to their country. In all this he acted on +calculation. "I well knew," said he at St. Helena, "that there was not a +drummer in the army, but would respect me the more for believing me to +be not a mere soldier." + +Some time before he left Italy, a motion had been made in one of the +chambers for rewarding him with a grant of the estate of Chambord, and +lost owing solely to the jealousy of the Directory. This opposition was +on their part unjust and unwise, and extremely unpopular also; for it +was known to all men that the general might easily have enriched himself +during his wonderful campaigns, and it was almost as generally believed +that he had brought with him to the _Rue de la Victoire_ only 100,000 +crowns, saved from the fair allowances of his rank. No one who considers +the long series of intrigues which had passed between Buonaparte and the +party that triumphed in Fructidor, can doubt how he regarded this part +of their conduct. Every day confirmed them in their jealousy; nor did he +take much pains on the other hand to conceal his feelings towards them. +On many occasions they were willing to make use of him, although they +dreaded in so doing to furnish him with new proofs of the vast +superiority which he had reached in public opinion above themselves; and +he was, on his part, chary of acceding to any of their proposals. + +On the 21st of January, the anniversary of the death of Louis XVI. was +to be celebrated, according to custom, as a great festival of the +Republican calendar; and, conscious how distasteful the observance had +by this time become to all persons capable of reflection, the government +would fain have diverted attention from themselves, by assigning a +prominent part in the ceremonial to him, on whom, as they knew, all eyes +were sure to be fixed whenever he made his appearance. Napoleon +penetrated their motives. He remonstrated against the ceremony +altogether, as perpetuating the memory of a deed, perhaps unavoidable, +but not the less to be regretted. He told them that it was unworthy of a +great Republic to triumph, year after year, in the shedding of an +individual enemy's blood. They answered by reminding him that the +Athenians and Romans of old recorded, in similar festivals, the downfall +of the Pisistratidæ and the exile of the Tarquins. He _might_ have +replied, that it is easier for a nation to renounce Christianity in +name, than to obliterate altogether the traces of its humanising +influence. But this view did not as yet occur to Napoleon--or if it had, +could not have been promulgated to their conviction. He stood on the +impolicy of the barbarous ceremony; and was at length, with difficulty, +persuaded to appear in it as a private member of the institute, along +with the rest of that association. His refusal to be there as the great +general of the Republic annoyed the timid Directory; and yet, on his +being recognised in his civic dress, and pointed out to new myriads of +observers, the effect which the government had desired to produce was +brought about in spite of all Buonaparte's reluctance. The purpose of +the assemblage was almost forgotten: the clamours of the people +converted it into another fête for Napoleon. + +It has already been said that as early as October, 1797, the Directory +announced their intention of committing an army, destined for the +invasion of England, to the conqueror of Italy. He wholly disapproved of +their rashness in breaking off the negotiations of the preceding summer +with the English envoy, Lord Malmesbury, and, above all, of the insolent +abruptness of that procedure.[22] But the die was cast; and he willingly +accepted the appointment now pressed upon him by the government, who, in +truth, were anxious about nothing so much as to occupy his mind with the +matters of his profession, and so prevent him from taking a prominent +part in the civil business of the state. Solely owing to his celebrity +two of his brothers were already distinguished members of the +legislative bodies; and there could be no doubt that the gates of either +would fly open for his own admission, if he chose it, on the next +election. + +Whatever views of ulterior ambition might have opened themselves to +Napoleon at this period, he well knew that the hour was not yet come, in +which he could serve his purpose better than by the pursuit of his +military career. According to De Bourienne, he had for some time +flattered himself that the law, which prevented a person so young as he +from being a director, might be waived in his favour; not doubting, we +may conclude, that such colleagues as Barras and Rewbell would soon sink +into the mere ministers of his will: but the opposition to this scheme +was so determined that it was never permitted to be proposed openly. The +Directory were popular with no party; but there were many parties; and, +numerically, probably the royalists were the strongest. The pure +republicans were still powerful: the army of Italy was distant and +scattered; that of the Rhine, far more numerous, and equally well +disciplined, had its own generals--men not yet in reputation +immeasurably inferior to himself; and, having been less fortunate than +their brethren in Italy, and consequently acquired less wealth, it was +no wonder that the soldiery of the Rhine regarded the others, if not +their leader, with some little jealousy. In Napoleon's own language, +"the pear was not yet ripe." + +He proceeded, therefore, to make a regular survey of the French coast +opposite to England, with the view of improving its fortifications, and +(ostensibly at least) of selecting the best points for embarking an +invading force. For this service he was eminently qualified; and many +local improvements of great importance, long afterwards effected, were +first suggested by him at this period. But, if he had really thought +otherwise beforehand (which M. de Bourienne denies), the result of his +examination was a perfect conviction that the time was not yet come for +invading England. He perceived that extensive and tedious preparations +were indispensable ere the French shipping on that coast could be put +into a condition for such an attempt; and the burst of loyalty which +the threat of invasion called forth in every part of Britain--the +devotion with which all classes of the people answered the appeal of the +government--the immense extent to which the regular and volunteer forces +were increased everywhere--these circumstances produced a strong +impression on his not less calculating than enterprising mind. He had +himself, in the course of the preceding autumn, suggested to the +minister for foreign affairs, the celebrated Talleyrand, the propriety +of making an effort against England in another quarter of the world:--of +seizing Malta, proceeding to occupy 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. To this scheme he now recurred: the East presented a field +of conquest and glory on which his imagination delighted to brood: +"Europe," said he, "is but a molehill, all the great glories have come +from Asia." The injustice of attacking the dominions of the Grand +Seignior, an old ally of France, formed but a trivial obstacle in the +eyes of the Directory: the professional opinion of Buonaparte that the +invasion of England, if attempted then, must fail, could not but carry +its due weight: the temptation of plundering Egypt and India was great; +and great, perhaps above all the rest, was the temptation of finding +employment for Napoleon at a distance from France. The Egyptian +expedition was determined on: but kept strictly secret. The attention of +England was still riveted on the coasts of Normandy and Picardy, between +which and Paris Buonaparte studiously divided his presence--while it was +on the borders of the Mediterranean that the ships and the troops really +destined for action were assembling. + +Buonaparte, having rifled to such purpose the cabinets and galleries of +the Italian princes, was resolved not to lose the opportunity of +appropriating some of the rich antiquarian treasures of Egypt; nor was +it likely that he should undervalue the opportunities which his +expedition might afford, of extending the boundaries of science, by +careful observation of natural phenomena. He drew together therefore a +body of eminent artists and connoisseurs, under the direction of +_Monge_, who had managed his Italian collections: it was perhaps the +first time that a troop of _Savans_ (there were 100 of them) formed +part of the staff of an invading army.[23] + +The various squadrons of the French fleet were now assembled at Toulon; +and everything seemed to be in readiness. Yet some time elapsed before +Napoleon joined the armament: and it is said by _Miot_ that he did all +he could to defer joining it as long as possible, in consequence of +certain obscure hopes which he had entertained of striking a blow at the +existing government, and remodelling it, to his own advantage, with the +assent, if not assistance, of Austria. This author adds that Barras, +having intercepted a letter of Buonaparte to Cobentzel, went to him late +one evening, and commanded him to join the fleet instantly, on pain of +being denounced as the enemy of the government; that the general ordered +his horses the same hour, and was on his way to Toulon ere midnight. +These circumstances may or may not be truly given. It is not doubtful +that the command of the Egyptian expedition was ultimately regarded, +both by Napoleon and the Directory, as a species of honourable +banishment. On reaching Toulon, Buonaparte called his army together, and +harangued them. "Rome," he said, "combated Carthage by sea as well as +land; and England was the Carthage of France.--He was come to lead them, +in the name of the Goddess of Liberty, across mighty seas, and into +remote regions, where their valour might achieve such glory and such +wealth as could never be looked for beneath the cold heavens of the +west. The meanest of his soldiers should receive seven acres of +land;"--_where_ he mentioned not. His promises had not hitherto been +vain. The soldiery heard him with joy, and prepared to obey with +alacrity. + +The English government, meanwhile, although they had no suspicion of the +real destination of the armament, had not failed to observe what was +passing in Toulon. They probably believed that the ships there assembled +were meant to take part in the great scheme of the invasion of England. +However this might have been, they had sent a considerable reinforcement +to Nelson, who then commanded on the Mediterranean station; and he, at +the moment when Buonaparte reached Toulon, was cruising within sight of +the port. Napoleon well knew that to embark in the presence of Nelson +would be to rush into the jaws of ruin; and waited until some accident +should relieve him from his terrible watcher. On the evening of the 19th +of May fortune favoured him. A violent gale drove the English off the +coast, and disabled some ships so much that Nelson was obliged to go +into the harbours of Sardinia to have them repaired. The French general +instantly commanded the embarkation of all his troops; and as the last +of them got on board, the sun rose on the mighty armament: it was one of +those dazzling suns which the soldiery delighted afterwards to call "the +suns of Napoleon." + +Seldom have the shores of the Mediterranean witnessed a nobler +spectacle. That unclouded sun rose on a semicircle of vessels, extending +in all to not less than six leagues: thirteen ships of the line and +fourteen frigates (under the command of Admiral Brueyes); and 400 +transports. They carried 40,000 picked soldiers, and officers whose +names were only inferior to that of the general-in-chief;--of the men, +as well as of their leaders, the far greater part already accustomed to +follow Napoleon, and to consider his presence as the pledge of victory. + +[Footnote 21: A silversmith, who had given him credit when he set out to +Italy for a dressing-case worth £50, was rewarded with all the business +which the recommendation of his now illustrious debtor could bring to +him; and, being clever in his trade, became ultimately, under the +patronage of the imperial household, one of the wealthiest citizens of +Paris. A little hatter, and a cobbler, who had served Buonaparte when a +subaltern, might have risen in the same manner, had their skill equalled +the silversmith's. Not even Napoleon's example could persuade the +Parisians to wear ill-shaped hats and clumsy boots; but he, in his own +person, adhered, to the last, to his original connection with these poor +artisans.] + +[Footnote 22: The Directory broke off the negotiation in a most insolent +manner, by ordering Lord Malmesbury to quit France within twenty-four +hours: this they did in their exultation after the 18th Fructidor.] + +[Footnote 23: Before leaving Paris, Buonaparte ordered his secretary to +prepare a camp library, of small volumes, arranged under the different +heads of Science, Geography and Travels, History, Poetry, Romance, +Politics. The "works on Politics" are six in number: viz. Montesquieu's +_Spirit of Laws_, a compendium of Mythology, the Vedam, the Koran, and +the Old and New Testaments--all in French.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + The Voyage to Egypt--Malta surrendered--The French escape Nelson, + and take Alexandria--The March up the Nile--The Battle of the + Pyramids--Cairo surrenders--The Battle of Aboukir. + + +The French fleet was reinforced, ere it had proceeded far on its way, by +General Dessaix, and his division from Italy; and, having prosperous +winds, appeared on the 10th of June off Malta. The Knights of St. John +were no longer those hardy and devout soldiers of the cross, who for +ages inspired terror among the Mussulmans, and were considered as the +heroic outguards of Christendom. Sunk in indolence and pleasure, these +inheritors of a glorious name hardly attempted for a moment to defend +their all but impregnable island, against the fleet which covered the +seas around them. The Parisian authorities had tampered successfully +beforehand with some of the French knights. Division of counsels +prevailed: and in confusion and panic the gates were thrown open. As +Napoleon was entering between the huge rocky barriers of La Valette, +Caffarelli said to him: "It is well there was some one within to open +the door for us; had there been no garrison at all, the business might +have been less easy." + +From Malta--where he left a detachment of troops to guard an acquisition +which he expected to find eminently useful in his future communications +with France--Buonaparte steered eastwards; but, after some days, ran +upon the coast of Candia to take in water and fresh provisions, and, by +thus casually diverging from his course, escaped imminent danger. For +Nelson, soon returning to Toulon, missed the shipping which had so +lately crowded the harbour, and ascertaining that they had not sailed +towards the Atlantic, divined on the instant that their mark must be +Egypt. His fleet was inferior in numbers, but he pursued without +hesitation; and taking the straight line, arrived off the Nile before +any of the French ships had appeared there. Buonaparte, on hearing off +Candia that the English fleet was already in the Levant, directed +Admiral Brueyes to steer not for Alexandria, but for a more northerly +point of the coast of Africa. Nelson, on the other hand, not finding the +enemy where he had expected, turned back and traversed the sea in quest +of him, to Rhodes--and thence to Syracuse. It is supposed that on the +20th of June the fleets almost touched each other; but that the +thickness of the haze, and Nelson's want of frigates, prevented an +encounter. Napoleon, reconnoitring the coast, ascertained that there was +no longer any fleet off Alexandria, and in effect reached his +destination undisturbed on the 1st of July. At that moment 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; and the disembarkation immediately took place, in spite of a +violent gale and a tremendous surf. The Admiral Brueyes in vain +endeavoured to persuade Buonaparte to remain on board until the weather +should be more calm. He sternly refused, and landed at Marabout, three +leagues to the eastward of Alexandria, about one in the morning of the +2nd July--having lost many by drowning. + +Egypt, a province of the Ottoman empire, then at peace with France, was +of course wholly unprepared for this invasion. The Turks, however, +mustered what force they could, and, shutting the gates of the city, +held out--until a division, headed by Napoleon in person, forced their +way, at three in the morning, through the old crumbling walls, and it +was no longer possible to resist at once superior numbers and European +discipline. Two hundred French died in the assault; the Turkish loss was +much greater: and, if we are to believe almost all who have written +concerning this part of his history, Buonaparte, after taking +possession, abandoned the place for three hours to the unbridled licence +of military execution and rapine--an atrocity for which, if it really +occurred, there could have been only one pretext; namely, the urgent +necessity of striking awe and terror into the hearts of the population, +and so preventing them from obeying the call of their military +chieftains, to take arms in defence of the soil. De Bourienne and +Berthier, however, wholly deny this story. + +If Napoleon's conduct on this occasion was as it has been commonly +represented, it was strangely contrasted with the tenor of his _General +Order_ to the army, issued immediately before their disembarkation. +"The people," he then said, "with whom we are about to live, are +Mahometans; the first article of their faith is, _There is no God but +God, and Mahomet is his Prophet._ Do not contradict them: deal with them +as you have done with the Jews and the Italians. Respect their muphtis +and imans, as you have done by the rabbis and the bishops elsewhere.... +The Roman legions protected all religions. You will find here usages +different from those of Europe: you must accustom yourselves to them. +These people treat their women differently from us; but _in all +countries he who violates is a monster; pillage enriches only a few; it +dishonours us, destroys our resources, and makes those enemies whom it +is our interest to have for friends_." + +To the people of Egypt, meanwhile, Napoleon addressed a proclamation in +these words:--"They will tell you that I come to destroy your religion; +believe them not: answer that I come to restore your rights, to punish +the usurpers, and that I respect, more than the Mamelukes ever did, God, +his Prophet, and the Koran. Sheiks and Imans, assure the people that we +also are true Mussulmans. Is it not we that have ruined the Pope and the +Knights of Malta? Thrice happy they who shall be with us! Woe to them +that take up arms for the Mamelukes! they shall perish!"[24] + +Buonaparte was a fatalist--so that one main article of the Mussulman +creed pleased him well. He admired Mahomet as one of those rare beings, +who, by individual genius and daring, have produced mighty and permanent +alterations in the world. The General's assertion of his own belief in +the inspiration of the Arab impostor, was often repeated in the sequel; +and will ever be appreciated, as it was at the time by his own +soldiery--whom indeed he had addressed but the day before in language +sufficiently expressive of his real sentiments as to all forms of +religion. Rabbi, muphti, and bishop, the Talmud, the Koran, and the +Bible, were much on a level in his estimation. He was willing to make +use of them all as it might serve his purpose; and, though not by nature +cruel, he did not hesitate, when his interest seemed to demand it, to +invest his name with every circumstance of terror, that could result +from the most merciless violation of those laws of humanity which even +his Koran enforces, and which his own address to his army had so +recently inculcated. + +Napoleon left Alexandria on the 7th July, being anxious to force the +Mamelukes to an encounter with the least possible delay. He had a small +flotilla on the Nile, which served to guard his right flank: the +infantry marched over burning sand at some distance from the river. The +miseries of this progress were extreme. The air is crowded with +pestiferous insects, the glare of the sand weakens most men's eyes, and +blinds many; water is scarce and bad: and the country had been swept +clear of man, beast, and vegetable. Under this torture even the gallant +spirits of such men as Murat and Lannes could not sustain +themselves:--they trod their cockades in the sand. The common soldiers +asked, with angry murmurs, if it was here the General designed to give +them their seven acres? He alone was superior to all these evils. Such +was the happy temperament of his frame, that--while others, after having +rid them of their usual dress, were still suffused in perpetual floods +of perspiration, and the hardiest found it necessary to give two or +three hours in the middle of the day to sleep--Napoleon altered +nothing; wore his uniform buttoned up as at Paris; never showed one bead +of sweat on his brow; nor thought of repose except to lie down in his +cloak the last at night, and start up the first in the morning. It +required, however, more than all his example of endurance and the +general influence of Napoleon's character, could do to prevent the army +from breaking into open mutiny. "Once," said he at St. Helena, "I threw +myself suddenly 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 fulfil my duty: your five feet ten inches +would not hinder you from being shot within two hours._" + +For some days no enemy appeared; but at length scattered groups of +horsemen began to hover on their flanks; and the soldier, who quitted +the line but for a moment, was surrounded and put to death ere his +comrades could rescue him. The rapidity with which the Mamelukes rode, +and their skill as marksmen, were seconded by the character of the soil +and the atmosphere; the least motion or breath of wind being sufficient +to raise a cloud of sand, through which nothing could be discerned +accurately, while the constant glare of the sun dazzled almost to +blindness. It was at Chebreis that the Mamelukes first attacked in a +considerable body; and at the same moment the French flotilla was +assaulted. In either case the superiority of European discipline was +made manifest; but in either case also the assailants were able to +retreat without much loss. Meantime the hardships of the march +continued; the irregular attacks of the enemy were becoming more and +more numerous; so that the troops, continually halting and forming into +squares to receive the charge of the cavalry by day, and forced to keep +up great watches at night, experienced the extremes of fatigue as well +as of privation. In the midst of this misery the common men beheld with +no friendly eyes the troop of _savans_ mounted on asses (the common +conveyance of the country), with all their instruments, books and +baggage. They began to suspect that the expedition had been undertaken +for some merely scientific purposes; and when, on any alarm, they were +ordered to open the square and give the learned party safe footing +within, they used to receive them with military jeerings. "Room for the +asses:--stand back, here come the _savans_ and the _demi-savans_." + +On the 21st of July the army came within sight of the Pyramids, which, +but for the regularity of the outline, might have been taken for a +distant ridge of rocky mountains. While every eye was fixed on these +hoary monuments of the past, they gained the brow of a gentle eminence, +and saw at length spread out before them the vast army of the beys, its +right posted on an entrenched camp by the Nile, its centre and left +composed of that brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time +acquainted. Napoleon, riding forwards to reconnoitre, perceived (what +escaped the observation of all his staff) that the guns on the +entrenched camp were not provided with carriages; and instantly decided +on his plan of attack. He prepared to throw his force on the left, where +the guns could not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded in chief, +speedily penetrated his design; and the Mamelukes advanced gallantly to +the encounter. "Soldiers," said Napoleon, "from the summit of yonder +pyramids forty ages behold you;" and the battle began. + +The French formed into separate squares, and awaited the assault of the +Mamelukes. These came on with impetuous speed and wild cries, and +practised every means to force their passage into the serried ranks of +their new opponents. 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 men. +They who had fallen wounded from their seats, would crawl along the +sand, and hew at the legs of their enemies with their scimitars. Nothing +could move the French: the bayonet and the continued roll of musketry by +degrees thinned the host around them; and Buonaparte at last advanced. +Such were the confusion and terror of the enemy when he came near the +camp, that they abandoned their works, and flung themselves by hundreds +into the Nile. The carnage was prodigious. Multitudes more were drowned. +Mourad and a remnant of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt. Cairo +surrendered: Lower Egypt was entirely conquered. + +Such were the immediate consequences of _the Battle of the Pyramids_. +The name of Buonaparte now spread panic through the East; and the +"Sultan Kebir" (or King of Fire--as he was called from the deadly +effects of the musketry in this engagement) was considered as the +destined scourge of God, whom it was hopeless to resist. + +The French now had recompense for the toils they had undergone. The +bodies of the slain and drowned Mamelukes were rifled, and, it being the +custom for those warriors to carry their wealth about them, a single +corpse often made a soldier's fortune. In the deserted harems of the +chiefs at Cairo, and in the neighbouring villages, men at length found +proofs that "eastern luxury" is no empty name. The _savans_ ransacked +the monuments of antiquity, and formed collections which will ever +reflect honour on their zeal and skill. Napoleon himself visited the +interior of the Great Pyramid, and on entering the secret chamber, in +which, 3000 years before, some Pharaoh had been in-urned, repeated once +more his confession of faith--"There is no God but God, and Mahomet is +his prophet." The bearded orientals who accompanied him, concealed their +doubts of his orthodoxy, and responded very solemnly, "God is merciful. +Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the prophets." + +While Napoleon was thus pursuing his career of victory in the interior, +Nelson, having scoured the Mediterranean in quest of him, once more +returned to the coast of Egypt. He arrived within sight of the towers of +Alexandria on the 1st of August--ten days after the battle of the +Pyramids had been fought and won--and found Brueyes still at his +moorings in the bay of Aboukir. Nothing seems to be more clear than that +the French admiral ought to have made the best of his way to France, or +at least to Malta, the moment the army had taken possession of +Alexandria. Napoleon constantly asserted that he had urged Brueyes to do +so. Brueyes himself lived not to give his testimony; but Gantheaume, the +vice-admiral, always persisted in stating, in direct contradiction to +Buonaparte, that the fleet remained by the General's express desire. The +testimonies being thus balanced, it is necessary to consult other +materials of judgment; and it appears extremely difficult to doubt that +the French admiral,--who, it is acknowledged on all hands, dreaded the +encounter of Nelson--remained off Alexandria for the sole purpose of +aiding the motions of the army, and in consequence of what he at least +conceived to be the wish of its general. However this might have been, +the results of his delay were terrible. + +The French fleet were moored in a semicircle in the bay of Aboukir, so +near the shore, that, as their admiral believed, it was impossible for +the enemy to come between him and the land. He expected, therefore, to +be attacked on one side only, and thought himself sure that the English +could not renew their favourite manoeuvre of breaking the line,[25] and +so at once dividing the opposed fleet, and placing the ships +individually between two fires. But Nelson daringly judged that his +ships might force a passage between the French and the land, and +succeeding in this attempt, instantly brought on the conflict, in the +same dreaded form which Brueyes had believed impossible. The details of +this great sea fight belong to the history of the English hero.[26] The +battle was obstinate--it lasted more than twenty hours, including the +whole night. A solitary pause occurred at midnight, when the French +admiral's ship _L'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. The admiral himself perished. +Next morning two shattered ships, out of all the French fleet, with +difficulty made their escape to the open sea. The rest of all that +magnificent array had been utterly destroyed, or remained in the hands +of the English. + +Such was the battle of Aboukir, in which Nelson achieved, with a force +much inferior to the French, what he himself called, "not a victory, but +a conquest." Three thousand French seamen reached the shore: a greater +number died. Had the English admiral possessed frigates, he must have +forced his way into the harbour of Alexandria, and seized the whole +stores and transports of the army. As things were, the best fleet of the +Republic had ceased to be; the blockade of the coast was established: +and the invader, completely isolated from France, must be content to +rely on his own arms and the resources of Egypt. + +[Footnote 24: At this period Egypt, though nominally governed by a pacha +appointed by the Grand Seignior, was in reality in the hands of the +Mamelukes; a singular body of men, who paid but little respect to any +authority but that of their own chiefs. Of these chiefs or beys there +were twenty-four; each one of whom ruled over a separate district; who +often warred with each other; and were as often in rebellion against +their nominal sovereign. According to the institutions of the Mamelukes +their body was recruited solely by boys, chiefly of European birth, +taken captive, and brought up from their earliest days in all military +exercises. These were promoted according to their merits; it being the +custom that when a bey died, the bravest of his band succeeded him. The +Mamelukes thus formed a separate _caste_; and they oppressed most +cruelly the population of the country which had fallen into their +keeping. The _fellahs_, or poor Arabs, who cultivate the soil, being +compelled to pay exorbitantly for permission to do so, suffered the +extreme of misery in the midst of great natural wealth. The _Cophts_, +supposed to be descended from the ancient Egyptian nation, discharged +most civil functions under the Mamelukes, and had the trades and +professions in their hands, but they also were oppressed intolerably by +those haughty and ferocious soldiers. + +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 valour. +With that cavalry and the French infantry, Buonaparte said, it would be +easy to conquer the world.] + +[Footnote 25: This manoeuvre was first practised on the 12th of August, +1782, by Lord Rodney's fleet; and, as appears to be now settled, at the +suggestion of that admiral's captain of the fleet, the late Sir Charles +Douglas, Bart.] + +[Footnote 26: See the admirable _Life of Nelson_, by Southey; which will +form one of the volumes of this Library.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + Buonaparte's Administration in Egypt--Armaments of the + Porte--Buonaparte at Suez--At El-Arish--Gaza, Jaffa, Acre--Retreat + to Egypt--Defeat of the Turks at Aboukir--Napoleon embarks for + France. + + +Before Nelson's arrival, Buonaparte is said to have meditated returning +to France, for the purpose of extorting from the government those +supplies of various kinds which, on actual examination, he had perceived +to be indispensable to the permanent occupation of Egypt, and which he +well knew the Directors would refuse to any voice but his own. He +intended, it is also said, to urge on the Directory the propriety of +resuming the project of a descent on England itself, at the moment when +the mind of that government might be supposed to be engrossed with the +news of his dazzling successes in Egypt. All these proud visions died +with Brueyes. On hearing of the battle of Aboukir a solitary sigh +escaped from Napoleon. "To France," said he, "the fates have decreed the +empire of the land--to England that of the sea." + +He endured this great calamity with the equanimity of a masculine +spirit. He gave orders that the seamen landed at Alexandria should be +formed into a marine brigade, and thus gained a valuable addition to his +army; and proceeded himself to organise a system of government, under +which the great natural resources of the country might be turned to the +best advantage. We need not dwell on that vain repetition of his faith +in Mahomet, to which he would not and could not give effect by openly +adopting the rules and ceremonies of the Koran; which accordingly but +amused his own followers; and which deceived none of the Mussulman +people. This was the trick of an audacious infidel, who wanted wholly +that enthusiasm without which no religious impostor can hope to partake +the successes of the Prophet of Mecca. Passing over this worthless +preliminary, the arrangements of the new administration reflect honour +on the consummate understanding, the clear skill, and the unwearied +industry of this extraordinary man. + +He was careful to advance no claim to the sovereignty of Egypt, but +asserted, that having rescued it from the Mameluke _usurpation_, it +remained for him to administer law and justice, until the time should +come for restoring the province to the dominion of the Grand Seignior. +He then established two councils, consisting of natives, principally of +Arab chiefs and Moslem of the church and the law, by whose advice all +measures were, nominally, to be regulated. They formed of course a very +subservient senate. He had no occasion to demand more from the people +than they had been used to pay to the beys; and he lightened the impost +by introducing as far as he could the fairness and exactness of a +civilised power in the method of levying it. He laboured to make the +laws respected, and this so earnestly and rigidly, that no small wonder +was excited among all classes of a population so long accustomed to the +licence of a barbarian horde of spoilers. On one occasion one of the +Ulemahs could not help smiling at the zeal which he manifested for +tracing home the murder of an obscure peasant to the perpetrator. The +Mussulman asked if the dead man were anywise related to the blood of the +Sultan Kebir? "No," answered Napoleon, sternly--"but he was more than +that--he was one of a people whose government it has pleased Providence +to place in my hands." The measures which he took for the protection of +travellers to Mecca were especially acceptable to the heads of the +Moslem establishment, and produced from them a proclamation, (in direct +contradiction to the Koran,) signifying that it was right and lawful to +pay tribute to the French. The virtuosi and artists in his train, +meanwhile, pursued with indefatigable energy their scientific +researches; they ransacked the monuments of Egypt, and laid the +foundation, at least, of all the wonderful discoveries, which have since +been made concerning the knowledge, arts, polity (and even language) of +the ancient nation. Nor were their objects merely those of curiosity. +They, under the General's direction, examined into the long-smothered +traces of many an ancient device for improving the agriculture of the +country. Canals that had been shut up for centuries were re-opened: the +waters of the Nile flowed once more where they had been guided by the +skill of the Pharaohs or the Ptolemies. Cultivation was extended; +property secured; and it cannot be doubted that the signal improvements +since introduced in Egypt, are attributable mainly to the wise example +of the French administration. At Cairo itself there occurred one stormy +insurrection, provoked, as may be supposed, by some wantonness on the +part of the garrison; but, after this was quelled by the same merciless +vigour which Napoleon had displayed on similar occasions in Italy, the +country appears to have remained in more quiet, and probably enjoyed, in +spite of the presence of an invading army, more prosperity, than it had +ever done during any period of the same length, since the Saracen +government was overthrown by the Ottomans. + +In such labours Napoleon passed the autumn of 1798. "At this period," +writes his secretary, "it was his custom to retire early to bed, and it +was my business to read to him as long as he remained awake. If I read +poetry, he soon fell asleep, but if, as sometimes happened, he called +for _The Life of Cromwell_, I made up mind to want repose for that +night." + +General Dessaix, meanwhile, had pursued Mourad Bey into Upper Egypt, +where the Mamelukes hardly made a single stand against him, but +contrived, by the excellence of their horses, and their familiarity with +the deserts, to avoid any total disruption of their forces. Mourad +returned to the neighbourhood of Cairo on hearing of the insurrection +already mentioned; but departed when he learned its suppression. Those +gallant horsemen were gradually losing numbers in their constant desert +marches--they were losing heart rapidly: and everything seemed to +promise, that the Upper Egypt, like the Lower, would soon settle into a +peaceful province of the new French colony. + +The General, during this interval of repose, received no communication +from the French government; but rumours now began to reach his quarters +which might well give him new anxieties. The report of another rupture +with Austria gradually met with more credence; and it was before long +placed beyond a doubt, that the Ottoman Porte, instead of being tempted +into any recognition of the French establishment in Egypt, had declared +war against the Republic, and summoned all the strength of her empire +to pour in overwhelming numbers on the isolated army of Buonaparte. + +As yet, however, there was no appearance of an enemy; and Napoleon +seized the opportunity to explore the Isthmus of Suez, where a narrow +neck of land divides the Red Sea from the Mediterranean, partly with the +view of restoring the communication which in remote times existed +between them, and partly of providing for the defence of Egypt, should +the Ottomans attempt their invasion by the way of Syria. + +He visited the Maronite monks of Mount Sinai, and, as Mahomet had done +before him, affixed his name to their charter of privileges; he examined +also the fountain of Moses: and nearly lost his life in exploring, +during low water, the sands of the Red Sea, where Pharaoh is supposed to +have perished in the pursuit of the Hebrews. "The night overtook us," +says Savary in his Memoirs, "the waters began to rise around us, the +guard in advance exclaimed that their horses were swimming. Buonaparte +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 +form a circle round 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; him 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 poitrels of our horses ere we made +the land." + +On his return to Cairo, the General despatched a trusty messenger into +India, inviting _Tippoo Saib_ to inform him exactly of the condition of +the English army in that region, and signifying that Egypt was only the +first post in a march destined to surpass that of Alexander! "He spent +whole days," writes his secretary, "in lying flat on the ground +stretched upon maps of Asia." + +At length the time for action came. Leaving 15,000 in and about Cairo, +the division of Dessaix in Upper Egypt, and garrisons in the chief +towns,--Buonaparte on the 11th of February 1799 marched for Syria at the +head of 10,000 picked men, with the intention of crushing the Turkish +armament in that quarter, before their chief force (which he now knew +was assembling at Rhodes) should have time to reach Egypt by sea. +Traversing the desert which divides Africa from Asia, he took possession +of the fortress El-Arish, (15 Feb.) whose garrison, after a vigorous +assault, capitulated on condition that they should be permitted to +retreat into Syria, pledging their parole not to serve again during the +war. Pursuing his march, he took Gazah (that ancient city of the +Philistines) without opposition; but at Jaffa (the Joppa of holy writ) +the Moslem made a resolute defence. The walls were carried by storm, +3000 Turks died with arms in their hands, and the town was given up +during three hours to the fury of the French soldiery--who never, as +Napoleon confessed, availed themselves of the licence of war more +savagely than on this occasion. + +A part of the garrison--amounting, according to Buonaparte, to 1200 men, +but stated by others as nearly 3000 in number--held out for some hours +longer in the mosques and citadel; but at length, seeing no chance of +rescue, grounded their arms on the 7th of March. Eugene Beauharnois, who +in person accepted their submission, was violently rebuked by Napoleon +for having done so: the soldiery murmured, asking how these barbarians +were to be fed, when they themselves were already suffering severe +privations. The General summoned his chief officers to council and, +after long discussion, it was resolved that, in this case, necessity +left no room for mercy. On the 10th--three days after their +surrender--the prisoners were marched out of Jaffa, in the centre of a +battalion under General Bon. When they had reached the sand-hills, at +some distance from the town, they were divided into small parties, and +shot or bayoneted to a man. They, like true fatalists, submitted in +silence; and their bodies were gathered together into a pyramid, where, +after the lapse of thirty years, their bones are still visible whitening +the sand. + +Such was the massacre of Jaffa, which will ever form one of the darkest +stains on the name of Napoleon. He admitted the fact himself;--and +justified it on the double plea, that he could not afford soldiers to +guard so many prisoners, and that he could not grant them the benefit of +their parole, because they were the very men who had already been set +free on such terms at El-Arish. To this last defence the answer is, +unfortunately for him, very obvious. He could not possibly have +recognised in every one of these victims, an individual who had already +given and broken his parole. If he did--still that would not avail +him:--the men surrendered with arms in their hands. No general has a +right to see men abandon the means of defence, and then--after the lapse +of three days too!--inflict on them the worst fate that could have +befallen them had they held out. The only remaining plea is that of +expediency; and it is one upon which many a retail as well as wholesale +murderer might justify his crime. + +Buonaparte had now ascertained that the Pacha of Syria, +Achmet-Djezzar,[27] was at St. Jean d'Acre, (so renowned in the history +of the crusades,) and determined to defend that place to extremity, with +the forces which had already been assembled for the invasion of Egypt. +He in vain endeavoured to seduce this ferocious chief from his +allegiance to the Porte, by holding out the hope of a separate +independent government, under the protection of France. The first of +Napoleon's messengers returned without an answer; the second was put to +death; and the army moved on Acre in all the zeal of revenge, while the +necessary apparatus of a siege was ordered to be sent round by sea from +Alexandria. + +Sir Sydney Smith was then cruising in the Levant with two British ships +of the line, the _Tigre_ and the _Theseus_; and, being informed by the +Pacha of the approaching storm, hastened to support him in the defence +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 had on board his ship Colonel Philippeaux, a +French royalist of great talents (formerly Buonaparte's school-fellow at +Brienne);[28] and the Pacha willingly permitted the English commodore +and this skilful ally, to regulate for him, as far as was possible, the +plan of his defence. + +The loss of his own heavy artillery and the presence of two English +ships, were inauspicious omens; yet Buonaparte doubted not that the +Turkish garrison would shrink before his onset, and he instantly +commenced the siege. He opened his trenches on the 18th of March. "On +that little town," said he to one of his generals, as they were standing +together on an eminence, which still bears the name of Richard +Coeur-de-lion--"on yonder little town depends the fate of the East. +Behold the key of Constantinople, or of India."--"The moment Acre +falls," said he about the same time to De Bourienne, "all the Druses +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 +Turk can offer no effectual resistance--and it seems not unlikely that I +may return to France by the route of Adrianople and Vienna--destroying +the house of Austria on my way!" + +From the 18th to the 28th of March, the French laboured hard in their +trenches, being exposed to the fire of extensive batteries, arranged by +Philippeaux so as to command their approach, and formed chiefly of +Buonaparte's own artillery, captured on the voyage from Alexandria. The +Turks also were constantly sallying out, and their Pacha personally set +the example of the most heroic resolution. Nevertheless, on the 28th, a +breach was at last effected, and the French mounted with such fiery zeal +that the garrison gave way, until Djezzar appeared on the battlements, +and flinging his own pistols at the heads of the flying men, urged and +compelled them to renew the defence. In the end the French retreated +with great loss, and--the Turks, headed by the English seamen, pursuing +them to their lines--a great mine, designed to blow up the chief tower +of Acre, was explored, and means taken for countermining it. + +Meanwhile a vast Mussulman army had been gathered among the mountains of +Samaria, and was preparing to descend upon Acre, and attack the +besiegers in concert with the garrison of Djezzar. Junot, with his +division, marched to encounter them, and would have been overwhelmed by +their numbers, had not Napoleon himself followed and rescued him (April +8) at Nazareth, where the splendid cavalry of the orientals were, as +usual, unable to resist the solid squares and well-directed musketry of +the French. Kleber, with another division, was in like manner +endangered, and in like manner rescued by the general-in-chief at Mount +Tabor (April 15). The Mussulmans dispersed on all hands; and Napoleon, +returning to his siege, pressed it on with desperate assaults, day after +day, in which his best soldiers were thinned, before the united efforts +of Djezzar's gallantry, and the skill of his allies. At length, however, +a party of French succeeded in forcing their way into the great tower, +and in establishing themselves in one part of it, in despite of all the +resolution that could be opposed to them. At the same critical moment, +there appeared in the offing a Turkish fleet, which was known to carry +great reinforcements for the Pacha. Everything conspired to prompt +Napoleon to finish his enterprise at whatever cost, and he was bravely +seconded. + +Sir Sydney Smith, however, was as resolute to hold out until the fleet +should arrive, as Napoleon was eager to anticipate its coming. The +English commander repaired with his handful of seaman to the tower, and +after a furious assault dislodged the occupants. Buonaparte did not +renew the attack in that quarter, but succeeded in breaking the wall in +another part of the town; and the heroic Lannes headed a French party +who actually entered Acre at that opening. But Djezzar was willing they +should enter. He suffered them to come in unmolested; and then, before +they could form, threw such a crowd of Turks upon them, that discipline +was of no avail: it was a mere multitude of duels, and the brave +orientals with their scimitars and pistols, overpowered their enemies, +and put them to death--almost to a man. Lannes himself was with +difficulty carried back desperately wounded. + +The rage of Buonaparte at these repeated discomfitures may be imagined. +The whole evil was ascribed, and justly, to the presence of Sir Sydney +Smith; and he spoke of that chivalrous person ever after with the venom +of a personal hatred. Sir Sydney, in requital of Buonaparte's +proclamation--inviting (as was his usual fashion) the subjects of the +Pacha to avoid his yoke, and ally themselves with the invaders--put +forth a counter address to the Druses and other Christian inhabitants of +Syria, invoking their assistance in the name of their religion, against +the blasphemous general of a nation which had renounced Christianity. +Napoleon upon this said that Sir Sydney was a madman; and if his story +be true, Sir Sydney challenged him to single combat; to which he made +answer, that he would not come forth to a duel unless the English could +fetch Marlborough from his grave, but that, in the meantime, any one of +his grenadiers would willingly give the challenger such satisfaction as +he was entitled to demand. Whatever inaccuracy there may be in some of +these circumstances, there is no doubt of the fact that Buonaparte and +the brave commodore strove together at Acre, under the highest influence +of personal resentment, as well as martial skill and determination. + +[_21st May._] The siege had now lasted sixty days. Once more Napoleon +commanded an assault, and his officers and soldiery once more obeyed him +with devoted and fruitless gallantry. The loss his army had by this time +undergone was very great. Caffarelli and many other officers of the +highest importance were no more. The plague had some time before this +appeared in the camp; every day the ranks of his legions were thinned by +this pestilence, as well as by the weapons of the defenders of Acre. The +hearts of all men were quickly sinking. The Turkish fleet was at hand to +reinforce Djezzar; and upon the utter failure of the attack of the 21st +of May, Napoleon yielded to stern necessity, and began his retreat upon +Jaffa. + +The plague now raged in the army. The very name of this horrible scourge +shook the nerves of the Europeans; its symptoms filled them with +indescribable horror. The sick despaired utterly; the healthy trembled +to minister to them in their misery. Napoleon went through the +hospitals, and at once breathed hope into the sufferers, and rebuked the +cowardice of their attendants, by squeezing and relieving with his own +hand the foul ulcers which no one had dared to touch. Pity that this act +of true heroism must ever be recorded on the same page that tells the +story of the sand-hills! + +The name of Jaffa was already sufficiently stained; but fame speedily +represented Napoleon as having now made it the scene of another +atrocity, not less shocking than that of the massacre of the Turkish +prisoners. + +The accusation, which for many years made so much noise throughout +Europe, amounts to this: that on the 27th of May, when it was necessary +for Napoleon to pursue his march from Jaffa for Egypt, a certain number +of the plague-patients in the hospital were found to be in a state that +held out no hope whatever of their recovery; that the general, being +unwilling to leave them to the tender mercies of the Turks, conceived +the notion of administering opium, and so procuring for them at least a +speedy and an easy death; and that a number of men were accordingly +taken off in this method by his command. The story, the circumstances of +which were much varied in different accounts, especially as regards the +numbers of the poisoned (raised sometimes as high as 500), was first +disseminated by Sir Robert Wilson, and was in substance generally +believed in England. In each and all of its parts, on the contrary, it +was wholly denied by the admirers of Buonaparte, who treated it as one +of the many gross falsehoods, which certainly were circulated touching +the personal character and conduct of their idol, during the continuance +of his power. + +Buonaparte himself, while at St. Helena, referred to the story +frequently; and never hesitated to admit that it originated in the +following occurrence. He sent, he said, the night before the march was +to commerce, for Desgenettes, the chief of the medical staff, and +proposed to him, under such circumstances as have been described, the +propriety of giving opium, in mortal doses, to _seven_ men, adding that, +had his son been in their situation, he would have thought it his duty, +as a father, to treat him in the same method; and that, most certainly, +had he himself been in that situation, and capable of understanding it, +he would have considered the deadly cup as the best boon that friendship +could offer him. M. Desgenettes, however, (said the ex-Emperor) did not +consider himself as entitled to interfere in any such method with the +lives of his fellow men: the patients were abandoned; and, at least, one +of the number fell alive into the hands of Sir Sidney Smith, and +recovered. + +Such is Napoleon's narrative; and it is confirmed in all particulars of +importance, save _two_, by De Bourienne. That writer states distinctly +that he was present when Napoleon, Berthier and the usual suite, +examined the hospital--heard the discussion which followed, and _the +order given_ for administering mortal potions to the hopeless +patients--in number _sixty_. He does not assert that he saw the poison +administered, but says he has no doubt the order was executed; and +concludes with defending the measure by arguments similar to those +already quoted from the lips of his master. + +Whether the opium was really administered or not--that the audacious +proposal to that effect was made by Napoleon, we have his own admission; +and every reader must form his opinion--as to the degree of guilt which +attaches to the fact of having meditated and designed the deed in +question, under the circumstances above detailed. That Buonaparte, +accustomed to witness slaughter in every form, was in general but a +callous calculator when the loss of human life was to be considered, no +one can doubt. That his motives, on this occasion, were cruel, no human +being, who considers either the temper or the situation of the man, will +ever believe. He doubtless designed, by shortening those men's lives, to +do them the best service in his power. The presumption of thus daring to +sport with the laws of God and man, when expedience seemed to recommend +such interference, was quite in the character of the young General: +cruelty was not; least of all, cruelty to his own soldiery--the very +beings on whose affection all his greatness depended. + +The march onwards was a continued scene of misery; for the wounded and +the sick were many, the heat oppressive, the thirst intolerable; and the +ferocious Djezzar was hard behind, and the wild Arabs of the desert +hovered round them on every side, so that he who fell behind his company +was sure to be slain. How hard and callous the hearts of brave men can +become when every thought is occupied with self, the story of that march +presents a fearful picture. When a comrade, after quitting his ranks, +being stimulated by the despair of falling into the hands of the Turks +or Arabs, yet once again reared himself from the burning sand, and made +a last attempt to stagger after the column, his painful and ineffectual +efforts furnished matter for military merriment. "He is drunk," said +one; "his march will not be a long one," answered another; and when he +once more sank helpless and hopeless, a third remarked, "our friend has +at length taken up his quarters." It is not to be omitted, that Napoleon +did, on this occasion, all that became his situation. He issued an order +that every horse should be given up to the service of the sick. A moment +afterwards one of his attendants came to ask which horse the General +wished to reserve for himself: "Scoundrel!" cried he, "do you not know +the order? Let everyone march on foot--I the first.--Begone." He +accordingly, during the rest of the march, walked by the side of the +sick, cheering them by his eye and his voice, and exhibiting to all the +soldiery the example at once of endurance and of compassion. + +[_June 14._] Having at length accomplished this perilous journey, +Buonaparte repaired to his old headquarters at Cairo, and re-entered on +his great functions as the establisher of a new government in the state +of Egypt. But he had not long occupied himself thus, ere new rumours +concerning the beys on the Upper Nile, who seemed to have some strong +and urgent motive for endeavouring to force a passage downwards, began +to be mingled with, and by degrees explained by, tidings daily repeated +of some grand disembarkation of the Ottomans, designed to have place in +the neighbourhood of Alexandria. Leaving Dessaix, therefore, once more +in command at Cairo, he himself descended the Nile, and travelled with +all speed to Alexandria, where he found his presence most necessary. +For, in effect, the great Turkish fleet had already run into the bay of +Aboukir; and an army of 18,000, having gained the fortress, were there +strengthening themselves, with the view of awaiting the promised descent +and junction of the Mamelukes, and then, with overwhelming superiority +of numbers, advancing to Alexandria, and completing the ruin of the +French invaders. + +Buonaparte, reaching Alexandria on the evening of the 24th of July, +found his army already posted in the neighbourhood of Aboukir, and +prepared to anticipate the attack of the Turks on the morrow. Surveying +their entrenched camp from the heights above with Murat, he said, "Go +how it may, the battle of to-morrow 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." Murat did not penetrate the hidden meaning of Napoleon's +words, but he made good his own. + +The Turkish outposts were assaulted early next morning, and driven in +with great slaughter; but the French, when they advanced, came within +the range of the batteries, and also of the shipping that lay close by +the shore, and were checked. Their retreat might have ended in a rout, +but for the undisciplined eagerness with which the Turks engaged in the +task of spoiling and maiming those that fell before them--thus giving to +Murat the opportunity of charging their main body in flank with his +cavalry, at the moment when the French infantry, profiting by their +disordered and scattered condition, and rallying under the eye of +Napoleon, forced a passage to the entrenchments. From that moment the +battle was a massacre. The Turks, attacked on all sides, were +panic-struck; and the sea was covered with the turbans of men who flung +themselves headlong into the waves rather than await the fury of _Le +Beau Sabreur_,[29] or the steady rolling fire of the _Sultan Kebir_. Six +thousand surrendered at discretion: twelve thousand perished on the +field or in the sea. Mustapha Pacha, the general, 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 pacha, "my master knows me better than thou." + +Napoleon once more returned to Cairo on the 9th of August; but it was +only to make some parting arrangements as to the administration, civil +and military; for, from the moment of his victory at Aboukir, he had +resolved to entrust Egypt to other hands, and Admiral Gantheaume was +already preparing in secret the means of his removal to France. + +Buonaparte always asserted, and the Buonapartist writers of his history +still maintain, that this resolution was adopted in consequence of a +mere accident;[30] namely, that Sir Sydney Smith, in the course of some +negotiations about prisoners which followed after the battle of Aboukir, +sent a file of English newspapers for the amusement of the General. Some +say the English Commodore did so out of mere civility: others, that he +designed to distract the movements of Napoleon, by showing him the +dangerous condition to which, during his absence, the affairs of France, +both at home and abroad, had been reduced. It seems, however, to be +generally believed (as without doubt it is the more probable case) that +Buonaparte had long ere now received intelligence of the great events in +which he was so deeply concerned. He had, assuredly, many friends in +Paris, who were watching keenly over his interests, and who must have +been singularly ill served if they never were able to communicate with +him during so many months. + +However this might have been, the General succeeded in preventing any +suspicion of his projected evasion from arising among the soldiery; and +when he finally turned his back on Cairo, it was universally believed +that it was but to make a tour in the Delta. + +Napoleon reached the coast on the 22nd August, and was there met by +Berthier, Andreossi, Murat, Lannes, Marmont, and the _savans_ Monge and +Berthollet; none of whom had suspected for what purpose they were +summoned. Admiral Gantheaume had by this time two frigates and two +smaller vessels (which had been saved in the harbour of Alexandria) +ready for sea; and on the morning of the 23rd, the wind having +fortunately driven the English squadron of blockade off the coast, +Buonaparte and his followers embarked at Rosetta. + +The same day the event was announced to the army by a proclamation which +the General left behind him, naming Kleber as his successor in the +command. The indignation of the soldiery, who thought themselves +deserted by their chief, was for a time violent; but, by degrees, the +great qualities displayed by Kleber softened this feeling, and +Buonaparte had left agents well qualified to explain what had happened, +in the manner most favourable for himself. + +Kleber received at the same time a parting letter of instructions--one +of the most singular pieces that ever proceeded from Napoleon's pen. "I +send you," said he, "English gazettes to the 10th of June. You will +there see that we have lost Italy; that Mantua, Turin, and Tortona are +blockaded. I hope, if fortune smiles on me, to reach Europe before the +beginning of October.... It is the intention of government that General +Dessaix should follow me, unless great events interpose themselves, in +the course of November.... There is no doubt that, on the arrival of our +squadron at Toulon, means will be found of sending you the recruits and +munitions necessary for the army of Egypt. The government will then +correspond with you directly; while I, both in my public and in my +private capacity, will take measures to secure for you frequent +intelligence." + +Buonaparte proceeds, after thus boldly assuming to himself the right of +speaking for the government--and in terms, it will be observed, +calculated to leave no doubt that his own departure was the result of +orders from Paris--to impress upon Kleber the necessity of always +considering the possession of Egypt as a point of the highest importance +to France; and, nevertheless, of negotiating, as long as possible, with +the Porte, on the basis that the French Republic neither had now, nor +ever had had, the smallest wish to be permanently mistress of that +country. He finally authorised Kleber, if not released or recruited by +May following, to make a peace with the Porte, even if the first of its +conditions should be the total evacuation of Egypt. + +Then follow directions for the internal administration of Egypt, in +which, among other sufficiently characteristic hints, Kleber is desired +to cultivate the good will of _the Christians_, but, nevertheless, to +avoid carefully giving the Mussulmans any reason to confound _the +Christians_ with _the French_. "Above all," says Napoleon, "gain the +Sheiks, who are timid, who cannot fight, and who, like all priests, +inspire fanaticism without being fanatics." + +The conclusion is in these words. "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 marks of their attachment: keep alive in +them these sentiments. You owe this to the particular esteem and true +attachment which I bear towards yourself." + +[Footnote 27: Djezzar means _butcher_: he had well earned this title by +the mercilessness of his administration.] + +[Footnote 28: Sir Sydney Smith, having been taken prisoner and most +unjustifiably confined by the French government in the dungeons of the +Temple, had made his escape through the zeal of certain of the royalist +party, and chiefly of Philippeaux.] + +[Footnote 29: The handsome swordsman--_i.e._ Murat.] + +[Footnote 30: De Bourienne, whose curious work has appeared since the +first edition of this narrative was published, confirms this statement +of Napoleon: but Napoleon, it is obvious, _might_ have received letters +which he did not choose to communicate to his secretary.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + Retrospect--Buonaparte arrives in France--The Revolution of the + 18th Brumaire--The Provisional Consulate. + + +We must now pause for a moment to indicate, however briefly and +imperfectly, the course of events which had determined Napoleon to +abandon the army of Egypt. + +While the negotiations at Rastadt were still in progress, the Directory, +on the most flimsy of pretences, marched an army into Switzerland; and, +by vast superiority of numbers, overwhelmed the defence of the +unprepared mountaineers. The conquered cantons were formed into another +republic of the new kind--to wit, "the Helvetian:" nominally a sister +and ally, but really a slave of the French. Another force, acting under +orders equally unjustifiable, seized Turin, and dethroned the King of +Sardinia. Lastly, the Pope, in spite of all his humiliating concessions +at Tollentino, saw a republican insurrection, roused by French +instigation, within his capital. Tumults and bloodshed ensued; and +Joseph Buonaparte, the French ambassador, narrowly escaped with his +life. A French army forthwith advanced on Rome; the Pope's functions as +a temporal prince were terminated; he retired to the exile of Siena; and +another of those feeble phantoms, which the Directory delighted to +invest with glorious names, appeared under the title of "the Roman +Republic." + +These outrages roused anew the indignation, the first, of all true +lovers of freedom, the second, of the monarchs whose representatives +were assembled at Rastadt, and the third, of the Catholic population +throughout Europe. England was not slow to take advantage of the +unprincipled rashness of the Directory, and of the sentiments which it +was fitted to inspire; and the result was a new coalition against +France, in which the great power of Russia now, for the first time, took +a part. The French plenipotentiaries were suddenly ordered to quit +Rastadt; and, within a few hours afterwards, they were murdered on their +journey by banditti clad in the Austrian uniform, most assuredly not +acting under orders from the Austrian government--and now commonly +believed to have been set on by certain angry intriguers of the +Luxembourg. + +The King of Naples had, unfortunately for himself, a greater taste for +arms than the nation he governed; and, justly concluding that the +conquerors of Rome would make himself their next object, he rashly +proclaimed war, ere the general measures of the coalition were arranged. +The arrival of Nelson in his harbour, bringing the news of the +destruction of the French fleet at Aboukir, and the consequent isolation +of Napoleon, gave him courage to strike a blow which the officers of his +army were little likely to second. The result of his hasty advance to +the northwards was not a battle, but a flight: and though the Lazzaroni +of Naples, rising in fury, held the capital for some days against the +French, their defences were at length overcome; the king passed over to +his Sicilian dominions; and another tributary of France was announced by +the name of the Parthenopean Republic. + +Far different success attended the better-considered movements by which +the great powers of the new coalition re-opened the war. The details of +those bloody campaigns by which Holland and Belgium were for a moment +rescued from the grasp of the Republic; Jourdan beaten beyond the Rhine +by the Archduke Charles; and the north of Italy, the whole of +Buonaparte's mighty conquests, recovered by the Austro-Russians under +Suwarrow; as also of the ultimate reverses of the allies in the +direction of Holland,--of the concentration of their forces in two great +armies, one on the frontier of Switzerland, and another lower down on +the Rhine, for the purpose of carrying the war by two inlets into the +heart of France--and finally, of the masterly retreat of Macdonald, by +which he succeeded in leading the army which had occupied Naples quite +through Italy into Provence;--all these details belong rather to the +general history of the period, than to the biography of Buonaparte. +Neither is it possible that we should here enter upon any minute account +of the internal affairs of France during the period of his Egyptian and +Syrian campaigns. It must suffice to say that the generally unfortunate +course of the war had been accompanied by the growth of popular +discontent at home; that the tottering Directory for a moment gathered +strength to themselves by associating Sieyes to their number; that the +mean and selfish conduct of the rulers soon nullified the results of +that partial change; that the Directory at length found it impossible to +maintain the favourite system of balancing faction against faction, and +so neutralising their efforts; in a word, that the _moderates_ (under +which name the royalists are included) had obtained a decided command in +the Council of Ancients, and the republicans, or democratical party, an +equally overpowering majority in the Assembly of the Five Hundred; while +the Directors, as a body, had no longer the slightest power to control +either. Finally, the Chouans (as the royalists of Bretagne were called) +had been stimulated by the disordered appearance of things at home and +abroad, and 40,000 insurgents appeared in arms, withstanding, with +varied success, the troops of the Republic, and threatening, by their +example, to rekindle a general civil war in France. Such was, or had +recently been, the state of affairs when Buonaparte landed at Frejus, +and sent before him to Paris, to the inexpressible delight of a nation +of late accustomed to hear of nothing but military disasters, the +intelligence of that splendid victory which had just destroyed the great +Turkish armament at Aboukir. He arrived at a moment when all men, of all +parties, were satisfied that a new revolution was at hand; and when the +leaders of all the contending factions were equally desirous of invoking +arms to their support in the inevitable struggle. Napoleon's voyage had +been one of constant peril; for the Mediterranean was traversed in all +directions by English ships of war, in whose presence resistance would +have been hopeless. He occupied his time, during this period of general +anxiety, in very peaceful studies: he read the Bible, the Koran, Homer; +conversed with his _savans_ on the old times and manners of the East; +and solved problems in geometry. He also spent many hours in playing at +the game of _vingt-un_; and M. de Bourienne says, that he never +hesitated to play unfairly when it suited his purpose, though he always +returned whatever he had gained on rising from the table. On the 30th of +September they reached Ajaccio, and he was received with enthusiasm at +the place of his birth. But, according to his own phrase, "it rained +cousins:" he was wearied with solicitations, and as soon as the wind +proved favourable, on the 7th of October, the voyage was resumed. +Gantheaume, descrying an English squadron off the French coast, would +have persuaded him to take to the long-boat; but he refused, saying, +"that experiment may be reserved for the last extremity." His confidence +in fortune was not belied. They passed at midnight, unseen, through the +English ships, and on the morning of the 9th were moored in safety in +the bay of Frejus; and no sooner was it known that Buonaparte was at +hand, than, in spite of all the laws of quarantine, persons of every +description, including the chief functionaries, both civil and military, +repaired on board to welcome him. He had looked forward with the utmost +disgust to a long quarantine: this dread was dissipated in a moment; the +deck was crowded with persons, crying aloud, "We prefer the plague to +the Austrians!" His presence alone was considered as the pledge of +victory. The story of Aboukir gave new fuel to the flame of universal +enthusiasm; and he landed, not so much like a general who had quitted +his post without orders, as a victorious prince, who had returned to +restore the lost hearts and fortunes of a people that confided only in +him. His progress towards the capital, wherever his person was +recognised, bore all the appearance of a triumphal procession. He +reached his own house, in the _Rue de la Victoire_, on the 16th October. + +The trembling Directory received him, when he presented himself at the +Luxembourg, with every demonstration of joy and respect. Not a question +was asked as to his abandonment of his army; for all dreaded the answer +which they had the best reason for anticipating. He was invited to +accept of a public dinner, and agreed to do so. The assemblage was +magnificent, and his reception enthusiastic; but his demeanour was cold +and reserved. After proposing as a toast, "the union of all +parties"--ominous words from those lips--he withdrew at an early hour of +the evening. + +He continued for some little time to avoid public notice, resuming +apparently the same studious and sequestered life which he had led when +last in Paris. It was, however, remarked that, when recognised by the +populace, he received their salutations with uncommon affability; and +that if he met any old soldier of the army of Italy, he rarely failed to +recollect the man, and take him by the hand. + +Buonaparte had been tormented when in Egypt by certain rumours +concerning the conduct of Josephine in his absence from Paris. She had +quitted the capital with the purpose of meeting him on his journey +thither, the moment his arrival at Frejus was known; but taking the road +of Burgundy, while he was travelling by that of Lyons, missed him. When +she at length joined him in Paris, he received her with marked coldness; +but, after a few days, the intercessions and explanations of friends +restored harmony between them. He felt acutely, says De Bourienne, the +ill effects which a domestic fracas must produce at the moment when all +France was expecting him to take the chief part in some great political +revolution. + +The universal enthusiasm which waited on his person at this crisis +appears to have at length given definite shape to his ambition. All +parties equally seemed to be weary of the Directory, and to demand the +decisive interference of the unrivalled soldier. The members of the +tottering government were divided bitterly among themselves; and the +_moderates_, with the Director Sieyes at their head, on the one side, +the _democrats_, under the Director Barras, on the other, were equally +disposed to invoke his assistance. He received the proposals of both +parties; and at length decided on closing with those of the former, as +consisting of a class of men less likely than the others to interfere +with his measures--when the new government, which he had determined +should be _his_, had been arranged. His brother Lucien, recently elected +President of the Council of Five Hundred--the acute and spirited Abbé +Sieyes, for whom, as "a man of systems," Buonaparte had formerly +manifested great repugnance, but who was now recommended effectually by +his supposed want of high ambition--and Fouché, minister of +police--these were his chief confidants; nor could any age or country +have furnished instruments more admirably qualified for his purpose. +Josephine, too, exerted indefatigably in his cause all the arts of +address, and contrived to neutralise by flattery many whom promises had +failed to gain. Meanwhile his house was frequented by the principal +officers who had accompanied him from Egypt, and by others who had +served in his Italian campaigns; and though no one pretended to say what +was about to happen, the impression became universal throughout Paris, +that some great and decisive event was at hand, and that it was to be +brought about by means of Buonaparte. + +His friends at first busied themselves with schemes for making him one +of the directorial body; but the law, requiring that every candidate for +that office should be forty years of age, still subsisted; and this +presented an obstacle which Napoleon chose rather to avoid than to +overcome. The conspirators in his confidence were from day to day more +numerous, and, before he had been three weeks in Paris, audacity reached +its height. "During this crisis" (writes Bourienne) "there occurred +nothing a whit more elevated, more grand, more noble, than had been +observed in our preceding revolutionary commotions. In these political +intrigues, all is so despicable--so made up of trickery, lying, spying, +treachery, and impudence--that for the honour of human nature the +details ought to be buried under an eternal veil." + +Sieyes governed absolutely one of his colleagues in the Directory, +Ducos; and the party of which he was the chief predominated strongly, as +has been mentioned, in the Council of Ancients. It was through the +instrumentality of that council, accordingly, that the conspirators +resolved to strike their first blow. And how well their measures had +been preconcerted, will sufficiently appear from the most naked +statement of the events of the 18th and 19th Brumaire (Nov. 10 and 11, +1799), in the order of their occurrence. + +As soon as Buonaparte's arrival was known, three regiments of dragoons, +forming part of the garrison of Paris, petitioned for the honour of +being reviewed by him. He had promised to do this, but delayed naming +the day. In like manner the forty adjutants of the National Guard of +Paris (which, as we have seen, was remodelled by himself while General +of the Interior) had requested leave to wait upon him, and congratulate +him on his arrival: these also had been told that he would soon appoint +the time for receiving them. Lastly, the officers of the garrison, and +many besides, had sent to beg admittance to Napoleon's presence, that +they might tender him the expression of their admiration and attachment; +and to them also an answer of the same kind had been given. + +On the evening of the 17th Brumaire all the officers above-mentioned +received, separately, the General's invitation to come to his house in +the _Rue de la Victoire_, at six o'clock the next morning; and the three +regiments of dragoons were desired to be mounted for their review, at +the same early hour, in the _Champs Elysées_. How many of these persons +knew the real purpose of the assemblage it is impossible to tell; but +Moreau, Macdonald, and other generals of the first reputation, avowedly +attached to the _moderés_, were in the number of those who +attended,--having, it is not to be doubted, received sufficient +intimation that the crisis was at hand, though not of the manner in +which Buonaparte designed it to terminate. However, at the appointed +hour, the dragoons were at their post in the Champs Elysées; and the +concourse of officers at Napoleon's residence was so great that, the +house being small, he received them in the courtyard before it, which +they entirely filled. + +Among those who came thither was Bernadotte; but he certainly came +without any precise notion of the purposes of his friend Joseph +Buonaparte, who invited him. He was, next to Napoleon, the general who +possessed the greatest influence at the period in Paris; in fact, the +fate of the government depended on whether the one party in the +Directory should be the first to summon him to interfere, or the others +to throw themselves on Buonaparte. He came; but, unlike the rest, he +came _not_ in uniform, nor on horseback. Being introduced into +Napoleon's private chamber, he was informed, with little preface, that a +change in the government was necessary, and about to be effected that +very day. Bernadette had already been tampered with by Sieyes and Ducos, +and he rejected Napoleon's flatteries as he had theirs. It was well +known to Buonaparte that, had this great officer's advice been taken, he +would, immediately on his arrival from Egypt, have been arrested as a +deserter of his post: he in vain endeavoured now to procure his +co-operation; and at last suffered him to depart, having with difficulty +extorted a promise, that he would not, at least, do anything against him +_as a citizen_. It will soon be seen that he could have little reason to +apprehend Bernadotte' s interference in his military capacity. + +In effect the Council of the Ancients assembled the same morning, in the +Tuileries, at the early hour of seven; one of the conspirators forthwith +declared that the salvation of the state demanded vigorous measures, +and proposed two decrees for their acceptance; one by which the meetings +of the legislative bodies should be instantly transferred to the Chateau +of St. Cloud, some miles from Paris: and another investing Napoleon with +the supreme command of all the troops in and about the capital, +including the National Guard. These motions were instantly carried; and, +in the course of a few minutes, Buonaparte received, in the midst of his +martial company, the announcement of his new authority. He instantly +mounted and rode to the Tuileries, where, being introduced into the +council, together with all his staff, he pronounced those memorable +words--"You are the wisdom of the nation: I come, surrounded by the +generals of the Republic, to promise you their support. Let us not lose +time in looking for precedents. Nothing in history resembled the close +of the eighteenth century--nothing in the eighteenth century resembled +this moment. Your wisdom has devised the necessary measure; our arms +shall put it in execution." Care had been taken to send no summons to +the members of the council whom the conspirators considered as decidedly +hostile to their schemes; yet several began to murmur loudly at this +tone. "I come," resumed Napoleon, sternly, "I come accompanied by the +God of War and the God of Fortune." His friends were alarmed lest this +violence should produce some violent re-action in the assembly, and +prevailed on him to withdraw. "_Let those that love me follow me_" said +he, and was immediately on horseback again. "In truth," says De +Bourienne, "I know not what would have happened, had the President, when +he saw the General retiring, exclaimed, _Grenadiers, let no one go out_: +it is my conviction that, instead of sleeping the day after at the +Luxembourg, he would have ended his career on the _Place de la +Revolution_." + +The command entrusted to Napoleon was forthwith announced to the +soldiery; and they received the intelligence with enthusiasm--the mass +of course little comprehending to what, at such a moment, such authority +amounted. + +The three Directors, meanwhile, who were not in the secret, and who had +been much amused with seeing their colleague Sieyes set off on horseback +an hour or two earlier from the Luxembourg, had begun to understand +what that timely exhibition of the Abbé's awkward horsemanship +portended. One of them, Moulins, proposed to send a battalion to +surround Buonaparte's house and arrest him. Their own guard laughed at +them. Buonaparte was already in the Tuileries, with many troops around +him; and the Directorial Guard, being summoned by one of his +aides-de-camp, instantly marched thither also, leaving the Luxembourg at +his mercy. Barras sent his secretary to expostulate. Napoleon received +him with haughtiness. "What have you done," cried he, "for that fair +France which I left you so prosperous? For peace I find war; for the +wealth of Italy, taxation and misery. Where are the 100,000 brave French +whom I knew--where are the companions of my glory?--They are dead." +Barras, who well knew that Buonaparte would never forgive him for having +boasted that the conqueror of Italy and Egypt owed everything to his +early favour, and whose infamous personal conduct in the articles of +bribery and exaction made him tremble at the thought of impeachment, +resigned his office: so did his colleagues, Gohier and Moulins. Sieyes +and Ducos had done so already. Bernadotte, indeed, repaired to the +Luxembourg ere Moulins and Gohier had resigned, and offered his sword +and influence, provided they would nominate him to the command of the +forces jointly with Napoleon. They hesitated: his word of honour given +to Buonaparte, that he would do nothing _as a citizen_, rendered it +indispensable that they should take that decisive step; by doing so they +would at least have given the soldiery a fair choice--they +hesitated--and their power was at an end. The Luxembourg was immediately +guarded by troops in whom Napoleon could place implicit confidence. The +Directory was no more. + +Barras, in his letter, said that "he had undertaken his office solely +for the purpose of serving the cause of liberty, _and_ that now, seeing +the destinies of the Republic in the hands of her young and invincible +general, he gladly resigned it." By this courtly acquiescence he +purchased indemnity for the past, and the liberty of retiring to his +country-seat, there to enjoy the vast fortune he had so scandalously +accumulated. The other two remained for the present under surveillance. + +At ten o'clock on the same morning, the adverse Council of Five Hundred +assembled also, and heard, with astonishment and indignation, of the +decree by which their sittings were transferred from Paris (the scene of +their popular influence) to St. Cloud. They had, however, no means of +disputing that point: they parted with cries of "_Vive la République! +Vive la Constitution!_" and incited the mob, their allies, to muster +next morning on the new scene of action--where, it was evident, this +military revolution must either be turned back, or pushed to +consummation. During the rest of the day, Napoleon remained at the +Tuileries: the troops were in arms; the population expected with +breathless anxiety the coming of the decisive day. A strong body of +soldiery marched to St. Cloud under the orders of Murat. + +The members of both assemblies repaired thither early in the morning of +the 19th; and those of the opposite party beheld with dismay the +military investment of the Chateau. Scattered in groups about the courts +and gardens, surrounded with the mob from the city, and watched by Murat +and his stern veterans, they awaited with impatience the opening of the +doors; which, in consequence of some necessary preparations, did not +occur until two o'clock in the afternoon. + +The Council of Ancients were ushered into the Gallery of Mars, and, the +minority having by this time recovered from their surprise, a stormy +debate forthwith commenced touching the events of the preceding day. +Buonaparte entered the room, and, by permission of the subservient +president, addressed the assembly. "Citizens," said he, "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 +Cæsar. Had I aspired at 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!--" + +A democratic member, Linglet, added aloud--"and the Constitution--" + +"The Constitution!" continued Napoleon, "it has been thrice violated +already--all parties have invoked it--each in turn has trampled on it: +since that can be preserved no longer, let us, at least, save its +foundations--Liberty and Equality. It is on you only that I rely. The +Council of Five Hundred would restore the Convention, the popular +tumults, the scaffolds, the reign of terror. I will save you from such +horrors--I and my brave comrades, whose swords and caps I see at the +door of this hall; and if any hireling prater talks of outlawry, to +those swords shall I appeal." The great majority were with him, and he +left them amidst loud cries of "_Vive Buonaparte!_" + +A far different scene was passing in the hostile assembly of the Five +Hundred. When its members at length found their way into the Orangery, +the apartment allotted for them, a tumultuous clamour arose on every +side. _Live the Constitution! The Constitution or death! Down with the +Dictator!_--such were the ominous cries. Lucien Buonaparte, the +president, in vain attempted to restore order: the _moderate_ orators of +the council, with equal ill success, endeavoured to gain a hearing. A +_democrat_ member at length obtained a moment's silence, and proposed +that the council should renew, man by man, the oath of fidelity to the +Constitution of the year _three_. This was assented to, and a vain +ceremony, for it was no more, occupied time which might have been turned +to far different account. Overpowered, however, by the clamour, the best +friends of Napoleon, even his brother Lucien, took the oath. The +resignatory letter of Barras was then handed in, and received with a +shout of scorn. The moment was come; Napoleon, himself, accompanied by +four grenadiers, walked into the chamber--the doors remained open, and +plumes and swords were visible in dense array behind him. His grenadiers +halted near the door, and he advanced alone towards the centre of the +gallery. Then arose a fierce outcry--_Drawn swords in the sanctuary of +the laws! Outlawry! Outlawry! Let him be proclaimed a traitor! Was it +for this you gained so many victories?_ Many members rushed upon the +intruder, and, if we may place confidence in his own tale, a Corsican +deputy, by name, Arena, aimed a dagger at his throat. At all events +there was such an appearance of personal danger as fired the grenadiers +behind him. They rushed forwards, and extricated him almost breathless; +and one of their number (Thomé) was at least rewarded on the score of +his having received a wound meant for the General. + +It seems to be admitted that at this moment the iron nerves of +Buonaparte were, for once, shaken. With the dangers of the field he was +familiar--in order to depict the perfect coolness of his demeanour +during the greater part of this very day, his secretary says--"_he was +as calm as at the opening of a great battle_;" but he had not been +prepared for the manifestations of this civil rage. He came out, +staggering and stammering, among the soldiery, and said, "I offered them +victory and fame, and they have answered me with daggers." + +Sieyes, an experienced observer of such scenes, was still on horseback +in the court, and quickly re-assured him. General Augereau came up but a +moment afterwards, and said, "You have brought yourself into a pretty +situation." "Augereau," answered Napoleon (once more himself again), +"things were worse at Arcola. Be quiet: all this will soon right +itself." He then harangued the soldiery. "I have led you to victory, to +fame, to glory. Can I count upon you?" "Yes, yes, we swear it" (was the +answer that burst from every line), "_Vive Buonaparte!_" + +In the council, meantime, the commotion had increased on the retreat of +Napoleon. A general cry arose for a sentence of outlawry against him; +and Lucien, the President, in vain appealed to the feelings of nature, +demanding that, instead of being obliged to put that question to the +vote, he might be heard as the advocate of his brother. He was +clamorously refused, and in indignation flung off the insignia of his +office. Some grenadiers once more entered, and carried him also out of +the place. + +Lucien found the soldiery without in a high state of excitement. He +immediately got upon horseback, that he might be seen and heard the +better, and exclaimed: "General Buonaparte, and you, soldiers of France, +the President of the Council of Five Hundred announces to you that +factious men with daggers interrupt the deliberations of the senate. He +authorises you to employ force. The Assembly of Five Hundred is +dissolved." + +Napoleon desired Le Clerc to execute the orders of the President, and +he, with a detachment of grenadiers, forthwith marched into the hall. +Amidst the reiterated screams of "_Vive la Republique_" which saluted +their entrance, an aide-de-camp mounted the tribune, and bade the +assembly disperse. "Such," said he, "are the orders of the General." +Some obeyed; others renewed their shouting. The drums drowned their +voices. "Forward, grenadiers," said Le Clerc; and the men, levelling +their pieces as if for the charge, advanced. When the bristling line of +bayonets at length drew near, the deputies lost heart, and the greater +part of them, tearing off their scarfs, made their escape, with very +undignified rapidity, by way of the windows. The apartment was cleared. +It was thus that Buonaparte, like Cromwell before him, + + "Turn'd out the members, and made fast the door."[31] + +Some of his military associates proposed to him that the unfriendly +legislators should be shot, man by man, as they retreated through the +gardens; but to this he would not for a moment listen. + +Lucien Buonaparte now collected the _moderate_ members of the Council of +Five Hundred; and that small minority, assuming the character of the +assembly, communicated with the Ancients on such terms of mutual +understanding, that there was no longer any difficulty about giving the +desired colouring to the events of the day. It was announced by +proclamation, that a scene of violence and uproar, and the daggers and +pistols of a band of conspirators, in the Council of Five Hundred, had +suggested the measures ultimately resorted to. These were--the +adjournment of the two councils until the middle of February next +ensuing; and the deposition, meantime, of the whole authority of the +state in a provisional _consulate_--the consuls being Napoleon +Buonaparte, Sieyes, and Ducos. + +Thus terminated the 19th of Brumaire. One of the greatest revolutions on +record in the history of the world was accomplished, by means of swords +and bayonets unquestionably, but still without any effusion of blood. +From that hour the fate of France was determined. The Abbé Sieyes, +Talleyrand, and other eminent civilians, who had a hand in this great +day's proceedings, had never doubted that, under the new state of things +to which it should lead, they were to have the chief management of the +civil concerns of France. The ambition of Buonaparte, they questioned +not, would be satisfied with the control of the armies and military +establishments of the Republic. But they reckoned without their host. +Next day the three consuls met in Paris; and a lengthened discussion +arose touching the internal condition and foreign relations of France, +and the measures not only of war, but of finance and diplomacy, to be +resorted to. To the astonishment of Sieyes, Napoleon entered readily and +largely upon such topics, showed perfect familiarity with them in their +minutest details, and suggested resolutions which it was impossible not +to approve. "Gentlemen," said the Abbé, on reaching his own house, where +Talleyrand and the others expected him--and it is easy so imagine the +sensations with which Sieyes spoke the words, and Talleyrand heard +them--"Gentlemen, I perceive that you have got a master. Buonaparte can +do, and will do, everything himself. But" (he added, after a pause) "it +is better to submit than to protract dissension for ever." + +Buonaparte sent word next morning to _Gohier_ and _Moulins_ that they +were at liberty. These ex-Directors were in haste to seclude themselves +from public view; and the new ruler took possession the same evening of +the Palace of the Luxembourg. + +[Footnote 31: Crabbe.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + The Provisional Consulate--Reforms in France--Pacification of the + Chouans--Constitution of the year VIII.--Buonaparte Chief Consul. + + +The upper population of Paris had watched the stormy days of the 18th +and 19th Brumaire with the most anxious fears, lest the end should be +anarchy and the re-establishment of the reign of terror. Such, in all +likelihood, must have been the result, had Buonaparte failed, after once +attempting to strike his blow. His success held out the prospect of +victory abroad, and of a firm and stable government at home, under which +life and property might exist in safety; and wearied utterly with so +many revolutions and constitutions, each in turn pretending everything, +and ending in nothing but confusion, the immense majority of the nation +were well prepared to consider any government as a blessing which seemed +to rest on a solid basis, and to bid fair for endurance. The +revolutionary fever had in most bosoms spent its strength ere now; and +Buonaparte found henceforth little opposition to any of his measures, +unless in cases where the substantial personal comforts of men--not +abstract theories or dogmas--nor even political rights of unquestionable +value and importance--were invaded by his administration. + +The two chambers, on breaking up, appointed small committees to take +counsel during the recess with the new heads of the executive; and, in +concert with these, Buonaparte and Sieyes entered vigorously on the +great task of restoring confidence and peace at home. The confusion of +the finances was the most pressing of many intolerable evils; and the +first day was devoted to them. In lieu of forced loans, by which the +Directory had systematically scourged the people, all the regular taxes +were at once raised 25 per cent.; and the receipt and expenditure of the +revenue arranged on a business-like footing. The repeal of the "Law of +Hostages"--a tyrannical act, by which the relations of emigrants were +made responsible for the behaviour of their exiled kinsmen,--followed +immediately, and was received with universal approbation. A third and a +bolder measure was the discarding of the heathen ritual, and re-opening +of the churches for Christian worship; and of this the credit was wholly +Napoleon's, who had to oppose the _philosophic_ prejudices of almost all +his colleagues. He, in his conversations with them, made no attempt to +represent himself as a believer in Christianity; but stood on the +necessity of providing the people with the regular means of worship, +wherever it is meant to have a state of tranquillity. The priests who +chose to take the oath of fidelity to government were re-admitted to +their functions; and this wise measure was followed by the adherence of +not less than 20,000 of these ministers of religion, who had hitherto +languished in the prisons of France. Cambaceres, an excellent lawyer and +judge, was of great service to Napoleon in these salutary reforms. + +Many other judicious measures might be mentioned in this place. Some +emigrants, cast on the shores by shipwreck, had been imprisoned and +destined for trial by the Directory. They were at once set free: and, in +like manner, La Fayette and other distinguished revolutionists, who had +been exiled for not adhering to all the wild notions of the preceding +administrations, were at once recalled. Carnot was one of these: +Buonaparte forthwith placed him at the head of the war department; and +the reform of the army was prosecuted with the vigour which might have +been expected from the joint skill and talent of the provisional head of +the government and this practised minister. The confusion which had of +late prevailed in that department was extreme. The government did not +even know the existence of regiments raised in the provinces: arms, +clothing, discipline in every article, had been neglected. The +organisation of the army was very speedily mended. + +The insurgent Chouans next claimed attention: and here the personal +character of Napoleon gave him advantages of the first importance. The +leaders of those brave bands were disposed to consider such a soldier as +a very different sort of ruler from the Pentarchy of the Luxembourg; and +their admiration for his person prepared them to listen to his terms. +The first measures of the new government were obviously calculated to +soothe their prejudices, and the general display of vigour in every +branch of the administration to overawe them. Chatillon, D'Antichamp, +Suzannet, and other royalist chiefs, submitted in form. Bernier, a +leading clergyman in La Vendée, followed the same course, and was an +acquisition of even more value. Others held out; but were soon routed in +detail, tried and executed. The appearances of returning tranquillity +were general and most welcome. + +Some of the party vanquished on the 18th Brumaire, however, still +lingered in Paris, and were busy in plotting new convulsions. It was +therefore the advice of all the ministers to condemn them to exile; and +lists of proscription were drawn up and published. But Buonaparte only +meant to overawe these persons: no one was apprehended: they kept quiet +for a season; and the edict of exile sank by degrees into oblivion. + +Meanwhile it was necessary that the government itself should assume some +permanent form, ere the time arrived for the re-assembly of the +legislative bodies. Their two committees met in one chamber with the +consuls, and the outline of a new constitution was laid before them by +Sieyes; who enjoyed the reputation of being the greatest of scientific +politicians. The Abbé, however, had soon perceived that Napoleon was to +be the real creator of whatever should be adopted; and, in the progress +of the ensuing consultations, submitted, step by step, to the laconic +Dictator, who accepted or discarded propositions, exactly as they +happened to coincide, or be at variance with, his own notions of his own +personal interest. He cared little in what manner the structure of the +future representative assemblies might be arranged; but there must be no +weakening of the executive power, which he was determined to vest +virtually in himself alone, and by means of which, he doubted not, it +would be easy to neutralise all other influences. + +The metaphysical Abbé proposed a scheme by far too delicately +complicated for the tear and wear of human business and human passions. +The absurdity, even of the parts which Napoleon consented to adopt, +became apparent to all when the machine was set in motion. The two most +prominent and peculiar devices--namely, that of placing at the head of +the state a sort of mock sovereign, destitute of any effective power, +and capable at any time of being degraded by the vote of a single +legislative body, under the title of GRAND ELECTOR; and secondly, that +of committing the real executive power to two separate consuls, one for +war and one for peace, nominally the inferiors of the Elector, but in +influence necessarily quite above him, and almost as necessarily the +rivals and enemies of each other; these ingenious twins were strangled +in the birth by Napoleon's shrewd practical sense. "Who," said he, +"would accept an office, the only duties of which were to fatten like a +pig, on so many millions a year? And your two consuls--the one +surrounded with churchmen, lawyers, and civilians--the other with +soldiers and diplomatists--on what footing would be their intercourse? +the one demanding money and recruits, the other refusing the supplies? A +government, made up of such heterogeneous and discordant materials, +would be the shadow of a state." He added two words, which at once +decided the main question; "I, for one, would never be your Grand +Elector." + +The constitution actually announced by proclamation on the 14th of +December, 1799, presents the following principal features. I. The male +citizens who are of age, and who pay taxes, in every _commune_ shall +choose a tenth of their number to be the notables of the commune; and +out of those notables the officers of the commune shall be appointed. +II. The notables of the communes constituting a _department_, shall +choose, in like manner, the tenth of their number to be the notables of +the department; and out of these the officers of the department shall be +appointed. III. The notables of all the departments shall, in the same +way, choose the tenth of their number to be notables of France; and out +of these the public functionaries of _The State_ shall be chosen. IV. +Three assemblies shall be composed of persons chosen from the notables +of France, viz.--1. The _Conservative Senate_, consisting (at first) of +twenty-four men, of forty years of age, to hold their places for life, +and to receive, each, a salary equal to 1-20th of that of the chief +consul: 2. _The Tribunate_, to be composed of 100 men, of twenty-five +years of age and upwards, of whom 1-5th go out every year, but +re-eligible indefinitely; the salary of each 15,000 francs (£625); and +thirdly, _The Legislative Senate_, composed of 300 members, of thirty +years of age, renewable by fifths every year, and having salaries of +10,000 francs (£416). V. The executive power shall be vested in three +consuls, chosen individually, as chief consul, second and third; the two +former for ten years, the last for five. VI. In order that the +administration of affairs may have time to settle itself, the tribunate +and legislative senate shall remain as first constituted for ten years, +without any re-elections. VII. With the same view, of avoiding +discussions during the unsettled state of opinion, a majority of the +members of the conservative senate are for the present appointed by the +consuls, Sieyes and Ducos, going out of office, and the consuls, +Cambaceres and Lebrun, about to come into office; they shall be held to +be duly elected, if the public _acquiesce_; and proceed to fill up their +own number, and to nominate the members of the tribunate and legislative +senate. VIII. The acts of legislation shall be proposed by the consuls: +the tribunate shall discuss and propound them to the legislative senate, +but _not vote_: the legislative senate shall hear the tribunate, and +vote, but _not debate_ themselves; and the act thus discussed and voted, +shall become law on being promulgated by the chief consul. IX. +Buonaparte is nominated chief consul, Cambaceres (minister of justice) +second, and Lebrun third consul. + +It would be rash to say that this could never have turned out in +practice a free constitution. Circumstances might have modified its +arrangements, and given the spirit of freedom to institutions not +_ex-facie_ favourable to it. But for the present it was universally +admitted that, under these new forms, the power of the state must be +virtually lodged in Buonaparte. He, in fact, named himself chief consul. +His creatures chose the conservative senate, and the conservative senate +were to choose the members of the other two assemblies. The machinery, +thus set in motion, could hardly fail to remain under his control; and, +looking at things more largely, the contrivances of making the electoral +bodies in the departments choose, not their actual representatives, but +only the persons from among whom these were to be chosen by the +conservative senate, and of preventing the legislative senate from +debating for themselves on the measures destined to pass into law, +appear to have been devised for the purpose of reducing to a mere +nullity the forms of a representative government.[32] However, the +consuls announced their manufacture to the people in these +terms:--"Citizens, the Constitution is grounded on the true principles +of a representative government, on the sacred rights of property, of +equality, and of liberty. The powers which it institutes will be +vigorous and permanent: such they should be to secure the rights of the +citizens and the interests of the state. Citizens! the Revolution is +fixed on the principles from which it originated: IT IS ENDED." And in +effect, books being opened throughout France, the names of the citizens +who inscribed their acceptance of this new constitution amounted to four +millions, while but a few votes to the contrary were registered--an +irrefragable proof that the national mind was disposed to think no +sacrifice too dear, so tranquillity could be obtained. + +The circumstance, perhaps, which occasioned most surprise on the +promulgation of the new constitution, was the non-appearance of the name +of Sieyes in the list of permanent consuls. It is probable that the Abbé +made up his mind to retire, so soon as he found that Buonaparte was +capable not only of mutilating his ideal republican scheme, but of +fulfiling in his own person all the functions of a civil ruler of +France. Howbeit the ingenious metaphysician did not disdain to accept of +a large estate (part of the royal domain of Versailles!) and a large +pension besides, by way of "public recompense"--when he withdrew to a +situation of comparative obscurity, as President of the Conservative +Senate. + +One of Buonaparte's first acts was to remove the seat of government from +the Luxembourg to the old Palace of the Tuileries, "which," he +significantly said to his colleagues, "is a good military position." It +was on the 19th of February, 1800, that the Chief Consul took possession +of the usual residence of the French kings. Those splendid halls were +re-opened with much ceremony, and immediately afterwards Napoleon held a +great review in the Place du Carousel. This was the first public act of +the Chief Consul. Shortly after, he appeared in his new official +costume, a dress of red silk and a black stock. Someone observed to him +that this last article was out of keeping with the rest: "No matter," +answered he, smiling, "a small remnant of the military character will do +us no harm." It was about the same time that Buonaparte heard 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 honour of +"a great man who fought against tyranny and consolidated the liberties +of his country." + +Talleyrand, appointed minister of foreign affairs by Buonaparte, was now +the chief partner of his counsels. The second Consul, Cambaceres, soon +learned to confine himself to the department of justice, and Lebrun to +that of finance. The effective branches of government were, almost from +the first, engrossed by Napoleon. Yet, while with equal audacity and +craft he was rapidly consolidating the elements of a new monarchy in his +own person--the Bourbonists, at home and abroad, had still nourished the +hope that this ultimate purpose was the restoration of the rightful king +of France. Very shortly after the 18th Brumaire, one of the foreign +ambassadors resident at Paris had even succeeded in obtaining a private +audience for Messieurs Hyde de Neuville and Dandigné, two agents of the +exiled princes. Buonaparte received them at night in a small closet of +the Tuileries, and requested them to speak with frankness. "You, sir," +they said, "have now in your hands the power of re-establishing the +throne, and restoring to it its legitimate master. Tell us what are your +intentions; and, if they accord with ours, we, and all the Vendeans, are +ready to take your commands." He replied that the return of the Bourbons +could not be accomplished without enormous slaughter; that his wish was +to forget the past, and to accept the services of all who were willing +henceforth to follow the general will of the nation; but that he would +treat with none who were not disposed to renounce all correspondence +with the Bourbons and the foreign enemies of the country. The conference +lasted half-an-hour; and the agents withdrew with a fixed sense that +Buonaparte would never come over to their side. Nevertheless, as it will +appear hereafter, the Bourbons themselves did not as yet altogether +despair; and it must be admitted, that various measures of the +provisional government were not unlikely to keep up their delusive +hopse. We may notice in particular a change in the national oath of +allegiance, by which one most important clause was entirely erased: +namely, that expressive of hatred to _royalty_: and an edict, by which +the celebration of the day on which Louis XVI. died, was formally +abolished. Sieyes, in opposing this last measure, happened to speak of +Louis as "the tyrant":--"Nay, nay," said Napoleon, "he was no tyrant: +had he been one, I should this day have been a captain of engineers--and +you saying mass." The Bourbons were very right in considering these as +monarchical symptoms; but shrewd observers perceived clearly in whose +favour such changes were designed to operate. It appears that some of +Napoleon's colleagues made a last effort to circumscribe his power, by +urging on him the necessity of his immediately placing himself at the +head of the armies in the field; expecting, no doubt, great advantages, +could they remove him from the seat of government, at the time when the +new machinery was getting into a regular course of motion. He sternly +resisted all such suggestions. "I am Chief Consul," said he, biting his +nails to the quick, "I will remain in Paris." + +And it was, indeed, most necessary for his success that he should remain +there at this critical epoch; for, in the arrangement of every branch of +the new government, he had systematically sought for his own security in +balancing against each other the lovers of opposite sets of principles +-men, who, by cordially coalescing together, might still have undone +him; or by carrying their animosities to extremity, overturned the whole +fabric of his manufacture. It was thus that he had chosen one consul +from the Republican party, and another from the Royalist; either of whom +might, in his absence, have been tempted to undermine his sway; whereas +both Cambaceres and Lebrun, overawed by his presence, proved eminently +serviceable in drawing over to the interests of the Chief Consul +innumerable persons, of their own ways of thinking originally, but no +longer such zealous theorists as to resist the arguments of +self-interest--those strong springs of hope and fear, of both of which +Napoleon, while at the Tuileries, held the master-key. It was thus, +also, that, in forming his ministry, he grouped together men, each of +whom detested or despised the others; but each unquestionably fitted, in +the highest degree, for the particular office assigned to him; and each, +therefore, likely to labour in his own department, communicating little +with his colleagues, and looking continually to the one hand that had +invested him with his share of power. It was in vain that one party +objected to the weathercock politics of Talleyrand. "Be it so," answered +the Chief Consul: "but he is the ablest minister for foreign affairs in +our choice, and it shall be my care that he exerts his abilities." +Carnot, in like manner, was objected to as a firm republican. +"Republican or not," answered Napoleon, "he is one of the last Frenchmen +that would wish to see France dismembered. Let us avail ourselves of his +unrivalled talents in the war department, while he is willing to place +them at our command." All parties equally cried out against the +falsehood, duplicity, and, in fact, avowed profligacy of Fouché. +"Fouché," said Buonaparte, "and Fouché alone, is able to conduct the +ministry of the police: he alone has a perfect knowledge of all the +factions and intrigues which have been spreading misery through France. +We cannot create men: we must take such as we find; and it is easier to +modify by circumstances the feelings and conduct of an able servant, +than to supply his place." Thus did he systematically make use of +whatever was willing to be useful--counting on the ambition of one man, +the integrity of a second, and the avarice of a third, with equal +confidence; and justified, for the present time (which was all he was +anxious about) by the results of each of the experiments in question. + +It is impossible to refuse the praise of consummate prudence and skill +to these, and indeed, to all the arrangements of Buonaparte, at this +great crisis of his history. The secret of his 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." From the +day when the consular government was formed, 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. Henceforth the regicide might dismiss all dread of +Bourbon revenge; the purchaser of forfeited property of being sacrificed +to the returning nobles; provided only they chose to sink their theories +and submit. To the royalist, on the other hand, Buonaparte held out the +prospect, not indeed of Bourbon restoration, but of the re-establishment +of a monarchical form of government, and all the concomitants of a +court; for the churchman the temples were at once opened; and the +rebuilding of the hierarchical fabric, in all its wealth, splendour and +power, was offered in prospective. Meanwhile, the great and crying evil, +from which the revolution had really sprung, was for ever abolished. The +odious distinction of castes was at an end. Political liberty existed, +perhaps, no longer; but civil liberty--the equality of all Frenchmen in +the eye of the law--was, or seemed to be, established. All men +henceforth must contribute to the state in the proportion of their +means: all men appeal to the same tribunals; and no man, however meanly +born, had it to say, that there was one post of power or dignity in +France to which talent and labour never could elevate him. Shortly after +Napoleon took possession of the Tuileries, _Murat_, who had long been +the lover of his sister Caroline, demanded her hand in marriage. The +gallantry and military talents of this handsome officer had already +raised him to a distinguished rank in the army, and Josephine warmly +espoused his interests: but Buonaparte was with difficulty persuaded to +give his consent to the match. "Murat is the son of an innkeeper," said +he,--"in the station to which events have elevated me, I must not mix my +blood with his." These objections, however, were overcome by the address +of Josephine, who considered Napoleon's own brothers as her enemies, and +was anxious, not without reason, to have some additional support in the +family. Her influence, from this time, appears to have remained +unshaken; though her extravagance and incurable habit of contracting +debts gave rise to many unpleasing scenes between her and the most +methodical of mankind. + +[Footnote 32: The morning after the constitution was announced, the +streets of Paris were placarded with the following pasquil:-- + +------------------------------------------------ +| POLITICAL SUBTRACTION. | +| From 5 Directors | +| Take 2 | +| --- | +| There remain 3 Consuls | +| From them take 2 | +| --- | +| And there remains 1 BUONAPARTE. | +------------------------------------------------ + +This sufficiently expresses what was considered to be the essence of the +new constitution.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + The Chief Consul writes to the King of England--Lord Grenville's + Answer--Napoleon passes the Great St. Bernard--The taking of St. + Bard--The Siege of Genoa--The Battle of Montebello--The Battle of + Marengo--Napoleon returns to Paris--The Infernal Machine--The + Battle of Hohenlinden--The Treaty of Luneville. + + +Much had been already done towards the internal tranquillisation of +France: but it was obvious that the result could not be perfect until +the war, which had so long raged on two frontiers of the country, should +have found a termination. The fortune of the last two years had been far +different from that of the glorious campaigns which ended in the +treaty--or armistice, as it might more truly be named--of Campo-Formio. +The Austrians had recovered the north of Italy, and already menaced the +Savoy frontier, designing to march into Provence, and there support a +new insurrection of the royalists. The force opposed to them in that +quarter was much inferior in numbers, and composed of the relics of +armies beaten over and over again by Suwarrow. The Austrians and French +were more nearly balanced on the Rhine frontier; but even there, there +was ample room for anxiety. On the whole, the grand attitude in which +Buonaparte had left the Republic when he embarked for Egypt, was +exchanged for one of a far humbler description; and, in fact, as has +been intimated, the general disheartening of the nation, by reason of +those reverses, had been of signal service to Napoleon's ambition. If a +strong hand was wanted at home, the necessity of having a general who +could bring back victory to the tricolor banners in the field had been +not less deeply felt. And hence the decisive revolution of Brumaire. + +Of the allies of Austria, meanwhile, one had virtually abandoned her. +The Emperor Paul, of Russia, resenting the style in which his army under +Suwarrow had been supported, withdrew it altogether from the field of +its victories; and that hare-brained autocrat, happening to take up an +enthusiastic personal admiration for Buonaparte, was not likely for the +present to be brought back into the Antigallican league. England +appeared steadfast to the cause; but it remained to be proved whether +the failure of her expedition to Holland under the Duke of York, or the +signal success of her naval arms in the Mediterranean under Lord Nelson, +had had the greater influence on the feelings of the government of St. +James's. In the former case Napoleon might expect to find his advances +towards a negotiation, in his new character of Chief Consul, received +with better disposition than his predecessors of the Directory had +extended to the last overtures of the English cabinet tendered by Lord +Malmesbury. He resolved to have the credit of making the experiment at +least, ere the campaign with the Austrians should open; and, discarding, +as he had on a former occasion,[33] the usual etiquettes of diplomatic +intercourse, addressed a letter to King George III., in person, almost +immediately after the new consulate was established in the Tuileries, in +these terms (Dec. 25, 1799). + + "_French Republic--Sovereignty of the People-- + Liberty and Equality._ + "_Buonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, + to his Majesty the King of Great + Britain and Ireland._ + + "Called by the wishes of the French nation to occupy the first + magistracy of the Republic, I have thought proper, in commencing + the discharge of its duties, to communicate the event directly to + your Majesty. + + "Must the war, which for eight years has ravaged the four quarters + of the world, be eternal? Is there no room for accommodation? How + can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, stronger and more + powerful than is necessary for their safety and independence, + sacrifice commercial advantages, internal prosperity, and domestic + happiness, to vain ideas of grandeur? Whence comes it that they do + not feel peace to be the first of wants as well as of glories? + These sentiments cannot be new to the heart of your Majesty, who + rule over a free nation with no other view than to render it happy. + Your Majesty will see in this overture only my sincere desire to + contribute effectually, for the second time, to a general + pacification--by a prompt step taken in confidence, and freed from + those forms, which, however necessary to disguise the + 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 all civilised nations is concerned in the termination of a + war, the flames of which are raging throughout the whole world. I + have the honour to be, &c. &c. + + "BUONAPARTE." + +It is manifest that the Chief Consul was wonderfully ignorant of the +English constitution, if he really believed that the King (whose public +acts must all be done by the hands of responsible ministers) could +answer his letter personally. The reply was an official note from Lord +Grenville, then secretary of state for the department of foreign +affairs, to Talleyrand. It stated "that the King of England had no +object in the war but the security of his own dominions, his allies, and +Europe in general; he would seize the first favourable opportunity to +make peace--at present he could see none. The same general assertions of +pacific intentions had proceeded, successively, from all the +revolutionary governments of France; and they had all persisted in +conduct directly and notoriously the opposite of their language. +Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Germany, Egypt,--what country had been safe +from French aggression? The war must continue until the causes which +gave it birth ceased to exist. The restoration of the exiled royal +family would be the easiest means of giving confidence to the other +powers of Europe. The King of England by no means pretended to dictate +anything as to the internal polity of France; but he was compelled to +say, that he saw nothing in the circumstances under which the new +government had been set up, or the principles it professed to act upon, +which could tend to make foreign powers regard it as either more stable +or more trustworthy than the transitory forms it had supplanted." + +Such was the tenor of Lord Grenville's famous note. It gave rise to an +animated discussion in both Houses immediately on the meeting of the +British Parliament; and, in both, the conduct of the ministry was +approved by very great majorities. When, however, the financial +preparations were brought forward, and it turned out that Russia was no +longer to be subsidised--or, in other words, had abandoned the league +against France--the prospects of the war were generally considered as +much less favourable than they had been during this discussion. In the +meantime the French government put forth, by way of commentary on Lord +Grenville's state paper, a pretended letter from the unfortunate heir of +the House of Stuart to George III., demanding from him the throne of +England, which, now that the principle of legitimacy seemed to be +recognised at St. James's, there could (said the pasquinade) be no fair +pretext for refusing. Some other trifles of the same character might be +noticed; but the true answer to Mr. Pitt was the campaign of Marengo. + +Buonaparte rejoiced cordially in the result of his informal negotiation. +It was his policy, even more clearly than it had been that of his +predecessors, to buy security at home by battle and victory abroad. The +national pride had been deeply wounded during his absence; and something +must be done in Europe, worthy of the days of Lodi, and Rivoli, and +Tagliamento, ere he could hope to be seated firmly on his _throne_. On +receiving the answer of the British minister, he said to Talleyrand +(rubbing his hands, as was his custom when much pleased), "it could not +have been more favourable." On the same day, the 7th of January (just +three days after the date of Lord Grenville's note), the First Consul +issued his edict for the formation of an army of reserve, consisting of +all the veterans who had ever served, and a new levy of 30,000 +conscripts. + +At this time France had four armies on her frontiers: that of the North, +under Brune, watched the partisans of the House of Orange in Holland, +and guarded those coasts against any new invasion from England; the +defeat of the Duke of York had enabled the government to reduce its +strength considerably. The second was the army of the Danube, under +Jourdan, which, after the defeat at Stockach, had been obliged to repass +the Rhine. The third, under Massena, styled the army of Helvetia, had +been compelled in the preceding campaign to evacuate great part of +Switzerland; but, gaining the battle of Zurich against the Russians, now +re-occupied the whole of that republic. The fourth was that broken +remnant which still called itself the "army of Italy." After the +disastrous conflict of Genola it had rallied in disorder on the Apennine +and the heights of Genoa, where the spirit of the troops was already so +much injured, that whole battalions deserted _en masse_, and retired +behind the Var. Their distress, in truth, was extreme; for they had lost +all means of communication with the valley of the Po, and the English +fleet effectually blockaded the whole coasts both of Provence and +Liguria; so that, pent up among barren rocks, they suffered the +hardships and privations of a beleaguered garrison. + +The Chief Consul sent Massena to assume the command of the "army of +Italy"; and issued, on that occasion, a general order, which had a +magical effect on the minds of the soldiery, Massena was highly esteemed +among them; and after his arrival at Genoa, the deserters flocked back +rapidly to their standards. At the same time Buonaparte ordered Moreau +to assume the command of the two corps of the Danube and Helvetia, and +consolidate them into one great "army of the Rhine." Lastly, the +rendezvous of the "army of reserve" was appointed for Dijon: a central +position from which either Messena or Moreau might, as circumstances +demanded, be supported and reinforced; but which Napoleon really +designed to serve for a cloak to his main purpose. For he had already, +in concert with Carnot, sketched the plan of that which is generally +considered as at once the most daring and the most masterly of all the +campaigns of the war; and which, in so far as the execution depended on +himself, turned out also the most dazzlingly successful. + +In placing Moreau at the head of the army of the Rhine, full 150,000 +strong, and out of all comparison the best disciplined as well as +largest force of the Republic, Buonaparte exhibited a noble superiority +to all feelings of personal jealousy. That general's reputation +approached the most nearly to his own, but his talents justified this +reputation, and the Chief Consul thought of nothing but the best means +of accomplishing the purposes of the joint campaign. Moreau, in the +sequel, was severely censured by his master for the manner in which he +executed the charge entrusted to him. His orders were to march at once +upon Ulm, at the risk of placing the great Austrian army under Kray +between him and France; but he was also commanded to detach 15,000 of +his troops for the separate service of passing into Italy by the defiles +of St. Gothard; and given to understand that it must be his business to +prevent Kray, at all hazards, from opening a communication with Italy by +way of the Tyrol. Under such circumstances, it is not wonderful that a +general, who had a master, should have proceeded more cautiously than +suited the gigantic aspirations of the unfettered Napoleon. Moreau, +however, it must be admitted, had always the reputation of a prudent +rather than a daring commander. The details of his campaign against Kray +must be sought elsewhere. A variety of engagements took place with a +variety of fortune. Moreau, his enemies allow, commenced his operations +by crossing the Rhine in the end of April; and, on the 15th of July, had +his headquarters at Augsburg, and was in condition either to reinforce +the French in Italy, or to march into the heart of the Austrian states, +when the success of Buonaparte's own expedition rendered either movement +unnecessary. + +The Chief Consul had resolved upon conducting, in person, one of the +most adventurous enterprises recorded in the history of war. The +formation of the army of reserve at Dijon was a mere deceit. A numerous +staff, indeed, assembled in that town; and the preparation of the +munitions of war proceeded there as elsewhere with the utmost energy: +but the troops collected at Dijon were few; and--it being universally +circulated and believed, that they were the force meant to re-establish +the once glorious army of Italy, by marching to the headquarters of +Massena at Genoa,--the Austrians received the accounts of their numbers +and appearance, not only with indifference but with derision. +Buonaparte, meanwhile, had spent three months in recruiting his armies +throughout the interior of France; and the troops, by means of which it +was his purpose to change the face of affairs beyond the Alps, were +already marching by different routes, each detachment in total ignorance +of the other's destination, upon the territory of Switzerland. To that +quarter Buonaparte had already sent forward Berthier, the most +confidential of his military friends, and other officers of the highest +skill, with orders to reconnoitre the various passes in the great Alpine +chain, and make every other preparation for the movement, of which they +alone were, as yet, in the secret. + +The statesmen who ventured, even after Brumaire, to oppose the +investiture of Buonaparte with the whole power of the state, had, at +first (as we have seen) attempted to confine him to the military +department; or so arrange it that his orders, as to civil affairs, +should, at least, not be absolute. Failing in this, they then proposed +that the Chief Consul should be incapable of heading an army in the +field, without abdicating previously his magistracy; and to their +surprise, Napoleon at once acceded to a proposition which, it had been +expected, would rouse his indignation. It now turned out how much the +saving clause in question was worth. The Chief Consul could not, indeed, +be general-in-chief of an army; but he could appoint whom he pleased to +that post; and there was no law against his being present, in his own +person, as a spectator of the campaign. It signified little that a +Berthier should write himself commander, when a Napoleon was known to be +in the camp. + +It was now time that the great project should be realised. The situation +of the "army of Italy" was become most critical. After a variety of +petty engagements, its general saw his left wing (under Suchet) wholly +cut off from his main body; and, while Suchet was forced to retire +behind the Var, where his troops had the utmost difficulty in presenting +any serious opposition to the Austrians, Massena had been compelled to +throw himself with the remainder into Genoa. In that city he was +speedily blockaded by the Austrian general Ott; while the imperial +commander-in-chief, Melas, advanced with 30,000 upon Nice--of which +place he took possession on the 11th of May. The Austrians, having shut +up Massena, and well knowing the feebleness of Suchet's division, were +in a delirium of joy. The gates of France appeared, at length, to be +open before them; and it was not such an army of reserve as had excited +the merriment of their spies at Dijon that could hope to withstand them +in their long-meditated march on Provence--where Pichegru, as they +supposed, was prepared to assume the command of a numerous body of +royalist insurgents, as soon as he should receive intelligence of their +entrance into France. But they were soon to hear news of another +complexion from whence they least expected it--from behind them. + +The Chief Consul remained in Paris until he received Berthier's decisive +despatch from Geneva--it was in these words: "I wish to see you here. +There are orders to be given by which three armies may act in concert, +and you alone can give them in the lines. Measures decided on in Paris +are too late." He instantly quitted the capital; and, on the 7th of May +appeared at Dijon, where he reviewed, in great form, some 7000 or 8000 +raw and half-clad troops, and committed them to the care of Brune. The +spies of Austria reaped new satisfaction from this consular review: +meanwhile Napoleon had halted but two hours at Dijon; and, travelling +all night, arrived the next day, at Geneva. Here he was met by Marescot, +who had been employed in exploring the wild passes of the Great St. +Bernard, and received from him an appalling picture of the difficulties +of marching an army by that route into Italy. "Is it possible to pass?" +said Napoleon, cutting the engineer's narrative short. "The thing is +barely possible," answered Marescot. "Very well," said the Chief Consul, +"_en avant_--let us proceed." + +While the Austrians were thinking only of the frontier where Suchet +commanded an enfeebled and dispirited division,--destined, as they +doubted not, to be reinforced by the army, such as it was, of +Dijon,--the Chief Consul had resolved to penetrate into Italy, as +Hannibal had done of old, through all the dangers and difficulties of +the great Alps themselves. The march on the Var and Genoa might have +been executed with comparative ease, and might, in all likelihood, have +led to victory; but mere victory would not suffice. It was urgently +necessary that the name of Buonaparte should be surrounded with some +blaze of almost supernatural renown; and his plan for purchasing this +splendour was to rush down from the Alps, at whatever hazard, upon the +rear of Melas, cut off all his communications with Austria, and then +force him to a conflict, in which, Massena and Suchet being on the other +side of him, reverse must needs be ruin. + +For the treble purpose of more easily collecting a sufficient stock of +provisions for the march, of making its accomplishment more rapid, and +of 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 detached from the army of +Moreau, was ordered to debouch by the way of St. Gothard. The corps of +Thureau, 5000 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, the Chief Consul himself took care; +and he reserved for them the gigantic task of surmounting, with the +artillery, the huge barriers of the Great St. Bernard. Thus along the +Alpine Chain--from the sources of the Rhine and the Rhone to Isere and +Durance--about 60,000 men, in all, prepared for the adventure. It must +be added, if we would form a fair conception of the enterprise, that +Napoleon well knew not one-third of these men had ever seen a shot fired +in earnest. + +The difficulties encountered by Moncey, Thureau, and Chabran will be +sufficiently understood from the narrative of Buonaparte's own march. +From the 15th to the 18th of May all his columns were put in motion; +Lannes, with the advanced guard, clearing the way before them; the +general, Berthier, and the Chief Consul himself superintending the rear +guard, which, as having with it the artillery, was the object of highest +importance. At St. Pierre all semblance of a road disappeared. +Thenceforth an army, horse and foot, laden with all the munitions of a +campaign, a park of forty field-pieces included, were to be urged 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; across bottomless chasms caked over with frost or +snow-drift; and breathing + + "The difficult air of the iced mountain top, + Where the birds dare not build, nor insect's wing + Flit o'er the herbless granite."[34] + +The transport of the artillery and ammunition was the most difficult +point; and to this, accordingly, the Chief Consul gave his personal +superintendence. The guns were dismounted, grooved into the trunks of +trees hollowed out so as to suit each calibre, and then dragged on by +sheer strength of muscle--not less than an hundred soldiers being +sometimes harnessed to a single cannon. The carriages and wheels, being +taken to pieces, were slung on poles, and borne on men's shoulders. The +powder and shot, packed into boxes of fir-wood, formed the lading of all +the mules that could be collected over a wide range of the Alpine +country. These preparations had been made during the week that elapsed +between Buonaparte's arrival at Geneva and the commencement of Lannes's +march. He himself travelled sometimes on a mule, but mostly on foot, +cheering on the soldiers who had the burden of the great guns. The +fatigue undergone is not to be described. The men in front durst not +halt to breathe, because the least stoppage there might have thrown the +column behind into confusion, on the brink of deadly precipices; and +those in the rear had to flounder knee deep, through snow and ice +trampled into sludge by the feet and hoofs of the preceding divisions. +Happily the march of Napoleon was not harassed, like that of Hannibal, +by the assaults of living enemies. The mountaineers, on the contrary, +flocked in to reap the liberal rewards which he offered to all who were +willing to lighten the drudgery of his troops. + +On the 16th of May Napoleon slept at the convent of St. Maurice; and, in +the course of the four following days, the whole army passed the Great +St. Bernard. It was on the 20th that Buonaparte himself halted an hour +at the convent of the Hospitallers, which stands on the summit of this +mighty mountain. The good fathers of the monastery had been warned +beforehand of the march, and they had furnished every soldier as he +passed with a luncheon of bread and cheese and a glass of wine; for +which seasonable kindness, they now received the warm acknowledgments of +the chief.[35] It was here that he took his leave of a peasant youth, +who had walked by him, as his guide, all the way from the convent of St. +Maurice. Napoleon conversed freely with the young man, and was much +interested with his simplicity. At parting, he asked the guide some +particulars about his personal situation; and, having heard his reply, +gave him money and a billet to the head of the monastery of St. Maurice. +The peasant delivered it accordingly, and was surprised to find that, +in consequence of a scrap of writing which he could not read, his +worldly comforts were to be permanently increased. The object of his +generosity remembered, nevertheless, but little of his conversation with +the Consul. He described Napoleon as being "a very dark man" (this was +the effect of the Syrian sun), and having an eye that, notwithstanding +his affability, he could not encounter without a sense of fear. The only +saying of the hero which he treasured in his memory was, "I have spoiled +a hat among your mountains: well, I shall find a new one on the other +side."--Thus spoke Napoleon, wringing the rain from his covering as he +approached the hospice of St. Bernard.--The guide described, however, +very strikingly, the effects of Buonaparte's appearance and voice, when +any obstacle checked the advance of his soldiery along that fearful +wilderness which is called emphatically, "The Valley of Desolation." A +single look or word was commonly sufficient to set all in motion again. +But if the way presented some new and apparently insuperable difficulty, +the Consul bade the drums beat and the trumpets sound, as if for the +charge; and this never failed. Of such gallant temper were the spirits +which Napoleon had at command, and with such admirable skill did he +wield them! + +On the 16th the vanguard, under Lannes, reached the beautiful vale of +Aosta, and the other divisions descended rapidly on their footsteps. +This part of the progress was not less difficult than the ascent before. +The horses, mules, and guns, were to be led down one slippery steep +after another--and we may judge with what anxious care, since Napoleon +himself was once contented to slide nearly a hundred yards together, +_seated_. + +On the 17th Lannes arrived at Chatillon, where he attacked and defeated +a corps of 5000 Austrians--who received the onset of a French division +in that quarter, with about as much surprise as if an enemy had dropped +on them from the clouds. Every difficulty now seemed to be surmounted, +and corps after corps came down into the plentiful and verdant valley, +full of joy. But suddenly the march of the vanguard was arrested by an +obstacle unforeseen, or, at least, grievously under-estimated. Midway +between Aosta and Ivrea the Dora flows through a defile, not more than +fifty yards in width: the heights on either hand rise precipitous; and +in the midst an abrupt conical rock, crowned with the fortress of St. +Bard, entirely commands the river, and a small walled town, through the +heart of which lies the only passage. Lannes having vainly attempted to +force the place by a _coup de main_, a panic arose, and this spreading +to the rear, orders were given for stopping the descent of the +artillery. The Consul had come as far as the town of Aosta when this +intelligence reached him. He immediately hastened to St. Bard, where he +found the troops in much confusion. + +On occasions like this Napoleon rarely failed to vindicate the +_prestige_ of his reputation. After hastily surveying the localities, he +climbed the height of the Albaredo, which rises on the one side above +the fort, and satisfied himself that, though the path had hitherto been +trodden only by solitary huntsmen, the army who had crossed the St. +Bernard might, by similar efforts, find or make their way here also. A +single cannon being, with the last difficulty, hoisted to the summit, he +planted it so as to play full on the chief bastion of St. Bard. The +moment this was arranged the troops began their painful march; and they +accomplished it without considerable loss; for the Consul's gun was so +excellently placed that the main battery of the subjacent castle, was, +ere long, silenced. The men crept along the brow of the Albaredo in +single file, each pausing (says an eye-witness) to gaze for a moment on +Napoleon, who, overcome with his exertions, had lain down and fallen +fast asleep upon the summit of the rock. Thus passed the main body, +slowly, but surely. Meantime Colonel Dufour had been ordered to scale +the wall of the town at nightfall; and his regiment (the 58th) performed +this service so impetuously, that the Austrian troops took refuge in the +castle, and the French made good their lodgment in the houses below. For +some hours the garrison poured down grape-shot at half-musket distance +upon the French, but at last out of compassion for the inhabitants, the +fire slackened, and ere day broke Buonaparte had effected his main +purpose. The streets of the town having been strewn with litter to +deafen sound, the guns, covered with straw and branches of trees, were +dragged through it under the very guns of St. Bard, and without exciting +the least suspicion in its garrison. Next morning the Austrian sent on +a messenger to Melas, with tidings that a large division of the French +had indeed passed by the goat-tracks of Albaredo, but that most +certainly not one great gun was with them. Buonaparte, meantime, was +hurrying forwards with horse, foot, and artillery too, upon Ivrea. + +The march of the Consul received no new check until he reached the town +of Ivrea, where, after two days' hard fighting, Lannes at length forced +an entrance, and the garrison, with severe loss, withdrew. Buonaparte +then took the road to Turin, and the vanguard had another severe piece +of service at the bridge of Chiusilla, where 10,000 Austrians had been +very strongly posted. Lannes broke them, and pursuing as far as Orca, +cut them off from their magazines at Chevagno, and seized a vast +quantity of stores which had been embarked on the Po. The advance was +now within one march of Turin, while Murat occupied Vercelli, and the +other divisions (those of Moncey, Chabran, and Thureau), having +accomplished their several Alpine journeys, were pouring down upon the +low country, and gradually converging towards the appointed rendezvous +on the Ticino. Buonaparte had thus overcome the great difficulties of +his preparation, and was ready with his whole army to open the campaign +in good earnest against Melas. + +The blockade of Genoa had been kept up all this time; while Suchet +resolutely maintained the last line of defence on the old frontier of +France. On the 22nd of May Melas made a desperate effort to force the +passage of the Var, but failed; and immediately afterwards received his +first intelligence of the movements of Buonaparte, and the defeat of his +own detachment at the bridge of Chiusilla. He perceived that it was high +time to leave Suchet to inferior hands, and set off to oppose in person +"the army of reserve." Suchet, on his part, was not slow to profit by +the departure of the Austrian Commander-in-chief: he, being informed of +Buonaparte's descent, forthwith resumed the offensive, re-crossed the +Var, and carried Vintimiglia at the point of the bayonet. Pursuing his +advantage, Suchet obtained the mastery, first of the defile of Braus, +and then of that of Tende, and at length re-occupied his old position at +Melagno, whence his advanced guard pushed on as far as Savona. + +The garrison of Genoa, meantime, had been holding out gallantly. +Massena for some time kept possession of the semicircular chain of +heights on the land side, and was thus enabled to obtain provisions, +despite the 40,000 Austrians under General Ott who lay watching him, and +the English fleet under Lord Keith which completely blockaded the shore. +A great effort made to dislodge him from the heights on the 3rd of April +had failed. But by degrees the superiority of numbers proved too much +for him, and being shut at last within the walls--where, to increase all +his difficulties, a great part of the population was violently hostile +to the French cause--his sufferings from want of provisions, and the +necessity of constant watchfulness and daily skirmishes, began to be +severe. In his sorties, Massena had for the most part the advantage; and +never in the whole war was the heroism of the French soldiery more +brilliantly displayed than during this siege.[36] The news of the +expedition of Napoleon at length penetrated to the beleaguered garrison, +and the expectation of relief gave them from day to day new courage to +hold out. But day passed after day without any deliverer making his +appearance, and the scarcity of food rendered it almost impossible to +keep the inhabitants from rising _en masse_ to throw open the gates. The +English, meanwhile, anchored closer to the city, and having cut out the +vessels which guarded the entrance of the harbour, were bombarding the +French quarters at their pleasure. Everything eatable, not excepting the +shoes and knapsacks of the soldiers, had been devoured, ere Massena at +length listened to the proposal of a conference with General Ott and +Lord Keith. If the French general's necessities were urgent, the English +admiral's desire to get possession of Genoa, ere Buonaparte could make +further progress, was not less vehement. Lord Keith frankly told +Massena, that his gallantry had been such that no terms could be too +good for him. The word _capitulation_ Was omitted: the French marched +out of the town with arms and baggage, and were allowed to proceed to +Suchet's headquarters; and, on the 5th of June, Ott occupied Genoa. + +General Ott, notwithstanding this success, had been very ill-employed in +lingering before Genoa while Napoleon was so rapidly advancing; and +Melas, utterly perplexed between Suchet on the one side and the Consul +on the other, had in fact lain still, and done nothing. Buonaparte, +between the 1st and 4th of June, crossed the Ticino with his whole army. +Murat carried Turbigo on the 5th, the very day that Genoa fell; and on +the 2nd, the Chief Consul himself once more entered Milan, where he was +received with enthusiasm. Lannes, after various conflicts, occupied +Pavia. Chapon and Thureau threatened Turin by two different routes; and +Melas, at last roused to a sense of his imminent danger, abandoned the +open country of Piedmont, took up his headquarters at Alessandria, and +began to draw together his widely separated columns, and concentrate +them for the inevitable battle which must decide the fate of Italy. + +Buonaparte, meanwhile, was ignorant of the fall of Genoa. He supposed, +therefore, that the army of Ott was still at a wide distance from that +of the Austrian commander-in-chief, and meditated to pass the Po +suddenly, and either attack Ott and relieve Genoa, ere Melas knew that +he was in that neighbourhood, or, if he should find this more +practicable, force Melas himself to accept battle unsupported by Ott. +Lannes and the van, accordingly, pushed on as far as Montebello, where, +to their surprise, they found the Austrians in strength. Early in the +morning of the 9th of June, Lannes was attacked by a force which he had +much difficulty in resisting. The Austrians were greatly superior in +cavalry, and the ground was favourable for that arm. But at length +Victor's division came up, and, after a severe struggle, turned the +tide. The battle was a most obstinate one. The fields being covered with +very tall crops of rye, the hostile battalions were often almost within +bayonet's length ere they were aware of each other's presence; and the +same circumstances prevented the generals, on either side, from +displaying much science in their manoeuvres. It was a conflict of man +against man, and determined at a dear cost of blood. The field was +strewn with dead, and the retiring Austrians left 5000 prisoners in the +hands of Lannes--who, in memory of this day of slaughter, was created +afterwards Duke of Montebello. It was from the prisoners taken here that +the Consul learned the fate of Genoa. He immediately concluded that +Melas had concentrated his army; and, having sent messengers to Suchet, +urging him to cross the mountains by the Col di Cadibona, and march on +the Scrivia (which would place him in the rear of the enemy), halted his +whole line upon the strong position of Stradella. + +It was on the evening after Montebello, that General Dessaix, whom +Napoleon considered as second only to himself in military genius, +arrived at headquarters. Buonaparte had, as we have seen, on leaving +Egypt, ordered Kleber to send Dessaix to France in the course of +November. He had accordingly landed at Frejus shortly after the +establishment of the new government, where he found letters from the +Chief Consul, urging him to join him without delay. In these letters +there were some melancholy phrases, and Dessaix, who really loved +Napoleon, was heard to say, "He has gained all, and yet he is not +satisfied." A hundred obstacles rose up to keep Dessaix from joining his +friend so speedily as both wished. He was yet in France when the news of +St. Bernard came thither, and exclaiming, "He will leave us nothing to +do," travelled night and day until he was able to throw himself into his +arms. Napoleon immediately gave him the command of a division; and they +spent the night together in conversing about the affairs of Egypt. + +The First Consul was anxious to tempt Melas to attack him at Stradella, +where the ground was unfavourable to cavalry movements; but, after lying +there unmolested for three days, he began to fear that the Austrian had +resolved, either on moving to the left flank, crossing the Ticino, +occupying Milan, and so re-opening his communications with Vienna;--or, +on falling back to Genoa, overwhelming Suchet, and taking up a position +where the British fleet could supply him with provisions--or even, in +case of necessity, embark his army, carry it round to the other side of +Italy, and by that means place him once more between his enemy and the +German states. Buonaparte, being perplexed with these apprehensions, at +last descended into the great plain of Marengo, on which he had, not +without reason, feared to abide the onset of Melas and the Austrian +horse. He was at Volghera on the 11th, and the next day at St. Juliano, +in the very centre of the plain; but still no enemy appeared. On the +13th, he advanced to the village of Marengo itself, and finding nothing +even there but a scanty outpost, which retreated before him, concluded +certainly that Melas had given him the slip, and marched either to the +left on the Ticino, or to the right on Genoa. In great anxiety he +detached one division under Dessaix to watch the road to Genoa, and +another under Murat towards the Scrivia. Dessaix was already +half-a-day's journey from headquarters, when Napoleon received +intelligence which made him hastily recall all his detachments. The +Austrian general, after a long hesitation, had at length resolved to let +a fair field decide once more the fate of Italy. On the evening of the +13th, his whole army mustered in front of Alessandria having only the +river Bormida between them and the plain of Marengo; and early in the +following morning, they passed the stream at three several points, and +advanced towards the French position in as many columns. + +The Austrians were full 40,000 strong; while, in the absence of Dessaix +and the reserve, Napoleon could, at most, oppose to them 20,000, of whom +only 2500 were cavalry. He had, however, no hesitation about accepting +the battle. His advance, under Gardanne, occupied the small hamlet of +Padre Bona, a little in front of Marengo. At that village, which +overlooks a narrow ravine, the channel of a rivulet, Napoleon stationed +Victor with the main body of his first line--the extreme right of it +resting on Castel Ceriolo, another hamlet almost parallel with Marengo; +Kellerman, with a brigade of cavalry, was posted immediately behind +Victor for the protection of his flanks. A thousand yards in the rear of +Victor was the second line, under Lannes, protected in like fashion by +the cavalry of Champeaux. At about an equal distance, again, behind +Lannes, was the third line, consisting of the division of St. Cyr, and +the consular guard, under Napoleon in person. The Austrian heavy +infantry, on reaching the open field, formed into two lines, the first, +under General Haddick, considerably in advance before the other, which +Melas himself commanded, with General Zach for his second. These moved +steadily towards Marengo; while the light infantry and cavalry, under +General Elsnitz, made a detour round Castel Ceriolo with the purpose of +outflanking the French right. + +Such was the posture of the two armies when this great battle began. +Gardanne was unable to withstand the shock, and abandoning Padre Bona, +fell back to strengthen Victor. A furious cannonade along the whole +front of that position ensued; the tirailleurs of either army posted +themselves along the margins of the ravine, and fired incessantly at +each other, their pieces almost touching. Cannon and musketry spread +devastation everywhere--for the armies were but a few toises apart. For +more than two hours Victor withstood singly the vigorous assaults of a +far superior force; Marengo had been taken and retaken several times, +ere Lannes received orders to reinforce him. The second line at length +advanced, but they found the first in retreat, and the two corps took up +a second line of defence considerably to the rear of Marengo. Here they +were, again, charged furiously--and again, after obstinate resistance, +gave way. General Elsnitz, meantime, having effected his purpose, and +fairly marched round Castel Ceriolo, appeared on the right flank, with +his splendid cavalry, and began to pour his squadrons upon the +retreating columns of Lannes. That gallant chief formed his troops _en +echelon_; and retired in admirable order--but the retreat was now +general; and, had Melas pursued the advantage with all his reserve, the +battle was won. But that aged general (he was eighty-four years old) +doubted not that he had won it already; and at this critical moment, +being quite worn out with fatigue, withdrew to the rear, leaving Zach to +continue what he considered as now a mere pursuit. + +At the moment when the Austrian horse were about to rush on Lannes's +retreating corps, the reserve under Dessaix appeared on the outskirts of +the field. Dessaix himself, riding up to the First Consul, said, "I +think this is a battle lost." "I think it is a battle won," answered +Napoleon. "Do you push on, and I will speedily rally the line behind +you."--And in effect the timely arrival of this reserve turned the +fortune of the day. + +Napoleon in person drew up the whole of his army on a third line of +battle, and rode along the front, saying, "Soldiers, we have retired far +enough. Let us now advance. You know it is my custom to sleep on the +field of battle." The enthusiasm of the troops appeared to be revived, +and Dessaix prepared to act on the offensive; he led a fresh column of +5000 grenadiers to meet and check the advance of Zach. The brave Dessaix +fell dead at the first fire, shot through the head. "Alas! it is not +permitted to me to weep," said Napoleon; and the fall of that beloved +chief redoubled the fury of his followers. The first line of the +Austrian infantry charged, however, with equal resolution. At that +moment Kellerman's horse came on them in flank; and being, by that +unexpected assault, broken, they were, after a vain struggle, compelled +to surrender:--General Zach himself was here made prisoner. The Austrian +columns behind, being flushed with victory, were advancing too +carelessly, and proved unable to resist the general assault of the whole +French line, which now pressed onwards under the immediate command of +Napoleon. Post after post was carried. The noble cavalry of Elsnitz, +perceiving the infantry broken and retiring, lost heart; and, instead of +forming to protect their retreat, turned their horses' heads and +galloped over the plain, trampling down every thing in their way. When +the routed army reached at length the Bormida, the confusion was +indescribable. Hundreds were drowned--the river rolled red amidst the +corpses of horse and men. Whole corps, being unable to effect the +passage, surrendered: and at ten at night the Austrian commander with +difficulty rallied the remnant of that magnificent array on the very +ground which they had left the same morning in all the confidence of +victory. + +It is not to be denied that Napoleon was saved on this occasion by the +arrival of the reserve under Dessaix, and the timely charge of +Kellerman. On the other hand it is impossible not to condemn the +rashness with which the Austrian generals advanced after their first +successes. + +The discomfiture of the imperialists was so great, that rather than +stand the consequences of another battle, while Suchet was coming on +their rear, they next day entered into a negotiation. Melas offered to +abandon Genoa and all the strong places in Piedmont, Lombardy, and the +Legations--provided Buonaparte would allow him to march the remains of +his army unmolested to the rear of Mantua. Napoleon accepted this offer. +By one battle he had regained nearly all that the French had lost in the +unhappy Italian campaign of 1799: at all events he had done enough to +crown his own name with unrivalled splendour, and to show that the +French troops were once more what they had used to be--when he was in +the field to command them. He had another motive for closing with the +propositions of General Melas. It was of urgent importance to regain +Genoa, ere an English army, which he knew was on its voyage to that +port, could reach its destination. + +On the 17th of June Napoleon returned in triumph to Milan, where he +formally re-established the Cisalpine Republic, and was present at a +festival of high state and magnificence. He then gave the command of the +army of Italy to Massena; and appointed Jourdan French minister in +Piedmont--in other words, governor of that dominion; and set out on his +journey to Paris. He halted at Lyons to lay the first stone of the new +_Place de Bellecour_, erected on the ruins of a great square destroyed +by the Jacobins during the revolutionary madness; and reached the +Tuileries on the 2nd of July. He had set out for Switzerland on the 6th +of May. Two months had not elapsed, and in that brief space what wonders +had been accomplished! The enthusiasm of the Parisians exceeded all that +has been recorded of any triumphal entry. Night after night every house +was illuminated; and day following day the people stood in crowds around +the palace, contented if they could but catch one glimpse of the +preserver of France. + +The effusion of joy was the greater--because the tale of victory came on +a people prepared for other tidings. About noontide on the 14th of June, +when the French had been driven out of Marengo, and were apparently in +full and disastrous retreat, a commercial traveller left the field, and +arriving, after a rapid journey, in Paris, announced that Buonaparte had +been utterly defeated by Melas. It is said that the ill-wishers of the +First Consul immediately set on foot an intrigue for removing him from +the government, and investing Carnot with the chief authority. It is +not doubtful that many schemes of hostility had been agitated during +Napoleon's absence; or that, amidst all the clamour and splendour of his +triumphant reception in Paris, he wore a gloomy brow; nor has any one +disputed that, from this time, he regarded the person of Carnot with +jealousy and aversion. + +The tidings of the great battle, meanwhile, kindled the emulation of the +Rhenish army; and they burned with the earnest desire to do something +worthy of being recorded in the same page with Marengo. But the Chief +Consul, when he granted the armistice to Melas, had extended it to the +armies on the German frontier likewise; and Moreau, consequently, could +not at once avail himself of the eagerness of his troops. The +negotiations which ensued, however, were unsuccessful. The emperor, +subsidised as he had been, must have found it very difficult to resist +the remonstrances of England against the ratification of any peace in +which she should not be included; and it is natural to suppose, that the +proud spirit of the Austrian cabinet revolted from setting the seal to +an act of humiliation, not yet, as the English government insisted, +absolutely necessary. News, meantime, were received, of the surrender of +Malta to an English expedition under Lord Keith and Sir Ralph +Abercrombie;[37] and this timely piece of good fortune breathed fresh +spirit into the Antigallican league. In fine, insincerity and suspicion +protracted, from day to day, a negotiation not destined to be concluded +until more blood had been shed. + +During this armistice, which lasted from the 15th of June to the 10th of +November, the exiled princes of the House of Bourbon made some more +ineffectual endeavours to induce the Chief Consul to be the Monk of +France. The Abbé de Montesquiou, secret agent for the Count de Lille +(afterwards Louis XVIII.), prevailed on the Third Consul, Le Brun, to +lay before Buonaparte a letter addressed to him by that prince--in these +terms: "You are very tardy about restoring my throne to me: it is to be +feared that you may let the favourable 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's 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 +within my power towards softening your Royal Highness's destinies, and +making you forget, if possible, your misfortunes." The Comte D'Artois +(Charles X. of France) took a more delicate method of negotiating. He +sent a very beautiful and charming lady, the Duchesse de Guiche, to +Paris; she without difficulty gained access to Josephine, and shone, for +a time, the most brilliant ornament of the consular court. But the +moment Napoleon discovered the fair lady's errand, she was ordered to +quit the capital within a few hours. These intrigues, however, could not +fail to transpire; and there is no doubt that, at this epoch, the hopes +of the royalists were in a high state of excitement. + +Meantime, among the meaner orders of both the great parties, who +regarded with aversion the sovereign authority of the Chief Consul, +there wanted not hearts wicked enough, nor hands sufficiently desperate, +for attempts far different from these. The lawfulness, nay, the merit +and the glory of tyrranicide, were ideas familiar to the Jacobins of +every degree; and, during the years of miserable convulsion which +followed the imprisonment and murder of Louis XVI., the royalist bands +had often been joined, and sometimes guided, by persons in whom a +naturally fanatical spirit, goaded by the sense of intolerable wrongs, +dared to think of revenge--no matter how accomplished--as the last and +noblest of duties: nor is it wonderful that amidst a long protracted +civil war, when scenes of battle and slaughter were relieved only by the +hardships of skulking in woods and the fears of famine, the character of +others, originally both pure and gentle, had come to be degraded into a +callous indifference of dark sullenness of temper, fit preparatives for +deeds, the thought of which, in earlier and better days, would have been +horror and loathing. + +It was among the Jacobins, who had formerly worshipped Buonaparte as the +"child and champion" of their creed, that the first schemes of +assassination were agitated. An Italian sculptor, by name Ceracchi, who +had modelled the bust of Napoleon while he held his court at +Montebello, arrived in Paris, and, under pretence of retouching his +work, solicited admission to the presence of the new Cæsar, whose Brutus +he had resolved to be. The occupations of the Consul did not permit of +this, and the Italian, having opened his purpose to Topineau, Lebrun, a +painter, the adjutant-general Arena, Damerville, and others of kindred +sentiments, arranged a plan by which Buonaparte was to have been +surrounded and stabbed in the lobby of the opera house. But one of the +accomplices betrayed the conspiracy; and Ceracchi and his associates +were arrested in the theatre, at the moment when they were expecting +their victim. + +This occurred towards the middle of August; and it has been said that +the Jacobin conspirators, being thrown into the same prison with some +desperadoes of the Chouan faction, gave to these last the outline of +another scheme of assassination, which had more nearly proved +successful. This was the plot of _the infernal machine_. A cart was +prepared to contain a barrel of gunpowder, strongly fastened in the +midst of a quantity of grape-shot, which, being set on fire by a slow +match, was to explode at the moment when Buonaparte was passing through +some narrow street, and scatter destruction in every direction around +it. The night selected was that of the 10th of October, when the Chief +Consul was expected to visit the opera, and the machine was planted in +the Rue St. Nicaise, through which he must pass in his way thither from +the Tuileries. Napoleon told his friends at St. Helena, that having +laboured hard all day, he felt himself overpowered with sleep after +dinner, and that Josephine, who was anxious to be at the opera, had much +difficulty in at last rousing and persuading him to go. "I fell fast +asleep again" (he said), "after I was in my carriage; and at the moment +when the explosion took place, 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." He awoke, and exclaimed to Lannes +and Bessieres, who were with him in the coach, "We are blown up." The +attendants would have stopped the carriage, but, with great presence of +mind, he bade them drive as fast as they could to the theatre, which he +alone of all the party entered with an unruffled countenance. He had +escaped most narrowly. The coachman, happening to be intoxicated, drove +more rapidly than was his custom.[38] The engine exploded half a minute +after the carriage had passed it--killing twenty persons, wounding +fifty-three (among whom was St. Regent, the assassin who fired the +train), and shattering the windows of several houses on both sides of +the street. + +The audience in the opera-house, when the news was divulged, testified +their feelings with enthusiasm. The atrocity of the conspiracy roused +universal horror and indignation, and invested the person of the Chief +Consul with a new species of interest. The assassins were tried fairly, +and executed, glorying in their crime: and, in the momentary exaltation +of all men's minds, an edict of the senate, condemning to perpetual +exile 130 of the most notorious leaders of the _Terrorists_, was +received with applause. But Napoleon himself despised utterly the relics +of that odious party; and the arbitrary decree in question was never put +into execution. + +The Chief Consul, nevertheless, was not slow to avail himself of the +state of the public mind, in a manner more consistent with his prudence +and farsightedness. It was at this moment that the erection of a new +tribunal, called _the Special Commission_, consisting of eight judges, +without jury, and without revision or appeal, was proposed to the +legislative bodies. To their honour the proposal was carried by very +narrow majorities; for after that judicature was established, the Chief +Consul had, in effect, the means of disposing of all who were suspected +of political offences, according to his own pleasure. Another law which +soon succeeded, and which authorised the chief magistrate to banish +disaffected persons, as "enemies of the state," from Paris or from +France, whenever such steps should seem proper, without the intervention +of any tribunal whatever, completed (if it was yet incomplete) the +despotic range of his power: and the police, managed as that fearful +engine was by Fouché, presented him with the most perfect means of +carrying his purposes into execution. + +A singular anecdote belongs to this time--(December, 1800). During the +effervescence of public opinion consequent on the affair of the infernal +machine, there appeared a pamphlet, entitled, "Parallel between Cæsar, +Cromwell, Monk, and Bonaparte"[39]--a production evidently designed to +favour the assumption of regal dignity by the Consul. Appearing at such +a moment, it could not fail to excite a vivid sensation; the +confidential friends of Napoleon assured him, in one voice, that the +publication was likely to injure him. He sent for Fouché, and reproached +him violently for suffering such a pamphlet to appear. The minister of +police heard him with perfect coolness, and replied that he had not +chosen to interfere, because he had traced the manuscript to the hotel +of his brother Lucien. "And why not denounce Lucien?" cried Napoleon; +"he ought to have been arrested instantly, and confined in the Temple." +The Consul having spoken thus, quitted the apartment, shutting the door +with violence. Fouché smiled, and whispered to De Bourienne--"Confine +the author in the Temple! Lucien showed me the manuscript; I found it +full of corrections in the handwriting of--the First Consul!" Lucien, +informed of his brother's wrath, came forthwith to the Tuileries, and +complained that "he had been made a puppet and abandoned." "The fault is +your own," answered Napoleon; "it was your business not to be detected. +Fouché has shown himself more dexterous--so much the worse for you." +Lucien resigned forthwith the office which he held in the ministry, and +proceeded as ambassador to Spain. + +How far these disturbances in the French capital might have contributed +to the indecision of the Austrian cabinet during this autumn, we know +not. Five months had now elapsed since the armistice after Marengo; and +the First Consul, utterly disgusted with the delay, determined to resume +arms, and to be first in the field. Between the 17th and the 27th of +November his generals received orders to set all their troops once more +in motion. Everywhere the French arms had splendid success. Brune +defeated the Austrians on the Mincio, and advanced within a few miles of +Venice. Macdonald occupied the mountains of the Tyrol, and was prepared +to reinforce either the army of Italy or that of the Rhine, as might be +desired. Moreau, finally, advanced into the heart of Germany, and was +met by the Archduke John of Austria, who obtained considerable +advantages in an affair at Haag. The Archduke, elated by this success, +determined on a general engagement, and appeared in front of the French +on the evening of the 2nd December, at Hohenlinden, between the Inn and +the Iser.[40] At seven, on the morning of the 3rd, the conflict began. +The deep snow had obliterated the tracks of roads; several Austrian +columns were bewildered; and either came not at all into their +positions, or came too late. Yet the battle was obstinate and severe: +10,000 Imperialists were left dead on the field: and Moreau, improving +his success, marched on immediately, and occupied Salzburg. + +The Austrian capital now lay exposed to the march of three victorious +armies; and the Emperor was at last compelled to release himself from +his English obligations, and negotiate in sincerity for a separate +peace. Mr. Pitt himself considered the prosecution of the continental +war as for the time hopeless. On reading the bulletin of Marengo, he +said, "Fold up that map" (the map of Europe); "it will not be wanted for +these twenty years." + +A definitive treaty was signed at Luneville on the 9th February, 1801; +by which the Emperor, not only as the head of the Austrian monarchy, but +also in his quality of Chief of the German empire, guaranteed to France +the boundary to the Rhine; thereby sacrificing certain possessions of +Prussia and other subordinate princes of the empire, as well as his own. +Another article, extremely distasteful to Austria, yielded Tuscany; +which Napoleon resolved to transfer to a prince of the House of Parma, +in requital of the good offices of Spain during the war. The Emperor +recognised the union of the Batavian Republic with the French;--and +acknowledged the Cisalpine and Ligurian Commonwealths; both virtually +provinces of the great empire, over which the authority of the First +Consul seemed now to be permanently established. + +[Footnote 33: When he wrote from Clagenfurt to the Archduke Charles.] + +[Footnote 34: Byron's "Manfred."] + +[Footnote 35: The worthy Hospitallers of St. Bernard have stationed +themselves on that wild eminence, for the purpose of alleviating the +misery of travellers lost or bewildered amidst the neighbouring defiles. +They entertain a pack of dogs, of extraordinary sagacity, who roam over +the hills night and day, and frequently drag to light and safety +pilgrims who have been buried in the snow.] + +[Footnote 36: The following anecdote is given by _Dumas_:--"On one of +these occasions, when a desperate attack was led on by Soult, there +occurred a circumstance as honourable as it was characteristic of the +spirit which animated the French. The soldiers of two regiments or +demi-brigades, of the army of Italy, namely, the 25th Light, and the +24th of the Line, had sworn eternal enmity against one another, because +that, previous to the opening of the campaign, when desertion and all +the evils of insubordination prevailed in that army, disorganised by +suffering, the former, in which discipline had been maintained, was +employed to disarm the latter. The utmost care had been taken to keep +them separate; but it so happened that these two corps found themselves +one day made rivals as it were in valour, the one before the eyes of the +other. The same dangers, the same thirst of glory, the same eagerness to +maintain themselves, at once renewed in all hearts generous sentiments; +the soldiers became instantly intermingled; they embraced in the midst +of the fire, and one half of the one corps passing into the ranks of the +other, they renewed the combat, after the exchange, with double +ardour."] + +[Footnote 37: Sept. 5, 1800.] + +[Footnote 38: The man took the noise for that of a salute.] + +[Footnote 39: "Napoleon dropped the _u_ in his surname _after_ his first +campaign in Italy."--_Bourienne_.] + +[Footnote 40: The poet Campbell has vividly painted the opening of the +great battle which followed. + + "On Linden, when the sun was low, + All bloodless lay the untrodden snow, + And dark as winter was the flow + Of Iser rolling rapidly: + + But Linden saw another sight + When the drums beat at dead of night, + Commanding fires of death to light + The darkness of her scenery," &c. +] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + Affairs of Naples and of the Pope--The Emperor Paul of + Russia--Northern confederacy against England--Battle of + Copenhagen--Nelson's Victory--Death of Paul--Expedition to Egypt + under Sir Ralph Abercrombie--Battle of Alexandria--Conquest of + Egypt--The Flotilla of Boulogne--Negotiations with England--Peace + of Amiens. + + +England alone remained steadfast in her hostility; and, as we shall +presently see, the Chief Consul was even able to secure for himself the +alliance against her of some of the principal powers in Europe; but +before we proceed to the eventful year of 1801, there are some incidents +of a minor order which must be briefly mentioned. + +It has been already said that the half-crazy Emperor of Russia had taken +up a violent personal admiration for Buonaparte, and, under the +influence of that feeling, virtually abandoned Austria before the +campaign of Marengo. Napoleon took every means to flatter the Autocrat +and secure him in his interests. Paul had been pleased to appoint +himself Grand Master of the ruined Order of the Knights of St. John. It +was his not idle ambition to obtain, in this character, possession of +the Island of Malta; and Buonaparte represented the refusal of the +English government to give up that stronghold as a personal insult to +Paul. Some 10,000 Russian prisoners of war were not only sent back in +safety, but new clothed and equipped at the expense of France; and the +Autocrat was led to contrast this favourably with some alleged neglect +of these troops on the part of Austria, when arranging the treaty of +Luneville. Lastly, the Queen of Naples, sister to the German Emperor, +being satisfied that, after the battle of Marengo, nothing could save +her husband's Italian dominions from falling back into the hands of +France (out of which they had been rescued, during Napoleon's Egyptian +campaign, by the English, under Lord Nelson), took up the resolution of +travelling in person to St. Petersburg in the heart of the winter, and +soliciting the intercession of Paul. The Czar, egregiously flattered +with being invoked in this fashion, did not hesitate to apply in the +Queen's behalf to Buonaparte; and the Chief Consul, well calculating the +gain and the loss, consented to spare Naples for the present, thereby +completing the blind attachment of that weak-minded despot. + +At the same time when Nelson delivered Naples from the French, a party +of English seamen, under Commodore Trowbridge, had landed at the mouth +of the Tiber, marched to Rome, and restored the Pope. The French army, +after the great victory which gave them back Lombardy and Piedmont, +doubted not that the re-establishment of "the Roman Republic" would be +one of its next consequences. But Buonaparte, who had in the interim +re-opened the churches of France, was now disposed to consider the +affairs of the Pope with very different eyes. In a word, he had already +resolved to make use of the Holy Father in the consolidation of his own +power as a monarch; and, as the first step to this object, the +government of the Pope was now suffered to continue--not a little to the +astonishment of the French soldiery, and to the confusion, it may be +added, and regret, of various powers of Europe. + +The First Consul, meanwhile, proceeded to turn the friendship of the +Russian Emperor to solid account. It has never, in truth, been difficult +to excite angry and jealous feelings, among the minor maritime powers, +with regard to the naval sovereignty of England. The claim of the right +of searching neutral ships, and her doctrine on the subject of +blockades, had indeed been recognised in many treaties by Russia, and by +every maritime government in Europe. Nevertheless, the old grudge +remained; and Buonaparte now artfully employed every engine of diplomacy +to awaken a spirit of hostility against England, first, in the +well-prepared mind of the Czar, and then in the cabinets of Prussia, +Denmark, and Sweden. The result was, in effect, a coalition of these +powers against the mistress of the seas; and, at the opening of the +nineteenth century, England had to contemplate the necessity of +encountering single-handed the colossal military force of France, and +the combined fleets of Europe. To deepen the shadows of her prospects at +that great crisis of her history, the people suffered severely under a +scarcity of food, in consequence of bad harvests; and the efforts which +England made, under such an accumulation of adverse circumstances, must +ever be treasured among the proudest of her national recollections. + +In January, 1801, the first imperial parliament of Great Britain and +Ireland assembled; and, shortly afterwards, in consequence of a +difference of opinion, touching the Roman Catholic Question, between +George III. and Mr. Pitt, that great minister resigned his office, and a +new cabinet was formed, with Mr. Addington (afterwards Viscount +Sidmouth) at its head. These changes were a new source of embarrassment; +yet the prosecution of the war was urged with undiminished vigour. + +Early in March, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson +conducted a fleet into the Baltic, with the view of attacking the +northern powers in their own harbours, ere they could effect their +meditated junction with the fleets of France and Holland. The English +passed the Sound on the 13th of March, and reconnoitred the road of +Copenhagen, where the Crown-Prince, Regent of Denmark, had made +formidable preparations to receive them. It was on the 2nd of April that +Nelson, who had volunteered to lead the assault, having at length +obtained a favourable wind, advanced with twelve ships of the line, +besides frigates and fire-ships, upon the Danish armament, which +consisted of six sail of the line, eleven floating batteries, and an +enormous array of small craft, all chained to each other and to the +ground, and protected by the Crown-batteries, mounting eighty-eight +guns, and the fortifications of the isle of Amack. The battle lasted for +four hours, and ended in a signal victory. Some few schooners and +bomb-vessels fled early, and escaped: the whole Danish fleet besides +were sunk, burnt, or taken. The Prince Regent, to save the capital from +destruction, was compelled to enter into a negotiation, which ended in +the abandonment of the French alliance by Denmark. Lord Nelson then +reconnoitred Stockholm; but, being unwilling to inflict unnecessary +suffering, did not injure the city, on discovering that the Swedish +fleet had already put to sea. Meantime, news arrived that Paul had been +assassinated in his palace at St. Petersburg; and that the policy which +he had adopted, to the displeasure of the Russian nobility, was likely +to find no favour with his successor. The moving spirit of the northern +confederacy was, in effect, no more, and a brief negotiation ended in +its total disrupture.[41] + +In the same month of March the British arms were crowned with a more +pleasing triumph in a more distant region. From the time when Buonaparte +landed in Egypt, the occupation of that country by a French army, and +its possible consequences to our empire in the East, had formed a +subject of anxious solicitude in the cabinet of St. James's; and the +means for attacking the army which Napoleon had entrusted to Kleber, +had, at length, been combined and set in motion, in opposition to the +sentiments both of the King and Mr. Pitt, by the bold spirit of Lord +Melville, then at the head of the Indian Board of Control. The fleet of +Lord Keith, carrying Sir Ralph Abercrombie and his army, were already in +possession of Malta; another army of 7000, composed partly of English +troops and partly of sepoys, had been dispatched from India, and +approached Egypt by the way of the Red Sea; and, lastly, the Ottoman +Porte was prepared to co-operate with General Abercrombie, whenever he +should effect a landing in the neighbourhood of Alexandria. That event +occurred on the 13th of March, the British troops disembarking in the +face of the French, who were very strongly posted; and, at length, +driving them from the shore. On the 21st a general engagement took place +in front of Alexandria; and Sir Ralph Abercrombie fell, mortally +wounded, in the moment of victory. General Hutchinson (afterwards Earl +of Donoughmore), on whom the command devolved, pursued the advantage. +Kleber, who by his excellent administration had earned the title of the +_Just Sultan_, had been assassinated by an obscure fanatic on the same +day when Dessaix died gloriously at Marengo; and Menou, who succeeded to +the command of the French army in Egypt, was found wholly incapable of +conducting either the civil or the military business of the colony to +advantage. He shut himself up in Alexandria with the relics of the army +defeated on the 21st. The English, forthwith, let the sea into the lake +Maréotis: the capital was thus made an island, and all communication +with the country cut off. Hutchinson was now joined by the Turkish +Capitan-pasha and 6000 men; and intelligence reached him that the Indian +reinforcement, under General Baird, had landed at Cossire. Rosetta was +soon captured; and, after various skirmishes, Cairo was invested. On the +28th of June General Belliard and a garrison of 13,000 surrendered, on +condition that they should be transported in safety to France: and +Menou, perceiving that defence was hopeless and famine at hand, +followed, ere long, the same example. Thus, in one brief campaign, was +Egypt entirely rescued from the arms of France. But even that great +advantage was a trifle, when compared with the stimulus afforded to +national confidence at home, by this timely re-assertion of the +character of the English army. At sea we had never feared an enemy; but +the victories of Abercrombie destroyed a fatal prejudice which had, of +recent days, gained ground,--that the military of Great Britain were +unfit to cope with those of revolutionary France. Nor should it be +forgotten, that if Abercrombie had the glory of first leading English +soldiers to victory over the self-styled _Invincibles_ of Buonaparte, he +owed the means of his success to the admirable exertions of the Duke of +York, in reforming the discipline of the service as commander-in-chief. + +On learning the fate of Egypt, Buonaparte exclaimed, "Well, there +remains only the descent on Britain;" and, in the course of a few weeks, +not less than 100,000 troops were assembled on the coasts of France. An +immense flotilla of flat-bottomed boats was prepared to carry them +across the Channel, whenever, by any favourable accident, it should be +clear of the English fleets; and both the soldiery and the seamen of the +invading armament were trained and practised incessantly, in every +exercise and manoeuvre likely to be of avail when that long-looked-for +day should arrive. These preparations were met, as might have been +expected, on the part of the English government and nation. Nelson was +placed in command of the Channel fleet; and the regular army was +reinforced on shore by a multitude of new and enthusiastic volunteers; +men of all parties and ranks joining heart and hand in the great and +sacred cause. Lord Nelson, more than once, reconnoitred the flotilla +assembled at Boulogne, and, at length, attempted the daring movement of +cutting out the vessels, in the teeth of all the batteries. The boats +being chained to the shore, crowded with soldiery, and placed +immediately under the fortifications, the attempt was unsuccessful; but +the gallantry with which it was conducted struck new terror into the +hearts of the French marine, and, Nelson continuing to watch the Channel +with unsleeping vigilance, the hopes of the First Consul, ere long, +sunk. + +The successes of the English in the Baltic and in Egypt were well +calculated to dispose Napoleon for negotiation: and the retirement of +Mr. Pitt, who was considered throughout Europe as the author and very +soul of the anti-revolutionary war, was not without its influence. On +the other hand, Napoleon's mighty successes against the German emperor +had been followed up this same year by the march of a French and Spanish +army into Portugal, in consequence of which that last ally of England +had been compelled to submit to the general fate of the continent. On +both sides there existed the strongest motives for accommodation; and, +in effect, after a tedious negotiation, the preliminaries of peace were +signed, on the 10th of October, at Amiens. By this treaty England +surrendered all the conquests which she had made during the war, except +Ceylon and Trinidad. France, on the other hand, restored what she had +taken from Portugal, and guaranteed the independence of the Ionian +Islands. Malta was to be restored to the Knights of St. John, and +declared a free port: neither England nor France was to have any +representatives in the order; and the garrison was to consist of the +troops of a neutral power. This article was that which cost the greatest +difficulty--and Malta was destined to form the pretext, at least, for +the re-opening of the war at no distant date. + +Meantime, except by a small party, who thought that England should never +make peace unless the Bourbon family were restored to the throne of +France, this news was received with universal satisfaction throughout +Great Britain. "It was," as Mr. Sheridan summed up the matter, "a peace +which all men were glad of, and of which no man could be proud." The +definitive treaty was signed on the 25th of March, 1802: and nothing +could surpass the demonstrations of joy on this occasion, both in London +and in Paris--or the enthusiastic display of good-will with which the +populace of either capital welcomed the plenipotentiaries. + +[Footnote 41: For the details of the battle of Copenhagen see Southey's +_Life of Nelson_. That conflict has been celebrated, in a noble lyric, +by Campbell-- + + "Of Nelson and the North + Sing the glorious day's renown, + When to the battle fierce came forth + All the might of Denmark's crown," &c. +] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + Peace of Amiens--The Concordat--The Legion of Honour--Buonaparte + President of the Cisalpine Republic--First Consul for Life--Grand + Mediator of the Helvetic Confederacy--St. Domingo--Toussaint + L'Ouverture--Dissatisfaction of England--Trial of Peltier--Lord + Whitworth--Rupture of the Peace of Amiens--Detention of English + Travellers in France. + + +The peace of Amiens, like that of Campo-Formio, turned out a mere +armistice. It was signed in the midst of mutual suspicion; and the +audacious ambition of the French government, from the very day of its +ratification, accumulated the elements of an inevitable rupture. The +continent, however, had been virtually shut against the English for ten +years; and now, in the first eagerness of curiosity, travellers of all +ranks, ages, and sexes poured across the Channel, to contemplate, with +their own eyes, the scenes and effects of the many wonderful deeds and +changes which had been wrought since the outbreaking of the French +Revolution. The chief object of curiosity was Napoleon himself; and +English statesmen, of the highest class, were among those who now +thronged the levees of the Tuileries. Mr. Fox, in particular, seems to +have been courted and caressed by the Chief Consul; and these two great +men parted with feelings of mutual admiration. Our countrymen, in +general, were received in Paris with extraordinary attentions and +civilities; and for a brief space, the establishment of friendly +feelings between the two nations was confidently expected. + +The English were agreeably disappointed with the condition of Paris. To +their great surprise they found the consular court already arranged, in +many particulars, upon the old model of the monarchy, and daily +approximating to that example, step by step. Josephine had restored, +titles alone excepted, the old language of polite intercourse: +_Citoyenne_ had been replaced by _Madame_; and _Citoyen_ was preparing +to make way for _Monsieur_. The emigrant nobility had flocked back in +great numbers; and Buonaparte, dispensing with the awkward services of +his aides-de-camp in the interior of the palace, was now attended by +chamberlains and other officers of state--chosen for the most part, from +the highest families of the monarchy; and who studiously conducted +themselves towards the Chief Consul exactly as if the crown of Louis +XVI. had descended to him by the ordinary laws of inheritance. Napoleon +himself, if we may believe Madame de Staël, had the weakness to affect, +in many trivial matters, a close imitation of what his new attendants +reported to have been the personal demeanour of the Bourbon princes. His +behaviour as the holder of a court was never graceful. He could not, or +would not, control the natural vehemence of his temper, and ever and +anon confounded the old race of courtiers, by ebullitions which were +better suited to the camp than the saloons of the Tuileries. But +whenever he thought fit to converse with a man capable of understanding +him, the Consul failed not to create a very lively feeling in his own +favour; and, meantime, Josephine was admirably adapted to supply his +deficiencies in the management of circles and festivals. + +The labour which Napoleon underwent at this period, when he was +consolidating the administration throughout France (in every department +of which intolerable confusion had arisen during the wars and tumults of +the preceding years), excited the astonishment of all who had access to +his privacy. He exhausted the energies of secretary after secretary; +seemed hardly to feel the want of sleep; and yet sustained the +unparalleled fatigue without having recourse to any stimulus stronger +than lemonade. Of the many great measures adopted and perfected during +this short-lived peace we may notice in particular the following:-- + +A decree of the senate, dated 26th April, 1802, allowed all emigrants to +return to France, provided they chose to do so within a certain space of +time, and to pledge allegiance to the consular government; and offered +to restore to such persons whatever property of theirs, having been +confiscated during the Revolution, still remained at the disposal of the +state. From this amnesty about 5000 persons, however, were excepted; +these were arranged under five heads, viz.: those who had headed bodies +of royalist insurgents; who had served in the armies of the allies; who +had belonged to the household of the Bourbons during their exile; who +had been agents in stirring up foreign or domestic war; and lastly, +generals, admirals, Representatives of the People, who had been banished +for treason to the Republic; together with bishops who were obstinate in +refusing to accept of the conditions on which the exercise of +ecclesiastical functions had been sanctioned by the consuls. The event, +in a great measure, justified the prudence of this merciful edict. The +far greater part of the emigrants returned, and became peaceful subjects +of Napoleon--even although the restoration of forfeited property never +took place to anything like the promised extent. He, having yielded back +a few princely estates to their rightful lords, was, it is said, made +aware, by sufficiently significant behaviour on their parts, that they +had now obtained all they wished, and would not in future trouble +themselves to merit his favour. Some instances of haughty ingratitude +may, very probably, have occurred; but the Consul, in breaking his word +with the despoiled emigrants as a body, was preparing for himself +dangers greater than those he removed by permitting their return to +France. + +A still more important measure was that by which the Romish religion was +finally re-established as the national faith. The sparing of the Papal +dominion after Marengo, and the re-opening of the churches in France, +were the preliminaries of the peace, which was, at length, signed on the +18th of September, 1802, between the Pope and the revolutionary +government. This famous _concordat_ was the work of Napoleon himself, +who seems to have met with more opposition, whenever he touched the +matter of religion, than the men of the Revolution, with whom he +consulted, thought fit to exhibit on any other occasions whatever. The +question was argued one evening, at great length, on the terrace of the +garden, at Buonaparte's favourite villa of Malmaison. The Chief Consul +avowed himself to be no believer in Christianity; "But religion," said +he, "is a principle which cannot be eradicated from the heart of man." +"Who made all that?" he continued, looking up to the heaven, which was +clear and starry. "But last Sunday evening I was walking here alone when +the church bells of the village of Ruel rung at sunset. I was strongly +moved, so vividly did the image 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." + +Volney, the celebrated traveller, was present. "You speak of the +majority of the people," said he: "if that is to be the rule, recall the +Bourbons to-morrow." Napoleon never conversed with this bold infidel +afterwards. + +The _concordat_ gave no satisfaction to the high Catholic party, who +considered it as comprehending arrangements wholly unworthy of the +dignity of the Pope, and destructive of the authority of the church. The +great majority of the nation, however, were wise enough to be contented +with conditions which the Vatican had found it necessary to admit. The +chief articles were these: I. The Roman Catholic religion is recognised +as the national faith. II. The Pope, in concert with the French +government, shall make a new division of dioceses, requiring, if +necessary, the resignation of any existing prelate. III. Vacant sees now +and henceforth shall be filled by the Pope _on nominations by the +government_. IV. No bishops shall hold their sees unless they swear +allegiance to the government, and adopt a ritual in which prayers are +offered up for the Consuls. V. The church livings shall be, like the +dioceses, rearranged; and the curés be appointed by the bishop, but not +without the approbation of the government. VI. The French government +shall make provision for the prelates and clergy, and the Pope renounces +for ever all right to challenge the distribution of church property +consequent on the events of the revolutionary period. + +The Pope, in acceding to these terms, submitted to "the exigence of the +time--which," said his Holiness in the deed itself, "lays its violence +even upon us." The most bitter point of execution was that which +regarded the bishops--the great majority of whom were yet in exile. +These prelates were summoned to send in, each separately, and within +fifteen days, his acceptance of the terms of the concordat, or his +resignation of his see. Thus taken by surprise, having no means of +consultation, and considering the concordat as fatal to the rights of +the church, and the Pope's assent as extorted by mere necessity, almost +all of them, to their honour be it said, declined complying with either +of these demands. That these bishops should prefer poverty and exile to +submission, was not likely to increase the popularity of the concordat +with the more devout part of the nation. Meantime, the self-called +philosophers looked on with scorn; and the republicans, of every sect, +regarded with anger and indignation a course of policy which, as they +justly apprehended, provided for the re-establishment of the church, +solely because that was considered as the likeliest means of +re-establishing the monarchy--in a new dynasty indeed, but with all, or +more than all, the old powers. + +In moments of spleen Napoleon is known to have sometimes expressed his +regret that he should ever have had recourse to this concordat: but at +St. Helena, when looking back calmly, he said that it was so needful a +measure that had there been no Pope, one ought to have been created for +the occasion. + +The name of the First Consul was now introduced into the church service +at least as often as that of the king had used to be. The cathedral of +Notre Dame was prepared for the solemn reception of the concordat. +Napoleon appeared there with the state and retinue of a monarch; and in +every part of the ceremonial the ancient rules were studiously attended +to. The prelate who presided was the same Archbishop of Aix who had +preached the coronation sermon of Louis XVI. + +It was not easy, however, to procure the attendance of some of the +revolutionary generals of the true republican race. Berthier had invited +a large party of them long beforehand to breakfast: he carried them from +thence to the levee of the Chief Consul, and they found it impossible +not to join in the procession. Buonaparte asked one of these persons, +after the ceremony was over, what he thought of it? "It was a true +_Capucinade_" was the answer. To another of these, whom he thought less +sincere, he said with a smile, "Things, you see, are returning to the +old order." "Yes," the veteran replied, "all returns--all but the two +millions of Frenchmen who have died for the sake of destroying the very +system which you are now rebuilding." These officers are said to have +paid dearly for their uncourtly language. Moreau was not to be tampered +with by Berthier. The Chief Consul personally invited him to be present +at the _Te Deum_ in Notre Dame, to attend afterwards at the consecration +of some colours, and, lastly, to dine at the Tuileries. Moreau answered, +"I accept the last part of your invitation." + +A third great measure, adopted about the same period, was received with +unqualified applause. This was the establishment of a national system of +education, the necessity of which had been much felt, since the old +universities and schools under the management of the clergy had been +broken up amidst the first violence of the Revolution. The Polytechnic +School, established under the direction of Monge, dates from this epoch; +and furnished France, in the sequel, with a long train of eminent men +for every department of the public service. + +It was now also that the Chief Consul commenced the great task of +providing France with an uniform code of laws. He himself took +constantly an earnest share in the deliberations of the jurists, who +were employed in this gigantic undertaking; and astonished them by the +admirable observations which his native sagacity suggested, in relation +to matters commonly considered as wholly out of the reach of +unprofessional persons. But of the new code we shall have occasion to +speak hereafter. + +Buonaparte at this period devised, and began to put into execution, +innumerable public works of the highest utility. The inland navigation +of Languedoc was to be made complete: a great canal between the Yonne +and the Saonne was begun, for the purpose of creating a perfect water +communication quite across the republican dominion--from Marseilles to +Amsterdam. Numberless bridges, roads, museums, were planned; and the +vain were flattered with rising monuments of magnificence, while the +wise recognised in every such display the depths and forecast of a +genius made for empire. + +Thus far the measures of the Consulate may be said to have carried with +them the approbation of all but a few individuals. They were accompanied +or followed by proceedings, some of which roused, or strengthened and +confirmed, sentiments of a very different description among various +important classes of the French community; while others were well +calculated to revive the suspicion of all the neighbouring nations. + +It is said that the first idea of the Legion of Honour arose in the +breast of Napoleon on witnessing one day, from a window at the +Tuileries, the admiration with which the crowd before the palace +regarded the stars and crosses worn by the Marquis Lucchesini, +ambassador of Prussia, as he descended from his carriage. The +republican members of the senate could not be persuaded that the +institution of an order, with insignia, was anything but the first step +to the creation of a new body of nobility; and they resisted the +proposed measure with considerable pertinacity. On this head, as on that +of the concordat with the Pope, the Consul condescended to enter +personally into discussion with the chief persons who differed from his +opinion, or suspected his intentions; and if any, who heard his language +on this occasion, doubted that both nobility and monarchy were designed +to follow hard behind the Legion of Honour, they must have been +singularly slow of understanding. _Berthier_ had called ribbons and +crosses "the playthings of monarchy," and cited the Romans of old as +"having no system of honorary rewards." "They are always talking to us +of the Romans," said Buonaparte. "The Romans had patricians, knights, +citizens, and slaves:--for each class different dresses and different +manners--honorary recompenses for every species of merit--mural +crowns--civic crowns--ovations--triumphs--titles. When the noble band of +patricians lost its influence, Rome fell to pieces--the people were vile +rabble. It was then that you saw the fury of Marius, the proscriptions +of Sylla, and afterwards of the emperors. In like manner Brutus is +talked of as the enemy of tyrants: he was an aristocrat, who stabbed +Cæsar, because Cæsar wished to lower the authority of the noble senate. +You talk of _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 +statesmen one may speak the truth. I do not believe that the French +people love _liberty_ and _equality_. Their character has not been +changed in ten years: they are still what their ancestors, the Gauls, +were--vain and light. They are susceptible but of one +sentiment--_honour_. It is right to afford nourishment to this +sentiment: and to allow of distinctions. 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 that you can make men fight by reasoning? Never. You must bribe +them with glory, distinctions, rewards. To come to the point: during ten +years there has been a talk of institutions. Where are they? All has +been overturned: our business is to build up. There is a government +with certain powers: as to all the rest of the nation what is it but +grains of sand? Before the Republic can be definitely established, we +must, as a foundation, cast some blocks of granite on the soil of +France. In fine, it is agreed that we have need of some kind of +institutions. If this Legion of Honour 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." Such were the words of Napoleon when the scheme was +in preparation. Many years afterwards, in his exile at St. Helena, he +thus spoke of his Order. "It was the reversion of every one who was an +honour 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 alike for officers and soldiers; others +because it was given to civil and military merit indiscriminately. But +if ever it cease to be the recompense of the brave private, or be +confined to soldiers alone, it will cease to be the Legion of Honour." + +On the 15th of May, 1802, the Legion of Honour was formally instituted; +large national domains were set apart for its maintenance; and crosses +(each of which entitled the bearer to certain precedence and a pension) +widely distributed among the soldiery, and among citizens of almost all +professions. + +The personal authority of the future emperor, meantime, was daily +widening and strengthening. After the Consulate was established in +France, some corresponding change in the government of the Cisalpine +Republic was judged necessary, and Napoleon took care that it should be +so conducted as to give himself not only permanent, but wholly +independent, power beyond the Alps. A convention of 450 Italian deputies +was summoned to meet at _Lyons_; and there Talleyrand was ready to +dictate the terms of a new constitution, by which the executive +functions were to be lodged in a president and vice-president, the +legislative in a council chosen from three electoral colleges. It was +next proposed that Buonaparte should be invited to take on him the +office of president--Buonaparte, it was studiously explained, not as +Chief Consul of France, but in his own individual capacity. He repaired +to Lyons in person, and having harangued the convention in the Italian +tongue, assumed the dignity thus conferred on him on the 2nd of +January, 1802. + +The next step was to prolong the period of his French Consulate. Chabot +de L'Allier, his creature, moved in the Tribunate that the Conservative +Senate should be requested to mark the national feelings of gratitude by +conferring some new honour on Napoleon. The Senate proposed accordingly +that he should be declared Consul for a second period of ten years, to +commence on the expiration of his present magistracy. He thanked them; +but said he could not accept of any such prolongation of his power +except from the suffrages of the people. To the people the matter was to +be referred; but the Second and Third Consuls, in preparing the edict of +the Senate for public inspection and ratification, were instructed by +their master-colleague to introduce an important change in its terms. +The question which they sent down was, "Shall Buonaparte be Chief Consul +for life?" No mention was made of _ten years_. Books were opened as on a +former occasion: the officers of government in the departments well knew +in what method to conduct the business, and the voice of the nation was +declared to be in favour of the decree. Some few hundreds of sturdy +republicans alone recorded their opposition; and Carnot, who headed +them, said he well knew he was signing his own sentence of exile. But +Napoleon was strong enough to dispense with any such severities; Carnot +remained in safety, but out of office, until, many years afterwards, his +services were tendered and accepted on the entrance of foreign invaders +into France. Buonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life on the 2nd of +August. + +Shortly afterwards, in the committee occupied with the Code, Napoleon +entered upon a long disquisition in favour of the Roman law of adoption; +urging with intrepid logic, that an heir so chosen ought to be even +dearer than a son. The object of this harangue was not difficult of +detection. Napoleon had no longer any hope of having children by +Josephine; and meditated the adoption of one of his brother's sons as +his heir. In the course of the autumn a simple edict of the Conservative +Senate authorised him to appoint his successor in the consulate by a +testamentary deed. By this act (Aug. 4, 1802) a new dynasty was called +to the throne of France. The farce of opening books in the departments +was dispensed with. Henceforth the words "_Liberty, Equality, +Sovereignty of the People_," disappeared from the state papers and +official documents of the government--nor did the change attract much +notice. The nation had a master, and sate by, indifferent spectators; +while he, under whose sway life and property were considered safe, +disposed of political rights and privileges according to his +pleasure.[42] + +This year was distinguished by events of another order, and not likely +to be contemplated with indifference by the powers of Europe. After the +peace of Amiens was ratified, certain treaties which the Chief Consul +had concluded with Turkey, Spain, and Portugal, and hitherto kept +profoundly secret, were made known. The Porte, it now appeared, had +yielded to France all the privileges of commerce which that government +had ever conceded to the most favoured nations. Spain had agreed that +Parma, after the death of the reigning prince, should be added to the +dominions of France: and Portugal had actually ceded her province in +Guyana. In every quarter of the world the grasping ambition of +Buonaparte seemed to have found some prey. + +Nearer him, in the meantime, he had been preparing to strike a blow at +the independence of Switzerland, and virtually unite that country also +to his empire. The contracting parties in the treaty of Luneville had +_guaranteed_ the independence of the Helvetic Republic, and the +unquestionable right of the Swiss to settle their government in what +form they pleased. There were two parties there as elsewhere--one who +desired the full re-establishment of the old federative +constitution--another who preferred the model of the French Republic +"one and indivisible." To the former party the small mountain cantons +adhered--the wealthier and aristocratic cantons to the latter. Their +disputes at last swelled into civil war--and the party who preferred the +old constitution, being headed by the gallant Aloys Reding, were +generally successful. Napoleon, who had fomented their quarrel, now, +unasked and unexpected, assumed to himself the character of arbiter +between the contending parties. He addressed a letter to the eighteen +cantons, in which these words occur:--"Your history shows that your +intestine wars cannot be terminated, except through the intervention of +France. I had, it is true, resolved not to intermeddle in your +affairs--but I cannot remain insensible to the distress of which I see +you the prey--I recall my resolution of neutrality--I _consent_ to be +the mediator in your differences." Rapp, adjutant-general, was the +bearer of this insolent manifesto. To cut short all discussion, Ney +entered Switzerland at the head of 40,000 troops. Resistance was +hopeless. Aloys Reding dismissed his brave followers, was arrested, and +imprisoned in the castle of Aarburg. The government was arranged +according to the good pleasure of Napoleon, who henceforth added to his +other titles that of "Grand Mediator of the Helvetic Republic." +Switzerland was, in effect, degraded into a province of France; and +became bound to maintain an army of 16,000 men, who were to be at the +disposal, whenever it should please him to require their aid, of the +Grand Mediator. England sent an envoy to remonstrate against this signal +and unprovoked rapacity: but the other powers suffered it to pass +without any formal opposition. The sufferings, however, of Aloys Reding +and his brave associates, and this audacious crushing-down of the old +spirit of Swiss freedom and independence, were heard of throughout all +Europe with deep indignation. + +Feelings of the same kind were nourished everywhere by the results of an +expedition which Buonaparte sent, before the close of 1801, to St. +Domingo, for the purpose of reconquering that island to France. The +black and coloured population had risen, at the revolutionary period, +upon their white masters, and, after scenes of terrible slaughter and +devastation, emancipated themselves. The chief authority was, by +degrees, vested in Toussaint L'Ouverture, a negro, who, during the war, +displayed the ferocity of a barbarian, but after its conclusion, won the +applause and admiration of all men by the wisdom and humanity of his +administration. Conscious that, whenever peace should be restored in +Europe, France would make efforts to recover her richest colony, +Toussaint adopted measures likely to conciliate the exiled planters and +the government of the mother country. A constitution on the consular +model was established, Toussaint being its Buonaparte: the supremacy of +France was to be acknowledged to a certain extent; and the white +proprietors were to receive half the produce of the lands of which the +insurgents had taken possession. But Napoleon heard of all these +arrangements with displeasure and contempt. He fitted out a numerous +fleet, carrying an army full 20,000 strong, under the orders of General +Leclerc, the husband of his own favourite sister Pauline. It has often +been said, and without contradiction, that the soldiers sent on this +errand were chiefly from the army of the Rhine, whose good-will to the +Consul was to be doubted. Leclerc summoned Toussaint (Jan. 2, 1802) to +surrender, in a letter which conveyed expressions of much personal +respect from Buonaparte. The negro chief, justly apprehending +insincerity, stood out and defended himself gallantly for a brief space; +but stronghold after stronghold yielded to numbers and discipline; and +at length he too submitted, on condition that he should be permitted to +retire in safety to his plantation. Some obscure rumours of insurrection +were soon made the pretext for arresting him; and he, being put on board +ship, and sent to France, was shut up in a dungeon, where either the +midnight cord or dagger, or the wasting influence of confinement and +hopeless misery, ere long put an end to his life. His mysterious fate, +both before and after its consummation, excited great interest.[43] The +atrocious cruelty of the French soldiery, in their subjugation of St. +Domingo, equalled (it could not have surpassed) that of the barbarous +negroes whom they opposed; but was heard of with disgust and horror, +such as no excesses of mere savages could have excited. As if Heaven had +been moved by these bloody deeds of vengeance, disease broke out in the +camp; thousands, and among them Leclerc himself, died. For the time, +however, the French armament triumphed--and, in the exultation of +victory, the government at home had the extreme and seemingly +purposeless ungenerosity, to publish an edict banishing all of the negro +race from their European dominions.[44] But the yellow fever was already +rapidly consuming the French army in St. Domingo; and its feeble +remnant, under Rochambeau, having been at length expelled, in November, +1803, the independence of _Hayti_ was formally proclaimed on the 1st of +January, 1804. + +The course of Napoleon's conduct, in and out of Europe, was calculated +to fill all independent neighbours with new or aggravated suspicion; and +in England, where public opinion possesses the largest means of making +itself heard, and consequently the greatest power, the prevalence of +such feelings became, from day to day, more marked. The British envoy's +reclamation against the oppression of Switzerland, was but one of many +drops, which were soon to cause the cup of bitterness to overflow. As in +most quarrels, there was something both of right and of wrong on either +side. When the English government remonstrated against any of those +daring invasions of the rights of independent nations, or crafty +enlargements, through diplomatic means, of the power of France, by which +this period of peace was distinguished, the Chief Consul could always +reply that the cabinet of St. James's, on their part, had not yet +fulfilled one article of the treaty of Amiens, by placing Malta in the +keeping of some power which had been neutral in the preceding war. The +rejoinder was obvious: to wit, that Napoleon was every day taking +measures wholly inconsistent with that balance of power which the treaty +of Amiens contemplated. It is not to be denied that he, in his +audaciously ambitious movements, had contrived to keep within the strict +terms of the treaty: and it can as little be disputed that the English +cabinet had _equity_ with them, although they violated the letter of the +law, in their retention of the inheritance of the worthless and +self-betrayed Knights of St. John. + +The feelings of the rival nations, however, were soon kindled into rage; +and, on either side of the Channel the language of the public prints +assumed a complexion of even more bitter violence than had been +observable during the war. The English journalists resorted to foul, and +often false and even absurd, personal criminations of the Chief Consul: +and the Parisian newspapers replied in language equally indefensible on +the score of truth and decency, but with this most essential difference, +that whereas the press of England was free, that of France, being +entirely under the control of Fouché and the police, could not, as all +men knew, put forth any such calumnies otherwise than with the consent +of the consular government. When Napoleon complained to the English +ministers, their answer was obvious: "Our courts of law are open--we are +ourselves accustomed to be abused as you are, and in them we, like you, +have our only resource." The paragraphs in the _Moniteur_, on the other +hand, were, it was impossible to deny, virtually so many manifestoes of +the Tuileries. + +Of all the popular engines which moved the spleen of Napoleon, the most +offensive was a newspaper (_L'Ambigu_) published in the French language, +in London, by one Peltier, a royalist emigrant; and, in spite of all the +advice which could be offered, he at length condescended to prosecute +the author in the English courts of law. M. Peltier had the good fortune +to retain, as his counsel, Mr. Mackintosh,[45] an advocate of most +brilliant talents, and, moreover, especially distinguished for his +support of the original principles of the French Revolution. On the +trial which ensued, this orator, in defence of his client, delivered a +philippic against the personal character and ambitious measures of +Napoleon, immeasurably more calculated to injure the Chief Consul in +public opinion throughout Europe, than all the efforts of a thousand +newspapers; and, though the jury found Peltier guilty of libel, the +result was, on the whole, a signal triumph to the party of whom he had +been the organ. + +This was a most imprudent, as well as undignified proceeding; but ere +the defendant, Peltier, could be called up for judgment, the doubtful +relations of the Chief Consul and the cabinet of St. James's were to +assume a different appearance. The truce of St. Amiens already +approached its close. Buonaparte had, perhaps, some right to complain of +the unbridled abuse of the British press: but the British government had +a far more serious cause of reclamation against him. Under pretence of +establishing French consuls for the protection of commerce, he sent +persons, chiefly of the military profession, who carried orders to make +exact plans of all the harbours and coasts of the United Kingdom. These +gentlemen endeavoured to execute their commission with all possible +privacy; but the discovery of their occupation was soon made; they were +sent back to France without ceremony; and this treacherous measure of +their government was openly denounced as a violation of every rule of +international law, and a plain symptom of warlike preparation. + +Ere hostilities were renewed, Buonaparte employed M. Meyer, president of +the regency of Warsaw, to open a negotiation with the head of the House +of Bourbon, then resident in Poland. He proposed that Louis should +execute a formal deed resigning for himself and his family all +pretensions to the throne of France, and offered in return to put the +Bourbon princes in possession of independent dominions in Italy. The +heir of the French kings answered in language worthy of his birth: "I do +not confound Monsieur Buonaparte," said he, "with those who have +preceded him. I esteem his bravery and military genius, and I owe him +goodwill for many of the acts of his government--for benefits done to my +people I will always consider as done to me. But he is mistaken if he +supposes that my rights can ever be made the subject of bargain and +compromise. Could they have been called in question, this very +application would have established them. What the designs of God may be +for me and my house I know not; but of the duties imposed on me by the +rank in which it was His pleasure I should be born, I am not wholly +ignorant. As a Christian, I will perform those duties while life +remains. As a descendant of St. Louis, I will know how to respect +myself, were I in fetters. As the successor of Francis the First, I +will, at least, say with him--'all is lost except honour.'" + +Such is the account of the Bourbon princes. Buonaparte utterly denied +having given any authority for such a negotiation; and added, that in +doing so he should have played the part of a madman, since any +application to Louis must have been an admission that his own authority +in France was imperfect in title. It is obvious that the Consul would +have acted most imprudently in avowing such an attempt--after it had +proved unsuccessful; but the veracity of the exiled king lies under no +suspicion; nor is it easy to believe that Meyer would have dared to open +such a negotiation without sufficient authority from Napoleon. Hitherto +he had betrayed no symptom of personal malevolence towards the House of +Bourbon--but henceforth the autocrat, insulted as he thought in the +style of "_Monsieur_ Buonaparte," appears to have meditated some signal +act of revenge. + +He resented the refusal of Louis the more because he doubted not that +that prince well understood how little the great powers of Europe were +disposed to regard, with favourable eyes, the establishment of the +Buonapartes as a new dynasty in France. He suspected, in a word, that +his recent disputes with the cabinet of St. James's, had inspired new +hopes into the breasts of the exile family. + +It was at this period that Napoleon published, in the _Moniteur_, a long +memorial, drawn up by General Sebastiani, who had just returned from a +mission to the Levant, abounding in statements, and clothed in language, +such as could have had no other object but to inflame the government of +England to extremity. Sebastiani detailed the incidents of his journey +at great length, representing himself as having been everywhere received +with honour, and even with enthusiasm, as the envoy of Napoleon. Such, +he said, were the dispositions of the Mussulmans, that 6000 French would +now suffice to restore Egypt to the republic; and it was in vain that +_General Stuart_, who represented the English king in that country, had +endeavoured to excite the Turkish government to assassinate him, +Sebastiani. Lastly, the report asserted, that the Ionian Islands would, +on the first favourable occasion, declare themselves French. + +The English government reclaimed against this publication, as at once a +confession of the dangerous ambition of Buonaparte, and a studied insult +to them, whose representative's character and honour one of its chief +statements must have been designed to destroy, at a wilful sacrifice of +truth. The French minister replied, that the Chief Consul had as much +right to complain of the recent publication of Sir Robert Wilson's +_Narrative of the English Expedition to Egypt_, which contained +statements in the highest degree injurious to his character and +honour;[46] and had, nevertheless, been dedicated by permission to the +Duke of York. The obvious answer, namely, that Sir Robert Wilson's book +was the work of a private individual, and published solely on his own +responsibility, whereas Sebastiani's was a public document set forth by +an official organ, was treated as a wanton and insolent evasion. +Meanwhile the language of the press on either side became from day to +day more virulently offensive; and various members of the British +Parliament, of opposite parties, and of the highest eminence, did not +hesitate to rival the newspapers in their broad denunciations of the +restless and insatiable ambition of the Chief Consul.--"Buonaparte," +said Mr. Wyndham, "is the Hannibal who has sworn to devote his life to +the destruction of England. War cannot be far off, and I believe it +would be much safer to anticipate the blow than to expect it. I would +advise ministers to appeal to the high-minded and proud of +heart--whether they succeed or not, we shall not then go down like the +_Augustuli_." "The destruction of this country," said Mr. Sheridan, "is +the first vision that breaks on the French Consul through the gleam of +the morning: this is his last prayer at night, to whatever deity he may +address it, whether to Jupiter or to Mahomet, to the Goddess of Battles +or the Goddess of Reason. Look at the map of Europe, from which France +was said to be expunged, and now see nothing but France. If the ambition +of Buonaparte be immeasurable, there are abundant reasons why it should +be progressive." + +Stung to the quick by these continual invectives, Napoleon so far +descended from his dignity as to make them the subject of personal +complaint and reproach to the English Ambassador. He obtruded himself on +the department of Talleyrand, and attempted to shake the resolution of +the ambassador, Lord Whitworth, by a display of rude violence, such as +had, indeed, succeeded with the Austrian envoy at Campo-Formio, but +which produced no effect whatever in the case of this calm and +high-spirited nobleman. The first of their conferences took place in +February, when the Consul harangued Lord Whitworth for nearly two hours, +hardly permitting him to interpose a word on the other side of the +question. "Every gale that blows from England is burdened with enmity," +said he; "your government countenances Georges, Pichegru, and other +infamous men, who have sworn to assassinate me. Your journals slander +me, and the redress I am offered is but adding mockery to insult. I +could make myself master of Egypt to-morrow, if I pleased. _Egypt, +indeed, must sooner or later belong to France_; but I have no wish to go +to war for such a trivial object. What could I gain by war? Invasion +would be my only means of annoying you; and invasion you shall have, if +war be forced on me--but I confess the chances would be an hundred to +one against me in such an attempt. In ten years I could not hope to have +a fleet able to dispute the seas with you: but, on the other hand, the +army of France could be recruited in a few weeks to 480,000 men. United, +we might govern the world:--Why can we not understand each other?" Lord +Whitworth could not but observe the meaning of these hints, and +answered, as became him, that the King of England had no wish but to +preserve his own rights, and scorned the thought of becoming a partner +with France in a general scheme of spoliation and oppression. They +parted with cold civility, and negotiations were resumed in the usual +manner: but England stood firm in the refusal to give up Malta--at least +for ten years to come. The aggressions of Napoleon had wholly changed +the arrangement of territory and power contemplated when the treaty of +Amiens was drawn up; what security could there be for the retention of +Malta by Naples, or any such minor power, if Buonaparte wished to have +it? To surrender it would in fact be to yield an impregnable harbour and +citadel in the heart of the Levant, to a government which had gone on +trampling down the independence of state after state in the west. +Meanwhile the English government openly announced, in Parliament, that +the position of affairs seemed to be full of alarm--that the French were +manning fleets and recruiting their armies, and that it was necessary to +have recourse to similar measures; and, accordingly, a considerable +addition to the military establishment was agreed to. + +Thus stood matters on the 13th of March, when Lord Whitworth made his +appearance at the levee of the Chief Consul, in company with all the +rest of the diplomatic body. Napoleon no sooner entered, than, fixing +his eye on the English Ambassador, he exclaimed aloud and fiercely, in +presence of the circle, "You are then determined on war!" Lord Whitworth +denied the charge, but the Consul drowned his voice, and pursued +thus:--"We have been at war for fifteen years--you are resolved to have +fifteen years more of it--you force me to it." He then turned to the +other ministers, and said, in the same violent tone: "The English wish +for war; but if they draw the sword first, I will be the last to sheath +it again. They do not respect treaties--henceforth we must cover them +with black crape." Then, turning again to Whitworth, "To what purpose," +he cried, "are these armaments? If you arm, I will arm too; if you +fight, I can fight also. You may destroy France, but you cannot +intimidate her." "We desire neither to injure nor to alarm her, but to +live on terms of good intelligence," said Lord Whitworth. "Respect +treaties, then," said Napoleon; "woe to those by whom they are not +respected!--they shall be responsible to Europe for the result." He +repeated these last words sternly, and immediately quitted the +apartment, leaving the assembled ministers utterly confounded by this +indecent display of violence. + +Some persons, who knew Buonaparte well, have always asserted that this +undignified scene was got up with calm premeditation, and that the +ferocity of passion on the occasion was a mere piece of acting. Lord +Whitworth, however, was an excellent judge of men and manners, and he +never doubted that the haughty soldier yielded to the uncontrollable +vehemence of wrath. The cautious Talleyrand made various efforts to +explain away the intemperate words of his master; but they, and the tone +in which they had been uttered, went far to increase the jealousy and +animosity of the English government and nation, and to revive or confirm +the suspicion with which the other powers of Europe had had but too much +reason to regard the career of revolutionary France. + +On the 18th of May Great Britain declared war. Orders had previously +been given for seizing French shipping wherever it could be found, and +it is said that 200 vessels, containing property to the amount of three +millions sterling, had been laid hold of accordingly, ere the +proclamation of hostilities reached Paris. Whether the practice of thus +unceremoniously seizing private property, under such circumstances, be +right on abstract principle, or wrong, there can be no doubt that the +custom had been long established, acted upon by England on all similar +occasions, and of course considered, after the lapse of ages, and the +acquiescence of innumerable treaties, as part and parcel of the European +system of warfare. This was not denied by Napoleon; but he saw the +opportunity, and determined to profit by it, of exciting the jealousy of +other governments, by reclaiming against the exercise, on the part of +England, of a species of assault which England, from her maritime +predominance, has more temptations and better means to adopt than any +other power. He resolved, therefore, to retaliate by a wholly +unprecedented outrage. The very night that the resolution of the cabinet +of St. James's reached Paris, orders were given for arresting the +persons of all English subjects residing or travelling within the +dominion of France. + +Not less than 10,000 persons, chiefly of course of the higher classes of +society, thus found themselves condemned to captivity in a hostile land. +Had Napoleon adopted less violent measures, his reclamations against the +English government might have been favourably attended to throughout +Europe. But this despotic and unparalleled infliction of exile and +misery on a host of innocent private individuals, was productive of far +different effects. It moved universal sympathy, indignation, and +disgust. + +[Footnote 42: See Wordsworth's verses, "written at Calais the 15th Aug. +1802," in which the indifference of the people is contrasted with their +enthusiasm in the early days of the Revolution. + + "Festivals have I seen that were not names:-- + This is young Buonaparte's natal day; + And his is henceforth an established sway, + Consul for life. With worship France proclaims + Her approbation, and with pomps and games + Heaven grant that other cities may be gay! + Calais is not: and I have bent my way + To the sea coast, noting that each man frames + His business as he likes. Another time + That was, when I was here long years ago, + The senselessness of joy was then sublime!" &c. +] + +[Footnote 43: Witness, among other evidences, the noble sonnet of +Wordsworth:-- + + "TOUSSAINT, the most unhappy Man of Men! + Whether the all-cheering sun be free to shed + His beams around thee, or thou rest thy head + Pillowed in some dark dungeon's noisome den + O, miserable chieftain! where and when + Wilt thou find patience! Yet die not; do thou + Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow: + Though fallen Thyself, never to rise again, + Live and take comfort. Thou hast left behind + Powers that will work for thee--Air, Earth, and Skies; + There's not a breathing of the common Wind + That will forget thee; thou hast great Allies; + Thy friends are Exultations, Agonies, + And Love, and Man's unconquerable Mind." +] + +[Footnote 44: See Wordsworth's sonnet, "22nd Sept. 1802." + + "We had a fellow-passenger who came + From Calais with us, gaudy in array,-- + A Negro Woman like a Lady gay, + Yet silent as a woman fearing blame; + Dejected, meek, yet pitiably tame, + She sate, from notice turning not away, + But on our proffered kindness still did lay + A weight of languid speech, or at the same + Was silent, motionless in eyes and face, + She was a Negro Woman, driven from France-- + Rejected, like all others of that race, + Not one of whom may now find footing there; + Thus the poor outcast did to us declare, + Nor murmured at the unfeeling Ordinance." +] + +[Footnote 45: Afterwards Sir James.] + +[Footnote 46: It was by this book that the two dark stories of Jaffa +were first promulgated through Europe: and it is proper to add, that Sir +R. Wilson publicly presented a copy to George III. at his levee.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + Recommencement of the War--French seize Hanover and Naples--the + English seize various French colonies--Scheme of invading England + resumed--Moreau--Pichegru--Georges Cadoudal--Captain Wright--Murder + of the Duke d'Enghien--Napoleon Emperor of France--King of + Italy--Genoa united to the Empire. + + +The war was re-opened vigorously on both sides. The English fleets +rapidly reconquered various colonies surrendered back to France by the +treaty of Amiens, and assisted in compelling the dwindled army which +Leclerc had commanded to evacuate St. Domingo. Buonaparte, on the other +hand, despised utterly the distinction between the British Empire and +Hanover--a possession indeed of the same prince, but totally unconnected +with the English Constitution, and, as belonging to the Germanic Empire, +entitled, if it chose, to remain neutral--and having first marched an +army into Holland, ordered Mortier, its chief, to advance without +ceremony and seize the Electorate. At the same time, and with the same +pretext, French troops poured into the South of Italy, and occupied +Naples. + +General Mortier's appearance on the Hanoverian frontier was such as to +satisfy the Duke of Cambridge, governor for the Elector, that resistance +was hopeless. He entered into a negotiation (May, 1803), by which the +territory was to be surrendered, provided his army were permitted to +retire unbroken behind the Elbe, pledging themselves not to take the +field again against France during this war. But the ministers of George +III. advised him not to ratify this treaty. Mortier demanded of General +Walmsloden, commander-in-chief of the Hanoverian army, to surrender his +arms--or abide the consequences of being attacked beyond the Elbe--and +that fine body of men was accordingly disarmed and disbanded. The +cavalry, being ordered to dismount and yield their horses to the French, +there ensued a scene which moved the sympathy of the invading soldiery +themselves. The strong attachment between the German dragoon and his +horse is well known; and this parting was more like that of dear +kindred than of man and beast. + +The emperor, whose duty it was, as head of the German body, to reclaim +against this invasion of its territory, was obliged to put up with the +Consul's explanation, viz. that he had no wish to make the conquest of +Hanover, but merely to hold it until England should see the necessity of +fulfilling the Maltese article in the treaty of Amiens. Prussia, alarmed +by the near neigbourhood of Mortier, hardly dared to remonstrate. +Denmark alone showed any symptom of active resentment. She marched +30,000 men into her German provinces; but finding that Austria and +Prussia were resolved to be quiescent, was fain to offer explanations, +and recall her troops. The French General, meantime, scourged Hanover by +his exactions, and even, without the shadow of a pretext, levied heavy +contributions in Bremen, Hamburg, and the other Hansetowns in the +vicinity of the Electorate. + +These successes enabled Napoleon to feed great bodies of his army at the +expense of others, and to cripple the commerce of England, by shutting +up her communication with many of the best markets on the continent. But +he now recurred to his favourite scheme, that of invading the island +itself, and so striking the fatal blow at the heart of his last and +greatest enemy. Troops to the amount of 160,000, were mustered in camps +along the French and Dutch coasts, and vast flotillas, meant to convey +them across the Channel, were formed, and constantly manoeuvred in +various ports, that of Boulogne being the chief station. + +The spirit of England, on the other hand, was effectually stirred. Her +fleets, to the amount of not less than 500 ships of war, traversed the +seas in all directions, blockaded the harbours of the countries in which +the power of the Consul was predominant, and from time to time made +inroads into the French ports, cutting out and destroying the shipping, +and crippling the flotillas. At home the army, both regular and +irregular, was recruited and strengthened to an unexampled extent. Camps +were formed along the English coasts opposite to France, and the King in +person was continually to be seen in the middle of them. By night +beacons blazed on every hill-top throughout the island; and the high +resolution of the citizen-soldiery was attested, on numberless +occasions of false alarm, by the alacrity with which they marched on the +points of supposed danger.[47] There never was a time in which the +national enthusiasm was more ardent and concentrated; and the return of +Pitt to the prime-ministry (March, 1804) was considered as the last and +best pledge that the councils of the sovereign were to exhibit vigour +commensurate with the nature of the crisis. The regular army in Britain +amounted, ere long, to 100,000; the militia to 80,000; and of volunteer +troops there were not less than 350,000 in arms. + +Soult, Ney, Davoust, and Victor were in command of the army designed to +invade England, and the Chief Consul personally repaired to Boulogne, +and inspected both the troops and the flotilla. He constantly gave out +that it was his fixed purpose to make his attempt by means of the +flotilla alone; but while he thus endeavoured to inspire his enemy with +false security (for Nelson had declared this scheme of a boat invasion +to be _mad_, and staked his whole reputation on its miserable and +immediate failure, if attempted), the Consul was in fact providing +indefatigably a fleet of men-of-war, designed to protect and cover the +voyage. These ships were preparing in different ports of France and +Spain, to the number of fifty; Buonaparte intended them to steal out to +sea individually or in small squadrons, rendezvous at Martinico, and, +returning thence in a body, sweep the Channel free of the English for +such a space of time at least as might suffice for the execution of his +great purpose. These designs, however, were from day to day thwarted by +the watchful zeal of Nelson and the other English admirals; who observed +Brest, Toulon, Genoa, and the harbours of Spain so closely, that no +squadron, nor hardly a single vessel, could force a passage to the +Atlantic. + +Napoleon persisted to the end of his life in asserting his belief that +the invasion of England was prevented merely by a few unforeseen +accidents, and that, had his generals passed the sea, they must have +been successful. The accidents to which he attributed so much influence, +were, it is to be supposed, the presence and zeal of Nelson, Pellew, +Cornwallis, and their respective fleets of observation. As for the +results of the expedition, if the Channel had once been +crossed--Napoleon never seemed to doubt that a single great battle would +have sufficed to place London in his hands. Once arrived in the capital, +he would, he said, have summoned a convention, restored the mass of the +English people to their proper share of political power,--in a word, +banished the King, and revolutionised England on the model of France: +the meaning of all which is--reduced this island to be a province of the +French empire, and yet bestowed upon its people all those rights and +liberties of which he had already removed the last shadow, wherever his +own power was established on the continent. + +There can be little doubt that Napoleon egregiously underrated the +resistance which would have been opposed to his army, had it effected +the voyage in safety, by the spirit of the British people, and the great +natural difficulties of the country through which the invaders must have +marched. Nevertheless, it is not to be denied that, had the attempt been +made instantly on the rupture of the peace, the chances of success might +have been considerable--of success, temporary and short-lived indeed, +but still sufficient to inflict a terrible injury upon this country--to +bathe her soil in blood--to give her capital to the flames--and not +impossibly to shake some of her institutions. The enemy himself was, in +all likelihood, unprepared to make the attempt, until England had had +time to make adequate preparation for its encounter. It was otherwise +ordered of God's providence, than that the last bulwark of liberty +should have to sustain the shock of battle at its own gates. + +The invasion of England was the great object of attention throughout +Europe during the autumn and winter of 1803. Early in the succeeding +year Paris itself became the theatre of a series of transactions which +for a time engrossed the public mind. + +Even before Buonaparte proclaimed himself Consul for life, it appears +that, throughout a considerable part of the French army, strong symptoms +of jealousy had been excited by the rapidity of his advance to sovereign +power. After the monarchy of France was in effect re-established in him +and his dynasty, by the decrees of the 2nd and 4th of August, 1802, this +spirit of dissatisfaction showed itself much more openly; and ere long +it was generally believed that the republican party in the army looked +up to Moreau as their head, and awaited only some favourable opportunity +for rising in arms against Napoleon's tyranny. Moreau was known to have +treated both the Concordat and the Legion of Honour with undisguised +contempt; and Buonaparte's strictures on his conduct of the campaign of +1801 were not likely to have nourished feelings of personal goodwill in +the bosom of him whom all considered as second only to the Chief Consul +himself in military genius. It has already been intimated that the army +of the Rhine had been all along suspected of regarding Napoleon with +little favour. He had never been their general; neither they nor their +chiefs had partaken in the plunder of Italy, or in the glory of the +battles by which it was won. It was from their ranks that the unhappy +expedition under Leclerc had been chiefly furnished, and they considered +their employment in that unwholesome climate as dictated, more by the +Consul's doubts of their fidelity to himself, than his high appreciation +of their discipline and gallantry. How far Pichegru, while corresponding +with the Bourbons as head of the army of the Rhine, had intrigued among +his own soldiery, no evidence has as yet appeared. But after Pichegru's +banishment, Moreau possessed the chief sway over the minds of one great +division of the armed force of the Republic. + +Carnot, meantime, and other genuine republicans in the legislative +bodies, had been occupied with the endeavour, since they could not +prevent Napoleon from sitting on the throne of France, to organise at +least something like a constitutional opposition (such as exists in the +Parliament of England) whereby the measures of his government might be, +to a certain extent, controlled and modified. The creation of the Legion +of Honour, the decree enabling Buonaparte to appoint his successor, and +other leading measures, had accordingly been carried through far less +triumphantly than could be agreeable to the self-love of the autocrat. + +On the other hand, the return of so many emigrants--(a great part of +whom, not receiving back the property promised to them, were +disappointed and aggrieved anew)--could not fail to strengthen the +influence of the royalists in the private society of Paris; and by +degrees, as has often happened in the history of parties, the leaders of +the republicans and those of the Bourbonists came together, sinking for +the time the peculiar principles of either side, in the common feeling +of hatred to Napoleon. + +Pichegru returned from his exile at Cayenne, and after spending some +time in England, where he, no doubt, communicated with the Bourbon +princes, and with some members of Mr. Addington's government, passed +over secretly into France. Georges Cadoudal and other Chouan chiefs were +busy in stirring up their old adherents, and communicated with Pichegru +on his arrival in Paris. + +Suddenly, on the 12th of February, Paris was surprised with the +announcement, that a new conspiracy against the life of the Chief Consul +had been discovered by the confession of an accomplice; that 150 men had +meant to assemble at Malmaison in the uniform of the consular guard, and +seize Buonaparte while hunting; that Georges, the Chouan, had escaped by +a quarter of an hour--but that Mairn, La Jollais, and other leaders of +the conspiracy had been taken; finally, that Moreau had held various +conferences with Georges, La Jollais and Pichegru, and that he also was +under arrest. + +It is said that Georges Cadoudal had once actually penetrated into the +chamber of Napoleon at the Tuileries, and been prevented by the merest +accident from assassinating him: others of the conspirators had +approached his person very nearly on pretext of presenting petitions. +Buonaparte attributed his escape chiefly to the irregular mode of +living which his multifarious occupations involved; he seldom dined two +days following at the same hour, hardly ever stirred out of the palace +except with his attendants about him for some review or public ceremony, +and perhaps never appeared unguarded except where his appearance must +have been totally unexpected. The officer who betrayed Cadoudal and his +associates, was, it seems, a violent republican, and as such desired the +downfall of the Consul; but he had also served under Napoleon, and +learning at a late hour that the life of his old leader was to be +sacrificed, remonstrated vehemently, and rather than be accessary to +such extremities, gave the necessary information at the Tuileries. +Moreau was forthwith arrested; but Pichegru lurked undiscovered in the +heart of Paris until the 28th; six gens-d'armes then came upon his +privacy so abruptly that he could not use either his dagger or pistols, +though both were on his table. He wrestled for a moment, and then +attempted to move compassion--but was immediately fettered. Shortly +after Cadoudal himself, who had for days traversed Paris in cabriolets, +not knowing where to lay his head, was detected while attempting to pass +one of the barriers. Captain Wright, an English naval officer, who had +distinguished himself under Sir Sydney Smith at Acre, and from whose +vessel Pichegru was known to have disembarked on the coast of France, +happened about the same time to encounter a French ship of much superior +strength, and become a prisoner of war. On pretext that this gentleman +had acted as an accomplice in a scheme of assassination, he also was +immediately placed in solitary confinement in a dungeon of the Temple. + +It was now openly circulated that England and the exiled Bourbons had +been detected in a base plot for murdering the Chief Consul; that the +proof of their guilt was in the hands of the government, and would soon +be made public. The Duke de Berri himself, it was added, had been +prepared to land on the west coast of France, whenever Pichegru or +Cadoudal should inform him that the time was come; while another of the +royal exiles lay watching the event, and in readiness to profit by it, +on the other side, immediately behind the Rhine. + +The name of this last prince, the heir of Condé, well known for the +brilliant gallantry of his conduct while commanding the van of his +grandfather's little army of exiles, and beloved for many traits of +amiable and generous character, had hardly been mentioned in connection +with these rumours, ere the inhabitants of Paris heard, in one breath, +with surprise and horror, that the Duke d'Enghien had been arrested at +Ettenheim, and tried and executed within sight of their own houses at +Vincennes. This story will ever form the darkest chapter in the history +of Napoleon. + +The duke had his residence at a castle in the Duchy of Baden, where, +attended by a few noble friends, the partakers of his exile, he was +chiefly occupied with the diversions of the chase. On the evening of the +14th of March, a troop of French soldiers and gens-d'armes, under +Colonel Ordonner (who derived his orders from Caulaincourt) suddenly +passed the frontier into the independent territory of Baden, surrounded +the Castle of Ettenheim, rushed into the apartment of the prince, and +seized him and all his company. He would have used his arms, but his +attendants, representing the overpowering number of the assailants, +persuaded him to yield without resistance. He was forthwith conveyed to +the citadel of Strasburg, and separated from all his friends except one +aide-de-camp, the Baron de St. Jaques, and allowed no communication with +any one else. After being here confined three days, he was called up at +midnight on the 18th and informed that he must prepare for a journey. He +desired to have the assistance of his valet-de-chambre, and was refused: +they permitted him to pack up _two_ shirts, and the journey immediately +begun. + +The duke reached Paris early on the 20th; and after lying a few hours in +the Temple, was removed to the neighbouring Castle of Vincennes, used +for ages as a state prison. Being much fatigued he fell asleep, but was +presently roused, and his examination forthwith commenced. Weary and +wholly unprepared as he must have been, the unfortunate prince conducted +himself throughout in such a manner as to command the respect of his +inquisitors. He at once avowed his name and his services in the army of +Condé, but utterly denied all knowledge of Pichegru and his designs. To +this the whole of his evidence (and there was no evidence but his own) +amounted; and having given it; he earnestly demanded an audience of the +Consul. "My name," said he, "my rank, my sentiments, and the peculiar +distress of my situation, lead me to hope that this request will not be +refused." + +At midnight the duke was again called from his bed, to attend the court +which had been constituted for his trial. It consisted of eight military +officers, appointed by Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law, then governor +of Paris. General Hullin, president of the military commission, +commanded him to listen to the charges on which he was to be tried: of +having fought against France; of being in the pay of England; and of +plotting with England against the internal and external safety of the +Republic. The Duke was again examined, and the second interrogatory was +a mere repetition of the first, with this addition, that the prisoner +avowed his readiness to take part again in the hostilities against +France, if the opportunity should present itself. No other evidence +whatever was adduced, except the written report of a spy of the police, +who testified that the duke received many emigrants at his table at +Ettenheim, and occasionally left the castle for several days together, +without the spy's being able to trace where he was: a circumstance +sufficiently explained by the duke's custom of hunting in the Black +Forest. + +General Hullin, in his account of the proceedings,[48] says, "He +uniformly maintained that 'he had only sustained the rights of his +family, and that a Condé could never enter France but with arms in his +hands. My birth,' said he, 'and my opinions must ever render me +inflexible on this point.'"--"The firmness of his answers," continues +Hullin, "reduced the judges to despair. Ten times we gave him an opening +to retract his declarations, but he persisted in them immovably. 'I +see,' he said, 'the honourable intentions of the commissioners, but I +cannot resort to the means of safety which they indicate.' Being +informed that the military commission judged without appeal, 'I know +it,' answered he, 'nor do I disguise to myself the danger which I incur. +My only desire is to have an interview with the First Consul.'" + +The irregularities of all this procedure were monstrous. In the first +place, the duke owed no allegiance to the existing government of France. +2ndly, The seizure of his person was wholly illegal; it took place by +means of a violation of an independent territory: an outrage for which +it is impossible to offer the smallest excuse. 3rdly, Had the arrest +been ever so regular, the trial of a prisoner accused of a political +conspiracy was totally beyond the jurisdiction of a court-martial. +4thly, It was against the laws of France to hold any trial at midnight. +5thly, The interrogatory was not read over to the prisoner, which the +law imperatively demanded; and, 6thly, No defender was assigned to +him--an indulgence which the French code refuses not to the meanest or +most atrocious criminal, by what tribunal soever he may be tried. + +But to proceed--The judges were moved by the conduct of the prisoner, +and inclined to listen to his request of an audience of the Chief +Consul. But Savary, then minister of police, had by this time introduced +himself into the chamber, and watched the course of procedure from +behind the chair of the president. He now leaned forward, and whispered +into Hullin's ear, "this would be inopportune."--These significant words +were obeyed. The court pronounced the duke guilty of the capital crimes +of having fought against the Republic; of having intrigued with England; +of having maintained intelligence with Strasburg, with the view of +seizing that place; and of having conspired against the life of the +Chief Consul. The prisoner, being remanded to his confinement, the +report was instantly forwarded to Buonaparte, with a request that his +further pleasure might be made known. + +The court remained sitting until their messenger returned: he brought +back their own letter with these words inscribed on it, "Condemned to +death." The prisoner being called in again, heard his sentence with +perfect composure. He requested the attendance of a confessor, and was +answered,--"Would you die like a monk?" Without noticing this brutality +he knelt for a moment, as in prayer, and rising, said, "Let us go." + +He was immediately led down a winding stair by torch-light; and, +conceiving that he was descending into some subterraneous dungeon, said +to one of the soldiers of the escort, "Am I to be immured in an +_oubliette_?" "Monseigneur," the man replied, sobbing, "be tranquil on +that point." They emerged from a postern into the ditch of the castle, +where a party of gens-d'armes d'élite were drawn up, Savary, their +master, standing on the parapet over them. It was now six o'clock in the +morning, and the gray light of the dawn was mingled with the gleam of +torches. The prince refused to have his eyes bandaged--the word was +given, and he fell. The body, dressed as it was, was immediately thrown +into a grave--which had been prepared beforehand; at least, so say all +the witnesses, except M. Savary. + +To resume our notice of the mere informalities of the procedure:--1. The +sentence was altogether unsupported by the evidence, except as to the +mere fact of D'Enghien's having borne arms against France; but this +could be no crime in him: he owed no allegiance to the French +government; on the contrary, he and all his family had been expressly +excepted from every act of amnesty to emigrants, and thereby constituted +_aliens_. 2. The execution took place immediately after the sentence was +pronounced; this is contrary to the laws of all civilised nations, and +in direct contradiction to an article in the French code then in force, +which gave twenty-four hours to every prisoner convicted by a +court-martial, that he might, if he chose, appeal from their sentence. +But, 3rdly, the publications (long afterwards extorted) of Savary and +Hullin, prove that the court, perplexed with the difficulty of making +their sentence appear to have any conformity with the charge and the +evidence, drew up in fact, two different _sentences_: one before the +duke was executed, which bore the article, "immediate execution"; the +other a more careful document, intended alone to meet the public eye, in +which not a word about immediate execution occurs. The duke was _not_ +executed, therefore, at six in the morning of the 21st of March, upon +that sentence which was made public at the time, as the authority for +his death. + +Every circumstance in the dismal tale, from the quantity of linen packed +up at Strasburg, to the preparation of the grave in the ditch of +Vincennes, attests the fact that the fate of the unfortunate young man +(for he was but 32 years old when he fell) had been determined on, to +the minutest particular, long before he was summoned to a mock trial, +before an incompetent tribunal. If ever man was murdered, it was the +Duke d'Enghien. + +Such was the fate of the gallant and generous youth, who, by his fiery +courage, won the battle of Bertsheim; and who, when his followers, to +whom the republicans had so often refused quarter, seemed disposed to +retaliate in the hour of victory, threw himself between them and their +discomfited countrymen, exclaiming, "They are French--they are +unfortunate; I place them under the guardianship of your honour." + +The horror with which this remorseless tragedy was heard of in Paris, +soon spread throughout all Europe; and from that day the name of +Buonaparte was irremediably associated with the ideas of sullen revenge +and tyrannic cruelty. The massacre of Jaffa had been perpetrated in a +remote land, and many listened with incredulity to a tale told by the +avowed enemies of the homicide. But this bloody deed was done at home, +and almost in the sight of all Paris. Of the fact there could be no +doubt; and of the pretexts set forth by the organs of the French +government, there were few men of any party who affected not to perceive +the futility. Hitherto Napoleon had been the fortunate heir of a +revolution, in whose civil excesses he had scarcely +participated--henceforth he was the legitimate representative and symbol +of all its atrocities. + +In so far as Buonaparte had the power to suppress all mention of this +catastrophe, it was, at the time, suppressed. But in after days, at St. +Helena, when dictating the apology of his life to the companions of his +exile, he not only spoke openly of the death of the Duke d'Enghien, but +appears to have dwelt upon it often and long. Well aware that this was +generally regarded as the darkest trait in his history, he displayed a +feverish anxiety to explain it away. But the Sultan Akber wore a signet, +inscribed, "I never knew any one that lost his way in a straight road;" +and he that is conscious of innocence can have no temptation to multiply +the lines of his defence. Buonaparte, according to the mood of the +moment, or the companion whom he addressed, adopted different methods of +vindicating himself. They were inconsistent as well as diverse; and even +Las Cases seems to have blushed for his hero when he recorded them. + +At one time Napoleon represents himself as having been taken by +surprise: his ministers come on him when he is alone, at midnight, and +inform him that the Bourbons have conspired to assassinate him--that the +proofs are in their hands--that the Duke d'Enghien has already been more +than once in Paris, and is lying close to the frontier, expecting the +signal to return and head the conspirators in person.--In the first +flush of indignation he gives the order for arresting the duke--every +artifice is adopted to prevent him from interfering +afterwards--everything is arranged by Talleyrand--the duke addresses a +letter to him from Strasburg--that letter Talleyrand suppresses until +the tragedy is over--had it been delivered in time, the life of the +unhappy prince had been saved. + +Unfortunately for Buonaparte, eight days elapsed between the order for +the arrest and the order for the execution, a much longer period than +was ever necessary for restoring the composure of his strong +understanding. Further, the Duke d'Enghien kept a diary during his +imprisonment, in which the minutest incidents are carefully recorded; it +contains no hint of the letter to Napoleon; and the Baron de St. Jaques, +who never quitted his master's chamber while he remained at Strasburg, +bears distinct testimony that no such letter was written there. +Moreover, neither Talleyrand nor any other individual in the world, +except Buonaparte, could have had the slightest motive for desiring the +death of D'Enghien. On the contrary, every motive that has weight with +mankind in general, must have swayed the other way with Talleyrand; a +member of one of the noblest families in France; a man unstained by +participation in any of the butcheries of the revolution; and, above +all, a man whose consummate skill has through life steadily pursued one +object, namely, his own personal interest, and who must have been mad to +perpetrate a gratuitous murder. And, lastly, Talleyrand was minister for +foreign affairs. A letter written at Strasburg could by no accident have +been forwarded through his department in the government; and, in fact, +there is perfect proof that the whole business was done by the police, +whose chief, Savary, communicated directly with the Chief Consul, and +the military, who acted under the orders either of Buonaparte's +aide-de-camp, Caulaincourt (afterwards Duke of Vicenza), or of his +brother-in-law, Murat, the governor of Paris. It is needless to observe, +that Napoleon's accusation of Talleyrand dates _after_ that politician +had exerted all his talents and influence in the work of procuring his +own downfall, and the restoration of the House of Bourbon. But in truth +whether Talleyrand, or Savary, or Caulaincourt, had the chief hand in +the death of the Duke d'Enghien, is a controversy about which posterity +will feel little interest. It is obvious to all men, that not one of +them durst have stirred a finger to bring about a catastrophe of such +fearful importance, without the express orders of Napoleon. + +At other times the exile of St. Helena told a shorter and a plainer +tale. "I was assailed," said he, "on all hands by the enemies whom the +Bourbons had raised up against me: threatened with air-guns, infernal +machines, and stratagems of every kind. There was no tribunal to which I +could appeal for protection; therefore I had a right to protect myself. +By putting to death one of those whose followers threatened my life, I +was entitled to strike a salutary terror into all the rest." + +The princes of the House of Bourbon, so far from stimulating assassins +to take off the usurper of their throne, never failed, when such schemes +were suggested, to denounce them as atrocities hateful in the sight of +God and man. As to this part of their conduct, the proofs are abundant, +clear, and irrefragable. But it is very possible that Buonaparte +entertained the foul suspicion on which he justifies his violence. And +indeed it is only by supposing him to have sincerely believed that the +Bourbons were plotting against his life, that we can at all account for +the shedding of D'Enghien's blood.--Unless Josephine spake untruly, or +her conversation has been wilfully misrepresented, she strenuously +exerted her influence to procure mercy for the royal victim; and so, +unquestionably, did his venerable mother. But it demanded neither +affection for Napoleon's person, nor regard for his interest, nor +compassion for the youth and innocence of the Duke d'Enghien, to +perceive the imprudence, as well as wickedness, of the proceeding. The +remark of the callous _Fouché_ had passed into a proverb, "It was worse +than a crime--it was a blunder." + +A few days after the execution of the Duke d'Enghien (on the morning of +the 7th of April) General Pichegru was found dead in prison: a black +handkerchief was tied round his neck, and tightened by the twisting of a +short stick, like a tourniquet. It could not appear probable that he +should have terminated his own life by such means; and, accordingly, the +rumour spread that he had been taken off in the night by some of the +satellites of Savary; or, according to others, by some Mamelukes whom +Napoleon had brought with him from the East, and now retained near his +person, as an interior body-guard of the palace. This is a mystery which +has never been penetrated. The recent fate of D'Enghien had prepared men +to receive any story of this dark nature; and it was argued that +Buonaparte had feared to bring Pichegru, a bold and dauntless man, into +an open court, where he might have said many things well calculated to +injure the Consul in public opinion.[49] + +The other prisoners were now brought to trial. There was not a shadow of +evidence against General Moreau, except the fact, admitted by himself, +that he had been twice in company with Pichegru since his return to +Paris. He in vain protested that he had rejected the proposals of +Pichegru, to take part in a royalist insurrection; and, as for the +murderous designs of Georges Cadoudal, that he had never even heard of +them. He was sentenced to two years' confinement: but, on the +intercession of his wife with Josephine, or rather on finding that a +great part of the soldiery considered so eminent a commander as hardly +used, the Chief Consul ere long, commuted this punishment for two years +of exile. + +Moreau was innocent; by his side, on the day of trial, appeared men who +would have scorned to be so. Georges Cadoudal appeared in court with the +miniature of Louis XVI. suspended round his neck, and gloried in the +avowal of his resolution to make war personally on the usurper of the +throne. The presiding judge, Thuriot, had been one of those who +condemned the king to death. Georges punned on his name, and addressed +him as "Monsieur Tue-Roi."[50] When called up for sentence, the judge +missed the miniature, and asked him what he had done with it? "And you," +answered the prisoner, "what have you done with the original?"--a retort +which nothing could prevent the audience from applauding. Georges and +eighteen more were condemned to death; and he, and eleven besides, +suffered the penalty with heroic firmness. Of the rest, among whom were +two sons of the noble house of Polignac, some were permitted to escape +on condition of perpetual banishment: others had their punishment +commuted to imprisonment. + +With what indignation the death of the Duke d'Enghien had been heard of +throughout Europe, now began to appear. The Emperor of Russia and the +Kings of Sweden and Denmark put their courts into mourning, and made +severe remonstrances through their diplomatic agents; and the +correspondence which ensued laid the train for another general burst of +war. Austria was humbled for the time, and durst not speak out: Prussia +could hardly be expected to break her long neutrality on such an +occasion: but wherever the story went, it prepared the minds of princes +as of subjects, to take advantage of the first favourable opportunity +for rising against the tyranny of France. + +A conspiracy suppressed never fails to strengthen the power it was meant +to destroy: and Buonaparte, after the tragedies of D'Enghien and +Pichegru, beheld the French royalists reduced everywhere to the silence +and the inaction of terror. Well understanding the national temper, he +gave orders that henceforth the name of the exiled family should be as +much as possible kept out of view; and accordingly after this time it +was hardly ever alluded to in the productions of the enslaved press of +Paris. The adherents of the Bourbons were compelled to content +themselves with muttering their resentment in private saloons, where, +however, the Chief Consul commonly had spies--who reported to him, or to +his Savarys and Fouchés, the jests and the caricatures in which the +depressed and hopeless party endeavoured to find some consolation. + +In order to check the hostile feeling excited among the sovereigns of +the continent by the murder of the Bourbon Prince, the French government +were now indefatigable in their efforts to connect the conspiracy of +Georges Cadoudal with the cabinet of England. The agents of the police +transformed themselves into numberless disguises, with the view of +drawing the British ministers resident at various courts of Germany into +some correspondence capable of being misrepresented, so as to suit the +purpose of their master. Mr. Drake, envoy at Munich, and Mr. Spencer +Smith, at Stuttgard, were deceived in this fashion; and some letters of +theirs, egregiously misinterpreted, furnished Buonaparte with a pretext +for complaining, to the sovereigns to whom they were accredited, that +they had stained the honour of the diplomatic body by leaguing +themselves with the schemes of the Chouan conspirators. The subservient +princes were forced to dismiss these gentlemen from their residences; +but the English ministry made such explanations in open Parliament as +effectually vindicated the name of their country. Lord Elgin, British +ambassador at Constantinople, had been one of those travellers detained +at the out-breaking of the war, and was now resident on his parole in +the south of France. He was, on some frivolous pretext, confined in a +solitary castle among the Pyrenees; and there every device was practised +to induce him to, at least, receive letters calculated, if discovered in +his possession, to compromise him. But this nobleman, sagaciously +penetrating the design, baffled it by his reserve. Being liberated from +confinement shortly after, he communicated what had happened to a +friend, a member of the French Senate, who traced the matter home to +some of Fouché's creatures, and congratulated Lord Elgin on having +avoided very narrowly the fate of Pichegru. + +Sir George Rumbold, the British minister at Hamburg, escaped that +consummation still more narrowly. During the night of the 23rd October a +party of French soldiers passed the Elbe, as Ordonner and his gang had +crossed the Rhine on the 14th of March, and boldly seized Rumbold within +the territory of an independent and friendly state. He was hurried to +Paris, and confined in the fated dungeons of the Temple: but none of his +papers afforded any plausible pretext for resisting the powerful +remonstrance which the King of Prussia thought fit to make against an +outrage perpetrated almost within sight of his dominions; and, after a +few days, Sir George was set at liberty. + +Meantime, while all the princes of Europe regarded with indignation +(though few of them, indeed, cared to express the feeling openly) the +cruel tragedies which had been acted in France, the death of Pichegru +had suppressed effectually the hopes of the royalists in that country, +and the exile of Moreau deprived the republicans of the only leader +under whom there was any likelihood of their taking arms against the +Chief Consul. He resolved to profit by the favourable moment for +completing a purpose which he had long meditated; and, on the 30th of +April, little more than a month after the Duke d'Enghien died, one +Curée was employed to move, in the Tribunate, "that it was time to bid +adieu to political illusions--that victory had brought back +tranquillity--the finances of the country had been restored, and the +laws renovated--and that it was a matter of duty to secure those +blessings to the nation in future, by rendering the supreme power +hereditary in the person and family of Napoleon."--"Such," he said, "was +the universal desire of the army and of the people. The title of +Emperor, in his opinion, was that by which Napoleon should be hailed, as +best corresponding to the dignity of the nation." + +This motion was carried in the Tribunate, with one dissenting voice, +that of Carnot; who, in a speech of great eloquence, resisted the +principle of hereditary monarchy altogether. He admitted the merits in +war and in policy of the Chief Consul--he was at present the Dictator of +the Republic, and, as such, had saved it.--"Fabius, Camillus, +Cincinnatus were dictators also. Why should not Buonaparte, like them, +lay down despotic power, after the holding of it had ceased to be +necessary to the general good? Let the services of a citizen be what +they might, was there to be no limit to the gratitude of the nation? But +at all events, even granting that Buonaparte himself could not be too +highly rewarded, or too largely trusted, why commit the fortunes of +posterity to chance? Why forget that Vespasian was the father of +Domitian, Germanicus of Caligula, Marcus Aurelius of Commodus?" In +effect Carnot, colleague as he had been of Robespierre, and stained as +he was with the blood of Louis XVI., was a sincere republican; and, +after his own fashion, a sincere patriot. He was alone in the +Tribunate--the rest of whose members prolonged, during three whole days, +a series of fulsome harangues, every one of which terminated in the same +implicit agreement to the proposal of Curée. + +The legislative body, without hesitation, adopted it; and a +senatus-consultum forthwith appeared, by which Napoleon Buonaparte was +declared Emperor of the French: the empire to descend in the male line +of his body: in case of having no son, Napoleon might adopt any son or +grandson of his brothers as his heir: in default of such adoption, +Joseph and Louis Buonaparte were named as the next heirs of the crown +(Lucien and Jerome being passed over, as they had both given offence to +Napoleon by their marriages). The members of Napoleon's family were +declared princes of the blood of France. + +This decree was sent down to the departments: and the people received it +with indifference. The Prefects reported on the 1st of December, that +between three and four millions of citizens had subscribed their assent +to the proposed measure, while not many more than three thousand voted +in opposition to it. This result indicated, as these functionaries chose +to say, the unanimous approbation of the French people. That nation, +however, consisted at the time of more than thirty millions! + +But Napoleon did not wait for this authority, such as it proved to be. +On the 18th of May (more than six months ere the report reached him) he +openly assumed the imperial title and dignity. On the same day he +nominated his late colleagues in the Consulate, Cambaceres and Le Brun, +the former to be Arch-Chancellor, the latter Arch-Treasurer of the +Empire. The offices of High-Constable, Grand Admiral, &c., were revived +and bestowed on his brothers, and others of his immediate connections. +Seventeen generals (viz. Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, +Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, +Bessieres, Kellerman, Lefebre, Perignon, Serrurier) were named Marshals +of the Empire; Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace; Caulaincourt, Master +of the Horse; Berthier, Grand Huntsman; and Count Segur, a nobleman of +the ancient regime, Master of the Ceremonies. It was in vain attempted +to excite popular enthusiasm. "It appeared," says an eye-witness, "as if +the shades of D'Enghien and Pichegru had hovered over the scene, and +spread coldness on all that was meant for the manifestation of joy." + +It was not so with the soldiery. Napoleon, with his empress, visited the +camps at Boulogne, and was received with the excess of military applause +and devotion. He made a progress to Aix-la-Chapelle, and along the +Rhenish frontier, flattered and extolled at every station. Except +Russia, Sweden, and England, every crown in Europe sent to congratulate +him on his enrolment in the body of hereditary monarchs. Nay, not a few +of the smaller German potentates came in person, to swell, on this great +occasion, the state and magnificence of the new imperial court. + +In assuming the title of Emperor, not of King, it escaped not +observation, that Napoleon's object was to carry back the minds of the +French to a period antecedent to the rule of the recently dethroned +dynasty--to the days of Charlemagne, who, with the monarchy of France, +combined both a wider dominion and a loftier style. As that great +conqueror had caused himself to be crowned by Pope Leo, so Napoleon now +determined that his own inauguration should take place under the +auspices of Pius VII.; nay, that the more to illustrate his power, the +head of the Catholic church should repair to Paris for this purpose. It +may be doubted whether, in this measure, he regarded more the mere +gratification of his pride or the chance of conferring a character of +greater solemnity on the installation of the new dynasty, in the eyes of +the Catholic population of France. On the 5th of November, however, the +unresisting Pope left Rome, and, having been received throughout his +progress with every mark of respect and veneration, arrived in Paris to +bear his part in the great pageant. On the 2nd of December Buonaparte +and Josephine appeared, amidst all that was splendid and illustrious in +their capital, and were crowned in Notre-Dame. The Pope blessed them and +consecrated the diadems; but these were not placed on their heads by his +hand. That office, in either case, Napoleon himself performed. +Throughout the ceremonial his aspect was thoughtful: it was on a stern +and gloomy brow that he with his own hands planted the symbol of +successful ambition and uneasy power, and the shouts of the deputies +present, carefully selected for the purpose, sounded faint and hollow +amidst the silence of the people. + +As a necessary sequel to these proceedings in Paris, the senators of the +Italian republic now sent in their humble petition, that their president +might be pleased to do them also the favour to be crowned as their king +at Milan. The Emperor proceeded to that city accordingly, and in like +fashion, on the 26th of May, 1805, placed on his own head the old iron +crown of the Lombard kings, uttering the words which, according to +tradition, they were accustomed to use on such occasions, "_God hath +given it me. Beware who touches it._"--Napoleon henceforth styled +himself Emperor of the French and King of Italy, but announced that the +two crowns should not be held by the same person after his death. + +It was not, however, for mere purposes of ceremonial that he had once +more passed the Alps. The Ligurian republic sent the Doge to Milan to +congratulate the King of Italy, and also to offer their territories for +the formation of another department of the French empire. But this was a +step of his ambition which led to serious results. + +Meanwhile Eugene Beauharnois, son to Josephine, was left Viceroy at +Milan, and the imperial pair returned to Paris. + +[Footnote 47: To this period belong Sir W. Scott's song to the Edinburgh +Volunteers:-- + + "If ever breath of British gale + Shall fan the tricolor, + Or footstep of invader rude, + With rapine foul and red with blood, + Pollute our happy shore-- + Then farewell home! and farewell friends! + Adieu each tender tie! + Resolved, we mingle in the tide + Where charging squadron furious ride, + To conquer or to die," &c. + +And various sonnets of Mr. Wordsworth; such as-- + + "It is not to be thought of that the flood + Of British freedom," &c. + + "Vanguard of liberty! ye men of Kent, + Ye children of a soil that doth advance + Its haughty brow against the coast of France, + Now is the time to prove your hardiment!" &c. +] + +[Footnote 48: This account was published _more than twenty years +afterwards_, in consequence of a pamphlet by Savary (Duke of Rovigo).] + +[Footnote 49: About a year afterwards Captain Wright was found dead in +his dungeon in the Temple, with his throat cut from ear to ear. This +mystery has hitherto remained in equal darkness; but Buonaparte was far +from Paris at the period of Wright's death, and, under all the +circumstances of the case, there seems to be no reason for supposing +that he could have had any concern in that tragedy.] + +[Footnote 50: _i.e._ Kill-king.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + New coalition against France--Sweden--Russia--Austria joins the + Alliance--Napoleon heads the Army in Germany--Ulm surrendered by + Mack--Vienna taken--Naval Operations--Battle of Trafalgar--Battle + of Austerlitz--Treaty of Presburg--Joseph Buonaparte King of + Naples--Louis Buonaparte King of Holland--Confederation of the + Rhine--New Nobility in France. + + +On the 27th of January, 1805, Napoleon, in his new character of Emperor, +addressed a letter (as he had done before at the commencement of his +Consulate) to King George III. in person; and was answered, as before, +by the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The new Emperor's +letter contained many well-turned sentences about the blessings of +peace, but no distinct proposition of any kind--least of all any hint +that he was willing to concede Malta. The English minister, however, +answered simply, that in the present state of relations between the +cabinet of St. James's and that of St. Petersburg, it was impossible for +the former to open any negotiation without the consent of the latter. + +This sufficiently indicated a fact of which Napoleon had just suspicion +some time before. The murder of the Duke d'Enghien had been regarded +with horror by the young Emperor of Russia; he had remonstrated +vigorously, and his reclamations had been treated with indifference. The +King of Sweden, immediately after he heard of the catastrophe of +Vicennes, had made known his sentiments to the Czar: a strict alliance +had been signed between those two courts about a fortnight before +Napoleon wrote to the King of England; and it was obvious that the +northern powers had resolved to take part with Great Britain in her +struggle against France. The Consul now made the _Moniteur_ the vehicle +of continual abuse against the sovereigns of Russia and Sweden; and the +latter caused a note to be handed to the French minister at Stockholm, +complaining of the "indecent and ridiculous insolence which _Monsieur +Buonaparte_ had permitted to be inserted" in that official journal. + +The cabinets of London, Petersburg, and Stockholm were parties in a +league which had avowedly the following objects: to restore the +independence of Holland and Switzerland: to free the north of Germany +from the presence of French troops: to procure the restoration of +Piedmont to the King of Sardinia; and, finally, the evacuation of Italy +by Napoleon. Until, by the attainment of these objects, the sway of +France should be reduced to limits compatible with the independence of +the other European states, no peace was to be signed by any of the +contracting powers; and, during several months, every means was adopted +to procure the association of Austria and Prussia. But the latter of +these sovereigns had the misfortune at this time to have a strong French +party in his council, and, though personally hostile to Napoleon, could +not as yet count on being supported in a war against him by the hearty +goodwill of an undivided people. Austria, on the other hand, had been +grievously weakened by the campaign of Marengo, and hesitated, on +prudential grounds, to commit herself once more to the hazard of arms. + +Alexander repaired in person to Berlin, for the purpose of stimulating +the King of Prussia. The two sovereigns met in the vault where the great +Frederick lies buried, and swore solemnly, over his remains, to effect +the liberation of Germany. But though thus pledged to the Czar, the King +of Prussia did not hastily rush into hostilities. He did not even follow +the example of the Austrian, whose forbearance was at length wholly +exhausted by the news of the coronation at Milan, and the annexation of +Genoa to the empire of France. + +The government of Vienna no sooner heard of this new aggrandisement, +than it commenced warlike preparations, rashly and precipitately, +without making sure of the co-operation of Berlin, or even waiting until +the troops of Russia could perform the march into Germany. But this +great fault was not the greatest. The Emperor haughtily demanded that +the Elector of Bavaria should take the field also; nay, that he should +suffer his army to be entirely incorporated with the Austrian, and +commanded by its chiefs. The Elector, who had a son travelling in +France, resisted anxiously and strenuously. "On my knees," he wrote to +the Emperor, "I beg of you that I may be permitted to remain neutral." +This appeal was disregarded. The Austrian troops advanced into Bavaria, +where they appear to have conducted themselves as in an enemy's country; +and the indignant Elector withdrew his army into Franconia, where he +expected the advance of the French as liberators. + +This unjustifiable behaviour was destined to be severely punished. No +sooner did Napoleon understand that war was inevitable, than he broke up +his great army on the coast opposite to England, and directed its march +upon the German frontier; while Massena received orders to assume, also, +the offensive in Italy, and force his way, if possible, into the +hereditary states of Austria. The favourite scheme of Carnot was thus +revived, and two French armies, one crossing the Rhine, and the other +pushing through the Tyrolese, looked forward to a junction before the +walls of Vienna. + +The rashness which had characterised the conduct of the Cabinet of +Vienna, was fatally followed out in that of its general, Mack: instead +of occupying the line of the river Inn, which, extending from the Tyrol +to the Danube at Passau, affords a strong defence to the Austrian +territory, and on which he might have expected, in comparative safety, +the arrival of the Russians--this unworthy favourite of the Emperor left +the Inn behind him, and established his headquarters on the western +frontier of Bavaria, at Ulm. + +Napoleon hastened to profit by this unpardonable error. Bernadotte +advanced from Hanover, with the troops which had occupied that +electorate, towards Wurtzburg, where the Bavarian army lay ready to join +its strength to his; five divisions of the great force lately assembled +on the coasts of Normandy, under the orders of Davoust, Ney, Soult, +Marmont, and Vandamme, crossed the Rhine at different points, all to the +northward of Mack's position; while a sixth, under Murat, passing at +Kehl, manoeuvred in such a manner as to withdraw the Austrian's +attention from these movements, and to strengthen him in his belief that +Napoleon and all his army were coming against him through the Black +Forest in his front. + +The consequence of Buonaparte's combinations was, that while Mack lay +expecting to be assaulted in front of Ulm, the great body of the French +army advanced into the heart of Germany, by the left side of the Danube, +and then, throwing themselves across that river, took ground in his +rear, interrupting his communication with Vienna, and isolating him. In +order that Bernadotte and the Bavarians might have a part in this great +manoeuvre, it was necessary that they should disregard the neutrality of +the Prussian territories of Anspach and Bareuth; and Napoleon, well +aware of the real sentiments of the court of Berlin, did not hesitate to +adopt this course. Prussia remonstrated indignantly, but still held back +from proclaiming war; and Napoleon cared little for such impediments as +mere diplomacy could throw in the way of his campaign. He did not, +however, effect his purpose of taking up a position in the rear of Mack +without resistance. On the contrary, at various places, at Wertenghen, +Guntzburg, Memingen, and Elchingen, severe skirmishes occurred with +different divisions of the Austrian army, in all of which the French had +the advantage. General Spangenburg and 5000 men laid down their arms at +Memingen; and, in all, not less than 20,000 prisoners fell into the +hands of the French between the 26th of September, when they crossed the +Rhine, and the 13th of October, when they were in full possession of +Bavaria and Swabia, holding Mack cooped up behind them in Ulm--as +Wurmser had been in Mantua, during the campaign of Alvinzi. + +But Mack was no Wurmser. Napoleon's recent movements had perplexed +utterly the counsels of the Austrians, whose generals, adopting +different views of the state of the campaign, no longer acted in unison. +Schwartzenberg, and the Archduke Ferdinand, considering further +resistance in Bavaria as hopeless, cut their way, at the head of large +bodies of cavalry, into Bohemia, and began to rouse the inhabitants of +that kingdom to a levy _en masse_. The French Emperor, perceiving that +they had for the present escaped him, drew back upon Ulm, invested that +town on every side, and summoned Mack to surrender. + +The garrison consisted of full 20,000 good troops; the place was amply +victualled and stored; the advance of the great Russian army could not +be distant; the declaration of war against Napoleon by Berlin was hourly +to be expected: and the armies of Austria, though scattered for the +present, would be sure to rally and make every effort for the relief of +Ulm. Under circumstances comparatively hopeless the brave Wurmser held +Mantua to extremity. But in spite of example or argument, in terror or +in treachery, General Mack capitulated without hazarding a blow. + +On the 16th he published a proclamation, urging his troops to prepare +for the utmost pertinacity of defence, and forbidding, on pain of death, +the very word _surrender_ to be breathed within the walls of Ulm. On the +17th he signed articles by which hostilities were immediately to cease, +and he and all his men to surrender themselves prisoners of war within +ten days, unless some Austrian or Russian force should appear in the +interval, and attempt to raise the blockade. After signing this +document, Mack visited, in person, the headquarters of Napoleon; and, +whatever the nature of their conversation may have been, the result was, +a _revision_ of the treaty on the 19th, and the formal evacuation of Ulm +on the 20th. Twenty thousand soldiers filed off, and laid down their +arms before Napoleon and his staff.--Eighteen generals were dismissed on +parole; an immense quantity of ammunition of all sorts fell into the +hands of the victor; and a waggon filled with Austrian standards was +sent to gratify the vanity of the Parisians. + +The catastrophe of Ulm, striking new terror into the Prussian counsels, +prevented the violation of the territory of Anspach from being +immediately followed by the declaration of war, for which Buonaparte +must have made up his mind when he hazarded that measure. Meantime +success had attended Massena in his advance from Lombardy towards the +Venetian states, where the Archduke Charles commanded an army of 60,000 +men for Austria. The Archduke, after sustaining various reverses, was +forced to abandon Italy; and retreated, though slowly and leisurely, +before Massena, through the strong passes of the Carinthian mountains. + +Nor had Marshal Ney, whom Napoleon had detached from his own main army +with orders to advance in the Tyrol, been less successful than Massena. +The Archduke John, who commanded in that province, was beaten like his +brother; and the outposts of the army of Massena from Italy and that of +Ney from the Upper Rhine, at length met and saluted in triumph at +Clagenfurt. The Archduke Charles, understanding how Ney was prospering +in the Tyrol, had given up the design of retreating by that way into +Germany, and proceeded through the Carinthian Mountains towards +Hungary. Prince John now followed his brother's example; and, the +remains of those two armies thus coalescing in a distant region, the +divisions of Ney and Messena came to be at the immediate disposal of +Napoleon, who was now concentrating his force for the purpose of +attacking Vienna. + +While the victorious corps of Ney thus secured his right--Murat, on his +left, watched the Austrians who had made their way into Bohemia; and +Augereau, who had now advanced at the head of a large reserve from +France, remained behind him in Swabia, to guard the passes from the +Voralberg, in case of any hostile movement from that mountainous +province, and, at the same time, to be ready for action against the +Prussians, should that army at length receive orders to take part in the +war, and cross the Danube. Thus guarded, as he judged, against any +chance of having his communications intercepted in the rear or flanks, +Napoleon himself, with the main body, now moved on the capital of the +German Emperor. Austrian and Russian troops, to the number of 45,000, +had been thrown together with the view of relieving Ulm, and advanced +considerably for that purpose ere they heard of the treacherous +capitulation of Mack. They now retired again before the movement of +Napoleon, halting, indeed, occasionally, and assuming the aspect of +determination; but, whenever the outposts met, losing heart, and +continuing their progress towards Moravia:--for there, at length, the +Czar, with his principal army, had made his appearance; and there, +around that standard, every disposable force was now to be rallied. The +Emperor Francis himself, perceiving that Vienna was incapable of +defence, quitted his capital on the 7th of November, and proceeded to +Brunn, in Moravia, the headquarters of Alexander. + +On the same evening Count Giulay reached Napoleon's headquarters at +Lintz, with proposals for an immediate armistice and negotiation. +Buonaparte refused to pause unless the Tyrol and Venice were instantly +ceded to him. These were terms to which the Austrian envoy had no +authority to submit. On the 13th of November, accordingly, the French +entered Vienna, and Napoleon took up his residence in the castle of +Schoenbrunn, the proud palace of the Austrian Cæsars. General Clarke was +appointed governor of the city; and the Elector of Bavaria was +gratified with a large share of the military stores and equipments found +in its arsenals. + +But the intoxication of this success was to be sobered by a cup of +bitterness--and from a hand which had already dashed more than one of +Napoleon's proudest triumphs. + +When Buonaparte took up arms again, and devoted every energy of his mind +to the descent upon England, Spain, the next maritime power after +France, professed, indeed, neutrality,--but by some of her proceedings +raised the suspicion that her fleet was really destined to act along +with that of the invader. The English government resolved to bring this +matter to the test: and a squadron of four ships demanded a similar +force of the Spaniards to yield themselves into their keeping as a +pledge of neutrality. The British squadron sent on such an errand ought, +on every principle of policy and humanity, to have been much stronger +than that which Commodore Moore commanded on this occasion. The +Castilian pride took fire at the idea of striking to an equal foe; and, +unhappily, an action took place, in which three of the Spanish ships +were captured, and one blown up. This catastrophe determined, as might +have been expected, the wavering counsels of Madrid. Spain declared war +against England, and placed her fleets at the command of the French +Emperor. + +Two of his own squadrons, meantime, had, in pursuance of the great +scheme traced for the ruin of England, escaped early in this year out of +Rochefort and Toulon. The former, passing into the West Indies, effected +some trivial services, and returned in safety to their original port. +The latter, under Villeneuve, had like fortune; and, venturing on a +second sortie, joined the great Spanish fleet under Gravina at Cadiz. +The combined fleets then crossed the Atlantic, where they captured an +insignificant island, and once more returned towards Europe. Nelson had +spent the summer in chasing these squadrons across the seas--and on this +occasion they once more eluded his grasp: but on approaching Cape +Finisterre (22nd July), another English squadron of fifteen sail of the +line and two frigates, under Sir Robert Calder, came in view: and the +allied admirals, having twenty sail of the line, three fifty-gun ships, +and four frigates, did not avoid the encounter. They were worsted, +notwithstanding their superiority of strength, and Calder captured two +of their best ships. But that they escaped from an English fleet, +howsoever inferior in numbers, without sustaining severer loss than +this, was considered as a disgrace by the British public.--Calder, being +tried by a court-martial, was actually censured for not having improved +his success more signally; a striking example of the height to which +confidence in the naval superiority of the English had been raised, at +the very time when no arm appeared capable of thwarting the career of +French victory by land. + +Villeneuve and Gravina now made their way to Vigo, and thence finally to +Cadiz: while Nelson, having at length received accurate intelligence of +their motions, took the command in the Mediterranean, and lay watching +for the moment in which they should be tempted to hazard another egress. +The coasts of Spain being strictly blockaded, some difficulty began to +be felt about providing necessaries for the numerous crews of the allied +fleets; but the circumstance which had most influence in leading them to +quit, once more, their place of safety, was, according to general +admission, the impatience of Villeneuve under some unmerited reproaches +with which Napoleon visited the results of the battle off Cape +Finisterre. Villeneuve, a man of dauntless gallantry and the highest +spirit, smarting under this injury, was anxious to take the noble +revenge of victory. And, in truth, had numbers been to decide the +adventure, he ran little risk: for Nelson commanded only twenty-seven +sail of the line, and three frigates, manned in the ordinary manner; +whereas the fleet in Cadiz mustered thirty-three ships of the line, and +seven frigates; and, besides the usual crews, carried 4000 troops, +chiefly rifle-men. The result was the most glorious day in the proud +annals of the English Marine. The combined fleets sailed from Cadiz on +the 19th of October, and on the morning of the 21st--the very day after +Mack surrendered at Ulm--they came in sight of the English Admiral, off +Cape Trafalgar. + +The reader is referred to the historian of Lord Nelson for the +particulars of this great action. The French and Spaniards awaited the +attack in a double line. Nelson hoisted the famous signal--"England +expects every man to do his duty"; charged in two columns, and broke +their array at the first onset. The battle, nevertheless, was sternly +contested. In the end nineteen ships of the line were taken; and of +those Spanish vessels which escaped into Cadiz, seven had been rendered +wholly unserviceable. Four French ships of the line, under Commodore +Dumanoir, made way for the Straits, and were captured a few days after +by Sir Richard Strachan, commander of the English squadron off +Rochefort. The fleets of France and Spain were annihilated: yet, great +as was the triumph, glorious and unrivalled, it was dearly +purchased--for Nelson fell, mortally wounded, early in the action. The +hero lived just long enough to hear the cheer of consummated victory; +and then breathed out his noble spirit, in words worthy of his life, +"Thank God! I have done my duty."[51] + +The French and Spaniards had fought together against Nelson; but not in +the same spirit. The former were determined and malignant enemies; the +latter generous friends, hurried, by the excitement of temporary and +pardonable passion, into hostilities against the only power which could +afford their country any chance of avoiding that political slavery, +under which it was now the settled purpose of Napoleon's ambition to +crush every nation of Europe. But the unprincipled conduct of Dumanoir, +who escaped from Nelson to be captured shortly after, as has been +mentioned, by Strachan, at once brought out the different feelings +under which the two allied fleets had been acting. This French officer, +retreating with his four ships, which had had no part in the battle, +discharged his broadsides, as he passed, into English vessels no longer +capable of pursuit,--conduct which, as the victory was complete, could +have no object but that of carnage. Nay, such was the ruffian nature of +this man's soul, he fired into the Spanish ships which had yielded to +the English, thus, for the sake of trivially injuring his enemy, +sacrificing without scruple the blood of his own unfortunate friends. +The Spanish prisoners, in their indignation at this brutality, asked +their English captors to permit them to man their guns against the +retreating French; and such was the earnestness of their entreaty, and +the confidence of Englishmen in the honour of Spaniards, that these men +actually were permitted to do as they had requested. A mutual +interchange of good offices ensued. In the evening after the battle a +gale sprung up, and some of the captured vessels drifting on shore, a +number of British seamen fell into the hands of the garrison of Cadiz. +They were received as friends: for the accommodation of their wounded +the Spanish soldiers gave up their own beds. Collingwood, who succeeded +to Nelson's command, sent all the wounded Spaniards on shore to be cured +in their own country, merely taking their parole that they would not +serve again during the war: and the governor of Cadiz, with still more +romantic generosity, offered his hospitals for the use of Collingwood's +wounded seamen, pledging the honour of the Spanish name that they should +be cared for like his own men, and sent back to their admiral whenever +they had recovered. It will appear, hereafter, what illustrious +consequences the kindly feelings thus manifested were destined to +produce. + +Buonaparte, when he heard of this mighty discomfiture, which for ever +put an end to all his visions of invading England, is said to have lost +that possession of himself, which he certainly maintained when the +catastrophe of Aboukir was announced to him at Cairo. Yet arrogance +mingled strangely in his expressions of sorrow.--"I cannot be +everywhere," said he to the messenger of the evil tidings--as if +Napoleon could have had any more chance of producing victory by his +presence at Trafalgar, than Nelson would have dreamed of having by +appearing on horseback at Marengo. In his newspapers, and even in his +formal messages to the senate at Paris, Buonaparte always persisted in +denying that there had been a great defeat at Trafalgar, or even a great +battle. But how well he appreciated the facts of the case was well known +to the unfortunate Admiral Villeneuve. That brave officer, after +spending a short time in England, was permitted to return to France on +his parole. He died almost immediately afterwards at Rennes: whether by +his own hand, in the agony of despair, as the French _Gazette_ asserted, +or assassinated, as was commonly believed at the time, by some of the +blood-hardened minions of Fouché's police, is a mystery not yet cleared +up; and, perhaps, never destined to be so until the day comes in which +nothing shall be hid. + +The tidings of Trafalgar, after the first moment, served but as a new +stimulus to the fire of Napoleon's energy. He quitted Vienna, and put +himself at the head of his columns, which, passing the Danube into +Moravia, soon found themselves within reach of the forces of Russia and +Austria, at length combined, and prepared for action, under the eyes of +their respective emperors. These princes, on the approach of the French, +drew back as far as Olmutz, in order that a reserve of Russians, under +Bexhowden, might join them before the decisive struggle took place. +Napoleon fixed his headquarters at _Brunn_, and, riding over the plain +between Brunn and Austerlitz (a village about two miles from that town), +said to his generals, "study this field--we shall, ere long, have to +contest it." + +Buonaparte has been much criticised by strategists for the rashness of +thus passing the Danube into Moravia, while the Archduke Ferdinand was +organising the Bohemians on his left, the Archdukes Charles and John in +Hungary, with still formidable and daily increasing forces on his right, +the population of Vienna and the surrounding territories ready to rise, +in case of any disaster, in his rear; and Prussia as decidedly hostile +in heart as she was wavering in policy. The French leader did not +disguise from himself the risk of his adventure; but he considered it +better to run all that risk, than to linger in Vienna until the armies +in Hungary and Bohemia should have had time to reinforce the two +emperors. + +Napoleon's preparations were as follows:--his left, under Larmes, lay +at Santon, a strongly fortified position: Soult commanded the right +wing: the centre, under Bernadotte, had with them Murat and all the +cavalry. Behind the line lay the reserve, consisting of 20,000, 10,000 +of whom were of the Imperial guard, under Oudinot: and here Napoleon +himself took his station. But besides these open demonstrations, +Davoust, with a division of horse and another of foot, lay behind the +convent of Raygern, considerably in the rear of the French right--being +there placed by the Emperor, in consequence of a false movement, into +which he, with a seer-like sagacity, foresaw the enemy might, in all +likelihood, he tempted; and to which he lured them on accordingly by +every engine of his craft. + +Buonaparte, on learning that the Emperor Alexander was personally in the +hostile camp, sent Savary to present his compliments to that sovereign; +but really, as we may suppose, to observe as much as he could of the +numbers and condition of the troops. Savary, on his return, informed his +master that the Russian prince was surrounded by a set of young +coxcombs, whose every look and gesture expressed overweening confidence +in themselves and contempt for their opponents. All the reverses of the +previous campaign were, as they took care to signify, the result of +unpardonable cowardice among the Austrians, whose spirit had been quite +broken by the wars in Italy: but they were the countrymen of the same +Suwarrow who had beaten the French out of all Buonaparte's Lombard +conquests, and the first general battle would show what sort of enemies +the Russians were. How much of this statement is true we know not: it +was openly made at the time in one of Buonaparte's bulletins--and, what +is of more moment, he appears to have acted on the belief that Savary +told the truth. Having, ere he received it, advanced several leagues +beyond the chosen field of battle, near Austerlitz, he forthwith +retreated on that position, with a studied semblance of confusion. The +Czar sent a young aide-de-camp to return the compliment carried by +Savary; and this messenger found the French soldiery actively engaged in +fortifying their position--the very position which their Emperor had all +along determined to occupy. The account of what the young Russian saw in +the French lines gave, as Napoleon wished, a new stimulus to the +presumption of his enemy; and, having made the preparations above +described, he calmly expected the consequences of their rashness and +inexperience. + +On the 1st of December he beheld the commencement of those false +movements which he had desired and anticipated. On seeing the Russians +begin to descend from the heights, on which they might have lain in +safety until the Archdukes could come to swell their array with the +forces in Bohemia and Hungary, Napoleon did not repress his rapturous +joy: "In twenty-four hours," said he, "that army is mine." + +Shortly afterwards there arrived Count Haugwitz, an envoy from the King +of Prussia, who being introduced into the Emperor's presence, signified +that he was the bearer of an important communication. "Count," said +Napoleon, "you may see that the outposts of the armies are almost +meeting--there will be a battle to-morrow--return to Vienna, and deliver +your message when it is over." The envoy did not require two biddings. +Napoleon had all this year been protracting the indecision of the +Prussian counsels by holding out the delusive hope, that, were Austria +effectually humbled, the imperial crown of Germany might be transferred +to the house of Brandenburg. The old jealousies, thus artfully awakened, +had been sufficient to prevent a declaration of war from immediately +following on the violation of the territory of Anspach and Bareuth. The +intervention of the Czar had, it is not to be doubted, at length +determined the Court of Berlin to close their unworthy neutrality:--but +Haugwitz had no Prussian army in his train; and, seeing what was before +him, he certainly did prudently to defer that which had been so unwisely +as well as ungenerously put off from month to month, for one day more. + +At one o'clock in the morning of the 2nd of December, Napoleon, having +slept for an hour by a watch-fire, got on horseback, and proceeded to +reconnoitre the front of his position. He wished to do so without being +recognised, but the soldiery penetrated the secret, and, lighting great +fires of straw all along the line, received him from post to post with +shouts of enthusiasm. They reminded him that this was the anniversary of +his coronation, and assured him they would celebrate the day in a manner +worthy of its glory. "Only promise us," cried an old grenadier, "that +you will keep yourself out of the fire." "I will do so," answered +Napoleon, "I shall be with the reserve _until you need us._" This +pledge, which so completely ascertains the mutual confidence of the +leader and his soldiers, he repeated in a proclamation issued at +daybreak. The sun rose with uncommon brilliancy: on many an after-day +the French soldiery hailed a similar dawn with exultation as the sure +omen of victory, and "the Sun of Austerlitz" has passed into a proverb. + +The Russian General-in-Chief, Kutusoff, fell into the snare laid for +him, and sent a large division of his army to turn the right of the +French. The troops detached for this purpose met with unexpected +resistance from Davoust, and were held in check at Raygern. Napoleon +immediately seized the opportunity. They had left a deep gap in the +line, and upon that space Soult forthwith poured a force, which entirely +destroyed the communication between the Russian centre and left. The +Czar perceived the fatal consequences of this movement, and his guards +rushed to beat back Soult. It was on an eminence, called the hill of +Pratzen, that the encounter took place. The Russians drove the French +infantry before them: Napoleon ordered Bessieres to hurry with the +imperial guard to their rescue. The Russians were in some disorder from +the impatience of victory. They resisted sternly, but were finally +broken, and fled. The Grand Duke Constantine, who had led them +gallantly, escaped by the fleetness of his horse. + +The French centre now advanced, and the charges of its cavalry under +Murat were decisive. The Emperors of Russia and Germany beheld from the +heights of Austerlitz the total ruin of their centre, as they had +already of their left. Their right wing had hitherto contested well +against all the impetuosity 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. They were forced down into a hollow, where some small frozen +lakes offered the only means of escape from the closing cannonade. The +French broke the ice about them by a storm of shot, and nearly 20,000 +men died on the spot, some swept away by the artillery, the greater part +drowned. Buonaparte, in his bulletin, compares the horrid spectacle of +this ruin to the catastrophe of the Turks at Aboukir, when "the sea was +covered with turbans." It was with great difficulty that the two +emperors rallied some fragments of their armies around them, and +effected their retreat. Twenty thousand prisoners, forty pieces of +artillery, and all the standards of the imperial guard of Russia, +remained with the conqueror. Such was the battle of Austerlitz;--or, as +the French soldiery delighted to call it, "the battle of the emperors." + +The Prussian envoy now returned, and presented to Napoleon his master's +congratulations on the victory thus achieved. The Emperor whispered to +Haugwitz, "Here is a message, of which circumstances have altered the +address." Frederick-William, however, had 150,000 men under arms, and it +by no means suited Napoleon's views to provoke him to extremities at +this moment. He entered into a treaty with Haugwitz; and Prussia was +bribed to remain quiescent, by a temptation which she wanted virtue to +resist. The French Emperor offered her Hanover, provided she would +oppose no obstacle to any other arrangements which he might find it +necessary to form: and the house of Brandenburg did not blush to accept +at his hands the paternal inheritance of the royal family of England. + +The Austrian, understanding how Prussia was disposed of, perceived too +clearly that further resistance was hopeless; and negotiations +immediately begun. + +The haughty Emperor of Germany repaired to the French headquarters. He +was received at the door of a miserable hut. "Such," said Buonaparte, +"are the palaces you have compelled me to occupy for these two months." +"You have made such use of them," answered Francis, "that you ought not +to complain of their accommodation." + +The humiliated sovereign, having ere this obtained an armistice for +himself, demanded of Napoleon that the Czar might be permitted to +withdraw in safety to his own states. To this the conqueror assented: +and on the 6th of December the Russians commenced their retreat. + +The definitive treaty with Francis was signed at Presburg on the 15th of +December, another with Prussia on the 26th, at Vienna:--and the terms of +both arranged, on Napoleon's side, by Talleyrand, corresponded with the +signal and decisive events of the campaign. + +Austria yielded the Venetian territories to the kingdom of Italy: her +ancient possessions of the Tyrol and Voralberg were transferred to +Bavaria, to remunerate that elector for the part he had taken in the +war; Wirtemberg, having also adopted the French side, received +recompense of the same kind at the expense of the same power, and both +of these electors were advanced to the dignity of kings. Bavaria +received Anspach and Bareuth from Prussia, and, in return, ceded Berg, +which was erected into a grand duchy, and conferred, in sovereignty, on +Napoleon's brother-in-law, Murat. Finally, Prussia added Hanover to her +dominions, in return for the cession of Anspach and Bareuth, and +acquiescence in the other arrangements above-mentioned. + +Eugene Beauharnois, son of Josephine, and Viceroy of Italy, received in +marriage the eldest daughter of the new king of Bavaria: this being the +first occasion on which Napoleon manifested openly his desire to connect +his family with the old sovereign houses of Europe. It was announced at +the same time, that in case the Emperor should die without male issue, +the crown of Italy would descend to Eugene. + +Other events of the same character now crowded on the scene. The king, +or rather the queen of Naples, had not failed, during the recent +campaign, to manifest the old aversion to the French cause. St. Cyr's +army, which on the first rupture of the peace of Amiens had occupied the +seaports of that kingdom, being called into the north of Italy to +reinforce Massena against the Archduke Charles, an Anglo-Russian +expedition soon landed in Naples, and were welcomed cordially by the +court. Napoleon, immediately after the battle of Austerlitz, issued a +proclamation, declaring that "the royal house of Naples had ceased to +reign for _ever_." On hearing of the decisive battle, and the retreat of +the Czar, the English and Russians evacuated the Neapolitan territories +on the mainland of Italy. Joseph Buonaparte conducted a French army +towards the frontier; the court passed over into Sicily; and Joseph was +proclaimed King of Naples. + +The King of Sweden, rushing as hastily and inconsiderately as he of +Naples into the war of 1805, landed with a small army in Germany, and +besieged Hamelen, a fortress of Hanover, where Bernadotte had left a +strong garrison. This movement, had Prussia broken her neutrality, might +have been of high importance to the general cause; as events turned out, +it was fruitless. The Swedes raised their siege in confusion, on +receiving the news of Austerlitz; and Napoleon from that hour meditated +the dethronement of the dynasty of Gustavus--but this object was not yet +within reach. + +The Principalities of Lucca, Massa-Carrara, and Garfagnana, were now +conferred on Napoleon's sister, Eliza (Madame Bacciochi): on Pauline, +the younger sister, who, after the death of General Leclerc, had married +the Prince Borghese, the sovereignty of Guastalla was in like manner +bestowed. + +The Batavian republic had for years been in effect enslaved by France. +On pretence that her leading men, however, still yearned after the +alliance of England, and thwarted him in his designs on the commerce of +that great enemy, Napoleon now resolved to take away even the shadow of +Dutch independence. The Batavian Senate were commanded to ask Louis +Buonaparte for their king; and these republicans submitted with the +better grace, because the personal character of Louis was amiable, and +since Holland must be an appendage to France, it seemed probable that +the connection might be rendered the less galling in many circumstances, +were a prince of Napoleon's own blood constituted her natural guardian. +Louis had married the beautiful Hortense-Fanny de Beauharnois, daughter +of Josephine--so that, by this act, two members of the imperial house +were at once elevated to royalty.--They began their reign at the Hague +in May, 1806. + +Another great consequence of Austerlitz remains to be mentioned. The +Kings of Wirtemberg and Bavaria, the Grand Duke of Berg, and other +sovereigns of the West of Germany, were now associated together in a +close alliance under the style of the _Confederation of the Rhine_: +Napoleon added to his other titles that of _Protector_ of this +confederacy; and the princes of the league were bound to place 60,000 +soldiers at his command. + +Finally, it was on his return from the triumph of Austerlitz, that +Napoleon trampled down the last traces of the revolutionary organisation +in France, by creating a new order of nobility. Talleyrand became Prince +of Benevento, Bernadotte, of Ponte Corvo, Berthier, of Neufchatel; the +most distinguished of the Marshals received the title of Duke, and a +long array of Counts of the Empire filled the lower steps of the throne. + +These princedoms and dukedoms were accompanied with grants of extensive +estates in the countries which the French arms had conquered; and the +great feudatories of the new empire accordingly bore titles not +domestic, but foreign. In everything it was the plan of Napoleon to sink +the memory of the Bourbon Monarchy, and revive the image of Charlemagne, +Emperor of the West. + +[Footnote 51: + + "Lamented hero! when to Britain's shore + Exulting Fame those awful tidings bore, + Joy's bursting shout in whelming grief was drowned + And Victory's self unwilling audience found; + On every brow the cloud of sadness hung; + The sounds of triumph died on every tongue. + Yet not the vows thy weeping country pays; + Not that high meed, thy mourning sovereign's praise, + Not that the great, the beauteous, and the brave + Bend in mute reverence o'er thy closing grave; + That with such grief as bathes a kindred bier + Collective nations mourn a death so dear; + Not these alone shall soothe thy sainted shade, + And consecrate the spot where thou art laid-- + Not these alone!--but bursting thro' the gloom, + With radiant glory from thy trophied tomb, + The sacred splendour of thy deathless name + Shall grace and guard thy country's martial fame; + Far seen shall blaze the unextinguished ray, + A mighty beacon lighting glory's way-- + With living lustre this proud land adorn, + And shine, and save, thro' ages yet unborn."[52] +] + +[Footnote 52: "Ulm and Trafalgar," a poem, by the Rt. Honourable George +Canning.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + Discontent of Prussia--Death of Pitt--Negotiation of Lords Yarmouth + and Lauderdale broken off--Murder of Palm, the bookseller--Prussia + declares War--Buonaparte heads the Army--Naumburg taken--Battle of + Jena--Napoleon enters Berlin--Fall of Magdeburg, &c.--Humiliation + of Prussia--Buonaparte's cruelty to the Duke of Brunswick--his + rapacity and oppression in Prussia. + + +The establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine rendered Napoleon, +in effect, sovereign of a large part of Germany; and seemed to have so +totally revolutionised Central Europe, that Francis of Austria declared +the Imperial Constitution at an end. He retained the title of Emperor as +sovereign of his own hereditary dominions; but "The Holy Roman Empire," +having lasted full one thousand years, was declared to be no more; and +of its ancient influence the representative was to be sought for not at +Vienna, but at Paris. + +The vacillating court of Berlin heard with much apprehension of the +formation of the Rhenish confederacy;[53] and with deep resentment of +its immediate consequence, the dissolution of the Germanic Empire. The +house of Brandenburg had consented to the humiliation of Francis in the +hope of succeeding, at the next election, to the imperial crown so long +worn by the princes of Austria; and now, not only was that +long-cherished hope for ever dispelled, but it appeared that Napoleon +had laid the foundation of a new system, under which the influence of +the house of Brandenburg must, in all probability, be overruled far more +effectually than it ever had been, of recent times, by the imperial +prerogative of Austria. + +The only method of counteracting the consolidation of French power all +over Germany, seemed to be that of creating another confederacy in the +northern circles, capable of balancing the league of the Rhine. The +Elector of Saxony, however, perceived that Napoleon was not likely to +acquiesce in the realisation of this scheme; and his Minister at Berlin +continued to decline acceding to the Northern alliance. The Prince of +Hesse-Cassel took a similar view of the case; but acted with a degree of +vacillation worthy of the late conduct of Prussia herself, 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 effect Buonaparte had frequently and urgently invited +this elector. In the reluctance, however, of these princes, Prussia saw +nothing but the determination of Napoleon to suppress, in the beginning, +any such confederation of the Northern German States as had been +contemplated; and irritation and jealousy from day to day increased. + +The relations of France and Prussia continued in this dubious state, +until the Cabinet of Berlin learned some particulars of a negotiation +between Napoleon and the English Government, which took place in the +summer of 1806. + +Mr. Pitt, who despaired of opposing Buonaparte on the continent after +Marengo, did not long survive the disastrous intelligence of Austerlitz. +Worn out and broken by the endless anxieties of his situation, not even +the glorious tidings of Trafalgar could revive the sinking spirit of +this great minister. He died on the 23rd of January, 1806, and was +succeeded in the government by Mr. Fox, the same statesman who had, +throughout every variety of fortune, arraigned his conduct of the war as +imbecile and absurd, and who all along professed his belief that in the +original quarrel between Great Britain and revolutionised France, the +blame lay with his own country, and above all with Mr. Pitt. + +The personal intercourse which took place between Fox and Napoleon, +during the peace of Amiens, has already been alluded to. It was +calculated to make all men regard the chances of a solid peace between +France and England as increased by the event which transferred the reins +of government, in the latter country, into the hands of the illustrious +opponent of Mr. Pitt. But the peculiar feelings of English politicians +have seldom been understood by foreigners--never more widely +misunderstood than by Buonaparte. When Fox visited him, as First Consul, +at the Tuileries, he complained that the English Government countenanced +the assassins who were plotting against his life. Mr. Fox, forgetting +all his party prejudice when the honour of his country was assailed, +answered in terms such as Napoleon's own military bluntness could not +have surpassed--"Clear your head of that nonsense." And now, in like +manner, Mr. Fox, once placed in the responsible management of his +country's interests, was found, not a little to the surprise and +disappointment of Napoleon, about as close and watchful a negotiator as +he could have had to deal with in Pitt himself. The English minister +employed on this occasion, first, Lord Yarmouth,[54] one of the +_detenus_ of 1803, and afterwards Lord Lauderdale. For some time strong +hopes of a satisfactory conclusion were entertained; but, in the end, +the negotiation broke up, on the absolute 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. Mr. Fox was lost to his country in +September, 1806; and Napoleon ever afterwards maintained that, had that +great statesman lived, the negotiation would have been resumed, and +pushed to a successful close. Meantime, however, the diplomatic +intercourse of the Tuileries and St. James's was at an end, and the +course which the negotiation had taken transpired necessarily in +Parliament. + +It then came out that the article of _Hanover_ had not formed one of the +chief difficulties;--in a word, Napoleon had signified that, although +the Electorate had been ceded by him to Prussia under the treaty of +Vienna, at the close of 1805, Prussia yielding to him in return the +principalities of Anspach, Bareuth and Neufchatel, still, if the English +Government would agree to abandon Sicily, he, on his part, would offer +no opposition to the resumption of Hanover by its rightful sovereign, +George III. This contemptuous treachery being ascertained at Berlin, the +ill-smothered rage of the court and nation at length burst into a flame. +The beautiful Queen of Prussia, and Prince Louis, brother to the king, +two characters whose high and romantic qualities rendered them the +delight and pride of the nation, were foremost to nourish and kindle the +popular indignation. The young nobility and gentry rose in tumult, broke +the windows of the ministers who were supposed to lean to the French +interest, and openly whetted their sabres on the threshold-stone of +Napoleon's ambassador. The lovely Queen appeared in the uniform of the +regiment which bore her name, and rode at its head. The enthusiasm of +the people thus roused might be directed, but could hardly be repressed. + +Nor was it in Prussia alone that such sentiments prevailed. Split as +Germany has for ages been into many independent states, there has +always, nevertheless, been felt, and acknowledged, a certain national +unity of heart as well as head among all that speak the German language: +the dissolution of the empire was felt all over the land as a common +wrong and injury: Napoleon's insulting treatment of Prussia was resented +as indicative of his resolution to reduce that power also (the only +German power now capable of opposing any resistance to French +aggression) to a pitch of humiliation as low as that in which Austria +was already sunk; and, lastly, another atrocious deed of the French +Emperor--a deed as darkly unpardonable as the murder of D'Enghien--was +perpetrated at this very crisis, and arrayed against him, throughout all +Germany, every feeling, moral and political, which could be touched +either by the crimes or the contumelies of a foreign tyrant. + +Palm, a bookseller of the free city of Naumburg, having published a +pamphlet in which the ambition of Napoleon was arraigned, a party of +French gens-d'armes passed the frontier, and seized the unsuspecting +citizen, exactly as the Duke d'Enghien had been arrested at Ettingen, +and Sir George Rumbold at Hamburg, the year before. The bookseller was +tried for a libel against Napoleon, at Braunau, before a French +court-martial; found guilty, condemned to death, and shot immediately, +in pursuance of his sentence. It is needless to dwell upon this outrage: +the death of D'Enghien has found advocates or palliators--this mean +murder of a humble tradesman, who neither was nor ever had been a +subject either of France or Buonaparte, has been less fortunate. + +The Emperor of Russia once more visited Berlin, when the feelings of +Prussia, and indeed of all the neighbouring states, were in this fever +of excitement. He again urged Frederick William to take up arms in the +common cause, and offered to back him with all the forces of his own +great empire. The English Government, taking advantage of the same +crisis, sent Lord Morpeth[55] to Berlin, with offers of pecuniary +supplies--about the acceptance of which, however, the anxiety of Prussia +on the subject of Hanover created some difficulty. Lastly, Buonaparte, +well informed of what was passing in Berlin, and desirous, since war +must be, to hurry Frederick into the field ere the armies of the Czar +could be joined with his, now poured out in the _Moniteur_ such abuse on +the persons and characters of the Queen, Prince Louis, and every +illustrious patriot throughout Prussia, that the general wrath could no +longer be held in check. Warlike preparations of every kind filled the +kingdom during August and September. On the first of October the +Prussian Minister at Paris presented a note to Talleyrand, demanding, +among other things, that the formation of a Confederacy in the North of +Germany should no longer be thwarted by French interference, 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. + +But Napoleon was already in person on the German side of the Rhine; and +his answer to the Prussian note was a general order to his own troops, +in which he called on them to observe in what manner a German sovereign +still dared to insult the soldiers of Austerlitz. + +The conduct of Prussia, in thus rushing into hostilities, without +waiting for the advance of the Russians, was as rash as her holding back +from Austria, during the campaign of Austerlitz, had been cowardly. As +if determined to profit by no lesson, the Prussian council also directed +their army to advance towards the French, instead of lying on their own +frontier--a repetition of the great leading blunder of the Austrians in +the preceding year. The Prussian army accordingly invaded the Saxon +provinces, and the Elector, seeing his country treated as rudely as that +of Bavaria had been on a similar occasion by the Austrians, and wanting +the means to withdraw his own troops as the Bavarian had succeeded in +doing under like provocation, was compelled to accept the alliance which +the Cabinet of Berlin urged on him, and to join his troops with those of +the power by which he had been thus insulted and wronged. + +No sooner did Napoleon know that the Prussians had advanced into the +heart of Saxony, than he formed the plan of his campaign: and they, +persisting in their advance, and taking up their position finally on the +Saale, afforded him, as if studiously, the means of repeating, at their +expense, the very manoeuvres which had ruined the Austrians in the +preceding campaign. In a word, he perceived that the Prussian army was +extended upon too wide a line, and the consequent possibility of +destroying it in detail. He further discovered that the enemy had all +his principal stores and magazines at Naumburg, to the rearward, not of +his centre, but of his extreme right; and resolved to commence +operations by an attempt to turn the flank, and seize those magazines, +ere the main body of the Prussians, lying at Weimar, could be aware of +his movement. The French came forward in three great divisions; the +corps of Soult and Ney, in the direction of Hof; Murat, Bernadotte and +Davoust, towards Saalburg and Schleitz; and Lannes and Augereau upon +Coburg and Saalfield. These last generals were opposed sternly, at +Saalfield, by the corps of Prince Louis of Prussia. This brave young +officer 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 impetuosity. He himself, fighting +hand to hand with a subaltern, was desired to surrender, and replying by +a sabre cut, was immediately struck down with a mortal thrust. The +Prussians fled; the bridge, which ought to have defended, gave the +French access to the country behind the Saale. The flank of the Prussian +position was turned: the French army passed entirely round them; +Napoleon seized Naumburg, and blew up the magazines there,--announcing, +for the first time, by this explosion, to the King of Prussia and his +Generalissimo, the Duke of Brunswick, that he was in their rear. + +From this moment the Prussians were isolated, and cut off from all their +resources, as completely as the army of Mack was at Ulm, when the French +had passed the Danube and overrun Suabia. The Duke of Brunswick hastily +endeavoured to concentrate his forces for the purpose of cutting his way +back again to the frontier which he had so rashly abandoned. Napoleon, +meantime, had posted his divisions so as to watch the chief passages of +the Saale, and expected, in confidence, the assault of his outwitted +opponent. It was now that he found leisure to answer the manifesto of +Frederick William, which had reached Paris a day or two after he himself +quitted that capital for the camp. His letter, dated at Gera, is written +in the most elaborate style of insult. The King of Prussia (said he) had +sent him a silly pamphlet of twenty pages, in very bad French--such a +pamphlet as the English ministry were in the habit of commanding their +hireling scribblers to put forth--but he acquitted the King of having +read this performance. He was extremely anxious to live on the most +friendly terms with his "good brother," and begged him, as the first +token of equal goodwill, to dismiss the counsellors who had hurried him +into the present unjust and unequal war. Such was the language of this +famous note. Napoleon, now sure of his prey, desired his own generals to +observe how accurately he had already complied with one of the requests +of the Prussian Manifesto--"The French army," said he, "has done as it +was bidden. This is the 8th of October, and we _have_ evacuated the +territories of the Confederation of the Rhine." + +The Prussian King understood well, on learning the fall of Naumburg, the +imminent danger of his position; and his army was forthwith set in +motion, in two great masses; the former, where he was in person present, +advancing towards Naumburg; the latter attempting, in like manner, to +force their passage through the French line in the neighbourhood 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 October at Jena, he +perceived that the enemy were ready to attempt the advance next morning, +while his own heavy train were still six-and-thirty hours' march in his +rear. Not discouraged with this adverse circumstance, the Emperor +laboured all night in directing and encouraging his soldiery to cut a +road through the 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, where +no man could have expected beforehand that any artillery whatever should +be planted, and where, accordingly, the effect even of a small park +proved more decisive than that of a much larger one might have been +under other circumstances. Buonaparte spent all the night among the men, +offering large sums of gold for every piece that should be dragged to +the position, and continually reminding his followers that the Prussians +were about to fight not for honour, but for safety,--that they were +already isolated as completely as Mack's army had been at Ulm, and on +stern resistance must needs submit to the fate of the Austrians. Lannes +commanded the centre; Augereau the right; Soult the left; and Murat the +reserve and cavalry. + +Soult had to sustain the first assault of the Prussians, which was +violent--and sudden; for the mist lay so thick on the field that the +armies were within half gunshot of each other ere the sun and wind rose +and discovered them; and on that instant Mollendorf charged. The battle +was contested well for some time on this point; but at length Ney +appeared in the rear of the Emperor with a fresh division; and then the +French centre advanced to a general charge, before which the Prussians +were forced to retire. They moved for some space in good order; but +Murat now poured his masses of cavalry on them, storm after storm, with +such rapidity and vehemence that their rout became inevitable. It ended +in the complete breaking up of the 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 the course of this +disastrous day 20,000 Prussians were killed or taken; 300 guns, twenty +generals, and sixty standards. The Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of +Brunswick, being wounded in the face with a grape-shot, was carried +early off the field, never to recover. The loss of superior officers on +the Prussian side was so great, that of an army which, on the evening of +the 13th of October, mustered not less than 150,000, but a few regiments +were ever able to act in concert for some time after the 14th. The +various routed divisions roamed about the country, seeking separately +the means of escape: they were in consequence destined to fall an easy +prey. Mollendorf and the Prince of Orange-Fulda laid down their arms at +Erfurt. General Kalkreuth's corps was overtaken and surrounded among the +Hartz Mountains: Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, and 16,000 men, +surrendered to Bernadotte at Halle. 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 it turned out that +that great fortress had been stripped of all its stores for the service +of the Duke of Brunswick's army before Jena. Hohenlohe, therefore, was +compelled to retreat towards the Oder. He was defeated in a variety of +skirmishes; and at length, finding himself devoid of ammunition or +provisions, laid down his arms at Prenzlow; 20,000 surrendered with the +Prince. His rear, consisting of about 10,000, under the command of the +celebrated General Blucher, were so far behind as to render it possible +for them to attempt escape. Their heroic leader traversed the country +with them for some time unbroken, and sustained a variety of assaults, +from far superior numbers, with the most obstinate resolution. By +degrees, however, the French, under Soult, hemmed him in on one side, +Murat on the other, and Bernadotte appeared close behind him. He was +thus forced to throw himself into Lubeck, where a severe action was +fought in the streets of the town, on the 6th of November. The Prussian, +in this battle, lost 4000 prisoners, besides the slain and wounded: he +retreated to Schwerta, and there, it being impossible for him to go +farther without violating the neutrality of Denmark, on the morning of +the 7th, Blucher at length laid down his arms--having exhibited a +specimen of conduct and valour such as certainly had not been displayed +by any of his superiors in the campaign. + +The strong fortresses of the Prussian monarchy made as ineffectual +resistance as the armies in the field. In how far the charge of actual +treachery, brought then, and still continued, against the commanders of +those places, be just, we know not; but the fact is certain that the +Governors of Spandau, Stettin, Custrin, Hamelen, and Magdeburg itself, +yielded successively to the French Generals, under circumstances which +roused the indignant suspicion of the Prussian people, as well as the +soldiery and their unfortunate King. Buonaparte, in person, entered +Berlin on the 25th of October: and before the end of November, except +Konigsberg--where the King himself had found refuge, and gathered round +him a few thousand troops, the sad relics of an army which had been +considered as not unable to withstand the whole power of France,--and a +few less important fortresses, the whole of the German possessions of +the house of Brandenburg were in the hands of the conqueror. Louis +Buonaparte, King of Holland, meanwhile, had advanced into Westphalia, +and occupied that territory also, with great part of Hanover, East +Friesland, Embden, and the dominions of Hesse-Cassel. + +Thus in the course of a few short weeks, was the proud fabric of the +Prussian monarchy levelled with the ground. The government being of a +strictly military character, when the army, the pride and strength of +the nation, disappeared, every bond of union among the various provinces +of the crown seemed to be at once dissolved. To account for the +unexampled rapidity of such a downfall, it must be remembered, first, +that the Prussian states, many of them the fruits of recent military +conquest, were held together by little but the name of the great +Frederick, and the terror of the highly disciplined force, which he had +bequeathed to his successors; that, in a word, they had not yet had time +to be blended and melted thoroughly into a national whole: secondly, +that Prussia had rushed into this war not only with imprudent rashness, +but with the stain of dishonour on her hands. The acceptance of Hanover, +as a bribe, from the French despot, and the hard and brazen reluctance +to part with that ill-gotten spoil, even when the preservation of peace +with France seemed hopeless--these circumstances, together with the mean +desertion of Austria during the preceding campaign of Austerlitz--had, +in effect, injured the government deeply and degradingly in the opinion +of its own subjects, as well as of other nations: but, thirdly, the +imbecile conduct of the chief Prussian officers, in the campaign of +Jena, was as little likely to have been foreseen or expected, as the +pusillanimous, if not treacherous, baseness of those who, after the army +was defeated, abandoned so easily a chain of the best fortresses in +Europe. + +The personal character of King Frederick William was never calumniated, +even when the measures of his government were most generally and most +justly exposed to suspicion and scorn. On the contrary, the misfortunes +of this virtuous sovereign and his family were heard of with unmixed +regret and compassion. + +These sentiments, and all sentiments likely in their consequences to be +injurious to the cause of Napoleon, the conduct of the Conqueror in +Prussia, at this time of national humiliation and sorrow, was well +calculated to strengthen and confirm. The Duke of Brunswick, retiring +wounded from Jena to the capital of his own hereditary principality, +addressed a letter from thence to Napoleon, requesting that the +territory of Brunswick might not be confounded with that of Prussia, +although he, as an individual, had appeared in Prussian uniform against +him. Buonaparte answered with insolence as well as harshness. He styled +the Duke "General Brunswick," and said he was determined to destroy his +city, and displace his family for ever. The brave, though unfortunate +Duke, retired on this to Altona, a Danish town, from which he meant to +embark for England; but his wound being inflamed by these untimely +movements, he died ere a vessel could be prepared for him. His son, +considering him as murdered, vowed eternal revenge--and how he kept his +vow, we shall see hereafter. The Prussian nobility and gentry were +treated on almost every occasion with like brutality. The great +Conqueror did not hesitate to come down from his dignity for the petty +pleasure of personally insulting gentlemen, who had done him no injury +except that of being loyal to their own prince. The exactions of the +victorious military were beyond all former example of licence; and +studied contempt was everywhere mingled with their rapacity. It was now +that the French laid the foundation of that universal hatred with which +the Prussian nation, in the sequel, regarded them, and which assumed +everywhere the virulence of a private and personal passion. + +In justice to Buonaparte, a solitary instance of generous conduct, which +occurred ere he had been long in Berlin, must be noticed. The Prince of +Hatzsfeld, continuing to reside in Berlin under his protection, +corresponded, nevertheless, with Hohenlohe, then in the field, and sent +information of the state and movements of the French army. One of his +letters fell into the hands of the French--the Prince was arrested--his +wife gained access to the Emperor, and, ignorant of her husband's +conduct, spoke with the boldness of innocence in his favour. He handed +to her the Prince's letter; and, confounded with the clearness of that +evidence, she fell on her knees in silence. "Put the paper in the fire, +madam," said Napoleon, "and there will then be no proof." + +Perhaps no part of Buonaparte's conduct at this time gave more general +disgust than his meanness in robbing the funeral monument of Frederick +the Great of his sword and orders. These unworthy trophies he +transmitted to Paris, along with the best statues and pictures of the +galleries of Berlin and Potsdam, thus dealt with according to the +example of Lombardy and Venice. + +[Footnote 53: Published 27th July, 1806.] + +[Footnote 54: Afterwards third Marquis of Hertford.] + +[Footnote 55: Afterwards sixth Earl of Carlisle.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + The Decrees of Berlin--Napoleon renews the campaign--Warsaw + taken--Enthusiasm of the Poles--Retreat of the Russians--Battle of + Pultusk--The French go into winter quarters--Battle of + Preuss-Eylau--Taking of Dantzick--Battle of + Friedland--Armistice--Expeditions of the English to Calabria, + Constantinople, Egypt, and Buenos Ayres--Peace of Tilsit. + + +Napoleon had achieved the total humiliation of the Prussian monarchy in +a campaign of a week's duration: yet severe as the exertions of his army +had been, and splendid his success, and late as the season was now +advanced, there ensued no pause of inaction: the Emperor himself +remained but a few days in Berlin. + +This brief residence, however, was distinguished by the issue of the +famous _decrees of Berlin_; those extraordinary edicts by which +Buonaparte hoped to sap the foundations of the power of England--the one +power which he had no means of assailing by his apparently irresistible +arms. + +Napoleon declared the British Islands to be in a state of blockade: any +intercourse with that country was henceforth to be a crime; all her +citizens found in any country in alliance with France to be prisoners; +every article of English produce or manufacture, wherever discovered, to +be confiscated. In a word, wherever France had power, the slightest +communication with England was henceforth to be treason against the +majesty of Napoleon; and every coast of Europe was to be lined with new +armies of _douaniers_ and _gens-d'armes_, for the purpose of carrying +into effect what he called "the continental system." + +He had long meditated the organisation of this system, and embraced, as +a favourable opportunity for its promulgation, the moment which saw him +at length predominant in the North of Germany, and thus, in effect, +master of the whole coasts of Europe from the mouth of the Oder round to +the Adriatic Gulf. The system, however, could not be carried into +effect, because from long habit the manufactured goods and colonial +produce of Britain had come to be necessaries of life among every +civilised people of the world; and consequently every private citizen +found his own domestic comforts invaded by the decree, which avowedly +aimed only at the revenues of the English crown. Every man, therefore, +was under continual temptation, each in his own sphere and method, to +violate the decrees of Berlin. The custom-house officers were exposed to +bribes which their virtue could not resist. Even the most attached of +Napoleon's own functionaries connived at the universal spirit of +evasion--his brothers themselves, in their respective dominions, could +not help sympathising with their subjects, and winking at the methods of +relief to which they were led by necessity, the mother of invention. The +severe police, however, which was formed everywhere as a necessary part +of the machinery for carrying these edicts into execution--the insolence +of the innumerable spies and informers whom they set in motion--and the +actual deprivation of usual comforts, in so far as it existed--all these +circumstances conspired to render the name of the Berlin decrees odious +throughout Europe and in France itself. It may be added that the +original conception of Napoleon was grounded on a mistaken opinion, to +which, however, he always clung--namely, that England derives all her +strength from her foreign commerce. Great as that commerce was, and +great as, in spite of him, it continued to be, it never was anything but +a trifle when compared with the internal traffic and resources of Great +Britain--a country not less distinguished above other nations for its +agricultural industry, than for its commercial. + +Napoleon received at Berlin a deputation of his Senate, sent from Paris +to congratulate him on the successes of his campaign. To them he +announced these celebrated decrees: he made them the bearers of the +trophies of his recent victories, and, moreover, of a demand for the +immediate levying of 80,000 men, being the _first_ conscription for the +year 1808--that for the year 1807 having been already anticipated. The +subservient Senate recorded and granted whatever their master pleased to +dictate; but the cost of human life which Napoleon's ambition demanded +had begun, ere this time, to be seriously thought of in France. He, +meanwhile, prepared, without further delay, to extinguish the feeble +spark of resistance which still lingered in a few garrisons of the +Prussian Monarchy, beyond the Oder: and to meet, before they could +reach the soil of Germany, those Russian legions which were now +advancing, too late, to the assistance of Frederick William. That +unfortunate Prince sent Lucchesini to Berlin, to open, if possible, a +negotiation with the victorious occupant of his capital and palace; but +Buonaparte demanded Dantzick, and two other fortified towns, as the +price of even the briefest armistice; and the Italian envoy returned to +inform the King, that no hope remained for him except in the arrival of +the Russians. + +Napoleon held in his hands the means of opening his campaign with those +allies of Prussia, under circumstances involving his enemy in a new, and +probably endless train of difficulties. The Partition of Poland--that +great political crime, for which every power that had a part in it has +since been severely, though none of them adequately punished--had left +the population of what had once been a great and powerful kingdom, in a +state of discontent and irritation, of which, had Napoleon been willing +to make full use of it, the fruits might have been more dangerous for +the Czar than any campaign against any foreign enemy. The French Emperor +had but to announce distinctly that his purpose was the restoration of +Poland as an independent state, and the whole mass, of an eminently +gallant and warlike population would have risen instantly at his call. +But Buonaparte was withheld from resorting to this effectual means of +annoyance by various considerations; of which the chief were these: +first, he could not emancipate Poland without depriving Austria of a +rich and important province, and consequently provoking her once more +into the field: and secondly, he foresaw that the Russian Emperor, if +threatened with the destruction of his Polish territory and authority, +would urge the war in a very different manner from that which he was +likely to adopt while acting only as the ally of Prussia. In a word, +Napoleon was well aware of the extent of the Czar's resources, and had +no wish at this time to give a character of irremediable bitterness to +their quarrel. + +Though, however, he for these and other reasons refrained from openly +appealing in his own person to the Poles as a nation, Buonaparte had no +scruple about permitting others to tamper, in his behalf, with the +justly indignant feelings of the people. Some of the heroic leaders of +the Poles, in the struggles for their expiring independence, had long +been exiles in France--not a few of them had taken service in her +armies. These men were allowed, and encouraged, to address themselves to +the body of their countrymen, in language which could hardly fail to +draw eager and enthusiastic recruits to the French standard, and +increase mightily the perplexities of the Russian counsels. Nor did +Napoleon scruple to authorise the circulation of an appeal of like +tendency, bearing _falsely_[56] the venerated signature of Kosciusko. +"Dear countrymen and friends," said the forgery, "arise! the Great +Nation is before you--Napoleon expects, and Kosciusko calls on you. We +are under the Ægis of the Monarch who vanquishes difficulties as if by +miracles, and the re-animation of Poland is too glorious an achievement +not to have been reserved for him by the Eternal." Dombrowski and +Wibichi, two Polish officers in Buonaparte's own army, sent forward from +Berlin, on the 8th of the same month, a proclamation, which commenced in +these words:--"Poles! Napoleon, the Great, the Invincible, enters Poland +with an army of 300,000 men. Without wishing to fathom the mystery of +his views, let us strive to merit his magnanimity. _I will see_ (he has +said to us) _whether you deserve to be a nation._ Poles! it depends then +on yourselves to exert a national spirit, and possess a country. Your +avenger, your restorer is here. Crowd from all quarters to his presence, +as children in tears hasten to behold a succouring father. Present to +him your hearts, your arms. Rise to a man, and prove that you do not +grudge your blood to your country!" Lastly, in one of Napoleon's own +bulletins, the following ominous sentences were permitted to +appear:--"Shall the Polish throne be re-established, and shall the Great +Nation secure for it respect and independence? Shall she recall it to +life from the grave? God only, who directs all human affairs, can +resolve this great mystery!" These appeals produced various eager +addresses from Poland--and Buonaparte prepared to visit that country, +though not as her liberator. + +Before re-opening the great campaign, Buonaparte received the submission +and 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. The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel had worse +fortune. The answer to all his applications was, that he had ceased to +reign. What use the Conqueror designed to make of the territories thus +confiscated, we shall presently see. The Saxon army, and that of +Hesse-Cassel, were both, however, at his disposal, and they both +accordingly were marched forwards, and blended with the forces occupying +Prussia. + +The French, having invested Glogau, Breslau, and Graudentz, and left +detachments to urge these sieges, moved towards the Polish frontier. +General Bennigsen, with a considerable Russian army, had advanced to +overawe the dissatisfied population, and was now at Warsaw. But the +march of the French van, under Murat, soon alarmed him in these +quarters. After some skirmishes of little moment the Russians retired +behind the Vistula, and Murat took possession of the Polish metropolis +on the 28th of November. On the 25th Napoleon himself had reached Posen, +and found himself surrounded by a population in a high state of +excitement and enthusiasm. The ancient national dress reappeared: hope +and exultation beamed in every countenance; the old nobles, quitting the +solitary castles in which they had been lamenting over the downfall of +Poland, crowded the levees of the Victor, and addressed him in language +which recalled the half-oriental character and manners of their nation. +"We adore you," said the Palatine of Gnesna, "and with confidence repose +in you all our hopes, as upon him who raises empires and destroys them, +and humbles the proud--the regenerator of our country, the legislator of +the universe." "Already," said the President of the Council of Justice, +"already our country is saved, for we adore in your person the most just +and the most profound Solon. We commit our fate into your hands, and +implore the protection of the most august Cæsar." + +Having largely recruited his armies with brave Poles, who fancied him +both a Solon and Cæsar, Napoleon now moved forwards. General Bennigsen +found himself under the necessity of abandoning first the line of the +Vistula, and then that of the Bug, and, the French still advancing in +numbers not to be resisted by his division, at length threw himself +behind the river Wkra, where Kaminskoy, the Russian commander-in-chief, +and three other divisions of the army, had by this time taken their +ground. On the 23rd of December Napoleon reached and crossed the Wkra, +and Kaminskoy ordered his whole army to fall back upon the line of the +Niemen. Bennigsen accordingly retired towards Pultusk, Galitzin upon +Golymin, both followed by great bodies of the French, and both +sustaining with imperturbable patience and gallantry the severity of a +march through probably the very worst roads in Europe, and of frequent +skirmishes with their pursuers. But the minor divisions of D'Anrep and +Bexhouden retreated without keeping up the requisite communications with +either Bennigsen or Galitzin, and consequently suffered considerably, +though the matter was grossly exaggerated in the French bulletins. + +Bennigsen, in spite of Kaminskoy's orders to retreat at all hazards, +made a stand, and a most gallant one at Pultusk. Having his left in that +town, and his right on a wood, the general conceived his position to be +too favourable for speedy abandonment, and on the 26th of December +expected the onset of Lannes, Davoust, and the imperial guard of France. +They charged with their usual impetuosity, and drove the Russian right +wing, under General Barclay de Tolly, out of the wood; but Bennigsen +skilfully availed himself of this occurrence; by his orders Barclay de +Tolly retired much further than was necessary for his own safety, and +the French, advancing unguardedly, found themselves confronted on very +unfavourable ground with the Russian main body, which had now been +arranged on a new line of battle, and of a battery of 120 guns, placed +so as to command their march with terrible efficacy. The result was that +the Russians lost 5000 in killed and wounded, the French 8000--one of +their wounded being Marshal Lannes himself; and the French drew back +from the hardly contested field with such haste, that all next day the +advancing Cossacks sought in vain for their rear-guard. On the same day, +and with nearly as much success, Prince Galitzin halted also, and +awaited and repelled his pursuers at Golymin; and had either Bennigsen +or Galitzin been supported by the other divisions which were doing +nothing within a few miles of their respective marches, these events +might have been improved so as to involve the French army in great and +immediate perplexity. But in truth, the total want of plan and +combination on the part of Kaminskoy was by this time apparent to the +veriest tyro in his camp. Symptoms of actual insanity appeared shortly +afterwards, and the chief command was transferred, with universal +approbation, to Bennigsen. + +The affairs of Pultusk and Golymin, however, were productive of +excellent effects. They raised to a high pitch the spirits of the +Russian soldiery; and they afforded Napoleon such a specimen of the +character of his new enemy, that instead of pursuing the campaign, as he +had announced in his bulletins, he thought fit to retire, and place his +troops in winter quarters. He himself took up his residence at Warsaw, +and the army occupied cantonments in various towns to the eastward. + +But General Bennigsen, having proved at Pultusk what Russian troops +could do when under a determined commander, no sooner found himself at +the head of an army of nearly 100,000 men, than he resolved to disturb +the French in their quarters, and at all events give them such +occupation as might enable the King of Prussia to revictual Konigsberg, +where the few troops, gathered round that unfortunate sovereign, were +already beginning to suffer many privations. With this view Bennigsen +advanced as far as Mohrungen, where the French sustained considerable +damage in a skirmish, and from whence his Cossacks spread themselves +abroad over the country--creating such confusion, that the leaguer of +Konigsberg being for the moment relaxed, the Prussian garrison received +welcome supplies of all kinds, and Napoleon himself perceived the +necessity of breaking up his cantonments, and once more concentrating +the army for active war. + +His design was to occupy Willensberg, to the rear of the great Russian +camp at Mohrungen; thus cutting off the new enemy's communications with +his own means of resource, in the same manner which had proved so fatal +to the Austrians at Ulm, and the Prussians at Jena. But Bennigsen, +having learned the plan from an intercepted despatch, immediately +countermarched his army with masterly skill, and thus involved Napoleon +in a long series of manoeuvres, not to be executed in such a country at +that dismal season without the extremity of hardship. The Russians +themselves, inured as they were to northern climates, and incapable of +even dreaming that a soldier could seek safety in flight, were reduced +to the border of frenzy by the privations of these long marches. Their +commissariat was wretched: the soldiers had often no food, except such +frozen roots as they could dig out of the ground; and, tortured with +toil and famine, they at length demanded battle so vehemently, that, +against his own judgment, General Bennigsen consented to grant the +prayer. He selected the town of Preuss-Eylau, and a strong position +behind it, as his field of battle; and--after two skirmishes, one at +Landsberg, the other nearer the chosen ground, in the former of which +the French, in the latter the Russians, had the advantage,--the whole +army reached Preuss-Eylau on the 7th of February. + +In the confusion of so great a movement, a division designed by +Bennigsen to occupy the town itself, misunderstood the order, and +evacuated it at the approach of the enemy's van. The French took +possession of the place accordingly, and--General Bennigsen commanding +it to be regained, as soon as he learned the mistake that had +occurred--the whole day was spent in severe fighting within the town, +which was taken and retaken several times, and at the fall of night +remained in the hands of the French. On either side the loss had been +very great, and Napoleon coming up in person, perceived that the contest +must needs be renewed at daybreak. The night was clear, and he could +trace the enemy's line darkening the whole of an admirably selected +position, between which and the dearly contested town, a level space +covered with snow, and two or three small frozen lakes, glittered in the +mingled light of an unclouded moon and innumerable watch-fires. + +The great battle of PREUSS-EYLAU was fought on the 8th of February. At +dawn of day the French charged at two different points in strong +columns, and were unable to shake the iron steadiness of the infantry, +while the Russian horse, and especially the Cossacks under their gallant +Hetman Platoff, made fearful execution on each division, as successively +they drew back from their vain attempt. A fierce storm arose at mid-day: +the snow drifted right in the eyes of the Russians; the village of +Serpallen, on their left, caught fire, and the smoke also rolled dense +upon them. Davoust skilfully availed himself of the opportunity, and +turned their flank so rapidly, that Serpallen was lost, and the left +wing compelled to wheel backwards so as to form almost at right angles +with the rest of the line. The Prussian corps of L'Estocq, a small but +determined fragment of the campaign of Jena, appeared at this critical +moment in the rear of the Russian left; and, charging with such +gallantry as had in former times been expected from the soldiery of the +Great Frederick, drove back Davoust and restored the Russian line. The +action continued for many hours along the whole line--the French +attacked boldly, the Russians driving them back with unfailing +resolution. Ney, and a fresh division, at length came up, and succeeded +in occupying the village of Schloditten, on the road to Konigsberg. To +regain this, and thereby recover the means of communicating with the +King of Prussia, was deemed necessary; and it was carried accordingly at +the point of the bayonet. This was at ten o'clock at night. So ended the +longest and by far the severest battle in which Buonaparte had as yet +been engaged. The French are supposed to have had 90,000 men under arms +at its commencement; the Russians not more than 60,000. After fourteen +hours of fighting, either army occupied the same position as in the +morning. Twelve of Napoleon's eagles were in the hands of Bennigsen, and +the field between was covered with 50,000 corpses, of whom at least half +were French. + +Either leader claimed the victory; Bennigsen exhibiting as proof of his +success the twelve eagles which his army, admitted to be inferior in +numbers, bore off the field: Buonaparte, that he kept possession of the +field, while the enemy retired, the very night after the battle, from +Eylau towards Konigsberg. It was, in truth, a drawn battle; and to have +found an equal was sufficient bitterness to Napoleon. The Russian +general-in-chief had retreated, in opposition to the opinion of most of +his council, out of anxiety for the personal safety of the King of +Prussia at Konigsberg, and desire to recruit his army ere another great +action should be hazarded. The French, triumphant as was the language of +their bulletins, made no effort to pursue. Bennigsen conducted his army +in perfect order to Konigsberg, and the Cossacks issuing from that city +continued for more than a week to waste the country according to their +pleasure, without any show of opposition from the French. But the best +proof how severely Napoleon had felt the struggle of Preuss-Eylau, is to +be found in a communication which he made to Frederick William, on the +13th of February, five days after the battle, offering him, in effect, +the complete, or nearly complete restoration of his dominions, provided +he would accept of a separate peace: with the king's answer; namely, +that it was impossible for him to enter on any treaty unless the Czar +were a party in it. Finally, on the 19th of February, Napoleon left +Eylau, and retreated with his whole army on the Vistula; satisfied that +it would be fatal rashness to engage in another campaign in Poland, +while several fortified towns, and, above all, Dantzick, held out in his +rear; and determined to have possession of these places, and to summon +new forces from France, ere he should again meet in the field such an +enemy as the Russian had proved to be. + +Dantzick was defended with the more desperate resolution, because it was +expected that, as soon as the season permitted, an English fleet and +army would certainly be sent to its relief. But the besiegers having a +prodigious superiority of numbers, and conducting the siege with every +advantage of skill, the place was at length compelled to surrender, on +the 7th of May; 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, which had captured Dantzick, +enabled him to take the field again at the head of not less than 280,000 +men. The Russian general also had done what was in his power to recruit +his army during this interval; but his utmost zeal could effect no more +than bringing his muster up again to its original point--90,000; the +chief blame lying, as it was alleged, with the coldness of the English +cabinet, who, instead of lavishing gold on the Emperor of Russia, as had +been done in other similar cases, were with difficulty persuaded to +grant him at this critical time, so small a supply as £80,000. Russia +has men to any amount at her command; but the poverty of the national +purse renders it at all times very difficult for her to maintain a large +army in a distant contest. + +Bennigsen, nevertheless, was the first to reappear in the field. In the +beginning of June he attacked Ney's division stationed at Gustadt, and +pursued them to Deppen, where, on the 8th, a smart action took place, +and Napoleon arrived in person to support his troops. The Russians were +then forced to retire towards Heilsberg, where they halted, and +maintained their position, during a whole day, in the face of an enemy +prodigiously superior in numbers. The carnage on both sides was fearful; +and Bennigsen, continuing his retreat, placed the river Aller between +him and Napoleon. + +The French Emperor now exerted all his art to draw the Russian into a +general action: the resistance he had met with had surprised and enraged +him, and he was eager to overpower and extinguish Bennigsen before +further supplies of these hardy Muscovities should come up to swell his +ranks. The Russian general was on the eastern bank of the Aller, +opposite to the town of Friedland, when Buonaparte once more came up +with him on the 13th of June. There was a long and narrow wooden bridge +over the river, close by, which might have been destroyed if not +defended; and Napoleon's object was to induce Bennigsen, instead of +abiding by his position, to abandon its advantages, pass over to the +western bank, and accept battle with the town and river in his rear. His +crafty management outwitted the Russian, who, being persuaded that the +troops which appeared in front of him were only a small division of the +French army, was tempted to send some regiments over the river for the +purpose of chastising them. The French, sometimes retreating, and then +again returning to the combat, the Russians were by degrees induced to +cross in greater numbers; until at length Bennigsen found himself and +his whole army on the western bank, with the town and bridge in their +rear--thus completely entrapped in the snare laid for him by his enemy. + +On the 14th of June, under circumstances thus disadvantageous, the +Russian general was compelled to accept battle. His army occupied open +ground; the intricate and narrow streets of the town of Friedland, and +the bridge behind it, appeared to be his only means of retreat in case +of misadventure; and in front, and on either flank, extended those woods +which had covered Buonaparte's stratagems of the preceding day, and +which now afforded complete shelter to the Imperial army--the means of +attacking from whatever point they might select--and of retiring with +safety as often as it might be found advisable. + +The battle commenced at ten in the morning, and the Russians stood their +ground with unbroken resolution until between four and five in the +evening; sustaining numberless charges of foot and horse, and exposed +all the while to a murderous cannonade. At length Napoleon put himself +at the head of the French line, and commanded a general assault of all +arms, which was executed with overpowering effect. Having lost full +12,000 men, General Bennigsen was at last compelled to attempt a +retreat; the French poured after him into the town: the first Russian +division which forced the passage of the river destroyed the bridge +behind them in their terror; and the rest of the army escaped by means +of deep and dangerous fords, which, desperate as the resource they +afforded was, had been discovered only in the moment of necessity. +Nevertheless such were the coolness and determination of the Russians, +that they saved all their baggage, and lost only seventeen cannon; and +such was the impression which their obstinate valour left on the enemy, +that their retreat towards the Niemen was performed without any show of +molestation. + +The results of the battle of Friedland were, however, as great as could +have been expected from any victory. On the retreat of Bennigsen towards +the Niemen, the unfortunate King of Prussia, evacuating Konigsberg, +where he now perceived it must be impossible to maintain himself, sought +a last and precarious shelter in the seaport of Memel; and 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 consequence of some decisive measure towards the re-organisation of +the Poles as a nation, began to think seriously of peace. Buonaparte, on +his part also, had many reasons for being anxious to bring hostilities +to a close. The Swedish king was in Pomerania, besieging Stralsund, and +hourly expecting reinforcements from England, which might have ended in +a formidable diversion in the rear of the French army. Schill, an able +partizan, was in arms in Prussia, where the general discontent was such, +that nothing by opportunity seemed wanting for a national insurrection +against the conquerors. The further advance of the French towards the +north could hardly have failed to afford such an opportunity. Neither +could this be executed, to all appearance, without involving the +necessity of proclaiming the independence of Poland; thereby giving a +character of mortal rancour to the war with Russia, and, in all +likelihood, calling Austria once more into the field. Under such +circumstances the minds of Napoleon and Alexander were equally disposed +towards negotiation: General Bennigsen sent, on the 21st of June, to +demand an armistice; and to this proposal the victor of Friedland +yielded immediate assent. + +In truth over and above the parsimony of the court of St. James in +regard to subsidies, the recent conduct of the war on the part of +England had been so ill-judged, and on the whole so unfortunate, that +the Czar might be excused for desiring to escape from that alliance. +Almost the only occasion on which the character of the British arms had +been gloriously maintained, was the battle of Maida, in Calabria, fought +July the 4th, 1806--when Sir John Stuart and 7000 English soldiers +encountered a superior French force under General Regnier, and drove +them from the field with great loss. This was one of those rare +occasions on which French and English troops have actually crossed +bayonets--the steadiness of the latter inspired the former with panic, +and they fled in confusion. But this occurrence, except for its moral +influence on the English soldiery, was of small importance. General +Stuart had been sent to support the Calabrian peasantry in an +insurrection against Joseph Buonaparte; the insurgents were on the whole +unable to stand their ground against the regular army of the intrusive +king; and the English, soon after their fruitless victory, altogether +withdrew. The British had, indeed, taken possession of Curaçao, and of +the Cape of Good Hope (this last an acquisition of the highest moment to +the Indian empire); but on the whole the ill success of our measures had +been answerable to the narrow and shallow system of policy in which they +originated--the system of frittering away blood and gold upon detached +objects, instead of rallying the whole resources of the empire around +some one great leader for some one great purpose. The British +expeditions of this period to the Turkish dominions and to Spanish +America were especially distinguished for narrowness of design, +imbecility of execution, and consequent misadventure. + +On the assumption of the Imperial dignity by Napoleon, the Ottoman +Porte, dazzled by the apparently irresistible splendour of his fate, +sent an embassy to congratulate him; and in effect the ancient alliance +between France and Turkey was re-established. Napoleon consequently had +little difficulty in procuring from Constantinople a declaration of war +against Russia, the great hereditary enemy of the Turk, at the time when +he was about to encounter the armies of the Czar in Poland. The +Dardanelles were shut against Russian vessels; and the English +government, considering this as sufficient evidence that the Grand +Seignior was attaching himself to the Antibritannic Confederacy, +despatched a squadron of ships under Admiral Duckworth, in February, +1807, with orders to force the passage of the Dardanelles, present +themselves before Constantinople, and demand from the Porte the custody +_pro tempore_ of all her ships of war. The Turks negotiated for a week +upon this proposal, but in the meantime increased and manned their +fortifications, under the direction of French engineers, with such +skill, that the English admiral began to be seriously alarmed for his +own safety; and at length, on the 1st of March, effected his retreat +through the Straits with considerable loss--this disgrace being the only +result of his expedition. On the 20th of the same month (of March, 1807) +another English expedition under General Fraser, having sailed from +Sicily to Egypt, took possession of Alexandria. But every subsequent +step they took proved unfortunate: after severe loss the English were +compelled to enter into a convention with the Turks, and wholly evacuate +Egypt on the 20th of September. + +In January, 1807, an English expedition landed near Montevideo, and +carried that city by assault. Sir Home Popham, the admiral, was +recalled, and tried by a court-martial, on the ground that he had +undertaken this warfare without due authority; but he escaped with a +reprimand, and new reinforcements were sent out, first under General +Crawford, and secondly under General Whitelocke. The last-named officer +invested Buenos Ayres, and commanded a general assault of that town on +the 5th of July; on which occasion, notwithstanding the excellent +behaviour of the soldiery, he was repulsed with a loss of 2000 killed, +wounded, and prisoners; and reduced to such extremity, that he was soon +afterwards glad to enter into a convention, and wholly withdraw the +armament. The timid and incompetent Whitelocke was tried and cashiered. +Some of these disasters were unknown at the time when Bennigsen demanded +an armistice; but the general ill success of the British expeditions was +notorious, and produced without doubt a very serious impression on the +mind of Alexander. + +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 on the river Niemen, near the town of +Tilsit. The sovereigns embraced each other, and retiring under a canopy +had a long conversation, to which no one was a witness. At its +termination the appearances of mutual goodwill and confidence were +marked: immediately afterwards the town of Tilsit was neutralised, and +the two Emperors established their courts there, and lived together, in +the midst of the lately hostile armies, more like old friends who had +met on a party of pleasure, than enemies and rivals attempting by +diplomatic means the arrangement of differences which had for years been +deluging Europe with blood. Whatever flatteries could be suggested by +the consummate genius and mature experience of Napoleon, were lavished, +and produced their natural effects, on the mind of a young autocrat, of +great ambition, and as great vanity. The intercourse of the Emperors +assumed by degrees the appearance of a brotherlike intimacy. They spent +their mornings in reviewing each other's troops, or in unattended rides; +their evenings seemed to be devoted to the pleasures of the table, the +spectacle, music, dancing and gallantry. Meanwhile the terms of a future +alliance were in effect discussed, and settled much more rapidly than +could have been expected from any of the usual apparatus of diplomatic +negotiation. + +The unfortunate King of Prussia was invited to appear at Tilsit; but, +complying with this invitation, was admitted to no share of the intimacy +of Napoleon. The conqueror studiously, and on every occasion, marked the +difference between his sentiments respecting this prince and the young +and powerful sovereign, for whose sake alone any shadow of royalty was +to be conceded to the fallen house of Brandenburg. The beautiful and +fascinating queen also arrived at Tilsit; but she was treated even more +coldly and harshly than her husband. Involuntary tears rushed from her +eyes as she submitted to the contemptuous civilities of Napoleon. His +behaviour to this admirable person rekindled with new fervour the wrath +and hatred of every Prussian bosom; and her death, following soon +afterwards, and universally attributed to the cruel laceration which all +her feelings as a woman and a queen had undergone, was treasured as a +last injury, demanding, at whatever hazard, a terrible expiation. + +The Treaty of Tilsit, to which, as the document itself bore testimony, +the King of Prussia was admitted as a party solely by reason of +Napoleon's "esteem for the Emperor of Russia," was ratified on the 7th +July. Napoleon restored, by this act, to Frederick William, Ancient +Prussia, and the French conquests in Upper Saxony--the King agreeing to +adopt "the continental system," in other words, to be henceforth the +vassal of the conqueror. The Polish provinces of Prussia were erected +into a separate principality, styled "the Grand Duchy of Warsaw," and +bestowed on the Elector of Saxony; with the exception, however, of some +territories assigned to Russia, and of Dantzick, which was declared a +free city, to be garrisoned by French troops until the ratification of a +maritime peace. The Prussian dominions in Lower Saxony and on the Rhine, +with Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and various other small states, formed a new +kingdom of Westphalia, of which Jerome Buonaparte, Napoleon's youngest +brother, was recognised as King; Jerome having at length made his peace +with his brother by repudiating his wife, an American lady of the name +of Patterson, and consenting to a new alliance, more consonant with the +views of the Emperor, with a daughter of the King of Wirtemberg. The +Elector of Saxony was recognised as another _King_ of Napoleon's +creation; Joseph Buonaparte as King of Naples; and Louis, of Holland. +Finally, Russia accepted the mediation of France for a peace with +Turkey, and France that of Russia for a peace with England. + +Such were the public articles of the peace of Tilsit; but it contained +secret articles besides; and of these the English government were, ere +long, fortunate enough to ascertain the import. + +The British cabinet had undergone a complete change in March, 1807--the +management of affairs passing from the friends and heirs of Mr. Fox into +the hands of Mr. Perceval and other statesmen of the school of Pitt. The +unhappy conduct of the war had rendered the preceding government +eminently unpopular; and the measures of the new one assumed from the +beginning a character of greater energy. But the orders which had been +given must be fulfilled; and the councils of 1806 bequeathed a fatal +legacy in the disastrous expeditions of 1807. Lord Granville Leveson +Gower[57] (the minister at St. Petersburg) was ere this time prepared to +offer to the Czar such subsidies as he had in vain expected when +preparing for the campaign of Poland; but it was too late to retrieve +the error of the preceding cabinet; and the English ambassador, being +unable to break off the negotiations at Tilsit, was compelled to bestow +all his efforts on penetrating the secrets of the compact wherein they +ended. + +The result of his exertions was the complete assurance of the government +of St. James's, that the Emperor of Russia had adopted the alliance of +Napoleon to an extent far beyond what appeared on the face of the treaty +of the 7th July; that he had agreed not only to lay English commerce, in +case his mediation for a peace should fail, under the same ban with that +of the decrees of Berlin, but to place himself at the head of a general +confederation of the Northern Maritime Powers against the naval +supremacy of England--in other words, resign his own fleets, with those +of Denmark, to the service of Napoleon. In requital of this obligation +the French Emperor unquestionably agreed to permit the Czar to conquer +Finland from Sweden--thereby adding immeasurably to the security of St. +Petersburg. On the other hand it is almost as impossible to doubt that +Alexander pledged himself not to interfere with those ambitious designs +as to the Spanish Peninsula, which Napoleon was ere long to develop, and +which were destined ultimately to work his ruin. + +In a word, there seems to be little doubt that Napoleon broached at +Tilsit the dazzling scheme of dividing the European world virtually +between the two great monarchs of France and Russia: and that the Czar, +provided he were willing to look on, while his Imperial brother of the +West subjected Spain, Portugal and England to his yoke, was induced to +count on equal forbearance, whatever schemes he might venture on for his +own aggrandisement, at the expense of the smaller states of the North of +Europe, and, above all, of the Ottoman Porte. + +[Footnote 56: Kosciusko himself subsequently disavowed any knowledge of +the production.] + +[Footnote 57: Afterwards first Earl Granville.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + British Expedition to Copenhagen--Coalition of France, Austria, + Prussia, and Russia, against English Commerce--Internal affairs of + France--The Administration of Napoleon--his Council of + State--Court--Code--Public Works--Manufactures--Taxes--Military + Organisation--The Conscription. + + +Napoleon, having left strong garrisons in the maritime cities of Poland +and Northern Germany, returned to Paris in August, and was received by +the Senate and other public bodies with all the triumph and excess of +adulation. The Swedish King abandoned Pomerania immediately on hearing +of the treaty of Tilsit. In effect the authority of the Emperor appeared +now to be consolidated over the whole continent of Europe. He had +reached indeed the pinnacle of his power and pride;--henceforth he was +to descend; urged downwards, step by step, by the reckless audacity of +ambition and the gathering weight of guilt. + +The English government, being satisfied that the naval force of Denmark +was about to be employed for the purposes of Napoleon, determined to +anticipate him, while it was yet time, and to send into the Baltic such +a fleet as should at once convince the court of Copenhagen that +resistance must be vain, and so bring about the surrender of the vessels +of war (to be retained by England, not in property, but in pledge until +the conclusion of a general peace), without any loss of life or +compromise of honour. Twenty-seven sail of the line, carrying a +considerable body of troops under the orders of Earl Cathcart, appeared +before the capital of Denmark in the middle of August, and found the +government wholly unprepared for defence. The high spirit of the Crown +Prince, however, revolted against yielding to a demand which imperious +necessity alone could have rendered justifiable on the part of England: +nor, unfortunately, were these scruples overcome until the Danish troops +had suffered severely in an action against the British, and the capital +itself had been bombarded during three days, in which many public +buildings, churches and libraries perished, and the private population +sustained heavy loss both of life and property. The fleet being at +length surrendered, the English withdrew with it in safety; and the rage +of Napoleon--ill disguised in lofty philippics about the violations of +the rights and privileges of independent nations--betrayed how +completely he had calculated on the use of this marine, and how little +he had anticipated a movement of such vigour from the cabinet of St. +James's. + +The Emperor of Russia is said to have signified, through a confidential +channel, that, though for the present he found himself compelled to +temporise, he approved and admired the procedure of the English +government. If this be true, however, his public and open conduct bore a +very different appearance. The British ambassador was dismissed from St. +Petersburg, and a general coalition of Russia, Austria, Prussia, and +Denmark, against the commerce of England being speedily afterwards +formed, the decrees of Berlin--still further strengthened by other +decrees, issued by Napoleon on the 7th December, 1806, at Milan--were in +fact announced as part and parcel of the universal law of the continent. +Alexander of Russia marched a large army into Finland, and took +possession of that great Swedish province--the promised booty of Tilsit. +His fleet in the Mediterranean gained a signal victory over the Turks, +and terms of amity between the courts of St. Petersburg and +Constantinople were at length arranged under the mediation or dictation +of Napoleon. Everything seemed to point to a state of universal +tranquillity or submission throughout the continent, and to a steady +devotion of all the resources of the European monarchies to the service +of the French Emperor and the destruction of his last and greatest +enemy. + +That enemy was ere long, in consequence of a new and unforeseen +explosion of guilty ambition, to possess the means of rekindling the +continental war, of distracting the alliances of Napoleon, and +ultimately of ruining the power which, for the present, appeared +irresistible. But a short interval of tranquillity ensued: and we may +avail ourselves of the opportunity to recur for a moment to the internal +administration of French affairs under the Imperial Government, as now +finally organised. + +Buonaparte, shortly after the peace of Tilsit, abolished _the +Tribunate_; and there remained, as the last shadows of assemblies +having any political influence, the Legislative Senate and the Council +of State. The former of these bodies was early reduced to a mere +instrument for recording the imperial decrees; the latter consisted of +such persons as Napoleon chose to invest for the time with the privilege +of being summoned to the palace, when it pleased him to hear the +opinions of others as to measures originating in his own mind, or +suggested to him by his ministers. He appears to have, on many +occasions, permitted these counsellors to speak their sentiments frankly +and fully, although differing from himself; but there were looks and +gestures which sufficiently indicated the limits of this toleration, and +which persons, owing their lucrative appointment to his mere pleasure, +and liable to lose it at his nod, were not likely to transgress. They +spoke openly and honestly only on topics in which their master's +feelings were not much concerned. + +His favourite saying during the continuance of his power was, "I am the +State;" and in the exile of St. Helena he constantly talked of himself +as having been, from necessity, the Dictator of France. In effect no +despotism within many degrees so complete and rigid was every before +established in a civilised and Christian country. The whole territory +was divided into prefectures--each prefect being appointed by +Napoleon--carefully selected for a province with which he had no +domestic relations--largely paid--and entrusted with such a complete +delegation of power that, in Napoleon's own language, each was in his +department an _Empereur à petit pied_. Each of these officers had under +his entire control inferior local magistrates, holding power from him as +he did from the Emperor: each had his instructions direct from Paris; +each was bound by every motive of interest to serve, to the utmost of +his ability, the government from which all things were derived, to be +hoped for, and to be dreaded. Wherever the Emperor was, in the midst of +his hottest campaigns, he examined the details of administration at home +more closely than, perhaps, any other sovereign of half so great an +empire did during the profoundest peace. It was said of him that his +dearest amusement, when he had nothing else to do, was to solve problems +in algebra or geometry. He carried this passion into every department of +affairs; and having, with his own eye, detected some errors of +importance in the public accounts, shortly after his administration +began, there prevailed thenceforth in all the financial records of the +state such clearness and accuracy as are not often exemplified in those +of a large private fortune. Nothing was below his attention, and he +found time for everything. The humblest functionary discharged his duty +under a lively sense of the Emperor's personal superintendence; and the +omnipresence of his police came in lieu, wherever politics were not +touched upon, of the guarding powers of a free press, a free senate, and +public opinion. Except in political cases the trial by jury was the +right of every citizen. The _Code Napoleon_, that elaborate system of +jurisprudence, in the formation of which the Emperor laboured personally +along with the most eminent lawyers and enlightened men of the time, was +a boon of inestimable value to France. "I shall go down to posterity" +(said he, with just pride) "with the Code in my hand." It was the first +uniform system of laws which the French Monarchy had ever possessed: and +being drawn up with consummate skill and wisdom, it at this day forms +the code not only of France, but of a great portion of Europe besides. +Justice, as between man and man, was administered on sound and fixed +principles, and by unimpeached tribunals. The arbitrary Commission +Courts of Napoleon interfered with nothing but offences, real or +alleged, against his authority. + +The Clergy were, as we have seen, appointed universally under the +direction of Government: they were also its direct stipendiaries; hence +nothing could be more complete than their subjection to its pleasure. +Education became a part of the regular business of the state; all the +schools and colleges being placed under the immediate care of one of +Napoleon's ministers--all prizes and bursaries bestowed by the +government--and the whole system so arranged, that it was hardly +possible for any youth who exhibited remarkable talents to avoid the +temptations to a military career, which on every side surrounded him. +The chief distinctions and emoluments were everywhere reserved for those +who excelled in accomplishments likely to be serviceable in war: and the +_Lyceums_, or schools set expressly apart for military students, were +invested with numberless attractions, scarcely to be resisted by a young +imagination. The army, as it was the sole basis of Napoleon's power, +was also at all times the primary object of his thoughts. Every +institution of the state was subservient and administered to it, and +none more efficaciously than the imperial system of education. + +The ranks of the army, however, were filled during the whole reign of +Napoleon by _compulsion_. The conscription law of 1798 acquired under +him the character of a settled and regular part of the national system; +and its oppressive influence was such as never before exhausted, through +a long term of years, the best energies of a great and civilised people. +Every male in France, under the age of twenty-five, was liable to be +called on to serve in the ranks; and the regulations as to the procuring +of substitutes were so narrow, that young men of the best families were +continually forced to comply, in their own persons, with the stern +requisition. The first conscription list for the year included all under +the age of twenty-one; and the result of the ballot within this class +amounted to nearly 80,000 names. These were first called on: but if the +service of the Emperor demanded further supply, the lists of those aged +twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, and twenty-five, were +successively resorted to. There was no exemption for any one who seemed +able to bear arms. The only child of his parents, the young husband and +father, were forced, like any others, to abandon fireside, profession, +all the ties and all the hopes of life, on a moment's notice: and there +is nothing in the history of modern Europe so remarkable, as that the +French people should have submitted, during sixteen years, to the +constant operation of a despotic law, which thus sapped all the +foundations of social happiness, and condemned the rising hopes of the +nation to bleed and die by millions in distant wars, undertaken solely +for the gratification of one man's insatiable ambition. On the other +hand, it is not to be denied that the great majority of the conscripts, +with whatever reluctance they might enter the ranks, were soon +reconciled to their fate. The avenues to promotion, distinction, wealth, +honour, nobility, even royal dignity, were all open before the devoted +and successful soldiers of Napoleon; and the presence of so many youths +of good condition and education, among the ranks of the private +soldiery, could not fail, first, to render the situation immeasurably +less irksome than it otherwise could have been to each individual of +the class, and secondly, to elevate the standard of manners and +acquirements among the soldiery generally. There never was an army in +whose ranks intelligence so largely abounded, nor in which so many +officers of the highest rank had originally carried a musket. + +The taxation rendered necessary by the constant wars of Napoleon was +great; and the utter destruction of the foreign commerce and marine of +France, which the naval supremacy of England effected, made the burden +the more intolerable for various important classes of the community. On +the other hand the taxes were levied fairly on the whole population, +which presented a blessed contrast to the system of the old _régime_; +and the vast extension and improvement of agriculture consequent on the +division of the great estates at the Revolution, enabled the nation, at +large to meet the calls of the government with much less difficulty than +could have been anticipated at any former period of French history. +Napoleon's great public works, too, though undertaken chiefly for the +purpose of gratifying his own vanity and that of the nation, could not +be executed without furnishing subsistence to vast bodies of the +labouring poor, and were thus serviceable to more important ends. From +his vain attempts to supply the want of English manufactured goods and +colonial produce, by new establishments and inventions (such especially +as that of manufacturing a substitute for sugar out of beetroot), +partial good, in like manner, resulted. + +The evils of the conscription, of a heavy taxation, of an inquisitorial +police, and of a totally enslaved press--these, and all other evils +attendant on this elaborate system of military despotism, were endured +for so many years chiefly in consequence of the skill with which +Napoleon, according to his own favourite language, knew "to play on the +imagination," and gratify the vanity of the French people. In the +splendour of his victories, in the magnificence of his roads, bridges, +aqueducts, and other monuments, in the general pre-eminence to which the +nation seemed to be raised through the genius of its chief, compensation +was found for all financial burdens, consolations for domestic +calamities, and an equivalent for that liberty in whose name the Tyrant +had achieved his first glories. But it must not be omitted that +Napoleon, in every department of his government, made it his first rule +to employ the men best fitted, in his mind, to do honour to his service +by their talents and diligence; and that he thus attached to himself, +throughout the whole of his empire as well as in his army, the hopes and +the influence of those whose personal voices were most likely to control +the opinions of society. + +He gratified the French nation by adorning the capital, and by +displaying in the Tuileries a court as elaborately magnificent as that +of Louis XIV. himself. The old nobility, returning from their exile, +mingled in those proud halls with the heroes of the revolutionary +campaigns; and over all the ceremonial of these stately festivities +Josephine presided with the grace and elegance of one born to be a +queen. In the midst of the pomp and splendour of a court, in whose +antechambers kings jostled each other, Napoleon himself preserved the +soldier-like simplicity of his original dress and manners. The great +Emperor continued throughout to labour more diligently than any +subaltern in office. He devoted himself wholly to the ambition to which +he compelled all others to contribute. + +Napoleon, as Emperor, had little time for social pleasures. His personal +friends were few; his days were given to labour, and his nights to +study. If he was not with his army in the field, he traversed the +provinces, examining with his own eyes into the minutest details of +local arrangement; and even from the centre of his camp he was +continually issuing edicts which showed the accuracy of his observation +during these journeys, and his anxiety to promote by any means, +consistent with his great purpose, the welfare of some French district, +town, or even village. + +The manners of the Court were at least decent. Napoleon occasionally +indulged himself in amours unworthy of his character and tormenting to +his wife; but he never suffered any other female to possess influence +over his mind, nor insulted public opinion by any approach to that +system of unveiled debauchery which had, during whole ages, disgraced +the Bourbon Court, and undermined their throne. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + Relations of Napoleon with Spain--Treaty of Fontainebleau--Junot + marches to Portugal--Flight of the Braganzas to Brazil--French + troops proceed into Spain--Dissensions in the Court--Both parties + appeal to Napoleon--Murat occupies Madrid--Charles and Ferdinand + abdicate at Bayonne--Joseph Buonaparte crowned King of Spain. + + +After the ratification of the treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon, returning as +we have seen to Paris, devoted all his energies to the perfect +establishment of "the continental system." Something has already been +said as to the difficulties which this attempt involved: in truth it was +a contest between the despotic will of Buonaparte, and the interests and +habits, not only of every sovereign in his alliance, but of every +private individual on the continent; and it was therefore actually +impossible that the imperial policy should not be baffled. The Russian +government was never, probably, friendly to a system which, from the +nature of the national produce and resources, must, if persisted in for +any considerable time, have inflicted irreparable injury on the finances +of the landholders, reduced the public establishments, and sunk the +effective power of the state. In that quarter, therefore, Napoleon soon +found that, notwithstanding all the professions of personal devotion +which the young Czar continued, perhaps sincerely, to make, his +favourite scheme was systematically violated: but the distance and +strength of Russia prevented him from, for the present, pushing his +complaints to extremity. The Spanish peninsula lay nearer him, and the +vast extent to which the prohibited manufactures and colonial produce of +England found their way into every district of that country, and +especially of Portugal, and thence through the hands of whole legions of +audacious smugglers, into France itself, ere long fixed his attention +and resentment. 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. + +The court presented in itself the lively image of a divided and degraded +nation. The King, old and almost incredibly imbecile, was ruled +absolutely by his Queen, a woman audaciously unprincipled, whose strong +and wicked passions again were entirely under the influence of Manuel +Godoy, "Prince of the Peace," raised, by her guilty love, from the +station of a private guardsman, to precedence above all the grandees of +Spain, a matrimonial connection with the royal house, and the supreme +conduct of affairs. She, her paramour, and the degraded King, were held +in contempt and hatred by a powerful party, at the head of whom were the +Canon Escoiquiz, the Duke del Infantado, and Ferdinand, Prince of +Asturias, heir of the throne. The scenes of dissension which filled the +palace and court were scandalous beyond all contemporary example: and, +the strength of the two parties vibrating in the scale, according as +corrupt calculators looked to the extent of Godoy's present power, or to +the probability of Ferdinand's accession, the eyes of both were turned +to the hazardous facility of striking a balance by calling in support +from the Tuileries. Napoleon, on his part, regarding the rival factions +with equal scorn, flattered himself that, in their common fears and +baseness, he should find the means of ultimately reducing the whole +Peninsula to complete submission under his own yoke. + +The secret history of the intrigues of 1807, between the French Court +and the rival parties in Spain, has not yet been clearly exposed; nor is +it likely to be so while most of the chief agents survive. According to +Napoleon the first proposal for conquering Portugal by the united arms +of France and Spain, and dividing that monarchy into three separate +prizes, of which one should fall to the disposition of France, a second +to the Spanish King, and a third reward the personal exertions of Godoy, +came not from him, but from the Spanish minister. It was unlikely that +Napoleon should have given any other account of the matter. The +suggestion has been attributed, by every Spanish authority, to the +Emperor; and it is difficult to doubt that such was the fact. The +treaty, in which the unprincipled design took complete form, was +ratified at Fontainebleau on the 29th October, 1807, and accompanied by +a convention, which provided 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 land an army for the defence of Portugal, or the +people of that devoted country presume to meet Junot by a national +insurrection. + +Junot forthwith commenced his march through Spain, where the French +soldiery were received everywhere with coldness and suspicion, but +nowhere by any hostile movement of the people. He would have halted at +Salamanca to organise his army, which consisted mostly of young +conscripts, but Napoleon's policy outmarched his General's schemes, and +the troops were, in consequence of a peremptory order from Paris, poured +into Portugal in the latter part of November. Godoy's contingent of +Spaniards appeared there also, and placed themselves under Junot's +command. Their numbers overawed the population, and they advanced, +unopposed, towards the capital--Junot's most eager desire being to +secure the persons of the Prince Regent and the royal family. The feeble +government, meantime, having made, one by one, every degrading +submission which France dictated, having expelled the British factory +and the British minister, confiscated all English property, and shut the +ports against all English vessels, became convinced at length that no +measures of subserviency could avert the doom which Napoleon had +fulminated. A _Moniteur_, proclaiming that "the House of Braganza had +ceased to reign," reached Lisbon. The Prince Regent re-opened his +communication with the English admiral off the Tagus (Sir Sydney Smith) +and the lately expelled ambassador (Lord Strangford), and being assured +of their protection, embarked on the 27th of November, and sailed for +the Brazils on the 29th, only a few hours before Junot made his +appearance at the gates of Lisbon. The disgust with which the Portuguese +people regarded his flight, the cowardly termination, as they might not +unnaturally regard it, of a long course of meanness, was eminently +useful to the invader. With the exception of one trivial insurrection, +when the insolent conqueror took down the Portuguese arms and set up +those of Napoleon in their place, several months passed in apparent +tranquillity; and these were skilfully employed by the General in +perfecting the discipline of his conscripts, improving the +fortifications of the coast, and making such a disposal of his force as +might best guard the country from any military demonstration on the part +of England. + +Napoleon thus saw Portugal in his grasp: but that he had all along +considered as a point of minor importance, and he had accordingly +availed himself of the utmost concessions of the treaty of +Fontainebleau, without waiting for any insurrection of the Portuguese, +or English debarkation on their territory. His army of reserve, in +number far exceeding the 40,000 men named in the treaty, had already +passed the Pyrenees, in two bodies, under Dupont and Moncey, and were +advancing slowly, but steadily, into the heart of Spain. Nay, without +even the pretext of being mentioned in the treaty, another French army +of 12,000, under Duhesme, had penetrated through the eastern Pyrenees, +and being received as friends among the unsuspecting garrisons, obtained +possession of Barcelona, Pampeluna, and St. Sebastian, and the other +fortified places in the north of Spain, by a succession of treacherous +artifices, to which the history of civilised nations presents no +parallel. The armies then pushed forwards, and the chief roads leading +from the French frontiers to Madrid were entirely in their possession. + +It seems impossible that such daring movements should not have awakened +the darkest suspicions at Madrid; yet the royal family, overlooking the +common danger about to overwhelm them and their country, continued, +during three eventful months, to waste what energies they possessed in +petty conspiracies, domestic broils, and, incredible as the tale will +hereafter appear, in the meanest diplomatic intrigues with the court of +France. The Prince of Asturias solicited the honour of a wife from the +House of Napoleon. The old King, or rather Godoy, invoked anew the +assistance of the Emperor against the treasonable, nay (for to such +extremities went their mutual accusations), the parricidal plots of the +heir-apparent. Buonaparte listened to both parties, vouchsafed no direct +answer to either, and continued to direct the onward movement of those +stern arbiters, who were ere long to decide the question. A sudden panic +at length seized the King or his minister, and the court, then at +Aranjuez, prepared to retire to Seville, and, sailing from thence to +America, seek safety, after the example of the House of Braganza, in the +work of whose European ruin they had so lately been accomplices. The +servants of the Prince of Asturias, on perceiving the preparations for +this flight, commenced a tumult, in which the populace of Aranjuez +readily joined, and which was only pacified (for the moment) by a royal +declaration that no flight was contemplated. On the 18th of March, 1808, +the day following, a scene of like violence took place in the capital +itself. The house of Godoy in Madrid was sacked. The favourite himself +was assaulted at Aranjuez, on the 19th; with great difficulty saved his +life by the intervention of the royal guards; and was placed under +arrest. Terrified by what he saw at Aranjuez, and heard from Madrid, +Charles IV. abdicated the throne; and on the 20th, Ferdinand, his son, +was proclaimed King of Madrid, amidst a tumult of popular applause. +Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, had before this assumed the chief 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 +that capital with 30,000 men, and took possession of it in person, at +the head of 10,000 more, on the 23rd of March. Charles IV. meantime +despatched messengers both to Napoleon and Murat, asserting that his +abdication had been involuntary, and invoking their assistance against +his son. Ferdinand, entering Madrid on the 24th, found the French +general in possession of the capital, and in vain claimed his +recognition as king. Murat accepted the sword of Francis I., which, +amidst other adulations, Ferdinand offered to him; but pertinaciously +declined taking any part in the decision of the great question, which +demanded, as he said, the fiat of Napoleon. + +The Emperor heard with much regret of the precipitancy with which his +lieutenant had occupied Madrid--for his clear mind had foreseen ere now +the imminent hazard of trampling too rudely on the jealous pride of the +Spaniards; and the events of the 17th, 18th, and 19th March were well +qualified to confirm his impression, that although all sense of dignity +and decorum might be extinguished in the court, the ancient elements of +national honour still remained, ready to be called into action, among +the body of the people. He, therefore, sent Savary, in whose practised +cunning and duplicity he hoped to find a remedy for the military +rashness of Murat, to assume the chief direction of affairs at Madrid; +and the rumour was actively spread, that the Emperor was about to appear +there in person without delay. + +Madrid occupied and begirt by forty thousand armed strangers, his title +unrecognised by Murat, his weak understanding and tumultuous passions +worked upon incessantly by the malicious craft of Savary, Ferdinand was +at length persuaded, that his best chance of securing the aid and +protection of Napoleon lay in advancing to meet him on his way to the +capital, and striving to gain his ear before the emissaries of Godoy +should be able to fill it with their reclamations. Savary eagerly +offered to accompany him on this fatal journey, which began on the 10th +of April. The infatuated Ferdinand had been taught to believe that he +should find Buonaparte at Burgos; not meeting him there, he was tempted +to pursue his journey as far as Vittoria: and from thence, in spite of +the populace, who, more sagacious than their prince, cut the traces of +his carriage, he was, by a repetition of the same treacherous arguments, +induced to proceed stage by stage, and at length to pass the frontier +and present himself at Bayonne, where the arbiter of his fate lay +anxiously expecting this consummation of his almost incredible folly. He +arrived there on the 20th of April--was received by Napoleon with +courtesy, entertained at dinner at the imperial table, and the same +evening informed by Savary 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 Buonaparte. + +He, meanwhile, as soon as he was aware that Ferdinand had actually set +out from Madrid, had ordered Murat to find the means of causing the old +King, the Queen, and Godoy to repair also to Bayonne; nor does it appear +that his lieutenant had any difficulty in persuading these personages +that such was the course of conduct most in accordance with their +interests. They reached Bayonne on the 4th of May, and Napoleon, +confronting the parents and the son on the 5th, witnessed a scene in +which the profligate rancour of their domestic feuds reached extremities +hardly to have been contemplated by the wildest imagination. The +flagitious Queen did not, it is said and believed, hesitate to signify +to her son that the King was not his father--and this in the presence of +that King and of Napoleon. Could crime justify crime--could the fiendish +lusts and hatreds of a degenerate race offer any excuse for the +deliberate guilt of a masculine genius, the conduct of this abject court +might have apologised for the policy which it perhaps tempted the +pampered ambition of Napoleon to commence, and which it now encouraged +him to consummate by an act of suicidal violence. + +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 large pension. Godoy, who had entered into the fatal negotiation +of Fontainebleau, with the hope and the promise of an independent +sovereignty carved out of the Portuguese dominions, was pensioned off in +like manner, and ordered to partake the Italian exile of his patrons. A +few days afterwards, Ferdinand VII., being desired to choose at length +between compliance and death, followed the example of his father, and +executed a similar act of resignation. Napoleon congratulated himself on +having added Spain and the Indies to his empire, without any cost either +of blood or of treasure; and the French people, dazzled by the apparent +splendour of the acquisition, overlooked, if there be any faith in +public addresses and festivals, the enormous guilt by which it had been +achieved. But ere the ink with which the Spanish Bourbons signed away +their birthright was dry, there came tidings to Bayonne which might well +disturb the proud day-dreams of the spoliator, and the confidence of his +worshippers. + +Not that Napoleon had failed to measure from the beginning the mighty +dangers which surrounded his audacious design. He had been warned of +them in the strongest manner by Talleyrand, and even by Fouché; nay, he +had himself written to rebuke the headlong haste of Murat in occupying +the Spanish capital--to urge on him the necessity of conciliating the +people, by preserving the show of respect for their national authorities +and institutions--to represent the imminent hazard of permitting the +Duke del Infantado to strengthen and extend his party in Madrid--and +concluding with those ominous words: _Remember, if war breaks out, all +is lost_. + +Ferdinand, before he left Madrid, invested a council of regency with the +sovereign power, his uncle, Don Antonio, being president, and Murat one +of the members. Murat's assumption of the authority thus conferred, the +departure of Ferdinand, the liberation and departure of the detested +Godoy, the flight of the old King--these occurrences produced their +natural effects on the popular mind. A dark suspicion that France +meditated the destruction of the national independence, began to spread; +and, on the 2nd of May, when it transpired that preparations were making +for the journey of Don Antonio also, the general rage at last burst out. +A crowd collected round the carriage meant, as they concluded, to convey +the last of the royal family out of Spain; the traces were cut; the +imprecations against the French were furious. Colonel La Grange, Murat's +aide-de-camp, happening to appear on the spot, was cruelly maltreated. +In a moment the whole capital was in an uproar: the French soldiery were +assaulted everywhere--about 700 were slain. The mob attacked the +hospital--the sick and their attendants rushed out and defended it. The +French cavalry, hearing the tumult, entered the city by the gate of +Alcala--a column of 3000 infantry from the other side by the street +Ancha de Bernardo. Some Spanish officers headed the mob, and fired on +the soldiery in the streets of Maravelles: a bloody massacre ensued: +many hundreds were made prisoners: the troops, sweeping the streets from +end to end, released their comrades; and, to all appearance, +tranquillity was restored ere nightfall. During the darkness, however, +the peasantry flocked in armed from the neighbouring country: and, being +met at the gates by the irritated soldiery, not a few more were killed, +wounded, and made prisoners. Murat ordered all the prisoners to be tried +by a military commission, which doomed them to instant death. It is +disputed whether the more deliberate guilt of carrying the sentence into +execution lies with the commander-in-chief himself, or with Grouchy; it +is certain that a considerable number of Spaniards--the English +authority most friendly to the French cause admits +_ninety-five_[58]--were butchered in cold blood on the 3rd of May. + +This commotion had been preceded by a brief insurrection, easily +suppressed and not unlikely to be soon forgotten, on the 23rd of April, +at Toledo. The events in the capital were of a more decisive character, +and the amount of the bloodshed, in itself great, was much exaggerated +in the reports which flew, like wildfire, throughout the Peninsula--for +the French were as eager to overawe the provincial Spaniards, by +conveying an overcharged impression of the consequences of resistance, +as their enemies in Madrid were to rouse the general indignation, by +heightened details of the ferocity of the invaders and the sternness of +their own devotion. In almost every town of Spain, and almost +simultaneously, the flame of patriotic resentment broke out in the +terrible form of assassination. The French residents were slaughtered +without mercy: the supposed partisans of Napoleon and Godoy (not a few +men of worth being causelessly confounded in their fate) were sacrificed +in the first tumult of popular rage. At Cadiz, Seville, Carthagena, +above all in Valencia, the streets ran red with blood. The dark and +vindictive temper of the Spaniards covered the land with scenes, on the +details of which it is shocking to dwell. The French soldiery, hemmed +in, insulted, and whenever they could be found separately, +sacrificed--often with every circumstance of savage torture--retorted by +equal barbarity whenever they had the means. Popular bodies (juntas) +assumed the conduct of affairs in most of the cities and provinces, +renounced the yoke of France, reproclaimed Ferdinand king, and at the +maritime stations of chief importance entered into communication with +the English fleets, from whom they failed not to receive pecuniary +supplies, and every encouragement to proceed in their measures. Deputies +were sent to England without delay; and welcomed there with the utmost +enthusiasm of sympathy and admiration. England could both speak and act +openly. Throughout the whole of the enslaved continent the news of the +Spanish insurrection was brooded over with a sullen joy. + +Napoleon received the intelligence with alarm; but he had already gone +too far to retract without disturbing the magical influence of his +reputation. He, moreover, was willing to flatter himself that the lower +population of Spain alone took an active part in these transactions; +that the nobility, whose degradation he could hardly over-estimate, +would abide by his voice; in a word, that with 80,000 troops in Spain, +besides Junot's army in Portugal, he possessed the means of suppressing +the tumult after the first effervescence should have escaped. He +proceeded, therefore, to act precisely as if no insurrection had +occurred. Tranquillity being re-established in Madrid, the Council of +Castile were convoked, and commanded to elect a new sovereign: their +choice had of course been settled beforehand: it fell on Joseph +Buonaparte, King of Naples; and ere it was announced, that personage was +already on his way to Bayonne. Ninety-five _Notables_ of Spain met him +in that town; and swore fealty to him and a new Constitution, the +manufacture of course of Napoleon. Joseph, on entering Spain, was met by +unequivocal symptoms of scorn and hatred:--nay, one great battle had +already been fought between the French and the patriots:--but, the main +road being strongly occupied throughout with his brother's troops, he +reached Madrid in safety. + +Lucien Buonaparte, it is understood, received the first offer of this +crown; but he did not envy the condition of his brother's royal vassals, +and declined the dangerous honour. Murat had expected it, and much +resented his disappointment; but Napoleon did not consider him as +possessed of the requisite prudence, and he was forced to accept the +succession to the vacant throne of Naples. + +Joseph had become not unpopular in Naples, and being a peaceful man, +would gladly have remained in that humbler kingdom; but Napoleon no more +consulted the private wishes of his subaltern princes on such occasions, +than he did those of his generals in the arrangements of a campaign. + +On the 24th of July (says Colonel Napier), "Joseph was proclaimed King +of Spain and the Indies, with all the solemnities usual upon such +occasions; not hesitating to declare himself the enemy of eleven +millions of people, the object of a whole nation's hatred; calling, with +a strange accent, from the midst of foreign bands, upon that fierce and +haughty race to accept of a constitution which they did not understand, +and which few of them had even heard of; his only hope of success +resting on the strength of his brother's arms; his claims on the consent +of an imbecile monarch and the weakness of a few pusillanimous nobles, +in contempt of the rights of millions now arming to oppose him." + +[Footnote 58: Colonel Napier, p. 25.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + Insurrection of the Spaniards and Portuguese--Their Alliance with + England--Battle of Riosecco--Joseph enters Madrid--First Siege of + Zaragossa--Dupont's March into Andalusia--The Battle of + Baylen--Dupont Surrenders--Joseph quits Madrid--Situation of + Junot--Arrival of Sir Arthur Wellesley--Battle of Roriça--Battle of + Vimiero--Convention of Cintra. + + +On the 4th of July the King of England addressed his Parliament on the +subject which then fixed the universal enthusiasm of his people. "I +view" (said he) "with the liveliest interest the loyal and determined +spirit manifested in resisting the violence and perfidy with which the +dearest rights of the Spanish nation have been assailed. The kingdom +thus nobly struggling against the usurpation and tyranny of France, can +no longer be considered as the enemy of Great Britain, but is recognised +by me as a natural friend and ally." It has been already mentioned that +the British commanders in the neighbourhood of Spain did not wait for +orders from home to espouse openly the cause of the insurgent nation. +The Spanish prisoners of war were forthwith released, clothed, equipped, +and sent back to their country. Supplies of arms and money were +liberally transmitted thither; and, Portugal catching the flame and +bursting into general insurrection also, a formal treaty of alliance, +offensive and defensive, was soon concluded between England and the two +kingdoms of the Peninsula. + +This insurrection furnished Great Britain with what she had not yet +possessed during the war, a favourable theatre whereon to oppose the +full strength of her empire to the arms of Napoleon; and the opportunity +was embraced with zeal, though for some time but little skill appeared +in the manner of using it. The Emperor, on the other hand, observed with +surprise and rage the energy of the Spaniards, and not doubting that +England would hasten to their aid, bent every effort to consummate his +flagitious purpose. "Thus" (says a distinguished writer) "the two +leading nations of the world were brought into contact at a moment when +both were disturbed by angry passions, eager for great events, and +possessed of surprising power."[59] + +Napoleon, from the extent and population of his empire, under the +operation of the Conscription Code was enabled to maintain an army +500,000 strong; but his relations with those powers on the continent +whom he had not entirely subdued were of the most unstable character, +and even the states which he had formally united to France were, without +exception, pregnant with the elements of disaffection. It was therefore +impossible for him to concentrate the whole of his gigantic strength on +the soil of Spain. His troops, moreover, being drawn from a multitude of +different countries and tongues, could not be united in heart or in +discipline like the soldiers of a purely national army. On the other +hand, the military genius at his command has 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. The +pecuniary resources of the vast empire were great, and they were managed +so skilfully by Buonaparte that the supplies were raised within the +year, and in a metallic currency. + +His ancient enemy was omnipotent at sea; and if the character of her +armies stood at the moment much lower both at home and abroad than it +ever deserved to do, this was a mistake which one well-organised +campaign was likely to extinguish. England possessed at this time a +population of twenty millions, united in the spirit of loyalty and +regarding the Spanish cause as just, noble and sacred: a standing army +of 200,000 of the best troops in the world, an immense recruiting +establishment, and a system of militia which enabled her to swell her +muster to any limit. Her colonies occupied a large share of this army; +but there remained at her immediate command a force at least equal to +that with which Buonaparte had conquered Austria and Prussia. Her credit +was unbounded; and her commerce not only supplied means of information +altogether unrivalled, but secured for her the secret goodwill of whole +classes in every country. England possessed Generals worthy to cope with +the best of Buonaparte's Marshals, and in the hour of need discovered +that she possessed one capable of confronting, and of conquering, the +great Emperor himself. Finally, she possessed the incalculable +advantage of warring on the side of justice and freedom, against an +usurper, whose crimes were on the same gigantic scale with his genius. +The remembrance of their leader's perfidy weighed heavily on the moral +strength of the French army throughout the approaching contest; while a +proud conviction that their cause was the right sustained the hearts of +the English. + +Upon them, ultimately, the chief burden and the chief glory of the war +devolved: yet justice will ever be done to the virtuous exertions of +their allies of the Peninsula. 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 Romana, were serving Napoleon +in Holstein. There remained 40,000 Spanish regulars, 11,000 Swiss, and +30,000 militia; but of the best of these the discipline, when compared +with French or English armies, was contemptible. The nobility, to whose +order the chief officers belonged, were divided in their +sentiments--perhaps the greater number inclined to the interests of +Joseph. Above all, the troops were scattered, in small sections, over +the face of the whole country, and there was no probability that any one +regular army should be able to muster so strong as to withstand the +efforts of a mere fragment of the French force already established +within the kingdom. The fleets of Spain had been destroyed in the war +with England: her commerce and revenues had been mortally wounded by the +alliance with France and the maladministration of Godoy. Ferdinand was +detained a prisoner in France. There was no natural leader or chief, +around whom the whole energies of the nation might be expected to rally. +It was amidst such adverse circumstances that the Spanish people rose +everywhere, smarting under intolerable wrongs, against a French army, +already 80,000 strong, in possession of half the fortresses of the +country, and in perfect communication with the mighty resources of +Napoleon. + +There are authors who still delight to undervalue the motives of this +great national movement; according to whom the commercial classes rose +chiefly, if not solely, from their resentment of the pecuniary losses +inflicted on them by Godoy's alliance with the author of the +"continental system"; the priesthood because Godoy had impoverished the +church, and they feared that a Buonapartean government would pursue the +same course to a much greater extent; the peasantry because their +priests commanded them. All these influences unquestionably operated, +and all strongly; but who can believe in the absence of others +infinitely above these, and common to all the Spaniards who, during six +years, fought and bled, and saw their towns ruined and their soil a +waste, that they might vindicate their birthright, the independence of +their nation? Nor can similar praise be refused to the great majority of +the Portuguese. Napoleon summoned a body of the nobles of that kingdom +also to meet him early in the year at Bayonne: they obeyed, and being +addressed by the haughty usurper in person, resisted all his efforts to +cajole them into an imitation of the Spanish Notables, who at the same +time and place accepted Joseph for their King. They were in consequence +retained as prisoners in France during the war which followed; but their +fate operated as a new stimulus upon the general feeling of their +countrymen at home, already well prepared for insurrection by the brutal +oppression of Junot. + +The Spanish arms were at first exposed to many reverses; the rawness of +their levies, and the insulated nature of their movements, being +disadvantages of which it was not difficult for the experienced Generals +and overpowering numbers of the French to reap a full and bloody +harvest. After various petty skirmishes, in which the insurgents of +Arragon were worsted by Lefebre Desnouettes, and those of Navarre and +Biscay by Bessieres, the latter officer came upon the united armies of +Castile, Leon and Galicia, commanded by the Generals Cuesta and Blake, +on the 14th of July, at Riosecco, and defeated them in a desperate +action, in which not less than 20,000 Spaniards died. This calamitous +battle it was which opened the gates of Madrid to the intrusive +king--whose arrival in that capital on the 20th of the same month has +already been mentioned. + +But Joseph was not destined to remain long in Madrid: the fortune of +war, after the great day of Riosecco, was everywhere on the side of the +patriots. Duhesme, who had so treacherously possessed himself of +Barcelona and Figueras, found himself surrounded by the Catalonian +mountaineers, who, after various affairs, in which much blood was shed +on both sides, compelled him to shut himself up in Barcelona. Marshal +Moncey conducted another large division of the French towards Valencia, +and was to have been further reinforced by a detachment from Duhesme. +The course of events in Catalonia prevented Duhesme from affording any +such assistance; and the inhabitants of Valencia, male and female, +rising _en masse_, and headed by their clergy, manned their walls with +such determined resolution, that the French marshal was at length +compelled to retreat. He fell back upon the main body, under Bessieres, +but did not effect a conjunction with them until his troops had suffered +miserably in their march through an extensive district, in which every +inhabitant was a watchful enemy. + +A far more signal catastrophe had befallen another powerful _corps +d'armée_, under General Dupont, which marched from Madrid towards the +south, with the view of suppressing all symptoms of insurrection in that +quarter, and, especially, of securing the great naval station of Cadiz, +where a French squadron lay, watched, as usual, by the English. Dupont's +force was increased as he advanced, till it amounted to 20,000 men; and +with these he took possession of Baylen and La Carolina, in Andalusia, +and stormed Jaen. But before he could make these acquisitions, the +citizens of Cadiz had universally taken the patriot side; the commander +of the French vessels had been forced to surrender them; and the place, +having opened a communication with the English fleet, assumed a posture +of determined defence. General Castaños, the Spanish commander in that +province, meanwhile, having held back from battle until his raw troops +should have had time to be disciplined, began at length to threaten the +position of the French. Jaen was attacked by him with such vigour, that +Dupont was fain to evacuate it, and fall back to Baylen, where his +troops soon suffered severe privations, the peasantry being in arms all +around them, and the supply of food becoming from day to day more +difficult. On the 16th of July, Dupont was attacked at Baylen by +Castaños, who knew from an intercepted despatch the extent of his +enemy's distress: the French were beaten, and driven as far as Menjibar. +They returned on the 18th, and attempted to recover Baylen; but, after a +long and desperate battle, in which 3000 of the French were killed, +Dupont, perceiving that the Spaniards were gathering all around in +numbers not to be resisted, proposed to capitulate. In effect, he and +20,000 soldiers laid down their arms at Baylen, on condition that they +should be transported in safety into France. The Spaniards broke this +convention, and detained them as prisoners--thus, foolishly as well a +wickedly, imitating the perfidy of Napoleon's own conduct to Spain. This +battle and capitulation of Baylen were termed by the Emperor himself +_the Caudine forks_ of the French army. He attributed the disaster to +treachery on the part of Dupont: it was the result of the rashness of +the expedition, and the incompetency of the conductor. The richest part +of Spain was freed wholly of the invaders: the light troops of Castaños +pushed on, and swept the country before them; and within ten days, King +Joseph perceived the necessity of quitting Madrid, and removed his +headquarters to Vittoria. + +In the meantime Lefebre Desnouettes, whose early success in Arragon has +been alluded to, was occupied with the siege of Zaragossa--the +inhabitants of which city had risen in the first outbreak, and prepared +to defend their walls to the last extremity. Don Jose Palafox, a young +nobleman of no great talents, who had made his escape from Bayonne, was +invested with the command; but the real leaders were the priests and +some of the private citizens, who selected him for the prominent place +as belonging to a family of eminent distinction in their kingdom, but in +effect considered and used him as their tool. Some Spanish and Walloon +regiments, who had formed the garrisons of strong places treacherously +seized by the enemy before the war commenced, had united with Palafox, +and various bloody skirmishes had occurred--ere the French general was +enabled to shut them up in Zaragossa and form the siege. The importance +of success in this enterprise was momentous, especially after the +failure of Moncey at Valencia. Napoleon himself early saw, that if the +Valencians should be able to form an union with the Arragonese at +Zaragossa, the situation of the Catalonian insurgents on the one side +would be prodigiously strengthened; while, on the other hand, the armies +of Leon and Galicia (whose coasts offered the means of continual +communication with England) would conduct their operations in the +immediate vicinity of the only great road left open between Madrid and +Bayonne--the route by Burgos. He therefore had instructed Savary to +consider Zaragossa as an object of the very highest importance; but the +corps of Lefebre was not strengthened as the Emperor would have wished +it to be, ere he sat down before Zaragossa. The siege was pressed with +the utmost vigour; but the immortal heroism of the citizens baffled all +the valour of the French. There were no regular works worthy of notice: +but the old Moorish walls, not above eight or ten feet in height, and +some extensive monastic buildings in the outskirts of the city, being +manned by crowds of determined men, whose wives and daughters looked on, +nay, mingled boldly in their defence--the besiegers were held at bay +week after week, and saw their ranks thinned in continual assaults +without being able to secure any adequate advantage. Famine came and +disease in its train, to aggravate the sufferings of the townspeople; +but they would listen to no suggestions but those of the same proud +spirit in which they had begun. The French at length gained possession +of the great convent of St. Engracia, and thus established themselves +within the town itself: their general then sent to Palafox this brief +summons: "Headquarters, Santa Engracia--Capitulation"; but he received +for answer: "Headquarters, Zaragossa--War to the knife." The battle was +maintained literally from street to street, from house to house, and +from chamber to chamber. Men and women fought side by side, amidst +flames and carnage; until Lefebre received the news of Baylen, and +having wasted two months in his enterprise, abandoned it abruptly, lest +he should find himself insulated amidst the general retreat of the +French armies. Such was the first of the two famous sieges of Zaragossa. + +The English government meanwhile had begun their preparations for +interfering effectually in the affairs of the Peninsula. They had +despatched one body of troops to the support of Castaños in Andalusia; +but these did not reach the south of Spain until their assistance was +rendered unnecessary by the surrender of Dupont at Baylen. A more +considerable force, amounting to 10,000, sailed early in June, from +Cork, for Coruña, under the command of the Honourable Sir Arthur +Wellesley. This armament, originally designed to co-operate with another +from India in a great attack on Mexico, had its destination altered the +moment the Spanish Insurrection was announced. Sir Arthur, being +permitted to land at what point of the Peninsula he should judge most +advantageous for the general cause, was soon satisfied that Portugal +ought to be the first scene of his operations, and accordingly lost no +time in opening a communication with the patriots, who had taken +possession of Oporto. Here the troops which had been designed to aid +Castaños joined him. Thus strengthened, and well informed of the state +of the French armies in Spain, Sir Arthur resolved to effect a landing +and attack Junot while circumstances seemed to indicate no chance of his +being reinforced by Bessieres. + +It is, perhaps, an evil unavoidable in the institutions of an old and +settled government, that men rarely, very rarely, unless they possess +the advantages of illustrious birth and connection, can hope to be +placed in situations of the highest importance until they have passed +the prime vigour of their days. Sir Arthur Wellesley, fortunately for +England and for Europe, commenced life under circumstances eminently +favourable for the early development and recognition of his great +talents. To his brother, the Marquis Wellesley's rank as +Governor-General of India, he owed the opportunity of conducting our +armies in the East at a time of life when, if of inferior birth, he +could hardly have commanded a battalion; and the magnificent campaign of +Assaye so established his reputation, that shortly after his return to +Europe he was entrusted without hesitation with the armament assembled +at Cork. + +It was on the 8th of August, 1808--a day ever memorable in the history +of Britain--that Sir Arthur Wellesley effected his debarkation in the +bay of Mondego. He immediately commenced his march towards Lisbon, and +on the 17th came up with the enemy under General Laborde, strongly +posted on an eminence near Roriça. The French contested their ground +gallantly, but were driven from it at the point of the bayonet, and +compelled to retreat. The British General, having hardly any cavalry, +was unable to pursue them so closely as he otherwise would have done: +and Laborde succeeded in joining his shattered division to the rest of +the French forces in Portugal. Junot (recently created Duke of Abrantes) +now took the command in person; and finding himself at the head of full +24,000 troops, while the English army were greatly inferior in numbers, +and miserably supplied with cavalry and artillery, he did not hesitate +to assume the offensive. On the 21st of August he attacked Sir Arthur at +Vimiero. In the language of the English General's despatch, "a most +desperate contest ensued"; and the result was "a signal defeat," Junot, +having lost thirteen cannon and more than two thousand men, immediately +fell back upon Lisbon, where his position was protected by the strong +defile of the Torres Vedras. + +This retreat would not have been accomplished without much more +fighting, had Sir Arthur Wellesley been permitted to follow up his +victory, according to the dictates of his own understanding and the +enthusiastic wishes of his army. But just as the battle was about to +begin, Sir Harry Burrard, an old officer of superior rank, unfortunately +entitled to assume the chief command, arrived on the field. Finding that +Sir Arthur had made all his dispositions, General Burrard handsomely +declined interfering until the fortune of the day should be decided; but +he took the command as soon as the victory was won, and more cautiously +than wisely, prevented the army from instantly advancing, as Sir Arthur +Wellesley proposed, upon the coast road towards Mafra, and thus +endeavouring to intercept the retreat of Junot upon Lisbon. Sir Harry, +having made this unhappy use of his command, was, the very next day, +superseded in his turn by Sir Hew Dalrymple, the Governor of Gibraltar; +another veteran more disposed to imitate the prudence of Burrard than +the daring of Wellesley. + +Shortly after the third general had taken the command, Junot sent +Kellerman to demand a truce, and propose a convention for the evacuation +of Portugal by the troops under his orders. Dalrymple received Kellerman +with more eagerness of civility than became the chief of a victorious +army, and forthwith granted the desired armistice. Junot offered to +surrender his magazine, stores, and armed vessels, provided the British +would disembark his soldiers, with their arms, at any French port +between Rochefort and L'Orient, and permit them to take with them their +private property; and Dalrymple did not hesitate to agree to these +terms, although Sir John Moore arrived off the coast with a +reinforcement of 10,000 men during the progress of the negotiation. The +famous "_Convention of Cintra_" (most absurdly so named, as it was in +fact concluded thirty miles from Cintra) was signed accordingly on the +30th of August; and the French army wholly evacuated Portugal in the +manner provided for. The English people heard with indignation that the +spoilers of Portugal had been suffered to escape on such terms; and the +article concerning private property gave especial offence, as under that +cover the French removed with them a large share of the plunder which +they had amassed by merciless violence and rapacity during their +occupation of the Portuguese territories. A parliamentary investigation +was followed by a court-martial, which acquitted Dalrymple. In truth it +seems now to be admitted, by competent judges, that after Burrard had +interfered so as to prevent Wellesley from instantly following up the +success of Vimiero, and so enabled Junot to re-occupy Lisbon and secure +the pass of the Torres Vedras, it would have been imprudent to decline +the terms proffered by a repelled, but still powerful enemy--who, if +driven to extremities, could hardly fail to prolong the war, until +Napoleon should be able to send him additional forces from Spain. +Meanwhile Portugal was free from the presence of her enemies; England +had obtained a permanent footing within the Peninsula; what was of still +higher moment, the character of the British army was raised not only +abroad, but at home; and had the two insurgent nations availed +themselves, as they ought to have done, of the resources which their +great ally placed at their command, and conducted their own affairs with +unity and strength of purpose, the deliverance of the whole peninsula +might have been achieved years before that consummation actually took +place. + +The Portuguese, however, split into factions--under leaders whose +primary objects were selfish, who rivalled each other in their absurd +jealousy of England, afforded to her troops no such supplies and +facilities as they had the best title to demand and expect, and wasted +their time in petty political intrigues, instead of devoting every +energy to the organisation of an efficient army, and improving the +defences of their naturally strong frontier. The Spaniards conducted +themselves with even more signal imprudence. For months each provincial +junta seemed to prefer the continuance of its own authority to the +obvious necessity of merging all their powers in some central body, +capable of controlling and directing the whole force of the nation; and +after a supreme junta was at last established in Madrid, its orders were +continually disputed and disobeyed--so that in effect there was no +national government. Equally disgraceful jealousies among the generals +prevented the armies from being placed under one supreme chief, +responsible for the combination of all their movements. In place of this +it was with difficulty that the various independent generals could be +prevailed on even to meet at Madrid, and agree to the outline of a joint +campaign; and that outline seemed to have no recommendation except that +its gross military defects held out to each member of the Council the +prospect of being able to act without communication, for good or for +evil, with any of the others. The consequences of these shameful follies +were calamitous: and but for events which could not have been foreseen, +must have proved fatal: for the gigantic resources of the common enemy +were about to be set in motion by Napoleon himself; who, on hearing of +the reverses of Dupont, Lefebre, and Junot, perceived too clearly that +the affairs of the Peninsula demanded a keener eye and a firmer hand +than his brother's. + +[Footnote 59: Col. Napier, chap. i.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + Napoleon at Erfurt--At Paris--Arrives at Vittoria--Disposition of + the French and Spanish Armies--Successes of Soult--Passage of the + Somosierra--Surrender of Madrid--Sir John Moore's Campaign--his + Retreat--Battle of Coruña--Death of Moore--Napoleon leaves Spain. + + +Three Spanish armies, each unfortunately under an independent chief, +were at length in motion: their nominal strength was 130,000 men; in +reality they never exceeded 100,000. Had they been combined under an +able general, they might have assaulted the French army, now not +exceeding 60,000, with every likelihood of success; for the position +first taken up by King Joseph, after his retreat into the north, was +very defective; but the Spaniards chose their basis of operations so +absurdly, and were so dilatory afterwards, that Napoleon had time both +to rectify Joseph's blunders and to reinforce his legions effectually, +before they were able to achieve any considerable advantage. + +Blake, who commanded on the west, extended his line from Burgos to +Bilboa; Palafox, on the east, lay between Zaragossa and Sanguessa; +Castaños, general of the central army, had his headquarters at Soria. +The three armies thus lay in a long and feeble crescent, of which the +horns were pushed towards the French frontier; while the enemy, resting +on three strong fortresses, remained on the defensive until the Emperor +should pour new forces through the passes of the Pyrenees. It was +expected that the English army in Portugal would forthwith advance, and +put themselves in communication either with Blake or with Castaños; and +had this junction occurred soon after the battle of Virniero, the result +might have been decisive: but Wellesley was recalled to London to bear +witness on the trial of Dalrymple; and Sir John Moore, who then assumed +the command, received neither such supplies as were necessary for any +great movement, nor any clear and authentic intelligence from the +authorities of Madrid, nor finally any distinct orders from his own +government--until the favourable moment had gone by. In effect, +Napoleon's gigantic reinforcements had begun to show themselves within +the Spanish frontier, a week before the English general was in a +condition to commence his march. + +The Emperor, enraged at the first positive disgraces which had ever +befallen his arms, and foreseeing that unless the Spanish insurrection +were crushed ere the Patriots had time to form a regular government and +to organise their armies, the succours of England, and the growing +discontents of Germany, might invest the task with insurmountable +difficulties, determined to cross the Pyrenees in person, at the head of +a force capable of sweeping the whole Peninsula clear before him "at one +fell swoop." Hitherto no mention of the unfortunate occurrences in Spain +had been made in any public act of his government, or suffered to +transpire in any of the French journals. It was now necessary to break +this haughty silence. The Emperor announced accordingly 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: demanding two new +conscriptions, each of 80,000 men--which were of course granted without +hesitation. Recruiting his camps on the German side, and in Italy, with +these new levies, 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 which never failed to +swell the resolution and pride of his soldiery on the eve of some great +enterprise. "Comrades," said he, "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 +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 have you 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 labours. +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 troops on their way, Buonaparte himself +travelled rapidly to Erfurt, where he had invited the Emperor Alexander +to confer with him. It was most needful that before he went to Spain +himself, he should ascertain the safety of his empire on the other side; +and there was much in the state of Germany that might well give rise to +serious apprehensions. Austria was strengthening her military +establishment to a vast extent, and had, by a recent law, acquired the +means of drawing on her population unlimitedly, after the method of +Napoleon's own conscription code. She professed pacific intentions +towards France, and intimated that her preparations were designed for +the protection of her Turkish frontier; but the Emperor Francis +positively declined to acknowledge Joseph Buonaparte as King of Spain; +and this refusal was quite sufficient for Napoleon. In Prussia, +meantime, and indeed all over Germany, a spirit of deep and settled +enmity was manifesting itself in the shape of patriotic clubs (the chief +being called the _Tugend-bund_, or Alliance of Virtue), which included +the young and the daring of every class, and threatened, at no distant +period, to convulse the whole fabric of society with the one purpose of +clearing the national soil of its foreign oppressors. Napoleon affected +to deride, but secretly estimated at its true importance, the danger of +such associations, if permitted to take firm root among a people so +numerous, so enthusiastic, and so gallant. Lastly, there is every reason +to believe that, cordial as the Czar's friendship had seemed to be at +Tilsit, Buonaparte appreciated the unpopularity of his "continental +system" in Russia, and the power of the aristocracy there, far too +accurately, not to entertain some suspicion that Alexander himself might +be compelled to take the field against him, should England succeed in +persuading Austria and Germany to rise in arms during his own absence in +Spain. For these reasons he had requested the Czar's presence at Erfurt; +and this conference was apparently as satisfactory to either as that of +Tilsit had been. 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 of course in the negative. Buonaparte, however, had obtained his +object when he thus exhibited the Czar and himself as firmly allied. He +perceived clearly that Austria was determined on another campaign; gave +orders for concentrating and increasing his own armies, accordingly, +both in Germany and Italy; and--trusting to the decision and rapidity of +his own movements, and the comparative slowness of his ancient +enemy--dared to judge that he might still bring matters to an issue in +Spain, before his presence should be absolutely necessary beyond the +Rhine. + +On the 14th of October the conferences of Erfurt terminated; on the 24th +Napoleon was present at the opening of the Legislative Session in Paris; +two days after he left that capital, and reached Bayonne on the 3rd of +November, where he remained, directing the movements of the last columns +of his advancing army, until the morning of the 8th. He arrived at +Vittoria the same evening: the civil and military authorities met him at +the gates of the town, and would have conducted him to a house prepared +for his reception, but he leapt from his horse, entered the first inn +that 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, and whom +he ordered to take the command of Bessieres' corps, set off on the +instant, reached Briviesca, where its headquarters were, at daybreak on +the 9th, and within a few hours the whole machinery was once more in +motion. + +Napoleon had, early in October, signified to Joseph that the French +cause in Spain, would always be favoured by acting on the offensive, and +his disapproval of the extent to which the King had retreated had not +been heard in vain. General Blake's army had already been brought to +action, and defeated disastrously by Moncey, at Espinosa; from which +point Blake had most injudiciously retreated towards Reynosa, instead +of Burgos, where another army, meant to support his right, had assembled +under the orders of the Count de Belvedere. + +Soult now poured down his columns on the plains of Burgos. Belvedere was +defeated by him at Gomenal even more easily than Blake had been at +Espinosa. The latter, again defeated by the indefatigable Soult, at +Reynosa, was obliged to take refuge, with what hardly could be called +even the skeleton of an army, in the seaport of St. Ander. Thus the +whole of the Spanish left was dissipated; and the French right remained +at liberty to march onwards at their pleasure. + +Palafox meanwhile had effected at length a junction with Castaños; and +the combined Spanish armies of the centre and the east awaited the +French attack, on the 22nd of November, at Tudela. The disaster here was +still more complete. Castaños and Palafox separated in the moment of +overthrow; the former escaping to Calatayud with the wreck of his +troops, while the latter made his way once more to Zaragossa. + +Napoleon now saw the main way to Madrid open before him--except that +some forces were said to be posted at the strong defile of the +Somosierra, within ten miles of the capital; while Soult, continuing his +march by Carrion and Valladolid, could at once keep in check the +English, in case they were still so daring as to advance from Portugal, +and outflank the Somosierra, in case the mountains should be so defended +as to bar the Emperor's approach in that direction to Madrid. Palafox +was pursued, and soon shut up in Zaragossa by Lannes. That heroic city +on the east, the British army 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, from the +sea coast to the Tagus. + +Napoleon, with his guards and the first division, marched towards +Madrid. His vanguard reached the foot of the Somosierra chain on the +30th of November, and found that a corps of 12,000 men had been +assembled for the defence of the pass, under General St. Juan. No +stronger position could well be fancied than that of the Spaniards: the +defile was narrow, and excessively steep, and the road completely swept +by sixteen pieces of artillery. At daybreak, on the 1st of December, the +French began their attempt to turn the flanks of St. Juan: three +battalions scattered themselves over the opposite sides of the defile, +and a warm skirmishing fire had begun. At this moment Buonaparte came +up. He rode into the mouth of the pass, surveyed the scene for an +instant, perceived that his infantry were making no progress, and at +once conceived the daring idea of causing his Polish lancers to charge +right up the causeway in face of the battery. The smoke of the +skirmishers on the hill-sides mingled with the thick fogs and vapours of +the morning, and under this veil the brave Krazinski led his troopers +impetuously up the ascent. The Spanish infantry fired as they passed +them, threw down their arms, abandoned their entrenchments, and fled. +The Poles speared the gunners, and took possession of the cannon. The +Spaniards continued their flight in such disorder that they were at last +fain to quit the road to Madrid, and escape in the direction, some of +Segovia, others of Talaveyra. 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. + +During eight days the inhabitants had been preparing the means of +resistance. A local and military junta had been invested with authority +to conduct the defence. Six thousand regular troops were in the town, +and crowds of the citizens and of the peasantry of the adjoining country +were in arms along with them. The pavement had been taken up, the +streets barricadoed, the houses on the outskirts loopholed, and the +Retiro, a large but weak edifice, occupied by a strong garrison. +Terrible violence prevailed--many persons suspected of adhering to the +side of the French were assassinated; the bells of churches and convents +rung incessantly; ferocious bands paraded the streets day and night: and +at the moment when the enemy's cavalry appeared, the universal uproar +seemed to announce that he was about to find a new and a greater +Zaragossa in Madrid. + +The town was summoned at noon; and the officer employed would have been +massacred by the mob but for the interference of the Spanish regulars. +Napoleon waited until his infantry and artillery came up in the evening, +and then the place was invested on one side. "The night was clear and +bright" (says Napier); "the French camp was silent and watchful; but the +noise of tumult was heard from every quarter of the city, as if some +mighty beast was struggling and howling in the toils." At midnight the +city was again summoned; and the answer being still defiance, the +batteries began to open. In the course of the day the Retiro was +stormed, and the immense palace of the Dukes of Medina Celi, which +commands one side of the town, seized also. Terror now began to prevail +within; and shortly after the city was summoned, for the third time, Don +Thomas Morla, the governor, came out to demand a suspension of arms. +Napoleon received him with anger, and rebuked him for the violation of +the capitulation at Baylen. "Injustice and bad faith," said he, "always +recoil on those who are guilty of them." Many an honester Spaniard was +obliged to listen in silence to such words from the negotiator of +Fontainebleau and Bayonne. + +Morla was a coward, and there is no doubt a traitor also. On returning +to the town he urged the necessity of instantly capitulating; and most +of those in authority took a similar part, except Castellas, the +commander of the regular troops. The peasantry and citizens kept firing +on the French outposts during the night; but Castellas, perceiving that +the civil rulers were all against further resistance, withdrew his +troops and sixteen cannon in safety. At eight in the morning of the 4th, +Madrid surrendered. The Spaniards were disarmed, and the town filled +with the French army. Napoleon took up his residence at Chamartin, a +country house four miles off. In a few days tranquillity seemed +completely re-established. The French soldiery observed excellent +discipline: the shops were re-opened, and the theatres frequented as +usual. Such is in most cases the enthusiasm of a great city! + +Napoleon now exercised all the rights of a conqueror. He issued edicts +abolishing the Inquisition, all feudal rights, and all particular +jurisdictions; regulating the number of monks; increasing, at the +expense of the monastic establishments, the stipends of the parochial +clergy; and proclaiming a general amnesty, with only _ten_ exceptions. +He received a deputation of the chief inhabitants, who came to signify +their desire to see 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 that 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. + +This was a secondary matter: meantime the Emperor was making his +dispositions for the completion of his conquest. His plan was to invade +forthwith Andalusia, Valencia and Galicia, by his lieutenants, and to +march in person to Lisbon. Nor was this vast plan beyond his means; for +he had at that moment 255,000 men, 50,000 horses, and 100 pieces of +field artillery, actually ready for immediate service in Spain: while +80,000 men and 100 cannon, besides, were in reserve, all on the south +side of the Pyrenees. To oppose this gigantic force there were a few +poor defeated corps of Spaniards, widely separated from each other, and +flying already before mere detachments: Seville, whose local junta had +once more assumed the nominal sovereignty, and guarded in front by a +feeble corps in the Sierra Morena; Valencia, without a regular garrison; +Zaragossa, closely invested, and resisting once more with heroic +determination; and the British army under Sir John Moore. The moment +Napoleon was informed that Moore had advanced into Spain, he abandoned +every other consideration, and resolved in person to march and overwhelm +him. + +The English general had, as we have already seen, been prevented by +circumstances over which he could have no control, from commencing his +campaign so early as he desired, and as the situation of the Spanish +armies, whom he was meant to support, demanded. At length, however, he +put his troops, 20,000 in number, into motion, and advanced in the +direction of Salamanca; while a separate British corps of 13,000, under +Sir David Baird, recently landed at Coruña, had orders to march through +Galicia, and effect a junction with Moore either at Salamanca or +Valladolid. The object of the British was of course to support the +Spanish armies of Blake and Belvedere in their defence: but owing to the +delays and blundering intelligence already alluded to, these armies were +in a hopeless condition before Sir John Moore's march began. + +The news of the decisive defeat of Castaños, at Tudela, satisfied Moore +that the original purpose of his march was now out of the question; but, +having at length effected a junction with Baird, he felt extreme +unwillingness to retreat without attempting something. He continued to +receive from Madrid the most solemn assurances that the resistance of +the capital would be desperate: and, with more generosity than prudence, +resolved to attack Soult, then posted behind the Carrion. In doing so he +fancied it possible that he should defeat an important branch of the +enemy's force, intercept the communications of the Emperor's left flank, +give Romana time to re-organise an army in Galicia, create a formidable +diversion in favour of the south of Spain, if not of Madrid--and, at +worst, secure for himself a safe retreat upon Coruña; from which port +his troops might be sent round without difficulty to Seville, to take +part in the defence of that part of the Peninsula which was yet unbroken +and the seat of the actual government. + +But Buonaparte, hearing on the 20th of December of the advance of Moore, +instantly put himself at the head of 50,000 men, and marched with +incredible rapidity, with the view of intercepting his communications +with Portugal, and in short hemming him 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 maintained their character for bravery, rallying with zeal +whenever the French threatened their rear, but displayed a lamentable +want of discipline in all other part of their conduct. The weather was +tempestuous; the roads miserable; the commissariat utterly defective; +and the very notion of retreat broke the high spirits of the soldiery. +They ill-treated the inhabitants, drank whatever strong liquors they +could obtain, 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 charge. Soult hung close on their rear until +they reached Coruña; and Moore perceived that it would be impossible to +embark without either a convention or a battle. He chose the braver +alternative. The French were repelled gallantly; and the British were +permitted to embark without further molestation. In the moment of +victory (January 16, 1809) Sir John Moore fell, mortally wounded by a +cannon-shot: his men buried him in his cloak; and the French, in +testimony of their admiration of his gallantry, erected a monument over +his remains. + +Napoleon came up with the troops in pursuit of Moore at Benevente, on +the 29th of December, and enjoyed for a moment the spectacle of an +English army in full retreat. He saw that Moore was no longer worthy of +his own attention, and entrusted the consummation of his ruin to Soult. + +It excited universal surprise that the Emperor did not immediately +return from Benevente to Madrid, to complete and consolidate his Spanish +conquest. He, however, proceeded, not towards Madrid, but Paris; and +this with his utmost speed,--riding on post-horses, on one occasion, not +less than seventy-five English miles in five hours and a half. The cause +of this sudden change of purpose, and extraordinary haste, was a +sufficient one; and it ere long transpired. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + Austria declares War--Napoleon heads his army in Germany--Battles + of Landshut and Eckmuhl--Ratisbonne taken--Napoleon in + Vienna--Hostilities in Italy, Hungary, Poland, the North of + Germany, and the Tyrol--Battle of Raab--Battle of Wagram--Armistice + with Austria.... Progress of the War in the Peninsula, Battle of + Talaveyra--Battle of Ocaña--English Expedition to Walcheren.... + Seizure of Rome and arrest of the Pope.... Treaty of Schoenbrunn. + + +Napoleon had foreseen that Austria, hardly dissembling her aversion to +the "continental system," and openly refusing to acknowledge Joseph as +King of Spain, would avail herself of the insurrection of that country, +necessarily followed by the march of a great French army across the +Pyrenees, as affording a favourable opportunity for once more taking +arms, in the hope of recovering what she had lost in the campaign of +Austerlitz. His minister, Talleyrand, had, during his absence, made +every effort to conciliate the Emperor Francis; but the warlike +preparations throughout the Austrian dominions proceeded with increasing +vigour--and Napoleon received such intelligence ere he witnessed the +retreat of Moore, that he immediately countermanded the march of such of +his troops as had not yet reached the Pyrenees,--wrote (from Valladolid) +to the princes of the Rhenish league, ordering them to hold their +contingents in readiness--and travelled to Paris with extraordinary +haste. He reached his capital on the 22nd of January; renewed the +negotiations with Vienna; and, in the meantime, recruited and +concentrated his armies on the German side--thus adjourning, and as it +turned out for ever, the completion of the Spanish conquest. + +On the 6th of April, Austria declared war; and on the 9th, the Archduke +Charles, Generalissimo of armies which are said to have been recruited, +at this period, to the amount of nearly 500,000 men, crossed the Inn at +the head of six corps, each consisting of 30,000; while the Archduke +John marched with two other divisions towards Italy, by the way of +Carinthia; and the Archduke Ferdinand assumed the command of a ninth +corps in Galicia, to make head against Russia, in case that power should +be forced or tempted by Napoleon to take part in the struggle. Napoleon, +having so great an army in Spain, could not hope to oppose numbers such +as these to the Austrians; but he trusted to the rapid combinations +which had so often enabled him to baffle the same enemy; and the instant +he ascertained that Bavaria was invaded by the Archduke Charles, he +proceeded, without guards, without equipage, accompanied solely by the +faithful Josephine, to Frankfort, and thence to Strasbourg. He assumed +the command on the 13th, 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, if the Austrians +had seized the opportunity, the consequences might have been fatal. On +the 17th of April, he 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 Lewis, who commanded +two Austrian divisions in advance, was thus hemmed in unexpectedly by +three armies, moving at once from three different points; defeated and +driven back, at Abensberg, on the 20th; and utterly routed, at Landshut, +on the 21st. Here the Archduke lost 9000 men, thirty guns, and all his +stores. + +Next day Buonaparte executed a variety of movements, considered as among +the most admirable displays 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. That prince was strongly posted at +Eckmuhl, with full 100,000 men. Napoleon charged him at two in the +afternoon; the battle was stern and lasted till nightfall, but it ended +in a complete overthrow. The Austrians, besides their loss in the field, +left in Napoleon's hands 20,000 prisoners, fifteen colours, and the +greater part of their artillery; and retreated in utter disorder upon +Ratisbonne. The Archduke made an attempt to rally his troops and defend +that city, on the 23rd; but the French stormed the walls and drove the +Austrians through the streets: and their general immediately retreated +into Bohemia: thus; in effect, abandoning Vienna to the mercy of his +conqueror. + +Napoleon was wounded in the foot during the storming of Ratisbonne, and +for a moment the troops crowded round him in great alarm; but he +scarcely waited to have his wound dressed, threw himself again on +horseback, and restored confidence by riding along the lines. + +Thus, in five days, in spite of inferiority of numbers, and of the +unfavourable manner in which his lieutenants had distributed an inferior +force, by the sole energy of his genius did the Emperor triumph over the +main force of his opponent. + +He reviewed his army on the 24th, distributing rewards of all sorts with +a lavish hand, and, among others, bestowing the title of Duke of Eckmuhl +on Davoust; and forthwith commenced his march upon Vienna. The corps +defeated at Landshut had retreated in that direction, and being +considerably recruited, made some show of obstructing his progress; but +they were defeated again and totally broken at Ehrensberg, on the 3rd of +May, by Massena, and on the 9th Napoleon appeared before the walls of +the capital. The Emperor had already quitted it, with all his family, +except his daughter, the Archduchess Maria Louisa, who was confined to +her chamber by illness. The Archduke Maximilian, with the regular +garrison of 10,000 men, evacuated it on Napoleon's approach; and though +the inhabitants had prepared for a vigorous resistance, the bombardment +soon convinced them that it was hopeless. It perhaps deserves to be +mentioned, that on learning the situation of the sick princess, +Buonaparte instantly commanded that no fire should be directed towards +that part of the town. On the 10th a capitulation was signed, the French +troops took possession of the city, and Napoleon once more established +his headquarters in the imperial palace of Schoenbrunn. + +In the meantime, the Archduke Ferdinand had commenced the war in Poland, +and obtaining the advantage in several affairs, taken possession of +Warsaw; but the news of Eckmuhl recalled this division to the support of +the main army, under the Archduke Charles; and the Russian troops not +only retook Warsaw, but occupied the whole of the Austro-Polish +provinces. Alexander, however, showed no disposition to push the war +with vigour, or to advance into Germany for the support of Napoleon. In +Italy, in like manner, the Archduke John had at first been successful. +But after defeating Eugene Beauharnois, Napoleon's viceroy, and taking +possession of Padua and Vicenza, this prince also was summoned to +retrace his steps, in consequence of the catastrophe at Eckmuhl. Eugene +pursued him into Hungary, and defeated him in a great battle at Raab. +Colonel Schill, the Prussian partisan already mentioned, had availed +himself of the concentration of Napoleon's troops for the Austrian +campaign, to take up arms, though without any authority from his +sovereign, in the hope that the national resentment would burst out in +an universal insurrection; and the Duke of Brunswick, son to him who was +mortally wounded at Jena, had also appeared in Lusatia, and invited all +true Germans to imitate the heroic conduct of the Spaniards. These +occurrences threatened a general burst of war wherever the _Tugend-bund_ +and other patriotic associations had for some time been strongly +influencing the popular mind. The battle of Eckmuhl, however, diffused +new awe all over the north of Germany. The troops of Saxony checked the +Duke of Brunswick's progress, and Schill's heroic band were at last shut +up in Stralsund, where their leader perished in a sortie; thus, and only +thus, escaping the vengeance of Napoleon. + +Among the mountains of the Tyrol, the native zeal of a few hardy +peasants achieved more than all the mighty population of Germany. This +ancient province of the house of Austria had been, in sinful violation +of all the rights of mankind, transferred to the hated yoke of Bavaria, +by the treaty of Presburg. The mountaineers no sooner heard that their +rightful sovereign was once more in arms against Napoleon, than they +rose (early in April), under the guidance of Hofer, a gallant peasant, +seized the strong passes of their country, and, in the course of four +days, made every French and Bavarian soldier quartered among them a +prisoner,--with the exception of the garrison of the fortress of +Kufstein. Napoleon caused Lefebre to march into the country with his +division; but Hofer posted his followers on the edge of precipices, from +which they fired on the French columns with the skill of practised +marksmen, and rolled down torrents of stones with such effect, that +Lefebre was compelled to retreat. Austria, however, having enough of +work at home, could not afford to sustain the efforts of these heroic +peasants by any detachment of regular troops. On the retirement of +Lefebre, they issued from their hills and wasted the neighbouring +territory of Bavaria; but the general issue of the campaign left them at +the mercy of Napoleon, who suppressed the insurrection, finally, by +overwhelming numbers, and avenged it by massacring Hofer and all who had +taken a prominent part in the cause of freedom. + +These popular movements, however, could not be regarded with +indifference by him who had witnessed and appreciated the character of +the Spanish insurrection. Napoleon well knew, that unless he concluded +the main contest soon, the spirit of Schill and Hofer would kindle a +general flame from the Rhine to the Elbe; and he therefore desired +fervently that the Austrian generalissimo might be tempted to quit the +fastnesses of Bohemia, and try once more the fortune of a battle. + +The Archduke, having re-established the order and recruited the numbers +of his army, had anticipated these wishes of his enemy, and was already +posted on the opposite bank of the Danube, which river, being greatly +swollen, and all the bridges destroyed, seemed to divide the two camps, +as 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. On these islands Napoleon established +the greater part of his army, on the 19th of May, 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 +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 divided into five heavy columns, and protected by not less than +200 pieces of artillery. The battle began at four p.m., 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. Night interrupted the +action; the Austrians exulting in their partial success; 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. + +Next morning the battle recommenced with equal fury; the French +recovered the church of Asperne; but the Austrian right wing renewed +their assaults on that point with more and more vigour, and in such +numbers, that Napoleon guessed the centre and left had been weakened for +the purpose of strengthening the right. Upon this he instantly moved +such masses, _en échelon_, on the Austrian centre, that the Archduke's +line was shaken; and for a moment it seemed as if victory was secure. + +At this critical moment, by means of Austrian fireships suddenly sent +down the swollen and rapid river, the bridge connecting the island of +Lobau with the right bank was wholly swept away. Buonaparte perceived +that if he wished to preserve his communications with the right of the +Danube, where his reserve still lay, he must instantly fall back on +Lobau; and no sooner did his 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. On the morning of the 23rd the French +were cooped up in Lobau and the adjacant islands--Asperne, Essling, the +whole left bank of the river, remaining in the possession of the +Austrians. On either side a great victory was claimed; and with equal +injustice. But the situation of the French Emperor was imminently +hazardous: he was separated from Davoust and his reserve; 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 great; +and, in place of risking any 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 re-occupation of these hardly +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 +through Germany he well knew. It was necessary to revive the tarnished +magic of his name by another decisive battle: and he made every exertion +to prepare for it. Some weeks, however, elapsed ere he ventured to +resume the offensive. On the 4th of July he had at last re-established +thoroughly 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. The Austrians, having rashly calculated +that Asperne and Essling must needs be the objects of the next contest +as of the preceding, were taken almost unawares by his 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 fought. The +Archduke had extended his line over too wide a space; and this old error +enabled Napoleon to ruin him by his old device of pouring the full shock +of his strength on the centre. The action was long and bloody: at its +close there remained 20,000 prisoners, besides all the artillery and +baggage, in the hands of Napoleon. The Archduke fled in great confusion +as far as Znaim, in Moravia. The Imperial Council perceived that further +resistance was vain: an armistice was agreed to at Znaim; and Napoleon, +returning to Schoenbrunn, continued occupied with the negotiation until +October. + +In this fierce campaign none more distinguished himself than Lannes, +Duke of Montebello. At Ratisbonne he headed in person the storming +party, exclaiming, "Soldiers, your general has not forgotten that he was +once a grenadier." At the battle of Asperne his exertions were +extraordinary. He was struck, towards the close of the day, by a +cannon-shot, which carried off both his legs. The surgeons, on examining +the wound, declared it mortal. He answered them with angry imprecations, +and called with frantic vehemence for the Emperor. Napoleon came up, and +witnessed the agonies of the dying marshal, who blasphemed heaven and +earth that he should be denied to see the end of the campaign. Thus +fell Lannes, whom, for his romantic valour, the French soldiery +delighted to call the Roland of the camp. + +The war, meanwhile, had been pursued with mixed fortune in the +Peninsula. Zaragossa, after sustaining another siege with fortitude not +unworthy of the first, was at length compelled to surrender in the month +of February. Sir Arthur Wellesley, being restored to the command of the +British army in Portugal, landed at Lisbon on the 22nd of April, and +immediately marched upon Oporto, which Soult had occupied early in the +year. Soult was defeated under the walls of the town, and forthwith +began his retreat towards Galicia, which he effected under circumstances +as miserable as had attended Sir John Moore's march on Coruña in the +preceding campaign. Sir Arthur was prevented from urging the pursuit of +Soult by the intelligence that Marshal Victor was laying Andalusia +waste, being opposed only by Cuesta, a bigoted old general, and an army +which had lost heart by repeated disasters. The English leader perceived +that if he marched into Galicia, Victor must possess the means of +instantly re-occupying Portugal; and resolved, in place of following +Soult, to advance towards this more formidable enemy. He effected a +junction with Cuesta at Oropesa, on the 20th of July, and marched along +the Tagus towards the position of Victor. He, however, having a force at +least double that of Wellesley, assumed the offensive, and attacked the +allies, on the 28th, at Talaveyra de la Reyna. The battle ended in the +total defeat and repulsion of Victor; but Wellesley found it impossible +to advance further into Spain, because Ney, Soult and Mortier were +assembling their divisions, with the view of coming between him and +Portugal. The English retired, therefore, to Badajos, and thence to the +Portuguese frontier. + +On the eastern side of the Peninsula, Blake, advancing with the view of +recovering Zaragossa, was met on the 19th of June by Marshal Suchet, +Duke of Albufera, and totally routed. The central Spanish army, under +Ariezaga, attempted, with equal ill-fortune, to relieve Madrid. King +Joseph, accompanied by Soult, Victor, and Mortier, met them at Ocaña on +the 19th November, and broke them utterly. In December Girona +surrendered to Augereau; and the intrusive King appeared to be in +possession of far the greater part of Spain. But his command extended +no further than the actual presence of his brother's legions. Wherever +they were posted, all was submission; beyond their lines the country +remained as hostile as ever. The soldiery of the defeated armies +dispersed themselves in small bands, watching every opportunity to +surprise detachments and cut off supplies; and, in spite of all their +victories, the situation of the invaders became every hour more +embarrassing. In Portugal, meanwhile, the English general (created Lord +Wellington after the battle of Talaveyra) was gradually organising a +native force not unworthy of acting under his banners; and on that side +it was obvious that, unless Napoleon made some extraordinary exertions, +the French cause was wholly undone. + +Portugal was safe; and the character of the British army had been raised +by another splendid victory in Spain; but these were trivial advantages +compared with what Lord Wellington might have achieved, had his +government placed him, as they could easily have done, at the head of an +army of 80,000 or 100,000 men, while Napoleon was occupied with the +campaign of Essling and Wagram. Instead of strengthening Wellington's +hands in an efficient manner, the English cabinet sent 40,000 troops, +under the command of the Earl of Chatham, an indolent or incompetent +general, to seize the isle of Walcheren, and destroy the shipping and +works at the mouth of the Scheld; nor was this ill-judged expedition +despatched from Britain until the first of August, three weeks after the +decisive battle of Wagram had been fought and won. Lord Chatham took +Flushing, and fixed his headquarters at Middleburg; but Bernadotte +(Prince of Ponte Corvo) put Antwerp into such a state of defence that +the plan of besieging that city was, ere long, abandoned. A pestilence, +meantime, raged among the marches of Walcheren; the English soldiers +were dying by thousands. The news of the armistice of Znaim arrived; and +Lord Chatham abandoned his conquests. A mere skeleton of his army +returned to their own country, from the most disastrous expedition which +England had undertaken since that of Carthagena, seventy years before. + +The announcement of the armistice with Austria put an end, in effect, to +all hostile demonstrations on the continent, the Peninsula alone +excepted. The brave Schill (as has already been said) was happy enough +to fall in the field: his followers, being at last compelled to +surrender at Stralsund, were treated as rebels, and died with the +constancy of patriots. The Duke of Brunswick, who had by this time +obtained considerable successes in Franconia, found himself abandoned, +in like manner, to the undivided strength of Napoleon. At the head of a +few regiments, whose black uniform announced their devotion to the one +purpose of avenging their former sovereign, the Duke succeeded in +cutting his way to the Baltic, where some English vessels received him. +Germany, in apparent tranquillity, awaited the result of the +negotiations of Vienna. + +Napoleon, a few days after he returned from Moravia to Schoenbrunn, +escaped narrowly the dagger of a young man, who rushed upon him in the +midst of all his staff, at a grand review of the Imperial Guard. +Berthier and Rapp threw themselves upon him, and disarmed him at the +moment when his knife was about to enter the Emperor's body. Napoleon +demanded 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 +honour." This enthusiastic youth, by name Stabbs, son of a clergyman of +Erfurt, was, justly--no doubt--condemned to death, and he suffered with +the calmness of a martyr. + +Buonaparte led at Schoenbrunn nearly the same course of life to which he +was accustomed at the Tuileries; seldom appearing in public; occupied +incessantly with his ministers and generals. The length to which the +negotiations with Austria were protracted excited much wonder; but he +had other business on hand besides his treaty with the Emperor Francis, +and that treaty had taken a very unexpected shape. + +It was during his residence at Schoenbrunn that a quarrel, of no short +standing, with the Pope reached its crisis. The very language of the +Consular Concordat sufficiently indicated the reluctance and pain with +which the head of the Romish church acquiesced in the arrangements +devised by Buonaparte, for the ecclesiastical settlement of France; and +the subsequent course of events, but especially in Italy and in Spain, +could hardly fail to aggravate those unpleasant feelings. In Spain and +in Portugal, the resistance to French treachery and violence was mainly +conducted by the priesthood; and the Pope could not contemplate their +exertions without sympathy and favour. In Italy, meantime, the French +Emperor had made himself master of Naples, and of all the territories +lying to the north of the papal states; in a word, the whole of the +peninsula was his, excepting only that, narrow central stripe which +still acknowledged the temporal sovereignty of the Roman Pontiff. This +state of things was necessarily followed by incessant efforts on the +part of Napoleon to procure from the Pope a hearty acquiescence in the +system of the Berlin and Milan decrees; and thus far he at length +prevailed. But when he went on to demand that his holiness should take +an active part in the war against England, he was met by a steady +refusal. Irritated by this opposition, and, perhaps, still more by his +suspicion that the patriots of the Spanish Peninsula received secret +support from the Vatican, Buonaparte did not hesitate to issue a decree +in the following words: "Whereas the temporal sovereign of Rome has +refused to make war against England, and the interests of the two +kingdoms of Italy and Naples ought not to be intercepted by a hostile +power; and whereas the donation of Charlemagne, _our illustrious +predecessor_, of the countries which form the Holy See, was for the good +of _Christianity_, and not for that of the _enemies of our holy +religion_, we, therefore, decree that the duchies of Urbino, Ancona, +Macerata, and Camarino, be for ever united to the kingdom of Italy." + +The seaports of the papal territory were forthwith occupied by French +troops, but Pius remained for some time in undisturbed possession of +Rome itself. On his return from Spain, however, Napoleon determined to +complete his work in Italy, ere he should begin the inevitable campaign +with Austria. General Miollis, therefore, took military possession of +Rome in February, 1809; the Pope, however, still remaining in the +Vatican, and attended there as usual by his own guards. + +On the 17th of May, Napoleon 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 pension on the holy father in his spiritual +capacity--and appointing a committee of administration for the civil +government of Rome. The Pope, on receiving the Parisian +senatus-consultum, ratifying this imperial rescript, instantly +fulminated a bull of excommunication against Napoleon. Shortly after +some unauthentic news from Germany inspired new hopes into the adherents +of the Pontiff; and, disturbances breaking out, Miollis, on pretence +that a life sacred in the eyes of all Christians might be endangered, +arrested Pius in his palace at midnight, and forthwith despatched him +under a strong escort to Savona. + +The intelligence of this decisive step reached Napoleon soon after the +battle of Wagram, and he was inclined to disapprove of the conduct of +Miollis as too precipitate. It was now, however, impossible to recede; +the Pope was ordered to be conveyed across the Alps to Grenoble. But his +reception there was more reverential than Napoleon had anticipated, and +he was soon reconducted to Savona. + +This business would, in any other period, have been sufficient to set +all Catholic Europe in a flame; and even now Buonaparte well knew that +his conduct could not fail to nourish and support the feelings arrayed +against him openly in Spain and in Southern Germany, and suppressed, not +extinguished, in the breasts of a great party of the French clergy at +home. He made, therefore, many efforts to procure from the Pope some +formal relinquishment of his temporal claims--but Pius VII. remained +unshaken; and the negotiation at length terminated in the removal of His +Holiness to Fontainebleau, where he continued a prisoner, though treated +personally with respect, and even magnificence, during more than three +years:--until, in the general darkening of his own fortunes, the +imperial jailer was compelled to adopt another line of conduct. + +The treaty with Austria was at last signed at Schoenbrunn on the 14th of +October. The Emperor Francis purchased peace by the cession of Salzburg, +and a part of Upper Austria, to the Confederation of the Rhine; of part +of Bohemia to the King of Saxony, and of Cracow and western Galicia to +the same Prince, as Grand Duke of Warsaw; of part of eastern Galicia to +the Czar; and to France herself, of Trieste, Carniola, Fruili, Villach, +and some part of Croatia and Dalmatia. By this act, Austria gave up in +all territory to the amount of 45,000 square miles, with a population of +nearly four millions; and Napoleon, besides gratifying his vassals and +allies, had completed the connection of the kingdom of Italy with his +Illyrian possessions, obtained the whole coasts of the Adriatic, and +deprived Austria of her last seaport. Yet, when compared with the signal +triumphs of the campaign of Wagram, the terms on which the conqueror +signed the peace were universally looked upon as remarkable for +moderation; and he claimed merit with the Emperor of Russia on the score +of having spared Austria in deference to his personal intercession. + +Buonaparte quitted Vienna on the 16th of October; was congratulated by +the public bodies of Paris, on the 14th of November, as "the greatest of +heroes, who never achieved victories but for the happiness of the +world"; and soon after, by one of the most extraordinary steps of his +personal history, furnished abundant explanation of the motives which +had guided his diplomacy at Schoenbrunn. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + Napoleon divorces Josephine--Marries the Archduchess Maria + Louisa--Deposes Louis Buonaparte--Annexes Holland and the whole + Coast of Germany to France--Revolution in Sweden--Bernadotte + elected Crown Prince of Sweden--Progress of the War in the + Peninsula--Battle of Busaco--Lord Wellington retreats to the Lines + of Torres Vedras. + + +The treacherous invasion of Spain, and the imprisonment of the Pope, +were but the first of a series of grand political errors, destined to +sap the foundations of this apparently irresistible power. On his return +to Paris, Napoleon proudly proclaimed to his senate, that no enemy +opposed him throughout the continent of Europe--except only a few +fugitive-bands of Spanish rebels, and "the English leopard"[60] in +Portugal, whom ere long he would cause to be chased into the sea. In the +meantime, the Pensinula was too insignificant an object to demand either +his own presence, or much of their concern: the general welfare of the +empire called on them to fix their attention on a subject of a very +different nature; namely, the situation of the imperial family. "I and +my house," said Napoleon, "will ever be found ready to sacrifice +everything, even our own dearest ties and feeling, to the welfare of the +French people." + +This was the first public intimation of a measure which had for a +considerable period occupied much of Napoleon's thoughts, and which, +regarded at the time (almost universally) as the very master-stroke of +his policy, proved in the issue no mean element of his ruin. + +Josephine had loved Napoleon, and been beloved passionately by him in +his youth. She had shared his humbler fortune; by her connections in +Paris, and especially by her skilful conduct during his Egyptian +expedition, and immediately afterwards, she had most materially assisted +him in the attainment of the sovereign dignity: she had subsequently +adorned his court, and gratified his pride, by the elegance of her +manners, and won to herself the attachment of his people, by her sincere +good nature and active benevolence. Her power over him was known to be +great, and no one ever doubted but that it had uniformly been exerted on +the side of mercy. She was considered as the good angel who, more +frequently and effectually than any influence besides, interfered to +soothe the fierce passions and temper the violent acts of her lord. Her +devotion to him was perfect: she partook his labours as far as he would +permit her to do so, submitted to all his caprices, and, with a dark +presentiment that his ambition would one day cast her aside, continued +to centre the whole of her existence in the contemplation of his glory. + +Long before Napoleon assumed the imperial title, his hopes of offspring +from this union were at an end; and, at least from the hour in which his +authority was declared to be hereditary, Josephine must have begun to +suspect that, in his case also, the ties of domestic life might be +sacrificed to those views of political advantage, which had so often +dissolved the marriages of princes. For a moment she seems to have +flattered herself that Napoleon would be contented to adopt her son: and +Eugene, as we have seen, was indeed announced, at the period of his +alliance with the royal family of Bavaria, as the successor to the +throne of Italy, in case his father-in-law should leave no second son to +inherit it. Louis Buonaparte afterwards wedded Hortense de Beauharnois, +and an infant son, the only pledge of their ill-assorted union, became +so much the favourite of Napoleon, that Josephine, as well as others, +regarded this boy as the heir of France. But the child died early; and +the Emperor began to familiarise himself with the idea of dissolving his +own marriage. + +There is now no doubt that, as early as the conferences of Tilsit, the +scheme of such a connection with the imperial family of Russia was +broached; and as little that Alexander treated the proposal with +coldness, in consequence of the insuperable aversion with which the +empress-mother (a princess whose influence was always commanding) +persisted in regarding the character of Buonaparte. At Erfurt this +matter was once more touched upon; and a second rejection of his +personal alliance was probably the chief of not a few incidents at that +meeting, which satisfied Napoleon as to the uncertain condition of his +relations with the Russian court. Then, however, he had abundant reasons +for dissembling his displeasure: and the pretext of difficulties arising +from difference of religion was permitted to pass. + +Fouché was one of the first to penetrate the secret thoughts of +Buonaparte: and he, with audacity equal to his cunning, ventured to take +on himself the dangerous office of sounding the Empress as to this most +delicate of all subjects. One evening, before Napoleon left Paris on his +unhallowed expedition to Spain, the minister of police drew Josephine +aside into a corner of her saloon, and, after a preface of abundant +commonplaces, touching the necessities of the empire and the painful +position of the Emperor, asked her in plain terms whether she were not +capable of sacrificing all private feelings to these? Josephine heard +him with at least the appearance of utter surprise, ordered him to quit +her presence, and went immediately to demand of Napoleon whether the +minister had had any authority for this proceeding. The Emperor answered +in the negative, and with high demonstrations of displeasure: but when +Josephine went on to ask the dismissal of Fouché, as the only fit +punishment for so great an outrage, he refused to comply. He remained +steadfast, in spite of the urgencies and lamentations of an insulted +woman; and from that hour Josephine must have felt that her fate was +fixed. + +The apartments of Napoleon, and those of his wife, which were +immediately over them, at the Tuileries, had communication by means of a +private staircase; and it was the custom of the Emperor himself to +signify, by a tap on the door of Josephine's sitting-room, his desire to +converse with her in his cabinet below. In the days of their cordial +union the signal was often made, most commonly in the evening, and it +was not unusual for them to remain shut up together in conversation for +hours. Soon after his return from Schoenbrunn, the ladies in attendance +began to remark that the Emperor's knock was heard more frequently than +it had ever used to be, that their mistress seemed to listen for it at +certain hours with a new and painful anxiety, and that she did not obey +the signal with her accustomed alacrity. One evening Napoleon surprised +them by carrying Josephine into the midst of them, pale, apparently +lifeless. She was but awaking from a long swoon into which she had +fallen on hearing him at last pronounce the decree which terminated +their connection. + +This was on the 5th of December. On the 15th 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. Josephine then appeared +among them, and, not without tears, expressed her acquiescence in the +decree. The council, after haranguing the imperial spouses on the +nobleness of their mutual sacrifice, accepted and ratified the +dissolution of the marriage. The title of Empress was to continue with +Josephine for life, and a pension of two millions of francs (to which +Napoleon afterwards added a third million from his privy purse) was +allotted to her. She retired from the Tuileries, residing thenceforth +mostly at the villa of Malmaison; and in the course of a few weeks it +was signified that Napoleon had demanded the hand of the Archduchess +Maria Louisa, daughter to the Emperor Francis, the same youthful +princess who has been mentioned as remaining in Vienna, on account of +illness, during the second occupation of that capital. + +Having given her hand, at Vienna, to Berthier, who had the honour to +represent the person of his master, the young archduchess came into +France in March, 1810. On the 28th, as her carriage was proceeding +towards Soissons, Napoleon rode up to it, in a plain dress, altogether +unattended; and, at once breaking through all the etiquettes of such +occasions, introduced himself to his bride. She had never seen his +person till then, and it is said that her first exclamation was, "Your +majesty's pictures have not done you justice." Buonaparte was at this +time forty years of age; his countenance had acquired a certain fulness, +and that statue-like calmness of expression with which posterity will +always be familiar; but his figure betrayed as yet nothing more than a +tendency towards corpulence. He was considered as a handsomer man at +this period than he had been in her earlier days. They spent the evening +at the chateau of Compiegne, and were remarried, on the 2nd of April, at +Paris, amidst every circumstance of splendour. Among other imperial +gallantries, Napoleon had provided a set of apartments at the Tuileries +in which, down to the minutest article of furniture, Maria-Louisa found +a facsimile of those which she had been accustomed to occupy in her +father's palace of Schoenbrunn. For some time he seemed to devote +himself, like a mere lover, to the society of his new partner; and was +really, according to his own account at St. Helena, enchanted with the +contrast which her youthful simplicity of character and manners +presented to the finished and elaborate graces of Josephine. Of the +uniform attachment and affection of both his wives, he spoke afterwards +with equal praises. But he in vain endeavoured to prevail on +Maria-Louisa to make a personal acquaintance with her predecessor; and, +at length, found it necessary to give up his own visits to Malmaison, +which for a time were not unfrequent. + +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, though by no means equally. His alliance with the +haughtiest of the old sovereign houses gave deep offence indeed to that +great party in France, who, though willing to submit to a Dictator, +still loathed the name of hereditary monarchy. Nothing, perhaps, could +have shocked those men more grievously than to see the victorious heir +and representative of their revolution seeking to mix his blood with +that of its inveterate enemies, and making himself free, as it were, of +what they had been accustomed to call the old-established "corporation +of tyrants." Another, and, it is to be hoped, as large a class of his +subjects, were disgusted with his abandonment of the wife of his youth, +for the sake of gratifying his vanity and ambition. There were also, we +may easily believe, not a few royalists of the old school who had +hitherto acquiesced in his sway the more easily, because he seemed +destined to die childless, and in a contest for the throne of France, +they flattered themselves the legitimate heir of the monarchy might +outweigh any of his remoter kindred. And, lastly, it is not improvable +that some of Napoleon's marshals had accustomed themselves to dream of +events such as occurred on the death of Alexander the Great. But making +all allowance for these exceptions, it is hardly possible to doubt that +a vast proportion of the upper classes of society in France must have +been disposed to hail the Emperor's alliance with the house of Austria, +as a pledge of his desire to adopt, henceforth, a more moderate line of +policy as to his foreign relations; or that his throne must have been +strengthened in the eyes of the nation at large by the prospect--soon +realised--of a son of his own blood to fill it after him. Napoleon'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 realised, and Paris and St. Petersburg +become the only two capitals of Europe. + +The Emperor's new marriage was speedily followed by another event, which +showed how little the ordinary ties and feelings of domestic life now +weighed with him in the scale against ambition. His brother Louis, a +weak, but benevolent man, had in vain been cautioned by Napoleon, on his +promotion to the Dutch throne, that, in his administration of this +subaltern monarchy, "the first object of his care must ever be _the +Emperor_, the second _France_, and the third _Holland_." Louis, +surrounded by native ministers, men of great talents and experience, and +enlightened lovers of their country, had his sympathies ere long +enlisted on the side of those whom he might be pardoned for wishing to +consider as really his subjects. His queen, on the other hand, the +daughter of Josephine, and the favourite of Napoleon, made her court, as +far as she could, a French one, and was popularly regarded as heading +the party who looked in all things to the Tuileries. The meek-spirited +Louis, thwarted by this intriguing woman, and grossly insulted by his +brother, struggled for some time with the difficulties of his situation; +but his patience availed nothing: his supposed connivance at the +violations of the Berlin and Milan decrees, in the same proportion as it +tended to raise him more and more in the affections of the Dutch, fixed +and heightened the displeasure of Napoleon. He was at length summoned to +Paris, and without a moment's hesitation obeyed. On arriving there he +took up his residence in the house of his mother, and next morning found +himself a prisoner. Having abdicated his throne, Louis retired to Gratz, +in Styria, and to that private mode of life for which his character +fitted him: his name continues to be affectionately remembered in +Holland. His beautiful wife, despite the fall of her mother, chose to +fix her residence in Paris, where she once more shone the brightest +ornament of the court. On the 9th of July, 1810, the kingdom of Holland +was formally annexed to the French empire; Amsterdam taking rank among +the cities next after Rome. + +In pursuance of the same stern resolution to allow no consideration to +interfere with the complete and effectual establishment of the +"continental system," Buonaparte shortly afterwards annexed the Hanse +towns, Oldenburg, and the whole sea-coast of Germany, from the frontier +of Holland to that of Denmark, to the French empire. The King of Prussia +was as yet in no condition to remonstrate against this new act of +rapacity: opposition from any other German state was wholly out of the +question. + +In truth there had been, for several years, but one power in the North +of Europe at once decidedly adverse in spirit, and in any degree +independent; and now, to all appearance, this last exception also was +removed. Gustavus IV., King of Sweden, had persisted in his original +hatred of the French Revolution, and of Buonaparte, in opposition to a +powerful party in that country, who considered the conduct of their +sovereign, in standing out against so gigantic an enemy, as mere +obstinacy--in fact as insane. In consequence of his pertinacious refusal +to submit to the supreme will of Napoleon, the Pomeranian provinces and +Finland had been lost to the kingdom. The monarch's personal behaviour +unfortunately was so extravagant as to furnish some grounds for +suspecting him of mental aberration. He was arrested in his palace, and, +an act of abdication for himself and his children being extorted, +deposed: his uncle, the Duke of Sudermania, was called to the throne in +his room, as Charles XIII.; and, amicable relations being soon +established between the Courts of Stockholm and the Tuileries, Pomerania +was restored, and the English flag and commerce banished from the ports +of Sweden in December, 1809. + +In May, 1810, the Prince of Augustenburg, who had been recognised as +heir to Charles XIII., died suddenly: and the choice of a successor was, +according to the Constitution of Sweden, to depend on the vote of the +Diet, which assembled accordingly as Orebro, in the month of August +following. + +The royal house (except the immediate line of the deposed king) being +extinct, many candidates were proposed; and among others the King of +Denmark and Norway, upon whom, in true policy, the choice should have +fallen, as in that case a state capable of balancing the power of Russia +on the Baltic might have been consolidated. But the eyes of men were +turned almost exclusively at this time to Napoleon; and in the hope of +securing his friendship and protection, the succession was at last +proposed to Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, and +brother-in-law to Joseph Buonaparte, as married to that Mademoiselle +Clery, who in early days had received Napoleon's own addresses. The +Marshal had gained goodwill by his moderation and justice, when +entrusted with the government of Hanover and Swedish Pomerania, after +these countries fell into the hands of the French in consequence of the +campaign of 1806-7. His military reputation was high; there was no stain +on his private character: and there was one circumstance especially in +his favour, that he had been bred a Protestant, and might therefore be +expected to conform, without scruple, to the established church of +Sweden. But the chief recommendation was, without doubt, the belief of +the Swedish Diet that Bernadotte stood in the first rank of Napoleon's +favour. + +Napoleon, however, had never forgiven Bernadotte for his refusal to act +on his side on the 18th Brumaire. He thenceforth considered this great +soldier of the Republic as one who might serve the Emperor well, because +in doing so he served France, but who looked to himself with none of +those feelings of personal devotion which could alone entitle a subject +to his favour. Bernadotte had been distinguished in the army before +Napoleon himself appeared on the great theatre of events; he could never +be classed with those who had earned all their distinction and +pre-eminence under the banners of the Emperor; he had an existence +separate and his own; he had stood aloof at the great and decisive +crisis of Napoleon's fate; he might be entrusted and employed +afterwards--he could never be loved. The proposal of the Diet, +therefore, was the reverse of agreeable to him whose favour it was +expressly designed to conciliate. Bernadotte, however, was powerful in +the esteem of a great party in the French army, as well as among the old +republicans of the state: to have interfered against him would have been +to kindle high wrath and hatred among all those officers who belonged +to the ante-Buonapartean period; and, on the other hand, to oppose the +free-will of the Swedes would have appeared extraordinary conduct indeed +on the part of a sovereign who studiously represented himself as owing +everything to the free-will of the French. Sweden, finally, was still an +independent state; and the events of the Peninsula were likely to +impress the Emperor with a lively sense of the dangers of exciting a +spirit of national aversion at the other extremity of Europe. Napoleon +consented to the acceptance of the proffered dignity by Bernadotte. The +Marshal was called on to sign a declaration, before he left Paris, that +he would never bear arms against France. He rejected this condition as +incompatible with the connexion which Napoleon himself had just +sanctioned him in forming with another state, and said he was sure the +suggestion came not from the Emperor, who knew what were the duties of a +sovereign, but from some lawyer. Napoleon frowned darkly, and answered +with an air of embarrassment, "Go; our destinies are about to be +fulfilled." Bernadotte said he had not heard his words distinctly: +Napoleon repeated them; and they parted. Bernadotte was received with an +enthusiastic welcome in Stockholm; and, notwithstanding the unpleasant +circumstances under which Napoleon had dismissed him, the French +alliance continued to be maintained. The private history of the +transaction was not likely to be divulged at the time; and the natural +as well as universal notion was, that Sweden, governed in effect by +Marshal Bernadotte as crown prince, had become almost as mere a +dependence of France as Naples under King Joachim Murat, or Westphalia +under King Jerome Buonaparte. + +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 on his German +frontier. Although the new alliance had charms enough to detain him in +France, it by no means withdrew his attention from the state of that +fair kingdom which still mocked Joseph with the shadow of a crown. In +the open field, indeed, the French appeared everywhere triumphant, +except only where the British force from Portugal interfered, and in +almost every district of Spain the fortresses were in their hands; yet +the spirit of the people remained wholly unsubdued. The invaders could +not count an inch of soil their own beyond their outposts. Their troops +continued to be harassed and thinned by the indomitable _guerillas_ or +partisan companies; and, even in the immediate neighbourhood of their +strongest garrisons, the people assembled to vote for representatives in +the Cortes, which had at last been summoned to meet in Cadiz, there to +settle the national government, during the King's absence, on a regular +footing. + +The battle of Ocaña left the central part of Spain wholly undefended; +and Soult, Victor and Mortier, forcing the passes of the Sierra Morena, +made themselves masters, early in the year of Jaen, Cordova, Grenada, +Malaga, and Seville itself. Cadiz, to which the Central Junta had ere +this retired, was now garrisoned by a large Spanish force, including the +army of Estremadura, under the Duke D'Albuquerque, and a considerable +detachment of English troops from Gibraltar; and Soult sat down before +the place in form. Could he have taken Cadiz, no fortress of importance +would have remained with the patriots in the south of Spain: but the +strength of the situation and the ready access to the sea and Gibraltar, +rendered all his efforts vain. + +On the eastern side of Spain Suchet defeated the Spanish General +O'Donnell under the walls of Ostalric; and took afterwards that town, +Lerida, Mequineza, and Tortosa. But Valencia once more repelled the +invaders. After a bloody sally of the inhabitants Suchet withdrew from +before the walls. + +It was on the Portuguese side, however, that the events of most +importance occurred. It was there that the disgraces of Vimiero and +Talaveyra must be avenged; and there accordingly Napoleon had directed +his chief force to be set in motion. Massena (Prince of Essling), second +only to himself in reputation, took the command, early in the season, of +"the army of Portugal," at least 100,000 strong, and whose commission it +was to drive the English _leopards_, and the _Seapoy General_ (as, +ignorant of the future, Buonaparte at this time called Wellington) into +the sea. To this gigantic army that leader could oppose at most 20,000 +British troops; but 30,000 Portuguese had by this time been so well +trained by General Beresford, that they were held not unworthy of +fighting by the side of Englishmen. Still Lord Wellington's whole force +was barely half that of Massena: and his operations were necessarily +confined to the defensive. He had no means to prevent the French Marshal +from taking Oviedo and Ciudad Rodrigo--almost in his sight; but +commenced his retreat, and conducted it with a coolness and precision +which not a little disconcerted the pursuers. They at length ventured to +attack the English on their march. On the 27th September, 1810, they +charged in five columns, on the heights of Busaco, and were driven back +with such terrible carnage that no further assault was threatened. +Massena kept advancing, step by step, as Wellington withdrew, not +doubting that his enemy would embark as soon as he reached Lisbon, and +leave him in quiet possession of that capital and the rich country +around. His surprise was great when Lord Wellington at last halted on +the lines of the Torres Vedras, which had by this time been so +strengthened, that even in inferior hands they might have been +considered impregnable. + +This formidable position, extending about twelve leagues between the sea +and the Tagus, placed the port of Lisbon and the adjacent territory in +the secure possession of the English general. Massena might flatter his +master with the announcement that he was besieging Lisbon; but in +reality his own army very soon suffered all the inconveniences and +privations of a besieged garrison. The country around him had been laid +waste: every Portuguese peasant was a deadly enemy. To advance was +impossible, and there was infinite difficulty in keeping his +communications open behind. Thus, during many months, the two armies lay +face to face in inaction. + +[Footnote 60: The leopards had been changed into lions in the English +shield five hundred years before this! To such small matters could +Buonaparte's rancour stoop.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + Events of the year 1811--Birth of the King of Rome--Disgrace of + Fouché--Discontents in France--Relations with Russia--Licence + System--Napoleon prepares for War with Russia--The Campaign in the + Peninsula--Massena's Retreat--Battle of Fuentes d'Onor--Lord + Wellington blockades Ciudad Rodrigo--Retreats--Joseph wishes to + Abdicate. + + +On the 20th of April, 1811, Napoleon's wishes were crowned by the birth +of a son. The birth was a difficult one, and the nerves of the medical +attendant were shaken. "She is but a woman," said the Emperor, who was +present: "treat her as you would a _Bourgeoise_ of the _Rue St. Denis_." +The accoucheur at a subsequent moment withdrew Napoleon from the couch, +and demanded whether, in case one life must be sacrificed, he should +prefer the mother's or the child's. "The mother's," he answered; "it is +her right!" At length the child appeared, but without any sign of life. +After the lapse of some minutes a feeble cry was heard, and Napoleon +entering the ante-chamber in which the high functionaries of the state +were assembled, announced the event in these words: "It is a King of +Rome." + +The birth of the heir of Napoleon was received with as many +demonstrations of loyal enthusiasm as had ever attended that of a +Dauphin; yet, from what has been said as to the light in which various +parties of men in France from the beginning viewed the Austrian +alliance, it may be sufficiently inferred that the joy on this occasion +was far from universal. The royalists considered the event as fatal to +the last hopes of the Bourbons; the ambitious generals despaired of any +future dismemberment of the empire: the old republicans, who had endured +Buonaparte's despotic power as the progeny of the revolution, looked +forward with deep disgust to the rule of a dynasty proud of sharing the +blood of the haughtiest of all the royal houses of Europe, and +consequently more likely to make common cause with the little band of +hereditary sovereigns than with the people. Finally, the title, "King of +Rome," put an end to the fond hopes of the Italians, who had been taught +by Napoleon to expect that, after his death, their country should +possess a government separate from France; nor could the same title fail +to excite some bitter feelings in the Austrian court, whose +heir-apparent under the old empire had been styled commonly "The King of +the Romans." For the present, however, both at home and abroad, the +event was naturally looked on as adding much strength to the throne of +Napoleon. + +He, thus called on to review with new seriousness the whole condition +and prospects of his empire, appears to have felt very distinctly that +neither could be secure, unless an end were, by some means, put to the +war with England. However he might permit himself to sneer at his great +enemy in his public addresses from the throne, and in his bulletins, +Napoleon had too much strength of mind not to despise those who, in any +of their private communications, had the meanness to affect acquiescence +in such views. When Denon brought him, after the battle of Wagram, the +design of a medal representing an eagle strangling a leopard, Buonaparte +rebuked and dismissed the flatterer. "What," said he, "strangling the +leopard! There is not a spot of the sea on which the eagle dares show +himself. This is base adulation. It would have been nearer the truth to +represent the eagle as choked by the leopard." + +He sent a private messenger to London to ascertain from personal +communication with the Marquess Wellesley, then minister for foreign +affairs, on what terms the English government would consent to open a +formal negotiation; but this attempt was baffled by a singular +circumstance. Fouché, having derived new audacity from the results of +his extraordinary conversation with Josephine, on the subject of the +divorce, had ventured to send a dependent of his own to London, for the +purpose of sounding Lord Wellesley on the question of preliminaries; not +doubting that could he give distinct information on this head to his +master, without having in any degree compromised the imperial dignity, +the service would be considered as most valuable. But Lord Wellesley, +beset, at the same time, and on the same very delicate topic, by two +different persons, neither of whom produced any proper credentials, and +who denied all knowledge of each other, conceived, very naturally, that +they were mere adventurers if not spies, and at once broke off his +communications with both. Napoleon, on discovering this intrigue, +summoned Fouché to his presence. "So, sir," said he, "I find you make +peace and war without consulting me." He was dismissed from the ministry +of police, and sent into an honourable banishment, as Governor of Rome. +Fouché's presumption had been great: but long ere now Napoleon was +weary, not of him only, but of Talleyrand, and indeed of all those +ministers who, having reached eminent stations before he himself +acquired the supreme power, preserved, in their manner of transacting +business, and especially of offering advice, any traces of that period +in which Frenchmen flattered themselves they were free. The warnings +which he had received, when about to commence his atrocious proceedings +against Spain, were remembered with the higher resentment, as the course +of events in that country, month after month, and year after year, +confirmed the accuracy of the foresight which he had contemned. This +haughty spirit could not endure the presence of the man who could be +supposed to fancy that even on one point, he had the better of his +master. + +The disgrace of Fouché was certainly a very unpopular measure. The +immediate cause of it could not be divulged, and the minister was +considered as having fallen a sacrifice to the honesty of his +remonstrances on the Spanish invasion and the increased rigour of the +Emperor's domestic administration. It was about this time that, in +addition to the castle of Vincennes, nine new state-prisons were +established in France; and the number of persons confined in these +receptacles, on warrants signed by the Emperor and his slavish privy +council, far exceeded those condemned to similar usage in any recent +period of the Bourbon monarchy, under the _lettres de cachet_ of the +sovereign. These were proofs, not to be mistaken, of the growth of +political disaffection. In truth the "continental system," the terrible +waste of life occasioned by the late campaigns in Poland and Austria, +and the constant demands, both on the treasure and the blood of France, +rendered necessary by the apparently interminable war in the +Peninsula--these were evils which could not exist without alienating the +hearts of the people. The police filled the ears of the Emperor with +reports of men's private conversation. Citizens were daily removed from +their families, and buried in remote and inaccessible dungeons, for no +reason but that they had dared to speak what the immense majority of +their neighbours thought. His quarrels with Lucien, who had contracted a +marriage unsuitable, in the Emperor's opinion, to his rank, were so +indecently violent, that that ablest of his brothers at length sought a +refuge in England, where he remained during several years. The total +slavery of the press, its audacious lies, and more audacious silence, +insulted the common sense of all men. Disaffection was secretly, but +rapidly, eating into the heart of his power; and yet, as if blinded to +all consequences by some angry infliction of heaven, the irritable +ambition of Napoleon was already tempting another great foreign enemy +into the field. + +When the Emperor of Russia was informed of Buonaparte'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 of 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 +sovereign soon found himself compelled to relax the decrees drawn up at +Tilsit in the spirit of those of Berlin and Milan. Certain harbours 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 favourable opportunity of once +more appealing to arms. The Spanish insurrection, backed by the +victories of Lord Wellington, must have roused alike the hope and the +pride of a young and ambitious prince, placed at the head of so great a +nation; the inference naturally drawn from Napoleon's marriage into the +house of Austria was, that the whole power of that monarchy would, +henceforth, act in unison with his views--in other words, that were the +Peninsula once thoroughly subdued, the whole of Western Europe would be +at his command, for any service he might please to dictate. It would +have been astonishing if, under such circumstances, the ministers of +Alexander had not desired to bring their disputes with Paris to a close, +before Napoleon should have leisure to consummate the conquest of +Spain. + +During the summer of 1811, then, the relations of these two governments +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 the movements of her great enemy, perceived clearly that she +was about to have an ally. + +From the moment in which the Russian government began to reclaim +seriously against certain parts of his conduct, Buonaparte 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 some +similar movements on the other side; yet, during many months, the hope +of terminating the differences by negotiation was not abandoned. The +Russian complaints, at length, assumed a regular shape, and embraced +three distinct heads, viz.:-- + +First, the extension of the territories of the Duchy of Warsaw, under +the treaty of Schoenbrunn. This alarmed the court of St. Petersburg, by +reviving the notion of Polish independence, and Buonaparte was in vain +urged to give his public guarantee that no national government should be +re-established in the dismembered kingdom: + +Second, the annexation of the Duchy of Oldenburg to the French empire, +by that edict of Napoleon which proclaimed his seizure of the whole +sea-coast of Germany, between Holland and the Baltic. Oldenburg, the +hereditary territory of the Emperor Alexander's brother-in-law, had been +expressly guaranteed to that prince by the treaty of Tilsit. Napoleon +was asked to indemnify the ejected duke by the cession of Dantzick, or +some other territory in the neighbourhood of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; +but this he declined, though he professed his willingness to give some +compensation elsewhere: + +Thirdly, the Czar alleged, and most truly, that the state of his country +made it altogether necessary that the regulations of the "continental +system" should be dispensed with in his instance, and declared that he +could no longer submit to see the commerce of an independent empire +trammelled for the purpose of serving the policy of a foreign power. +Buonaparte 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. His meaning probably was, that, +if their other differences could be arranged, this part of the dispute +might be settled by admitting the Czar to adopt, to a certain extent, in +the north of Europe, a device which he himself had already had recourse +to on a large scale, for counteracting the baneful effects of his own +favourite system, in his own immediate territories. Napoleon had soon +discovered that, to exclude English goods and colonial produce entirely, +was actually impossible; and seeing that, either with or without his +assent, the decrees of Berlin and Milan would, in one way or other, +continue to be violated, it occurred to him that he might at least +engross the greater part of the profits of the forbidden traffic +himself. This he accomplished by the establishment of a system of +custom-house regulations, under which persons desirous to import English +produce into France might purchase the imperial licence for so doing. A +very considerable relaxation in the pernicious influence of the Berlin +code was the result of this device; and a proportional increase of the +Emperor's revenue attended it. In after-days, however, he always spoke +of this licence-system as one of the few great mistakes of his +administration. Some petty riots among the manufacturing population of +the county of Derby were magnified in his eyes into symptoms of an +approaching revolution in England; the consequence, as he flattered +himself, of the misery inflicted on his great enemy by the "continental +system"; and to the end he continued to think that, had he resisted the +temptation to enrich his own exchequer by the produce of licences, such +must have been the ultimate issue of his original scheme. It was, +however, by admitting Alexander to a share in the pecuniary advantages +of the licence-system, that he seems to have thought the commercial part +of his dispute with Russia might be accommodated. + +And, indeed, 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 that an accommodation might have been effected. The simple +truth was, that the Czar, from the hour of Maria Louisa's marriage, felt +a perfect conviction that the diminution of the Russian power in the +north of Europe would form the next great object of Napoleon's ambition. +His subsequent proceedings, in regard to Holland, Oldenburg, and other +territories, and the distribution of his troops, in Pomerania and +Poland, could not fail to strengthen Alexander in this view of the case; +and 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 Buonaparte's troops. + +Before we return to the war in Portugal (the details of which belong to +the history of Wellington, rather than of Napoleon), we may here notice +very briefly one or two circumstances connected with the exiled family +of Spain. It affords a melancholy picture of the degradation of the old +king and queen, that these personages voluntarily travelled to Paris for +the purpose of mingling in the crowd of courtiers congratulating their +deceiver and spoiler on the birth of the king of Rome. Their daughter, +the queen of Etruria, appears to have been the least degenerate of the +race; and she accordingly met with the cruellest treatment from the hand +which her parents were thus mean enough to kiss. She had been deprived +of her kingdom at the period of the shameful scenes of Bayonne in 1807, +on pretext that that kingdom would afford the most suitable +indemnification for her brother Ferdinand on his cession to Buonaparte +of his rights in Spain, and with the promise of being provided for +elsewhere. This promise to the sister was no more thought of afterwards +than the original scheme for the indemnification of the brother. Tuscany +became a French department. Ferdinand was sent a prisoner to the castle +of Valençay--a seat of Talleyrand--and she, after remaining for some +time with her parents, took up her residence, as a private person, under +_surveillance_, at Nice. Alarmed by the severity with which the police +watched her, the queen at length made an attempt to escape to England. +Her agents were discovered, tried by a military commission, and shot; +and the unfortunate lady herself confined in a Roman monastery. A plan +for the liberation of Ferdinand was about the same time detected by the +emissaries of the French police: the real agent being arrested, a +pretender, assuming his name and credentials, made his way into +Valençay, but Ferdinand was either too cunning, or too timid to incur +this danger; revealing to his jailers the proposals of the stranger, he +escaped the snare laid for him, and thus cheated Napoleon of a pretext +for removing him also to some Italian cell. + +During four months after Wellington's famous retreat terminated in his +occupation of the lines of Torres Vedras, Massena lay encamped before +that position, in vain practising every artifice which consummate skill +could suggest for the purpose of drawing the British army back into the +field. He attempted to turn first the one flank of the position and then +the other; but at either point he found his antagonist's preparations +perfect. Meantime his communication with Spain was becoming every day +more and more difficult, and the enmity of the peasantry was so +inveterate that his troops began to suffer much from the want of +provisions. Massena at length found himself compelled to retreat; and, +if he executed the military movement with masterly ability, he for ever +disgraced his name by the horrible licence which he permitted to his +soldiery. Every crime of which man is capable--every brutality which can +dishonour rational beings--must be recorded in the narrative of that +fearful march. Age, rank, sex, character, were alike contemned; it +seemed as if, maddened with a devilish rage, these ferocious bands were +resolved to ruin the country which they could not possess, and to +exterminate, as far as was in their power, the population which they +could neither conciliate nor subdue. + +Lord Wellington followed hard on their footsteps until they were beyond +the Portuguese frontier; within it they had left only one garrison--at +Almeida, and of this town the siege was immediately formed; while the +British general himself invested the strong Spanish city and fortress of +Ciudad Rodrigo. But Massena, on regaining communication with the French +armies in Castile, swelled his numbers so much, that he ventured to +resume the offensive. Lord Wellington could not maintain the siege of +Ciudad Rodrigo in the face of such an army as Massena had now assembled; +but when the marshal indicated his wishes to bring on battle, he +disdained to decline the invitation. The armies met at Fuentes d'Onor, +on the 5th May 1811, and the French were once more defeated. The +garrison of Almeida contrived to escape across the frontier, before the +siege, which had been interrupted, could be renewed. Portugal remained +in a miserable state of exhaustion indeed, but altogether delivered of +her invaders; and Napoleon, as if resolved that each of his marshals in +succession should have the opportunity of measuring himself against +Wellington, now sent Marmont to displace Massena. + +Soult meanwhile had advanced on the southern frontier of Portugal from +Estremadura, and obtained possession of Badajos, under circumstances +which Lord Wellington considered as highly disgraceful to the Spanish +garrison of that important place, and the armies which ought to have +been ready to cover it. On the other hand, an English corps, under +General Graham, sallied out of Cadiz, and were victorious in a brilliant +affair on the heights of Barossa, in front of that besieged city. + +As concerned the Spanish armies, the superiority of the French had been +abundantly maintained during this campaign; and it might still be said +that King Joseph was in military possession of all but some fragments of +his kingdom. But the influence of the English victories was by no means +limited to the Portuguese, whose territory they had delivered. They +breathed new ardour into the Spanish people: the Guerilla warfare, +trampled down in one spot only to start up in fifty others, raged more +and more widely, as well as fiercely, over the surface of the country: +the French troops lost more lives in this incessant struggle, wherein no +glory could be achieved, than in any similar period spent in a regular +campaign; and Joseph Buonaparte, 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 1812 began. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + + Capture of Ciudad Rodrigo--and of Badajos--Battle of + Salamanca--State of Napoleon's Foreign Relations--His Military + Resources--Napoleon at Dresden--Rupture with Russia--Napoleon's + conduct to the Poles--Distribution of the Armies--Passage of the + Niemen--Napoleon at Wilna. + + +Lord Wellington had now complete possession of Portugal; and lay on the +frontiers of that kingdom, ready to act on the offensive within Spain, +whenever the distribution of the French armies should seem to offer a +fit opportunity. Learning that Marmont had sent considerable +reinforcements to Suchet, in Valencia, he resolved to advance and once +more besiege Ciudad Rodrigo. He re-appeared before that strong fortress +on the 8th of January 1812, and carried it by storm on the 19th, four +days before Marmont could collect a force adequate for its relief. He +instantly repaired the fortifications, entrusted the place to a Spanish +garrison, and repaired in person to the southern part of the Portuguese +frontier, which required his attention in consequence of that miserable +misconduct of the Spaniards which had enabled the French to make +themselves masters of Badajos in the preceding year. He appeared before +that city on the 16th March, and in twenty days took it also. The loss +of life on both sides, in these rapid sieges, was very great; but they +were gained by a general at the head of at most 50,000 men, in despite +of an enemy mustering full 80,000; and the results were of the first +importance to the English cause. Marmont, on hearing of the fall of the +second fortress, immediately retreated from the neighbourhood of Ciudad +Rodrigo, which he had made a vain attempt to regain; and Soult, who had +arrived from before Cadiz just in time to see the British flag mounted +on the towers of Badajos, retired in like manner. The English general +hastened to make the best use of his advantage, by breaking up the only +bridge by which Marmont and Soult could now communicate; and, having +effected this object early in May, marched in June to Salamanca, took +the forts there, and 800 prisoners, and--Marmont retiring as he +advanced--hung on his rear until he reached the Douro. + +Marmont was now joined by Bonnet's army from Asturias, and thus once +more recovered a decided superiority in numbers. Wellington accordingly +retired in his turn; and for some days the two hostile armies moved in +parallel lines, often within half cannon shot, each waiting for some +mistake of which advantage might be taken. The weather was all the while +intensely hot; numbers fainted on the march; and when any rivulet was in +view, it was difficult to keep the men in their ranks. On the evening of +the 21st of July, Wellington and Marmont lay in full view of each other, +on two opposite rising grounds near Salamanca; a great storm of thunder +and rain came on, and during the whole night the sky was bright with +lightning. Wellington was at table when he received intelligence that +his adversary was extending his left,--with the purpose of coming +between him and Ciudad Rodrigo. He rose in haste, exclaiming, "Marmont's +good genius has forsaken him," and was instantly on horseback. The great +battle of Salamanca was fought on the 22nd of July. The French were +attacked on the point which Marmont's movement leftwards had weakened, +and sustained a signal defeat. The commander-in-chief himself lost an +arm: 7000 prisoners, eleven guns, and two eagles were taken; and it was +only the coming on of night that saved the army from utter destruction. +Wellington pursued the flying enemy as far as Valladolid, and then, +re-crossing the Douro, marched upon Madrid. King Joseph fled once more +at his approach, and the English were received with enthusiasm in the +capital of Spain. + +Lord Wellington had thus ventured to place himself in the heart of +Spain, with, at most, 60,000 men, well-knowing that the French armies in +the Peninsula still mustered at the least 150,000 in the expectation +that so spirited a movement, coming after the glorious successes of +Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, and Salamanca, would effectually stimulate the +Spanish generals. Ballasteros in particular, he doubted not, would at +least take care to occupy all the attention of Soult, and prevent that +able leader from advancing out of the south. But the Spaniard's +egregious pride took fire at the notion of being directed by an +Englishman, and he suffered Soult to break up the siege of Cadiz, and +retire with all his army undisturbed towards the Sierra Morena. Lord +Wellington, incensed at this folly, was constrained to divide his army. +Leaving half at Madrid under Sir R. Hill, to check Soult, he himself +marched with the other for Burgos, by taking which great city he judged +he should have it in his power to overawe effectually the remains of the +army of Marmont. He invested Burgos accordingly on the 19th of +September, and continued the siege during five weeks, until Soult, with +a superior force, began to threaten Hill, and (Marmont's successor) +Clausel, having also received great reinforcements, appeared ready to +resume the offensive. Lord Wellington then abandoned the siege of Burgos +and commenced his retreat. He was joined in the course of it by Hill, +and Soult and Clausel then effected their junction also, in his +rear--their troops being nearly double his numbers. He retired leisurely +and deliberately as far as Ciudad Rodrigo--and thus closed the +Peninsular campaign of 1812. But in sketching its progress we have lost +sight for a moment of the still mightier movements in which Napoleon was +personally engaged upon another scene of action. + +It has already been mentioned, that before the year 1811 reached its +close, the approach of a rupture with Russia was sufficiently indicated +in an edict of the Emperor of Austria, granting a free passage through +his territories to the armies of his son-in-law. However, during several +months following, the negotiations between the Czar and Napoleon +continued; and more than once there appeared considerable likelihood of +their finding an amicable termination. The tidings of Lord Wellington's +successes at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos were calculated to temper the +ardour of Buonaparte's presumption; and for a moment he seems to have +felt the necessity of bringing the affairs of the Peninsula to a point, +ere he should venture to involve himself in another warfare. He, in +effect, opened a communication with the English government, when the +fall of Badajos was announced to him; but before the negotiation had +proceeded many steps, his pride returned on him in its original +obstinacy, and the renewed demand, that Joseph should be recognised as +King of Spain, abruptly closed the intercourse of the diplomatists. + +Such being the state of the Peninsula, and all hope of an accommodation +with England at an end, it might have been expected that Napoleon would +have spared no effort to accommodate his differences with Russia, or, if +a struggle must come, to prepare for it, by placing his relations with +the other powers, capable of interfering on one side or the other, on a +footing favourable to himself. But here also the haughty temper, which +adversity itself could never bend, formed an insurmountable and fatal +obstacle. To gain the cordial friendship of Sweden was obviously, from +the geographical position of that country, and the high military talents +of Bernadotte, an object of the most urgent importance; yet the Crown +Prince, instead of being treated with as the head of an independent +state, was personally insulted by the French resident at Stockholm, who, +in Bernadotte's own language, "demeaned himself on every occasion as if +he had been a Roman proconsul, dictating absolutely in a province." In +his anxiety to avoid a rupture, Bernadotte at length agreed to enforce +the "continental system," and to proclaim war against England. But these +concessions, instead of producing hearty goodwill, had a directly +contrary effect. England, considering Sweden as an involuntary enemy, +disdained to make any attempt against her; and the adoption of the +anti-commercial edicts of Napoleon was followed by a multiplicity of +collisions between the Swedish coasters and the Imperial _douaniers_, +out of which arose legal questions without number. These, in most cases, +were terminated at Paris, with summary injustice, and the provocations +and reclamations of Bernadotte multiplied daily. Amazed that one who had +served under his banners should dare to dispute his will, Napoleon +suffered himself to speak openly of causing Bernadotte to finish his +Swedish studies in Vincennes. Nay, he condescended to organise a +conspiracy for the purpose of putting this threat into execution. The +Crown Prince escaped, through the zeal of a private friend at Paris, the +imminent danger of being carried off after the fashion of the D'Enghiens +and the Rumbolds: and thenceforth his part was fixed. + +On the other flank of the Czar's dominion--his hereditary enemy, the +Grand Seignior, was at this time actually at war with him. Napoleon had +neglected his relations with Constantinople for some years past; but he +now perceived the importance of keeping this quarrel alive, and +employed his agents to stimulate the Grand Seignior to take the field +in person at the head of 100,000 men, for the purpose of co-operating +with himself in a general invasion of the Russian empire. But here he +encountered a new and an unforeseen difficulty. Lord Castlereagh, the +English minister for foreign affairs, succeeded in convincing the Porte, +that, if Russia were once subdued, there would remain no power in Europe +capable of shielding her against the universal ambition of Napoleon. And +wisely considering this prospective danger as immeasurably more +important than any immediate advantage which she could possibly reap +from the humiliation of her old rival, the Porte commenced a +negotiation, which, exactly at the most critical moment (as we shall see +hereafter) ended in a peace with Russia. + +The whole forces of Italy--Switzerland, Bavaria, and the princes of the +Rhenish League,--including the Elector of Saxony,--were at Napoleon's +disposal. Denmark hated England too much to have leisure for fear of +him. Prussia, surrounded and studded with French garrisons, was more +than ever hostile to France; and the king was willing, in spite of all +that he had suffered, to throw himself at once into the arms of Russia. +But this must have inferred his immediate and total ruin, unless the +Czar chose to march at once into Germany. Such a movement was wholly +inconsistent with the plan of operations contemplated, in case of a war +with Buonaparte, by the military advisers of Alexander; and Frederick +William saw himself compelled to place 20,000 troops, the poor relics of +his army, at the disposal of the common oppressor. + +Austria was bound by treaty to assist Napoleon with 30,000 men, whenever +he chose to demand them; but this same treaty included Buonaparte's +guarantee of Austria's Polish provinces. Could he have got rid of this +pledge, he distinctly perceived the advantages which he might derive +from the enthusiasm of the Poles; to proclaim their independence would +have been, he well knew, to array a whole gallant nation under his +banners; and of such objections to their independence as might be +started by his own creature, the Grand Duke of Warsaw, he made little +account. But Austria would not consent to give up his guarantee of +Galicia, unless he consented to yield back the Illyrian territory which +she had lost at Schoenbrunn; and this was a condition to which Napoleon +would not for a moment listen. He would take whatever he could gain by +force or by art; but he would sacrifice nothing. The evil consequences +of this piece of obstinacy were twofold. Austria remained an ally +indeed, but at best a cold one; and the opportunity of placing the whole +of Poland in insurrection, between him and the Czar, was for ever lost. + +But if Napoleon, in the fulness of his presumption, thus neglected or +scorned the timely conciliation of foreign powers-some of whom he might +have arrayed heartily on his side, and others at least retained +neutral-he certainly omitted nothing as to the preparation of the +military forces of his own empire. Before yet all hopes of an +accommodation with St. Petersburg where at an end, he demanded and +obtained two new conscriptions in France; and moreover established a law +by which he was enabled to call out 100,000 men at a time, of those whom +the conscriptions had spared, for service _at home_. This limitation of +their service he soon disregarded; and in effect the new system-that of +_the Ban_, as he affected to call it-became a mere extension of the old +scheme. The amount of the _French_ army at the period in question +(exclusive of _the Ban_) is calculated at 850,000 men; the army of the +kingdom of Italy mustered 50,000; that of Naples, 30,000; that of the +Grand Duchy of Warsaw, 60,000; the Bavarian, 40,000; the Westphalian, +30,000; the Saxon, 30,000; Wirtemberg, 15,000; Baden, 9,000; and the +minor powers of the Rhenish League, 23,000. Of these armies Napoleon had +the entire control. In addition, Austria was bound to furnish him with +30,000, and Prussia with 20,000 auxiliaries. The sum-total is 1,187,000. +Deducting 387,000--a large allowance for hospitals, furloughs, and +incomplete regiments-there remained 800,000 effective men at his +immediate command. The Spanish peninsula might perhaps occupy, even now, +150,000; but still Napoleon could bring into the field against Russia, +in case all negotiation failed, an army of 650,000 men; numbers such as +Alexander could have no chance of equalling; numbers such as had never +before followed an European banner. + +Notwithstanding all this display of military strength, the French +statesmen who had in former days possessed the highest place in the +Emperor's confidence, and who had been shaken in his favour by their +bold prophecies of the result of his attempts on Spain and Portugal, +did not hesitate to come forward on this new occasion, and offer +warnings, for which the course of events in the Peninsula might have +been expected to procure a patient hearing. Talleyrand, still in office, +exhausted all his efforts in vain. Fouché, who on pretence of ill health +had thrown up his Roman government, and was now resident at his country +seat near Paris, drew up a memorial, in which the probable consequences +of a march into Russia were detailed with masterly skill and eloquence; +and demanded an audience of the Emperor, that he might present it in +person. Napoleon, whose police now watched no one so closely as their +former chief, was prepared for this. He received Fouché with an air of +cool indifference. "I am no stranger to your errand," said he. "The war +with Russia pleases you as little as that of Spain." Fouché answered, +that he hoped to be pardoned for having drawn up some reflections on so +important a crisis. "It is no crisis at all," resumed Buonaparte, "but a +mere war of politics. Spain falls whenever I have destroyed the English +influence at St. Petersburg. I have 800,000 soldiers in readiness: with +such an army I consider Europe as an old prostitute, who must obey my +pleasure. Did not you yourself once tell me that the word _impossible_ +is not French? You grandees are now too rich, and though you pretend to +be anxious about my interests, you are only thinking of what might +happen to yourselves in case of my death, and the dismemberment of my +empire. I regulate my conduct much more by the sentiments of my army +than by yours. 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." It deserves to be mentioned that neither the +statesman thus contemptously dismissed, nor any of his brethren, ever +even alluded to the injustice of making war on Russia for the mere +gratification of ambition. Their arguments were all drawn from the +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 feelings of the Muscovites; the distance of their country; the +severity of their climate; the opportunity which such 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. + +There was, however, one person who appealed to the Emperor on other +grounds. His uncle, the Cardinal Fesch, had been greatly afflicted by +the treatment of the Pope, and he contemplated this new war with dread, +as likely to bring down the vengeance of Heaven on the head of one who +had dared to trample on its vicegerent. He besought Napoleon not to +provoke at once the wrath of man and the fury of the elements; and +expressed his belief that he must one day sink under the weight of that +universal hatred with which his actions were surrounding his throne. +Buonaparte led the churchman 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 abruptly dismissed him. + +Trusting to this star, on which one spot of fatal dimness had already +gathered, Napoleon, without waiting for any formal rupture with the +Russian diplomatists at Paris, now directed the march of very great +bodies of troops into Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Alexander's +minister was ordered, in the beginning of April, to demand the +withdrawal of these troops, together with the evacuation of the +fortresses in Pomerania, in case the French government still entertained +a wish to negotiate. Buonaparte instantly replied that he was not +accustomed to regulate the distribution of his forces by the suggestions +of a foreign power. The ambassador demanded his passports, and quitted +Paris. + +On the 9th of May, Napoleon left Paris with his Empress, and arrived on +the 16th 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, or commanded, to met him. He had sent +to request the Czar also to appear in this brilliant assemblage, as +affording a last chance of an amicable arrangement; but the messenger +could not obtain admission to Alexander's presence. + +Buonaparte continued for some days to play the part of undisputed master +amidst this congregation of royalties. He at once assumed for himself +and his wife precedence over the Emperor and Empress of Austria; and, in +the blaze of successive festivals, the King of Saxony appeared but as +some chamberlain, or master of the ceremonies, to his imperious guest. + +Having sufficiently indicated to his allies and vassals the conduct +which they were respectively to adopt, in case the war should break out, +Napoleon, already weary of his splendid idleness, sent on the Abbé de +Pradt to Warsaw, to prepare for his reception among the Poles, dismissed +Maria Louisa on her return to Paris, and broke up the Court in which he +had, for the last time, figured as "the King of Kings." 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, his Lithuanian capital, there collecting the forces of +his immense empire, and entrusting the general arrangements of the +approaching campaign to Marshal Barclay de Tolly.[61] The season was +advancing; and it was time that the question of peace or war should be +forced to a decision. + +Napoleon arrived at Dantzick 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. The attention of mankind +was never more entirely fixed on one spot than it was, during these +fourteen days, upon Dantzick. On the 22nd, Buonaparte broke silence in a +bulletin. "Soldiers," said he, "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 our first: but our second peace shall carry with it its +own guarantee: it shall put an end for ever to that haughty influence +which Russia has exercised for fifty years on the affairs of Europe." +The address, in which the Czar announced the termination of his +negotiations, was in a far different tone. After stating the innumerable +efforts he had made to preserve peace, without losing for Russia the +character of an independent state, he invoked the aid of Almighty +Providence as "the witness and the defender of the true cause;" 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." + +Buonaparte reviewed the greater part of his troops on the field 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 +vast army. Hitherto the Poles had had no certain intelligence of the +object which Napoleon proposed to himself. As soon as no doubt remained +on that score, the Diet at Warsaw sent both to him and to the King of +Saxony, to announce their resolution to seize this opportunity of +re-establishing the ancient national independence of their dismembered +country. We have already mentioned the circumstance which compelled the +Emperor to receive this message with coldness. He was forced to +acknowledge that he had guaranteed to Austria the whole of her Polish +provinces. It was therefore impossible for him to take part in the +re-establishment of Old Poland:--"Nevertheless," added he, with +audacious craft, "I admire your efforts; I even authorise them. Persist; +and it is to be hoped your wishes will be crowned with success." + +This answer effectually damped the ardour of the Poles; and thenceforth, +with a few exceptions, the eminent and influential men of the nation +were mere observers of the war. If any doubt as to Napoleon's treachery +could have remained after his answer to the Diet, it must have been +wholly removed when the plan of his campaign transpired, and the +Austrian auxiliaries were known to be stationed on the right of his +whole line. On them, as it seemed, the march through Volhynia was thus +devolved, and no clearer proof could have been afforded that it was +Napoleon's desire to repress every symptom of a national insurrection in +Lithuania. The inhabitants, had French soldiers come amongst them, might +have been expected to rise in enthusiasm; the white uniform of Austria +was known to be hateful in their eyes, in the same degree, and for +precisely the same reason, as the Russian green. + +The disposition of the French army 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 of, if +possible, outflanking the Russian right, and gaining possession of the +sea coast, in the direction of Riga. The right wing, composed almost +wholly of the Austrians, 30,000 in number, and commanded by +Schwartzenberg, were stationed, as has been already mentioned, 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, the King of Westphalia, the Viceroy +of Italy, Poniatowski, Junot and Victor; and in numbers not falling +below 250,000. The communication of the centre and left was maintained +by the corps of Oudinot, and that 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, King of Naples; but he was in person at +the headquarters of the Emperor, having immediately under his order +three divisions of horse, those of Grouchy, Montbrun, and Nansouty. +Augereau with his division was to remain in the north of Germany, to +overawe Berlin and protect the communications with France. + +A glance at the map will show that Napoleon's base of operations +extended over full one hundred leagues; and that 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. + +The Russian main army, under Barclay de Tolly himself, had its +headquarters at Wilna; and consisted, at the opening of the campaign, of +120,000. Considerably to the left lay "the second army," as it was +called, of 80,000, under Bagrathion; 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 Barclay de Tolly was Witgenstein with +30,000, and between these again and the sea, the corps of Essen, not +more than 10,000 strong. Behind the whole line two armies of reserve +were rapidly forming at Novgorod and Smolensko; each, probably, of about +20,000 men. The Russians actually on the field at the opening of the +campaign were, then, as nearly as can be computed, in number 260,000; +while Napoleon was prepared to cross the Niemen at the head of at least +470,000 men. + +On the Russian side the plan of the campaign had been settled ere now; +it was entirely defensive. Taught by the events of the former war in +Poland, and of that which had already fixed the reputation of Wellington +in the Peninsula, the Czar was resolved, from the beginning, to draw +Buonaparte 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 +remove along 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 of 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 with every hour and every +step; and Alexander's great object was 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 frontier (as he had been by the Austrians in the campaigns of +Austerlitz and Wagram, and by the Prussians in that of Jena); of gaining +a great battle; marching immediately either to St. Petersburg or to +Moscow--and dictating a peace, after the fashion of Presburg or +Schoenbrunn, within the walls of one of the Czar's own palaces. + +On the 24th of June, the grand imperial army, consolidated into three +masses, began their passage of the Niemen; the King of Westphalia at +Grodno; the Viceroy Eugene at Pilony, and Napoleon himself near Kowno. +The emperor rode on in front of his army to reconnoitre the banks; his +horse stumbled, and he fell to the ground. "A bad omen--a Roman would +return," exclaimed some one; it is not certain whether Buonaparte +himself or one of his attendants. The first party that crossed were +challenged by a single Cossack. "For what purpose," said he, "do you +enter the Russian country?" "To beat you and take Wilna," answered the +advanced guard. The sentinel struck spurs to his horse, and disappeared +in the forest. There came on at the same moment a tremendous +thunder-storm. Thus began the fatal invasion. + +No opposition awaited these enormous hosts as they traversed the plains +of Lithuania. Alexander withdrew his armies deliberately as they +advanced. The capital itself, Wilna, was evacuated two days before they +came in sight of it; and Napoleon took up his quarters there on the 28th +of June. But it was found that all the magazines, which Buonaparte had +counted on seizing, had been burnt before the Russians withdrew, and the +imperial bulletins began already to denounce the "barbarous method" in +which the enemy seemed resolved to conduct his defence. + +It was noticed in an early part of this narrative that Napoleon's plan +of warfare could hardly have been carried into execution on a great +scale, unless by permitting the troops to subsist on plunder; and we +have seen through how many campaigns the marauding system was adopted +without producing any serious inconvenience to the French. Buonaparte, +however, had learned from Spain and Portugal how difficult it is for +soldiers to find food in these ways, provided the population around them +be really united in hostility against them. He had further considered +the vast distance at which a war with Russia must needs be carried on, +and the natural poverty of most of the Czar's provinces, and came to the +resolution of departing on this occasion from his old system. In a word, +months before he left Paris, he had given orders for preparing immense +quantities of provisions of all kinds, to be conveyed along with his +gigantic host, and render him independent of the countries which might +form the theatre of his operations. The destruction of the magazines at +Wilna was sufficient indication that the Emperor had judged well in +ordering his commissariat to be placed on an efficient footing; and his +attention was naturally directed to ascertaining, ere he advanced +further, in how much his directions as to this matter had been +fulfilled. He remained twenty days at Wilna--a pause altogether +extraordinary in a Buonapartean campaign, and which can only be +accounted for by his anxiety on this head. The result of his inquiries +was most unsatisfactory. The prodigious extent of the contracts into +which his war-minister had entered was adequate to the occasion; but the +movement of such enormous trains of cattle and waggons as these +contracts provided for must, under any circumstances, have been tedious, +and in some degree uncertain. In this case they were entered into either +by French traders, who, in consequence of Buonaparte's own practice in +preceding campaigns, could have slender experience of the method of +supplying a great army in the field; by Germans, who regarded the French +Emperor as the enemy of the world, and served him accordingly with +reluctance; or finally, by Polish Jews--a race of inveterate smugglers, +and consequently of inveterate swindlers. + +The result was, that after spending three weeks at Wilna, 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 which +he had foreseen, and, moreover, of that presented by a commissariat less +effective by two-thirds than he had calculated on. + +[Footnote 61: This officer had been born and educated in Germany. He was +descended from an ancient Scottish family, exiled for adherence to the +Stuarts, in 1715.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + + Russia makes Peace with England, with Sweden, and with + Turkey--Internal preparations--Napoleon leaves Wilna--The + Dwina--Bagrathion's Movements--Battle of Smolensko--Battle of + Borodino--Napoleon enters Moscow--Constancy and Enthusiasm of the + Russians--Conduct of Rostophchin--The burning of Moscow--Kutusoff + refuses to Treat. + + +While Napoleon was detained in the capital of Lithuania by the confusion +and slowness which marked almost every department of his commissariat at +this great crisis, the enemy employed the unexpected pause to the best +advantage. The Czar signed treaties of strict alliance with England, +Sweden, and the Spanish Cortes, in the middle of July; and the +negotiation with Turkey was urged, under the mediation of England, so +effectually, that a peace with that Power also was proclaimed early in +August. By these means Alexander was enabled to withdraw whatever troops +he had been maintaining on the two flanks of his European dominions, and +bring them all to the assistance of his main army. Admiral Tchichagoff, +at the head of 50,000 soldiers, hitherto opposed to the Turks on the +side of Moldavia, marched towards the left wing of Barclay de Tolly's +force; and the right, which had gradually retired until it reached a +strong camp formed on the river Dwina, was reinforced from Finland, +though not so largely. 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, of money, of whatever might assist in the prosecution of the +war. The Grand Duchess, whose hand Napoleon had solicited, set the +example by raising a regiment on her estate. Moscow offered to equip and +arm 80,000 men. Platoff, the veteran hetman of the Cossacks, promised +his only daughter and 200,000 roubles to the man by whose hand +Buonaparte 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. The +peasantry participated in the general enthusiasm, and flocked in from +every province, demanding arms and training. Two hundred thousand +militiamen were called out, and in separate divisions began their march +upon the camp. + +Napoleon, having done whatever lay in his power to remedy the disorders +of his commissariat--and this, after all, does not appear to have been +much--at length reappeared in the field. He had now determined to make +St. Petersburg his mark: he counted much on the effects which a +triumphal entry into the capital would produce throughout the country; +and the fleet at Cronstadt was in itself a prize of the utmost +importance. He directed, therefore, all his efforts towards the Dwina, +where the Russian commander-in-chief had now halted on extensive +intrenchments, and Riga. This town, however, was now defended, not only +by Essen, but by the English sailors of Admiral Martin's fleet, and +resisted effectually; and, to the confusion of Napoleon, he was repelled +in three successive attempts to force Barclay's camp at Dunaburg. + +He upon this changed his plan of operations, and resolving to march, not +for Petersburg, but for Moscow, threw forward the centre of his army, +under Davoust, with the view of turning Barclay's position, and cutting +off his communications with Bagrathion. That general was compelled by +this movement to pass the Dnieper (or Borysthenes); and Barclay, on +perceiving the object of Davoust's march, broke up from the camp on the +Dwina, and retired upon Vitepsk, where he hoped to be joined by +Bagrathion. Davoust, however, brought Bagrathion to action near Mohilow, +on the 23rd of July; and as the French remained in possession of that +town at the end of the day, the Russians found themselves under the +necessity of altering the line of their retreat. Bagrathion informed +Barclay that he was now marching, not on Vitepsk, but on Smolensko, and +the commander-in-chief felt the necessity of abandoning Vitepsk also. +During three days (the 25th, 26th, and 27th of July), his troops were +engaged with the French at Vitepsk; and, though Napoleon's bulletins +announced three splendid victories, the result was that the Russians +left their position in admirable order, and retired altogether +unmolested on the proposed point of junction. Meantime Regnier, on the +right wing, and Oudinot, on the left, were defeated; the former by +Tormazoff, the latter by Witgenstein, both with severe loss. The Emperor +halted at Vitepsk for several days; "his troops," as the bulletins +admitted, "requiring refreshment." The Russian plan of defence was +already ascertained--and alarming. The country was laid utterly desolate +wherever they retired; every village was burned ere they quitted it: the +enthusiastic peasantry withdrew with the army and swelled its ranks. + +Napoleon quitted Vitepsk on the 8th of August, and after a partial +engagement at Krasnoi on the 14th, came in sight of Smolensko, on the +16th. The first and second armies of the Czar (Bagrathion having at +length effected his junction with Barclay), lay behind the river which +flows at the back of this town; but it was occupied in great force. +Three times did Buonaparte attack it, and three times he was repulsed. +During the night the garrison withdrew, and joined the army across the +river--but before they went they committed the city to the flames, and, +the buildings being chiefly of wood, the conflagration, according to the +French bulletin, "resembled in its fury an eruption of Vesuvius." +"Never" (continues the same bulletin) "was war conducted with such +inhumanity: the Russians treat their own country as if it were that of +an enemy." Such was indeed their resolution. They had no desire that the +invader should establish himself in winter quarters at Smolensko. With +the exception of some trivial skirmishes, they retreated unmolested from +Smolensko to Dorogobuz, and thence on Viasma; halting at each of these +towns, and deliberately burning them in the face of the enemy. + +It now, however, began to be difficult in the extreme to prevail on the +Russian soldiery to continue their retreat. They had consented to retire +in the beginning solely because they were assured that such was the will +of their _Father_--as they affectionately call their sovereign; but +reinforcements were now joining them daily from the interior, and the +skirmishes which had occurred had so inflamed their spirits, that it +seemed impossible to restrain them much longer. At this period also, +Barclay was appointed to the war-ministry at St. Petersburg, and +Kutusoff, who assumed the command in his stead, was supposed to doubt +whether the system of retreat had not been far enough persisted in. The +new general at length resolved to comply with the clamorous entreaties +of his troops, and fixed on a strong position between Borodino and +Moskwa, on the high road to Moscow, where he determined to await the +attack of Napoleon. It was at Gjatz that the Emperor was informed of +Kutusoff's arrival, and of the universal belief that the Czar had at +length consented to run the hazard of a great battle. A little further +on a Russian officer, on some pretext, appeared with a flag of truce; +his real errand being, no doubt, to witness the state of the invader's +camp. Being brought into Napoleon's presence this man was asked, "What +he should find between Viasma and Moscow?" He answered, "Pultowa." + +On the 5th of September, Napoleon came in sight of the position of +Kutusoff, and succeeded in carrying a redoubt in front of it. All the +6th the two armies lay in presence of each other, preparing for the +contest. 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 their front. Extensive field-works covered +every more accessible 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 were +120,000 in numbers; nor had Napoleon a greater force in readiness for +his attack. In artillery also the armies were equal. It is supposed that +each had 500 guns in the field. Buonaparte addressed his troops in his +usual style of language: "Soldiers! here is the battle you have longed +for; it is necessary, for it brings us plenty, good winter-quarters, and +a safe return to France. Behave yourselves so that posterity may say of +each of you, _He was in that great battle beneath the walls of Moscow._" + +In the Russian camp, meanwhile, the clergy appeared in their richest +vestments, and displaying their holiest images, called on the men to +merit Paradise by devoting themselves in the cause of their country. The +soldiers answered with shouts which were audible throughout all the +enemy's lines. + +At four o'clock in 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 the position. Such was the impetuosity of the charge that +they drove the Russians from their redoubts; but this was but for a +moment. They rallied under the very line of their enemy's fire, and +instantly re-advanced. 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 +of one division of the Russians which mustered 30,000 in the morning, +only 8000 survived. These men had fought in close order, and unshaken, +under the fire of eighty pieces of artillery. The result of this +terrible day was, that Buonaparte withdrew his troops and abandoned all +hope of forcing his way through the Russians. In no contest by many +degrees so desperate had he hitherto been engaged. 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 +raise the gross number of the slain to 100,000. Such was the victory in +honour of which Napoleon created Marshal Ney _Prince of Moskwa_. + +Buonaparte, when advised by his generals, towards the conclusion of the +day, to bring forward his own guard and hazard one final attack at their +head, answered, "And if my guard fail, what means should I have for +renewing the battle to-morrow?" The Russian commander, on the other +hand, appears to have spared nothing to prolong the contest.--During the +night after, his cavalry made several attempts to break into the enemy's +lines; and it was only on receiving the reports of his regimental +officers in the morning, that Kutusoff perceived the necessity of +retiring until he should be further recruited. His army was the mainstay +of his country: on its utter dissolution his master might have found it +very difficult to form another; but while it remained perfect in its +organisation, the patriotic population of the empire were sure to fill +up readily every vacancy in its ranks. Having ascertained then the +extent of his loss, and buried his dead (among whom was the gallant +Bagrathion) with great solemnity,--the Russian slowly and calmly +withdrew from his intrenchments, and marched on Mojaisk. Napoleon was so +fortunate as to be joined exactly at this time by two fresh divisions +from Smolensko, which nearly restored his muster to what it had been +when the battle began; and, thus reinforced, commanded the pursuit to +be vigorously urged. On the 9th, the French van came in sight of the +Russian rear again, and Buonaparte prepared for battle. But next morning +Kutusoff had masked his march so effectually, by scattering clouds of +Cossacks in every direction around the French, that down to the 12th the +invader remained uncertain whether he had retreated on Kalouga, or +directly to the capital. The latter he, at length, found to be the case; +and on the 14th of September Napoleon reached the Hill of Salvation; so +named because from that eminence the Russian traveller 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; the vast and splendid mansions of +the haughty boyards, embosomed in trees; and, high over all the rest, +the huge towers of the Kremlin, at once the palace and the 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!" He added, after a brief pause, "it was time." + +Buonaparte had not gazed long on this great capital ere it struck him as +something remarkable that no smoke issued from the chimneys. Neither +appeared there any military on the battlements of the old walls and +towers. There reached him neither message of defiance, nor any +deputation of citizens to present the keys of their town, and recommend +it and themselves to his protection. He was yet marvelling what these +strange circumstances could mean, when Murat, who commanded in the van, +and had pushed on to the gates, came back and informed him that he had +held a parley with Milarodowitch, the general of the Russian rear-guard, +and 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. The two hours elapsed, and still no procession of +nobles or magistrates made its appearance. + +On entering the city the French found it deserted by all but the very +lowest and most wretched of its vast population. They soon spread +themselves over its innumerable streets, and commenced the work of +pillage. The magnificent palaces of the Russian boyards, the bazaars of +the merchants, churches and convents, and public buildings of every +description, swarmed with their numbers. + +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 some difficulty in keeping together 30,000 men +under Murat, who followed Milarodowitch, and watched the walls on that +side. + +The Emperor, who had retired to rest in a suburban palace, was awakened +at midnight by the cry of _fire_. The chief market-place was in flames; +and some hours elapsed before they could be extinguished by the +exertions of the soldiery. While the fire still blazed, Napoleon +established his quarters in the Kremlin, and wrote, by that fatal light, +a letter to the Czar, containing proposals for peace. The letter was +committed to a prisoner of rank; no answer ever reached Buonaparte. + +Next morning found the fire extinguished, and the French officers were +busied throughout the day in selecting houses for their residence. The +flames, however, burst out again as night set in, and under +circumstances which might well fill the mind of the invaders with +astonishment and with alarm. Various detached parts of the city appeared +to be at once on fire; combustibles and matches were discovered in +different places as laid deliberately; the water-pipes were cut: the +wind changed three times in the course of the night, and the flames +always broke out again with new vigour in the quarter from which the +prevailing breeze blew right on the Kremlin. It was sufficiently plain +that Rostophchin, governor of Moscow, had adopted the same plan of +resistance in which Smolensko had already been sacrificed; and his +agents, whenever they fell into the hands of the French, were massacred +without mercy. + +A French adventurer, who had been resident for some time in Moscow, gave +an account of Rostophchin's conduct in quitting the city, which might +have prepared Napoleon for some such catastrophe. This person, on +hearing of the approach of his countrymen, had used some expressions +which entitled him to a place in the prisons of Moscow. The day before +Buonaparte entered it, Rostophchin held a last court of justice. This +Frenchman, and a disaffected Russian, were brought before him. The +latter's guilt having been clearly proved, the governor, understanding +his father was in court, said he granted some minutes to the old man to +converse with and bless his son. "Shall I give my blessing to a rebel?" +cried the aged parent--"I hereby give him my curse." Rostophchin ordered +the culprit to be executed, and then turning to the Frenchman, said, +"Your preference of your own people was natural. Take your liberty. +There was but one Russian traitor, and you have witnessed his death." +The governor then set all the malefactors in the numerous jails of +Moscow at liberty, and, abandoning the city to them, withdrew at the +head of the inhabitants, who had for some time been preparing the means +of retreat at his suggestion. + +Such was the story of the Frenchman; and every hour brought some new +confirmation of the relentless determination of Rostophchin's +countrymen. Some peasants, brought in from the neighbouring country, +were branded on the arm with the letter N. One of them understanding +that this marked him as the property and adherent of Napoleon, instantly +seized an axe and chopped off his limb. Twelve slaves of Count Woronzow +were taken together and commanded to enlist in the French service, or +suffer death; four of the men folded their arms in silence, and so died. +The French officer in command spared the rest. Such were the anecdotes +which reached Napoleon as he surveyed, from the battlements of the +Kremlin, the raging sea of fire which now swept the capital, east, west, +north, and south. During four days the conflagration endured, and +four-fifths of the city were wholly consumed. "Palaces and temples," +says the Russian author, Karamsin, "monuments of art and miracles of +luxury, the remains of ages long since past, and the creations 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." + +During two days Napoleon witnessed from the Kremlin the spread of this +fearful devastation, and, in spite of continual showers of sparks and +brands, refused to listen to those who counselled retreat. On the third +night, the equinoctial gale rose, the Kremlin itself took fire, and it +became doubtful whether it would be possible for him to withdraw in +safety; and then he at length rode out of Moscow, through streets in +many parts arched over with flames, and buried, where this was not the +case, in one dense mantle of smoke. "These are indeed Scythians," said +Napoleon. He halted, and fixed his headquarters at Petrowsky, a country +palace of the Czar, about a league distant. But he could not withdraw +his eyes from the rueful spectacle which the burning city presented, and +from time to time repeated the same words, "This bodes great +misfortune." + +On the 20th, the flames being at length subdued or exhausted, Napoleon +returned to the Kremlin, well aware how mighty a calamity had befallen +him, but still flattering himself that the resolution of the enemy would +give way on learning the destruction of their ancient and sacred +metropolis. The poor remains of the enormous city still furnished +tolerable lodgings for his army: of provisions there was as yet +abundance; and the invaders, like true Frenchmen, fitted up a theatre, +and witnessed plays acted by performers sent from France; while the +Emperor himself exhibited his equanimity by dating a decree, regulating +the affairs of the Théâtre Français at Paris, from "the imperial +headquarters in the Kremlin." His anxiety to show the French that, even +during his hottest campaigns, his mind continued to be occupied with +them and their domestic administration has already been alluded to. +There was audacious quackery in a stage rescript from Moscow. + +Day passed after day and still there came no answer from Alexander: +Buonaparte's situation was becoming hourly more difficult. The news of +the great battle of Salamanca had already reached him: the rumour of +some distant disaster could not be prevented from spreading among the +soldiery. Nearer him, the two flanks of his mighty host had been alike +unsuccessful. The united army of Tormazoff and Tchichagoff, on the +south, and that of Witgenstein, on the north, had obtained decided +advantages over the French generals respectively opposed to them, and +now threatened to close in between Napoleon's central columns and the +magazines in Poland. Witzingerode was at the head of a formidable force +on the road to St. Petersburg; and to the south-west of Moscow lay +Kutusoff, on a very strong position, with an army to which every hour +brought whole bands of enthusiastic recruits. On every side there was +danger; the whole forces of Russia appeared to be gathering around him. +Meantime the season was far advanced; the stern winter of the north was +at hand; and the determined hostility of the peasantry prevented the +smallest supplies of provision from being introduced into the capital. +Had the citizens remained there, the means of subsistence would of +course have continued to be forwarded in the usual methods from the +provinces; but neither boat nor sledge was put in motion after it was +known that Moscow contained no population but the French. The stores, at +first sight so ample, within the city itself, had already begun to fail: +the common soldiers had rich wines and liqueurs in abundance, but no +meat except horse-flesh, and no bread. Daru gave the Emperor what the +latter called "a lion's counsel"; 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 had excellent reasons +for suspecting that were he and his army cut off from all communication, +during six months, with what they had left behind them, the Prussians, +the Austrians, his Rhenish vassals themselves, 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 a mere speck. + +Napoleon at length sent Count Lauriston to the headquarters of Kutusoff, +with another letter to Alexander, which the Count was to deliver in +person. Kutusoff received the Frenchman in the midst of all his +generals, and answered with such civility that the envoy doubted not of +success. The end, however, was that the Russian professed himself +altogether unable to entertain any negotiation, or even to sanction the +journey of any French messenger--such being, he said, the last and most +express orders of his Prince. He offered to send on Napoleon's letter to +St. Petersburg, by one of his own aides-de-camp; and to this Lauriston +was obliged to agree. This interview occurred on the 6th of October: no +answer from St. Petersburg could be expected sooner than the 26th. There +had already been one fall of snow. To retreat after having a second time +written to the Czar, would appear like the confession of inability to +remain. The difficulties and dangers attendant on a longer sojourn in +the ruined capital have already been mentioned; and they were increasing +with fearful rapidity every hour. It was under such circumstances that +Napoleon lingered on in the Kremlin until the 19th of October; and it +seems probable that he would have lingered even more days there, had he +not received the tidings of a new reverse, near at hand, and which +effectually stirred him. His attendants have not hesitated to say that, +from the time when he entered Russia, his mind had seemed to be in a +state of indecision and lethargy, when compared with what they had been +accustomed to witness in previous campaigns. From this hour his decision +and activity (if indeed they had ever been obscured) appear to have been +displayed abundantly. + +Murat had, without Napoleon's command, and indeed in opposition to his +wishes, established a strange species of armistice with Kutusoff, under +articles which provided that three hours' notice must precede any +regular affair between the two armies confronted to each other, but +allowed the petty warfare of the Cossacks and other light troops to +proceed without interruption on either flank. This suited Kutusoff's +purpose; for it in effect left him in full possession of the means to +avoid a general action until he chose to hazard one, and yet offered no +interruption to the measures by which he and his nation were +deliberately and systematically straitening the supplies of the invader. +Napoleon alleged that Murat had entered on the compact from the desire +of gratifying his own vanity, by galloping about on a neutral ground, +and attracting the admiration of both armies, but especially of the +Cossacks, by his horsemanship, and the brilliant, if not fantastic, +dresses in which it was at all times his delight to exhibit his fine +person. But King Joachim never displayed his foppery so willingly as on +the field of battle: he committed only, on a smaller scale, the same +error which detained his master in the Kremlin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + + Napoleon quits Moscow--Battles of Vincovo and + Malo-Yaraslovetz--Retreat on Verreia--and Smolensko--Repeated + Defeats and Sufferings of the French--Smolensko--Krasnoi--Passage + of the Beresina--Smorgonie--Napoleon quits the Army--his arrival at + Warsaw--at Dresden--in Paris. + + +The armistice, such as it was, between Joachim and Kutusoff, was broken +through so soon as the latter had sufficiently disciplined the new +recruits who had crowded to his standard from every region of the +empire. Murat then received considerable reinforcements from Moscow, +together with Napoleon's commands to gain possession, if possible, of +one of the roads leading to Kalouga. There, and at Toula, the chief +magazines of the Russian army were known to be established; and, +moreover, by retiring in that direction towards Poland, (should a +retreat finally be found necessary,) Napoleon counted on the additional +and far greater advantage of traversing a country hitherto unwasted. + +The King of Naples, accordingly, pushed his light troops over a new +district; and had the mortification to find the Russian system of +defence persevered in wherever he advanced. The splendid country house +of Rostophchin was burnt to the ground, ere the French reached it; and +the following letter, affixed to its gates, breathed the same spirit +which had dared to sacrifice Moscow:--"I have for eight years +embellished this residence, and lived happily in it with my family. The +inhabitants of the estate, in number 1720, quitted it at your approach; +and I set fire to my house, that it may not be polluted with your +presence." + +Kutusoff was no longer disposed to witness in inaction the progress of +Murat. He divined that Napoleon must at last be convinced of the +necessity of abandoning Moscow, and determined that at all events he +should not make his retreat in the direction of Kalouga. General +Bennigsen was ordered to attack Murat, on the 18th October, at Vincovo: +and the result was decidedly in favour of the Russians, in whose hands +there remained nearly 3000 prisoners, and forty pieces of artillery. +The cannonade was heard at the Kremlin; and no sooner did the issue of +the day reach Napoleon, than he made up his mind to march his whole army +to the support of the King of Naples. That same evening, several +divisions were put in motion; he himself, at the head of others, left +Moscow on the 19th; and the metropolis was wholly evacuated on the +morning of the 22nd. Russian troops entered it immediately afterwards, +in time to preserve the Kremlin, which had been undermined and attempted +to be blown up in a last access of rage; and within a few hours, so +completely had the patriotic peasants baffled Napoleon, the town swarmed +with people, and all the market-places were crowded with every species +of provision. The Emperor's bulletins announced that "Moscow had been +found not to be a good military position,"--that it was "necessary for +the army to breathe on a wider space." The precipitancy, however, with +which the French retired was such that they left their sick and wounded +to the mercy of the Russians; and yet thousands of waggons, laden with +the spoil of Moscow, attended and encumbered their march. + +Kutusoff now perceived that he had to expect the attack of a greater +than Murat. The Russian general occupied a position at Taroutino, on the +old road to Kalouga (the central one of three nearly parallel routes), +so strong by nature, and so improved by art, that Napoleon judged it +hopeless to attack him there. He therefore made a lateral movement, and +pushed on by the western road--meaning, after he had passed Taroutino, +to strike back again into the central one, and so interpose himself +between Kutusoff and Kalouga. The old Russian, however, penetrated this +plan; and instantly, by a manoeuvre of precisely the same kind--marching +to the eastward, and thence back to the centre again,--baffled it. The +French van, having executed the first part of their orders, and regained +the middle road in the rear of Taroutino, advanced without opposition as +far as Malo-Yaraslovetz, and occupied that town. But at midnight they +were assaulted furiously within it, and driven back across the river +Louja, where the leading divisions of the army bivouacked. Early in the +morning the French retook Malo-Yaraslovetz at the point of the bayonet, +and the greater part of the day was spent in a succession of obstinate +contests, in the course of which the town five times changed masters. In +the evening, Napoleon came up with his main body. He found his troops, +indeed, in possession of the place; but beyond it, his generals informed +him, Kutusoff and his whole army were now posted, and this on a position +at least as strong as that of Taroutino, which he himself had considered +unassailable. + +The Emperor's headquarters were in the wretched and filthy hut of a poor +weaver, and here an angry debate ensued between Murat and Davoust; the +former of whom urged the necessity of instantly attacking the Russian, +while the latter pronounced such an attempt to be worthy of a madman. +The Emperor heard them in gloomy silence, and declared that he would +judge for himself in the morning. He dismissed them all, and, if Segur +may be believed, spent the night in great agitation; now rising, now +lying down again--incessantly calling out--yet refusing to admit anyone +within a temporary screen of cloth which concealed his person from the +eyes of his attendants. This was the first occasion on which Buonaparte +betrayed in his demeanour that dark presentiment which had settled on +his mind ever since he beheld the flames of Moscow. + +At daybreak he passed the Louja with a few attendants, for the purpose +of reconnoitring Kutusoff's position. He had scarcely crossed the +bridge, when a party of Platoff's Cossacks, galloping furiously, and +sweeping some scattered companies of the French before them, came full +upon the Emperor and his suite. Napoleon was urged to seek safety in +flight; but he drew his sword and took post on the bank by the way-side. +The wild spearmen, intent on booty, plunged on immediately below him, +and, after stripping some soldiers, retired again at full speed to their +Pulk, without having observed the inestimable prize. The Emperor watched +their retreat, and continued his reconnaissance. It satisfied him that +Davoust had judged rightly. + +He made another effort to force a passage southwards at Medyn; but here +also he was repelled, and forced to abandon the attempt. Meantime the +army which had occupied Moscow begun to send forth its Cossacks on his +rear. In a word, it became apparent that if the retreat were to be +urged, it must now be in the direction of Verreia and Smolensko; that +is, through the same provinces which had been entirely wasted in the +earlier part of the campaign. + +Kutusoff, whether merely overpowered for the moment with that vague +sentiment which Buonaparte's name had hitherto been accustomed to +inspire, or that he knew of a still better position nearer Kalouga, was, +in fact, retiring from his strong ground behind Malo-Yaraslovetz, at the +moment when the French began to break up from the Louja. No sooner, +however, was that movement known, than the Russian penetrated the extent +of his adversary's embarrassments; and Platoff, with the Cossacks, +received orders to hang close on the French rear--while Milarodowitch, +with 18,000 men, pushed directly on Viasma; and the main army taking a +parallel, and a shorter, though less practicable route, marched also +with the view of watching the retreat on Smolensko. + +As Buonaparte was about to leave Verreia, General Witzingerode was +brought a prisoner into his presence. This officer had advanced to the +Kremlin, ere it was abandoned, with a flag of truce, for the purpose of +entering into some arrangements concerning the French wounded; and it is +to be supposed, of dissuading the departing garrison from destroying the +citadel. He was, however, placed instantly under arrest, and hurried +away with the enemy's march. Napoleon, whose temper was by this time +embittered into ungovernable rage, charged the General with being the +leader of the Cossacks, and threatened to have him shot, on the instant, +as a brigand. Witzingerode replied, that "he commanded not the Cossacks, +but a part of the regular army; and that, in the character of a Russian +soldier, he was at all times prepared for a French bullet." Napoleon, +now ascertaining the name, country, and rank of his prisoner, pursued in +these angry ejaculations: "Who are you? A man without a country--You +have ever been my enemy--You were in the Austrian's ranks at +Austerlitz--I now find you in the Russian! Nevertheless, you are a +native of the Confederation of the Rhine--therefore my subject--and a +rebel.--Seize him, gens-d'armes! Let the traitor be brought to trial." +The Emperor's attendants were wise enough to foresee the effects of such +violence, if persisted in: they interposed, and Witzingerode was sent +on as a prisoner of war towards Smolensko.[62] + +On the 28th of October, Napoleon himself, with 6000 chosen horse, began +his journey towards Smolensko; the care of bringing up the main body +being given to Beauharnois, while Ney commanded the rear. 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 on one division at Kolotsk, near Borodino, on the 1st of +November, and gave them a total defeat. A second division was attacked +on the day after, and with nearly equal success, by the irregular troops +of Count Orloff Denizoff. On the 3rd, Milarodowitch reached the main +road near Viasma, and after routing Ney, Davoust, and Beauharnois, drove +them through the town, which he entered with drums beating and colours +flying, and making a passage for the rest of the army over the dead +bodies of the enemy. Beauharnois, after this, separated his division +from the rest, and endeavoured to push for Vitepsk, by the way of +Douchowtchina, and Platoff followed him, while Milarodowitch continued +the pursuit on the main road. The separation of troops so pressed is a +sufficient proof that they were already suffering severely for want of +food; but their miseries were about to be heightened by the arrival of a +new enemy. On the 6th of November, the Russian winter fairly set in; and +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, disturbing every bivouack, breaking up bridges before, +and destroying every straggler behind them, and the terrible severity of +the climate, the frost, the snow, the wind--the sufferings of this once +magnificent army were such as to baffle all description. + +The accounts of the Russian authorities, of the French eye-witnesses who +have since told this story, and, it must be added, of the Emperor's own +celebrated "twenty-ninth bulletin," are in harmony with each other. The +enormous train of artillery which Napoleon had insisted on bringing away +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. The discipline of these +miserable bands vanished. Ney was indeed able to keep together some +battalions of the rear guard, and present a bold aspect to the +pursuers--the marshal himself not disdaining to bear a firelock, and +share the meanest fatigues of his followers; but elsewhere there +remained hardly the shadow of military order. Small and detached bodies +of men moved, like soldiers, on the highway--the immense majority +dispersed themselves over the ice and snow which equalised the surface +of the fields on either side, and there sustained from time to time the +rapid and merciless charge of the Cossacks. + +Beauharnois, meantime, discovered before he had advanced far on his +separate route, that Witgenstein, having defeated successively St. Cyr +and Victor on the Dwina, was already in possession of Vitepsk. The +viceroy therefore was compelled to turn back towards the Smolensko road. +Platoff turned with him, and brought him once more to action, "killing +many," said the Hetman's despatch, "but making few prisoners." The army +of Italy, if it could still be called an army, mingled with the few +troops who still preserved some show of order under Ney, before they +came in sight of Smolensko, and communicated to them their own terror +and confusion. + +Meanwhile the Russian "army of Volhynia," after it was strengthened by +the arrival of Tchichagoff from the Danube, had been able (as we have +already hinted) to bear down all the opposition of Schwartzenberg and +Regnier; had driven their forces before them, and taken possession of +Napoleon's great depôt, Minsk, from which they might hope ere long to +communicate with Witgenstein. The armies of Witgenstein and Tchichagoff, +then, were about to be in communication with each other, and in +possession of those points at which Napoleon was most likely to attempt +his escape from Smolensko, into Poland; while the main army itself, +having advanced side by side with the French, was now stationed to the +south-west of Smolensko, in readiness to break the enemy's march +whenever Kutusoff should choose; Milarodowitch, finally, and Platoff, +were hanging close behind, and thinning every hour the miserable bands +who had no longer heart, nor, for the most part, arms of any kind +wherewith to resist them. But the whole extent of these misfortunes was +not known to any one of the French generals, nor even to Napoleon +himself, at the time when Beauharnois and Ney at length entered +Smolensko. + +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 sorts: and there, +being once more assembled under the eye of the Emperor, speedily +reassume an aspect, such as none of the northern barbarians would dare +to brave. + +But these expectations were cruelly belied. Smolensko had been, as we +have seen, almost entirely destroyed by the Russians in the early part +of the campaign. Its ruined walls afforded only a scanty shelter to the +famished and shivering fugitives; and the provisions assembled there +were so inadequate to the demands of the case, that after the lapse of a +few days, Buonaparte found himself under the necessity of once more +renewing his disastrous march. He had, as yet, received no intelligence +of the capture of Minsk by Tchichagoff. It was in that direction, +accordingly, that he resolved to force his passage into Poland. + +Although the grand army had mustered 120,000 when it left Moscow, and +the fragments of various divisions besides had met the Emperor at +Smolensko, 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 6000 of the imperial guard, he himself took the command, and +marched with it towards Krasnoi, the first town on the way to Minsk: the +second corps was that of Eugene Beauharnois; the third, Davoust's; and +the fourth, destined for the perilous service of the rear, and +accordingly strengthened with 3000 of the guard, was entrusted to the +heroic guidance of Ney. The Emperor left Smolensko on the 13th of +November, 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 is not to be questioned that Napoleon, in thus arranging his march, +was influenced by the pressing difficulty of finding provisions, and +also by the enfeebled condition of the greater part of his remaining +troops. The division of his force, however, was so complete, that had he +been opposed by a general adequate to the occasion, his total and +immediate ruin could hardly have been avoided. But Kutusoff appears to +have exhausted the better part of his daring at Borodino, and +thenceforth to have adhered to the plan of avoiding battle--originally +wise and necessary--with a pertinacity savouring of superstition. It +must be admitted, that hitherto, in suffering the climate to waste his +enemy's numbers, and merely heightening the misery of the elemental war +by his clouds of Cossacks, and occasional assaults of other light +troops, he had reaped almost every advantage which could have resulted +from another course. But 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. It +seems to be generally accepted that the name of Napoleon saved whatever +part of his host finally escaped from the territory of Russia; in a +word, that had Kutusoff been able to shake off that awe which had been +the growth of a hundred victories, the Emperor himself must have either +died on some bloody field between Smolensko and the Beresina, or +revisited, as a prisoner, the interior of the country which, three +months before, he had invaded at the head of half a million of warriors. + +He himself, with his column, 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, the Viceroy executed a long and hazardous _detour_, and joined +the Emperor in Krasnoi, on the 17th. On this night-march they fell in +with the videttes of another of Kutusoff's columns, and owed their +preservation to the quickness of a Polish soldier, who answered the +challenge in Russian. The loss, however, had been severe; the two +leading divisions, now united in Krasnoi, mustered scarcely 15,000. + +Napoleon was most anxious to secure the passage of the Dnieper at Liady, +and immediately gave Eugene the command of the van, with orders to march +on this point; but he was warned by the losses which his son-in-law had +undergone, of the absolute necessity of waiting at Krasnoi until Davoust +and Ney should be able to come up with him. He determined, therefore, to +abide, with 6000 of the guard, and another corps of 5000, whatever +numbers Kutusoff might please to bring against him. He drew his sword, +and said, "I have long enough played the Emperor--I must be the general +once more." + +In vain was Kutusoff urged to seize this opportunity of pouring an +irresistible force on the French position. The veteran commanded a +cannonade--and, as he had 100 pieces of artillery well placed, the ranks +of the enemy were thinned considerably. But, excepting one or two +isolated charges of cavalry, he adventured on no closer collision; and +Napoleon held his ground, in face of all that host, until nightfall, +when Davoust's division, surrounded and pursued by innumerable Cossacks, +at length were enabled to rally once more around his headquarters. + +He had the mortification to learn, however, that Ney was probably still +in Smolensko, and that a Russian force had marched on towards Liady, +with the design of again intercepting Eugene. The Emperor, therefore, +once more divided his numbers--pushed on in person to support +Beauharnois and secure Liady--and left Davoust and Mortier to hold out +as long as possible at Krasnoi, in the hope of being there joined by +Ney. Long, however, before that gallant chief 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 the Emperor had in vain solicited. On that fatal field the French +left forty-five cannon and 6000 prisoners, besides the slain and the +wounded. The remainder with difficulty effected their escape to Liady, +where Napoleon once more received them, and crossed the Dnieper. + +Ney, meanwhile, having in execution of his master's parting injunctions +blown up whatever remained of the walls and towers of Smolensko, at +length set his rear-guard in motion, and advanced to Krasnoi, without +being harassed by any except Platoff, whose Cossacks entered Smolensko +ere he could wholly abandon it. The field strewn with many thousand +corpses, informed him sufficiently that a new disaster had befallen the +fated army. Yet he 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 were +covered with troops. + +A Russian officer appeared and summoned Ney to capitulate. "A mareschal +of France never surrenders," was his intrepid answer; and immediately +the batteries, distant only 250 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 guns. His small band were 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 hope of ever again seeing +anything of his rear-column. But during the ensuing night, Ney effected +his escape; nor does the history of war present many such examples of +apparently insuperable difficulties overcome by the union of skill and +valour. The marshal broke up his bivouac at midnight, and marched back +from the Losmina, until he came on another stream, which he concluded +must flow also into the Dnieper. He followed this guide, and at length +reached the great river at the place where it was frozen over, though so +thinly, that the ice bent and crackled beneath the feet of the men, who +crossed it in single files. The waggons 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, amidst 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, he, with his small and devoted band, +joined the Emperor once more at Orcsa. Napoleon received him in his +arms, hailed him as "the bravest of the brave," and declared that he +would have given all his treasures to be assured of his safety. + +The Emperor was once more at the head of his united "grand army"; but +the name was ere now become a jest. Between Smolensko and the Dnieper +the Russians had taken 228 guns, and 26,000 prisoners; and, in a word, +having mustered 40,000 effective men at leaving Smolensko, Napoleon +could count only 12,000 after Ney joined him at Orcsa. Of these there +were but 150 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, for immediate attendance on the +Emperor's person. The small fragment of his once gigantic force had no +sooner recovered something like the order of discipline, than it was +again set in motion. + +But scarcely had the Emperor passed the Dnieper, when he received the +tidings of the fall of Minsk, and the subsequent retreat of +Schwartzenberg towards Warsaw. It was, therefore, necessary, to alter +his plan, and force a passage into Poland to the northward of that great +depôt. It was necessary, moreover, to do this without loss of time, for +the Emperor well knew that Witgenstein had been as successful on his +right flank, as Tchichagoff on his left; and that these generals might +soon be, if they already were not, in communication with each other, and +ready to unite all their forces for the defence of the next great river +on his route--the Beresina. + +Napoleon had hardly resolved to attempt the passage of this river at +Borizoff, ere, to renew all his perplexities, he received intelligence +that Witgenstein had defeated Dombrowski there, and retained possession +of the town and bridge. Victor and Oudinot, indeed, advanced immediately +to succour Dombrowski, and re-took Borizoff; but Witgenstein burnt the +bridge before he re-crossed the Beresina. Imperfect as Victor's success +was, Napoleon did not hear of it immediately. He determined to pass the +Beresina higher up, at Studzianska, and forthwith threw himself into the +huge forests which border that river, adopting every stratagem by which +his enemies could be puzzled as to the immediate object of his march. + +His 12,000 men, brave and determined, but no longer preserving in their +dress, nor, unless when the trumpet blew, in their demeanour, a +soldier-like appearance, 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 presence of the +advanced guard of the united army of Victor and Oudinot, who had, +indeed, been defeated by Witgenstein, but still mustered 50,000 men, +completely equipped and hardly shaken in discipline. With what feelings +must these troops have surveyed the miserable half-starved and half-clad +remains of that "grand army," their own detachment from whose banners +had, some few short months before, filled every bosom among them with +regret! + +Having melted the poor relics of his Moscow army into these battalions, +Napoleon now continued his march on Studzianska; employing, however, all +his wit to confirm Tchichagoff in the notion that he meant to pass the +Beresina at a different place,--and this with so much success, that +Tchaplitz, with the Russian rear-guard, abandoned a strong position, +commanding the river, during the very night which preceded his +appearance there. Two bridges were erected, and Oudinot had passed over +before Tchaplitz 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. The +latter once more passed to the eastern bank of the river, and, having +wholly cut off one division of 7000, under Partonneux, not far from +Borizoff, proceeded towards Studzianska. Platoff and his indefatigable +Cossacks joined Witgenstein on this march, and they arrived long before +the rear-guard of Napoleon could pass the river. But the operations on +the other side of the Beresina were far less zealously or skilfully +conducted. Tchichagoff was in vain urged to support effectually +Tchaplitz; who attacked the French that had passed, 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, and which +being composed of old dry timber, would have required, says Segur, "to +destroy them utterly, but a few sparks from the Cossacks' tobacco +pipes." + +In spite of this neglect, and of the altogether extraordinary conduct of +Kutusoff, who still persisted in marching on a line parallel with +Napoleon, and refusing to hazard any more assaults, the passage of the +Beresina was one of the most fearful scenes recorded in the annals of +war. Victor, with the rear-division, consisting of 8000 men, was still +on the eastern side--when Witgenstein and Platoff appeared on the +heights above. 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 waggons rushed at once, pell-mell, upon the bridges. +The larger of these, intended solely for waggons and cannon, ere long +broke down, precipitating all that were upon it into the dark and +half-frozen stream. The scream that rose 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 +endeavoured to gain a footing on it. Squeezed, trampled, forced over the +ledges, cut down by each other, and torn by 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. There still remained behind a great number of +the irregular attendants, besides those soldiers who had been wounded +during the battle, and guns and baggage-carts enough to cover a large +meadow. The French now fired the bridge, and all these were abandoned to +their fate. The Russian account states, that when the Beresina thawed +after that winter's frost, 36,000 bodies were found in its bed. + +Tchaplitz was soon joined in his pursuit of the survivors by +Witgenstein and Platoff, and nothing could have saved Napoleon but the +unexpected arrival of a fresh division under Maison, sent forwards from +Poland by Maret, Duke of Bassano. + +But the severity of the winter began now to be intense, and the +sufferings of the army thus recruited were such, that discipline ere +long disappeared, except among a few thousands of hardy veterans, over +whose spirits the Emperor and Ney preserved some influence. The assaults +of the Cossacks continued as before: the troops often performed their +march by night, by the light of torches, in the hope of escaping their +merciless pursuers. When they halted, they fell asleep in hundreds to +wake no more. Their enemies found them frozen to death around the ashes +of their watch-fires. It is said, among other horrors, that more than +once they found poor famished wretches endeavouring to broil the flesh +of their dead comrades. On scenes so fearful the veil must not be +entirely dropt. Such is the price at which ambition does not hesitate to +purchase even the chance of what the world has not yet ceased to call +glory! + +The haughty and imperious spirit of Napoleon sank not under all these +miseries. He affected, in so far as was possible, not to see them. He +still issued his orders as if his army, in all its divisions, were +entire, and sent bulletins to Paris announcing a succession of +victories. When his officers came to inform him of some new calamity, he +dismissed them abruptly, saying, "Why will you disturb my tranquillity? +I desire to know no particulars. Why will you deprive me of my +tranquillity?" + +On the 3rd of December he reached Malodeczno, and announced to his +marshals that the news he had received from Paris, and the uncertain +nature of his relations with some of his allies, rendered it +indispensable for him to quit his army without further delay. 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 +Smorgoni, on the 5th, the garrison of Wilna met him; and then, having +entrusted to these fresh troops the protection of the rear, and given +the chief command to Murat, he finally bade adieu to the relics of his +host. He set off at midnight in a _traineau_, accompanied by +Caulaincourt, whose name he assumed: two other vehicles of the same kind +followed, containing two officers of rank, Rustan the Emperor's +favourite Mameluke, and one domestic besides. + +Having narrowly escaped being taken by a party of irregular Russians at +Youpranoni, Napoleon reached Warsaw at nightfall, on the 10th of +December. His ambassador there, the Abbé de Pradt, who had as yet heard +no distinct accounts of the progress of events, was unexpectedly visited +by Caulaincourt, who abruptly informed him that the grand army was no +more. The Abbé accompanied Caulaincourt to an obscure inn, where the +Emperor, wrapped in a fur cloak, was walking up and down rapidly, beside +a newly-lit fire. He was received with an air of gaiety, which for a +moment disconcerted him; and proceeded to mention that the inhabitants +of the Grand Duchy were beginning to show symptoms of disaffection, and +even of a desire to reconcile themselves with the Prussians, under whose +yoke they feared they were destined to return. The Abbé expressed his +own satisfaction that the Emperor had escaped from so many dangers. +"Dangers," cried Napoleon, "there were none--I have beat the Russians in +every battle--I live but in dangers--it is for kings of Cockaigne to sit +at home at ease. My army is in a superb condition still--it will be +recruited at leisure at Wilna, and I go to bring up 300,000 men more +from France. 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 foolhardy by their successes--I shall beat +them in a battle or two on the Oder, and be on the Niemen again within a +month." This harangue, utterly contradictory throughout, he began and +ended with a favourite phrase--"Monsieur L'Ambassadeur, from the sublime +to the ridiculous there is but a step." + +Resuming his incognito and his journey, Napoleon reached Dresden on the +evening of the 14th December, where the King of Saxony visited him +secretly at his inn, and renewed his assurances of fidelity. He arrived +at the Tuileries on the 18th, late at night, after the Empress had +retired to rest. He entered the ante-chamber, to the confusion of her +attendants, who at length recognised him with a cry that roused Maria +Louisa from her slumbers; and Napoleon was welcomed with all the warmth +of undiminished affection. + +The army, whom its chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile that +miserable march, of which every day augmented the disorder. The garrison +of Wilna and Maison's corps, united to those who escaped across the +Beresina, might number in all 80,000. Before Murat reached Wilna, 40,000 +of these had either died or fallen alive into the hands of their +unrelenting pursuers. In that city there were abundant magazines of +every kind, and the few who had as yet preserved some appearance of +order, together with the multitudes of broken stragglers, rushed in +confusion into the place, in the hope of at length resting from their +toils, and eating and drinking, for at least one day, in peace. Strong +men were observed weeping with joy at the sight of a loaf of bread. But +scarcely had they received their rations, ere the well-known _hurrah_ of +Platoff rung once more in their ears. They fled once more, with such of +their baggage as could be most easily got into motion; but many fell +beneath the spears of the Cossacks, and not a few, it is said, were +butchered deliberately in the moment of their perplexity by their +Lithuanian hosts, the same Polish Jews who had already inflicted such +irreparable injury on the whole army, by their non-observance of their +contracts. Shortly after, a waggon laden with coin was overturned on the +road, and the soldiers, laying aside all attention to their officers, +began to plunder the rich spoil. The Cossacks came up--but there was +enough for all, and friend and foe pillaged the imperial treasure, in +company, for once, without strife. It deserves to be recorded that some +soldiers of the imperial guard restored the money which fell to their +share on this occasion, when the weary march at length reached its end. + +They passed the Niemen at Kowno; and the Russians did not pursue them +into the Prussian territory. At the time when they escaped finally from +Poland, there were about 1000 in arms, and perhaps 20,000 more, utterly +broken, dispersed, and demoralised. + +Schwartzenberg, the general of the Austrian auxiliaries, on learning the +departure of Napoleon, formed an armistice with the Russians, and +retired by degrees into his own prince's territory. These allies had +shown little zeal in any part of the campaign; and their conduct seems +to have been appreciated by the Russians accordingly. + +In Courland, on the left flank of the French retreat, there remained the +separate corps of Macdonald, who had with him 20,000 Prussians and +10,000 Bavarians and other Germans. These Prussians had been sent on +this detached service in just apprehension of their coldness to the +invader's cause. Macdonald, on learning the utter ruin of the main army, +commenced his march upon Tilsit. On reaching that place D'York, the +commander of the Prussians, refused any longer to obey the marshal's +orders, and separated his men entirely--thus taking on himself the +responsibility of disobeying the letter of his sovereign's commands, and +anticipating that general burst of national hatred which, as all men +perceived, could not much longer be deferred. + +To the great honour, however, of the Prussian people, the wearied relics +of Napoleon's grand army were received in the country which, in the days +of their prosperity, they had so wantonly insulted, if not with +friendship, at least, with compassion. They took up their quarters, and +remained for a time unmolested, in and near Konigsberg. + +Thus ended the invasion of Russia. There had been slain in battle, on +the side of Napoleon, 125,000 men. Fatigue, hunger, and cold, had caused +the death of 132,000! and the Russians had taken of prisoners +193,000--including forty-eight generals and 3000 regimental officers. +The total loss was, therefore, 450,000 men. The eagles and standards +left in the enemy's hands were seventy-five in number, and the pieces of +cannon nearly one thousand. + +Exclusive of the Austrian and Prussian auxiliaries, there remained of +all the enormous host which Napoleon set in motion in August about +40,000 men; and of these not 10,000 were of the French nation. + +[Footnote 62: He was rescued in Poland by a party of Cossacks.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + + Conspiracy of Mallet--Napoleon's reception in Paris--his Military + Preparations--Prussia declares War--Austria negotiates with + Napoleon--Bernadette appears in Germany--The Russians advance into + Silesia--Napoleon heads his Army in Saxony--Battle of + Lutzen--Battle of Bautzen. + + +Some allusion has already been made to the news of a political +disturbance in Paris, which reached Napoleon during his retreat from +Moscow, and quickened his final abandonment of the army. The occurrence +in question was the daring conspiracy headed by General Mallet. This +officer, one of the ancient noblesse, had been placed in confinement in +1808, in consequence of his connection with a society called the +_Philadelphes_, which seems to have sprung up within the French army, at +the time when Napoleon seized the supreme power, and which had for its +immediate object his deposition--while some of the members contemplated +the restoration of a republican government, and others, of whom Mallet +was one, the recall of the royal family of Bourbon. The people of Paris +had for some weeks received no official intelligence from the grand +army, and rumours of some awful catastrophe were rife among all classes, +when Mallet conceived the daring project of forging a senatus-consultum, +announcing the fall of Napoleon in a great battle in Russia, and +appointing a provisional government. Having executed this forgery, the +general escaped from his prison, and appeared in full uniform, attended +by a corporal dressed as an aide-de-camp, at midnight, on the 22nd of +October 1812, at the gates of the Minims barracks, then tenanted by some +new and raw levies. The audacity with which he claimed the obedience of +these men to the senatorial decree overawed them. He assumed the +command, and on the instant arrested by their means Savary, minister of +police, and some others of the principal functionaries in the capital. +General Hullin, the military governor, was summoned and hesitated; at +that moment the officer of police, from whose keeping Mallet had +escaped, recognised him, and he was immediately resisted, disarmed, and +confined. The whole affair was over in the course of a few hours, but +the fact that so wild a scheme should have been so nearly successful was +sufficiently alarming. The ease and indifference with which a +considerable body of armed men, in the very heart of Paris, had +transferred their services to a new authority, proclaimed by a stranger, +made Napoleon consider with suspicion the basis of his power. And +ignorant to what extent the conspiracy had actually gone, he heard with +additional alarm, that no fewer than twenty-four persons, including the +leader, had been condemned to death. Of so many he was willing to +believe that some at least had been mere dupes, and apprehended that so +much bloodshed might create a violent revulsion of public feeling. The +Parisians beheld the execution of these men with as much indifference as +their bold attempt; but of this Napoleon was ignorant, until he reached +the Tuileries. + +His arrival, preceded as it had been by the twenty-ninth bulletin, in +which the veil was at last lifted from the fatal events of the campaign, +restored for the moment the appearances of composure, amidst a +population of which almost every family had lost a son or a brother. +Such was the influence that still clung to his name. The Emperor was +safe. However great the present calamity, hope remained. The elements, +as they were taught to believe, had not merely quickened and increased, +but wholly occasioned the reverses of the army. The Russian winter was +the only enemy that had been able to triumph over his genius, and the +valour of Frenchmen. The senate, the magistrates, all those public +bodies and functionaries who had the means of approaching the throne, +now crowded to its footsteps with addresses full of adulation yet more +audacious than they had ever before ventured on. Tho voice of applause, +congratulation, and confidence, re-echoed from every quarter, drowned +the whispers of suspicion, resentment, and natural sorrow. Every +department of the public service appeared to be animated with a spirit +of tenfold activity. New conscriptions were called for and yielded. +Regiments arrived from Spain and from Italy. Every arsenal resounded +with the preparation of new artillery--thousands of horses were +impressed in every province. 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 this great and gallant people. + +Meanwhile the French garrisons dispersed over the Prussian territory +were wholly incompetent to overawe that oppressed and insulted nation, +now burning with the settled thirst and the long-deferred hope of +vengeance. The king interposed, indeed, his authority to protect the +soldiers of Napoleon from popular violence; but it presently became +manifest that their safety must depend on their concentrating themselves +in a small number of fortified places; and that even if Frederick +William had been cordially anxious to preserve his alliance with France, +it would soon be impossible for him to resist the unanimous wishes of +his people. Murat was already weary of his command. He found himself +thwarted and controlled by the other generals, none of whom respected +his authority; and one of whom, when he happened to speak of himself in +the same breath with the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, answered +without ceremony, "You must remember that these are kings by the grace +of God, by descent, and by custom; whereas you are only a king by the +grace of Napoleon, and through the expenditure of French blood." Murat +was moreover jealous of the extent to which his queen was understood to +be playing the sovereign in Naples, and he threw up his command; being +succeeded by Eugene Beauharnois, and insulted anew by Napoleon himself, +in a general order which announced this change, and alleged as its +causes, the superior military skill of the viceroy, and his possession +of "the full confidence of the Emperor." Eugene succeeded to the command +at the moment when it was obvious that Frederick William could no +longer, even if he would, repress the universal enthusiasm of his +people. On the 31st of January, the King made his escape to Breslau, in +which neighbourhood no French were garrisoned, erected his standard, and +called on the nation to rise in arms. Whereon Eugene retired to +Magdeburg, and shut himself up in that great fortress, with as many +troops as he could assemble to the west of the Elbe. + +Six years had elapsed since the fatal day of Jena; and, in spite of all +the watchfulness of Napoleon's tyranny, the Prussian nation had +recovered in a great measure its energies. The people now answered the +call of their beloved prince, as with the heart and voice of one man. +Youths of all ranks, the highest and the lowest, flocked +indiscriminately to the standard: the students of the universities +formed themselves into battalions, at the head of which, in many +instances, their teachers marched. The women flung their trinkets into +the king's treasure--the gentlemen melted their plate--England poured in +her gold with a lavish hand. The rapidity with which discipline was +established among the great levies thus assembled, excited universal +astonishment. It spoke the intense and perfect zeal with which a people, +naturally warlike, had devoted themselves to the sacred cause of +independence. 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. There was some risk +in leaving a considerable number of hostile fortresses behind him and +his own frontier; but this he encountered cheerfully, rather than permit +the Prussians to stand alone in the first onset of Napoleon, of whose +extensive preparations all Europe was well aware. The two sovereigns, +long attached to each other by the warmest feelings of personal +friendship, though of late compelled by the iron force of circumstances +to put on the disguise of hostility, 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 entrusted to a +leader, whose name was hailed as the sure pledge of unremitting activity +and indomitable perseverance. This was Blucher, an officer originally +trained under the great Frederick, whose exemplary conduct after the +battle of Jena has already been mentioned. The brave old man had, since +that catastrophe, lived in utter retirement. The soldiery had long +before bestowed on him the _nom-de-guerre_ of _Marshal Forwards_, and +they heard of his appointment with universal delight. Addicted to +drinking, smoking, and gambling, and little conversant with the higher +branches of war as an art, Blucher was at first despised by Napoleon. +But his technical deficiencies were abundantly supplied by the skill of +Scharnforst, and afterwards of Gneisenau; and he himself possessed such +influence over the minds of his men in the day of action, and was sure +to rally them so rapidly after defeat, and to urge them on so keenly +when fortune was more favourable, that ere long the Emperor was forced +to confess that no one gave him so much trouble as that "debauched old +dragoon." Blucher hated the very names of France and Buonaparte with a +perfect hatred; and, once more permitted to draw his sword, he swore +never to sheathe it until the revenge of Prussia was complete. + +The Crown Prince of Sweden landed with 35,000 men 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. +Lord Wellington was about to advance once more into Spain, with his +victorious veterans. Three great armies, two of which might easily +communicate with each other, were thus taking the field against him at +once; and yet, such was Napoleon's pride or obstinacy, that he would +make no sacrifice whatever to secure the assistance of Austria. He still +adhered to his resolution of entering into no general peace which should +not recognise Joseph as King of Spain; and refused absolutely to listen +to any proposals which included the cession either of Illyria or the +Tyrol. Ere he once more left Paris, he named Maria Louisa Regent in his +absence; but this was a circumstance not likely to have much weight with +the wavering counsels of the Austrian. + +While Napoleon's military preparations were in progress, he made an +effort to conciliate that large party of his subjects, who had hitherto +looked on him with coldness as the oppressor of the head of the Catholic +church. During his absence in Russia, the Pope had been removed once +more to Fontainebleau, where he now occupied apartments in the palace, +under strict _surveillance_ of the police. The Emperor presented himself +suddenly in his hunter's dress before the holy father on the 13th of +January; and exerted his talents with such success, that preliminary +articles of a new concordat were at length drawn up. But in his +eagerness to produce a favourable impression on the Catholic public, +Napoleon published these preliminary articles, as if they had formed a +definite and ratified treaty; and Pius, indignant at this conduct, which +he considered as equally false and irreverent, immediately announced his +resolution to carry the negotiation no further. + +The Pope, however, was the only man in France who as yet durst openly +confront the rage of Buonaparte. As the time when he was expected to +assume once more the command of his army in the field drew near, the +addresses of his apparently devoted subjects increased in numbers, and +still more in the extravagance of their adulations. + +Napoleon quitted Paris in the middle of April, and on the 18th reached +the banks of the Saale; where the troops he had been mustering and +organising in France had now been joined by Eugene Beauharnois 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 Leipsig, the French intended to move eastwards with the +view of securing the possession of that great city. Of the armies thus +about to meet each other's shock in the heart of Saxony, there is no +doubt that Buonaparte's was considerably the more numerous. His activity +had been worthy of his reputation; and a host nearly 200,000 strong was +already concentrated for action, while reserves to nearly a similar +extent were gradually forming behind him on the Rhine. The Russians had +not as yet pushed forward more than half their disposable troops beyond +the Vistula--wherever the blame lay, such was the fact; the Prussians, +unanimous as their patriotism was, had had only three months to +reorganise their establishments. Under such circumstances, the advance +of the allies beyond the Elbe, could only have proceeded from their +ardent wish to stimulate the spirit of insurrection in the kingdom of +Saxony and the neighbouring states. It was obviously Napoleon's interest +to bring them to action while their numbers were thus unequal, and ere +the sole object of their hazardous advance could be realised. + +The armies met sooner than he had ventured to hope, on the first of May, +near the town of Lutzen, celebrated already as the scene of the battle +in which King Gustavus Adolphus died. 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 +skilfully 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. They +retreated next morning, leaving Napoleon in possession of the field. But +here the advantage stopped. The slain of the one army were not more +numerous than those of the other; and the allies, convinced of their +mistake, but neither broken nor discouraged, fell back leisurely on +Leipsig, thence on Dresden, and finally across the Elbe to Bautzen, +without leaving either prisoners or guns in the hands of the French. The +victory of Lutzen was blazoned abroad, as having restored all its glory +to the eagle of Napoleon; but he clearly perceived that the days were no +more in which a single battle determined the fate of a campaign, and an +empire. It was at Lutzen that Marshal Bessieres died. + +Napoleon entered Dresden on the 6th, and on the 12th was joined there by +the King of Saxony, who certainly had been individually a gainer by his +alliance, and who still adhered to it, in opposition to the wishes both +of his people and his army. The Saxon troops, who had been wavering, +once more submitted to act in concert with the French; and Hamburg, +which city had partaken in the movement of Prussia, and all the country +to the left of the Elbe, fell back, for the moment, into their hands. +The cruelty with which the defection of Hamburg, in particular, was now +revenged on the inhabitants by Marshal Davoust, has consigned to lasting +abhorrence the name of that able but heartless satellite of Napoleon. +All the atrocities of Junot and Massena, in Portugal, in 1808 and 1809, +were equalled on the banks of the Elbe, by Davoust, in the summer of +1813. + +While the Emperor paused at Dresden, Ney made various demonstrations in +the direction of Berlin, with the view of inducing the allies to quit +Bautzen; but it soon became manifest that they had resolved to sacrifice +the Prussian capital, if it were necessary, rather than forego their +position; by adhering to which they well knew Buonaparte must ultimately +be compelled to carry his main force into a difficult and mountainous +country, in place of acting in the open plains of Saxony and +Brandenburg. They were, moreover, desirous to remain in the +neighbourhood of Bohemia for another reason. The Austrian Emperor had +again renewed his negotiation with Napoleon; urging him to accept his +mediation for the conclusion of a general peace, and at the same time +giving him to understand that such a peace could not be obtained, unless +he would consent to be satisfied with the frontier of the Rhine, and +restore effectively the independence of the German nation. Napoleon's +conferences with Bubna, the Austrian envoy, were frequent and long; but +they ended where they began. He was well aware, however, that the +Emperor Francis was increasing his military establishment largely, and +that a great body of troops was already concentrated behind the +mountainous frontier of Bohemia. He could not but see that Austria +regarded herself as enabled and entitled to turn the scale on +whichsoever side she might choose; and he 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. Victory, he clearly +saw, could alone serve his interests with the Austrian. + +Having replaced by woodwork some arches of the magnificent bridge over +the Elbe, at Dresden, which the allies had blown up on their retreat, +Napoleon now moved towards Bautzen, and came in sight of the position on +the morning of the 21st of May. Its strength was obviously great. 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 vigour, that a whole column of 7000 dispersed and +fled into the hills of Bohemia for safety. The Emperor then 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 22nd; 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--the bloodshed, on +either side, had been terrible--ere, the situation of both flanks being +apparent, the allies perceived the necessity either of retiring, or of +continuing the fight against superior numbers on disadvantageous ground. +They withdrew accordingly; but still with all the deliberate coolness of +a parade: halting at every favourable spot, and renewing their +cannonade. "What," exclaimed Napoleon, "no results! not a gun! not a +prisoner!--these people will not leave me so much as a nail." During the +whole day he urged the pursuit with impetuous rage, reproaching even his +chosen generals as "creeping scoundrels," and exposing his own person in +the very hottest of the fire. By his side was Duroc, the grand master of +the palace, his dearest--many said, ere now, his only friend. Bruyeres, +another old associate of the Italian wars, was struck down in their +view. "Duroc," whispered Napoleon, "fortune has a spite at us this day." +A few minutes afterwards, Duroc himself was mortally wounded. The +Emperor instantly ordered a halt, and remained all the afternoon in +front of his tent, surrounded by the guard, who did not witness his +affliction without tears. From this time he would listen to no reports +or suggestions.--"Everything to-morrow," was his invariable answer. He +stood by Duroc while he died; drew up with his own hand an epitaph to be +placed over his remains by the pastor of the place, who received 200 +napoleons to defray the expense of a fitting monument; and issued also a +decree in favour of his departed friend's children. Thus closed the +22nd. The allies being strongly posted during most of the day, had +suffered less than the French; the latter had lost 15,000, the former +10,000 men. + +They continued their retreat into Upper Silesia; and Buonaparte advanced +to Breslau, and released the garrison of Glogau. Meanwhile the Austrian +having watched these indecisive though bloody fields, once more renewed +his offers of mediation. The sovereigns of Russia and Prussia expressed +great willingness to accept it; and Napoleon also appears to have been +sincerely desirous for the moment of bringing his disputes to a peaceful +termination. He agreed to an armistice, and in arranging its conditions +agreed to fall back out of Silesia; thus enabling the allied princes to +re-open communications with Berlin. The lines of country to be occupied +by the armies, respectively, during the truce, were at length settled, +and it was signed on the 1st of June. The French Emperor then returned +to Dresden, and a general congress of diplomatists prepared to meet at +Prague. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + + Napoleon's Interview with Metternich--Advice of his Ministers and + Generals--Intelligence from Spain--Battle of Vittoria--Congress of + Prague Dissolved--Austria declares War--Battle of Dresden--Death of + Moreau--Battle of Culm--Surrender of Vandamme--Battles of + Grossbeeren, Wahlstadt, and Dennewitz--Napoleon retires from the + Elbe--The Battle of Leipsig--The Battle of Hanau--The Allies on the + Rhine. + + +England alone refused to send any representative to Prague, alleging +that Buonaparte had as yet signified no disposition to recede from his +pretensions on Spain, and that he had consented to the armistice with +the sole view of gaining time for political intrigue and further +military preparation. It may be doubted whether any of the allied powers +who took part in the congress did so with much hope that the disputes +with Napoleon could find a peaceful end. His recent successes were to +the general view dazzling, however in reality unproductive, and must +have been supposed to quicken the flame of his pride. But it was of the +utmost importance to gain time for the advance of Bernadotte; for the +arrival of new reinforcements from Russia; for the completion of the +Prussian organisation; and, above all, for determining the policy of +Vienna. + +Metternich, the Austrian minister, repaired in person to Dresden; and, +while inferior diplomatists wasted time in endless discussions at +Prague, one interview between him and Napoleon brought the whole +question to a definite issue. The Emperor had hitherto seen in +Metternich only a smooth and elegant courtier, and he expected to bear +him down by military violence and rudeness. He assumed at once that +Austria had no wish but to drive a good bargain for herself, and asked +broadly, _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 stated plainly that the time in which Austria +could be neutral was past; that the situation of Europe at large must be +considered. Napoleon insinuated that he would be happy to dismember +Prussia, and give half her territories to Austria. Metternich replied +that his government was resolved to be gained by no share in the spoils +of others; that events had proved the impossibility of a steadfast +peace, unless the sovereigns of the continent were restored to the rank +of independence; in a word, 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 usurped and unnatural influence in +Germany. Napoleon replied by a gross personal insult: _Come, +Metternich_, said he, _tell me honestly how much the English have given +you to take their part against me?_ + +The Austrian court at length sent a formal document, containing its +_ultimatum_: the tenor of which Metternich had sufficiently indicated in +this conversation. Talleyrand and Fouché, who had now arrived from +Paris, urged the Emperor to accede to the proffered terms. They +represented to him the madness of rousing all Europe to conspire for his +destruction, and insinuated that the progress of discontent was rapid in +France itself. Their arguments were backed by intelligence of the most +disastrous character from Spain. Wellington, on perceiving that Napoleon +had somewhat weakened his armies in that country, when preparing for his +Saxon campaign, had once more advanced from the Portuguese frontier. He +was now in possession of the supreme authority over the Spanish armies, +as well as the Portuguese and English, and had appeared in greater force +than ever. The French line of defences on the Douro had been turned and +abandoned: their armies had concentrated to withstand him at Vittoria, +and there, on the 21st of June, Joseph and Marshal Jourdan had sustained +a total defeat. The "Intrusive King" was now retreating towards the +Pyrenees, chased from post to post by an enemy who, as it seemed, bade +fair to terminate his campaign by an invasion of the south-western +provinces of France. Napoleon was urged by his military, as well as +political advisers, to appreciate duly the crisis which his affairs had +reached. Berthier, and indeed almost all the generals on whose opinions +he had been accustomed to place reliance, concurred in pressing him +either to make 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, they said, 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 ever hoped to +possess. _Ten battles lost_, said he, _would not sink me lower than you +would have me to 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._ He proceeded to insult both ministers and +generals by insinuations that they were actuated by selfish motives; +complained haughtily that they seemed disposed to draw distinctions +between the country and the sovereign; and ended by announcing that he +did not wish for any plans of theirs, but their service in the execution +of his. + +Thus blinded by arrogance and self-confidence, and incapable of weighing +any other considerations against what he considered as the essence of +his personal glory, Napoleon refused to abate one iota of his +pretensions--until it was too late. Then, indeed, whether more accurate +intelligence from Spain had reached him, or the accounts of those who +had been watching the unremitting preparations of the allies in his +neighbourhood, had at length found due weight--then, indeed, he did show +some symptoms of concession. A courier arrived at Prague with a note, in +which he signified his willingness to accede to a considerable number of +the Austrian stipulations. But this was on the 11th of August. The day +preceding was that on which, by the agreement, the armistice was to end. +On that day Austria had to sign an alliance, offensive and defensive, +with Russia and Prussia. 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. + +On neither side had the pending negotiation been permitted for a moment +to interrupt or slacken military preparation. Napoleon had sent +Beauharnois into Italy, to be ready in case of any Austrian +demonstration in that quarter; and General Wrede, with the Bavarian +army, guarded his rear. An Austrian army, 60,000 strong, was now ready +to pass the Alps; and, to watch Wrede, another corps of 40,000, under +the Prince of Reuss, had taken their station. These were minor +arrangements. The forces now assembled around Napoleon himself were +full 250,000 in number, and disposed 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 Leipsig, with +60,000; while with the Emperor himself at Dresden remained 25,000 of the +imperial guard, the flower of France. The reader, on referring to the +map, will perceive that these corps were so distributed as to present a +formidable front on every point where it was likely the allies should +hazard an attack, and, moreover, so that Napoleon could speedily +reinforce any threatened position with his reserve from Dresden. For the +armies to be opposed were thus situated:--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 they 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 at Breslau. The +French corps at Zittau and Buntzlau were in communication, and could +confront Blucher wherever he might attempt to approach the Elbe. Lastly +the Crown Prince of Sweden 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 or other of them, and they also had the means +of mutual communication and support. The French had garrisons at +Wittemberg, Magdeburg, and elsewhere on the Elbe; and between the main +armies of the Allies were various flying corps of Russian and Prussian +light troops. + +On the whole, Dresden formed the centre of a comparatively small circle, +completely occupied by the French; while the Allies might be considered +as lying on part of a much wider circle beyond them. Napoleon had +evidently arranged his troops with a view of provoking his enemies to +make isolated assaults, and so beating them in detail. But he was now +opposed by generals well acquainted with his system of tactics, and who +had accordingly prepared a counter-scheme expressly calculated to baffle +the plan of arrangements on which he had reckoned. The commanders of the +three allied armies agreed--that whosoever of them should be first +assailed or pressed by the French, 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 +so enabling 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. The plan of the Allies is supposed to have been drawn up by +two generals who thoroughly understood the military system of +Napoleon--Bernadotte, the Crown Prince of Sweden and Moreau; who had +some time ere this accepted the invitation of the Emperor Alexander, and +returned from his American exile, to take part in the war--which now, in +the opinion of many Frenchmen, had for its object the emancipation of +France itself, as well as of the other countries of Europe. The conduct +of Moreau, in placing himself in the ranks of the Allies, will be +praised or condemned, according as men judge him to have been swayed by +patriotic motives, or by those of personal resentment and ambition. +There can be no question that his arrival brought a great accession of +military skill to their counsels. + +Blucher made the first movement; and no sooner did Napoleon understand +that he was threatening the position of Macdonald than he quitted +Dresden (15th August) with his guard and a powerful force of cavalry, +and proceeded to the support of his lieutenant. The Prussian adhered +faithfully to the general plan, and retired across the Katsbach, in the +face of his enemies. Napoleon was still pursuing him in the direction of +the Neiss and Breslau, when he was informed that Schwartzenberg had +rushed down from the Bohemian hills. He instantly abandoned Blucher to +the care of Macdonald, and sent his guards back to Dresden, whither he +himself also began his journey early on the 23rd. + +Having driven St. Cyr, and his 20,000 men, before him, Schwartzenberg +(with whom were the Sovereigns of Russia and Prussia in person) made his +appearance on the heights to the south of the Saxon capital, on the +25th. The army of St. Cyr had thrown themselves into the city, and it +was now surrounded with fortifications of considerable strength. Yet had +this vast host attacked it at once, there is every reason to believe it +must have fallen before Napoleon could have returned from Silesia. They +delayed, for whatever reason, until daybreak on the 26th; and then +assailed Dresden in six columns, each more numerous than its garrison. +St. Cyr already began to despair, when the imperial guard made their +appearance crossing the bridge from the Eastern side of the Elbe, and in +the midst of them Napoleon. A German author[63] says: "It was then that, +for the first time, I beheld his face. He came on with the eye of a +tyrant, and the voice of a lion, urging his breathless and eager +soldiers." Two sallies were on the instant executed by these troops, hot +as they were from their long and toilsome march. The Allies were driven +back for some space. Night set in, and the two armies remained in +presence till the morning. Then, amidst a fierce storm of wind and rain, +Napoleon renewed the battle. 200,000 men (such had been the rapid +decision of his orders to his various generals) were now 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 +altogether from their attempt. Ney and Murat on the left flank, and +Vandamme on the right (at Pirna), had taken possession of the two chief +roads into Bohemia, and in consequence they were compelled to retreat by +the comparatively difficult country paths between. On either side 8000 +men had been slain or wounded; but with the French there remained from +15 to 20,000 prisoners, and twenty-six cannon; and the ablest of all the +enemy's generals had fallen. + +Early in the day Buonaparte himself ordered some half-dozen cannon to be +fired at once upon a group, apparently of reconnoitring officers, and +this was followed by a movement which was thought to indicate that some +personage of importance had been wounded. A peasant came in the evening, +and brought with him a bloody boot and a greyhound, both the property, +he said, of the great man who was no more: the name on the collar was +_Moreau_. Both his legs had been shot off. He continued to smoke a cigar +while they were amputated and dressed, in the presence of Alexander, +and died shortly after; thus, if he had erred, paying the early forfeit +of his errors. + +But Fortune had only revisited the banners of her ancient favourite with +a momentary gleam of sunshine. The fatigues he had undergone between the +15th and the 28th of August would have broken any other frame, and they, +for the time, weakened his. It is said that a mess of mutton and garlic, +the only food he had tasted on the 26th, had besides deranged his +stomach. Unable to remain with the columns in the rear of +Schwartzenberg, he returned to Dresden weary and sick; and thenceforth +evil tidings awaited him. + +Vandamme continued the pursuit on the Pirna road. Seduced by the +enormous prize which lay before him at Toeplitz, where the chief +magazines of the Allies had been established, and on which all their +broken columns were now endeavouring to reassemble, this rude and +hot-headed soldier incautiously advanced beyond the wooded heights of +Peterswald into the valley of Culm. A Russian corps suddenly turned on +him, and formed in line of battle. Their General, Count D'Osterman, +assured them that the life of "their Father" depended on their +steadfastness; and no effort could shake them. The battle continued till +night, when Vandamme ought undoubtedly to have retired to Peterswald. He +lingered till the morning of the 30th;--when behind him, on those very +heights, appeared the Prussian corps of Kleist, who had been wandering +and lost their way amidst the forests. The French rushed up the hill in +despair, thinking they were intercepted by design. The Prussians, on +their part, doubted not that some other division of Napoleon's force was +hard behind them, and rushed down--with the same fear, and the same +impetuosity. The Russians advanced and completed the disarray. The field +was covered with dead: Vandamme and nearly 8000 men laid down their +arms. Many eagles were taken--the rest of the army dispersed in utter +confusion among the hills. + +This news reached Napoleon still sick at Dresden. "Such," said he to +Murat, "is the fortune of war--high in the morning--low ere night. +Between triumph and ruin there intervenes but a step." A map lay +stretched on the table before him; he took his compasses, and measuring +distances on it with an idle hand, repeated the lines of one of his +favourite poets: + + "J'ai servi, commandé, vaincu quarante années; + Du monde, entre mes mains, j'ai vu les destinées; + Et j'ai toujours connu qu'en chaque événement + Le destin des états dépendait d'un moment." + +Hard on the tidings of Culm followed others of the same complexion. No +sooner did Blucher perceive that Napoleon had retired from Silesia, than +he resumed the offensive, and descended from the position he had taken +up at Jauer. He encountered Macdonald, who was by no means prepared for +this boldness, on the plains between Wahlstadt and the river Katsbach, +on the 26th of August, and after a hard fought day gained a complete +victory.[64] The French lost 15,000 men and 100 guns, and fell back on +Dresden. Oudinot, meanwhile, had advanced from Leipsig towards Berlin, +with the _view_ of preventing Bernadotte from effecting a junction with +Blucher, or overwhelming the French garrisons lower down the Elbe. The +Crown Prince, however, met and defeated him at Grossbeeren, on the 23rd +of August; took Luckau, where 1000 men were in garrison, on the 28th; +and continued to advance towards Wittemberg, under the walls of which +city Oudinot at length concentrated all his forces. Napoleon, perceiving +the importance of this point, sent Ney with new troops, and gave him the +chief command, with strict orders to force his way to Berlin; so placing +Bernadotte between the Leipsig army and himself at Dresden. Ney +endeavoured to pass the Swedes without a battle, but failed in this +attempt. A general action was forced on him on the 7th of September, at +Dennewitz. He also was wholly defeated; 10,000 prisoners and forty-six +guns remained in the hands of Bernadotte; and Ney retreated in confusion +upon Torgau. + +Napoleon had now recovered his health and activity; and the exertions +which he made at this period were never surpassed, even by himself. On +the 3rd of September he was in quest of Blucher, who had now advanced +near to the Elbe; but the Prussian 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 also gave way, +according to the general plan of the campaign; and Buonaparte once more +returned to Dresden on the 12th. 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, having +contemplated with his own eyes the scene of Vandamme's catastrophe, once +more returned to his centre-point. + +Not all Ney's exertions could prevent Bernadotte and Blucher from at +length effecting their junction to the west of the Elbe. The Marshal, +having witnessed the combination of these armies, retreated to Leipsig. +Napoleon ordered Regnier and Bertrand to march suddenly from Dresden on +Berlin, in the hope of recalling Blucher; but the veteran persisted. +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 neighbourhood of Leipsig. It became manifest to all that Dresden had +ceased to be the key of Napoleon's defence: yet he clung to the Elbe, as +he had done to the Kremlin. + +He lingered at Dresden at least three weeks after all rational hope of +holding that river was gone; and even at the last, when he perceived the +necessity of transferring his person to Leipsig, he could not be +persuaded to call in his garrisons scattered down the valley, which he +still hoped some turn of events would enable him to revisit in triumph. + +Towards Leipsig, however, as on a common centre, the forces of France, +and all her enemies, were now at length 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. It +was necessary to prepare on the northern side also, in case Bernadotte +and Blucher should appear ere the grand army was disposed of; and, +lastly, it was necessary to secure effectually the ground to the west of +Leipsig;--a series of marshy meadows interfused with the numerous +branches of the Pleiss and the Elster, through which lies the only road +to France. Napoleon having made all his preparations, reconnoitred every +outpost in person, and distributed eagles, in great form, to some new +regiments which had just joined him. The ceremonial was splendid: the +soldiers knelt before the Emperor, and in presence of all the line: +military mass was performed, and the young warriors swore to die rather +than witness the dishonour of France. Upon this scene the sun descended; +and with it the star of Napoleon went down for ever. + +At midnight three rockets, emitting a brilliant white light, sprung into +the heavens to the south of the city; these marked the position on which +Schwartzenberg (having now 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 colour, ascending on the instant +from the northern horizon; and Napoleon doubted not that he was to +sustain on the morrow the assault of Blucher and Bernadotte, as well as +of 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 superiority of the enemy was very great. +Buonaparte had with him, to defend the line of villages to the south and +north of Leipsig, 136,000 men; while, even in the absence of Bernadotte, +who might be hourly looked for, the Allies mustered not less than +230,000. + +The battle commenced on the southern side, at daybreak of the 16th. The +Allies charged the French line there six times in succession, and were +as often repelled. Napoleon then charged in his turn, 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. The combat raged without intermission until nightfall: three +cannon shots, discharged at the extremity of either line, then marked as +if preconcertedly, the pause of battle; and both armies bivouacked +exactly where the morning light had found them. Such was the issue on +the south, where Napoleon himself commanded. Marmont, his lieutenant on +the northern side, had been less fortunate. Blucher attacked him with a +vast superiority of numbers: nothing could be more obstinate than his +defence; but he lost many prisoners and guns, was driven from his +original ground, and occupied, when the day closed, a new line of +positions, much nearer the walls of the city. + +Gallant as the behaviour of his troops had been, the result satisfied +Napoleon that he must finally retreat from Leipsig; and he now made a +sincere effort to obtain peace. General Mehrfeldt, 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. Mehrfeldt informed him that the King of Bavaria +had at length acceded to the alliance. This intelligence added to his +perplexities, already sufficiently great, the prospect of finding a new +enemy stationed on the line of his march to France. He entreated the +Austrian to request for him the personal intercession 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 Mehrfeldt, when on my part you name +the word armistice to the two Emperors, I doubt not the sound will +awaken many recollections." + +It was now too late: the Allied Princes had sworn to each other to +entertain no treaty while one French soldier remained on the Eastern +side of the Rhine. Napoleon received no answer to his message; and +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 early 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 resolved to have the support of +Bernadotte in the decisive contest. + +At eight in the morning of the 18th it began, and continued until +nightfall without intermission. Buonaparte had contracted on the south, +as well as on the north, the circuit of his defence; and never was his +generalship, or the gallantry of his troops, more brilliantly displayed +than throughout this terrible day. Calm and collected, the Emperor again +presided in person on the southern side, and again, where he was +present, 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 (now also stationed on that +side) was further perplexed by the shameful defection of 10,000 Saxons, +who went over with all their artillery to the enemy, in the very midst +of the battle. The two marshals, therefore, were compelled to retire +from point to point, and at nightfall lay almost close to the walls of +Leipsig. Three cannon shot, as before, marked the general termination of +the battle. + +The loss on either side had been great. Napoleon's army consisted +chiefly of very young men--many were merely boys--the produce of his +forestalled conscriptions: yet they fought as bravely as the guard. The +behaviour of the Germans, on the other hand, at length considering their +freedom and independence as hanging on the fortune of a single field, +had been answerable to the deep enthusiasm of that thoughtful people. +The burghers of Leipsig surveyed from their towers and steeples one of +the longest, sternest, and bloodiest of battles: and the situation of +the King of Saxony, who remained all the while in the heart of his +ancient city, may be imagined. + +Napoleon 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 it broke +down ere daylight came to show to the enemy the movement of the 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 entrusted the defence of the +suburbs, it is doubted whether he himself could have escaped in safety. +At nine in the morning of the 19th, he bade farewell for ever to the +King of Saxony, who remained to make what terms he could with the allied +sovereigns. The battle was ere then raging all round the walls. + +At eleven o'clock the Allies had gathered close to the bridge from +either wing; and the walls over against it had been entrusted to Saxons, +who now, like their brethren of the day before, turned their fire on the +French. The officer to whom Napoleon had committed the task of blowing +up the bridge, when the advance of the enemy should render this +necessary, conceived that the time was come, and set fire to his train. +The crowd of men, urging each other on the point of safety, could not at +once be stopped. Soldiers and horses, cannons and wains, rolled headlong +into the deep though narrow river; which renewed, though on a smaller +scale, the horrors of the Beresina. Marshal Macdonald swam the stream in +safety: the gallant Poniatowski, the hope and pride of Poland, had been +twice wounded ere he plunged his horse into the current, and he sank to +rise no more. Twenty-five thousand Frenchmen, the means of escape +entirely cut off, laid down their arms within the city. Four Princes, +each entering at the head of his own victorious army, met at noon in the +great market-place at Leipsig: and all the exultation of that solemn +hour would have been partaken by the inhabitants, but for the fate of +their own sovereign, personally esteemed and beloved, who now vainly +entreated to be admitted to the presence of the conquerors, and was sent +forthwith as a prisoner of war to Berlin. + +Napoleon, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, lost at Leipsig at least +50,000 men. + +The retreat of the French through Saxony was accompanied with every +disaster which a hostile peasantry, narrowness of supplies, and the +persevering pursuit of the Cossacks and other light troops could inflict +on a disordered and disheartened mass of men. The soldiers moved on, +while under the eye of Napoleon, in gloomy silence: wherever he was not +present, they set every rule of discipline at nought, and were guilty of +the most frightful excesses. The Emperor 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. + +He halted for two days at Erfurt, where extensive magazines had been +established, employing all his energies in the restoration of +discipline: and would have remained longer, had he not learned that the +victors of Leipsig were making progress on either flank of his march, +while the Bavarians (so recently his allies), reinforced by some +Austrian divisions, were moving rapidly to take post between him and the +Rhine. He resumed his march, therefore, on the 25th. It was here that +Murat quitted the army. Notwithstanding the unpleasant circumstances +under which he had retired to Naples in January, Joachim had reappeared +when the Emperor fixed his headquarters at Dresden in the summer, and +served with his usual gallantry throughout the rest of the campaign. The +state of Italy now demanded his presence; and the two brothers-in-law, +after all their differences, embraced each other warmly and repeatedly +at parting--as if under a mutual presentiment that they were parting to +meet no more. + +The Austro-Bavarians had taken up a position amidst the woods near Hanau +before the Emperor approached the Mayne. He came up with them in the +morning of the 30th, and his troops charged on the instant with the fury +of desperation. Buonaparte cut his way through ere nightfall; and +Marmont, with the rear, had equal success on the 31st. In these actions +there fell 6000 of the French; but the enemy had 10,000 killed or +wounded, and lost 4000 prisoners, and these losses would have been far +greater but for the ready wit of a patriotic miller, who, watching the +tide of battle, suddenly let the water into his mill-stream, and thus +interposed a seasonable obstacle between the French cavalry and some +German infantry, whom they had been driving before them; a service which +the King of Prussia subsequently rewarded with munificence. + +The pursuit on the road which Napoleon adopted had been entrusted to the +Austrians, who urged it with far less vigour than the Prussians under +the fiery guidance of Blucher would probably have exerted. No +considerable annoyance, therefore, succeeded to the battle of Hanau. The +relics of the French host at length passed the Rhine; and the Emperor +having quitted them at Mentz, arrived in Paris on the 9th of November. + +The armies of Austria and Prussia at length halted on the Rhine. To the +Germans of every age this great river has been the object of an +affection and reverence scarcely inferior to that with which an Egyptian +contemplates the Nile, or the Indian his Ganges. When these brave bands +having achieved the rescue of their native soil, came in sight of this +its ancient landmark, the burden of an hundred songs, they knelt, and +shouted _the Rhine! the Rhine!_ as with the heart and voice of one man. +They that were behind rushed on, hearing the cry, in expectation of +another battle. + +[Footnote 63: Hoffman's Account of his own Life.] + +[Footnote 64: Blucher was created Prince of Wahlstadt.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + + Declaration of the Allies at Frankfort--Revolution of + Holland--Liberation of the Pope and Ferdinand VII.--Obstinacy of + Napoleon--His Military Preparations--Dissolution of the Legislative + Senate. + + +Of the events which crowded upon each other in the space of a few weeks +after the overthrow of Leipsig, any one would in times less +extraordinary have been sufficient to form an epoch in history. Having +once reached the summit of his greatness, the long-favoured child of +fortune was destined to sink even more rapidly than he had ascended. +Every day added some new alliance to the camp of his foreign enemies; +and every hour that passed brought with it clearer indications that the +French nation (considered apart from the army) were weary utterly of the +very names of War, and Ambition, and Napoleon. + +The fabric of his German empire crumbled into nothing, as at the spell +of a magician. Hanover returned to the dominion of its rightful +sovereign immediately. Brunswick, Hesse, and the other states which had +formed Jerome's kingdom of Westphalia, followed the same example. The +Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved for ever; and the princes who +had adhered to that league were permitted to expiate their, in most +cases involuntary, error, by now bringing a year's revenue and a double +conscription to the banner of the Allies. Bernadotte turned from Leipsig +to reduce the garrisons which Napoleon, in the rashness of his +presumption, had disdained to call in, even when compelled to evacuate +Dresden; and one by one they fell, though in most cases--particularly at +Dantzick, Wirtemberg, and Hamburg--the resistance was obstinate and +long. The Crown Prince--having witnessed the reduction of some of these +fortresses, and entrusted the siege of the others to his +lieutenants--invaded Denmark, and the government of that country +perceived the necessity of acceding to the European alliance, by +whatever fine its long adhesion to Napoleon might be expiated. The +treaty was 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 then turned +his face towards the Netherlands. + +In Holland, no sooner had the story of Leipsig reached it than a +complete, though bloodless revolution was effected. The cry of _orange +boven_, "up with the orange," burst simultaneously from every part of +the country: the French governors, yielding to a power which they +perceived the absurdity of attempting to resist, retired on the instant, +and the long-exiled Stadtholder, the Prince of Orange, returning in +triumph from England, assumed the administration of affairs in November, +1813. A few French garrisons remained shut up in strong places, of which +the most important was Bergen-op-Zoom; and Bernadotte now co-operated +with the Russian corps of Witzingerode, the Prussians of Bulow, and a +British force of 10,000, under Sir T. Graham,[65] with the view of +completing the deliverance of Holland; which was ere long effected, with +the exception of Bergen-op-Zoom, from whose walls the English were +repulsed with dreadful slaughter. + +On the side of Italy the aspect of affairs was almost as dark. General +Hiller, having conducted an Austrian army through the Tyrol, as soon as +the decision of his government was taken, had defeated Eugene +Beauharnois, and driven him behind the Adige. The Croats, the Tyrolese, +all the Illyrians were rising, and--so far from giving aid in the +defence of the French soil--it was manifest that the Viceroy could +hardly hope to maintain himself much longer in Lombardy. An English +naval force had already taken Trieste: the Adriatic was free; and, to +complete Napoleon's perplexity as to this quarter, it was no longer a +secret that Murat, his brother-in-law, his creature, was negotiating +with Austria, and willing, provided that Naples were guaranteed to him, +to array the force of that state also on the side of the confederacy. + +As little comfort could Buonaparte derive if he turned to the Pyrenees. +He had sent Soult thither from Dresden, to retrieve if possible the +fortunes of the army defeated in June at Vittoria; and that most able +general, with considerable reinforcements, had entered Spain, and +attempted to relieve the siege of Pamplona--of which strong place, as +well as St. Sebastian Lord Wellington had resolved to be master before +he should pass the French frontier with his victorious army. But Soult +also had been twice defeated; the fortresses had fallen: except a +detached, and now useless force under Suchet in Catalonia, there +remained no longer a single French soldier in Spain. The Peninsula had +at length been delivered by the genius of Wellington; and his army were +cantoned within the territory of France ere the close of the campaign. +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. + +Nor were even these the worst tidings. Two parties, of which one had not +of late years attracted much public notice, and the other had as long +wanted efficient leaders, were well-known ere now to be labouring +throughout France, though not as yet in conjunction, for one common +purpose--the deposition of Buonaparte. The royalists had recovered a +great share of their ancient influence in the society of Paris, even +before the disasters of the Russian expedition. The exiled Bourbon had +found means to distribute proclamations early in 1813: his agents had +ever since been exerting themselves indefatigably, both in Paris and in +the provinces, especially in those of the west. The Mayor of Bourdeaux +(Lynch) was at the head of a loyal association, comprehending the chief +inhabitants of that great city, and already in communication with the +Marquess of Wellington, who, however, felt it his duty to check them on +this occasion, lest the progress of events should render their efforts +fruitless to Louis, and fatal to themselves. La Roche Jacquelein (a name +already so illustrious in La Vendée) had once more prepared that +faithful province for insurrection. Saintonge had been organised by the +Abbé Jaqualt; Perigord by Messieurs de la Roche Aymon; and in the +countries about Nantes, Angers, and Orleans, great bands, consisting +partly of Buonaparte's own refractory conscripts, were in training under +the Counts De L'Orge, D'Antichamp, and Suzannet. The royalist gentlemen +of Touraine, to the number of 1000, were headed by the Duke of Duras; +those of Brittany were mustering around Count Vittray, and various +chieftains of the old Chouans; and Cadoudal, brother to Georges, was +among the peasantry of Varnes. These names, most of them well-known in +the early period of the Revolution, are of themselves sufficient to show +how effectually the Buonapartean government had endeavoured, during +thirteen years, to extinguish the old fire of loyalty. It had all the +while glowed under the ashes, and it was now ready to burst forth +shining and bright. The Bourbon princes watched the course of events +with eager hope. The Duke of Berri was already in Jersey, Monsieur (now +Charles X.) in the Netherlands, and the Duke D'Angouleme about to make +his appearance at the headquarters of Wellington, in Bearn, the cradle +of his race. The republicans, meanwhile,--those enthusiasts of the +Revolution who had in the beginning considered Buonaparte's consulate as +a dictatorship forced on France by the necessities of the time, and to +be got rid of as soon as opportunity should serve--and who had long +since been wholly alienated from him, by his assumption of the imperial +dignity, his creation of orders and nobles, his alliance with the House +of Austria, and the complete despotism of his internal government--these +men had observed, with hardly less delight than the royalists, that +succession of reverses which darkens the story of the two last +campaigns. Finally, not a few of Napoleon's own ministers and generals, +irritated by his personal violence, and hopeless of breathing in peace +while that fierce and insatiable spirit continued at the head of +affairs, were well prepared to take a part in his overthrow; nor was it +long ere all these internal enemies, at whatever distance their +principles and motives might have seemed to place them from each other, +were content to overlook their differences and work together. +Talleyrand, there can be little doubt, and others only second to him in +influence, were in communication with the Bourbons, before the Allies +crossed the Rhine. _Ere then_, said Napoleon at St. Helena, _I felt the +reins slipping from my hands_. + +The allied princes issued, at Frankfort on the Mayne, a manifesto, the +firm and temperate language of which was calculated to make a strong +impression in France, as well as elsewhere. The sovereigns announced +their belief that it was for the interest 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 sole object in invading France was to put an end to the +authority which Napoleon had usurped over other nations. They disclaimed +any wish to interfere with the internal government--it was the right of +the nation to arrange that as they pleased; the hostility of Europe was +against, not France, but Napoleon--and even as to Napoleon, against not +his person, but his system. The same terms were tendered to Napoleon +himself, through M. de St. Aignan, one of his own ministers, who +happened to have fallen into the hands of the Allies at Weimar; and his +answer was such that diplomatists from all the belligerent powers +forthwith assembled at Manheim;--Lord Aberdeen appearing on the part of +the government of England--a circumstance of itself sufficient to give +to these new conferences a character of greater promise than had +attended any of recent date. + +But although Napoleon authorised Caulaincourt to commence this +negotiation on his behalf, it was very soon manifest that he did so +merely, as before, for the purpose of gaining time. His military +preparations were urged with unremitting energy. New conscriptions were +called for, and granted: every arsenal resounded with the fabrication of +arms: and all the taxes were at once doubled by an imperial decree. The +enslaved press proclaimed that the national ardour was thoroughly +stirred, and with its thousand voices reminded the Allies of the effects +of the Duke of Brunswick's proclamation when about to touch the sacred +soil of France in 1793. + +But the enthusiasm of the revolutionary period was long since gone by. +In vain did Napoleon send special agents through the departments, +calling on Frenchmen of all classes to rise in arms for the protection +of the soil. Coldness, languor, distrust met them almost everywhere. The +numerical results even of the conscription-levy were far under what they +should have been; and of those who did enrol themselves, multitudes +daily deserted, and not a few took part with those royalist bands who +were, as we have already seen, mustering and training zealously in +almost every district that was either strong by nature, or remote from +the great military establishments of Buonaparte. Nay, even the +Legislative Senate, so long the silent and submissive slaves of all his +imperial mandates, now dared to testify some sympathy with the feelings +of the people, whom, in theory at least, they were supposed to +represent. This was a novelty for which Napoleon had not been prepared, +and he received it in a manner little likely to conciliate the +attachment of wavering men. They ventured to hint that ancient France +would remain to him, even if he accepted the proposals of the Allies, +and that Louis XIV., when he desired to rouse the French people in his +behalf in a moment of somewhat similar disaster, had not disdained to +detail openly the sincere efforts which he had made to obtain an +honourable peace. "Shame on you!" cried the Emperor, "Wellington has +entered the south, the Russian 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 till 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 Bourdeaux; another at Mentz; a third at Lyons. But I must +have grown men--these boys serve only to encumber 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 heads 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, nevertheless, drew up and presented a report which +renewed his wrath. He reproached them openly with desiring to purchase +inglorious ease for themselves at the expense of his honour. _I am the +state_, said he, repeating a favourite expression: _What is the +throne?--a bit of wood gilded and covered with velvet--I am the state--I +alone am here the representative of the people. Even if I had done wrong +you should not have reproached me in public--people wash their dirty +linen at home. France has more need of me than I of France._ + +Having uttered these furious words, Napoleon repaired to his council of +state, and there denounced the legislative senate, as composed of one +part of traitors and eleven of dupes. _In place of assisting_, said he, +_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_. And the Emperor did accordingly issue his decree, proroguing +indefinitely that assembly, the last feeble shadow of popular +representation in France. + +The greatest confusion already began to pervade almost every department +of the public service. The orders of the government were more peremptory +than ever, and they were hourly more neglected. Whole bands of +conscripts, guilty of endeavouring to escape, were tried by military +commissions and decimated. Even close to the barriers of Paris such +executions were constantly going on; and all in vain. The general +feeling was that of sullen indifference. Hireling musicians paraded the +streets, singing fine-new ballads in honour of the Emperor, to the +long-forgotten tune of _ça ira_; the passengers gathered round them, and +drowned the strains in hooting and laughter. In every saloon discussions +such as the police had long suppressed were urged without ceremony. +_This will not continue; the cord is too much stretched--it will soon be +over_; such was the universal language. Talleyrand, hearing an officer +express his alarm and astonishment, made answer in words which have +passed into a proverb:--_It is the beginning of the end._ + +During this uneasy pause, Napoleon at last dismissed his venerable +prisoner of Fontainebleau. It is not unlikely that, in the altered state +of Italy, he thought the arrival of the Pope might tend to produce some +dissension among his enemies in that quarter; and, in effect, when Pius +reached Rome, he found the capital of the Catholic world in the hands of +Murat, who had ere then concluded his treaty with Francis, and was +advancing into the north of Italy, in the view of co-operating in the +campaign against Beauharnois, with the Austrians on the one side, and on +the other, with an English force recently landed at Leghorn, under Lord +William Bentinck. + +He also unlocked the gates of Valençay on Ferdinand of Spain; and, +without doubt, the letter, in which he announced this intention to his +injured victim, will ever be recorded among the prime instances of his +audacity. He informed Ferdinand that the English were spreading _jacobin +principles_ in Spain, and attacking the foundations of the throne, the +aristocracy, and the church; and that he, therefore, was anxious to see +him at the head of affairs in the kingdom, provided he would expel the +English, and re-establish its relations with France, on the footing of +the peace which gave Godoy his title. Ferdinand durst not execute any +treaty without consulting the Cortes. They disdained to treat at all +with Napoleon. He then liberated the King unconditionally; and after +five years' captivity, Ferdinand re-entered Spain, amidst the all but +universal acclamations of a nation, who had bled at every pore in his +cause, and whom his government was destined ere long to satisfy that +they had bled in vain. Napoleon, no doubt, understood well what sort of +a present he was conferring on the Spaniards when he restored Ferdinand, +and probably calculated that his arrival would fill the country with +civil tumults, sufficient to paralyse its arm for foreign war. And--had +the King returned but a year earlier--such, in all likelihood, would +have been the consequence. Once more Napoleon was too late in doing good +that evil might follow. + +For some time, thanks to the slavery of the Parisian press, the +population of the capital remained in ignorance as to the proceedings of +the Allies on the Rhine. Indeed--such was still the influence of the +Emperor's military reputation--the inhabitants of the French provinces +on that frontier, continued to believe it impossible that any foreign +army should dare to invade their soil, until they that had ears to hear, +and eyes to see, were perforce undeceived. Schwartzenberg, with the +_Grand Army_, at length crossed the Rhine, between Basle and +Schaffhausen, on the 20th of December, and disregarding the claim of the +Swiss to preserve neutrality, advanced through that territory unopposed, +and began to show themselves in Franche-Comté, 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 (for Bernadotte declined having any part in the +actual invasion of France) began to penetrate the frontier of the +Netherlands. The wealthier inhabitants of the invaded provinces escaped +to Paris, bearing with them these tidings; the English _détenûs_ of +Verdun were seen traversing the capital on their route to more distant +quarters; the state prisoners of Vincennes itself, under the walls of +Paris, were removed. The secret, in a word, could no longer be kept. It +was known to every one that the Pyrenees had been crossed by Wellington, +and the Rhine by three mighty hosts, amounting together to 300,000 men, +and including representatives of every tongue and tribe, from the +Germans of Westphalia to the wildest barbarians of Tartary. Persons of +condition despatched their plate and valuables to places at a distance +from the capital; many whole families removed daily; and the citizens of +Paris were openly engaged in laying up stores of flour and salted +provisions, in contemplation of a siege. + +The violation of the Swiss territory was in itself indefensible; but he +who had so often disdained all rules of that kind in his own person, who +had seized D'Enghien, who had traversed Bareuth, could hardly hope to be +listened to when he complained of Schwartzenberg's proceeding. The +allied generals, moreover, 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. This assuredly was a flagrant outrage +against the most sacred and inalienable rights of mankind: but Napoleon +had set the fatal example himself in Lombardy, and followed it without a +blush, in Egypt, in Germany, in Spain, in Portugal, and but yesterday in +Russia. Here also, therefore, his reclamations moved no feeling +favourable to himself; and the time was gone by when the French people +would have been ready to take fire at so lawless an aggression upon +their national rights:--these Napoleon's tyranny had trampled down ere +strangers dared to insult them. There were some few scattered instances +of resistance; but in general, the first advance of the Allies was +regarded with indifference; and it was only at a later period, when the +invading generals were no longer able to maintain strict discipline +among their barbarous hordes of horsemen, then scattered over a wide +extent of country, that the sense of individual suffering afforded even +a glimpse of hope to Napoleon, and those who, like him, were eager to +oppose a national insurrection to the allied march. + +Meantime, nearer and nearer every day the torrent of invasion rolled +on--sweeping before it, from post to post, the various corps which had +been left to watch the Rhine. Marmont, Mortier, Victor, and Ney, +commanding in all about 50,000 men, retired of necessity before the +enemy. It had been considered as certain that much time must be occupied +with the besieging of the great fortresses on the Rhenish frontier. But +it was now apparent that the Allies had resolved to carry the war into +the interior, without waiting for the reduction of these formidable +outworks. Their numbers were such that they could afford to mask them, +and still pass on with hosts overwhelmingly superior to all those of +Napoleon's lieutenants. These withdrew, and with them, and behind them, +came crowds of the rustic population possessing any means of transport. +Carts and waggons, crammed with terrified women and children, thronged +every avenue to the capital. It was at last necessary that the Emperor +should break silence to the Parisians, and re-appear in the field. + +The invasion of France, however, rallied around Napoleon some persons of +eminence who had long hung aloof from him. Carnot in particular, who, +ever since he opposed the assumption of the imperial title, had remained +in retirement, came forward to offer his sword in what he now considered +as the cause of his country. Nor did Buonaparte fail to receive such +proposals as they deserved. He immediately sent his old enemy to command +the great city and fortress of Antwerp; and similar instances of manly +confidence might be mentioned to his honour. + +On the 22nd of January the first official news of the invasion appeared; +the _Moniteur_ announced that Schwartzenberg had entered Switzerland on +the 20th of December, and that Blucher also had crossed the Rhine on the +first day of the year; thus confessing openly the deliberate deceit of +its previous silence. The next morning, being Sunday, the officers of +the National Guard were summoned to the Tuileries. They lined the +_Saloon of the Marshals_, to the number of 900, altogether ignorant of +the purpose for which they had been convoked. The Emperor took his +station in the centre of the hall; and immediately afterwards the +Empress with the King of Rome (carried in the arms of Countess +Montesquiou), appeared at his side. "Gentlemen," said Napoleon, "France +is invaded; I go to put myself at the head of my troops, and, with God's +help and their valour, I hope soon to drive the enemy beyond the +frontier." Here he took Maria Louisa 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"--then +correcting himself, he said in a tone of strong emotion--"_my wife and +my child_." Several officers stepped from their places and approached +him; and tears were visible on the cheeks even of those who were known +to be no worshippers of the Emperor, or hearty supporters of his cause. + +A Frenchman can rarely resist a scene: and such this was considered, and +laughed at accordingly, ere next morning. It is, nevertheless, difficult +to refuse sympathy to the chief actor. Buonaparte was sincerely attached +to Maria Louisa, though he treated her rather with a parental tenderness +than like a lover; and his affection for his son was the warmest passion +in his heart, unless, indeed, we must except his pride and his ambition, +both of which may be well supposed to have merged for a moment in the +feeling which shook his voice. + +[Footnote 65: Now Lord Lynedoch.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + + The Campaign of France--Battles of Brienne and La + Rothiere--Expedition of the Marne--Battles of Nangis and + Montereau--Schwartzenberg Retreats--Napoleon again marches against + Blucher--Attacks Soissons and is Repulsed--Battles of Craonne and + Laon--Napoleon at Rheims--His Perplexities--He Marches to St. + Dizier. + + +Napoleon spent part of the 24th of January in reviewing troops in the +courtyard of the Tuileries, in the midst of a fall of snow, which must +have called up ominous recollections, and at three in the morning of the +25th, once more left his capital. He had again appointed Maria Louisa +Regent, placed his brother Joseph at the head of her council, and given +orders for raising military defences around Paris, and for converting +many public buildings into hospitals. He set off in visible dejection; +but recovered all his energy on reaching once more the congenial +atmosphere of arms. + +He arrived at Chalons ere midnight; and found that Schwartzenberg and +Blucher, having severally passed through Franche-Comté and Lorraine, +were now occupying--the former with 97,000 men, the latter with +40,000--an almost complete line between the Marne and the Seine. Blucher +was in his own neighbourhood, 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, far less be +adequately supported from the side of Schwartzenberg, who was advancing +down the Seine towards Bar. A sharp skirmish took place accordingly on +the 27th at St. Dizier; and Blucher, warned of Napoleon's arrival, lost +no time in calling in his detachments, and taking a post of defence at +Brienne-le-Chateau on the Aube--the same town where Buonaparte had +received his military education. Could Napoleon force him from the Aube, +it was evident that the French would be enabled to interpose themselves +effectually between the two armies of the Allies: and it was most +necessary to divide the enemy's strength, for after all his exertions, +Napoleon had been able to add only 20,000 good troops to the 50,000 who +had been retiring before the allied columns from the course of the +Rhine. + +Napoleon, therefore, 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 postern--actually leading his horse down a stair. The Russians, +however, under Alsusieff, maintained their place in the town +courageously; and, some Cossacks throwing themselves upon the rear of +the French, the Emperor himself was involved in the melée, drew his +sword, and fought like a private dragoon. General Gourgaud shot a +Cossack when in the act of thrusting his spear at Napoleon's back. The +town of Brienne was burnt to the ground; Alsusieff was made prisoner; +Lefebre Desnouettes died; and there was considerable slaughter on both +sides; but the affair had no result of importance. Blucher retired but a +little further up the Aube, and posted himself at La Rothiere, where +Schwartzenberg, warned by the cannonade, hastened to co-operate with +him. + +Napoleon said at St. Helena, that during the charge of the Cossacks at +Brienne, he recognised 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. How +strange must have been the feelings of the man who, having but yesterday +planted his eagles on the Kremlin, now opened his fifteenth campaign +amidst the scenes of his own earliest recollections--of the days in +which he had never dreamt of empire! + +On the first of February Blucher, in his turn, assumed the offensive, +assaulting the French position in his front at once on three several +points. The battle lasted all day, and ended in the defeat of the +French, who, with the loss of 4000 prisoners and seventy-three guns, +escaped from the field in such disorder, that, according to Napoleon's +own avowal at St. Helena, he had serious thoughts of putting an end to +the war by voluntarily resigning the crown to the heir of the Bourbons. +However this may have been, while the division of Marmont retired down +the Aube before Blucher, Napoleon himself struck across the country to +Troyes, which there was every reason to fear must be immediately +occupied by Schwartzenberg; and was there joined by a considerable body +of his own guard, in high order and spirits, whose appearance restored, +in a great measure, the confidence of the troops beaten at La Rothiere. + +On the 3rd, he received at Troyes a despatch 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--(now in +the rear of the armies), and beseeching him to intimate distinctly at +what price he was now willing to purchase peace. Napoleon replied, by +granting Caulaincourt full powers to do everything necessary "to keep +the negotiation alive, and save the capital." But the Duke of Vicenza +durst not act immediately on a document so loosely worded, and sent back +once more to beg for a specific detail of the Emperor's purposes. +Napoleon had his headquarters at Nogent, on the Seine, some leagues +below Troyes, when the despatch reached him, on the evening of the 8th +of February; and his counsellors unanimously urged him to make use of +this, probably last, opportunity. They at length prevailed on him to +agree to abandon Belgium, the left of the Rhine, Italy, and Piedmont. +But in the night after the consultation, and before the ultimatum +received his signature, Napoleon received information which quite +altered his views. He 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. That the Allies, after +experiencing the effects of disunion at Brienne, and those of +conjunction at La Rothiere, should have almost in the moment of victory +again resolved on separating their forces, is a circumstance which no +writer has as yet explained in any satisfactory manner. The blunder was +great; yet in the end its consequences were disastrous, not to those who +committed, but to him whose eagle-eye detected it, and who could not +resist the temptation which it presented, to make one warlike effort +more. Buonaparte, in a word, refused to sign the despatch on the +morning of the 9th; and having left Bourmont at Nogent, with a small +force to defend the bridge over the Seine, and Oudinot with another, for +the same purpose, at the next bridge in descending the river, namely, +that of Bray, immediately commenced his march with the main body of his +army upon Sezanne. + +It was the depth of winter--the cross-roads on which they moved were in +the most frightful condition, insomuch that had not the zealous Mayor of +Barbonne collected 500 horses, and come to their assistance, they must +have been forced to leave all their artillery in a slough near that +town; yet this determined band marched nearly forty miles ere they +halted with the dark. Next morning they proceeded with equal alacrity, +and at length debouched on the road by which Blucher's army was +advancing, at Champaubert. Alsusieff and the central division were +passing, when Napoleon unexpectedly appeared at this point, and were +altogether unable to resist his onset. They dispersed in confusion with +great loss, and fled towards the Marne. Meantime the van of the same +army, commanded by Sacken, who were advancing on La Ferté, and the +division of D'York, already in sight of Meaux, turned on hearing the +cannonade of Champaubert, and countermarched with the view of supporting +Alsusieff. They shared the fate of the centre, and having been severely +handled at Montmirail, escaped across the Marne at Chateau-Tierry; thus +leaving Blucher and the rear division alone to abide the attack of +Napoleon's entire force between the Marne and the Aube. The Prussian +marshal, advancing rapidly in consequence of the firing of these +battles, found himself all at once in presence of an army flushed with +victory, vastly superior in numbers, and well provided with cavalry, of +which he had almost none. He retired in alternate squares, sustaining +all day the charges of the French, with much loss of life, but with no +disorder; 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. +Blucher himself was, in the course of this day, obliged to fight hand to +hand like a private soldier. His retreat was masterly, and he finally +crossed the Marne at Chalons. + +Such was Napoleon's celebrated "Expedition of the Marne." In five days +his arms had been three times successful. He had shattered and dispersed +(as he thought effectually) the Silesian army, and above all, recovered +the spirits of his own soldiery. A column of 7000 Prussian prisoners, +with a considerable number of guns and standards, at length satisfied +the Parisians that Victory had not entirely forsworn her old favourite. +Thus far all was well; and had Napoleon, from the field which thus +raised the courage of his troops, and revived the confidence of his +capital, despatched authority to Caulaincourt to conclude the treaty on +the terms before described--the victor of Montmirail might have kept the +throne of France. But his own presumption was rekindled by the same +success which dazzled inferior eyes--and Napoleon wrote on the instant +to his representative at Chatillon, that he might now assume "an +attitude less humble." This error proved fatal. + +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, as was mentioned, small +divisions of his army to guard the bridges over the Seine at Nogent and +Bray. The enemy, however, soon discovered that the Emperor and his chief +force were no longer in that quarter, and--while he was beating +Alsusieff, Sacken, and Blucher--had made good the passage of the Seine, +at three different points, at Nogent, at Bray, and still further down, +at Montereau, driving the discomfited guardians of these important +places before them. Schwartzenberg had already his headquarters 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 were so near the capital as Fontainebleau. + +Buonaparte instantly 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 he received (15th February) the +welcome reinforcement of 20,000 veterans from Spain, commanded by +Grouchy. On the 16th, Victor and Oudinot were engaged with the van of +Schwartzenberg, on the plains of Guignes, when the Emperor arrived 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 retreated after +considerable loss, though not in disorder, on the bridges in their rear. + +They halted, however, at Montereau, and Victor, who commanded the +pursuers on that route, failed in dislodging them. Napoleon resented +this as a heinous error, and coming up on the morning of the 18th, +rebuked him in terms of violent wrath, and formally dismissed him from +the service. The Marshal, tears streaming down his face, declared that +though he had ceased to be an officer, he must still be a soldier, and +would serve once more in the ranks, from which he had originally risen. +The old man's son-in-law, General Chateau, had been slain the same +morning. Napoleon extended his hand to him, and said he could not give +him back the command of his corps d'armée, which had already been +assigned to another, but that he was welcome to place himself at the +head of a brigade of the guard. The attack then commenced with fury, and +the bridge and town of Montereau were carried. The defence was, however, +long and stern, and Napoleon was seen pointing cannon with his own hand, +under the heaviest of the fire. The artillerymen, delighted with +witnessing this resumption of his ancient trade, were, nevertheless, +alarmed 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." Pursuing his advantage, Napoleon saw the +grand army continue their retreat in the direction of Troyes, and on the +morning of the 22nd arrived before Mery. + +The astonishment of the Emperor was great, when he found this town +occupied, 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--which, in that quarter, runs nearly parallel +with, and at no great distance from, the Seine. The Emperor then halted, +and spent the night in a wheelwright's cottage at Chatres. + +All this while the semblance, at least, of negotiation had been kept up +at Chatillon. Caulaincourt, receiving no answer to that important +despatch which reached Buonaparte (as has been mentioned) at Nogent, on +the 8th of February proceeded to act on the instructions dated at +Troyes, on the 3rd; 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? +Napoleon had ere then, as we have seen, desired Caulaincourt to assume +"a less humble attitude," and instead of ratifying, as he was bound on +every principle of honour and law to do, the signature which his +ambassador had had full powers to affix, he returned no answer whatever +to Schwartzenberg, but despatched a private letter to the Emperor of +Austria, once more endeavouring to seduce him from the European league. +The Emperor's reply to this despatch reached Napoleon at this hovel in +Chatres: it announced his resolution on no account to abandon the +general cause; but, at the same time, intimated that Francis lent no +support to the Bourbonists (who were now arming in Franche-Comté around +Monsieur), and urged Napoleon to avert by concession, ere it was yet too +late, total ruin from himself and his House. Buonaparte, flushed with a +succession of victories, was in no temper to listen to such advice, and +the Austrian envoy left his headquarters with a note, signifying that +_now_ he would not even consent to a day's armistice, unless the Allies +would fall back so as to leave _Antwerp_ in their front. + +The same evening there came news from Paris, which might have been +expected to disturb the pride of these imaginations. The Council of +State had discussed deliberately the proposals of the Allied Powers, +and, with only one dissenting voice, now entreated the Emperor to accept +them. They announced to him that--while he had been driving the +Austrians up the Seine--the _Army of the North_, the third great force +of the Allies, had at length effected their juncture with Blucher; who +was now, therefore, at the head of a much greater army than he had as +yet commanded, and was manifestly resolved to descend directly on Paris +from Chalons. Napoleon was urged anew by those about his person, 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_!--and dismissed his counsellors, saying haughtily, +"If I am to be scourged, let the whip at least come on me of necessity, +and not through any voluntary stooping of my own." + +Instead, therefore, of sending messengers of peace to Chatillon, +Napoleon now thought only of the means of at once holding Schwartzenberg +in check on the Seine, and returning once more to confront Blucher on +the Marne. He pushed on, however, as far as Troyes, in the expectation +of still terrifying the allied princes into some compromise. In this +city he found that certain gentlemen had openly assumed the white +cockade, the mark of the Bourbonists, during its occupation by the +enemy, though without any countenance from the sovereigns. One of these +gentlemen was so unfortunate as to fall into his hands, and was +immediately executed. + +The Emperor in vain expected new proposals from Chatillon; none such +reached him at Troyes--and he recurred to his scheme of a second +"Expedition of the Marne." He desired Oudinot and Macdonald, with their +divisions, to manoeuvre in the direction of Schwartzenberg: and these +generals commanded their troops to shout "vive l'Empereur" whenever they +were within hearing of the enemy, which for a little time kept up the +notion that Napoleon himself was still advancing on the road to Bar. +Meanwhile he was once more marching rapidly across the country to +Sezanne; at which point he received intelligence that Mortier and +Marmont had been driven from Ferté-sous-Jouarre by Blucher, and were in +full retreat to Meaux. Meaux he considered as almost a suburb of Paris, +and 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 resumed the offensive, +defeated Oudinot and Macdonald at Bar, and driven them before him as far +as Troyes; and Augereau, who commanded in the neighbourhood of Lyons, +announced the arrival of a new and great army of the Allies in that +quarter. Napoleon resumed, however, his march, and having been detained +some time at Ferté, in consequence of the destruction of the bridge, +took the direction of Chateau-Thierry and Soissons, while Mortier and +Marmont received his orders to resume the offensive in front of Meaux. +He 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 this time of his approach; and, drawing his troops +together, retired to Soissons in perfect order. + +Napoleon proceeded with alacrity in the direction of Soissons, not +doubting that the French garrison entrusted with the care of that town, +and its bridge over the Marne, were still in possession of it, and +eager, therefore, to force Blucher into action with this formidable +obstacle in his rear. But 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. The Muscovite Black Eagle, +floating on the towers, gave him the first intimation of this +misfortune. He assaulted the place impetuously: the Russians repelled +the attack; and Napoleon, learning that Blucher had filed his main body +through the town, and posted himself behind the Marne, marched up the +left bank of that river, and crossed it also at Bery. + +A few leagues in front of this place, on the heights 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 eleven a.m. on the 7th of March, and lasted till four +in the afternoon. The Russians had down to this hour withstood the +utmost exertions of Ney on their right, of Victor on their left, and of +Napoleon himself on their centre. The loss in slain and wounded had been +about equal on both sides; no cannon, and hardly a prisoner, had been +taken. The Emperor, enraged with this obstinate resistance, was +preparing for a final effort, when suddenly the Russians began to +retreat. He followed them; but they withdrew with the deliberation and +impunity of a parade. They had been ordered to fall back on the plateau +of Laon, in order to form there on the same line with Blucher, who was +once more in presence, and eager to concentrate all his force for a +decisive conflict. + +It took place on the 9th. 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 utterly broke their centre. On either flank of the +enemy's position they then charged in succession, and with like results. +On all points they were repelled, except only at the village of Athies, +where Marmont had obtained some advantage. Night interrupted the +contest, and the armies bivouacked in full view of each other. The +Allies, in consequence of their well-covered position, had suffered +comparatively little; of the French some thousands had died--and all in +vain. Napoleon was, however, resolved to renew the attack, and mounted +his horse accordingly at four in the morning of the 10th. At that moment +news came that Marmont's corps had just been assaulted at Athies, and so +thoroughly discomfited that they were now flying in confusion towards +Corbery. Notwithstanding this ominous opening, the battle in front of +Laon was continued all the day. But the tide of fortune had turned, and +could not be resisted. On the 11th, Napoleon commenced his retreat, +having lost thirty cannon and ten thousand men. + +Soissons had been evacuated by the Allies when concentrating themselves +for the battle of Laon. Napoleon threw himself, therefore, into that +town, and was making his best efforts to strengthen it, in expectation +of the Prussian advance, when once more a messenger of evil tidings +reached him. A detached Russian corps, commanded by St. Priest, a French +emigrant, had seized Rheims by a coup-de-main. The possession of this +city (as a glance at any good map will show) could hardly fail to +re-establish Blucher's communications with Schwartzenberg--and Napoleon +instantly marched thither in person, leaving Marmont to hold out as well +as he could at Soissons, in case that should be the direction of +Blucher's march. Buonaparte, moving with his usual rapidity, came +unexpected on Rheims, and took the place by assault at midnight. St. +Priest had fallen; and the bulletin announced that he met his fate by a +ball from the same cannon which killed Moreau. If it were so, no one +could have ascertained the fact; but Napoleon's imagination was always +ready to welcome a tale that savoured of fatality. + +From Rheims, where he remained for three days to refresh his unfortunate +followers, he despatched at length full powers to Caulaincourt to +conclude _any treaty_, which should secure the immediate evacuation of +the old French territory, and a mutual restoration of prisoners. Maret, +(Duke of Bassano,) however, wrote--by the same messenger--at much +greater length; informing the plenipotentiary that the Emperor would +refuse to ratify _any treaty_ whatever--if, in the interim, events +should have taken a turn in his favour. It is to be doubted whether +Caulaincourt would have ventured to act, on instructions thus qualified, +with the decision which the emergency required. But he was not put to +the proof. The Allies had determined to negotiate no more, ere the +despatch of Rheims reached him. + +Throughout this crisis of his history, it is impossible to survey the +rapid energy of Napoleon--his alert transitions from enemy to enemy, his +fearless assaults on vastly superior numbers, his unwearied resolution, +and exhaustless invention--without the highest admiration which can +attend on a master of warfare. But it is equally impossible to suppress +astonishment and indignation in following, or rather attempting to +follow, the threads of obstinacy, duplicity, pride, and perfidy, which, +during the same period, complicated, without strengthening, the tissue +of his negotiations. It is only when we fix our eyes on the battles and +marches of this wonderful campaign, that we can hesitate to echo the +adage:--_Whom God hath doomed to destruction, he first deprives of +reason._ + +To complete our notion of the energies of Napoleon--he had all through +this, the most extraordinary of his campaigns, continued to conduct, +from his perpetually changing headquarters, the civil business of his +empire. He occupied himself largely with such matters during his stay at +Rheims; but it was there that the last despatches from the +home-department at Paris were destined to reach him; and, before he +could return his answer, there came couriers upon couriers--with tidings +which would have unmanned any other mind, and which filled his with +perplexity. On the one side, Blucher had profited by his departure, +crushed down the feeble opposition of the corps left at Soissons, and +repassed the Marne. On the other hand, Schwartzenberg had detected, +almost as soon as it took place, his march on Sezanne, and instantly +resumed the offensive. Oudinot and Girard had been forced to give way +before the immeasurably superior numbers of the Grand Army. They had +been defeated with great slaughter at Bar on the Aube; and the Austrian +was once more at Troyes. The Allies were, therefore, to all appearance, +in full march upon Paris, both by the valley of the Marne, and by that +of the Seine, at the moment when Napoleon had thought to paralyse all +their movements by taking up a position between them at Rheims. + +He still counted largely on the magic of his name; and even now he had +hardly over-reckoned. When Schwartzenberg understood that Napoleon was +at Rheims, the old terror returned, and the Austrian instantly proposed +to fall back from Troyes. But there was by this time, in the camp of the +allied powers, one who, though not a soldier, appreciated, far better +than all those about him, that had grown grey in arms, the circumstances +of the time, and the conduct which these demanded. Lord Castlereagh took +upon himself the responsibility of signifying 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 as at an end. This +bold word determined the debate. Schwartzenberg's columns instantly +resumed their march down the Seine. + +Napoleon, meanwhile, had been struggling with himself; whatever line of +action he might adopt was at best hazardous in the extreme. Should he +hasten after Blucher on the Marne, what was to prevent Schwartzenberg +from reaching Paris, ere the Silesian army, already victorious at Laon, +could be once more 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 to this there were +sundry inducements. By doing so, he might possibly--such were still the +Emperor's conceptions as to the influence of his name--strike the +advancing Allies, both the Austrian and the Prussian, with terror, and +paralyse their movements. Were they likely to persist in their _Hurrah +on Paris_ (at this period the Cossack vocabulary was in vogue), when +they knew Napoleon to be posting himself between them and their own +resources, and at the same time relieving and rallying around him all +the garrisons of the great fortresses of the Rhine? Would not such +conduct be considered as entirely out of the question by superstitious +adherents to the ancient technicalities of war? Would not Schwartzenberg +at least abandon the advance and turn to follow him, who still fancied +that no one could dream of conquering France without having ruined +Napoleon? But--even supposing that the allied powers should resist all +these suggestions and proceed upon the capital--would not that great +city, with Marmont and Mortier, and the national guard, be able to hold +the enemy at bay for some considerable space; and, during that space, +could the Emperor fail to release his garrisons on the Rhine, and so +place himself once more at the head of an army capable, under his +unrivalled guidance, of relieving France and ruining her invaders, by a +great battle under the walls of Paris? + +It must be added, in reference to Napoleon's choice among these +difficulties, that ere now the continuance of the warfare had much +exacerbated the feelings of the peasantry, who, for the most part, +regarded its commencement with indifference. The perpetual marches and +counter-marches of the armies, the assaults and burnings of towns and +villages, the fierce demeanour of the justly embittered Prussians, and +the native barbarism of the Russians, had spread devastation and horror +through some of the fairest provinces of France. The desolation was such +that wolves and other beasts of prey appeared, in numbers which recalled +the ages of the unbroken forest, amidst the vineyards and gardens of +Champagne. All who could command the means of flight had escaped; of +those that remained there were few who had not, during three months, +suffered painful privations, seen their cottages occupied by savage +strangers, and their streams running red with the blood of their +countrymen. The consequence was that the peasantry on the theatre of the +war, and behind it, were now in a state of high excitement. Might not +the Emperor, by throwing himself and his sorely diminished, but still +formidable, band of veterans among them, give the finishing impulse, and +realise at length his fond hope of a national insurrection? + +While Napoleon was thus tossed in anxiety by what means to avert, if it +were yet possible, from Paris, the visitation of those mighty armies, +against whom energies, such as he alone possessed, had been exerted in +vain--the capital showed small symptoms of sympathising with him. The +newspapers had announced nothing but victories; but the truth could not +fail to penetrate in spite of all this treachery. The streets were daily +traversed by new crowds of provincialists, driven or terrified from +their dwellings. Every hospital, and many public buildings besides, were +crammed with wounded soldiers; and the number of dead bodies, +continually floating down the Seine was so great, that the meanest of +the populace durst no longer make use of the water. As one conclusive +token of the universal distrust, it may be mentioned that, whereas in +usual times the amount of taxes paid daily into the exchequer at Paris +is about £3000, the average, after the 1st of March, did not exceed £15. +It was Savary's business to despatch a full account of the state of the +city every night to headquarters;--and he did not hesitate to inform the +Emperor that the machinery of government was clogged in every wheel, and +that the necessity of purchasing peace, by abandoning him, was the +common burden of conversation. + +Meantime, to swell the cup of his anxieties, there reached him new +intelligence of the most alarming character from the south-western +provinces, invaded by Lord Wellington. That victorious general had +driven Soult before him through the _Pays de Gaves_ (the tract of strong +country broken by the torrents descending from the Pyrenees); defeated +him in another great battle at Orthes; and was now pursuing him in the +direction of Toulouse. Nor was even this the worst: the English had been +received more like friends than enemies by the French; their camp was +far better served with provisions than that of Soult; and lastly, +Bourdeaux had risen openly in the cause of Louis. The white flag was +floating on every tower of the third city in France, and the Duke +D'Angouleme was administering all the offices of government, in the +midst of a population who had welcomed him with the enthusiasm of old +loyalty. + +It was amidst such circumstances that Napoleon at length decided on +throwing himself on the rear of the Allies. They were for some time +quite uncertain of his movements after he quitted Rheims, until an +intercepted letter to Maria Louisa informed them that he was at St. +Dizier. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + + The Allies approach Paris--Maria Louisa retires to Blois--Marmont + and Mortier occupy the Heights of Montmartre--They are + defeated--King Joseph escapes--Marmont capitulates--the Allies + enter Paris--Napoleon at Fontainebleau--His abdication. + + +Napoleon continued for several days to manoeuvre on the country beyond +St. Dizier. Having thus seized the roads by which the Grand Army had +advanced, he took prisoners many persons of distinction on their way to +its headquarters--and at one time the Emperor of Austria himself escaped +most narrowly a party of French hussars. Meanwhile petty skirmishes were +ever and anon occurring between Napoleon's rear-guard and Austrians, +whom he took for the van-guard of Schwartzenberg. They were, however, +detached troops, chiefly horse, left expressly to hang on his march, and +cheat him into this belief. The Grand Army was proceeding rapidly down +the Seine; while Blucher, having repeatedly beaten Marmont and Mortier, +was already within sight of Meaux. + +It has been mentioned that Napoleon, ere he commenced his campaign, +directed some fortifications to be thrown up on the side of Paris +nearest to the invading armies. His brother Joseph, however, was, as +Spain had witnessed, neither an active nor a skilful soldier; and the +civil government of this tempestuous capital appears to have been more +than enough to employ what energies he possessed. The outworks executed +during the campaign were few and inconsiderable; and to occupy them, +there were now but 8000 fresh regulars, the discomfited divisions of +Marmont and Mortier, and the National Guard of the metropolis. This last +corps had 30,000 names on its roll: but such had been the manifestations +of public feeling, that the Emperor's lieutenants had not dared to +furnish more than a third of these with firearms: the others had only +pikes: and every hour increased the doubts of the Regency-council +whether any considerable portion of these men--who were chiefly, in +fact, the shopkeepers of Paris--would consent to shed their blood in +this cause. + +Meanwhile the royalists within the city had been watching the progress +of events with eagerness and exultation. Talleyrand was ere now in close +communication with them, and employing all the resources of his talents +to prevail on them to couple their demand for the heir of the Bourbons, +with such assertions of their belief that that dynasty ought never to be +re-established otherwise than on a constitutional basis, as might draw +over to their side the more moderate of the republicans. Nor had these +efforts been unsuccessful. Various deputations from the royalists had +found their way to the headquarters, both of Blucher and Schwartzenberg, +before the middle of March, and expressed sentiments of this nature. As +yet, however, none of the Allies had ventured to encourage directly the +hopes of the Bourbon party. They persisted in asserting their resolution +to let the French nation judge for themselves under what government they +should live; and to take no part in their civil feuds. Talleyrand +himself was in correspondence with the Czar; but, in his letters, he, as +far as is known, confined himself to urging the advance of the armies. A +billet from him was delivered to Alexander just before the final rush on +Paris begun: it was in these words--"You venture nothing, when you may +safely venture everything--venture once more." + +De Pradt, and many other of those statesmen whom Napoleon, in latter +days, had disgraced or disobliged, were, ere this time, labouring +diligently in the same service. It must be admitted that he, like the +falling Persian, was + + "Deserted in his utmost need + By those his former bounty fed;" + +but he had brought himself to this extremity by his scorn of their +counsels; nor even at the eleventh hour did his proud heart dream of +recalling confidence, by the confession of error. + +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 the 27th (Sunday) Joseph Buonaparte held a review in the Place +Carousel; and the day being fine, and the uniforms mostly new, the +confidence of the spectators rose, and the newspapers expressed their +wishes that the enemy could but behold what forces were ready to meet +and destroy them. That same evening the Allies passed the Marne at +various points; at three in the morning of the 28th, they took Meaux; +and at daybreak, "the terrified population of the country between Meaux +and Paris came pouring into the capital," says an eye-witness, "with +their aged, infirm, children, cats, dogs, live-stock, corn, hay, and +household goods of every description. The boulevards were crowded with +waggons, carts, and carriages thus laden, to which cattle were tied, and +the whole surrounded with women." The regular troops now marched out of +the town, leaving all the barriers in charge of the National Guard. The +confusion that prevailed everywhere was indescribable. + +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--and in +their train went fifteen waggons laden with plate and coin from the +vaults of the Tuileries. The spectators looked on their departure in +gloomy silence: and King Joseph 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 succour. +Second him by a short and vigorous resistance, and preserve the honour +of France." No feeling favourable to Napoleon was stirred by this +appeal. The boulevards continued to be thronged with multitudes of +people; but the most part received the proclamation with +indifference--not a few with murmurs. Some officers urged Savary to have +the streets unpaved, and persuade the people to arm themselves with the +stones, and prepare for a defence such as that of Zaragossa. He +answered, shaking his head, "the thing cannot be done." + +All day, waggons of biscuit and ammunition were rolling through the +town; wounded soldiers came limping to the barriers; and the Seine +heaved thicker and thicker with the carcases of horses and men. That +night, for once, the theatres were deserted. + +On the 30th, the Allies fought and won the final battle. The French +occupied the whole range of heights from the Marne at Charenton, to the +Seine beyond St. Denis; and the Austrians began the attack about eleven +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 Prussians, who were posted over against the heights of +Montmartre, did not come into action so early in the day. The French +troops of the line were stationed everywhere in the front, and 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 Moncey, and formed a second line of defence. The scholars of +the Polytechnic School volunteered to serve at the great guns, and the +artillery was, though not numerous, well arranged, and in gallant hands. + +The French defence, in spite of all the previous disasters, and of the +enormous superiority of the enemy's numbers, was most brave: but by two +o'clock the Allies had completely beaten them at all points, except only +at Montmartre, where they were rapidly making progress. Marmont then +sent several aides-de-camp to request an armistice, and offer a +capitulation. One only of his messengers appears to have reached the +headquarters of the sovereigns--and both the Czar and King of Prussia +immediately professed their willingness to spare the city, provided the +regular troops would evacuate it. Blucher, meanwhile, continued pressing +on at Montmartre, and shortly after four, 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 five o'clock, close to the barrier St. Denis. + +King Joseph showed himself on horseback among the troops early in the +morning; but was not visible after the attack began. At one o'clock he +received a message from Marmont, requesting reinforcements. "Where am I +to find them?" answered he--"is your horse a good one?" The aide-de-camp +answered in the affirmative. "Then follow me," said Joseph; and without +further ceremony began his journey to Blois.[66] + +We must now turn to Napoleon. It was not until the 27th that he +distinctly ascertained the fact of both the allied armies having marched +directly on Paris. He instantly resolved to hasten after them, in hopes +to arrive on their rear, ere yet they had mastered the heights of +Montmartre; nor did his troops refuse to rush forward once more at his +bidding. He had to go round by Doulevent and Troyes, because the direct +route was utterly wasted, and could not furnish food for his men. At +Doulevent he received a billet from La Vallette, his Post-Master +General, in these terms: "The partisans of the stranger are making head, +seconded 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 with renewed eagerness--Buonaparte reached Troyes on the +night of the 29th--his men having marched fifteen leagues since the +daybreak. On the 30th, Macdonald in vain 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 +honour, instead of being dispersed, pillaged, and slaughtered by +Cossacks." Napoleon was deaf to all such counsel. He continued to +advance. Finding the road beyond Troyes quite clear, he threw himself +into a postchaise, and travelled on before his army at full speed, with +hardly any attendance. At Villeneuve L'Archeveque he mounted on +horseback, and galloping without a pause, reached Fontainebleau late in +the night. He there ordered a carriage, and taking Caulaincourt and +Berthier into it, drove on towards Paris. Nothing could shake his belief +that he was yet in time--until, while he was changing horses at La Cour +de France, but a few miles from Paris, General Belliard came up, at the +head of a column of cavalry--weary and dejected men, marching towards +Fontainebleau, in consequence of the provisions of Marmont's +capitulation, from the fatal field of Montmartre. + +Even then Napoleon refused to halt. Leaping from his carriage, he began: +"What means this? Why here with your cavalry, Belliard? And where are +the enemy? Where are my wife and my boy? Where Marmont? Where Mortier?" +Belliard walking by his side, told him the events of the day. He called +out for his carriage--and insisted on continuing his journey. The +general in vain informed him that 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. The Emperor still demanded his carriage, and bade +Belliard turn with the cavalry and follow him. "Come," said he, "we must +to Paris--nothing goes aright when I am away--they do nothing but +blunder." He strode on, crying, "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 every one has lost his +senses. This comes of employing fools and cowards." With such +exclamations Buonaparte hurried onwards, dragging Belliard with him, +until they were met, a mile from La Cour de France, by the first of the +retreating infantry. Their commander, General Curial, gave the same +answers as Belliard. "In proceeding to Paris," said he, "you rush on +death or captivity." Perceiving at length that the hand of necessity was +on him, the Emperor then abandoned his design. He sank at once into +perfect composure; gave orders that the troops, as they arrived, should +draw up behind the little river Essonne; despatched Caulaincourt to +Paris, with authority to accept whatever terms the Allied Sovereigns +might be pleased to offer; and turned again towards Fontainebleau. + +It was still dark when Napoleon reached once more that venerable castle. +He retired to rest immediately; not, however, in any of the state-rooms +which he had been accustomed to occupy, but in a smaller apartment, in a +different and more sequestered part of the building. + +The Duke of Vicenza reached the Czar's quarters at Pantin early in the +morning of the 31st, while he was yet asleep; and recognised, amidst the +crowd in the ante-chamber, a deputation from the municipality of Paris, +who were waiting to present the keys of the city, and invoke the +protection of the conqueror. As soon as Alexander awoke, these +functionaries were admitted to his presence, and experienced a most +courteous reception. The Czar repeated his favourite expression, that he +had but one enemy in France: 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 +countenance of the envoy announced, as he came out, that he considered +the fate of his master as decided; nor, if he had preserved any hope, +could it have failed to expire when he learned that Alexander had +already sent to Talleyrand, requesting him on no account to quit the +capital, and proposing to take up his own residence in his hotel. +Nesselrode, the Russian minister, who received the municipal deputation +ere the Czar awoke, entered freely into conversation with the gentleman +at their head, M. Laborde. That person, being questioned as to the state +of public feeling, answered that there were three parties: the army, who +still adhered to Buonaparte; the republicans, who wished for his +deposition, but would not object to the King of Rome being recognised as +Emperor, provided a liberal constitution were established, and the +regency placed in fit hands; and finally, the old nobility and the +saloons of Paris, who were united in desiring the restoration of the +Bourbons. "But at the Prince of Benevento's," said Laborde, "the Emperor +will best acquire a knowledge of all this--it is there that our chief +statesmen assemble habitually." This conversation is supposed to have +fixed Alexander's choice of a residence; and as we have already seen +that Talleyrand was ere now committed in the cause of Louis, the result +of this choice may be anticipated. + +The history of what La Vallette had called "the secret intrigues with +the stranger" has not yet been cleared up--nor is it likely to be so for +some time. If there was one of the Allied Princes on whose disposition +to spare himself, or at least his family, Napoleon might have been +supposed to count,--it must have been the Emperor of Austria; and yet, +at daybreak this very morning, a proclamation was tossed in thousands +over the barriers of Paris, in which several phrases occurred, not to be +reconciled with any other notion than that he and all the Allies agreed +in favouring the restoration of the Bourbons, ere any part of their +forces entered the capital. This document spoke of the anxiety of "the +sovereigns" to see the establishment of "a salutary authority in +France": of the opportunity offered to the Parisians of "accelerating +the peace of the world"; of the "conduct of Bordeaux" as affording "an +example of the method in which foreign war and civil discord might find +a common termination"; it concluded thus: "It is in these sentiments +that _Europe in arms_ before your walls addresses herself to you. Hasten +then to respond to the confidence which she reposes in your love for +your country, and in your wisdom;" and was signed "SCHWARTZENBERG, +_Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies_." + +There was a circumstance of another kind which assisted in stimulating +the hopes and swelling the adherents of the royal cause. The Allies had, +in the early part of the campaign, experienced evil from the +multiplicity of uniforms worn among the troops of so many nations and +tongues, and the likeness which some of the dresses, the German +especially, bore to those of the French. The invading soldiers had +latterly adopted the practice of binding pieces of white linen round +their left arms; and this token, though possibly meant only to enable +the strangers to recognise each other, was not likely to be observed +with indifference by the Parisians, among whom the Bourbonists had +already begun to wear openly the white cockade. + +Finally, a vivid sensation was excited in Paris at this critical moment +by the publication of Chateaubriand's celebrated tract, entitled "Of +Buonaparte and of the Bourbons." The first symptom of freedom in the +long enslaved press of Paris was not likely, whatever it might be, to +meet with an unfriendly reception; but this effusion of one of the most +popular writers of the time (though composed in a style not suited to +sober English tastes) was admirably adapted to produce a powerful +effect, at such a moment of doubt and hesitation, on the people to whom +it was addressed. + +The agents of Buonaparte had not been idle during the 30th: they had +appealed to the passions of those wretched classes of society who had +been the willing instruments of all the horrible violence of the +revolution, and among whom the name of Bourbon was still detested; nor +without considerable effect. The crowds of filthy outcasts who emerged +from their lanes and cellars, and thronged some of the public places +during the battle, were regarded with equal alarm by all the decent part +of the population, however divided in political sentiments. But the +battle ended ere they could be brought to venture on any combined +movement; and when the defeated soldiery began to file in silence and +dejection through the streets, the mob lost courage, and retreated also +in dismay to the obscure abodes of their misery and vice. + +The royalists welcomed with exultation the dawn of the 31st. Together +with the proclamation of Schwartzenberg, they circulated one of +Monsieur, and another of Louis XVIII. himself; and some of the leading +gentlemen of the party, the Montmorencys, the Noailles, the Rohans, the +Rochefoucalds, the Polignacs, the Chateaubriands, were early on +horseback in the streets; which they paraded without interruption from +any, either of the civil authorities, or of the National Guard, +decorated with the symbols of their cause, and appealing with eloquence +to the feelings of the onlookers. As yet, however, they were only +listened to. The mass of the people were altogether uncertain what the +end was to be: and, in the language of the chief orator himself, M. +Sosthenes de Rochefoucald, "the silence was most dismal." At noon the +first of the Allied troops began to pass the barrier and enter the city. +The royalist cavaliers met them; but though many officers observing the +white cockade exclaimed "la belle decoration!" the generals refused to +say anything which might commit their sovereigns. Some ladies of rank, +however, now appeared to take their part in the scene; and when these +fair hands were seen tearing their dresses to make white cockades, the +flame of their enthusiasm began to spread. Various pickets of the +National Guard had plucked the tricolor badge from their caps, and +assumed the white, ere many of the Allies passed the gates. + +At noon, as has been mentioned, this triumphal procession began, and it +lasted for several hours. The show was splendid; 50,000 troops, horse, +foot, and artillery, all in the highest order and condition, marched +along the boulevards; and in the midst appeared the youthful Czar and +the King of Prussia, followed by a dazzling suite of princes, +ambassadors, and generals. The crowd was so great that their motion, +always slow, was sometimes suspended. The courteous looks and manners of +all the strangers--but especially the affable and condescending air of +Alexander, were observed at first with surprise; as the cavalcade passed +on, and the crowd thickened, the feelings of the populace rose from +wonder to delight, and ended in contagious and irresistible rapture. No +sovereigns entering their native capitals were ever received with more +enthusiastic plaudits; and still, at every step, the shouts of _Vive +L'Empereur Alexandre!_--_Vive le Roi de Prusse!_ were more and more +loudly mingled with the long-forgotten echoes of _Vive le Roi!_--_Vive +Louis XVIII._--_Vivent les Bourbons!_ + +The monarchs at last halted, dismissed their soldiers to quarters in the +city, saw Platoff and his Cossacks establish their bivouack in the +_Champs Elysées_, and retired to the residences prepared for them; that +of Alexander being, as we have mentioned above, in the hotel of +Talleyrand. + +While the Czar was discussing with this wily veteran, and a few other +French statesmen of the first class, summoned at his request, the state +of public opinion, and the strength of the contending parties--the +population of Paris continued lost in surprise and admiration, at the +sudden march of events, the altogether unexpected amount of the troops +of the Allies--(for they that had figured in the triumphal procession +were, it now appeared, from the occupation of all the environs, but a +fragment of the whole)--and above all, perhaps--such is the theatric +taste of this people--the countless varieties of lineament and costume +observable among the warlike bands lounging and parading about their +streets and gardens. The capital wore the semblance of some enormous +masquerade. Circassian noblemen in complete mail, and wild Bashkirs with +bows and arrows, were there. All ages, as well as countries, seemed to +have sent their representatives to stalk as victors amidst the nation +which but yesterday had claimed glory above the dreams of antiquity, +and the undisputed mastery of the European world. + +The council at the hotel of Talleyrand did not protract its sitting. +Alexander and Frederick William, urged by all their assessors to +re-establish the House of Bourbon, still hesitated. "It is but a few +days ago," said the Czar, "since a column of 5 or 6000 new troops +suffered themselves to be cut in pieces before my eyes, when a single +cry of _Vive le Roi_ would have saved them." De Pradt answered, "Such +things will go as long as you continue to treat with Buonaparte--even +although at this moment he has a halter round his neck." The Czar did +not understand this last illusion; it was explained to him that the +Parisians were busy in pulling down Napoleon's statue from the top of +the great pillar in the Place Vendome. Talleyrand now suggested that the +Conservative Senate should be convoked, and required to nominate a +provisional government, the members of which should have power to +arrange a constitution. And to this the sovereigns assented. Alexander +signed forthwith a proclamation asserting the resolution of the Allies +to "treat no more with Napoleon Buonaparte, or any of his family." +Talleyrand had a printer in waiting, and the document was immediately +published, with this significant _affix_, "Michaud, Printer to the +King." If any doubt could have remained after this, it must be supposed +to have ceased at nine the same evening, when the royalist gentry once +more assembled, sent a second deputation to Alexander, and were (the +Czar himself having retired to rest) received, and answered in these +words, by his minister Nesselrode:--"I have just left the Emperor, and +it is in his name that I speak. Return to your assembly, and announce to +all the French, that, touched with the cries he has heard this morning, +and the wishes since so earnestly expressed to him, his Majesty is about +to restore the crown to him to whom alone it belongs. Louis XVIII. will +immediately ascend his throne." + +And yet it is by no means clear that even at the time when this +apparently most solemn declaration was uttered, the resolution of the +Allies had been unalterably taken. Nesselrode personally inclined to a +regency, and preserving the crown to the King of Rome; nor is it to be +doubted that that scheme, if at all practicable, would have been +preferred by the Emperor of Austria. But the Frenchmen who had once +committed themselves against Napoleon could not be persuaded but that +his influence would revive, to their own ruin, under any Buonapartean +administration; and the events of the two succeeding days were decisive. +The Municipal Council met, and proclaimed that the throne was empty. +This bold act is supposed to have determined the Conservative Senate. On +the 1st of April that body also assembled, and named a provisional +government, with Talleyrand for its head. The deposition of Napoleon was +forthwith put to the vote, and carried without even one dissentient +voice. On the 2nd the Legislative Senate, angrily dispersed in January, +were in like manner convoked; and they too ratified the decrees proposed +by the Conservative. On the 3rd the senatus-consultum was published, and +myriads of hands were busy in every corner of the city pulling down the +statues and pictures, and effacing the arms and initials of Napoleon. +Meantime the Allied Princes appointed military governors of Paris, were +visible daily at processions and festivals, and received, night after +night, in the theatres, the tumultuous applause of the most inconstant +of peoples. + +It was in the night between the 2nd and the 3rd that Caulaincourt +returned from his mission to Fontainebleau, and informed Napoleon of the +events which he had witnessed; 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 nothing could be arranged, as to +ulterior questions, until he, the Emperor, had formally abdicated his +throne. The Marshals assembled at Fontainebleau seem, on hearing this +intelligence, to have resolved unanimously that they would take no +further part in the war; but Napoleon himself was not yet prepared to +give up all without a struggle. The next day, the 4th of April, he +reviewed some of his troops, harangued them on "the treasonable +proceedings in the capital," announced his intention of instantly +marching thither, and was answered by enthusiastic shouts of "Paris! +Paris!" He, on this, conceiving himself to be secure of the attachment +of his soldiery, gave orders for advancing headquarters to Essonne. With +the troops which had filed through Paris, under Marmont's convention, +and those which had followed himself from Troyes, nearly 50,000 men +were once more assembled around Fontainebleau; and with such support +Napoleon was not yet so humbled as to fear hazarding a blow, despite all +the numerical superiority of the Allies. + +When, however, he retired to the chateau, after the review, he was +followed by his Marshals, and respectfully, but firmly, informed, 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--and a long debate ensued. The +statements and arguments which he heard finally prevailed; and Napoleon +drew up, and signed, in language worthy of the solemn occasion, this +act:-- + + _The Allied powers having proclaimed that the Emperor Napoleon is + 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._ + +Buonaparte appointed Caulaincourt to bear this document to Paris on his +behalf; and the Marshals proposed that Ney should accompany him as their +representative. It was suggested that Marmont also should form part of +the deputation; but he was in command of the advanced division at +Essonne, and Macdonald was named in his stead. These 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." + +Hitherto nothing could be more composed or dignified than his demeanour. +He now threw himself on a sofa, hid his countenance for some minutes, +and then starting up with that smile which had so often kindled every +heart around him into the flame of onset, exclaimed--"Let us march, my +comrades; let us take the field once more." + +The answer was silence and some tears; and he, also in silence, +dismissed the messengers and the assemblage. + +Caulaincourt, Ney and Macdonald immediately commenced their journey; and +on reaching Essonne received intelligence which quickened their speed. +Victor, and many other officers of the first rank, not admitted to the +council at Fontainebleau, and considering the events of the two +preceding days in the capital as decisive, had already sent in their +adhesion to the provisional government; and Marmont, the commander of +Napoleon's division in advance, had not only taken the same step for +himself personally, but entered into a separate convention the night +before, under which it had been settled that he should forthwith march +his troops within the lines of the allied armies. The Marshals of the +mission entreated Marmont to suspend his purpose, and repair with +themselves to Paris. He complied; and on arriving in the capital they +found themselves surrounded on all sides with the shouts of _Vive le +Roi_! Such sounds accompanied them to the hôtel Talleyrand, where they +were forthwith admitted to the presence of the Czar. The act of +abdication was produced; and Alexander expressed his surprise 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 should retain his imperial title, with the sovereignty +of Elba or some other island." + +When Buonaparte's envoys retired from the Autocrat's presence, it still +remained doubtful whether the abdication would be accepted in its +present form, or the Allies would insist on an unconditional surrender. +There came tidings almost on the instant which determined the question. +Napoleon had, shortly after the mission left him, sent orders to General +Souham, who commanded at Essonne in the absence of Marmont, to repair to +his presence at Fontainebleau. Souham, who, like all the upper officers +of Marmont's corps (with but two exceptions), approved of the convention +of the 3rd, was alarmed on receiving this message. His brethren, being +summoned to council, participated in his fears; and the resolution was +taken to put the convention at once in execution. The troops were wholly +ignorant of what was intended, when they commenced their march at five +in the morning of the 5th; and for the first time suspected the secret +views of their chiefs, when they found themselves in the midst of the +allied lines, and watched on all sides by overwhelming numbers, in the +neighbourhood of Versailles. A violent commotion ensued; some blood was +shed; but the necessity of submission was so obvious, that ere long +they resumed the appearance of order, and were cantoned in quiet in the +midst of the strangers. + +This piece of intelligence was followed by more of the like complexion. +Officers of all ranks began to abandon the camp at Fontainebleau, find +present themselves to swear allegiance to the new government. Talleyrand +said wittily when some one called Marmont a traitor, "his watch only +went a little faster than the others." + +At length the allied princes signified their resolution to accept of +nothing but an unconditional abdication; making the marshals, however, +the bearers of their unanimous accession to the proposals of Alexander +in favour of Napoleon and his House; which, as finally shaped, were +these:-- + +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: 2nd, +The Duchies of Parma, Placentia and Guastalla to be granted in +sovereignty to Maria Louisa and her heirs: and 3rd, Two millions and a +half of francs annually to be paid, by the French government, in +pensions to Josephine and the other members of the Buonaparte family. + +Napoleon, on hearing the consequences of Marmont's defection, exclaimed, +"Ungrateful man! but I pity him more than myself." Every hour +thenceforth he was destined to meet similar mortifications. Berthier, +his chosen and trusted friend, asked leave to go on private business to +Paris, adding that he would return in a few hours. The Emperor +consented; and, as he left the apartment, whispered with a smile, "He +will return no more." What Napoleon felt even more painfully, was the +unceremonious departure of his favourite Mameluke, Rustan. + +Ere the Marshals returned from Paris he reviewed his guard again; and it +was obvious to those about him that he still hankered after the chances +of another field. We may imagine that his thoughts were like those of +the Scottish usurper:-- + + "I have lived long enough: my May of life + Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf.... + Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff. + ... The Thanes fly from me." + +He sometimes meditated a march southwards, collecting on his way the +armies of Augereau and Soult, and re-opening the campaign as +circumstances might recommend, behind either the Loire or the Alps. At +other times the chance of yet rousing the population of Paris recurred +to his imagination. Amidst these dreams, of which every minute more +clearly showed the vanity, Napoleon received the ultimatum of the +invading powers. He hesitated and pondered long ere he would sign his +acceptance of it. The group of his personal followers had been sorely +thinned; and the armies of the Allies, gradually pushing forward from +Paris, had nearly surrounded Fontainebleau, when he at length (on the +11th of April) abandoned all hope, and executed an instrument, formally +"renouncing for himself and his heirs the thrones of France and of +Italy." + +Even after signing this document, and delivering it to Caulaincourt, he +made a last effort to rouse the spirits of the chief officers still +around his person. They, as the Marshals had done on the 4th, heard his +appeals in silence; and the Duke of Vicenza, though repeatedly commanded +to give him back the act of abdication, refused to do so. It is +generally believed that, during the night which ensued, Napoleon's +meditations were, once more, like those of the falling Macbeth:-- + + "There is no flying hence, nor tarrying here. + I 'gin to be weary o' the sun."-- + +Whether the story, very circumstantially told, of his having swallowed +poison on that night, be true, we have no means of deciding. It is +certain that he underwent a violent paroxysm of illness, sank into a +death-like stupor, and awoke in extreme feebleness, lassitude, and +dejection; in which condition several days were passed. + +Napoleon remained long enough at Fontainebleau to hear of the +restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, and the triumphant entrance of the +Count d'Artois (now Charles X.) into Paris, as Lieutenant for his +brother, Louis XVIII.; and of another event, which ought to have given +him greater affliction. Immediately on the formation of the provisional +government, messengers had been sent from Paris to arrest the progress +of hostilities between Soult and Wellington. But, wherever the blame of +intercepting and holding back these tidings may have lain, the English +General received no intelligence of the kind until, pursuing his career +of success, he had fought another great and bloody battle, and achieved +another glorious victory, beneath the walls of Toulouse. This +unfortunate, because utterly needless, battle, occurred on the 11th of +April. On the 14th the news of the fall of Paris reached Lord +Wellington; and, Soult soon afterwards signifying his adhesion to the +new government, his conqueror proceeded to take part in the final +negotiations of the Allies at Paris. + +It was on the 20th of April that Napoleon once more called his officers +about him, and signified that they were summoned to receive his last +adieus. Several of the marshals and others who had some time before +sworn fealty to the king, were present. "Louis," said he, "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. But 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 as +faithfully as you have served me." + +He now desired that the relics of his imperial guard might 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 the midst. "All Europe," +said Napoleon, "has armed against me. France herself has deserted me, +and chosen another dynasty. I might, with my soldiers, have maintained a +civil war for years--but it would have rendered France unhappy. Be +faithful to the new sovereign whom your country has chosen. Do not +lament my fate: I shall always be happy while I know that you are so. I +could have died--nothing was easier--but I will always follow the path +of honour. I will record with my pen the deeds we have done together. I +cannot embrace you all" (he continued, taking the commanding officer in +his arms)--"but I embrace your general. Bring hither the eagle. Beloved +eagle! may the kisses I bestow on you long resound in the hearts of the +brave; farewell, my children--farewell, my brave companions--surround me +once more--farewell!" + +Amidst the silent but profound grief of these brave men, submitting like +himself to the irresistible force of events, Napoleon placed himself in +his carriage, and drove rapidly from Fontainebleau. + +Of all that lamented the fall of this extraordinary man, no one shed +bitterer tears than the neglected wife of his youth. Josephine had fled +from Paris on the approach of the Allies; but being assured of the +friendly protection of Alexander, returned to Malmaison ere Napoleon +quitted Fontainebleau. The Czar visited her frequently, and endeavoured +to soothe her affliction. But the ruin of "her Achilles," "her Cid" (as +she now once more, in the day of misery, called Buonaparte), had entered +deep into her heart. She sickened and died before the Allies left +France. + +Maria Louisa, meanwhile, and her son, were taken under the personal +protection of the Emperor of Austria, and had begun their journey to +Vienna some time before the fallen "Child of Destiny" reached Elba. + +[Footnote 66: An English _détenu_, who was then in Paris, says: "During +the battle, the Boulevard des Italiens and the Caffé Tortoni were +thronged with fashionable loungers of both sexes, sitting as usual on +the chairs placed there, and appearing almost uninterested spectators of +the number of wounded French brought in. The officers were carried on +mattresses. About two o'clock a general cry of _sauve qui peut_ was +heard on the boulevards, from the Porte St. Martin to Les Italiens; this +caused a general and confused flight, which spread like the undulations +of a wave, even beyond the Pont Neuf.... During the whole of the battle +wounded soldiers crawled into the streets, and lay down to die on the +pavement.... The _Moniteur_ of this day was a full sheet; but no notice +was taken of the war, or the army. Four columns were occupied by an +article on the dramatic works of Denis, and three with a dissertation on +the existence of Troy."--_Memorable Events in Paris in_ 1814, p. 93.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + + Napoleon's Journey to Frejus--Voyage to Elba--his conduct and + occupations there--Discontents in France--Return of Prisoners of + War--Jealousy of the Army--Union of the Jacobins and + Buonapartists--Their intrigues--Napoleon escapes from Elba. + + +Four commissioners, one from each of the great Allied Powers, Austria, +Russia, Prussia, and England, accompanied Buonaparte on his journey. He +was attended by Bertrand, Grand Master of the Palace, and some other +attached friends and servants; and 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 all +volunteers), marched in the same direction, to take on them the military +duties of the exiled court. + +During the earlier part of his progress Napoleon continued to be +received respectfully by the civil functionaries of the different towns +and departments, and with many tokens of sympathy on the part of the +people; and his personal demeanour was such as it had been wont to +appear in his better days. At Valence he met Augereau, whose conduct +during the campaign had moved his bitterest displeasure; the interview +was short--the recriminations mutual, and, for the first time perhaps, +the fallen Emperor heard himself addressed in that tone of equality and +indifference to which, for so many years, he had been a stranger. +Thenceforth the course of his journey carried him more and more deeply +into the provinces wherein his name had never been popular, and +contemptuous hootings began by degrees to be succeeded by clamours of +fierce resentment. On more than one occasion the crowd had threatened +personal violence when the horses were changing, and he appears to have +exhibited alarm such as could hardly have been expected in one so +familiar with all the dangers of warfare. But civil commotions, as we +have seen in the case of the revolution of Brumaire, were not +contemplated by Napoleon so calmly as the tumults of the field. At this +time besides he was suffering under a bodily illness, the fruit of +debauchery, which acts severely on the stoutest nerves. It is admitted +on all hands that he showed more of uneasiness and anxiety than accords +with the notion of a heroic character. At length he 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. His equanimity seemed perfectly re-established +from the moment when he set his foot on the British deck. He conversed +affably with Captain Usher and the officers; and by the ease and +plainness of his manners, his intelligent curiosity as to the +arrangements of the ship, and the warm eulogies which he continued to +pronounce on them, and on the character of the English nation at large, +he succeeded in making a very favourable impression on all the +crew--with the exception of Hinton, a shrewd old boatswain, who, unmoved +by all the imperial blandishments, growled, at the close of every fine +speech, the same homely comment, "humbug." Saving this hard veteran, the +usual language of the forecastle was, that "Buonaparte was a very good +fellow after all"; and when, on finally leaving the _Undaunted_, he +caused some 200 _Napoleons_ to be distributed among the sailors, they +"wished his honour long life, and better luck the next time." + +He came within view of his new dominions on the afternoon of the 4th of +May, and went ashore in disguise the same evening, in order to ascertain +for himself whether the feelings of the Elbese at all resembled those of +the Provençals. Finding that, on the contrary, the people considered his +residence as likely to increase in every way the consequence and +prosperity of their island, he returned on board the ship, and at noon, +the day after, made his public entrance into the town of Porto Ferraio, +amidst all possible demonstrations of welcome and respect. + +The Russian and Prussian commissioners did not accompany him beyond the +coast of Provence: the Austrian Baron Kholer, and the English Sir Neil +Campbell, landed with Napoleon, and took up their residence at Ferraio. +He continued for some time to treat both of these gentlemen with every +mark of distinction, and even cordiality: made them the companions of +his table and excursions; and conversed with apparent openness and +candour on the past, the present, and the future. "There is but one +people in the world," said he to Colonel Campbell--"the English--the +rest are only so many populaces. I tried to raise the French to your +level of sentiment, and failing to do so, fell of course. I am now +politically dead to Europe. Let me do what I can for Elba.... It must be +confessed," said he, having climbed the hill above Ferraio, from whence +he could look down on the whole of his territory as on a map--"it must +be confessed," said the Emperor, smiling, "that my island is very +small." + +The island, however, was his; and, as on the eye itself a very small +object near at hand fills a much greater space than the largest which is +distant, so, in the mind of Napoleon, that was always of most importance +in which his personal interests happened for the time to be most +concerned. The island--mountainous and rocky, for the most part barren, +and of a circumference not beyond sixty miles--was his; and the Emperor +forthwith devoted to Elba the same anxious care and industry which had +sufficed for the whole affairs of France, and the superintendence and +control of half Europe besides. He, in less than three weeks, had +explored every corner of the island, and projected more improvements of +all sorts than would have occupied a long lifetime to complete. He even +extended his empire by sending some dozen or two of his soldiers to take +possession of a small adjacent islet, hitherto left unoccupied for fear +of corsairs. He established four different residences at different +corners of Elba, and was continually in motion from one to another of +them. Wherever he was, in houses neither so large nor so well furnished +as many English gentlemen are used to inhabit, all the etiquettes of the +Tuileries were, as far as possible, adhered to; and Napoleon's eight or +nine hundred veterans were reviewed as frequently and formally as if +they had been the army of Austerlitz or of Moscow. His presence gave a +new stimulus to the trade and industry of the islanders; the small port +of Ferraio was crowded with vessels from the opposite coasts of Italy; +and, such was still the power of his name, that the new flag of Elba +(covered with Napoleon's _bees_), traversed with impunity the seas most +infested with the Moorish pirates. + +Buonaparte's eagerness as to architectural and other improvements was, +ere long, however, checked in a manner sufficiently new to him--namely, +by the want of money. The taxes of the island were summarily increased; +but this gave rise to discontent among the Elbese, without replenishing +at all adequately the Emperor's exchequer. Had the French government +paid his pension in advance, or at least quarterly, as it fell due, even +that would have borne a slender proportion to the demands of his +magnificent imagination. But Napoleon received no money whatever from +the Bourbon court; and his complaints on this head were unjustly and +unwisely neglected. These new troubles embittered the spirit of the +fallen Chief; and the first excitement of novelty being over he sank +into a state of comparative indolence, and apparently of listless +dejection; from which, however, he was, ere long, to be roused +effectually, by the course of events in that great kingdom, almost in +sight of whose shores he had been most injudiciously permitted to +preserve the shadow of sovereign state. + +Louis XVIII., advanced in years, gross and infirm in person, and devoted +to the luxuries of the table, was, in spite of considerable talents and +accomplishments, and a sincere desire to conciliate the affections, by +promoting the interests, of all orders of his people, but ill-adapted +for occupying, in such trying times, the throne which, even amidst all +the blaze of genius and victory, Napoleon had at best found uneasy and +insecure.[67] The King himself was, perhaps, less unpopular than almost +any other member of his family; but it was his fatal misfortune, that +while, on the whole, every day increased the bitterness of those who had +never been sincerely his friends, it tended to chill the affections of +the royalists who had partaken his exile, or laboured, ere success was +probable, for his return. + +Louis had been called to the throne by the French senate, in a decree +which at the same time declared the legislative constitution, as +composed of a hereditary sovereign and two houses of assembly, to be +fixed and unchangeable; which confirmed the rights of all who had +obtained property in consequence of the events of the Revolution, and +the titles and orders conferred by Buonaparte: in a word, which summoned +the Bourbon to ascend the throne of Napoleon--on condition that he +should preserve that political system which Napoleon had violated. +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; +and though he issued a charter, conferring, as from his own free will, +every privilege which the senate claimed for themselves and the nation, +this mode of commencement could not fail to give deep offence to those, +not originally of his party, who had consented to his recall. These men +saw, in such assumptions, the traces of those old doctrines of _divine +right_, which they had through life abhorred and combated; and asked +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 possessions and 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 exiled nobles, meanwhile, were naturally the personal +friends and companions of the restored princes: their illustrious names, +and, we must add, their superior manners, could not fail to excite +unpleasant feelings among the new-made dukes and counts of Buonaparte. +Among themselves it was no wonder that expectations were cherished, and +even avowed, of recovering gradually, if not rapidly, the estates of +which the Revolution had deprived them. The churchmen, who had never +gone heartily into Napoleon's ecclesiastical arrangements, sided of +course with these impoverished and haughty lords; and, in a word, the +first tumult of the restoration being over, the troops of the Allies +withdrawn, and the memory of recent sufferings and disasters beginning +to wax dim amidst the vainest and most volatile of nations, there were +abundant elements of discontent afloat among all those classes who had +originally approved of, or profited by, the revolution of 1792. + +Of these the most powerful and dangerous remains to be noticed; and, +indeed, had the Bourbons adopted judicious measures concerning _the +army_, it is very probable that the alarms of the other classes now +alluded to might have subsided. The Allies, in the moment of universal +delight and conciliation, restored at once, and without stipulation, the +whole of the prisoners who had fallen into their hands during the war. +At least 150,000 veteran soldiers of Buonaparte were thus poured into +France ere Louis was well-seated on the throne; men, the greater part of +whom had witnessed nothing of the last disastrous campaigns; who had +sustained themselves in their exile by brooding over the earlier +victories in which themselves had had a part; 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 conquerors, in their anxiety to procure for Louis XVIII. a warm +reception among the French, had been led into other mistakes, which all +tended to the same issue. They had (with some exceptions on the part of +Prussia) left the pictures and statues, the trophies of Napoleon's +battles, untouched in the Louvre--they had not even disturbed the +monuments erected in commemoration of their own disgraces. These +instances of forbearance were now attributed by the fierce and haughty +soldiery of Buonaparte, to the lingering influence of that terror which +their own arms under his guidance had been accustomed to inspire. +Lastly, the concessions to Napoleon himself of his imperial title, and +an independent sovereignty almost within view of France, were +interpreted in the same fashion by these habitual worshippers of his +renown. The restored King, on his part, was anxious about nothing so +much as to conciliate the affections of the army. With this view he kept +together bands which, long accustomed to all the licence of warfare, +would hardly have submitted to peace even under Napoleon himself. Even +the Imperial Guard, those chosen and devoted children of the Emperor, +were maintained entire on their old establishment; the Legion of Honour +was continued as before; the war ministry was given to Soult, the +ablest, in common estimation, of Buonaparte's surviving marshals; and +the other officers of that high rank were loaded with every mark of +royal consideration. But these arrangements only swelled the +presumption of those whose attachment they were meant to secure. It was +hardly possible that the King of France should have given no military +appointments among the nobles who had partaken his exile. He gave them +so few, that they, as a body, began to murmur ere the reign was a month +old: but he gave enough to call up insolent reclamations among those +proud legionaries, who in every royalist, beheld an emblem of the +temporary humiliation of their own caste. When, without dissolving or +weakening the Imperial (now _Royal_) Guard, he formed a body of +household troops, composed of _gentlemen_, and entrusted them with the +immediate attendance on his person and court, this was considered as a +heinous insult; and when the King bestowed the cross of the Legion of +Honour on persons who would have much preferred that of St. Louis, the +only comment that obtained among the warriors of Austerlitz and +Friedland, was, that which ascribed to the Bourbons a settled design of +degrading the decoration which they had purchased with their blood. + +In a word, the French soldiery remained cantoned in the country in a +temper stern, gloomy, and sullen; jealous of the Prince whose bread they +were eating; eager to wipe out the memory of recent disasters in new +victories; and cherishing more and more deeply the notion (not perhaps +unfounded) that had Napoleon not been betrayed at home, no foreigners +could ever have hurled him from his throne. Nor could such sentiments +fail to be partaken, more or less, by the officers of every rank who had +served under Buonaparte. They felt, almost universally, that it must be +the policy of the Bourbons to promote, as far as possible, others rather +than themselves. And even as to those of the very highest class--could +any peaceful honours compensate, to such spirits as Ney and Soult, for a +revolution, that for ever shrouded in darkness the glittering prizes on +which Napoleon had encouraged them to speculate? Were the comrades of +Murat and Bernadotte to sit down in contentment as peers of France, +among the Montmorencies and the Rohans, who considered them at the best +as low-born intruders, and scorned, in private society, to acknowledge +them as members of their order? If we take into account the numerous +personal adherents whom the Imperial government, with all the faults of +its chief, must have possessed--and the political humiliation of +France, in the eyes of all Europe, as well as of the French people +themselves, immediately connected with the disappearance of Napoleon--we +shall have some faint conception of that mass of multifarious griefs and +resentments, in the midst of which the unwieldy and inactive Louis +occupied, ere long, a most unenviable throne--and on which the +eagle-eyed Exile of Elba gazed with reviving hope even before the summer +of 1814 had reached its close. + +Ere then, as we have seen, the demeanour and conduct of Napoleon were +very different from what they had been when he first took possession of +his mimic empire. Ere then his mother, his sister Pauline (a woman, +whose talents for intrigue equalled her personal charms), and not a few +ancient and attached servants, both of his civil government and of his +army, had found their way to Elba, and figured in "his little senate." +Pauline made repeated voyages to Italy, and returned again. New and busy +faces appeared in the circle of Porto Ferraio--and disappeared +forthwith--no one knew whence they had come or whither they went; an air +of bustle and of mystery pervaded the atmosphere of the place. Sir Neil +Campbell found it more and more difficult to obtain access to the +presence of Buonaparte--which the refusal of the English government to +acknowledge the Imperial title, and this officer's consequent want of +any very definite character at Elba, left him no better means of +overcoming than to undertake journeys and voyages, thereby gaining a +pretext for paying his respects at every departure and return. Sir Neil +early suspected that some evil was hatching, and repeatedly remarked on +the absurdity of withholding Napoleon's pension, thereby tempting him, +as it were, to violence. But neither the reports nor the reclamations of +this gentleman appear to have received that attention which they +merited. + +What persons in France were actually in communication on political +subjects with the turbulent court of Elba, during that autumn and the +following winter, is likely to remain a secret: that they were neither +few nor inactive, nor unskilful, the event will sufficiently prove. The +chiefs of the police and of the post-office had been removed by Louis; +but the whole inferior machinery of these establishments remained +untouched; and it is generally believed, that both were early and +sedulously employed in the service of the new conspiracy. We have seen +that Soult was commander-in-chief of the army; and it is very difficult, +on considering the subsequent course of events, to doubt that he also +made a systematic use of his authority with the same views, distributing +and arranging the troops according to far other rules than the interests +of his royal master. + +Ere the autumn closed, Buonaparte granted furloughs on various pretexts +to about 200 of his guardsmen; and these were forthwith scattered over +France, actively disseminating the praises of their chief, and, though +probably not aware how soon such an attempt was meditated, preparing the +minds of their ancient comrades for considering it as by no means +unlikely that he would yet once more appear in the midst of them. It is +certain that a notion soon prevailed that Napoleon would revisit the +soil of France in the spring of the coming year. He was toasted among +the soldiery, and elsewhere also, under the _soubriquet_ of Corporal +Violet. That early flower, or a ribbon of its colour, was the symbol of +rebellion, and worn openly, in the sight of the unsuspecting Bourbons. + +Their security was as profound as hollow; nor was it confined to them. +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. Talleyrand was there for France, and Wellington for England; +and yet it is on all hands admitted, that no surprise was ever more +sudden, complete, and universal than theirs, when on the 11th of March, +1815, a courier arrived among them with the intelligence that Napoleon +Buonaparte had reared his standard in Provence.[68] + +[Footnote 67: When the King first came to Paris, there appeared a +caricature representing an eagle flying away from the Tuileries, and a +brood of porkers entering the gate; and His Majesty was commonly called +by the rabble, not Louis _dix huit_, but Louis _Cochon_ (the pig), or +Louis _des huîtres_ (of the oysters).] + +[Footnote 68: The Emperor Alexander alone preserved perfect +self-possession; and, turning to the Duke of Wellington, exclaimed "Eh +bien, Wellington, c'est à vous encore une fois sauver le monde."] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + + Napoleon lands at Cannes--his progress to + Grenoble--Lyons--Fontainebleau--Treason of Labedoyere and + Ney--Louis XVIII. retires to Ghent, and Napoleon arrives in Paris. + + +The evening before Napoleon sailed (February the 26th), his sister +Pauline gave a ball, to which all the officers of the Elbese army were +invited. A brig (the _Inconstant_) and six small craft, had meanwhile +been prepared for the voyage, and at dead of night, without apparently +any previous intimation, the soldiery were mustered by tuck of drum, and +found themselves on board ere they could ask for what purpose. When the +day broke, they perceived that all the officers and the Emperor himself +were with them, and that they were steering for the coast of France; and +it could no longer be doubtful that the scheme which had for months +formed the darling object of all their hopes and dreams was about to be +realised. + +Sir Neil Campbell, who had been absent on an excursion to Leghorn, +happened to return to Porto Ferraio almost as soon as the flotilla had +quitted it. The mother and sister of Buonaparte in vain endeavoured to +persuade the English officer that he had steered toward the coast of +Barbary. He pursued instantly towards Provence, in the _Partridge_, +which attended his orders, and came in sight of the fugitive armament +exactly when it was too late. Ere then Napoleon had encountered almost +an equal hazard. A French ship of war had crossed his path; but the +Emperor made all his soldiery lie flat on the decks, 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. Thus narrowly escaped the flotilla which +carried "Cæsar and his fortune." + +On the 1st of March he was once more off Cannes--the same spot which had +received him from Egypt, and at which he had embarked ten months before +for Elba. There was no force whatever to oppose his landing; 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 immediately put in motion on the road to Paris. +Twenty-five grenadiers which he detached to summon Antibes were arrested +on the instant by the governor of that place; but he despised this omen, +and proceeded without a pause. He bivouacked that night in a plantation +of olives, with all his men about him. As soon as the moon rose, the +réveille sounded. A labourer going thus early afield, recognised the +Emperor's person, and, with a cry of joy, said he had served in the army +of Italy, and would join the march. "Here is already a reinforcement," +said Napoleon; and the march recommenced. Early in the morning they +passed through the town of Grasse, and halted on the height beyond +it--where the whole population of the place forthwith surrounded them, +some cheering, the great majority looking on in perfect silence, but +none offering any show of opposition. The roads were so bad in this +neighbourhood, that the pieces of cannon which they had with them were +obliged to be abandoned in the course of the day, but they had marched +full twenty leagues ere they halted for the night at Cerenon. On the +5th, Napoleon reached Gap. He was now in Dauphiny, called "The cradle of +the Revolution," and the sullen silence of the Provençals was succeeded +by popular acclamations; but still no troops had joined him--and his +anxiety was great. + +It was at Gap that he published his first proclamations; one "To the +Army," another "To the French people," both no doubt prepared at Elba, +though dated "March 1st, Gulf of Juan." The former, and more important +of the two, ran in these words--"Soldiers! we have not been beaten. Two +men, raised from our ranks,[69] 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 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 Montmirail. Come and range yourselves +under the banners of your old chief. Victory shall march at the +charging step. The Eagle, with the national colours, shall fly from +steeple to steeple--on to the towers of Notre Dame! In your old age, +surrounded and honoured 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." + +It was between Mure and Vizele that Cambronne, who commanded his +advanced guard of forty grenadiers, met suddenly a battalion sent +forwards from Grenoble to arrest the march. The colonel refused to +parley with Cambronne; either party halted until Napoleon himself came +up. He did not hesitate for a moment. He dismounted, and advanced alone; +some paces behind him came a hundred of his guard, with their arms +reversed. There was perfect silence on all sides until he 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 Honour, 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 +instantaneously from every lip. Napoleon threw himself among them, and +taking a veteran private, covered with chevrons and medals, by the +whisker, said, "Speak honestly, old Moustache, couldst thou have had the +heart to kill thy Emperor?" The man dropped his ramrod into his piece to +show that it was uncharged, and answered, "Judge if I could have done +thee much harm--all the rest are the same." Napoleon gave the word, and +the old adherents, and the new, marched together on Grenoble. + +Some space 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 produced an eagle, which he had kept concealed about his +person, and broke open a drum which was found to be filled with +tricolor cockades; these ancient ensigns were received with redoubled +enthusiasm. This was the first instance of an officer of superior rank +voluntarily espousing the side of the invader. The impulse thus afforded +was decisive; in spite of all the efforts of General Marchand, +Commandant of Grenoble, the whole of that garrison, when he approached +the walls, exclaimed _Vive l'Empereur_! Their conduct, however, +exhibited a singular spectacle. Though thus welcoming Napoleon with +their voices, they would not so far disobey the governor as to throw +open the gates. On the other hand no argument could prevail on them to +fire on the advancing party. In the teeth of all the batteries, +Buonaparte calmly planted a howitzer or two, and blew the gates open, +and then, as if the spell of discipline were at once dissolved, the +garrison broke from their lines, and he in an instant found himself +dragged from his horse, and borne aloft on these men's shoulders towards +the principal inn of the place, amidst the clamours of enthusiastic and +delirious joy. Marchand remained faithful to his oath; and was dismissed +without injury. Next morning the authorities of Grenoble waited on +Napoleon, and tendered their homage. He reviewed his troops, now about +7000 in numbers, and on the 9th recommenced his march. + +On the 10th, Buonaparte came within sight of Lyons, and was informed +that Monsieur and Marshal Macdonald had arrived to take the command, +barricaded the bridge of Guillotierre, and posted themselves 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 his person was +recognised by the soldiery. The Prince and Macdonald were forced to +retire, and Napoleon entered the second city of France in triumph. A +guard of mounted gentlemen had been formed among the citizens to attend +on the person of Monsieur. These were among the foremost to offer their +services to the Emperor, after he reached his hotel. Surrounded by his +own soldiery, and by a manufacturing population, whom the comparatively +free admission of English goods after the peace of Paris had filled with +fear and discontent, and who now welcomed the great enemy of England +with rapturous acclamations, Napoleon could afford to reject the +assistance of these faithless cavaliers. He dismissed them with +contempt; but finding that _one_ of their number had followed Monsieur +until his person was out of all danger, immediately sent to that +individual the cross of the Legion of Honour. + +This revolution had been proceeding during more than a week, ere the +gazettes of Paris ventured to make any allusion to its existence. There +then appeared a royal ordonnance, proclaiming Napoleon Buonaparte _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 was already stripped of most of his +followers, wandering in despair among the hills, and certain to be a +prisoner within two or three days at the utmost. The _Moniteur_, +however, was no very decisive authority in 1815, any more than in 1814; +and the public mind continued full of uncertainty, as to the motives and +every circumstance of this unparalleled adventure. Monsieur, meanwhile, +had departed, we have seen with what success, to Lyons; the Duke of +Angouleme was already at Marseilles, organising the loyal Provençals, +and preparing to throw himself on Grenoble and cut off the retreat of +Buonaparte; and Louis continued to receive 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. + +This while, however, the partisans of Napoleon in Paris were far more +active than the royalists. They gave out everywhere that, as the +proclamation from the Gulf of Juan had stated, Buonaparte was come 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 on 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 in the eyes of +the old nobility of France, and to secure the proprietors of forfeited +estates against all the machinations of that dominant faction; in a +word, that he was fully sensible to 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. With these suggestions they mingled +statements perhaps still more audacious. According to them, Napoleon had +landed with the hearty approbation of the Austrian court, and would be +instantly rejoined by the Empress and his son. The Czar also was +friendly; even England had been sounded ere the adventure began, and +showed no disposition to hazard another war for the sake of the +Bourbons. The King of Prussia, indeed, remained hostile--but France was +not sunk so low as to dread that state single-handed. It was no secret, +ere this time, that some disputes of considerable importance had sprung +up among the great powers whose representatives were assembled at +Vienna; and such was the rash credulity of the Parisians, that the most +extravagant exaggerations and inventions which issued from the saloon of +the Duchess de St. Leu (under which name Hortense Beauharnois, wife of +Louis Buonaparte, had continued to reside in Paris)--and from other +circles of the same character, found, to a certain extent, credence. +There was one tale which ran louder and louder from the tongue of every +Buonapartist, and which royalist and republican found, day after day, +new reason to believe; namely, that the army were, high and low, on the +side of Napoleon; that every detachment sent to intercept him, would but +swell his force; in a word, that--unless the people were to rise _en +masse_--nothing could prevent the outlaw from taking possession of the +Tuileries ere a fortnight more had passed over the head of Louis. + +It was at Lyons, where Napoleon remained from the 10th to the 13th, that +he formally resumed the functions of civil government. He published +various decrees at this place; one, commanding justice to 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 at a _Champ-de-Mai_,[70] there to +witness the coronation of Maria Louisa and of her son, and settle +definitively the constitution of the state; a third, ordering into +banishment all 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 Honour; and a sixth, restoring to their authority all +magistrates who had been displaced by the Bourbon government. These +proclamations could not be prevented from reaching Paris; and the Court, +abandoning their system of denying or extenuating the extent of the +impending danger, began to adopt more energetic means for its +suppression. + +It was now that Marshal Ney volunteered his services to take the command +of a large body of troops, whose fidelity was considered sure, and who +were about to be sent to Lons-le-Saunier, there to intercept and arrest +the invader. Well aware of this great officer's influence in the army, +Louis did not hesitate to accept his proffered assistance; and Ney, on +kissing his hand at parting, swore that in the course of a week he would +bring Buonaparte to his majesty's feet in a cage, like a wild beast. + +On reaching Lons-le-Saunier, Ney received a letter from Napoleon, +summoning him to join his standard as "the bravest of the brave." In how +far he guided or followed the sentiments of his soldiery we know not, +but the fact is certain, that he and they put themselves in motion +forthwith, and joined the march of Buonaparte on the 17th at Auxerre. +Ney, in the sequel, did not hesitate to avow 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 Elbese conspiracy. Of the latter of these assertions no other proof +has hitherto been produced; and the former continues to be generally as +well as mercifully discredited. + +In and about the capital there still remained troops far more than +sufficient in numbers to overwhelm the advancing column, and drag its +chief to the feet of Louis. He entrusted the command of these battalions +to one whose personal honour was as clear as his military reputation +was splendid--Marshal Macdonald; and this gentleman proceeded to take +post at Melun, in good hope, notwithstanding all that happened, of being +duly supported in the discharge of his commission. + +On the 19th, Napoleon slept once more in the chateau of Fontainebleau; +on the morning of the 20th he advanced through the forest in full +knowledge of Macdonald's arrangements--and he advanced alone. It was +about noon that the marshal's troops, who had for some time been under +arms on an eminence beyond the wood, listening, apparently with delight, +to the loyal strains of _Vive Henri Quatre_ and _La Belle Gabrielle_, +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 +grey surtout--the person of Napoleon was recognised. 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 his master had not awaited the issue of +the last stand at Melun. Amidst the tears and lamentations of the loyal +burghers of the capital, and the respectful silence of those who really +wished for the success of his rival, Louis had set off from the +Tuileries in the middle of the preceding night. Macdonald overtook him, +and accompanied him to the frontier of the Netherlands, which he reached +in safety. There had been a plan organised by Generals Lallemand and +Lefevre for seizing the roads between Paris and Belgium, and +intercepting the flight of the King; but Marshal Mortier had been +successful in detecting and suppressing this movement. + +On the evening of the 20th of March, Napoleon once more entered Paris. +He came preceded and followed by the soldiery, on whom alone he had +relied, and who, by whatever sacrifices, had justified his confidence. +The streets were silent as the travel-worn cavalcade passed along; but +all that loved the name or the cause of Napoleon were ready to receive +him in the Tuileries; and he was almost stifled by the pressure of those +enthusiastic adherents, who the moment he stopped, mounted him on their +shoulders, and carried him so in triumph up the great staircase of the +palace. He found, in the apartments which the King had just vacated, a +brilliant assemblage of those who had in former times filled the most +prominent places in his own councils and court: among the rest was +Fouché. This personage was not the only one present who had recently +intrigued with the Bourbons against Buonaparte--with as much apparent +ardour, and perhaps with about as much honesty, as in other times he had +ever brought to the service of the Emperor. "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." + +[Footnote 69: The allusion is to Marmont's conduct at Essonne, and +Augereau's hasty abandonment of Lyons when the Austrians approached it +in March, 1814.] + +[Footnote 70: Napoleon took the idea and name of this assembly from the +history of the early Gauls.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + + The Hundred Days--Declaration of the Congress at Vienna--Napoleon + prepares for War--Capitulation of the Duke + d'Angouleme--Insurrection of La Vendée--Murat advances from + Naples--Is Defeated--And takes refuge in France--The + Champ-de-Mai--Dissatisfaction of the Constitutionalists. + + +The reports so zealously circulated by the Buonapartists, that some at +least of the great European powers were aware, and approved, of the +meditated debarkation at Cannes--and the hopes thus nourished among the +French people, that the new revolution would not disturb the peace of +the world--were very speedily at an end. The instant that the news of +Napoleon's daring movement reached Vienna, the Congress published a +proclamation in these words:--"By breaking the convention which +established him in Elba, Buonaparte destroys the only legal title on +which his existence depended. By appearing again in France, with +projects of confusion and disorder, he has deprived himself of the +protection of the law, and manifested to the universe that there can be +neither peace nor truce with him. The powers consequently declare that +Napoleon Buonaparte has placed himself without the pale of civil and +social relations, and that, as an enemy and disturber of the +tranquillity of the world, he has rendered himself liable to public +vengeance." These sentiments underwent no change in consequence of the +apparently triumphant course of Napoleon's adventure. All Europe +prepared once more for war. It was evident that the usurper owed +everything to the French soldiery--that body to which the treaty of +Paris had at once restored 150,000 veterans, idle, and indisposed for +ordinary labour--and that until this ferocious military were effectually +humbled there could be no peace for the world. + +A formal treaty was forthwith entered into, by which the four great +powers bound themselves to maintain each of them at least 150,000 troops +in arms, until Buonaparte 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. The King of France +was to be requested to sign the treaty also; but with reference to this +article an explanatory note was affixed, by the representatives of the +Prince Regent of England, denying, on the part of his royal highness, +any wish to force a particular government on the people of France: and +it was further stipulated that in case Britain should not furnish all +the men agreed on, she should compensate by paying at the rate of £30 +per annum for every cavalry soldier, and £20 per annum for every foot +soldier under the full number. Such was the treaty of Vienna; but the +zeal of the contracting parties went far beyond the preparations +indicated in its terms. Napoleon was hardly re-seated on his throne ere +he learned that he must in all likelihood maintain it against 300,000 +Austrians, 225,000 Russians, 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 one million eleven thousand soldiers. + +His preparations to meet this gigantic confederacy began from the moment +when he re-established himself in the Tuileries. Carnot became once more +minister of war; and what Napoleon and he, when labouring together in +the re-organisation of an army, could effect, had been abundantly +manifested at the commencement of the consulate. The army cantoned in +France, when Buonaparte landed at Cannes, numbered 175,000; the cavalry +had been greatly reduced: and the disasters of 1812, 1813, and 1814, +were visible in the miserable deficiency of military stores and arms, +especially of artillery. By incredible exertions, notwithstanding the +pressure of innumerable cares and anxieties of all kinds, and although +the temper of the nation prevented him from having recourse to the old +method of conscription--the Emperor, ere May was over, had 375,000 men +in arms--including an imperial guard of 40,000 chosen veterans, in the +most splendid state of equipment and discipline, a large and brilliant +force of cavalry, and a train of artillery of proportional extent and +excellence. + +Napoleon, however, made sundry attempts to open a negotiation with the +Allies--nor wanted there statesmen, even in England, to lend their best +support to his reclamations. He urged three arguments in defence 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--an affair +with which the king whose dominions he had invaded could have had +nothing to do: 2nd, the nonpayment of his pension--a grievance which +might have furnished a legitimate ground of complaining to the powers +that guaranteed its punctual discharge, and which, if so complained of +at the Congress of Vienna, there is no reason to doubt would have been +redressed: and 3rd, the voice of the French nation, which he, according +to his own statement, had but heard and obeyed. But the state of public +feeling in France could not be effectually misrepresented now: and the +answer that met him from every quarter was one and the same--namely, +that he had ascended the throne of Louis in consequence of the treason +of the army, and the intrigues of a faction, in direct opposition to the +wishes of almost all the upper classes of society throughout France, +and, as regarded the mass of the nation, amidst profound indifference. + +Meanwhile the royalists at home had failed in all their endeavours to +prevent his authority from being recognised all over France. The Duke +d'Angouleme was soon surrounded by the superior numbers of General +Gilly, and capitulated--on condition of being permitted to disband his +followers, and embark at Cette for Spain--a convention which Napoleon +did not hesitate to ratify. The Duchess of Angouleme, daughter of Louis +XVI., displayed at Bourdeaux such heroism as drew from Napoleon himself +the sarcastic eulogy, "She is the only man of her race;" but in spite of +the loyalty of the inhabitants all her efforts were vain. The garrison +was strong; they had caught the general flame; and the Princess was at +length compelled to take refuge in an English frigate. The Duke of Berri +repaired, on the first alarm, to La Vendée: but the regular troops in +that faithful province were, thanks to the previous care of King Louis's +war-minister, so numerous and so well posted, that this effort failed +also, and the Duke escaped to England. Before March had ended, the +tricolor flag was displayed on every tower of France. + +Having discovered that there was no chance--if indeed he had ever +contemplated one--of persuading the Emperor of Austria to restore his +wife and son to him, Napoleon, ere he had been many days at the +Tuileries, set on foot a scheme for carrying them off from Vienna, by a +mixture of stratagem and force. There were French people in the suite of +Maria Louisa who easily embarked in this plot; and forged passports, +relays of horses, and all other appliances had been so well provided, +that but for a single individual, who betrayed the design, there seems +to have been a considerable probability of its success. On discovering +this affair the Emperor of Austria dismissed the French attendants of +his daughter, and caused her to discontinue the use of the arms and +liveries of Napoleon, which she had hitherto retained--nay, even the +imperial title itself, resuming those of her own family, and original +rank as archduchess. This procedure could not be concealed at Paris, and +completed the conviction of all men, that there was no hope whatever of +avoiding another European war; and almost at the same time a rash +expedition of Murat, which, if successful, might have materially +influenced the conduct of Austria, reached its end. + +Napoleon, when at St. Helena, always persisted in denying any +participation in this design of his brother-in-law; but, however this +may have been, it is certain that much intercourse subsisted, during his +stay at Elba, between the Queen of Naples and the female branches of the +family at Porto Ferraio; nor can anyone doubt either that Murat had +received some pretty distinct intimation of Napoleon's intended descent +in France--or that he ventured on his movement in the confidence that +this and the Emperor's would lend to each other much moral support--or +that, if Joachim had prospered, Napoleon would have considered what he +did as the best service that could have been rendered to himself. + +Among the subjects which, prior to Buonaparte's reappearance, occupied +the Congress of Vienna, one of the chief was the conduct of Murat during +the campaign of 1814. Talleyrand charged him with having, throughout, +been a traitor to the cause of the Allies; and exhibited a series of +intercepted letters, from him to Napoleon, in proof of this allegation. +The Duke of Wellington, on the other hand, considered these documents as +proving no more than that Murat had reluctantly lifted his banner +against the author of his fortunes. Talleyrand had always hated Murat +and despised him--(the father of the King of Naples had originally been +steward in the household of the Perigords)--and persisted in urging on +the Congress the danger of suffering a sovereign of Buonaparte's family +and creation to sit on the throne which belonged of right to the King of +the Sicilies. The affair was still under discussion, to the mortal +annoyance of the person whose interests were at stake, when Napoleon +landed at Cannes. Murat resolved to rival his brother's daring; and, +without further pause, marched, at the head of 50,000 men, to Rome, from +which the Pope and cardinals fled precipitately at his approach. The +Neapolitans then advanced into the North of Italy, scattering +proclamations by which Joachim invited all true Italians to rally round +him, and assist in the erection of their country into one free and +independent state, with him at its head. The Austrian commander in +Lombardy forthwith put his troops in motion to meet Murat. The rencontre +took place at Occhiobello. The Neapolitans fled in confusion almost at +the sight of the enemy; and Murat, unable to rally them, sought personal +safety in a fishing vessel, which landed him near Toulon, about the end +of May. Napoleon was in vain entreated to receive him at Paris. He +refused, asking, with bitter scorn--if the war between France and +Naples, which subsisted in 1814, had ever been terminated by treaty? +Murat lingered for some time in obscurity near Toulon; and, relanding on +the coast of Naples after the King of the Two Sicilies had been +re-established on that throne, in the vain hope of exciting an +insurrection and recovering what he had lost, was seized, tried, and +executed. This vain, but high-spirited, man, met his fate with heroic +fortitude; and Napoleon, at St. Helena, often said that the fortune of +the world might have been changed, had there been a Murat to head the +French cavalry at Waterloo. + +The result of this rash expedition enabled Austria to concentrate all +her Italian forces also 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: 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. Every hour +the clouds were thickening apace, and it became evident, that, if +Napoleon remained much longer in Paris, the war would burst +simultaneously on every frontier of his empire. + +He had no intention to abide at home the onset of his enemies; but the +situation of civil affairs was such as to embarrass him, in the prospect +of departure, with difficulties which, in former days, were not used to +perplex the opening of his campaigns. + +Hard indeed was his task from the beginning--to conciliate to himself +heartily the political faction who detested, and had assisted in +overthrowing the government of the Bourbons, and this without chilling +the attachment of the military, who despised these coadjutors, both as +theorists and as civilians, and had welcomed Napoleon only as the +certain harbinger of war, revenge, and plunder. How little his soldiery +were disposed to consider him as owing anything to a civil revolution, +appeared almost from the commencement of his march from Cannes. It was +observed that these haughty bands moved on in contemptuous silence +whenever the populace cheered his approach, and shouted _Vive +l'Empereur_ only when there were no _pequin_[71] voices to mingle in the +clamour. Every act of Napoleon after he reached Paris, that was meant to +conciliate the common people of the capital, was the theme of angry +comment among these martial circles. Such measures as he adopted in +deference to the prejudices of the old republican party, were heard of +with equal contempt. The pacific language of his first proclamations was +considered as a fair stratagem--and no more. To them the man was nothing +but as the type of the system: they desired to hear of nothing in France +but the great Cæsar, and the legions to whom he owed his greatness, and +who had the same right to a new career of battles, as he to his Imperial +crown, at once the prize of past, and the pledge of future victories. + +With the views of these spirits, eager for blood and plunder, and +scornful of all liberty but the licence of the camp, Napoleon was +engaged in the endeavour to reconcile the principles and prejudices of +men who had assisted in rebuilding his throne, only because they put +faith in the assertions of himself and his friends, that he had +thoroughly repented of the despotic system on which he had formerly +ruled France--that ten months of exile and reflection had convinced him +how much better it was to be the first citizen of a free state, than the +undisputed tyrant of half the world--in a word, that his only remaining +ambition was to atone for the violence of his first reign by the +mildness of his second. As a first step to fasten the goodwill of these +easy believers, he, immediately on arriving in Paris, proclaimed the +freedom of the press; but he soon repented of this concession. In spite +of all the watchfulness, and all the briberies of his police, he could +never bend to his own service the whole of this power. The pure +republicans--even the pure royalists--continued to have their organs; +and the daily appeals of either to the reason and the passions of a +people so long strange to the exercise of such influence, otherwise than +in subservience to the government of the time, whatever that might be, +produced such effects, that, almost from the time in which he bestowed +the boon, he was occupied with devising pretexts for its recall. He ere +long caused, perhaps, more resentment by some efforts to thwart the +conduct of the press, than would have resulted from the absolute +prolongation of its slavery. Some even of the decrees of Lyons were hard +to be reconciled with the professions of one who disclaimed any wish to +interfere with the sacred right of the nation to frame its constitution +for itself. But in almost every act of his government after he reached +Paris, he furnished additional evidence how imperfectly his mind had +divested itself of the ancient maxims. Even the edict, emancipating the +press from all control, was an assumption on his part of the complete +power of legislation. The same might be said of another decree, +abolishing negro slavery and the slave trade, which he published shortly +after: but this second measure exposed him to other comments. Who could +seriously believe that at that moment of tumult, ere France was even in +semblance entirely his, and while all Europe was openly arming against +him, he had leisure for the affairs of the negroes? This display of +philanthropy was set down universally for a stage-trick; and men +quickened their eyes, lest such unsubstantial shows in the distant +horizon might be designed to withdraw their attention from the +foreground. + +The great assemblage of _Champ-de-Mai_ had been originally announced for +the 10th of May; and its principal business as the formation of a new +constitution. The meeting did not take place so early, and the task of +proposing a constitutional scheme for its consideration, proved far more +difficult than the Emperor had contemplated. He had the assistance, in +this labour, of Carnot and Sieyes, whose names would have carried great +weight with the republican party--had not both of these old jacobins and +regicides accepted, on entering the Emperor's service, high rank in his +peerage--a proceeding in direct violation of all the professions of +their lives. He was further favoured with the aid of his brother Lucien, +who, in spite of all previous misunderstandings, returned on this +occasion to Paris; influenced, probably, by the same egregious vanity +which made him fancy himself a poet, and hoping, under existing +circumstances, to impress Napoleon with such a sense of his value as +might secure him henceforth a commanding influence in the government of +France. The Abbé Sieyes, and Lucien also, had had some experience ere +now of Napoleon in the character of a constitution-maker. He was no +longer so powerful as he had been when they formerly toiled together +upon such a task: disputes arose; and the Emperor, to cut these short, +and give a decisive proof of his regard for freedom of debate, soon +broke up the discussion, retired from the Tuileries to the small palace +called the Elysée, and there drew up the scheme which pleased himself, +and which was forthwith published under the title of "Act Additional to +the Constitutions of the Empire." + +This title gave great offence, because it seemed to recognise many +anterior enactments, wholly irreconcilable with the tenor of the +document itself; and the mode of its promulgation furnished even more +serious ground of objection. This constitution was, on the face of it, +not a compact between the prince and the people, but the record of boons +conceded by the former to the latter. In a word, all they that had +condemned Louis XVIII. for his royal _charter_, were compelled to +acknowledge that their own imperial champion of freedom was beginning +his new career by a precisely similar display of presumption. + +The substance of the "additional act" disappointed all those who +hankered after the formal exposition of first principles; but it must be +allowed that its provisions seem to include whatever is needful for the +arrangement of a free representative constitution; hereditary monarchy; +a hereditary peerage; a house of representatives, chosen by the people, +at least once within every five years; yearly taxes, levied only by the +whole legislature; responsible ministers; irremovable judges; and, in +all criminal cases whatever, the trial by jury. The act, however, was +published; the electoral colleges accepted of it, as they had done of +all its predecessors; and it by degrees came out that the business of +the _Champ-de-Mai_ was to be--not even the discussion of the imperial +scheme, but only to swear submission to its regulations, and witness a +solemn distribution of eagles to those haughty bands who acknowledge no +law but that of the sword. + +This promised assemblage was preceded by one of the rabble of Paris, +convoked in front of the Tuileries on the 17th of May, and there feasted +and harangued by Napoleon--a condescension which excited lively +displeasure among his soldiery. He himself looked and spoke as one +thoroughly ashamed of what he had done and was doing. It had been his +desire to stimulate among these people something of the old zeal of the +revolutionary period, in case Paris should be once more threatened by a +foreign enemy; but he had the double mortification to find that the army +considered their touch as contamination, and that among themselves the +name of Louis was almost as popular as his own. Even the _Dames des +halles_, so conspicuous in the revolutionary tumults, screamed royalist +ditties in his ear as they drank his wine; and the only hearty cheers +were those of the day-labourers, who had profited by his resumption of +some great public works suspended by the King's government. + +The _Champ-de-Mai_ itself, which, despite its name, fell on the 1st of +June, turned out hardly a more successful exhibition. Napoleon, his +brothers, and the great civil functionaries, appeared in theatric +dresses, in the midst of an enormous amphitheatre, where the deputies, +sent from the departments to swear allegiance to the Emperor and the +"additional act," were almost lost in the military among whom the eagles +were to be distributed. The enthusiasm was confined to these. The same +ominous silence which prevailed at the coronation of 1804 was preserved +among the people. The sun shone bright, and the roar of cannon filled +every pause of the martial music. It was a brilliant spectacle; but +Napoleon retired from it in visible dejection. + +Three days after, the two houses met; and while that of the peers, +composed of persons who all owed their rank, and most of them much +besides, to Napoleon, showed every disposition to regulate their conduct +by his pleasure, there appeared from the beginning a marked spirit of +independence in a considerable proportion of the representative body. +The Emperor's address to both was moderate and manly. He requested their +support in the war which circumstances had rendered unavoidable, and +professed his desire that they should consider the "additional act" and +all other subjects of national interest, and suggest whatever +alterations might appear to them improvements. Some debates, by no means +gratifying to Napoleon, ensued; but he had no leisure for witnessing +much of their proceedings. It was now needful that he should appear once +more in his own element. + +[Footnote 71: By this contemptuous name his soldiery designated all who +had never borne arms. The word dropt once from the lips of one of +Napoleon's marshals in the hearing of Talleyrand, who asked its meaning. +"Nous nommons _pequin_," answered the rude soldier, "tout ce qui n'est +pas militaire."--"Ah!" said the cool Talleyrand--"comme nous nommons +_militaire_ tout ce qui n'est pas civil."] + + + + +CHAPTER XL + + Napoleon heads his army on the Belgian frontier--Passes the Sambre + at Charleroi--Defeats Blucher at Ligny--Battle of Quatre-Bras--The + English fall back on a position previously selected by + Wellington--THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO--Napoleon returns to + Paris. + + +Napoleon had now, among other preparations, 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. Meantime the Emperor himself had resolved to 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 debouche upon Manheim, to +co-operate by their right with Wellington and Blucher, and by their left +with Schwartzenberg. Of the Belgian army, and even of the Belgian +people, he believed himself to possess the secret goodwill, and that one +victory would place the Allies in a hostile country. By some daring +battle, and some such splendid success, he yet hoped to shatter the +confidence of the European confederacy; nor--even had he entertained +little hope of this kind--was the situation of affairs in Paris such as +to recommend another protracted and defensive warfare within France. The +fatal example of 1814 was too near: it behoved Napoleon to recommence +operations in the style which had characterised his happier campaigns. + +He left Paris on the evening of the 11th of June, exclaiming, as he +entered his carriage, "I go to measure myself against Wellington." He +arrived at Vervins on the 12th, 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 carefully selected, and +formed, perhaps, the most perfect force, though far from the most +numerous, with which he had ever taken the field. Buonaparte saw before +him 25,000 of his imperial guard, 25,000 cavalry in the highest +condition, 300 pieces of artillery admirably served, and infantry of the +line, almost all veterans, sufficient to swell his muster to at least +135,000 men. He reminded them that this was the anniversary of Marengo +and of Friedland, and asked, "Are they and we no longer the same men? +The madmen!" he continued, "a moment of prosperity has blinded them. The +oppression and humiliation of the French people is beyond their power. +If they enter France they will there find their tomb. Soldiers! we have +forced marches, battles and dangers before us. For every Frenchman who +has a heart the moment is arrived to conquer or to perish!" Such was his +oration: and never was army more thoroughly imbued with the spirit of +its chief. + +Blucher's army numbered at this time about 100,000 men, and, extending +along the line of the Sambre and the Meuse, occupied Charleroi, Namur, +Givet, and Liege. They communicated on their right with the left of the +Anglo-Belgian army, under Wellington, whose headquarters were at +Brussels. This army was not composed, like Blucher's or Napoleon's, of +troops of the same nation. The Duke had less than 35,000 English; and of +these but few were veterans--the flower of his Peninsular Army having +been despatched to America, to conclude a war into which the United +States had forced England, on very trivial pretences, during the season +of her greatest difficulties and dangers, in 1812. The King's German +Legion, 8000 strong, was, however, equal to the best British force of +like amount; and there were 5000 Brunswickers, headed by their gallant +Duke and worthy of his guidance. The Hanoverians, exclusive of the +Legion, numbered 15,000: of Nassau troops, Dutch and Belgian, commanded +by the Prince of Orange, son to the sovereign of the Netherlands, there +might be 17,000; but the spirit of the Belgian part of this army was, +not without reason, suspected on all sides. The Duke of Wellington's +motley host amounted, then, in all to 75,000 men. His first division +occupied Enghien, Brain-le-Comte and Nivelles, communicating with the +Prussian right at Charleroi. The second division (Lord Hill's) was +cantoned in Halle, Oudenard and Gramont--where was most of the cavalry. +The reserve (Sir Thomas Picton's) were 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. It could not be ascertained beforehand whether +Napoleon's mark was Ghent or Brussels; even had the Allied Generals +known that it was the latter city, who could inform them by which of the +three great routes, of Namur, of Charleroi, or of Mons, he designed to +force his passage thither? Fouché, indeed, doubly and trebly dyed in +treason, had, when accepting office under Napoleon, continued to +maintain his correspondence with Louis at Ghent, and promised to furnish +the Allies with the outline of the Emperor's plan of the campaign ere it +began. But the minister of police took care that this document should +not arrive until the campaign was decided. + +At daybreak on Thursday, the 15th, the French drove in all the outposts +on the west bank of the Sambre, and at length assaulted Charleroi; thus +revealing the purpose of the Emperor; namely, to crush Blucher ere he +could concentrate all his own strength, far less be supported by the +advance of Wellington, and then rush at once upon Brussels. Ziethen, +however, held out, though with severe loss, at Charleroi so long, that +the alarm spread along the whole Prussian line; and then fell back in +good order on a position between Ligny and Armand; where Blucher now +awaited Napoleon's attack--at the head of the whole of his army, except +the division of Bulow which had not yet come up from Liege. The scheme +of beating the Prussian divisions in detail had therefore failed; but +the second part of the plan, namely, that of separating them wholly from +Wellington, might still succeed. With this view, while Blucher was +concentrating his force about Ligny, the French held on the main road to +Brussels from Charleroi; beating in some Nassau troops at Frasnes, and +followed them as far as _Quatre-Bras_, a farmhouse, so called, because +it is there that the roads from Charleroi to Brussels, and from Nivelles +to Namur, cross each other. + +At half-past one o'clock, p.m., of the same day (Thursday the 15th) a +Prussian officer[72] of high rank arrived at Wellington's headquarters +in Brussels, with the intelligence of Napoleon's decisive operations. By +two o'clock orders were despatched to all the cantonments of the Duke's +army, for the divisions to break up, and concentrate on the left at +Quatre-Bras; his Grace's design being that his whole force should be +assembled there, by eleven o'clock on the next night, Friday the 16th. + +It was at first intended to put off a ball announced for the evening of +Thursday, at the Duchess of Richmond's hotel in Brussels; but on +reflection it seemed highly important that the population of that city +should be kept as far as possible in ignorance as to the course of +events, and the Duke of Wellington desired that the ball should proceed +accordingly; nay, the general officers received his commands to appear +in the ball-room--each taking care to quit the apartment as quietly as +possible, at ten o'clock, and proceed to join his respective division +_en route_. This arrangement was carried into strict execution. The Duke +himself retired at twelve o'clock, and left Brussels at six o'clock next +morning for Quatre-Bras. The reserve quitted Brussels in the night with +the most perfect silence and regularity, unnoticed by the inhabitants; +and the events which had occurred were almost wholly unknown in that +city, except to the military authorities, until the next day. + +The Duke of Wellington conversed at the ball with various persons on the +movements which had occurred; stated his calculation of the French force +directed against his left, and expressed his confidence that his whole +army would be up at Quatre-Bras by eleven o'clock the next night. This +most extraordinary and rapid concentration of force was effected; the +various divisions of the army, previously cantoned over an extent of +fifty miles, were collected at Quatre-Bras, within the short space of +twenty-four hours. + +Napoleon, on coming up from Charleroi, about noon on the 16th, hesitated +for a time whether Blucher at Ligny, or the English at Quatre-Bras, +ought to form the main object of his attack. The Anglo-Belgian army was +not yet concentrated--the Prussian, with the exception of one division, +was: and he at length resolved to give his own personal attention to the +latter. With the main strength of his army, therefore, he assaulted +Blucher at three in the afternoon; and about the same time Ney, with +45,000 men, commenced seriously (for there had been skirmishes ever +since daybreak) the subordinate attack on the position of Wellington. + +The English General had held a conference with Blucher this morning at +Bry; and settled with him the ultimate measures to be adopted under +whatever course the events of the day might assume; and he now awaited +the assault of Ney under many disadvantages. His troops were vastly +inferior in number, and all, except a few Belgians, that were now on the +field, had been marching since midnight. The enemy were comparatively +fresh; and they were posted among growing corn, as high as the tallest +man's shoulders, which, with an inequality of ground, enabled them to +draw up a strong body of cuirassiers close to the English, and yet +entirely out of their view. The 79th and 42nd regiments were thus taken +by surprise, and the former would have been destroyed but for the coming +up of the latter. The 42nd, formed into a square, was repeatedly broken, +and as often recovered--though with terrible loss of life: for out of +800 that went into the action, only ninety-six privates and four +officers returned unhurt. The divisions of Alten, Halket, Cooke, +Maitland, and Byng successively arrived; and night found the English +general, after a severe and bloody day, in possession of Quatre-Bras. +The gallant Duke of Brunswick, fighting in the front of the line, fell +almost in the beginning of the battle. The killed and wounded on the +side of the Allies were 5000, and the French loss could not have been +less. + +Blucher fought as stern a battle, but with worse fortune. With 80,000 +men he had to sustain the assault of 90,000, headed by Napoleon; and the +villages of Amand and Ligny were many times taken and re-taken in the +course of the day. It is said, that two of the French corps hoisted the +black flag: it is certain that little quarter was either asked or given. +The hatred of the French and Prussians was inflamed to the same mortal +vehemence. It is said that the loss on Blucher's side was 20,000 +men--and on the other 15,000--numbers, when we consider the amount of +the troops engaged, all but unparalleled. However, the non-arrival of +Bulow, and the successive charges of fresh divisions of the enemy, at +length forced Blucher to retire. In the course of the day the brave old +man had his horse shot under him, in heading a charge of cavalry, and +was ridden over undetected, by both his own men and the French. He now +retreated on the river Dyle, in the direction of Wavre; but contrived to +mask his movements so skilfully, that Napoleon knew not until noon on +the 17th what way he had taken. + +The bulletins of the Emperor announced two victories of the most +dazzling description as the work of the 16th. Blucher would be heard of +no more, they said; and Wellington, confounded and amazed, was already +within the jaws of ruin. + +Napoleon, having ascertained the retreat of the Prussian, now committed +the pursuit of him to Marshal Grouchy, and a corps of 32,000 men--and +turned in person to Quatre-Bras, in the hope of pouring his main force, +as well as Ney's, on Wellington, in a situation where it was altogether +improbable he should receive any assistance from Blucher. But no sooner +was the Duke aware of Blucher's march on Wavre, than he, in adherence to +the common plan of the campaign, gave orders for falling back from +Quatre-Bras. He had before now been heard to say, that if ever it 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, +ere the decisive contest should begin, by Blucher. The day was rainy, +the roads were covered deep with mud, and the English soldiery are of +all others most discouraged by the command to retreat. Their spirits, +however, rose gallantly when, on reaching the destined field, they +became aware of their leader's purpose; and, having taken up their +allotted stations, they bivouacked under the storm in the sure hope of +battle. + +All his arrangements having been effected early in the evening of the +17th, the Duke of Wellington rode across the country to Blucher, to +inform him personally that he had thus far effected the plan agreed on +at Bry, and express his hope to be supported on the morrow by two +Prussian divisions. The veteran replied, that he would leave a single +corps to hold Grouchy at bay as well as they could, and march himself +with the rest of his army upon Waterloo; and Wellington immediately +returned to his post.[73] The cross roads between Wavre and Mont St. +Jean were in a horrid condition; the rain fell in torrents, and Grouchy +had 32,000 men to attack Thielman's single division, left at Wavre. +Blucher's march, however, began; and if it occupied longer time than had +been anticipated, the fault was none of his. + +The position of the Duke of 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 enemy would of +course form their line. The Duke had now with him about 75,000 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 foot--the men 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 rear of the first, was composed of the +troops whose spirit and discipline were more doubtful--or who had +suffered most in the action of Quatre-Bras; and behind these lay all the +horse. The position crosses the two highways from Nivelles and Charleroi +to Brussels, nearly where they unite: these roads gave every facility +for movements from front to rear during the action; and two country +roads, running behind and parallel with the first and second lines, +favoured equally movements from wing to wing. The line was formed +convex, dropping back towards the forest at either extremity; the right +to Mark Braine, near Braine-la-Leude; the left to Ter-la-Haye. The +chateau and gardens of Hougomont, and the farmhouse and enclosures of La +Haye Sainte, about 1500 yards apart, on the slope of the declivity, were +strongly occupied, and formed the important out-works of defence. The +opening of the country roads leading directly from Wavre to Mont St. +Jean, through the wood of Ohain, was guarded by the British left; while +those running through Souhain and Frichemont, 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 field was open and fair: and in case the enemy should force the Duke +from his position, the village of Mont St Jean behind, still further +back the town of Waterloo, and lastly the great forest of +Soignies--offered successively the means of renewing his defence, and +protecting his retreat.--The British front extended, in all, over about +a mile. It was Wellington's business to hold the enemy at bay, until the +Prussian advance should enable him to charge them with superior numbers: +it was Napoleon's to beat the English ere Blucher could disengage +himself from Grouchy, and come out of the woods of Ohain; which being +accomplished, he doubted not to have easy work with the Prussians amidst +that difficult country. He had in the field 75,000 men; all French +veterans--each of whom was in his own estimation, worth one Englishman, +and two Prussians, Dutch or Belgians. But on the other hand, +Wellington's men, all in position over-night, had had, notwithstanding +the severe weather, some hours to repose and refresh themselves: whereas +the army of Napoleon had been on the march all through the hours of +tempestuous darkness, and the greater part of them reached not the +heights of Belle Alliance until the morning of the 18th was considerably +advanced. The Emperor himself, however, had feared nothing so much as +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; and when, on reaching the eminence of La Belle Alliance, +he beheld the army drawn up on the opposite side, his joy was great. "At +last, then," he exclaimed, "at last, then, I have these English in my +grasp." + +The tempest abated in the morning--but the weather all day long was +gusty, and the sky lowering. It was about noon that the French opened +their cannonade, and Jerome Buonaparte, under cover of its fire, charged +impetuously on Hougomont. The Nassau men in the wood about the house +were driven before the French; but a party of English guards maintained +themselves in the chateau and garden, despite the desperate impetuosity +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, 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 fire forced back the +French--and the garrison of Hougomont were relieved and strengthened. + +The next attempt was made on the centre of the British line, by a great +force of cuirassiers and four columns of infantry. The horse, coming +boldly along the causeway of Genappe, were met in the path by the +English heavy cavalry, where the road has been cut down deep, leaving +high banks on either side. Their meeting was stern: they fought for some +time at sword's length; at last the cuirassiers gave way, and fled for +the protection of their artillery. The English followed them too far, +got amidst the French infantry, and were there charged by fresh cavalry +and driven back with much loss.--It was here that Picton died. Meanwhile +the infantry of this movement had pushed on beyond La Haye Sainte, and +dispersed some Belgian regiments; but being then charged in turn, in +front by Pack's brigade of foot, and in flank by a brigade of heavy +English horse, were totally routed--losing, besides the slain and +wounded, 2000 prisoners and two eagles. The only favourable result of +this second grand attempt was the occupation of the farmhouse of La Haye +Sainte, which had been garrisoned by Hanoverians. And scarcely had the +charge of Pack proved successful, ere the French were again compelled by +shells and cannon to evacuate this prize. + +The third assault was levelled again on the British right--where the +infantry awaited it, formed in a double line of squares, placed +chequerwise, and protected in front by a battery of thirty field pieces. +The French cuirassiers charged the artillerymen and drove them from +their guns; and then rode fiercely on the squares behind. These remained +steadfast until the enemy were within ten yards of them, and then fired +with deadly effect. The cavalry gave back--rallied again, and renewed +their charge: this they did several times--and always with the like +result. Sometimes they even rode between the squares, and charged those +of the second line. At length protracted exposure to such cross fire +completed the ruin of these fearless cavaliers. The far greater part of +this magnificent force was annihilated in this part of the battle. + +When the relics of the cuirassiers withdrew, the French cannonade opened +once more furiously all along the line; and the English were commanded +to lie flat on the ground for some space, in order to diminish its +effects. Lord Wellington had by this time lost 10,000, Buonaparte at +least 15,000 men. It was now half-past six o'clock. The heads of +Prussian columns began to be discerned among the woods to the right of +the French. It was obvious, that unless a last and decisive onset should +drive Wellington from the post which he had continued to hold during +near seven hours of unintermitting 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. Napoleon prepared, therefore, for his final +struggle. Hitherto he had kept his guard, the flower of his fine army, +out of the fray. He now formed them into two columns,--desired them to +charge boldly, for that the Prussians, whom they saw in the wood, were +flying before Grouchy--and they doubted not that the Emperor was about +to charge in person at their head. He, however, looked on, as they put +themselves in motion, and committed them to the guidance of Ney, "the +bravest of the brave," whose consciousness of recent treason must have +prepared him, even had his temper been less gallant, to set all upon the +cast. Four battalions of the Old Guard only remained as a reserve; and +were formed in squares to protect the march of the columns. + +The English front by this time presented not a convex line, but a +concave, either wing having gradually advanced a little in consequence +of the repeated repulses of the enemy. They were now formed in an +unbroken array, four deep, and poured on the approaching columns (each +man firing as often as he could reload) a shower which never +intermitted. The wings kept moving on all the while; and when the heads +of the French columns approached, they were exposed to such a storm of +musketry in front and on either flank, that they in vain endeavoured to +deploy into line for the attack. They stopped to make this attempt, +reeled, lost order, and fled at last in one mass of confusion. + +The Duke of Wellington now dismounted, placed himself at the head of +his line, and led them, no longer held to defence, against the four +battalions of the Old Guard--the only unbroken troops remaining--behind +whom Ney was striving to rally his fugitives. + +The Marshal, at Wellington's approach, took post once more in the van, +sword in hand, and on foot. But nothing could withstand the impetuous +assault of the victorious British. The Old Guard also were shaken. +Napoleon had hitherto maintained his usual serenity of aspect on the +heights of La Belle Alliance. He watched the English onset with his +spy-glass--became suddenly pale as death--exclaimed, "They are mingled +together--all is lost for the present," and rode off the field, never +stopping for a moment until he reached Charleroi. + +Hardly had the English advanced for this fatal charge, when Blucher's +columns, emerging from the woods, were at length seen forming on the +right of the French, and preparing to take part in the battle. Their +cannonade played on the flank of the Old Guard, while the British attack +in front was overwhelming them. The fatal cry of _sauve qui peut_ was +heard everywhere: the French were now flying pellmell in the most woeful +confusion. Blucher and Wellington met at length at the farmhouse of La +Belle Alliance; and the Prussian eagerly undertook to continue the +pursuit during the night, while the English General halted to refresh +his weary men. + +The loss of Wellington's army on this great day was terrible: 100 +officers slain (many of the first distinction), and 500 wounded, very +many mortally; and of rank and file killed and wounded, 15,000. The Duke +himself had been, all through the day, wherever the danger was greatest; +and he alone, and one gentleman besides, of all a very numerous staff, +came off the ground unhurt. + +Of the 75,000 men whom Napoleon conducted to this last and severest of +his fields, what with the slain and the wounded, and those who, losing +heart and hope, deserted and fled separately to their homes, not more +than 30,000 were ever again collected in arms. The Prussians followed +hard on the miserable fugitives, and in every hamlet and village, for +many miles beyond La Belle Alliance, cut down the lingerers without +mercy. + +Napoleon at length halted at Philippeville: from which point he designed +to turn towards Grouchy, and take in person the command of that +remaining division, leaving Soult to re-assemble and rally, at Avesnes, +the relics of Waterloo. But hearing that Blucher was already at +Charleroi (which was true), and that Grouchy had been overtaken and made +prisoner (which was false), the Emperor abandoned his purpose, and +continued his journey, travelling post, to Paris. + +On the 19th the capital had been greeted with the news of three great +victories, at Charleroi, at Ligny, and at Quatre-Bras--100 cannon fired +in honour of the Emperor's successes--his partisans proclaimed that the +glory of France was secured--and dejection filled the hearts of the +royalists. On the morning of the 21st it transpired that Napoleon had +arrived the night before, alone, at the Elysée. The secret could no +longer be kept. A great, a decisive field had been fought;--and the +French army was no more. + +[Footnote 72: The fiction of the Duke of Wellington having been +_surprised_ on this great occasion has maintained its place in almost +all narratives of the war for fifteen years. The Duke's magnanimous +silence under such treatment for so long a period will be appreciated by +posterity. The facts of the case are now given from the most +unquestionable authority.] + +[Footnote 73: The fact of Wellington and Blucher having met between the +battles of Ligny and Waterloo is well known to many of the superior +officers then in the Netherlands; but the writer of this compendium has +never happened to see it mentioned in print. The horse that carried the +Duke of Wellington through this long night journey, so important to the +decisive battle of the 18th, remained till lately, it is understood, if +he does not still remain, a free pensioner in the best paddock of +Strathfieldsaye.] + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + + Napoleon appeals in vain to the Chambers--Abdicates for the second + time--Is sent to Malmaison--And then to Rochefort--Negotiates with + Capt. Maitland--Embarks in the _Bellerophon_--Arrives at + Torbay--Decision of the English Government--Interview with Lord + Keith, &c.--Napoleon on board the _Northumberland_--Sails for St. + Helena. + + +On how sandy a foundation the exile of Elba had rebuilt the semblance of +his ancient authority, a few hours of adversity were more than +sufficient to show. He was still consulting with his ministers (even +they were not all his friends) on the morning of the 21st, in what +manner he ought to inform the Chambers of his great misfortune, and what +assistance he should demand, when the news reached the _Elysée_, that +both the assemblies had met as soon as the story of Waterloo transpired, +and passed a series of resolutions, one of which declared the state to +be in danger--and another, _their_ sittings _permanent_; in other words, +proclaimed his reign to be at an end. If anything could have been wanted +to complete Napoleon's conviction that the army had elevated him in +opposition to the nation--it must have been found in the fact that the +funds rose rapidly from the moment in which it was known in Paris that +the army was ruined. They went on to tell him that the Chambers were +debating on the means of defending Paris. "Ah," said he--deeply feeling +in what loss all had been lost to him--"Ah, could they but defend them +like my Old Guard!" + +If Napoleon had listened to the advice of his brother Lucien, and the +few who really considered their own fortunes as irrevocably bound up +with his, he would have instantly put himself at the head of 6000 of the +Imperial Guard, who were then in the capital, and dissolved the +unfriendly senate of Paris, on the 21st of June, as unceremoniously as +he had that of St. Cloud on the 19th of Brumaire. Lucien said ever +after, that, "the smoke of Mont St. Jean had turned his brain." He +certainly gave what remained of the day to vacillation. Late in the +evening he held a council, to which the presidents and vice-presidents +of both Chambers were admitted. In their presence La Fayette signified +that nothing could be done until _a great sacrifice_ had been made. +Maret answered with fierceness; called for severe measures against the +royalists and the disaffected. "Had such been resorted to earlier," +cried he, "one who hears me would not be smiling at the misfortunes of +France, and Wellington would not be marching on Paris." This strong +allusion to Fouché suited not the temper of the moment. Maret was +murmured down; and Carnot himself is said to have shed tears, when he +perceived that the abdication was judged necessary. That ancient +democrat had indeed just consented to be a count; but he enjoys +apparently the credit of having acted on this occasion as a good +Frenchman. He saw, say even the anti-Buonapartist historians, that +France was invaded, and the same feelings which made him offer his own +sword in December, 1813, urged him now to oppose any measure which must +deprive his country of the military talents of Napoleon. The Emperor +heard all in silence--and broke up the meeting without having come to +any decision. + +Early next morning the Chambers again met, and the necessity of the +Emperor's abdication was on the point of being put to the vote--when +Fouché appeared, and saved them that trouble by producing the following +proclamation. "To the French people ": + + _Frenchmen! In commencing war for the maintenance of the national + independence, I relied on the union of all efforts, all wills, and + all authorities. I had reason to hope for success, and I braved all + the declarations of the powers against me. Circumstances appear to + be changed. I offer myself as a sacrifice to the hatred of the + enemies of France. May they prove sincere in their declarations, + and to have aimed only at me! My political life is ended; and I + proclaim my son, Napoleon II., Emperor of the French. Unite for the + public safety, if you would remain an independent nation.--Done at + the palace Elysée, June the 22nd,1815.--_ + + NAPOLEON. + +The debate which followed the production of this act in either house, +but especially in that of the Peers, was violent. In the latter, Carnot, +having received some grossly exaggerated accounts of the force and +success of Grouchy, endeavoured to persuade the assembly, that that +marshal must have ere then added 60,000 men at Laon to Soult and the +relics of Waterloo, and so formed an army capable, under fit guidance, +of even yet effectually retrieving the affairs of France. But Ney had +arrived in Paris the same morning, and this speech called up the man +who, if any single energies could have done so, would have saved the day +at Waterloo. "Grouchy," said he, "cannot have more than 20--at most +25,000--men; and as to Soult--I myself commanded the guard in the last +assault--I did not leave the field until they were exterminated. 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." + +Napoleon, in his bulletins, did not scruple to throw the blame of his +discomfiture on the misconduct of his chief officers--particularly of +Grouchy--and even of Ney himself; nor wanted there devoted men, such as +Labedoyere, to sustain these most unfounded charges, and all other +arguments anywise favouring the cause of the Emperor, in either chamber. +But the truth was great, and prevailed. The Senate, no more than the +people, could be deceived now; and though a deputation waited on him at +the Elysée, and in most respectful terms thanked him for the sacrifice +he had made, he in vain endeavoured to extort any direct avowal that, in +accepting his abdication, they considered that act as necessarily +accompanied with the immediate proclamation of Napoleon II. The Emperor, +for the last time clothed in the imperial garb, and surrounded with his +great officers of state, received the deputation with calmness and +dignity, and dismissed them with courtesy. He perceived clearly that +there was no hope for his son. + +Thus terminated the second reign--_the hundred days_ of Napoleon. + +By this time, however, Labedoyere's violent language in the Senate--his +repeated protestations that unless Napoleon II. were recognised, the +abdication of his father was null, and that the country which could +hesitate about such an act of justice was worthy of nothing but +slavery--began to produce a powerful effect among the regular soldiery +of Paris. The Senate called on Napoleon himself to signify to the army +that he no longer claimed any authority over them; and he complied, +though not without mingling many expressions highly offensive to those +whose mandate he obeyed. A provisional government, however, consisting +of Fouché, Carnot, and three more, was forthwith proclaimed; and when +the first of these persons conceived that Napoleon's continued presence +in the capital might produce disturbances, and accordingly requested him +to withdraw to Malmaison, he found himself obliged to do so. This was on +the 24th; and no sooner was he established in this villa, than it became +obvious to himself that he was in fact a prisoner. Fouché's police +surrounded him on all sides; and the military duties about Malmaison +were discharged by a party of the national guard, attached to Louis +XVIII., and commanded by General Beker, an officer well known to be +personally hostile to the fallen sovereign. We have seen how the +Parisians veered from side to side at every former crisis of his +history, according as the wind of fortune happened to blow. To finish +the picture it remains to be told that, ere Napoleon had been two days +at Malmaison, he was to all appearance, as much forgotten in the +neighbouring capital as if he had never returned from Elba. + +The relics of Waterloo, and Grouchy's division, having at length been +gathered together under Soult at Laon; were now marching towards Paris, +and followed hard behind by Wellington and Blucher. The provisional +government began to be seriously alarmed lest Buonaparte should, by some +desperate effort, escape from Malmaison, and once more place himself at +the head of a considerable armed force. He himself, indeed, was +continually sending to them, requesting permission to take the field as +General for Napoleon II.; and one of the government, Carnot, was +heartily desirous that this prayer should be granted. Under such +circumstances, Fouché, who had, throughout, corresponded with and +plotted against all parties, now employed every art to persuade the +fallen chief that the only course, whether of safety or of dignity, that +remained for him, was to fly immediately to the United States of +America; and, that nothing may be wanting to show how the great and the +little were perpetually intermingled in the fortunes of Buonaparte, one +of the means adopted by this intriguer, and not the least effectual, +was that of stimulating the personal creditors of the dethroned Emperor +and his family to repair incessantly to Malmaison and torment him with +demands of payment. Meantime Fouché sent to the Duke of Wellington, +announcing that Napoleon had made up his mind to repair to America, and +requesting a safe-conduct for him across the Atlantic. The Duke replied, +that he had no authority to grant any passports to Napoleon Buonaparte; +and the only consequence (as Fouché had perhaps anticipated) was, that +the English Admiralty quickened their diligence, and stationed no less +than thirty cruisers along the western coasts of France, for the purpose +of intercepting the disturber of the world in his meditated flight. + +Fouché, in communicating to Napoleon the refusal of Wellington, took +care to signify urgent fears that the English government might adopt +such measures as these, and to build on this a new argument for the +hastening of his departure from the neighbourhood of Paris. He informed +him that two frigates and some smaller vessels awaited his orders at +Rochefort, and assured him, that if he repaired thither on the instant, +he would still be in time. + +Napoleon hesitated at Malmaison, as he had done before at the +Kremlin--at Dresden--and at Fontainebleau. The cry of the approaching +soldiery of Soult was already in his ear, inviting him to be once more +their Emperor. On the other hand, it was now too obvious, that the army +alone retained any reverence for him; and, lastly, what after all could +he hope to effect with at most 60,000 men, against the victorious hosts +of Wellington and Blucher, backed, as they were about to be, by great +reinforcements from England and Prussia, and by the whole armies of +Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria and the Czar?--Napoleon well knew that +ere six weeks more elapsed, 800,000 foreigners would be cantoned within +the boundaries of France. He at length yielded; and on the 29th of June +left Malmaison, accompanied by Savary, Bertrand, Las Cazes, and others +of his attached servants, and attended by a considerable guard. + +Napoleon reached Rochefort on the 3rd of July; and took up his residence +in the prefect's house, with the view of embarking immediately: but he +forthwith was informed, that a British line-of-battle ship (the +_Bellerophon_, Captain Maitland) and some smaller vessels of war were +off the roads, and given to understand that the commanders of the +squadron at his own disposal showed no disposition to attempt the +passage out in face of these watchers. A Danish merchant-ship was then +hired, and the Emperor occupied himself with various devices for +concealing his person in the hold of this vessel. But the Danish captain +convinced him ere long that the British searchers would not be likely to +pass him undetected, and this plan too was abandoned. Some young French +midshipmen then gallantly offered to act as the crew of a small flat +coasting vessel, a _chausse-marree_, and attempt the escape in this way +under cloud of night. But all experienced seamen concurred in +representing the imminent hazard of exposing such a vessel to the +Atlantic, as well as the numberless chances of its also being detected +by the English cruisers. "Where-ever wood can swim," said Napoleon, +"there I am sure to find this flag of England." + +Meanwhile time passed on; and it became known that the French army had +once more retired from before the walls of Paris under a convention: +that Wellington and Blucher were about to enter the city, and reseat +Louis on his throne; that the royalists were everywhere assuming the +decided advantage--that the white flag was already hoisted in the +neighbouring town of Rochelle--and that it would be so at Rochefort +itself on the instant, were his person removed. Under such +circumstances, to attempt a journey into the interior of France, with +the view of rejoining Soult, now marching on the Loire, or with any +other purpose, must needs expose Napoleon to every chance of falling +into the hands of the Bourbons; and at length, since it was impossible +to sail out of Rochefort without the consent of the English, it was +resolved to open a negotiation with their commander. + +On the 19th of July, Savary and Count Las Cazes came off with a flag of +truce, and began their conversation by stating that the Emperor had been +promised a safe-conduct for America, and asking if the document were in +Captain Maitland's hands? No safe-conduct of any kind had been promised +or contemplated by any English authority whatever; and the captain could +only answer that, as far as concerned himself, his orders were to make +every effort to prevent Buonaparte from escaping, and if so fortunate +as to obtain possession of his person, to sail at once with him for +England. Savary and Las Cazes made great efforts to persuade Maitland +that Napoleon's removal from France was a matter of pure voluntary +choice; but this the British officer considered as a question wherewith +he had nothing to do. The utmost the Frenchmen could extract from him +was, that he, as a private individual, had no reason to doubt but that +Buonaparte, if he sailed for England in the _Bellerophon_, would be well +treated there. + +The same personages returned on the 14th, and another conversation, +longer, but to the same purpose, was held by them with Maitland, in the +presence of Captain Sartorius and Captain Gambier, both of the royal +navy. These gentlemen have corroborated completely the statement of +Maitland, that he, on the second as on the first interview, continued to +guard the Frenchmen against the remotest conception of his being +entitled to offer any pledge whatever to Napoleon, except that he would +convey him in safety off the English coast, there to abide the +determination of the English government. Savary and Las Cazes, on the +contrary, persisted in asserting that Maitland, _on the 14th July_, gave +a pledge that Napoleon, if he came on board the _Bellerophon_, should be +received there not as a prisoner of war, but as a voluntary guest, and +that it was solely in consequence of this pledge that Napoleon finally +resolved to embark. But there is one piece of evidence in contradiction +of this story, of which even themselves could hardly dispute the +weight--to wit, the _date_ of the following letter to the Prince Regent +of England, which General Gourgaud brought out the same evening to the +_Bellerophon_, and which clearly proves--that what Napoleon ultimately +did on the 15th, depended in nowise on anything that Maitland said on +the 14th. + + _Rochefort, July_ THE 13TH, 1815 + + _"Royal Highness,_ + + _"A victim to the factions which divide my country, and to the + hostility of the greatest Powers of Europe, I have terminated my + political career, and come, like Themistocles, to seat myself on + the hearth of the British people. I put myself under the protection + of their laws, which I claim from your Royal Highness as the most + powerful, the most constant, and the most generous of my enemies._ + + NAPOLEON." + +Maitland sent on Gourgaud in the _Slaney_ with this letter; and having +once more addressed Las Cazes in these words "You will recollect that I +am not authorised to stipulate as to the reception of Buonaparte in +England, but that he must consider himself as entirely at the disposal +of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent"--prepared his ship for the +reception of the fallen Emperor. + +On the 15th the _Epervier_ brig brought him out of the Aix roads; but +wind and tide being unfavourable, Maitland sent the barge of the +_Bellerophon_ to transport him to the ship. The officers and most of the +crew of the _Epervier_ saw him depart, with tears in their eyes, and +continued to cheer him as long as their voices could be heard. Captain +Maitland received him respectfully, but without any salute or +distinguished honours. 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." + +On board the _Bellerophon_, as before in the _Undaunted_, Buonaparte +made himself very popular among both officers and crew. He examined +everything--praised everything--extolled the English nation--above all, +the English navy--and even admitted that the Duke of Wellington, "equal +to himself in all other military qualities, was superior in prudence." +On the 23rd they passed Ushant, and Napoleon gazed long and +mournfully--and for the last time--on the coast of France. On the 24th +the _Bellerophon_ entered Torbay, and Maitland was instantly admonished +to permit no communication of any kind between his ship and the coast. +On the 26th Maitland was ordered round to Plymouth Sound: and the +arrival of Buonaparte having by this time transpired, the ship was +instantly surrounded by swarms of boats, filled with persons whose +curiosity nothing could repress. There was considerable difficulty in +keeping the ship itself clear of these eager multitudes. Napoleon +appeared on the deck, was greeted with huzzas, and bowed and smiled in +return. + +On the 31st of July, Sir H. Bunbury, under-secretary of state, and Lord +Keith, admiral of the Channel fleet, repaired on board the +_Bellerophon_, and announced the final resolution of the British +government: namely, 1st, that _General Buonaparte_ should not be landed +in England, but removed forthwith to St. Helena, as being the situation +in which, more than any other at their command, the government thought +security against a second escape, and the indulgence to himself of +personal freedom and exercise, might be reconciled; 2ndly, that, with +the exception of Savary and L'Allemand, he might take with him any three +officers he chose, as also his surgeon, and twelve domestics. + +This letter was read in French by Sir Henry Bunbury. Napoleon listened +without look or gesture of impatience or surprise. Being then asked if +he had anything to reply, he with perfect calmness of voice and manner +protested against the orders to which he had been listening, and 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." He then expatiated at great length on the title given +him--General Buonaparte--and on the right which he had to be considered +as a sovereign prince; he was, he said, three months before, as much +Emperor of Elba as Louis was King of France, and, by invading another +monarch's dominions, could not have forfeited his own rank as a monarch. +He next adverted to the ignoble attitude in which England would place +herself in the eyes of the world by abusing his confidence--hinted that +either his father-in-law or the Czar would have treated him far +differently--and concluded by expressing his belief that the climate and +confinement of St. Helena would kill him, and his resolution, therefore, +not to go to St. Helena. By what means he designed to resist the command +of the English government, Napoleon did not say: there can be no doubt +he meant Lord Keith and Sir H. Bunbury to understand, that, rather than +submit to the voyage in question, he would commit suicide; and what he +thus hinted, was soon expressed distinctly, with all the accompaniments +of tears and passion, by two French ladies on board the +_Bellerophon_--Madame Bertrand and Madame Montholon. But all this +appears to have been set down, from the beginning, exactly for what it +was worth. He who had chosen to outlive Krasnoi, and Leipzig, and +Montmartre, and Waterloo, was not likely to die by his own hand in the +_Bellerophon_. We desire not to be considered as insinuating, according +to the custom of many, that Napoleon ought to have rushed voluntarily +on some English bayonet, when the fate of the 18th of June could no +longer be doubtful. Laying all religious and moral obligations out of +view (as probably he did), Napoleon himself said truly, that "if Marius +had fallen on his sword amidst the marches of Minturnæ, he would never +have enjoyed his 7th consulate." No man ever more heartily than Napoleon +approved the old maxim, that while there is life there is hope; and, far +from thinking seriously at any time of putting an end to his own days, +we must doubt if, between his abdication at the Elysée and the time +wherein he felt the immediate approach of death, there occurred one day, +or even one hour, in which some hope or scheme of recovering his +fortunes did not agitate his mind. + +With regard to Napoleon's reclamations against the decision of the +English government, it may probably suffice _now_ to observe--1st, that +that government had never, at any period, acknowledged him as Emperor of +France, and that it refused to be a party to the treaty under which he +retired to Elba, simply because it was resolved not to acknowledge him +as Emperor of Elba. These things Napoleon well knew; and as to his +recent re-exercise of imperial functions in France, he well knew that +the English government had continued to acknowledge Louis XVIII. as +_King_ all through the hundred days. Upon no principle, therefore, could +he have expected beforehand to be treated as _Emperor_ by the ministers +of the Prince Regent; nor, even if he had been born a legitimate prince, +would it have been in the usual course of things for him, under existing +circumstances, to persist in the open retention of his imperial style. +By assuming some _incognito_, as sovereigns when travelling out of their +own dominions are accustomed to do, Napoleon might have cut the root +away from one long series of his subsequent disputes with the English +government and authorities. But in doing as he did, he acted on +calculation. He never laid aside the hopes of escape and of empire. It +was his business to have complaints. If everything went on quietly and +smoothly about him, what was to ensure the keeping up of a lively +interest in his fortunes among the faction, to which he still looked as +inclined to befriend him, and above all, among the soldiery, of whose +personal devotion, even after the fatal catastrophe of Waterloo, he had +no reason to doubt? Buonaparte, in his days of success, always attached +more importance to etiquette than a prince born to the purple, and not +quite a fool, would have been likely to do: but in the obstinacy with +which, after his total downfall, he clung to the airy sound of majesty, +and such pigmy toys of observance as could be obtained under his +circumstances, we cannot persuade ourselves to behold no more than the +sickly vanity of a _parvenu_. The English government acknowledged him by +the highest military rank he had held at that time when the treaty of +Amiens was concluded with him as First Consul; and the sound of _General +Buonaparte_, now so hateful in his ears, who had under that style +wielded the destinies of the world, might have been lost, if Napoleon +himself had chosen, in some factitious style. + +To come to the more serious charges. Napoleon, driven to extremity in +1814 by the united armies of Europe, abdicated his throne, that +abdication being the price of peace to France, and to soothe his +personal sufferings, obtained the sovereignty of Elba. When he violated +the treaty by returning in arms to Provence, the other provisions, which +gave peace to France and Elba to him, were annulled of course. When the +fortune of Waterloo compelled him to take refuge in the +_Bellerophon_--what was to be done? To replace in Elba, or any similar +situation, under some new treaty, the man who had just broken a most +solemn one, was out of the question. To let him remain at large in the +midst of a country close to France, wherein the press is free to +licentiousness, and the popular mind liable to extravagant agitations, +would have been to hazard the domestic tranquillity of England, and +throw a thousand new difficulties in the way of every attempt to +consolidate the social and political system of the French monarchy. In +most other times the bullet or the axe would have been the gentlest +treatment to be expected by one who had risen so high, and fallen so +fatally. This his surrender to Captain Maitland--to say nothing of the +temper of the times--put out of the question. It remained to place him +in a situation wherein his personal comfort might as far as possible be +united with security to the peace of the world; and no one has as yet +pretended to point out a situation preferable in this point of view to +that remote and rocky island of the Atlantic, on which it was the +fortune of the great Napoleon to close his earthly career. The reader +cannot require to be reminded that the personage, whose relegation to +St. Helena has formed the topic of so many indignant appeals and +contemptuous commentaries, was, after all, the same man, who, by an act +of utterly wanton and unnecessary violence, seized Pius VII. and +detained him a prisoner for nearly four years, and who, having entrapped +Ferdinand VII. to Bayonne, and extorted his abdication by the threat of +murder, concluded by locking him up during five years at Valençay. + +The hints and threats of suicide having failed in producing the desired +effect--and a most ridiculous attempt on the part of some crazy persons +in England to get possession of Napoleon's person, by citing him to +appear as a witness on a case of libel, having been baffled, more +formally than was necessary, by the swift sailing of the _Bellerophon_ +for the Start--the fallen Emperor at length received in quiet the +intimation, that Admiral Sir George Cockburn was ready to receive him on +board the _Northumberland_, and convey him to St. Helena. Savary and +L'Allemand were among the few persons omitted by name in King Louis's +amnesty on his second restoration, and they were extremely alarmed when +they found that the retreat of St. Helena was barred on them by the +English government. They even threatened violence--but consulting Sir +Samuel Romilly, and thus ascertaining that the government had no +thoughts of surrendering them to Louis XVIII., submitted at length with +a good grace to the inevitable separation. Napoleon's suite, as finally +arranged, consisted of Count Bertrand (grand master of the palace), +Count Montholon (one of his council of state), Count Las Cazes, General +Gourgaud (his aide-de-camp), and Dr. O'Meara, an Irish naval surgeon, +whom he had found in the _Bellerophon_, and who was now by his desire +transferred to the _Northumberland_. Bertrand and Montholon were +accompanied by their respective countesses and some children; and twelve +upper domestics of the imperial household followed their master's +fortune. Of the money which Napoleon had with him, to the amount of some +£4000, the British government took possession, _pro tempore_, announcing +that they charged themselves with providing regularly for all the +expenditure of his establishment; but his plate, chiefly gold and of +much value, was permitted to remain untouched. + +On the 8th of August the _Northumberland_ sailed for St. Helena, and the +exile had his first view of his destined retreat on the 15th of October, +1815. During the voyage, Sir George Cockburn departed from some +observances of respect into which Captain Maitland had very naturally +fallen, under very different circumstances. The admiral, in a word, did +not permit Napoleon to assume the first place on board the +_Northumberland_. He did the honours of the table himself; nor did he +think it necessary to break up his company immediately after dinner, +because the ex-emperor chose to rise then--in adherence to the custom of +French society: neither did he man his yards or fire salutes on any +occasion, as is done in the case of crowned heads, nor follow the +example of the French suite in remaining at all times uncovered in the +presence of Napoleon. With these exceptions, _General Buonaparte_ was +treated with all the respect which great genius and great misfortunes +could claim from a generous mind; nor was he on the whole insensible to +the excellent conduct either of Maitland or of Cockburn. Cruelly and +most unjustly attacked, as the former had been, by Las Cazes and +Savary--and by Napoleon--when the captain of the _Bellerophon_ comes to +record his final sentiments towards his prisoner, it is in these +affecting words--"It may appear surprising that a possibility should +exist of a British officer being prejudiced in favour of one who had +caused so many calamities to his country; but to such an extent did he +possess the power of pleasing, that there are few people who could have +sat at the same table with him for nearly a month, as I did, without +feeling a sensation of pity, perhaps allied to regret, that a man +possessed of so many fascinating qualities, and who had held so high a +station in life, should be reduced to the situation in which I saw him." + +To the extraordinary power of fascination which Napoleon had at command, +a still more striking testimony occurs in an anecdote, apparently well +authenticated, of Lord Keith. When someone alluded in this old admiral's +hearing to Buonaparte's repeated request of a personal interview with +the Prince Regent, "On my conscience," said Lord Keith, "I believe, if +you consent to that, they will be excellent friends within half an +hour." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + + Napoleon at St. Helena--The Briars--Longwood--Charges against the + English Government respecting his accommodations and treatment at + St. Helena--Charges against the Governor, Sir Hudson + Lowe--Napoleon's mode of life at Longwood--His Health falls + off--His Death and Funeral--Conclusion. + + +Napoleon was weary of shipboard, and, therefore, landed immediately. +Finding the curiosity of the people troublesome, he took up his quarters +at _The Briars_, a small cottage about half a mile from James's Town, +during the interval which must needs elapse before the admiral could +provide suitable accommodation for his permanent residence. For that +purpose Longwood, a villa about six miles from James's Town, was, after +an examination of all that the island afforded, determined on; except +Plantation House, the country residence of the governor, there was no +superior house in St. Helena; and two months having been employed +diligently in some additions and repairs, the fallen Emperor took +possession of his appointed abode on the 10th of December. The very +limited accommodation of the Briars (where, indeed, Napoleon merely +occupied a pavilion of two chambers in the garden of a Mr. Balcombe), +had hitherto prevented him from having, all his little suite of +attendants under the same roof with him. They were now re-assembled at +Longwood, with the exception of M. and Mme. Montholon, who occupied a +separate house at some little distance from it. While at The Briars, +Napoleon made himself eminently agreeable to the family of the +Balcombes, particularly the young ladies and children, and submitted on +the whole with temper and grace to the inconveniences of narrow +accommodation in-doors, and an almost total want of exercise +abroad--this last evil occasioned wholly by his own reluctance to ride +out in the neighbourhood of the town. He continued also to live on terms +of perfect civility with Sir George Cockburn; and, notwithstanding some +occasional ebullitions of violence, there seemed to be no reason for +doubting that, when fairly established with his suite about him, he +would gradually reconcile himself to the situation in which he was +likely to remain, and turn his powerful faculties upon some study or +pursuit worthy of their energy, and capable of cheating captivity of +half its bitterness. These anticipations were not realised. + +The accusations brought by the prisoner and his instruments against the +government of England, in regard to the accommodations at Longwood, the +arrangements concerning the household establishment, and the regulations +adopted with a view to the security of his person, have been so often +answered in detail, that we may spare ourselves the pain of dwelling on +transactions little worthy of filling a large space in the story of +Napoleon. It being granted that it was necessary to provide against the +evasion of Buonaparte; that the protracted separation from him of his +wife and son (not, at any rate, the act of England, but of Austria) was +in itself justified by obvious political considerations; and that +England would have given good reason of offence to the King of France, +had she complied with Napoleon's repeated demands, to be styled and +treated as Emperor--if these things be granted, we do not see how even +the shadow of blame can attach to the much-abused ministers, on whom +fortune threw one of the most delicate and thankless of all offices. His +house was, save one (that of the governor), the best on the island: from +the beginning it was signified that any alterations or additions, +suggested by Napoleon, would be immediately attended to; and the +framework of many apartments was actually prepared in England, to be +sent out and distributed according to his pleasure. As it was, Napoleon +had for his own immediate personal accommodation, a suite of rooms, +consisting of a saloon, an eating-room, a library, a billiard-room, a +small study, a bedroom, and a bathroom; and various English gentlemen, +accustomed to all the appliances of modern luxury, who visited the exile +of Longwood, concur in stating that the accommodations around him +appeared to them every way complete and unobjectionable. He had a good +collection of books, and the means of adding to these as much as he +chose. His suite consisted in all of five gentlemen and two ladies: the +superior French and Italian domestics about his own person were never +fewer than eleven; and the sum allowed for his domestic expenditure was +£12,000 per annum--the governor of St. Helena, moreover, having +authority to draw on the treasury for any larger sum, in case he should +consider £12,000 as insufficient. When we consider that wines, and most +other articles heavily taxed in England, go duty-free to St. Helena, it +is really intolerable to be told that this income was not adequate--nay, +that it was not munificent--for a person in Napoleon's situation. It was +a larger income than is allotted to the governor of any English colony +whatever, except the governor-general of India. It was twice as large as +the official income of a British secretary of state has ever been. We +decline entering at all into the minor charges connected with this +humiliating subject: at least a single example may serve. One of the +loudest complaints was about the deficiency and inferior quality of +wine: on examination it appeared, that Napoleon's upper domestics were +allowed each day, per man, a bottle of claret, costing £6 per dozen +(without duty) and the lowest menial employed at Longwood a bottle of +good Teneriffe wine daily.--That the table of the fallen Emperor himself +was always served in a style at least answerable to the dignity of a +general officer in the British service--this was never even denied. +Passing from the interior--we conceive that we cannot do better than +quote the language of one of his casual and impartial visitors, Mr. +Ellis. "There never, perhaps," (says this gentleman), "was a prisoner, +so much requiring to be watched and guarded, to whom so much liberty and +range for exercise was allowed. With an officer he may go over any part +of the island: wholly unobserved, his limits extend four +miles--partially observed, eight--and overlooked twelve. At night the +sentinels certainly close round Longwood itself." It indeed appears +impossible to conceive of a _prisoner_ more liberally treated in all +these respects. There remains the constantly repeated vituperation of +the climate of St. Helena. It appears, however, by tables kept and +published by Dr. Arnott, that the sick list of a regiment, stationed +close to Buonaparte's residence during his stay, rarely contained more +than one name out of forty-five--a proportion which must be admitted to +be most remarkably small. In effect, the house of Longwood stands 2000 +feet above the level of the sea; the ocean breezes purify the air +continually; and within the tropics there is probably no healthier +situation whatever. If it be said that Napoleon should not have been +confined within the tropics at all--it is answered that it was +_necessary_ to remove him from the neighbourhood of the countries in +which his name was the watchword of rebellion and discord--and that, +after all, Napoleon was a native of Corsica, one of the hottest climates +in Europe, and was at all times, constitutionally, able to endure the +extremes of heat much better than of cold--witness Egypt and Russia. + +There was a rule that Napoleon's correspondence should all pass through +the hands of the governor of St. Helena--and this Sir Walter Scott +condemns. Had the English government acted on the Buonapartean model, +they would have made no such regulation, but taken the liberty of +privately examining his letters, and resealing them, after the fashion +of the post-office under Lavalette. It diminishes our regret when we +learn from Sir Walter Scott's next page, that, in spite of all laws and +severities on this score, Napoleon and the companions of his exile +contrived, from the beginning to the end, to communicate with their +friends in Europe, without the supervision of any English authorities +whatever. + +The finishing touch is put to the picture of unworthy duplicity by one +of Napoleon's own followers, and most noisy champions, General Gourgaud. +This gentleman himself informed the English government, that at the time +when Napoleon, in order to create the notion that his supplies were +restricted beyond all endurance, sent some plate to James's Town to be +broken up and sold, he, Napoleon, had in his strong box at Longwood at +least £10,000 in gold coin. + +There is one name which will descend to posterity laden with a tenfold +portion of the abuse which Napoleon and his associates lavished on all +persons connected in any degree with the superintendence and control of +his captive condition--that of Sir Hudson Lowe, a general officer in the +English army, who became governor of St. Helena in May, 1816, and +continued to hold that situation down to the period of the ex-emperor's +death in 1821. The vanity of Napoleon appears to have been wounded from +the beginning by this appointment. According to him, no person ought in +decency to have been entrusted with the permanent care of his detention, +but some English nobleman of the highest rank. The answer is very plain, +that the situation was not likely to find favour in the eyes of any +such person; and when one considers what the birth and manners of by far +the greater number of Buonaparte's own courtiers, peers and princes +included, were, it is difficult to repress wonder in listening to this +particular subject of complaint. Passing over this original quarrel--it +appears that, according to Buonaparte's own admission, Sir H. Lowe +endeavoured, when he took his thankless office upon him, to place the +intercourse between himself and his prisoner on a footing as gracious as +could well be looked for under all the circumstances of the case; and +that he, the ex-emperor, ere the governor had been a week at St. Helena, +condescended to insult him to his face by language so extravagantly, +intolerably, and vulgarly offensive, as never ought, under any +circumstances whatever, to have stained the lips of one who made any +pretension to the character of a gentleman. Granting that Sir Hudson +Lowe was not an officer of the first distinction--it must be admitted +that he did no wrong in accepting a duty offered to him by his +government; and that Napoleon was guilty, not only of indecorum, but of +meanness, in reproaching a man so situated, as he did almost at their +first interview, with the circumstances--of which at worst it could but +be said that they were not splendid--of his previous life. But this is +far too little. Granting that Sir Hudson Lowe had been in history and in +conduct, both before he came to St. Helena and during his stay there, +all that the most ferocious libels of the Buonapartists have ever dared +to say or to insinuate--it would still remain a theme of unmixed wonder +and regret, that Napoleon Buonaparte should have stooped to visit on his +head the wrongs which, if they were wrongs, proceeded not from the +governor of St. Helena, but from the English ministry, whose servant he +was. "I can only account," says Mr. Ellis, "for his petulance and +unfounded complaints from one of two motives--either he wishes by these +means to keep alive an interest in Europe, and more especially in +England, where he flatters himself he has a party; or his troubled mind +finds an occupation in the tracasseries which his present conduct gives +to the governor. If the latter be the case, it is in vain for any +governor to unite being on good terms with him to the performance of his +duty." + +Napoleon did everything he could to irritate this unfortunate governor. +He called him _scrivener, thieftaker, liar, hangman_; rejected all his +civilities as insults; encouraged his attendants to rival in these +particulars the audacity of his own language and conduct; refused by +degrees to take the exercise which his health required, on pretext that +it did him more harm than good when he knew himself to be riding within +view of English sentinels (which was not necessary at all within four +miles of Longwood), or attended by an English officer--which was not +necessary unless at the distance of twelve miles from Longwood: above +all, opposed every obstacle to the enforcement of that most proper +regulation which made it necessary that his person should, once in every +twenty-four hours, be visible to some British officer. In a word, +Napoleon Buonaparte bent the whole energies of his mighty intellect to +the ignoble task of tormenting Sir Hudson Lowe; and the extremities of +degradation to which these efforts occasionally reduced himself, in the +eyes of his own attendants, are such as we dare not particularise, and +as will be guessed by no one who has not read the memoir of his Italian +doctor, Antommarchi. + +Meantime, the great object was effectually attained. The wrongs of +Napoleon, the cold cruelty of the English government, and the pestilent +petty tyranny of Sir Hudson Lowe, were the perpetual themes of +table-talk all over Europe. There were statesmen of high rank in either +house of the British parliament, who periodically descanted on these +topics--and the answers as often elicited from the ministers of the +crown, only silenced such declamations for the moment, that they might +be renewed with increased violence after time had elapsed sufficient to +allow the news to come back to England with the comments of Longwood. +The utter impossibility of an escape from St. Helena was assumed on all +such occasions, with the obvious inference that there could be no use +for sentinels and domiciliary visitations at Longwood, except for the +gratification of malignant power. But it is now ascertained, that, +throughout the whole period of the detention, schemes of evasion were in +agitation at St. Helena, and that agents were busy, sometimes in London, +more frequently in North America, with preparations which had no other +object in view. A steamship, halting just beyond the line of sight, +might undoubtedly have received Napoleon at certain seasons of the year +without difficulty, could he only contrive to elude the nocturnal +vigilance of the sentinels about the house of Longwood: and that this +was impossible, or even difficult, General Gourgaud himself does not +hesitate to deny. The rumours of these plots reached from time to time +Sir Hudson Lowe; and, quickening of course his fears and his +circumspection, kept the wounds of jealousy and distrust continually +open and angry. + +There were moments, however, in which Napoleon appeared, to persons +likely to influence public feeling in Europe by their reports, in +attitudes of a far different description. When strangers of eminence +(generally officers on their way to or from India), halting at St. +Helena, requested and obtained permission to pay their respects at +Longwood, Napoleon received them, for the most part, with the ease and +dignity of a man superior to adversity. It was by these worthier +exhibitions that the fallen Emperor earned the lofty eulogy of Byron: + + "--Well thy soul hath brooked the turning tide, + With that untaught innate philosophy, + Which, be it wisdom, coldness, or deep pride, + Is gall and wormwood to an enemy. + When the whole host of hatred stood hard by, + To watch and mock thee shrinking, thou hast smiled + With a sedate and all-enduring eye; + When Fortune fled her spoiled and favourite child, + He stood unbowed beneath the ills upon him piled." + +Among the visitors now alluded to was Captain Basil Hall: and he has, +perhaps, presented the world with the most graphic sketch of Napoleon as +he appeared on such occasions at Longwood. "Buonaparte" (says this +traveller) "struck me (Aug. 13, 1817) as differing considerably from all +the pictures and busts I had seen of him. His face and figure looked +much broader and more square--larger, indeed, in every way, than any +representation I had met with. His corpulency, at this time reported to +be excessive, was by no means remarkable. His flesh looked, on the +contrary, firm and muscular. There was not the least trace of colour in +his cheeks; in fact, his skin was more like marble than ordinary flesh. +Not the smallest wrinkle was discernible on his brow, nor an approach to +a furrow on any part of his countenance. His health and spirits, judging +from appearances, were excellent; though, at this period, it was +generally believed in England that he was fast sinking under a +complication of diseases, and that his spirits were entirely gone. His +manner of speaking was rather slow than otherwise, and perfectly +distinct: and he waited with great patience and kindness for my answers +to his questions. The brilliant and sometimes dazzling expression of his +eye could not be overlooked. It was not, however, a permanent lustre, +for it was only remarkable when he was excited by some point of +particular interest. It is impossible to imagine an expression of more +entire mildness, I may almost call it of benignity and kindliness, than +that which played over his features during the whole interview. If, +therefore, he was at this time out of health and in low spirits, his +power of self-command must have been even more extraordinary than is +generally supposed; for his whole deportment, his conversation, and the +expression of his face, indicated a frame in perfect health, and a mind +at ease." + +These favourable reports from seemingly impartial witnesses, lent new +wings to the tale of Sir Hudson Lowe's oppression; and perhaps the exile +of St. Helena continued to fill a larger space in the eye of the world +at large, than had ever before fallen to the lot of one removed for +ever, to all appearance, from the great theatre of human passions. It +was then that Lord Byron thus apostrophised him: + + "Conqueror and Captive of the Earth art thou! + She trembles at thee still--and thy wild name + Was ne'er more bruited in men's minds than now + That thou art nothing, save the jest of Fame, + Who woo'd thee once, thy vassal and became + The flatterer of thy fierceness, till thou wert + A god unto thyself--nor less the same + To the astounded kingdoms all inert, + Who deemed thee for a time whate'er thou didst assert." + +And it was then that an English nobleman of high rank, who throughout +manifested especial interest in the fortunes of Napoleon, inscribed his +statue (in the gardens of Holland House) with the lines of Homer: + + [Greek: Ou gar pô tethnêken epi chthoni dios Odysseus, + All' eti pô zôos kateryketai eurei pontô + Nêsô en amphirytê; chalepoi de min andres echousin.][74] + +In ordinary times, the course of Napoleon's life at Longwood appears to +have been as follows. He rose early, and, as soon as he was out of bed, +either mounted on horseback, or began to dictate some part of the +history of his life to Montholon or Gourgaud. He breakfasted _à la +fourchette_, sometimes alone, sometimes with his suite, between 10 and +11 o'clock; read or dictated until between 2 and 3, when he received +such visitors as he chose to admit. He then rode out, either on +horseback or in his carriage, for a couple of hours, attended generally +by all his suite; then read or dictated again until near eight, at which +hour dinner was served. He preferred plain food, and ate plentifully. A +few glasses of claret, less than an English pint, were taken during +dinner; and a cup of coffee concluded the second and last meal of the +day, as the first. A single glass of champagne, or any stronger wine, +was sufficient to call the blood into his cheek. His constitutional +delicacy of stomach, indeed, is said to have been such, that it was at +all times actually impossible for him to indulge any of the coarser +appetites of our nature to excess. He took, however, great quantities of +snuff. A game of chess, a French tragedy read aloud, or conversation, +closed the evening. The habits of his life had taught him to need but +little sleep, and to take this by starts; and he generally had some one +to read to him after he went to bed at night, as is common with those +whose pillows are pressed by anxious heads. + +Napoleon was elaborately careful of his person. He loved the bath, and +took it at least once every day. His dress at St. Helena was generally +the same which he had worn at the Tuileries as Emperor--viz. the green +uniform, faced with red, of the chasseurs of the guard, with the star +and cordon of the Legion of Honour. His suite to the last continued to +maintain around him, as far as was possible, the style and circumstance +of his court. + +As early as the battle of Waterloo, reports were prevalent in France +that Napoleon's health was declining; yet we have already seen that, so +late as April, 1817, no symptom of bodily illness could be traced in his +external appearance. From this time, however, his attendants continued +to urge, with increasing vehemence, the necessity of granting more +indulgence, in consequence of the shattered condition of his +constitution: and, although such suggestions were, for obvious reasons, +listened to at first with considerable suspicion, there can be little +doubt now, that in this matter the fame of Longwood spake truth. + +Dr. Arnott, an English physician, already referred to, who attended on +Napoleon's death-bed, has informed us that he himself frequently +reverted to the fact, that his father died of scirrhus of the pylorus. +"We have high authority" (says this writer) "that this affection of the +stomach cannot be produced without a considerable predisposition of the +parts to disease. If, then, it should be admitted that a previous +disposition of the parts to this disease did exist, might not the +depressing passions of the mind act as an exciting cause? It is more +than probable that Napoleon Buonaparte's mental sufferings in St. Helena +were very poignant. By a man of such unbounded ambition, and who had +once aimed at universal dominion, captivity must have been severely +felt. I can safely assert, that any one of temperate habits, who is not +exposed to much bodily exertion, night air, and atmospherical changes, +may have as much immunity from disease in St. Helena as in Europe; and I +may, therefore, further assert, that the disease of which Buonaparte +died was _not_ the effect of climate."--It is added, that out of all +Napoleon's family, which, including English and Chinese servants, +amounted to fifty persons, only one individual died during the five +years of their stay in St. Helena, and this man, an Italian major-domo, +had brought the seeds of consumption with him from Europe. + +In March, 1817, Lord Holland made a solemn appeal to the British +Parliament on the subject of Napoleon's treatment, and was answered by +Lord Bathurst--in such a manner that not one could be found to second +him. The intelligence of this appears to have exerted a powerful +influence on the spirits of the captive. It was about the 25th of +September 1818, that his health began to be affected in a manner +sufficient to excite alarm in Dr. O'Meara, who informed him, that unless +he took regular exercise out of doors (which of late he had seldom +done), the progress of the evil would be rapid. Napoleon declared, in +answer, that he would never more take exercise while exposed to the +challenge of sentinels. The physician stated, that if he persisted, the +end would be fatal. "I shall have this consolation at least," answered +he, "that my death will be an eternal dishonour to the English nation, +who sent me to this climate to die under the hands of...." O'Meara again +represented the consequences of his obstinacy. "That which is written, +is written," said Napoleon, looking up, "our days are reckoned." + +Shortly after this, O'Meara--being detected in a suspicious +correspondence with one Holmes, Napoleon's pecuniary agent in +London--was sent home by Sir Hudson Lowe; and, Napoleon declining to +receive any physician of the governor's nomination instead, an Italian, +by name Antommarchi, was sent out by his sister Pauline. With this +doctor there came also two Italian priests, whose presence Napoleon +himself had solicited, and selected by his uncle, Cardinal Fesch. + +His obstinate refusal to take bodily exercise might have sprung in some +measure from internal and indescribable sensations. To all Antommarchi's +medical prescriptions, he opposed the like determination. "Doctor," he +said (14th October 1820), "no physicking; we are a machine made to live; +we are organised for that purpose, and such is our nature; do not +counteract the living principle--let it alone--leave it the liberty of +self-defence--it will do better than your drugs. Our body is a watch, +intended to go for a given time. The watchmaker cannot open it, and must +work at random. For once that he relieves or assists it by his crooked +instruments, he injured it ten times, and at last destroys it." + +With the health of Napoleon his mind sank also. Some fishes in a pond in +the garden at Longwood had attracted his notice; a deleterious substance +happened to mix with the water--they sickened and died. "Everything I +love," said Napoleon, "everything that belongs to _me_--is stricken. +Heaven and mankind unite to afflict me." Fits of long silence and +profound melancholy were now frequent. "In those days," he once said +aloud, in a reverie, "In those days I was Napoleon. Now I am nothing--my +strength, my faculties forsake me--I no longer live, I only exist." + +When Sir Hudson Lowe was made aware of the condition of the captive, he +informed the government at home; and by his Majesty's desire, authority +was immediately given for removing to St. Helena from the Cape, any +medical officer on whom Napoleon's choice might fall. This despatch did +not, however, reach St. Helena, until Napoleon had breathed his last. + +About the middle of April, 1821, the disease assumed such an appearance, +that Dr. Antommarchi became very anxious to have the advice of some +English physician, and the patient at length consented to admit the +visits of Dr. Arnott, already referred to. But this gentleman also was +heard in vain urging the necessity of medical applications. "Quod +scriptum scriptum," once more answered Napoleon; "our hour is marked, +and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined." + +From the 15th to the 25th of April, Napoleon occupied himself with +drawing up his last will--in which he bequeathed his orders, and a +specimen of every article in his wardrobe, to his son. On the 18th he +gave directions for opening his body after death, expressing a special +desire that his stomach should be scrutinised, and its appearances +communicated to his son. "The vomitings," he said, "which succeed one +another without interruption, seem to show that of all my organs the +stomach is the most diseased. I am inclined to believe it is attacked +with the disorder which killed my father--a scirrhus in the pylorus--the +physicians of Montpelier prophesied it would be hereditary in our +family." He also gave directions to the priest Vignali as to the manner +in which he wished his body to be laid out in a _chambre ardente_ (a +state-room lighted with torches). "I am neither an atheist," said +Napoleon, "nor a rationalist; I believe in God, and am of the religion +of my father. I was born a Catholic, and will fulfil all the duties of +that church, and receive the assistance which she administers." + +On the 3rd of May it became evident that the scene was near its close. +The attendants would fain have called in more medical men; but they +durst not, knowing his feelings on this head: "Even had he been +speechless," said one of them, "we could not have brooked his eye." The +last sacraments of the church were now administered by Vignali. He +lingered on thenceforth in a delirious stupor. On the 4th the island was +swept by a tremendous storm, which tore up almost all the trees about +Longwood by the roots. The 5th was another day of tempests; and about +six in the evening, Napoleon--having pronounced the words "tête +d'armée," passed for ever from the dreams of battle. + +On the 6th of May the body being opened by Antommarchi, in the presence +of five British medical men, and a number of the military officers of +the garrison, as well as Bertrand and Montholon, the cause of death was +sufficiently manifest. A cancerous ulcer occupied almost the whole of +the stomach. + +Napoleon desired in his will, that his body should be buried "on the +banks of the Seine; among the French people, whom he had loved so well." +Sir Hudson Lowe could not, of course, expect the King of France to +permit this to take place; and a grave was prepared among some weeping +willows beside a fountain, in a small valley called _Slane's_, very near +to Longwood. It was under the shade of these willows that the Exile had +had his favourite evening seat; and it was there he had been heard to +say, that if he must be interred in St. Helena, he would prefer to lie. + +The body of the Emperor, clad in his usual uniform, was now exposed to +the public view, and visited accordingly by all the population of the +island. The soldiers of the garrison passed the couch slowly, in single +file; each officer pausing, in his turn, to press respectfully the +frozen hand of the dead. On the 8th, his household, the governor, the +admiral, and all the civil and military authorities of the place, +attended him to the grave--the pall spread over his coffin being the +military cloak which he wore at Marengo. The road not being passable for +carriages, a party of English grenadiers bore Napoleon to his tomb. The +admiral's ship fired minute guns, while Vignali read the service of his +church. The coffin then descended amidst a discharge of three volleys +from fifteen cannon; and a huge stone was lowered over the remains of +one who needs no epitaph. + + * * * * * + +Napoleon confessed more than once at Longwood that he owed his downfall +to nothing but the extravagance of his own errors. "It must be owned," +said he, "that fortune spoiled me. Ere I was thirty years of age, I +found myself invested with great power, and the mover of great events." +No one, indeed, can hope to judge him fairly, either in the brilliancy +of his day or the troubled darkness of his evening, who does not task +imagination to conceive the natural effects, on a temperament and genius +so fiery and daring, of that almost instantaneous transition from +poverty and obscurity to the summit of fame, fortune, and power. The +blaze which dazzled other men's eyes, had fatal influence on his. He +began to believe that there was something superhuman in his own +faculties, and that he was privileged to deny that any laws were made +for him. Obligations by which he expected all besides to be fettered, he +considered himself entitled to snap and trample. He became a deity to +himself; and expected mankind not merely to submit to, but to admire and +reverence, the actions of a demon. Well says the Poet, + + "O! more or less than man--in high or low, + Battling with nations, flying from the field; + Now making monarchs' necks thy footstool, now + More than thy meanest soldier taught to yield; + An empire thou couldst crush, command, rebuild, + But govern not thy pettiest passion, nor, + However deeply in, men's spirits skilled, + Look through thine own--nor curb the lust of war, + Nor learn that tempted fate will leave the loftiest star." + +His heart was naturally cold. His school-companion, who was afterwards +his secretary, confesses that, even in the spring of youth, he was very +little disposed to form friendships.[75] To say that he was incapable of +such feelings, or that he really never had a friend, would be to deny to +him any part in the nature and destiny of his species.--No one ever +dared to be altogether alone in the world.--But we doubt if any man ever +passed through life, sympathising so slightly with mankind; and the most +wonderful part of his story is, the intensity of sway which he exerted +over the minds of those in whom he so seldom permitted himself to +contemplate anything more than the tools of his own ambition. So great a +spirit must have had glimpses of whatever adorns and dignifies the +character of man. But with him the feelings which bind love played only +on the surface--leaving the abyss of selfishness untouched. His one +instrument of power was genius; hence his influence was greatest among +those who had little access to observe, closely and leisurely, the +minutiæ of his personal character and demeanour. The exceptions to this +rule were very few. + +Pride and vanity were strangely mingled in his composition. Who does +not pity the noble chamberlain that confesses his blood to have run cold +when he heard Napoleon--seated at dinner at Dresden among a circle of +crowned heads--begin a story with, _When I was a lieutenant in the +regiment of La Fere_? Who does not pity Napoleon when he is heard +speaking of some decorations in the Tuileries, as having taken place "in +the time of the king, my uncle?"[76] + +This last weakness was the main engine of his overthrow. When he +condescended to mimic all the established etiquettes of feudal +monarchy--when he coined titles and lavished stars, and sought to melt +his family into the small circle of hereditary princes--he adopted the +surest means which could have been devised for alienating from himself +the affections of all the men of the revolution, the army alone +excepted, and for re-animating the hopes and exertions of the +Bourbonists. It is clear that thenceforth he leaned almost wholly on the +soldiery. No civil changes could after this affect his real position. +Oaths and vows, charters and concessions, all were alike in vain. When +the army was humbled and weakened in 1814, he fell from his throne, +without one voice being lifted up in his favour. The army was no sooner +strengthened, and re-encouraged, then it recalled him. He re-ascended +the giddy height, with the daring step of a hero, and professed his +desire to scatter from it nothing but justice and mercy. But no man +trusted his words. His army was ruined at Waterloo; and the brief day of +the second reign passed, without a twilight, into midnight. + +We are not yet far enough from Buonaparte to estimate the effects of his +career. He recast the art of war; and was conquered in the end by men +who had caught wisdom and inspiration from his own campaigns. He gave +both permanency and breadth to the influence of the French Revolution. +His reign, short as it was, was sufficient to make it impossible that +the offensive privileges of _caste_ should ever be revived in France; +and, this iniquity being once removed, there could be little doubt that +such a nation would gradually acquire possession of a body of +institutions worthy of its intelligence. Napoleon was as essentially, +and irreclaimably, a despot, as a warrior; but his successor, whether a +Bourbon or a Buonaparte, was likely to be a constitutional sovereign. +The tyranny of a meaner hand would not have been endured after that +precedent. + +On Europe at large he has left traces of his empire, not less marked or +important. He broke down the barriers everywhere of custom and +prejudice; and revolutionised the spirit of the Continent. His successes +and his double downfall taught absolute princes their weakness and +injured nations their strength. Such hurricanes of passion as the French +Revolution--such sweeping scourges of mankind as Napoleon Buonaparte, +are not permitted but as the avengers of great evils, and the harbingers +of great good. Of the influence of both, as regards the continent, it +may be safely said--that even now we have seen only "the beginning of +the end." The reigning sovereigns of Europe are, with rare exceptions, +benevolent and humane men; and their subjects, no less than they, ought +to remember the lesson of all history--that violent and sudden changes, +in the structure of social and political order, have never yet occurred, +without inflicting utter misery upon at least one generation. + +It was England that fought the great battle throughout on the same +principle, without flinching; and, but for her perseverance, all the +rest would have struggled in vain. It is to be hoped that the British +nation will continue to see, and to reverence, in the contest and in its +result, the immeasurable advantages which the sober strength of a free +but fixed constitution possesses over the mad energies of anarchy on the +one hand, and, on the other, over all that despotic selfishness can +effect, even under the guidance of the most consummate genius. + +[Footnote 74: + + "The godlike Ulysses is not yet dead upon the earth; + He still lingers a living captive within the breadth of ocean, + In some unapproachable island, where savage men detain him." + +ODYSS. book i. ver. 195.] + +[Footnote 75: Très peu aimant.] + +[Footnote 76: _Louis XVI.!_--married to the aunt of Maria Louisa--See +Bourienne.] + + + + +INDEX + + +Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, in Egypt, 164 + +Aberdeen, Earl of, 399 + +Aboukir, battle of, 95; + Turks defeated at, 107 + +Acre, siege of, 101, 102 + +Alexander, Emperor of Russia, resents the murder of the Duke + d'Enghien, 210; + stimulates King of Prussia against Napoleon, 211; + meets Napoleon at Tilsit, 254 + +Alexandria captured by French, 89; + battle of, 164 + +Allies approach Paris, 420; + their proclamation, 427; + enter Paris, 429; + refuse to treat with Napoleon, 430; + resolved to restore Louis XVIII., 430 + +Almeida, siege of, 327 + +Aloys Reding, 178 + +Alps, passage of the, 143-145 + +Alvinzi, Marshal, opposes Napoleon, 50, _et seq._ + +Amiens, peace of, 166, 168; + rupture of treaty of, 187 + +Ancona occupied by French, 61 + +Andalusia, Dupont marches into, 279 + +Andreossi, General, 30 + +Antommarchi, Dr., 501 + +Arcola, Napoleon's narrow escape at, 54; + three battles at, 52-54 + +Arnott, Dr., 493, 500 + +Asperne, battle of, 300, 301 + +Augereau, General, 24, 44, 61; + made Marshal, 207 + +Austerlitz, battle of, 223 + +Austria, Venice handed over to, 75; + declares war against France, 296, 382 + + +Badajos taken by Lord Wellington, 329 + +Bagrathion, General, 344; + death of, 347 + +Baird, General, 165 + +Barclay de Tolly, 337 + +Barras, 20, 21 + +Bassano, battle of, 48 + +Bavaria, Elector of, created King, 225 + +Bautzen, battle of, 379 + +Baylen, battle of, 279 + +Beauharnois, Eugene, first meeting with Napoleon, 22: + appointed Viceroy of Italy, 209; + marries daughter of King of Bavaria, 225 + +Beauharnois, Hortense, marries Louis Buonaparte, 310; + her intrigues, 314 + +Beauharnois, Josephine, first meeting with Napoleon, 22; + marries Napoleon, 23; + her influence, 23, 310; + her court at Montebello, 74; + her extravagance, 134; + divorced, 309; + her death, 437 + +Beaulieu, 26, 27; + superseded by Wurmser, 42 + +Bennigsen, General, 244-252 + +Beresina, passage of the, 365 + +Berlin decrees, 240 + +Bernadotte, his conduct on 18th Brumaire, 119; + made Marshal, 207; + created Prince of Corvo, 226; + elected Crown Prince of Sweden, 317; + Napoleon's conduct towards, 332; + lands in Germany, 375 + +Berri, Duke of, 458 + +Berthier made Marshal, 207; + created Prince of Neufchatel, 226 + +Bertrand, General, 438 + +Bessieres, made Marshal, 207; + death of, 377 + +Blucher, General, opposes Napoleon, 374, _et seq._; + at Ligny and Waterloo, 466, _et seq._ + +Borodino, battle of, 347 + +Boulogne, flotilla of, 166, 191 + +Bourbons, restoration of, 435 + +Bourienne, De, 4, 7, 67, 105 + +Braganzas, flight of the, 267 + +Brienne, battle of, 407 + +Brueyes, Admiral, 94, 95 + +Brumaire, revolution of 18th, 119 + +Buonaparte, Charles, 1 + +Buonaparte, Eliza, made Princess of Lucca. 226 + +Buonaparte, Jerome, made King of Westphalia, 255 + +Buonaparte, Joseph, made King of Naples, 225; + made King of Spain, 274; + leaves Madrid, 280; + civil commander of Paris, 406; + flight from Paris, 423 + +Buonaparte, Louis, made King of Holland, 226; + deposed by Napoleon and retires to Gratz, 314 + +Buonaparte, Lucien, president of Council of Five Hundred, 115; + conduct on 19th Brumaire, 121; + his pamphlet, 158; + ambassador to Spain, 159; + quits France for England, 323 + +Buonaparte, Napoleon, birth and parentage, 1; + education at Brienne, 3, 4; + at Paris, 5; + appointed second lieutenant of artillery, 6; + political views, 6; + made captain of artillery, 6; + De Bourienne's description of, 7; + first military service, 8; + commands artillery at Toulon, 9; + wounded at Toulon, 12; + surveys Mediterranean coast fortifications, 14; + chief of battalion in army of Italy, 15; + is superseded, 15; + in love with Mdlle. Clery, 16; + at Paris, 16; + refuses to go to La Vendée, 16; + name erased from list of officers, 16; + asks to be sent to Turkey, 16; + commands artillery brigade, 17; + commands army of interior, 21; + meets Josephine, 22; + marries Josephine, 23; + commands army of Italy, 24; + at Monte Notte, 27; + at Millesimo, 27; + at Mondovi, 28; + dictates peace to Sardinia, 28; + crosses the Po, 30; + at the bridge of Lodi, 31; + enters Milan, 33; + seizes works of art, 34; + suspected by the Directory, 35; + crosses the Mincio, 36; + escapes capture at Valleggio, 37; + besieges Mantua, 38; + insults Venice, 39; + peace with Sicily, 39; + grants respite to Pope, 40; + seizes Leghorn and enters Florence, 40; + policy in Italy, 41; + at battle of Lonato and narrow escape, 44, 45; + defeats Wurmser, 45; + marches on Mantua, 46; + at Roveredo, 47; + at Primolano and Bassano, 48; + escapes capture at Arcola, 49; + sends expedition to Corsica, 50; + at Arcola, 52; + life saved by Muiron, 54; + forms new Italian republics, 55; + at battle of Rivoli, 57; + grants terms to Mantua, 60; + wars against the Pope, 61; + treaty of Tollentino, 63; + at battle of Tagliamento, 65; + treaty of Leoben, 67; + conquers Venice, 69; + offered bribes, 70; + discovers Pichegru's intrigues, 70; + at Montebello, 74; + treaty of Campo-Formio, 75; + at congress at Rastadt, 78; + returns to Paris, 79; + conduct in Paris, 79, 80; + appointed to command army for invasion of England, 83; + opinion of projected invasion, 84; + suggests seizure of Malta and invasion of Egypt, 85; + forms troop of "Savans," 86; + at Toulon, 86; + embarks for Egypt, 87; + captures Malta, 88; + escapes Nelson and takes Alexandria, 89; + conduct in Egypt, 89-92; + at the Pyramids, 93; + enters Cairo, 94; + administration in Egypt, 96; + remarks on battle of Aboukir, 96; + quells insurrection at Cairo, 98; + explores isthmus of Suez, 99; + visits Mount Sinai and explores Red Sea, 99; + marches for Syria, 99; + captures El-Arish, Gazah and Jaffa, 100; + orders massacre of prisoners, 100; + besieges Acre, 101; + rescues Junot at Nazareth and Kleber at Mount Tabor, 102; + retreats to Jaffa, 104; + massacres Turkish prisoners, 104; + arrives at Alexandria and defeats Turks at Aboukir, 107; + embarks for France, 109; + instructions to Kleber, 109, 110; + occupations on voyage, 113; + lands at Frejus, 114; + reception by Directory in Paris, 114; + conduct on 18th Brumaire, 118; + commands troops in Paris, 118; + enters Council of Five Hundred, 121; + dissolves Council and establishes provisional consulate, 123; + at the Luxembourg, 124; + re-opens churches, 126; + pacifies Chouans, 127; + made Chief Consul, 129; + occupies the Tuileries, 131; + writes to King of England, 136; + at Dijon, 142; + crosses the Alps, 143; + takes St. Bard, 146; + enters Milan, 149; + at Marengo, 151; + establishes Cisalpine Republic, 154; + arrives in Paris, 155; + attempted assassination, 157; + conduct towards the Pope, 162; + prepares to invade England, 165; + peace with England, 166; + his court, 169; + allows emigrants to return, 169; + re-establishes Catholic religion, 170; + concordat with Pope, 171; + institutes Legion of Honour, 175; + First Consul for life, 176; + Grand Mediator of Helvetic Republic, 178; + sends expedition to St. Domingo, 178; + banishes negroes, 180; + negotiates with Louis XVIII., 183; + arrests English subjects, 187; + seizes Hanover and Naples, 189; + prepares to invade England, 190; + conspiracy against him, 194; + condemns the Duke d'Enghien, 198; + declared Emperor, 206; + at Boulogne and Aix-la-Chapelle, 207; + crowned in Notre Dame, and at Milan, 208; + heads army in Germany, 212; + enters Vienna, 215; + at Austerlitz, 221; + offers Hanover to Prussia, 224; + confers crowns on his relatives, 226; + at Jena, 234; + exactions in Prussia, 238; + robs monument of Frederick the Great, 239; + issues decrees of Berlin, 240; + takes Warsaw, 244; + at battle of Preuss-Eylau, 247; + meets Russian Emperor at Tilsit, 254; + his administration in France, 259-264; + relations with Spain, 265, _et seq._; + at Erfurt, 288; + at Vittoria, 289; + at Samosierra, 290; + takes Madrid and abolishes Inquisition, 292; + leaves Spain, 295; + in Germany, 296; + at battle of Eckmuhl, 297; + wounded at Ratisbonne, 298; + takes Vienna, 298; + at Asperne and Essling, 301; + at Wagram, 302; + attempted assassination, 305; + decree against the Pope, 306; + concludes peace with Austria, 307; + divorces Josephine, 311; + marries Maria Louisa, 312; + deposes his brother Louis, 314; + annexes Holland, 315; + birth of his son, 320; + prepares for war with Russia, 324; + at Dresden, 336; + at Dantzick, 337; + address to his army, 337; + passes the Niemen, 340; + at Wilna, 341; + marches for Moscow, 344; + at battle of Borodino, 346; + enters Moscow, 348; + at the Kremlin, 349; + retreats from Moscow, 355; + at Verreia, 357; + at Smolensko, 358; + sufferings of his army, 358; + passes the Beresina, 365; + quits his army, 367; + arrives in Paris, 368; + his military preparations, 372; + heads his army in Saxony, 376; + at battle of Lutzen, 377; + enters Dresden, 377; + at Bautzen, 379; + agrees to an armistice, 380; + interview with Metternich, 381; + at battle of Dresden, 387; + at battle of Leipsig, 390; + at battle of Hanau, 394; + returns to Paris, 394; + his obstinacy, 398; + dissolves Legislative Senate, 401; + releases the Pope and Ferdinand VII., 401; + announces the invasion of France, 404; + leaves Paris, 406; + life saved at battle of Brienne, 407; + at battle of La Rothiere, 407; + his expedition to the Marne, 409; + at Nangis, 410; + dismisses Victor, 411; + at battle of Montereau, 411; + refuses to sign peace preliminaries, 412; + at Troyes, 413; + repulsed at Soissons, 414; + at battles of Craonne and Laon, 414; + captures Rheims, 415; + his remarkable energy, 416; + distrusted at Paris, 419; + at St. Dizier, 419; + Macdonald's advice to him, 424; + at Fontainebleau, 425; + throne declared empty, 431; + he abdicates, 432; + abdication accepted, 434; + paroxysm of illness, 435; + bids his officers and guards farewell, 436; + sails from Frejus for Elba, 439; + conduct and occupations at Elba, 440, _et seq._; + intrigues of his friends, 445; + escapes from Elba and lands at Cannes, 447; + reaches Gap, 448; + proclamation to the army and nation, 448, 449; + at Grenoble and Lyons, 450; + resumes functions of civil government, 452; + enters Paris, 454; + prepares for war, 457; + schemes to regain his wife and son, 459; + publishes "Additional Act." 463; + at the Champ de Mai, 464; + heads his army on Belgian frontier, 466; + passes the Sambre at Charleroi, 468; + defeats Blucher at Ligny, 470; + at the battle of Waterloo, 473-476; + is defeated and flees to Charleroi, 476; + reaches Paris, 477; + his second abdication, 479; + is sent to Malmaison, 481; + at Rochefort, 482; + negotiates with Captain Maitland, 483; + letter to the Prince Regent of England, 484; + embarks in the _Bellerophon_, 485; + interview with Lord Keith at Torbay, 485; + ordered to St. Helena, 485; + his protest, 486; + sails on _Northumberland_ for St. Helena, 490; + arrival there, 491; + resides at The Briars, 491; + removes to Longwood, 491; + complaints against English Government, 492; + and against Sir Hudson Lowe, 495; + manner of life at Longwood, 499; + health failing, 500; + refuses to take exercise, 501; + draws up his will, 502; + his death, 502; + his burial, 503 + +Buonaparte, Pauline, marries Prince Borghese, 226; + her intrigues at Elba, 445 + +Buonapartes, the, banished from Corsica, 8 + +Burrard, General Sir H., 283 + +Busaco, battle of, 319 + +Byron, Lord, quoted, 143, 497, 498, 504 + + +Cairo, surrender of, 93; + English occupy, 165 + +Calder, Sir Robert, 216 + +Cambaceres, 126 + +Campbell, Sir Neil, 439, 445 + +Campo-Formio, treaty of, 75 + +Canning, Mr., quoted, 218 + +Carnot, 20; + made minister of war, 126; + Napoleon's opinion of, 133; + in opposition to Napoleon, 104, 206; + governor of Antwerp, 404; + minister of war, 457; + assists at the Champ de Mai, 463 + +Cartaux, 10 + +Castaños, General, 279 + +Castiglione, battle of, 45 + +Castlereagh, Lord, 408 + +Caulaincourt, 207, 368, 408, 426, 431 + +Ceracchi plans assassination of Napoleon, 157 + +Champ de Mai, 464 + +Charles, Archduke of Austria, 65 + +Charles IV. of Spain abdicates, 271 + +Chateaubriand, his tract, 427 + +Cherasco, armistice of, 28 + +Chouans, submission of, 127 + +Cintra, convention of, 283 + +Cisalpine Republic, 175 + +Ciudad Rodrigo, blockade of, 327; + capture of, 329 + +Clery, Mademoiselle, 16 + +Clichy, Royalist Club of, 72 + +Coalition against France, 210; + against English commerce, 259 + +Cobentzel at Campo-Formio, 75, 76 + +Code Napoleon projected, 173; + Napoleon's dictum of the, 261 + +Col di Tende, 15 + +Collingwood, Admiral, at Trafalgar, 219 + +Concordat, the, 170; + rejected by bishops, 171 + +Confederation of the Rhine, 226 + +Congress at Rastadt, 78; + at Prague, 380 + +Conscription in France, 262 + +Constitution of the year VIII., 128, 129 + +"Continental System," the, 240 + +Convention of Cintra, 283 + +Copenhagen, battle of, 163; + British expedition to, 258 + +Corsica, 1, 7, 8, 50 + +Coruña, battle of, 294 + +Cossacks attack French, 356 + +Craonne, battle of, 414 + +Culm, battle of, 387 + + +Dalrymple, Sir Hew, 283 + +D'Angouleme, Duke, capitulates, 458 + +D'Angouleme, Duchess, heroic conduct of, 458 + +Danican, General, 19 + +Dantzick taken by French, 249 + +D'Argenteau, 26, 27 + +D'Artois, Count, 156 + +Davidowich, at Roveredo, 46 + +Davoust made Marshal, 207; + his conduct at Hamburg, 377 + +D'Enghien, Duke, arrested, 196; + murdered, 199; + reflections thereon, 201 + +Dennewitz, battle of, 388 + +D'Entraigues, Count, 70 + +De Pradt, Abbé, 368, 430 + +Desgenettes, 105 + +Dessaix, General, Napoleon's opinion of, 150; + killed at Marengo, 153 + +Detention of English travellers in France, 187 + +Directory, the, ask Napoleon's aid, 72; + their jealousy of him, 82; + oppose grant of estate to him, 218 + +Doppet, cowardice of, at Toulon, 12 + +Dresden, battle of, 387 + +Dubois, death of, 47 + +Dufour, Colonel, 146 + +Dugommier, General, 13 + +Dumanoir, Commodore, 218 + +Dupont marches into Andalusia, 279; + surrenders at Baylen, 280 + +Duroc, death of, at Bautzen, 379 + + +Eckmuhl, battle of, 297 + +Education under Napoleon, 261 + +Egypt, French expedition to, 86; + Napoleon's administration in, 96; + English expedition to, 164; + conquered from France, 165 + +El Arish taken by French, 100 + +Elba, Napoleon at, 439, _et seq._ + +Elgin, Lord, sagacity of, 205 + +Emigrants allowed to return to France, 169 + +England, Napoleon's letter to King of, 136; + treaty of peace with, 166; + rupture of treaty, 187 + +Erfurt, conferences at, 288, 289 + +Essling, battle of, 301 + +Etruria, Napoleon's treatment of Queen of, 326 + + +Fatalism, Napoleon's tendency to, 23 + +Fayette, La, his recall, 126 + +Ferdinand VII., abdication of, 271; + prisoner at Valençay, 326; + released, and re-enters Spain, 401, 402 + +Ferrara, Archbishop of, 46 + +Fersen, Count, conduct of Napoleon towards, 78 + +Fesch, Cardinal, remonstrates with Napoleon, 336 + +Flotilla of Boulogne, 165, 191 + +Fombio, battle of, 31 + +Fontainebleau, treaty of, 266; + Napoleon abdicates at, 435 + +Fouché, Napoleon's character of, 133; + Josephine demands his dismissal, 311; + in disgrace, 322; + made governor of Rome, 322; + his memorial against the war with Russia, 335; + joins Napoleon on his return from Elba, 455; + corresponds with Louis XVIII. at Ghent, 468; + advises Napoleon to escape to America, 481 + +Fox, Mr., and Napoleon, 168, 229 + +Frankfort, declaration of Allies at, 398 + +Francis, Emperor of Germany, his interview with Napoleon, 224 + +Friedland, battle of, 251 + +Fructidor, revolution of 18th, 73 + +Fuentes d'Onor, battle of, 327 + + +Gazah, capture of, 100 + +Genoa, revolution of, 72; + siege of, 147 + +Georges Cadoudal, conspiracy of, 194; + trial and condemnation of, 203 + +Godoy, Manuel, his intrigues, 266; + arrested, 269 + +Gourgaud, General, 494 + +Grenville, Lord, 137 + +Grossbeeren, battle of, 388 + +Guiche, Duchess of, 156 + + +Hall, Captain Basil, 497 + +Hamburg, Davoust's cruelties at, 377 + +Hanau, battle of, 394 + +Hanover seized by French, 189 + +Haugwitz, Count, 222, 224 + +Helvetic Republic, 177 + +Hesse Cassel, Landgrave of, 244 + +Hofer and his followers, massacre of, 299, 300 + +Hohenlinden, battle of, 160 + +Holland, annexed to France, 315; + revolution of, 396 + +Hospitallers of St. Bernard, Napoleon's visit to, 144 + +Hullin, General, 197, 198 + +Hundred Days, the, 436, _et seq._ + +Hutchinson, General, succeeds Sir Ralph Abercrombie, 164 + + +Inquisition abolished by Napoleon, 292 + +Invasion of England, scheme for, 190 + + +Jaffa, capture of, 100; + garrison massacred, 100; + Turkish prisoners massacred at, 104 + +Jena, battle of, 235 + +Joubert, 57 + +Jourdan, Marshal, enters Germany, 42; + in Spain, 382 + +Junot, coolness of, at siege of Toulon, 14; + marches on Portugal, 267 + + +Kellerman made Marshal, 207 + +Kleber, General, rescued by Napoleon, 102; + left in command of army in Egypt, 109; + his assassination, 164 + +Kosciusko, 243 + +Kutusoff, General, commands Russian army, 345, _et seq._ + + +Labedoyere, Colonel, 449, 480 + +Landshut, battle of, 297 + +Lannes at Placenza, 30; + wounded at Acre, 103; + made Marshal, 207; + killed at Asperne, 302 + +Laon, battle of, 415 + +La Rothiere, battle of, 407 + +Law of Hostages repealed, 125 + +Le Clerc, 122, 123, 179 + +Lefebre Desnouettes, 278, 280, 281 + +Leghorn seized by Napoleon, 40 + +Legion of Honour instituted, 175 + +Leipsig, battle of, 390-392 + +Leoben, treaty of, 67 + +Licence System, 325 + +Lodi, passage of bridge of, 32 + +Lonato, battle of, 44 + +Loretto, French enter, 61: + image of Virgin at, 61; + Holy House at, 62 + +Louvre, Gallery of the, 34 + +Louis XVIII., his letter to Napoleon, 155; + Napoleon's proposition to, 182; + his restoration, 441; + quits Paris and retires to Ghent, 454 + +Lowe, Sir Hudson, 494-497 + +Luneville, treaty of, 160 + +Lutzen, battle of, 377 + + +Macdonald, General, 112, 384, 454 + +Mack, General, surrender of, at Ulm, 213, 214 + +Madrid occupied by Murat, 269; + massacre of, 272; + surrender of, 292 + +Mahomet, Napoleon's admiration of, 91 + +Maitland, Captain, 483, 490 + +Mallet, conspiracy of, 371 + +Malo-Yaraslovetz, battle of, 355, 356 + +Malta, Napoleon suggests seizure of, 85; + surrenders to French, 88; + surrenders to English, 155 + +Mamelukes, description of, 90 + +Mantua, siege of, 38; + surrender of, 60 + +Marengo, battle of, 151 + +Maria Louisa, Archduchess of Austria, marries Napoleon, 312; + quits Paris and retires to Blois, 422 + +Marmont crosses the Rhine, 212 + +Massena, General, in Italy, 139; + his retreat from Portugal, 327 + +Mehrfeldt, General, 391 + +Menou, General, 19, 165 + +Metternich, Prince, his interview with Napoleon, 381 + +Milan occupied by French, 33; + decrees against English commerce, 259 + +Millesimo, battle of, 27 + +Mincio, passage of the, 36 + +Miollis, General, occupies Rome, 306 + +Modena, Duke of, offers bribe to Napoleon, 70 + +Moncey made Marshal, 207 + +Mondovi, battle of, 28 + +Montebello, battle of, 149 + +Monte Notte, battle of, 27 + +Montmartre, battle of, 423 + +Moore, Sir John, commands army in Portugal, 286; + advances into Spain, 293; + retreat and death at Coruña, 294 + +Moreau, his retreat through the Black Forest, 42; + Napoleon's suspicions of, 193; + his arrest, 195; + exiled, 203; + returns and joins allies, 385; + his death, 386 + +Morla, Governor of Madrid, 292 + +Mortier seizes Hanover, 189; + made Marshal, 207 + +Moscow, French enter, 348; + burning of, 349; + French retreat from, 355 + +Muiron, at Toulon, 12; + saves Napoleon's life, 54 + +Murat, his conduct on Day of the Sections, 20; + marries Caroline Buonaparte, 134; + made Marshal, 207; + occupies Madrid, 269; + created King of Naples, 274; + his rash expedition, 460; + takes refuge in France, is seized and executed, 460 + + +Napier, Colonel, quoted, 272, 274, 276 + +Naples, Queen of, her journey to Russia, 161; + seized by French, 189 + +"Napoleon's Grotto," 2 + +National Convention, the, 17 + +Naumburg, capture of, 233 + +Negroes banished from France, 180 + +Nelson, Lord, at Alexandria, 74; + at Aboukir, 95; + at Copenhagen, 163; + at Trafalgar, 217 + +Ney, Marshal, at Clagenfurt, 214; + at battle of Borodino, 347; + retreats from Smolensko, 360; + "the bravest of the brave," 364; + his treason, 453; + at Waterloo, 476; + at Paris, 480 + +Niemen, passage of the, 341 + +Nile, French army march up, 91 + +Northern confederacy against England, 162 + + +Ocaña, battle of, 303 + +O'Meara, Dr., 500 + +Ossian, Napoleon's favourite poet, 5 + + +Palafox, General, 280 + +Palm, the bookseller, murder of, 231 + +Paoli, General, 7 + +Passage of the Po, 31; + of the Mincio, 36 + +Pavia, insurrection of, 36 + +Paul, Emperor of Russia, admires Napoleon, 161; + assassinated, 163 + +Peltier, trial of, 182 + +Perignon made Marshal, 207 + +"Philadelphes," Society of, 371 + +Pichegru, Napoleon's monitor, 4; + listens to the Bourbons' proposals, 70; + arrested and exiled, 73; + returns, 195; + arrested in Paris, 195; + found dead in prison, 202 + +Piedmont conquered, 28 + +Pitt, Mr., death of, 229 + +Po, passage of the, 31 + +Poles, Napoleon's conduct towards, 338 + +Polytechnic School, 173 + +Pope, the, buys respite of Napoleon, 40; + negotiates with Napoleon, and concludes treaty at Tollentino, 62; + restored by England, 161; + arrested by Miollis, 306; + sent to Fontainebleau, 307; + released, 401 + +Popham, Admiral Sir Home, court-martialled, 253 + +Prague, congress at, 380; + congress dissolved, 382 + +Presburg, treaty of, 224 + +Preuss-Eylau, battle of, 247 + +Primolano, battle of, 48 + +"Prince of the Peace," 266 + +Prussia, makes peace with Napoleon, 224; + accepts Hanover from him, 225; + declares war against France, 232, 373; + Queen of, Napoleon's treatment of, 255 + +Pultusk, battle of, 245 + +Pyramids, battle of the, 93 + + +Quasdonowich, 43, 44, 48 + +Quatre-bras, battle of, 468 + + +Raab, battle of, 299 + +Rastadt, battle of, 78; + murder of French commissioners at, 111 + +Ratisbonne, taken by French, 297 + +Red Sea explored by Napoleon, 99 + +Reign of Terror, the, 9 + +Revolution of the 18th Fructidor, 73 + +Rhine, confederation of the, 226 + +Riosecco, battle of, 278 + +Rivoli, battle of, 57 + +Robespierre, fall of, 17 + +Rome seized by Miollis, 306; + King of, 320 + +Rostophchin burns Moscow, 349 + +Roveredo, battle of, 47 + +Rumbold, Sir George, 205 + +Russia, French relations with, 323; + Napoleon's invasion of, 340 + + +"Sacred Band," the, 19 + +St. Bard, capture of, 146 + +St. Bernard, passage of the Great, 143-145 + +St. Domingo, French expedition to, 178 + +St. George, battle of, 59 + +St. Helena, Napoleon at, 491, _et seq._ + +Salamanca, battle of, 330 + +Samosierra, passage of the, 290 + +Saorgio, surrender of, 15 + +"Savans" accompany army in Egypt, 86, 92, 94 + +Savary quoted, 99; + at trial of Duke d'Enghien, 198 + +Schill, Colonel, 299 + +Schoenbrunn, treaty of, 307 + +Scott, Sir Walter, quoted, 41, 191, 494 + +Sebastiani, his memorial, 183 + +Sections, Day of the, 21 + +Serrurier made Marshal, 207 + +Sheridan, Mr., quoted, 185 + +Sieyes, Abbé, 115-119, 127, 130, 463 + +Smith, Sir Sydney, at Acre, 101; + Napoleon's hatred of, 103 + +Smolensko, battle of, 359 + +Soult, Marshal, in Spain, 290 + +Stabbs, his attempt to assassinate Napoleon, 305 + +Staël, Madame de, 80, 169 + +Suchet, Marshal, defeats Blake, 303; + defeats O'Donnell, 318 + +Suez, Napoleon explores isthmus of, 99 + +"Sun of Austerlitz," 223 + +"Suns of Napoleon," 87 + +Sweden, revolution in, 316 + +Swiss Cantons, Napoleon's letter to, 178 + + +Tacitus, Napoleon's chosen author, 5 + +Tactics, Napoleon's military, 25 + +Tagliamento, battle of, 65 + +Talaveyra, battle of, 303 + +Talleyrand, his character, 133; + created Prince of Benevento, 227; + corresponds with the Bourbons, 421; + his billet to Alexander of Russia, 421 + +Talma, early associate of Napoleon, 16 + +Taxation under Napoleon, 263 + +Tilsit, treaty of, 255 + +Tollentino, treaty of, 62 + +Torres Vedras, Wellington at, 319 + +Toulon, siege of, 9-14 + +Toussaint l'Ouverture, 179 + +Trafalgar, battle of, 217-219 + +Tugend-bund, the, 288 + +Tyrol, peasants revolt in, 299 + + +Ulm, surrender of, by Mack, 213, 214 + +Usher, Captain, 439 + + +Vandamme, surrender of, 387 + +Vendemaire, the 13th, 20 + +Venice threatened by Napoleon, 38; + neutrality of, 64; + conquered by Napoleon, 69; + handed over to Austria, 75 + +Victor, Marshal, 149, 303 + +Vienna taken by French, 313, 298; + congress at, 456 + +Villeneuve, Admiral, 217 + +Vimiero, battle of, 283 + +Vincovo, battle of, 354 + +Vittoria, battle of, 382 + +Volney, 171 + + +Wagram, battle of, 303 + +Wahlstadt, battle of, 388 + +Walcheren, expedition to, 304 + +Warsaw taken by French, 244; + Grand Duchy of, 255 + +Waterloo, battle of, 472-477 + +Wellesley, Sir Arthur, commands British army in the Peninsula, 281; + lands in Mondego Bay, 282; + defeats French at Roriça, 283; + defeats Junot at Vimiero, 283; + lands at Lisbon, 303; + defeats Soult, 303; + at Talaveyra, 303; + created Lord Wellington, 304; + retreats to lines of Torres Vedras, 319; + at Fuentes d'Onor, 327; + captures Ciudad Rodrigo, 329; + takes Badajos, 329; + at Salamanca, 330; + at Vittoria, 382; + interview with Blucher, 470; + at battle of Waterloo, 472-477 + +Westphalia, new kingdom of, 255 + +Whitelocke, General, repulsed at Buenos Ayres, 253, 254 + +Whitworth, Lord, confers with Napoleon, 185 + +Wilna, Napoleon at, 341 + +Wilson, Sir Robert, 105, 184 + +Wirtemberg, Elector of, made king, 225 + +Witzingerode taken prisoner, 357; + interview with Napoleon, 357 + +Wordsworth, Mr., quoted, 177, 179, 180, 191 + +Wright, Captain, 195, 203 (note) + +Wurmser, General, 42, _et seq._ + + +Yarmouth, Lord, 230 + + +Zaragossa, siege of, 281 + +Znaim, armistice of, 302 + + +THE END + + +THE TEMPLE PRESS + +LETCHWORTH, ENGLAND + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Napoleon Buonaparte, by +John Gibson Lockhart + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE *** + +***** This file should be named 17579-8.txt or 17579-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/5/7/17579/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. + + +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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