When the two great leaders separated, after an interview lasting an

hour, they again embraced, Napoleon saying in the hearing of the

gentlemen of the suites,--Prince John of Lichtenstein, near Francis, and

Marshal Berthier, near Napoleon--: "I agree to it; but your Majesty must

not make war upon me again." "No, I promise you I will not," said

Francis in reply; "I will keep my word"--a promise that was soon

violated.

It was understood that the Emperor of Russia, although not present, was

to abide by the agreement for an armistice. Alexander so assured Marshal

Davoust, who had pursued him the night of the battle, and the Russians

were allowed by Napoleon to retire unmolested to their own territory, on

the royal word of Francis that Russia would adhere to his ally of

Austria.

"The Russian army is surrounded," said Napoleon to Francis; "Not a man

can escape me but I wish to oblige their Emperor, and will stop the

march of my columns if your Majesty promises me that these Russians

shall evacuate Germany, and the Austrian and Prussian parts of Poland."

"It is the purpose of the Emperor Alexander to do so," was the reply. No

other engagement was required of the Czar than his word.

When the negotiations had been completed, and the Emperor Francis had

departed, Napoleon walked hurriedly to and fro for a short time, and

after a deep silence he was heard to say: "I have acted very unwisely. I

could have followed up my victory, and taken up the whole of the

Austrian and Russian armies. They are both entirely in my power.

But--let it be. It will at least cause some less tears to be shed."

Napoleon then went over the field of battle, ordering the wounded to be

removed, when some of those unfortunates, forgetting their sufferings

asked, "Is the victory quite certain?" The foot guards of the Emperor,

not having been permitted to engage, actually wept and insisted upon

doing something to identify them with the victory.

"Be satisfied," said Napoleon, "you are the reserve; it will be better

if you have nothing to do today."

The commander of the artillery of the imperial Russian guard having lost

his cannon, met the French Emperor and said, "Sire, order me to be shot,

I have lost my cannon."

"Young man," replied Napoleon, "I esteem your grief; but one may be

beaten by my army, and still retain some pretension to glory."

The brief campaign was followed by a treaty with the Emperor of Austria,

signed December 15th, 1805, and another with Prussia, signed December

26th at Vienna. The victor of Austerlitz made his own terms in the

negotiations. Austria gave up the last of her Italian usurpations to be

annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, and the Tyrol to Bavaria, and yielded

other stipulations which the conqueror demanded, but which were so

moderate that they excited the wonder and admiration of all Europe.

Previous to Napoleon's departure for Schoenbrunn on the 27th of December

he issued the following proclamation to his army:

"Soldiers! Peace between myself and the Emperor of Austria is signed.

You have, in this late season of the year, made two campaigns. You have

performed everything I expected. I am setting out for my capital. I have

promoted and distributed rewards to those who have most distinguished

themselves. I will perform everything I have promised. You have seen

that your Emperor has shared all your dangers and fatigues; you shall

likewise behold him surrounded by all that grandeur and splendor which

become the sovereign of the first nation in the world. In the beginning

of the month of May, I will give a grand festival in Paris; you shall

all be there. We will celebrate the memory of those who, in these

campaign have fallen on the field of honor. The world shall see that we

are ready to follow their example, and, if necessary, do more than we

have done, against those who suffer themselves to be misled by the gold

of the eternal enemy of the continent."

The news of the success of the army was received with the greatest

enthusiasm by the majority of the French people.

Madame de Rémusat in writing to her husband from Paris after the receipt

of the news of the battle of Austerlitz, said: "You cannot imagine how

excited everyone is. Praise of the Emperor is on everyone's lips; The

most recalcitrant are obliged to lay down their arms, and to say with

the Emperor of Russia, 'He is a man of destiny.'"

The campaign had consolidated the Empire of Napoleon, and when he

returned to France he was received with exultation by the citizens, who

tendered him fête after fête such as had not been witnessed at the

capital for years. This was followed by the elevation of many of his

kinsmen and heroes to thrones of pomp and power, coronation following

coronation in rapid succession, princedoms and dukedoms being

accompanied with grants of extensive estates in the countries which the

French armies had conquered. From that moment, the fanaticism of

military glory quite effaced the few remaining impressions made by the

love of liberty.

VI

THE BATTLE OF JENA

The establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine, which was one of

the great consequences of Austerlitz, rendered Napoleon in effect,

sovereign of a large part of Germany. The kings of Bavaria and

Wurtemberg, Prince Murat, the Grand Duke of Berg, and several other

sovereigns of Germany, had leagued together in an alliance with the

French Empire; and they constituted so formidable a power that the

Emperor added a new title to his name--the "Protector" of this

confederacy. Thus Napoleon became sovereign of a principal part of

Germany, and his allies were obliged to furnish, at his call, 60,000

armed men. The only method of counteracting the consolidation of French

power over all Germany seemed to be that of creating another confederacy

in the Northern circles, capable of balancing the league of the Rhine,

and to be known as the Northern Alliance. This alliance Napoleon

determined to suppress. The relations between France and Prussia

continued in an unsettled state, Prussia refusing on the one hand to

embrace the Confederation proposed by the cabinet of Berlin, and yet

declining on the other to form part of the Rhenish league to which

Bonaparte had frequently and urgently invited it.

A year had elapsed since the Emperor of Russia had signed the famous

treaty of Potsdam, wheedling the pliant King of Prussia and his wife

with all sorts of promises, including an offer on the part of England to

pay the costs of another campaign against Napoleon and his Empire. For

some weeks strong hopes were entertained of a satisfactory conclusion to

peace overtures, but in the end the negotiations broke up, on the

refusal of Napoleon to concede Malta to England, unless England would

permit him to conquer Sicily from the unfortunate sovereign whose

Italian kingdom had already been transferred to his brother Joseph.

The death of Fox, according to Napoleon himself, was the immediate cause

of the failure of these negotiations. The Emperor maintained that had

the great English statesman lived--he died on the 23rd of January,

1806--the negotiations would have been resumed and pushed to a

successful close. When the Emperor of Russia went to Berlin he offered

Prussia all the forces of his own great Empire. War-like preparations of

every kind filled the Kingdom of Prussia during August and September

1806. Notwithstanding the protestations made almost daily by the

Prussian government, through its minister at Paris, towards the middle

of August her preparations assumed such a decided character that her

real object could no longer be concealed. A friendly letter was even

dispatched from the King of Prussia to Napoleon and the French

ambassador at Berlin was treated with due consideration but which was

far from honest at heart.

On the 21st of September Napoleon wrote to the princes of the

Confederation of the Rhine, requesting them to furnish their contingent

troops for his army, and which was complied with, according to treaty.

On the 25th the Emperor quitted his imperial residence to place himself

at the head of the army. While at the theatre at St. Cloud he received a

dispatch from Murat containing an account of an attack made on French

troops by some Prussian detachments. "I see they are determined to try

us," he said to Count Rapp and orders were immediately given to prepare

for departure to the frontier. He arrived at Mayence on the 28th and on

the 1st of October passed the Rhine.

On this same day the Prussian minister at Paris presented a note to

Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, an ultimatum in which Prussia

demanded, among other things, that the formation of a Confederacy in the

North of Germany should no longer be thwarted by French interference, to

renounce the kingdoms of Holland and Italy, and that the French troops

within the territories of the Rhenish league should recross the Rhine

into France by the 8th of the same month of October,--a virtual

declaration of war.

The conduct of Prussia in thus rushing into hostilities, without waiting

for the advance of her allies, the Russians, was as rash as her holding

back from Austria during the campaign of Austerlitz was cowardly.

Napoleon had not patience to finish reading this document, conveying

those demands, but threw it down with contempt.

Napoleon made answer to the Prussian note from his headquarters at

Bamberg on October 6th. He addressed a proclamation to his army to

inform them of the enemy they were about to fight. "Soldiers," said he,

"the war-cry has been heard at Berlin; for two months our provocation

has been increased each day ... Let us march--let the Prussian army meet

with the same fate it evinced fourteen years ago on the plains of

Champagne." Thiers, the eminent historian, says in his "History of the

Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon": "It was the height

of imprudence on the part of Prussia to enter into a contest with

Napoleon at a moment when the French army, returning from Austerlitz,

was still in the heart of Germany, and more capable of acting than any

army ever was."

It was evident that Napoleon did not feel the least concern about the

approaching war. He wrote to his brothers in Naples and in Holland at

this time assuring them that the present struggle would be terminated

more speedily than the preceding. He called upon them to observe in what

manner a German sovereign still dared to insult the soldiers of

Austerlitz. Napoleon was then on the German side of the Rhine in person.

The Prussian Council had directed their army to advance towards the

French instead of lying on their own frontier, and the army accordingly

invaded the Saxon provinces. The Elector of Saxony was compelled to

accept the alliance which the cabinet of Berlin urged on him, and

reluctantly joined his troops with those of Prussia.

At Bamberg, on the same day he issued his proclamation to his soldiers,

Napoleon said to Berthier: "Marshal, we have a rendezvous of honor

appointed for the 8th; a Frenchman never fails to keep them; but as we

are told that a beautiful queen wishes to be a witness of the fight, let

us be courteous, and march, without sleeping, for Saxony." Napoleon

alluded to the Queen of Prussia who was with the Prussian army, dressed

as an Amazon, wearing the uniform of her regiment of dragoons, "writing

twenty letters a day" said the first bulletin sent to Paris, "to fan the

flame in all parts."

No sooner did Napoleon learn that the Prussians had advanced into the

heart of Saxony than he formed his plan of campaign: and they,

persisting in their advance, and taking up a position on the Saale,

afforded him the means of repeating at their expense, the very

manoeuvres which had ruined the Austrians in the preceding campaign. The

French commander at once perceived that the Prussian army was extended

upon too wide a line, thus enabling him the better to destroy it in

detail. He also discovered that the enemy had all its principal stores

and magazines at Naumburg to the rearward, and he resolved to commence

operations by an attempt to turn the flank and seize the magazines ere

the main body of the Prussians, lying at Weimar, could be aware of his

movement. The Emperor quitted Bamberg on the 8th, at three in the

morning, and arrived on the same day at Cronach. Every corps of the army

was then in motion.

The French came forward in three great divisions; the corps of Ney and

Soult in the direction of Hof; Davoust, Murat and Bernadotte towards

Saalburg and Schleiz, and Lannes and Augereau upon Coburg and Saalfeld.

These last generals were opposed at Saalfeld with much firmness by

Prince Louis of Prussia, cousin-german to the king, who imprudently

abandoned the bridge over the Saale,--which he might have defended with

success,--and came out into the open plain where his troops were

overpowered by the French. Fighting hand to hand with a subaltern who

ran up to him and cried, "Surrender, General!" the brave young officer

in brilliant uniform and adorned with all his decorations, replied with

a sabre cut, and was immediately struck down by a mortal thrust in the

face with a sabre, which occasioned it to be remarked in the second

bulletin that "the first blow of the war had killed one of its authors."

Prince Frederick Christian Louis of Prussia had been very impatient to

commence the war and urged and hastened hostilities. He was, besides, a

man of great courage and talent. Rapp in his "Memoirs" says: "Napoleon,

who did not like this petulant eagerness, was conversing with us one

evening respecting the generals of the enemy's army. Some one present

happened to mention Prince Louis. 'As for him' said he, 'I foretell that

he will be killed in this campaign.' Who could have thought the

prediction would so soon have been fulfilled?"

The Prussians fled, leaving the bridge which gave the French access to

the country behind the Saale. The flank of the Prussian position was

turned; the French army passed entirely around them, and Napoleon seized

and blew up the magazines at Naumburg. The explosion announced to the

King of Prussia and his generalissimo, the Duke of Brunswick, that

Napoleon was in their rear. From this moment the Prussians were isolated

and completely cut off from all their resources--as completely as the

army of Mack was at Ulm the year before. The engagement at Schleiz

contributed to hasten the retreat of the enemy which threw away upon the

roads a great number of muskets and hats, and leaving in the hands of

the French 400 prisoners and as many killed or wounded. But the moral

effect of the action was greater than the material, the Prussians

learning for the first time the sort of soldiers they had to deal with.

Napoleon was extremely pleased with this first action at Schleiz, as it

proved how little the Prussian cavalry, though excellently mounted and

very skillful in the management of its horses, was to be feared by his

solid infantry and bold horse soldiers.

The Duke of Brunswick who flattered himself that the French could not

debouch, hastily endeavored to concentrate his forces for the purpose of

cutting his way back again to the frontier which he had so rashly

abandoned. Napoleon, meanwhile, had posted his divisions so as to watch

the chief passages of the Saale, and awaited the coming of his outwitted

opponent.

The manifesto of Frederick William had arrived at the capital a day or

two after Napoleon had quitted Paris for the camp, and it was now that

he found time to answer it by calling on his own marshals to witness

how "The French army has done as it was bidden; this is the 8th of

October, and we have evacuated the territories of the Confederation of

the Rhine!"

To the King of Prussia Napoleon wrote: "Believe me, my strength is such

that your forces cannot long balance the victory. But wherefore shed so

much blood? To what purpose? I will hold to your Majesty the same

language I held to the Emperor Alexander two days before the battle of

Austerlitz: 'Why should we make our subjects slay each other? I do not

prize a victory which is purchased by the lives of so many of my

children.' If I were just commencing my military career, and if I had

any reason to fear the chances of war, this language would be wholly

misplaced. Sire, your Majesty will be vanquished; you will have

compromised the repose of your life, the existence of your subjects,

without the shadow of a pretext. At present you are uninjured, and may

treat with me in a manner conformable with your rank; before a month has

passed you will treat, but in a different position."

On learning of the fall of Naumburg, the Prussian king knew full well

the imminent danger of his position. His army was at once set in motion

in two great masses, one commanded by himself, advancing towards

Naumburg, the other attempting in like manner to force its passage

through the French line in the neighborhood of Jena. The king's march

was arrested at Auerstadt by Davoust, who, after a severely contested

action, at length repelled the assailant. Napoleon himself, meanwhile,

was engaged with the other great body of the Prussians.

Arriving on the evening of the 13th of October at Jena, he at once

perceived that the enemy was ready to attempt the advance next

morning, while his own heavy train was still thirty-six hours' march in

his rear. "But," as the Emperor said in his bulletin of the battle

fought next day, "there are moments in war when no consideration can

balance the advantage of being before-hand with the enemy, and of

attacking first."

[Illustration: From a Drawing by Martinet

CAPITULATION OF GENERAL MACK AT ULM]

On the heights from Jena to Landgrafenberg he placed Gazan's division on

the left, in the right Souchet's division, and in the centre and rear

the foot guard. He made the latter encamp in a square of 4000 men, and

in the centre of this square overlooking the plains below, he

established his bivouac. Ever since that time the people have called

that height "Napoleonsberg," marking by a heap of rough stones the spot

where the Emperor had spent part of that memorable night.

The Emperor labored hard, torch in hand, directing and encouraging his

soldiery to cut a road through a ledge of rocks and draw up by that

means such light guns as he had at command to a position on a lofty

plateau in front of Jena. It was a most formidable position, and one

that was destined to prove more decisive than that of a much larger one

might have been under other circumstances. Napoleon spent the entire

night among the men, helped drag the guns to the cliffs, and offering

rewards for every piece of cannon that should be placed on the heights.

He reminded his followers that the Prussians were about to fight--not

for honor, but for their lives.

"The night," says Napoleon, "offered a spectacle worthy of observation;

that of the two armies, one of which embraced with its front an extent

of six leagues, and peopled the atmosphere with its fires, the other,

whose apparent fires were concentrated in a small point, and in both

encampments activity and motion. The fires of the two armies were within

half cannon-shot; the sentinels almost touched each other, and not a

movement could be made without being heard."

At about 5 o'clock Napoleon asked Marshal Soult, "Shall we beat them?"

"Yes, if they are there," answered the marshal; "I am only afraid they

have left."

At that moment the first musketry was heard, "There they are," said the

Emperor joyfully; "there they are! The business is beginning."

Napoleon then rode through the ranks addressing his soldiers. He bade

them remember that, a year ago, at the same period, they had conquered

Ulm and recommended that they be on their guard against the Prussian

cavalry, which had been represented as so formidable. "This cavalry," he

said, "must be destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the

Russian infantry at Austerlitz." He told them that if they should

succeed in endeavoring to fight their way through any point, the corps

that would suffer them to pass, must forfeit its honor and character.

The soldiers answered his animated discourse by demanding to be led

against the enemy; and the cries of, "Forward! Let us march!" were heard

in every direction.

Again, as at Austerlitz, a cloud of mist completely enveloped the

contending hosts. Both armies were almost in the heat of battle before

the different divisions were distinguishable. Augereau commanded the

right wing, Soult the left, Cannes the centre and Murat the reserve of

cavalry. Escorted by men carrying torches, Napoleon again went along in

front of the troops, talking to the officers and soldiers. He exhorted

them to keep on their guard against the Prussian cavalry and to receive

it in square with their usual firmness. His words everywhere drew forth

shouts of "Forward! Vive l'Empereur!" At that moment the corps of Lannes

set itself in motion on a signal from Napoleon.

The battle began on the right and left and the conflict proved terrible.

Davoust, in particular, was placed in a situation sufficient to try a

man of the most determined courage and firmness but Bernadotte refused

to support him. He paraded around Apolda, while 26,000 French troops

were engaged with 60,000 picked men, commanded by the Duke of Brunswick

and the King of Prussia. Thus, says General Gourgaud, he caused the

death of five or six thousand Frenchmen and hazarded the success of the

day, for which he experienced a very short disgrace. Napoleon on this

occasion observed that Bernadotte did not behave well, and that he would

have felt gratified had Davoust been defeated; "but," added the Emperor,

"the affair reflects the highest honor on the conqueror, and the more

so, as Bernadotte rendered his situation a most difficult one."

Bernadotte's conduct was such that a decree was signed by Napoleon that

must have resulted in his being shot, but out of regard to his wife the

Emperor destroyed the order the moment he was about to put it into the

hands of one of his officers.

A hand to hand struggle followed the first charge of the Prussians. It

was received by Soult and was a doubtful engagement until Ney appeared

with a fresh division and drove the Prussians back. Nothing but the

smoke of battle now obstructed the view, the famous sun of Napoleon

having mounted the heavens was throwing a flood of light on a terrific

engagement. Charge after charge followed, both sides maintaining their

positions with firmness and valor. The commanders were constantly

executing manoeuvres as though on parade. At one time the Emperor

observed Ney, whom he had supposed to be in the rear, engaged with the

Prussians. He hastened up greatly displeased, but on discovering the

brave marshal defending himself in the centre of two weak squares

against the whole of the Prussian cavalry, his displeasure gave way to

admiration, and an immediate relief was ordered and brought up by

Bertrand and Lannes. During the time that elapsed before relief arrived

he fought as intrepidly as before, and was not in the least disconcerted

by his hazardous position. Davoust's plans were so well laid, and his

generals and troops displayed such courage and skill, that Blucher, with

12,000 cavalry, had not the satisfaction of penetrating through a single

company. The king, the guards, and the whole army, attacked the French

without obtaining better success. Amidst the deluge of fire that

surrounded them on all sides, they preserved all their national gaiety.

A French soldier, nick-named "the Emperor" impatient at the obstinacy of

the Prussian guards, exclaimed, "On with me, grenadiers! Come, follow

the Emperor!" when, rushing into the thickest of the battle, the troops

followed, and the enemy was penetrated. For this deed he was raised to

the rank of a corporal.

Napoleon, field-glass in hand, at length ordered a general onslaught all

along the lines, to be followed by a bold charge of Murat's cavalry at a

point where the Emperor had detected a weakness in the enemy's lines.

As the signal blast for advancing was sounded, the eager squadrons that

had been smelling the smoke of battle for hours with impatience, rushed

onward to glory or to death. On, on they charged with all the vehemence

and impetuosity of the French cavalryman, each of whom believed that on

him, and him alone, rested the fate of the day, and as on so many

similar occasions, they were victorious. The sturdy Prussian columns

were broken,--infantry, cavalry, guards and grenadiers were mowed down

by thousands. The French infantry gave fresh proof of their valor and

sustained their reputation at this engagement. In one of the charges

which the divisions under Morand had to sustain from the numerous

Prussian cavalry under Prince Henry, the 17th regiment, before

presenting arms, placed their caps at the ends of their bayonets,

crying, "Vive l'Empereur!" "Why not fire then?" exclaimed Colonel

Lanusse who apprehended the enemy would be upon them before they were

ready. "Oh, time enough for that" they replied, "at fifteen paces you

shall see." In fact a murderous discharge at that distance made the

Prussians turn their horses' heads and retire.

The ardor of the troops on this important day was such that some corps,

which circumstances prevented from taking part in the engagement, loudly

expressed their dissatisfaction. One of these traits is sufficiently

characteristic of the soldier and the Emperor under whose eyes they

fought. At an early period of the conflict, while the French cavalry was

anxiously expected, Napoleon seeing his infantry wings in a state of

agitation, being threatened by the enemy's cavalry, set off at a full

gallop to direct the manoeuvres and change the front into squares. The

infantry of the imperial guard, seeing all the rest of the troops

engaged, while the Emperor left them in inaction, many voices were heard

to cry "Forward!" "Who is that?" asked the Emperor quickly, as he

presented himself in front of the battalions; "This is some beardless

young man, who wishes to anticipate what I intend to do. Let him wait

until he has commanded in thirty pitched battles, before he pretends to

give me advice."

Out of the 70,000 Prussians who had appeared on the field of battle, not

a single corps remained entire, not one retreated in order. Out of the

100,000 French, composed of the corps of Marshals Soult, Lannes,

Augereau, Ney, Murat and the Guard, not more than 50,000 had fought, and

they had been sufficient to overthrow the Prussian army.

This rout ended in the complete breaking up of the Prussian army, horse

and foot all flying together, in the confusion of panic, upon the road

to Weimar. At that point the fugitives met and mingled with their

brethren, flying as confusedly as themselves, from Auerstadt.

In his account of the battle of Jena Napoleon spoke with pleasure of the

enthusiasm shown by his soldiers during the heat of battle. In

conclusion he said: "In so warm a fight, in which the enemy lost almost

all their generals, we should thank that Providence which watched over

our army, that no man of note has been killed or wounded. Marshal Lannes

had his breast scratched without being wounded. Marshal Davoust had his

hat carried away and a great number of balls in his clothes." To

Josephine, who was awaiting the results of the campaign at Mayence, he

wrote on October 16th: "Everything has turned out as I planned, and

never was an army more thoroughly beaten and destroyed." The Emperor

confessed, that, during the night before the battle of Jena, he had been

exposed to the most imminent danger, and might have disappeared without

anyone knowing clearly his fate. He had approached the bivouacs of the

Prussians in the dark, to reconnoitre, having only a few officers about

his person. The French army was almost everywhere on the alert, under a

persuasion that the Prussians were strongly addicted to nocturnal

attacks. Returning from that survey, the Emperor was fired at by the

first sentinel of his own camp, which proved a signal for the whole

line; and he had no resource left but to throw himself flat on his face

until the mistake should be discovered. His principal apprehension,

however, was not realized; he feared least the Prussian line, then very

near him, might act in the same manner.

When the conflict ended 20,000 Prussians lay dead on the battle field,

or were taken prisoners, including twenty generals. Among the trophies

of war were 300 cannon and sixty royal standards.

The Queen of Prussia was a fearless horsewoman and had faced great

dangers at Jena. When she rode before her troops in her helmet of

polished steel, shaded by a plume, in her glittering golden cuirass, her

tunic of silver stuff, her red boots with gold spurs, she resembled

Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into cries of enthusiasm as they

saw their warlike queen: before her were bowed the flags she had

embroidered with her own hands and the old, torn, and battle-stained

standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she was obliged to

take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the French

hussars.

The Duke of Brunswick, who had contended with Napoleon in this memorable

engagement, was wounded in the face with a grape-shot early in the

battle and was carried off the field never to recover.

The various routed divisions roamed about the country seeking separately

a means of escape, and fell an easy prey to the French. The Prince of

Hohenlohe at length drew together not less than 50,000 of these

wandering soldiers and threw himself at their head into Magdeburg, but

that great fortress had been stripped of all its stores for the service

of the Duke of Brunswick's army before Jena, and Hohenlohe was compelled

to retreat. He was defeated in a number of skirmishes, and at length,

finding himself devoid of ammunition or provisions, laid down his arms.

The Duke of Wurtemburg, one of the Prussian generals, had taken a

position at Halle and Bernadotte marched upon him. He attacked the enemy

with the bayonet, killing and routing all who dared oppose him. The

slaughter was dreadful and Napoleon, visiting the field of battle the

ensuing day, was struck with the sight of the heaps of dead surrounding

the bodies of the French soldiers. Observing on the uniforms some of the

buttons of the 32d, he said with a sigh, "So many of that regiment were

killed in Italy, Egypt, and elsewhere, I thought none could be

remaining."

General Blucher was shortly afterwards compelled to lay down his arms

after a loss of 4,000 men out of 10,000 at Lubeck, where a severe action

was fought in the streets of the town on the 6th of November. The

fortresses of the Prussian monarch now capitulated as fast as their

commanders were requested to do so, and Napoleon entered Berlin in

triumph on the 25th of October. The honor of taking possession of that

city Napoleon reserved for Davoust's corps, which had contributed so

much to the victory at Jena.

The Prussians could not comprehend the rapid marches and the promptitude

with which they were met in their flights. As the Emperor said in his

14th bulletin: "These gentry are doubtless accustomed to the manoeuvres

of the 'Seven Years' War.' They would demand three days to bury their

dead. 'Think of the living' replied the Emperor, 'and leave the care of

interring the dead to us; there is no need of a truce for that.'"

Thus in a campaign of a week's duration had the proud Prussian monarchy

been leveled to the ground. The people, believing that the fall of the

military meant necessarily the fall of the monarchy itself, the pride

and strength of the nation disappeared and every bond of union among the

various provinces of the crown seemed to be at once dissolved.

On the 25th of October, 1806, after passing in review the Imperial foot

guards, commanded by Lefebvre, Napoleon visited the tomb of Frederick

the Great at Potsdam where were stored a number of mementos of the great

warrior. The court of Prussia had fled with so much precipitancy from

Potsdam, that nothing had been carried away. Even the sword of Frederick

the Great, the belt and the cordon of his orders, were left there.

On finding that the court had not thought of placing these relics out of

the reach of invasion, the Emperor took possession of them. As he

displayed the sword of Frederick, he said: "I prefer these trophies to

all the King of Prussia's treasures. I will send them to my veterans who

served in the campaigns of Hanover. I will present them to the Governor

of the Hospital of the Invalides, who will preserve them as a testimony

of the victories of the army, and the revenge it has taken for the

disasters of Rosbach."

"The door of the monument was open," says General Ségur; "Napoleon

paused at the entrance in a grave and respectful attitude. He gazed into

the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, and stood thus for nearly ten

minutes motionless, silent, as if buried in deep thought. There were

five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, an aide-de-camp and I.

We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, imagining the two great

men face to face, identifying ourselves with the thoughts we ascribed to

our Emperor before that other genius whose glory survived the overthrow

of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity as in success."

During his stay at Berlin Napoleon issued the famous "Berlin Decrees" by

which he attempted to establish the "continental system," whose object

was to shut out the commerce and intercourse of Great Britain from the

Continent of Europe. The ruin of France's maritime power at Trafalgar,

and the almost universal supremacy of the French Empire on land left

Napoleon in his own judgment, no other means of retaliation. Through

this continental system he endeavored, for several years, to annihilate

all commercial intercourse between the continent and England.

The Prince of Hatzfeld was detected, during Napoleon's stay at Berlin,

in sending secret information of the state and movements of the French

army to the enemy. One of his letters fell into the hands of the French

and he was arrested. His wife gained access to Napoleon's apartments,

and, ignorant of her husband's conduct, spoke with the boldness of

innocence in his favor. On being handed the letter written by her

husband she was completely overcome and fell on her knees before the

Emperor, imploring his forgiveness. "Throw that paper into the fire,

madam," said Napoleon, "and the military commission will then have no

proof of his guilt."

With a cry of joy the princess did as she was directed and the order of

arrest, which would have resulted in Hatzfeld's death in an hour, was

recalled.

While at Berlin the Emperor addressed his troops in a proclamation in

which he said: "Our entrance into Potsdam and Berlin had been preceded

by the fame of our victories. We have made 60,000 prisoners, taken

sixty-five standards, among which are the colors of the King of

Prussia's guards, six hundred pieces of cannon, and three fortresses.

Among the prisoners there are upwards of twenty generals; yet,

notwithstanding all this, more than half our troops regret their not

having fired a single shot * * * Soldiers, the Russians boast of coming

to meet us, but we will advance to encounter, and save them half their

march; they shall meet another Austerlitz in the heart of Prussia. A

nation that can so soon forget our generous treatment after that

battle,--owed their safety only to the capitulation we granted them,--is

a power that cannot successfully contend against us. We will not again

be the dupes of a treacherous peace."

Before leaving Berlin Napoleon received a deputation of the Senate, sent

from Paris to congratulate him on the success of his campaign.

Accompanied by representatives from the army, he made them the bearer of

the trophies of his recent victories. He then prepared to extinguish

whatever resistance existed in a few garrisons of the Prussian monarchy

and to meet, before they could reach the soil of Germany, those Russians

who were now advancing, too late, to the assistance of Frederic William.

VII

THE BATTLE OF EYLAU

Before opening the great campaign with Russia Napoleon received the

explanation of the Elector of Saxony, who truly stated that Prussia had

forced him to take part in the war. The apology was accepted, and from

this time the Elector adhered to the league of the Rhine and was a

faithful ally of Napoleon. On November 25th, 1806, the Emperor of France

left Berlin and established himself on the 27th at Posen, a central town

of Poland, which country began to manifest an agitation arising from the

animating prospect of restored independence. The unfortunate but brave

Poles entreated his aid; but Napoleon could not make them a positive

promise of their restoration as a kingdom. His observation on the

subject was, "that, if the match should once be lighted, there was no

knowing how long it might continue to burn."

From the headquarters at Posen, Napoleon addressed his soldiers on

December 2nd, saying: "It is a year ago to-day, at this very hour, that

you were on the battlefield of Austerlitz. The dismayed Russian

battalions fled in disorder, or, surrounded, gave up their arms to their

victors. The next day they sued for peace, but we were imposed on:

scarcely escaped by our, perhaps, overweening generosity, from the

disasters of a third coalition, they ventured upon a fourth....

Soldiers, we will not lay down our arms until the general peace shall

have fixed and assured the power of our allies and restored to our

commerce its safety and its colonies." The proclamation produced an

exhilarating effect on the soldiers and throughout Germany.

In the meantime Warsaw was put in a state of defense, and the auxiliary

forces of Saxony and the new confederates of the Rhine were brought up

by forced marches, while strong reinforcements from France repaired the

losses of the early part of the campaign.

The French army at length advanced in full force and crossed

successively the rivers Vistula, the Narew and Bug, forcing a passage

wherever it was disputed, the Russian detachments being repulsed as

often as they presented themselves. But it was not the intention of

Bennigsen, the Russian general, to give battle to forces superior to his

own, and he therefore retreated behind the Wkra. On the 23rd of December

Napoleon arrived in person upon the Wkra and ordered the advance of his

army in three divisions. He was fully aware that he was approaching a

conflict of a very different kind from that which he had maintained with

Austria, and more lately against Prussia. These troops, however highly

disciplined, wanted that powerful and individual feeling which was a

strong characteristic of the Russians,--a feeling that induces the

soldier to resist to the last moment, even when resistance can only

assure him of revenge. They were, in fact, those same Russians of whom

Frederick the Great said, "that he could kill, but could not defeat

them." They were also of strong constitution and inured to the iron

climate in which Frenchmen were now fighting for the first time. The

Cossacks are trained from early childhood to the use of the lance and

sword, and familiarized to a horse peculiar to the country,--tractable,

hardy, swift and sure-footed, beyond any breed perhaps in the world. On

the actual field of battle the Cossack's mode of attack is singular;

instead of acting in line, a body of them about to charge disperse at

the word of command, and joining in a loud yell and hurrah, each acting

individually upon the object of attack, whether infantry, cavalry or

artillery, to all of which they have been in this wild way of fighting

most formidable assailants.

In this campaign the Cossacks took the field in great numbers, under

their celebrated hetman Platoff. The Russians also had in their service

Tartar tribes who resemble the Cossacks in warfare; but they were little

better than hordes of roving savages. On the plain between the town of

Pultusk and the wood the right of the Russian position was formed, and

on December 26th they were attacked by the French division of Lannes and

Davoust with but partial success. The French lost nearly 8,000 men,

killed and wounded, while the Russian loss amounted to about 5,000. The

French retreated after nightfall. On the same day another division

engaged in action at Golymin, driving back the French after which the

Russian commander retreated for the purpose of concentrating his forces

with the Grand Army. Both engagements were without immediate results,

and instead of pressing their operations, the French retreated into

winter quarters, Napoleon withdrawing his guard as far as Warsaw, while

the other divisions were cantoned in the towns to the eastward.

Bennigsen was now placed in supreme command of the Russian forces,

amounting to 90,000 men, and he at once resolved not to wait for

Napoleon's onset, but chose rather to anticipate him, wisely concluding

that his enemy's desire of desisting from active operation, as evinced

by cantoning his troops in winter quarters, ought to be a signal to the

Russians to again take the field. Thus the French Emperor found himself

forced into a winter campaign, and he at once issued general orders for

drawing out his forces for the purpose of concentrating them at

Willenberg, in the rear of the Russians, who were then stationed at

Mohringen. The duration of the winter quarters, in which the French

troops had been placed, lasted no longer than the weather would permit.

The army reposed almost the whole of the month of December, and towards

the beginning of January 1807, movements on both sides seemed to

indicate more serious operations. It appeared the Russians had adopted a

vast plan of defense. Their generals seemed to have regained confidence,

on seeing Napoleon stop amidst the advantages he had acquired, and

imputed that to fear which arose in him from motives of prudence. They

could not imagine what other reason he could possibly have for going

into cantonments upon the Vistula.

Napoleon now proposed to force his enemies eastward towards the Vistula,

as at Jena he had compelled the Prussians to fight with their rear

turned to the Rhine. Bernadotte had orders to engage the attention of

Bennigsen upon the right, and detain him in his present situation; or

rather, if possible, to induce him to advance eastward so as to

facilitate the operations he meditated.

The Russian commander learned Bonaparte's intention from an intercepted

dispatch, and changed his purpose of advancing on Ney and Bernadotte.

Marches and counter-marches took place, through a country at all times

difficult, and now covered with snow. Bennigsen was aware that it was to

his advantage to protract the campaign in this manner, as he was near

his reinforcements, and the French were distant from theirs:--every loss

therefore telling more in proportion to the enemy than to his own army.

Notwithstanding this apparent advantage, the distress of the Russian

army was so extreme from the lack of suitable provisions that it induced

General Bennigsen, against his judgment, to give battle at all risks,

and for this purpose to concentrate his forces at Preuss-Eylau, which

was decided upon as the field which he proposed to contest with

Napoleon.

It had been the intention to maintain the town itself which Bennigsen

had entered on the 7th of February, and a body of troops had been left

for that purpose; but in the confusion attending the movement of so

large an army, the orders had been misunderstood, and the division

designed for this service evacuated the place as soon as the rear-guard

had passed through it. A Russian division was hastily ordered to

re-occupy the town; but they found the French already in possession, and

although they dislodged them, they were themselves driven out in turn by

another division of French to whom Napoleon had promised unusual

rewards. A third division of Russians now advanced, Bennigsen being

desirous of protracting the contest for the town until the arrival of

his heavy artillery which joined him by a different route. When it

came up he would have discontinued the struggle for Eylau but it was

impossible to control the ardor of the Russian columns who persevered in

advancing, with drums beating, rushed into the town and surprised the

French in the act of sacking it,--putting many of them to death by the

bayonet.

[Illustration: From a Painting by F. Gerard

BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ]

Another division of the French now advanced under cover of the hillocks

and broken ground which skirt the village, threw their fire upon the

streets and the Russians once more retreated with considerable loss. The

town was now once more and finally occupied by the French. Night fell

and the combat ceased only to be renewed with increased fury the next

day.

The Russians occupied a space of uneven ground, about two miles in

length and a mile in depth, with the village of Serpallen on their left.

In the front of their army lay the town of Preuss-Eylau, situated in a

hollow and in possession of the French. The latter occupied Eylau with

their left, while their centre and right lay parallel to the Russians,

upon a chain of heights which commanded, in a great measure, the ground

possessed by the enemy. The French also expected to be reinforced by

Ney's division which had not yet come up, and which was destined to form

on the extreme left. The space between the hostile armies was open and

flat, covered with snow and intersected with frozen lakes. The soldiers

could trace each other's positions by the pale glimmer of watch lights

upon the snow.

Napoleon, who slept but three or four hours that night in a chair in the

postmaster's house, placed the corps of Marshal Soult at Eylau itself,

partly within the town, partly on the right and left of it, Augereau's

corps and the Imperial Guard a little in the rear, and all the cavalry

upon the wings till daylight should enable him to make his final

disposition of the fifty odd thousand men, exclusive of Ney's corps, and

which were to meet the ninety thousand Russians and Prussians.

At daybreak on the 8th of February, 1807, two strong columns of the

French advanced for the purpose of turning the right and storming the

centre of the Russians, who had commenced the firing at one and the same

time; but they were driven back in great disorder by the heavy and

sustained fire of the Russian artillery. An attack on the enemy's left

was equally unsuccessful. The Russian infantry stood like stone

ramparts, each time repulsing the French assault--their cavalry then

came to the support, pursued the retiring assailants and took standards

and eagles.

About mid-day a heavy snowstorm set in, which the wind drove right in

the faces of the Russians, adding to the obscurity caused by the smoke

of the burning village of Serpallen that rolled along the line. The snow

having now ceased, a melancholy spectacle presented itself. Thousands of

dead and wounded lay on the ground, and several of the divisions were

still hors de combat. Augereau's two divisions had been swept down by an

unmasked battery of seventy-two pieces, and Augereau, wounded himself,

but more affected by the disaster of his corps than by his personal

danger, was carried to the cemetery of Eylau to the feet of Napoleon. To

the Emperor he complained, not without bitterness, of the failure to

send him timely succor. Silent grief pervaded every face in the imperial

staff. Napoleon, calm and firm, addressed a few soothing words to

Augereau, then sent him to the rear, and took measures for repairing the

mischief.

Dispatching in the first place the chasseurs of the Guard and some

squadrons of dragoons which were at hand, he sent for Murat and ordered

him to make a decisive effort on the line of the infantry which formed

the centre of the Russian army, and which, taking advantage of

Augereau's disaster began to press forward. At the first summons Murat

came up at a gallop: "Well," said Napoleon, "are you going to let those

fellows eat us up?" He then ordered the heroic chief of his cavalry to

collect the chasseurs, the dragoons, the cuirassiers, and to fall upon

the Russians with eighty squadrons, to see what effect such a mass of

horse, charging furiously, would have on an infantry reputed not to be

shaken. The cavalry of the Guard was brought forward ready to add its

shock to that of the cavalry of the army.

The moment was critical, for if the Russian infantry were not stopped it

would soon attack the cemetery, the centre of the French position, and

Napoleon had but six foot battalions of the Imperial Guard to defend it.

Murat galloped off, collected his squadrons, made them pass between the

cemetery and Rothenen where Augereau's corps had marched to almost

certain destruction. Charge after charge was made and successfully

resisted. At length one of them, rushing on with more violence, broke

the enemy's infantry at one point and opened the breach through which

cuirassiers and dragoons rushed, each eager to penetrate first. The

Russians' first and second lines being broken, they turned the batteries

of their artillery on the confused mass, killing as many of their own

soldiers as those of the French, not caring whether they killed friends

or foes so that they got rid of the formidable French force; but their

efforts were useless.

Napoleon, graver than usual, in a gray riding-coat and Polish cap, sat

motionless in the cemetery, in which were heaped bodies of a great

number of his officers; his Guard was behind him and before him the

chasseurs, the dragoons, the cuirassiers; they formed anew and were

ready to devote themselves as he might direct. The Emperor waited long

before determining definitely on his last attack. Never had he nor his

soldiers been engaged in such a hotly contested fight. The bullets

whistled around and a shell burst within a few paces of him. Augereau's

arm was broken and Lannes was wounded but not severely.

Under cover of darkness six columns of the French now advanced with

artillery and cavalry and were close on the Russian position ere they

were opposed. Bennigsen, at the head of his staff, brought up the

reserve in position, and, on uniting with the first line bore the French

back at the point of the bayonet. Their columns, partly broken, were

driven again to their own position where they rallied with difficulty. A

French regiment of cuirassiers, which during this part of the action had

made an opening in the Russian line, were charged by the Cossacks, and

found their defensive armor no protection against the lance. All but

eighteen were slain.

At the moment when the Russians appeared to be the victors Davoust's

division, which had been manoeuvring since the beginning of the action

to turn the left and gain the rear of the Russian line, now made its

appearance on the field. The effect was sudden and demoralizing to the

Russians; Serpallen was lost, the Russian left wing, and a portion of

its centre were thrown into disorder, and forced to retire and change

front.

At this point in the contest the Prussian reinforcements, long expected,

appeared in turn suddenly on the field, and passing the left of the

French and right of the Russians, pushed down in three columns to redeem

the battle on the Russian centre and rear. The Prussians, under their

gallant leader L'Estocq, never fired until within a few paces of the

enemy and then used the bayonet with fearful effect. They redeemed the

ground which the Russians had lost and drove back in their turn the

troops of Davoust and Bernadotte who had lately been victorious. Ney, in

the meantime appeared on the field with his advanced guard and occupied

Schnaditten, a village on the road to Konigsberg. As this endangered the

communication of the Russians with that town, it was thought necessary

to carry it by storm; a resolution which was successfully executed, the

enemy's rear-guard retreating in disorder.

This was the last act of that bloody day at Eylau. It was ten o' clock

at night and darkness put an end to the combat. After fourteen hours of

fighting both armies occupied the same positions taken in the morning.

It was in fact the longest and by far the severest battle Napoleon had

yet been engaged in. At the beginning of the contest, Augereau was

scarcely in his senses, from the severity of rheumatic pain to which he

was subject; but the sound of the cannon awakens the brave: he flew at

full gallop at the head of his corps, after causing himself to be tied

to his horse! He was constantly exposed to the hottest of the fire, and

was only slightly wounded.

A few days after the battle Napoleon sent to Paris sixteen stands of

colors taken on that occasion and ordered the cannon to be melted down

and made into a statue of General d' Haulpoult, in the uniform of his

regiment, he having gallantly commanded the second division of

cuirassiers, when he was killed in the action.

In three letters which the Emperor wrote to Josephine during the month

of February he alluded with the deepest affection to the horrors of this

engagement. "We had yesterday," he said, "a great battle. The victory

was mine, but I have been deprived of a great many men. The loss of the

enemy, still more considerable, does not console me." "The land is

covered with dead and wounded," he adds in a second letter; "This is not

the noble portion of war. One is pained, and the soul is oppressed at

the sight of so many victims."

In the biting frost, in face of thousands of dead and dying, when the

gloomy day was sinking into a night of anguish, the Emperor had said:

"This sight is one to fill rulers with a love of peace and a horror of

war," and in his bulletin of the engagement he said: "Imagine, on a

space of a league square, nine or ten thousand corpses, four or five

thousand dead horses, lines of Russian knapsacks, fragments of guns and

sabres; the earth covered with bullets, shells, supplies; twenty-four

cannon, surrounded by their artillerymen, slain just as they were trying

to take their guns away; and all that in plainest relief on the stretch

of snow!"

Twelve of Napoleon's eagles were in the hands of the Russians, and the

field between them was covered with 50,000 corpses, of whom at least

half were French. Each leader claimed the victory. The Russians retired

from Eylau towards Konigsberg the very night after the battle, and the

French made no effort to pursue but remained on the field nine days to

allow the troops some repose.

It was in truth a drawn battle. The point of superiority on this

dreadful day would have been hard to decide, but the victory, if rightly

claimed by either party, must be pronounced to have remained with

Napoleon; for Bennigsen retreated and left him master of the field of

battle where he slept and remained for days; but it was a ghastly

triumph. During the whole time the contest lasted Napoleon's countenance

was never observed to change; nor did he show any emotion whatever; but

all accounts agree that he was deeply impressed with the horrors of the

succeeding night.

Finally, on the 19th of February, Napoleon left Eylau and retreated with

his whole army to Osterode on the Vistula. Here he established his

headquarters, living in a sort of barn, governing his Empire and

controlling Europe. The doubtful issue of the battle of Eylau had given

a shock to public opinion and it required all the Emperor's prudence and

address to overcome it. Great despondency was produced in Paris by the

bulletin of the battle and a marked depression took place in the funds.

VIII

FRIEDLAND AND PEACE OF TILSIT

Napoleon soon decided that it would be fatal rashness to engage in

another campaign in Poland while several fortified towns, and above all,

Dantzic, held out in his rear. He determined to capture all these places

and to summon new forces from France before again meeting in the field

such enemies as the Russians had proved themselves to be.

Dantzic was at length compelled to surrender on May 7th 1807, Marshal

Lefebvre receiving the title of Duke of Dantzic in commemoration of his

important success, after which event Napoleon's extraordinary exertions

in hurrying supplies from France, Switzerland and the Rhine country, and

the addition of the division of 25,000 men which had captured Dantzic,

enabled him to take the field again by the first of June at the head of

not less than 280,000 men. The Russian general had also done all in his

power to recruit his army which was now reinforced by 90,000 men, during

this interval.

The Russians were in the field by the 5th of June and were the first

assailants; but nothing but skirmishes resulted until the Russian army

was forced to retire towards Heilsberg where they halted, and there

concentrating their forces, made a most desperate stand. They were,

however, overpowered by superior numbers, after maintaining their

position during a whole day. The battle had continued until midnight

upon terms of equality, and when the morning dawned the space between

the Russians and French was literally sheeted over with the bodies of

the dead and wounded.

The Russians retired after the battle, crossing the river Aller, and on

the 13th of June reached Friedland, a town of some importance on the

west side of the stream, communicating with the eastern, or right bank

of the river by a long wooden bridge. It was the intention of Napoleon

to induce the Russian general to pass by this narrow bridge by the left

bank, and then to decoy him into a general action, in a position where

the general difficulty of defiling through the town, and over the

bridge, must render retreat almost impossible. For this purpose he

showed only such portion of his forces as induced General Bennigsen to

believe that the French troops on the western side of the Aller

consisted only of Oudinot's division, which had been severely handled in

the battle of Heilsberg, and which he now hoped to altogether destroy.

Under this deception Bennigsen ordered a Russian division to pass the

bridge, defile through the town and march to the assault. The French

took great care to offer no such resistance as would show their real

strength, and Bennigsen supposing he had only a single division of the

French army before him, and forgetting the usual promptitude of

combination for which Napoleon was distinguished, had pushed on and

brought an action which he believed he could terminate quickly and

triumphantly. He was soon led to reinforce this first division with

another. This was followed by other still divisions, and as the

engagement was now becoming heated the Russian general at length

transported all his army, one division excepted, to the left bank of the

Aller, by means of the wooden bridge and three pontoons, and arrayed

them in front of the town of Friedland, to overpower, as he supposed,

the crippled division of the French to which alone he believed himself

exposed. But no sooner had he taken this irretrievable step than the

mask was dropped.

Napoleon was at first unable to believe that Bennigsen would venture to

leave any part of his army for any period in so perilous a position as

that in which he had placed it, maintaining a doubtful combat with no

means of retreat but through the entanglement of the town of Friedland,

and across the long narrow bridge of the Aller. His astonishment was

great, therefore, when he learned from the officers he sent to

reconnoitre that the whole Russian army was crossing the bridge, with

the exception of one small division, and forming in front of the town.

He had secured a victory by his numbers and position, but his remark to

Savary, who carried him the information of the Russian movement, was

characteristic, "Well," said he, "I am ready now, I have an hour's

advantage of them, and will give them the battle, since they wish for

it."

The French skirmishers advanced in force, heavy columns of infantry

began to show themselves, batteries of cannon were placed in position,

and Bennigsen found himself in the presence of the whole French army.

His position, a sort of plain surrounded by woods and broken ground, was

difficult to defend; with the town and a large river in the rear it was

dangerous to attempt a retreat, and an advance was prevented by the

inequality of his force. Bennigsen found it expedient to detach 6,000

men to defend the bridge at Allerberg, some six miles from Friedland on

the Aller, and with the rest of his forces he resolved to maintain his

present position until night, hoping for Prussian reinforcements from

General L'Estocq, via the town of Wehlau.

At about 10 o'clock on the morning of the 14th the French advanced to

the attack. "This is the 14th of June; it will be a fortunate day for

us," said Napoleon, recurring to the most glorious day of his life; "it

is the anniversary of the battle of Marengo." The broken and wooded

country which the French occupied enabled them to maintain and renew

their efforts at pleasure, while the Russians in their exposed position

could not make the slightest movement without being observed. At about

noon the French seemed to be sickening of the contest and about to

retire. This, however, was only a feint to give repose to such of the

forces as had been engaged, and to bring up reinforcements. The

cannonading continued until after 4 o'clock, the Russian line having

sustained charge after charge and had neither recoiled or broken before

infantry or cavalry. Napoleon, from his point of observation near the

battlefield, had witnessed the failure of every strategem and the charge

of every division, and at last finding the day waning, drew up his full

force in person for the purpose of making one of those desperate and

generally irrisistible efforts to which he often resorted to force a

decision of a doubtful day.

There was not a marshal in his Empire under whom the troops would not

behave gallantly, but when the Emperor put himself at the head of his

army and led them to the charge, nothing could resist the shock. The

brave Oudinot, hastening up with coat perforated by balls, and his horse

covered with blood, exclaimed to the Emperor: "Make haste, sire, give me

a reinforcement, and I will drive all the Russians into the water!" The

day was far advanced, and some of Napoleon's lieutenants were of the

opinion that they ought to defer the final and decisive movement till

the morrow. "No! No!" replied Napoleon. "One does not catch an enemy

twice in such a scrape." He then made his disposition of the several

corps for the final attack.

Surrounded by his lieutenants, he explained to them, with energy and

precision, the part which each of them had to act. Grasping the arm of

Marshal Ney, and pointing to Friedland, the bridges, the Russians

crowded together in front, he said: "Yonder is the goal, march to it

without looking about you; break into that thick mass whatever it costs

you; enter Friedland, take the bridges, and give yourself no concern

about what may happen on your right, on your left or on your rear. The

army and I shall be there to attend to that."

Ney at once set out at a gallop to accomplish the formidable task.

Struck with his martial attitude Napoleon, addressing Marshal Mortier,

said with much satisfaction: "That man is a lion!"

The order for attack all along the line with cavalry, infantry and

artillery was now given, and simultaneously the Russians began to yield,

the French advancing at the same time with shouts of assured victory.

The Russians were now obliged to retreat in front of the enemy, and in

half an hour the rout was complete. In vain did the enemy make all their

reserves advance; Friedland was at last carried, but in the midst of a

horrible carnage. The enemy left 20,000 men on the field, of whom 15,000

were killed and 5,000 wounded, and among the number thirty generals.

Dupont, who had been sent to assist Ney, met him in the heart of

Friedland, then in flames, and they congratulated one another on the

glorious success: Ney had continued to march straight forward, and

Napoleon, placed in the centre of the divisions which he kept in

reserve, had never ceased to watch his progress. It was now half past

ten at night. Napoleon in his vast career had not gained a more splendid

victory. He had for trophies eighty pieces of cannon, few prisoners, it

is true, for the Russians chose rather to drown themselves than

surrender. Twenty-five thousand Russians were killed as against 8,000

French. Out of 80,000 French 25,000 had not fired a shot. Meanwhile the

bridge and pontoons were set on fire to prevent the French who had

forced their way into the town, from taking possession of them. The

smoke rolling over the scene increased the horror of the surroundings.

The Russian centre and right, which remained on the west side of the

Aller, effected a retreat by a circuitous route, leaving on the right

the town of Friedland with its burning bridges no longer practicable for

friend or foe, and passed the Aller by a ford found in the very moment

of extremity further down the river. Napoleon sent no cavalry in

pursuit, though he had forty squadrons who might have cut them to

pieces. Many animadversions have been cast upon him for not improving

his victory in this manner; but the reason appeared clear: his object

was to make peace with the Emperor Alexander, and the butchery of the

broken battalions of the Russian guard would in no way have forwarded

that object, and no power remained to oppose itself to the immense force

under France's victorious warrior.

Thus ended the great battle of Friedland. "My children," wrote Napoleon

to Josephine, "have worthily celebrated the battle of Marengo. The

battle of Friedland will be equally celebrated and glorious for my

people.... It is a worthy sister of Marengo, Austerlitz and Jena."

Napoleon visited the battlefield the next morning and beheld a frightful

spectacle. The order of the Russian squares could be traced by a line of

heaps of slain; and the position of their artillery might be guessed by

the dead horses. As Savary well says: "It might be truly said that

sovereigns ought to have great interests of their subjects at stake to

justify such dreadful sacrifices."

The Emperor Alexander, overawed by the genius of Napoleon which had

triumphed over troops more resolute than had ever before opposed him,

and alarmed for the consequences of some decisive measure towards the

reorganization of the Poles as a nation, began to think seriously of

peace. On the 21st of June General Bennigsen asked for an armistice and

to this the victor of Friedland gave an immediate assent on his arrival

at Tilsit. On the 22nd of June a proclamation was addressed by Napoleon

to his army in which he said; "From the banks of the Vistula, we have

arrived upon those of the Niemen with the rapidity of the eagle's

flight. You celebrated at Austerlitz, the anniversary of the coronation,

and you have this year celebrated, in an appropriate manner, the battle

of Marengo, which put a period to the second coalition. Frenchmen, you

have proved worthy of yourselves and me. You will return to France

covered with laurels after having obtained a glorious peace, which

carries with it the guarantee for its duration."

It was known that the Emperor Alexander was on the other side of the

Niemen, at a village not far distant, and Napoleon addressed his reply

to the sovereign in person. Its purport was to the effect that he was

quite ready to make peace but would not consent to an armistice, if war

were to continue. The result was a proposal on the part of Alexander

that an interview should take place between the Emperor of France and

himself, which was accepted. The armistice was ratified on the 23rd of

June and on the 25th the Emperors of France and Russia met personally,

each accompanied by a few attendants, on a raft moored midstream in the

river Niemen, near Tilsit, the town which gave its name to the secret

treaty agreed upon at this time. The sovereigns embraced as they met,

with their armies on the two banks of the river and retiring under a

canopy, amid the cheers of the troops, had a long conversation, to which

no one was a witness.

At its termination the appearance of mutual good will and confidence was

marked, and the two Emperors established their courts there and lived

together, in the midst of the lately hostile armies, more like old

friends than enemies and rivals, attempting by diplomatic means the

arrangement of differences which had for years been deluging Europe with

blood. By this treaty the King of Prussia was admitted as a party,

Napoleon restoring to Frederick William ancient Prussia and the French

conquests in Upper Saxony,--the king agreeing to adopt the "Continental

System."

The beautiful and fascinating Queen of Prussia also arrived at Tilsit,

but too late to obtain more favorable terms for her country than had

already been granted her husband. "Forgive us," she said, as Napoleon

received her, "forgive us this fatal war; the memory of the great

Frederick deceived us; we thought ourselves his equal because we are his

descendants; alas! we have not proved such!"

The Queen used every strategem which wit and genius could devise, and

every fascination to which beauty could lend a charm, but without avail.

Foiled in her ambition she died soon after, it is said, of chagrin.

No single episode in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte has been more

adversely commented on than his alleged breach of faith with the Queen

of Prussia, when the domain of her husband was absolutely at his feet.

He always denied that he had broken his word, and according to his own

story, as told after his final retirement, the Queen had no cause of

complaint.

"The Queen of Prussia was still a beautiful woman," he said, "but she

had lost many of the charms of youth. She evidently expected to use her

powers of persuasion on me for the benefit of Prussia. At dinner I took

a beautiful rose from the table and presented it to her. She took it,

smiled sweetly, and exclaimed: 'At least with Magdeburg, I hope.' I

answered: 'Your majesty will observe that I am doing the giving and you

are receiving what I give.'

"I hastened the preparations for the completion of the treaty, and it

was signed. When the Queen learned that Magdeburg had not been given to

Prussia she was very angry. She went to the Czar Alexander, and said,

with tears in her eyes: 'That man has broken his word with me.' 'Oh,

no!' the Czar answered. 'I can hardly think that. I believe I have been

present on every occasion when you have met Napoleon, and I have

listened more carefully than you have thought. But, if you can prove to

me that he made any promise that he has not kept, I pledge you my word

as a man I will see that he keeps it.'

"'Oh, but he gave me to understand--'

"'That is precisely the point,' responded the Czar. 'He has promised

nothing.' The Queen turned quickly and left the apartment. She was too

proud to acknowledge that in her effort to outwit me she had been

outwitted."

At a subsequent meeting with Napoleon the Queen said, "Is it possible,

that, after having the honor of being so near the hero of the century

and of history, he will not leave me the power and satisfaction of being

enabled to assure him he has attached me to him for life?"

"Madam" replied the Emperor, in a serious tone, "I am to be pitied; it

is the result of my unhappy stars." He then took leave of the Queen,

who, on reaching her carriage, threw herself on the seat in tears.

[Illustration: From a Painting by Baron Gros

MEETING BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND FRANCIS II. OF AUSTRIA]

Alexander was charmed by the presence of Napoleon. They spent some days

at Tilsit together, and never did he leave the French Emperor without

expressing his unbounded admiration of him. "What a great man," he said

incessantly to those who approached him; "What a genius! What extensive

views! What a captain! What a statesman! Had I but known him sooner how

many faults he might have spared me! What great things we might have

accomplished together!"

In July Napoleon hastened back to Paris, arriving there on the 27th. He

was received by the Senate and other public bodies as well as by the

people with demonstrations similar to those which had been shown him on

his return from the victory at Austerlitz. Fêtes and celebrations in

honor of his achievements dazzled the world. He had now wrung from the

last of his reluctant enemies, except England, the recognition of his

imperial power, which already embraced a wider territory and a far

greater number of subjects than Charlemagne ruled over, as Emperor of

the West, a thousand years before. The power of Napoleon, the prosperity

of France, and the splendor of Paris may be said to have been at their

greatest height at this period. The regulation of the whole Empire lay

in the hand of Napoleon himself, and as the glory of France had always

been, and continued to be his grand object, every faculty of his

intellect was bent to its promotion.

"I am inclined to think that I was happiest at Tilsit," said Napoleon

one day to Gourgaud at St. Helena on being asked at what time he was

happiest. "I had experienced vicissitudes, cares, and reverses," he

continued, "Eylau had reminded me that fortune might abandon me, and I

found myself victorious, dictating peace, with emperors and kings to

form my court. After all that is not a real enjoyment. Perhaps I was

really more happy after my Italian victories hearing the people raise

their voices, only to bless their liberator, and all that at twenty-five

years of age! From that time I saw what I might become, I already saw

the world flying beneath me, as if I had been carried through the air."

Napier, the eminent historian, and himself an actor in many of the

scenes he describes, says: "Up to the peace of Tilsit, the wars of

France were essentially defensive; for the bloody contest that wasted

the Continent so many years was not a struggle for pre-eminence between

ambitious powers--not a dispute for some acquisition of territory--nor

for the political ascendancy of one or another nation--but a deadly

conflict to determine whether aristocracy or democracy should

predominate--whether aristocracy or privilege should henceforth be the

principle of European governments."

On the 15th of August the Emperor repaired in great pomp to Notre Dame,

where the Te Deum was sung and thanksgiving offered up for the peace of

Tilsit--a peace that gave much glory to France, but which as has

generally been conceded, was "poor politics"; but, as Thiers has well

said: "In war Napoleon was guided by his genius, in politics by his

passions."

IX

WAR WITH SPAIN

At the signing of the treaty of Tilsit Napoleon had attained an eminence

which, had his career ended at that time, would have left him a name

revered by all the world--except, perhaps, it be by those enemies whom

he had defeated on the field of battle. His star of destiny, however,

was soon to be dimmed by acts which he ever afterwards regretted, and

which, as he himself more than once declared, were the means to the end

which finally caused his decline and fall.

Napoleon now turned his attention to Spain, where scenes shocking to

morality were being enacted under the protection of Charles IV., the old

and imbecile Bourbon king, in order, as he then believed, to insure the

success of his "continental system." Ferdinand, the crown prince, had

formed a party against his father and was attempting to dethrone him,

while murderous courtiers filled the halls of the royal palace of

Madrid, and dictated laws to the crumbling monarchy.

The vast extent to which the prohibited articles and colonial

manufactures of England found their way into the Spanish peninsula, and

especially into Portugal, and thence through the hands of whole legions

of audacious smugglers into France itself, had fixed the attention of

Napoleon, who was exasperated at the violation of his "Berlin decrees"

against the continental traffic with England. In truth, a proclamation

issued at Madrid shortly before the battle of Jena, and suddenly

recalled on the intelligence of that great victory, had prepared the

Emperor to regard with keen suspicion the conduct of the Spanish court,

and to trace every violation of his system to its deliberate and hostile

connivance. Napoleon knew that the Spanish cabinet, like that of

Austria, was ready to declare itself the ally of Russia, Prussia and

England, when the battle of Jena came to deceive the hopes of the

coalition. The last hour of the ancient regime was at hand beyond the

Pyrenees; Napoleon felt himself called upon to give the signal to sound

the fearful knell of its interment.

A treaty was ratified at Fontainebleau on the 29th of October 1807

between France and Spain, providing for the immediate invasion of

Portugal by a force of 28,000 French soldiers, under the orders of

Junot, and of 27,000 Spaniards; while a reserve of 40,000 French troops

were to be assembled at Bayonne ready to take the field by the end of

November, in case England should lend an army for the defense of

Portugal, or the people of that country meet Junot by a national

insurrection. Junot forthwith commenced his march through Spain, where

the French soldiery were everywhere received with coldness and

suspicion, but nowhere by any hostile movement of the people. He arrived

in Portugal, on a peremptory order from Napoleon, late in November. The

contingent of Spaniards arrived there also, and placed themselves under

Junot's command.

On November 29th, and but a few hours before Junot made his appearance

at the gates of Lisbon, the prince-regent fled precipitately and sailed

for the Brazils. The disgust of the Portugese at this cowardly act was

eminently useful to the invaders, and with the exception of one trivial

insurrection, when the conqueror took down the Portugese arms and set up

those of Napoleon in their place, several months passed in apparent

tranquility. "The House of the Braganza (Bourbon's), had ceased to

reign," as announced in the "Moniteur" at Paris.

Napoleon thus saw Portugal in his grasp; but he had all along considered

it as a place of minor importance, and availing himself of the treaty of

Fontainebleau,--although there had been no insurrection of the

Portugese, he ordered his army of 40,000 men, named in the treaty, to

proceed slowly but steadily into the heart of Spain and, without

opposition. The royal family quietly acquiesced in this movement for

some months, being apparently much more interested in its own petty

conspiracies and domestic broils. A sudden panic at length seized the

king and his minister, who prepared for flight. On the 18th of March,

1808, the house of Godoy, the court favorite, was sacked by the

populace, Godoy himself assaulted, and his life saved with extreme

difficulty by the royal guards, who placed him under arrest. At this

Charles IV. abdicated his throne in terror, and on the 20th of March

Ferdinand his son was proclaimed king at Madrid amid a tumult of popular

applause.

Murat had, ere this, assumed command of all the French troops in Spain,

and hearing of the extremities to which the court factions had gone, he

now moved rapidly on Madrid, surrounded the capital with 30,000 troops

and on the 23rd of March took possession of it in person at the head of

10,000 more. Charles IV., meanwhile, dispatched messengers both to

Napoleon and to Murat asserting that his abdication had been

involuntary, and invoking their assistance against his son.

Ferdinand entered Madrid on the 24th, found the French general in

command of the capital, and in vain claimed his recognition as king.

Napoleon heard with regret of the action of Murat, who had risked

arousing the pride and anger of the Spaniards. He therefore sent Savary,

in whose practiced skill he hoped to find a remedy for the military

rashness of Murat, and who was to assume the chief direction of affairs

at Madrid.

Ferdinand was at length persuaded by Savary that his best chance of

securing the aid and protection of Napoleon lay in meeting him on his

way to the Spanish capital and strive to gain his ear before the

emissaries of Godoy should be able to make an impression concerning

Charles' rights. Ferdinand, therefore, took his departure, and passing

the frontier, arrived at Bayonne on the 20th of April where he was

received by Napoleon with courtesy. In the evening he was informed by

Savary, who had accompanied him, that his doom was sealed,--"that the

Bourbon dynasty had ceased to reign in Spain," and that his personal

safety must depend on the readiness with which he should resign all his

pretensions into the hands of Napoleon.

Murat was now directed to employ means to have the old king and queen

repair also to Bayonne, which they did, arriving there on May 4th.

Following a bitter family quarrel, Charles IV. resigned the crown of

Spain for himself and his heirs, accepting in return from the hands of

Napoleon a safe retreat in Italy and a splendid mansion. At the first

interview Charles IV. and his son were irrevocably judged. "When I

beheld them at my feet," Napoleon said later, "and could judge of all

their incapacity, I took pity on the fate of a great nation; I seized

the only opportunity which fortune presented me with, for regenerating

Spain, separating her from England and closely uniting her with our

system." A few days afterward Ferdinand VII. followed the example of his

father and executed a similar act of resignation.

A suspicion that France meditated the destruction of the national

independence in Spain now began to spread, and on the 2nd of May when

Don Antonio, president of the Council of Regency at Madrid, and uncle of

Ferdinand, began preparations for departing from the capital, the

inhabitants became much enraged. A crowd collected around the carriage

intended, as they concluded, to convey the last of the royal family out

of Spain; the traces were cut and imprecations heaped upon the French.

Colonel La Grange, Murat's aide-de-camp, happening to appear on the

spot, was cruelly maltreated, and in a moment the whole capital was in

an uproar. The French soldiery were assaulted everywhere, about seven

hundred being slain. The French cavalry, hearing the tumult, entered the

city and a bloody massacre ensued. Many hundreds were made prisoners.

The troops then charged through the streets from end to end, released

their comrades, and ere nightfall had apparently restored tranquility.

Murat ordered all the prisoners to be tried by a military commission,

which doomed them to instant death.

The reports of the insurrection spread rapidly throughout the peninsula,

and in almost every town in Spain depredations were committed against

the French citizens, many of the acts being fomented by agents of

England, whose navies hung along the coast inflaming the passions of the

multitude.

Napoleon received this intelligence with alarm, but he had already gone

too far to retreat. He proceeded, therefore, to act precisely as if no

insurrection had occurred. Tranquility being re-established in Madrid

the Council of Castile was convoked and Napoleon's brother Joseph was

chosen by an imperial decree as their ruler. Ninety-five notables met

him in Bayonne and swore fealty to him and a new constitution. Joseph on

entering Spain was met by many demonstrations of disapproval and hatred,

but the main road being occupied with Napoleon's troops, he reached

Madrid in safety.

England now became anxious to afford the Spaniards every assistance

possible. On the 4th of July the king addressed the English parliament

on the subject, declaring that Spain could no longer be considered the

enemy of Great Britain, but was recognized by him as a natural friend

and ally. Supplies of arms and money were liberally transmitted

thither, and Portugal, catching the flame, and bursting into general

insurrection, a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive was soon

concluded between England and the two kingdoms of the peninsula.

It was impossible for Napoleon to concentrate the whole of his gigantic

strength of 500,000 men on the soil of Spain, as his relations with

those powers on the Continent whom he had not entirely subdued, were of

the most unstable character. His troops, moreover, being drawn from a

multitude of different countries and tongues, could not be united in

heart or discipline like the soldiers of a purely national army. On the

other hand the military genius at his command had never been surpassed

in any age or country. His officers were accustomed to victory, and his

own reputation exerted a magical influence over both friends and foes.

At the moment when the insurrection occurred, 20,000 Spanish troops were

in Portugal under the orders of Junot; 15,000 more under the Marquis de

Roma were serving Napoleon in Holstein. There remained 40,000 Spanish

regulars, 11,000 Swiss and 30,000 militia to combat 80,000 French

soldiers then in possession of half of the chief fortresses of the

country.

After various petty skirmishes, in which the French were uniformly

successful, Bessieres came upon the united armies of Castile, Leon and

Galicia, commanded by Generals Cuesta and Blak on the 14th of July at

Riosecco, and defeated them in a desperate action in which not less than

20,000 Spaniards were killed. This calamitous battle opened the gates of

Madrid to the new king, who arrived at the capital on the 20th of the

month only to quit it again in less than a fortnight to take up his head

quarters at Vittoria to preserve his safety. The English government,

meanwhile, had begun its preparations for interfering effectually in the

affairs of the peninsula. Thousands of English troops were landed,

Dupont, Lefebvre and Junot meeting with reverses that resulted finally

in the evacuation of the whole French army from Portugal.

The battle of Baylen was one of the first and most fatal reverses of the

French. Here, after a desperate engagement on the 23rd of July, upwards

of 18,000 men, under General Dupont, surrendered to the Spaniards,

defiled before the Spanish army with the honors of war, and deposited

their arms in the manner agreed on by both parties. General Dupont and

all the officers concerned in the capitulation, who were permitted to

return to France, were arrested and held in prison. Napoleon deeply

appreciated the importance of the reverse which his armies had

sustained, but he still more bitterly felt the disgrace. It is said that

to the latest period of his life he manifested uncontrollable emotion at

the mention of this disaster. Subsequently an imperial decree appeared,

which prohibited every general, or commander of a body of men, to treat

for any capitulation while in the open field; and declared disgraceful

and criminal, and as such, punishable with death, every capitulation of

that kind, of which the result should be to make the troops lay down

their arms.

The catastrophe at Baylen and the valiant defense of Saragossa had in

some measure opened the eyes of Napoleon to the character of the nation

with whom he was contending. He acknowledged, too late, that he had

imprudently entered into war, and committed a great fault in having

commenced it with forces too few in number and too wildly scattered. On

hearing of the ill-luck of his three generals, he at once perceived that

affairs in the peninsula demanded a keener eye and a firmer hand than

his brother's, and he at once resolved to take the field himself, to

cross the Pyrenees in person at the head of a force capable of sweeping

the whole peninsula "at one fell swoop," and restore to his brother's

reign the auspices of a favorable fortune.

When setting out from Paris in the early part of October, 1808, the

Emperor announced that the peasants of Spain had rebelled against their

king, that treachery had caused the ruin of one corps of his army, and

that another had been forced by the English to evacuate Portugal.

Recruiting his armies on the German frontier and in Italy, he now

ordered his veteran troops to the amount of 200,000, including a vast

and brilliant cavalry and a large body of the Imperial Guards, to be

drafted from those frontiers and marched through France towards Spain.

As these warlike columns passed through Paris Napoleon addressed to them

one of those orations that never failed to fill them with enthusiasm.

"Comrades," said he at a grand review which was held at the Tuileries on

the 11th of September, "after triumphing on the banks of the Danube and

the Vistula, with rapid steps you have passed through Germany. This day,

without a moment of repose, I command you to traverse France. Soldiers,

I have need of you. The hideous presence of the English leopard

contaminates the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. In terror he must fly

before you. Let us bear our triumphant eagles to the pillars of

Hercules; there also we have injuries to avenge. Soldiers! You have

surpassed the renown of modern armies; but you have not yet equalled the

glory of those Romans, who, in one and the same campaign were victorious

on the Rhine and the Euphrates, in Illyria and on the Tagus! A long

peace, a lasting prosperity, shall be the reward of your labors. A real

Frenchman could not, should not rest, until the seas are free and open

to all. Soldiers, what you have done and what you are about to do, for

the happiness of the French people, and for my glory, shall be eternal

in my heart."

Having thus dismissed his faithful troops, Napoleon himself traveled

rapidly to Erfurt, where he had invited the Emperor Alexander to confer

with him. Here they addressed a joint letter to the King of England,

proposing once more a general peace, but as they both refused to

acknowledge any authority in Spain save that of King Joseph, the answer

was in the negative. Austria also positively refused to recognize Joseph

Bonaparte as King of Spain, and this answer was enough to satisfy

Napoleon that she was determined on another campaign.

On the 14th of October the conference at Erfurt terminated, Napoleon

sincerely believing himself the friend of Alexander, and little thinking

he would one day say of him: "He is a faithless Greek!" Ten days later

Napoleon was present at the opening of the legislative session at Paris,

where he spoke with confidence of his designs and hopes in regard to

Spain. "I depart in a few days to place myself at the head of my

troops," he said, "and, with the aid of God, to crown the king of Spain

in Madrid, and plant my eagles on the forts of Lisbon."

Two days later he left the capital and reached Bayonne on the 3rd of

November, where he remained directing the movements of the last columns

of his army until the morning of the 8th. He arrived at Vittoria, the

headquarters of his brother Joseph, on the same evening. At the gates of

the town he was met by the civil and military authorities, where

sumptuous preparations had been provided, but instead of accepting their

hospitality, entered the first inn he observed, and calling for maps and

a detailed report of the position of all the armies, French and Spanish,

proceeded instantly to draw up his plan for the prosecution of the war.

Within two hours he had completed his task. Soult, who had accompanied

him from Paris, set off on the instant, and within a few hours the whole

machinery of the army, comprising 200,000 men, was in motion.

Ere long Napoleon saw the main way to Madrid open before him, except

some forces said to be posted at the strong defile of the Somosierra,

within ten miles of the capital. Saragossa on the east, the British army

in Portugal on the west, and Madrid in front were the only far-separated

points on which any show of opposition was still to be traced from the

frontiers of France to those of Portugal, and from the sea cost to the

Tagus.

Having regulated everything on his wings and rear, the Emperor with his

Imperial Guards and the first division of the army, now marched towards

Madrid, his vanguard reaching the foot of the Somosierra chain on the

30th of November. Here he found that a corps of 12,000 or 13,000 men had

been assembled for the defense of that pass under General San Juan, an

able and valiant officer who had established an advance guard of 3,000

men at the very foot of the slope which the French would have to ascend,

and then distributed over 9,000 men at the pass of Somosierra, at the

bottom of the gorge; there the advancing army would be obliged to go

through. One part of San Juan's force, posted on the right and left of

the road, which formed numerous windings, was to stop the advance of the

French by a double fire of musketry. The others barred the causeway

itself, near the most difficult part of the pass, with the battery. The

defile was narrow and excessively steep, and the road completely swept

by sixteen pieces of cannon.

At daybreak on the 1st of December the French began their attempts to

turn the flank of San Juan, who imagined himself invincible in his

position. Three battalions scattered themselves over the opposite sides

of the defile and a warm skirmishing fire had begun. At this moment

Napoleon came up, at the head of the cavalry of his Guard rode into the

mouth of the pass, surveyed the scene for an instant, and perceiving

that his infantry was making no progress, at once conceived the daring

idea of causing his brave Polish lancers to charge up the causeway in

face of the battery.

The Emperor had stopped near the foot of the mountain and attentively

examined the enemy's position, the fire from which seemed to redouble,

many balls falling near him, or passing over his head. Colonel Piré was

first dispatched at the head of the Poles and having reconnoitred the

position, countermanded the advance, and sent an officer to notify

Napoleon "that the undertaking was impossible." Upon this information

the Emperor much irritated and striking the pommel of his saddle

exclaimed, "Impossible! Why, there is nothing impossible to my Poles."

General Wattier, who was present endeavored to calm him but he still

continued to exclaim, "Impossible! I know of no such word. What, my

Guard checked by the Spaniards,--by armed peasants?" At this moment the

balls began to whistle about him and several officers came forward and

persuaded him to withdraw. Among these Napoleon observed Major Philip

Ségur; to him he said, "Go, Ségur, take the Poles, and make them take

the Spaniards, or let the Spaniards take them."

Colonel Piré, having informed Kozietulski, commander of the Polish

troops, of what the Emperor had said, that officer replied, "Come then

alone with me, and see if the devil himself, made of fire as he is,

would undertake this business."

Advancing, they saw 13,000 Spaniards placed as if in an amphitheatre in

such a way that no one battalion was masked by another, and they could

only join in columns. From that point the Poles had to sustain forty

thousand discharges of musketry and as many of cannon, every minute.

However, the order was positive.

"Commandant," said Ségur, "let us go, it is the Emperor's wish; the

honors will be ours; Poles advance. Vive l'Empereur!" Napoleon wished to

teach his soldiers that with the Spaniards they must not consider

danger, but drive them wherever found.

The smoke of the skirmishers on the side hills mingled with the thick

fog and vapors of the morning, and under this veil the brave cavalry of

the Guard led the way fearlessly and rushed up the ascent. A brilliant

cavalry officer, General Montbrun, at this time somewhat out of favor

with the Emperor, advanced at the head of the Polish light horse, a

young troop of elite which Napoleon had formed at Warsaw that he might

have all nations and costumes in his Guard. General Montbrun with those

gallant young soldiers dashed at a gallop upon the cannon of the

Spaniards, and in defiance of a horrible fire of musketry. The first

squadron received a discharge which threw it into disorder, sweeping

down thirty or forty men in the ranks; but those that followed, passing

beyond the wounded, reached the pieces, cut down the gunners and took

all the cannon.

As the rushing steeds passed the Spanish infantry the latter fired and

then threw down their guns, abandoned their intrenchments and fled. The

brave San Juan, covered with blood, having received several wounds,

strove in vain to stop his soldiers, who fled to the right and to the

left in the mountains, leaving colors, artillery, 200 wagons with stores

and almost all the officers in the hands of the victors. By the time the

Emperor reached the top not only was the French flag found floating over

Buitrago, but Montbrun's cavalry was pursuing the routed Spanish a

league beyond the town.

Napoleon was delighted to have proved to his generals what the Spanish

insurgents were, what his soldiers were, and in what estimation both

were to be held, and to have overcome an obstacle which some had seemed

to think extremely formidable. The Poles had about fifty men killed or

wounded. That evening Napoleon complimented and rewarded the survivors

and included in the distribution of his favors M. Philippe de Ségur who

had received several shot wounds in this charge; he also destined him to

carry to the Legislative Body at Paris the colors taken at Somosierra

and appointed Montbrun general of division.

On the morning of the 2nd three divisions of French cavalry made their

appearance on the high ground to the north-west of the capital. The

inhabitants of Madrid for eight days had been preparing to resist an

invasion. Six thousand regular troops were within the town, and crowds

of citizens and of the peasantry of the adjacent country were in arms

with them. The pavement had been taken up, the streets barricaded, the

houses on the outskirts loop-holed and occupied by a strong garrison.

Many persons, suspected of adhering to the side of the French, were put

to death, and amid the ringing of the bells of churches and convents, a

general uprising for all means of defense was in operation when the

French cavalry appeared.

The day was the anniversary of Napoleon's coronation and of the battle

of Austerlitz, and for the Emperor as well as his soldiers a

superstition was attached to that memorable date. The fine cavalry, on

beholding its glorious chief, raised unanimous acclamations, which

mingled with the shouts of rage sent up by the Spaniards on seeing the

French at their portals.

At noon the town was summoned to open its gates. The young officer

carrying the message barely escaped with his life, the mob being

determined to massacre him. Only the interference of the Spanish

regulars saved his life by snatching him out of the hands of the

assassins. The Junta directed a Spanish general to convey a negative

answer to the summons of the French. When sent back he was assured that

firing would commence immediately, although told that in resisting they

would only expose a population of women, and children and old men to the

slaughter, and was informed that the city could not hold out long

against the French army.

[Illustration: From a Painting by Horace Vernet

NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF JENA]

Napoleon waited until his artillery and infantry came up in the evening

and then the place was invested on one side. The Emperor made a

reconnaissance himself on horseback around Madrid and formed the plan of

attack which might be divided into several successive acts, so as to

summon the place after each of them, and to reduce it rather by

intimidation than by the employment of formidable military means.

At midnight the city was again summoned and the answer still being

defiant, the batteries began to open. Terror now began to prevail

within, and shortly afterward the city was summoned for the third time.

Thomas de Morla, the governor, came to demand a suspension of arms. He

said that all sensible men in Madrid were convinced of the necessity of

surrendering; but that it was necessary to make the French troops retire

and allow the Junta time to pacify the people and to induce them to lay

down their arms.

Napoleon replied with some show of anger that Morla himself had excited

and misled the people: "Assemble the clergy, the heads of the convents,

the alcaldes, the principal proprietors," he said "and if between this

and six in the morning the city has not surrendered it shall have ceased

to exist. I neither will nor ought to withdraw my troops.... Return to

Madrid. I give you till six tomorrow morning. Go back, then; you have

nothing to say to me about the people but to tell me that they have

submitted. If not, you and your troops shall be put to the sword."

Morla returned to the town and urged the necessity of instantly

capitulating, to which all the authorities but Costellas, the commander

of the regular troops agreed. The peasantry and citizens continued

firing on the French outposts during the night and then Costellas,

seeing that further resistance was useless, withdrew his troops and

sixteen cannon in safety.

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 4th Madrid surrendered. The

Spaniards were at once disarmed and the French troops filled the town

and established themselves in the great buildings. Napoleon took up his

residence in a country house near the capital. He gave orders for a

general and immediate disarming, and tranquility was once more restored,

the shops and theatres being opened as usual.

Napoleon now exercised all the rights of a conqueror and issued edicts

abolishing, among other evils, the Inquisition of the Jesuits, as well

as the feudal institutions of the Middle Ages. He received a deputation

of the chief inhabitants who came to signify their desire to see his

brother Joseph among them again. His answer was that Spain was his own

by right of conquest; that he could easily rule it by viceroys; but if

they chose to assemble in their churches, priests and people, and swear

allegiance to Joseph, he was not indisposed to listen to their request.

He distinctly affirmed that he would, in case they proved disloyal, put

the crown upon his own head, treat the country as a conquered province

and find another kingdom for his brother: "for" added he, "God has given

me both the inclination and the power to surmount all obstacles."

Meanwhile Napoleon was making arrangements for the completion of his

conquest. His plan was to invade Andalusia, Valencia and Galicia by his

lieutenants, and march in person to Lisbon.

On learning on December 19th that the English army under Sir John Moore,

amounting to 20,000, men, had put itself in motion, had advanced into

Spain and left Salamanca to proceed to Valladolid; that a separate

British corps of 13,000 men under Sir David Baird had recently landed at

Corunna with orders to march through Galicia and effect a junction with

Moore, either at Salamanca or Valladolid, Napoleon resolved to advance

in person and overwhelm Moore. His resolution was instantly taken with

that promptness of decision and unerring judgment which never forsook

him. He instantly put himself at the head of 50,000 men and marched

with incredible rapidity, with the view of intercepting Moore's

communications with Portugal, and in short hemming the English commander

in between himself and Soult.

Moore no sooner heard that Napoleon was approaching than he perceived

the necessity of an immediate retreat; and he commenced, accordingly, a

most calamitous one through the naked mountains of Galicia, in which his

troops displayed a most lamentable want of discipline. They ill-treated

the inhabitants, straggled from their ranks, and in short lost the

appearance of an army except when the trumpet warned them that they

might expect the French to charge.

Leaving Chamartin on the morning of the 22nd of December Napoleon

arrived at the foot of the Guadarrama as the infantry of his Guard was

beginning to ascend it. The weather, which till then had been superb,

had suddenly become terrible, and at the very moment when forced marches

were to be performed, as it was necessary that they lose no time in

coming up with the English.

Napoleon, seeing the infantry of his Guard accumulating at the entrance

of the gorge, in which the gun-carriages were also crowded together,

spurred his horse into a gallop, and gained the head of the column which

he found detained by the hurricane. The peasants declared that it was

impossible to pass without being exposed to the greatest dangers. This,

however, was not sufficient to stop the conqueror of the Alps. He made

the chasseurs of his Guard dismount, and ordered them to advance first

in close column, conducted by guides. These bold fellows, marching at

the head of the army, and trampling down the snow with their own feet

and those of their horses, formed a beaten track for the troops who

followed.

The Emperor himself climbed the mountain on foot, amidst the chasseurs

of his Guard, merely leaning, when he felt fatigued, on the arm of

General Savary. The cold, which was as severe as at Eylau, did not

prevent him from crossing the Guadarrama. General Marbot, who

accompanied Napoleon on the journey, says in his "Memoirs": "A furious

snowstorm, with a fierce wind, made the passage of the mountains almost

impracticable. Men and horses were hurled over precipices. The leading

battalions had actually begun to retreat; but Napoleon was resolved to

overtake the English at all cost. He spoke to the men, and ordered that

the members of each section should hold one another by the arm. The

cavalry, dismounting, did the same. The staff was formed in similar

fashion, the Emperor between Lannes and Duroc, we following with locked

arms; and so, in spite of wind, snow and ice, we proceeded, though it

took us four hours to reach the top. Half way up the marshals and

generals, who wore jackboots, could go no farther. Napoleon, therefore,

got hoisted on to a gun, and bestrode it; the marshals and generals did

the same, and in this grotesque order they reached the convent at the

summit. There the troops were rested and wine served out. The descent

though awkward, was better."

Napoleon spent the night in a miserable post-house in the little

village of Espinar. On the mules laden with his baggage had been

brought the wherewithal to serve him with supper, and which he shared

with his officers, cheerfully conversing with them on that series of

extraordinary adventures which had commenced at the school of

Brienne--to end, he knew not where!

Next day the Emperor proceeded with his Guard; but the infantry advanced

with difficulty and the artillery could not stir owing to the frightful

quagmires. The stragglers and baggage came up slowly while Napoleon,

anxious to meet the fleeing English troops, pushed on with his advance

guard and with his chasseurs until Benevento was reached. Here he came

up with his own troops in pursuit of Moore at Benevento, on the 29th of

December, and enjoyed for a moment, from his headquarters established

there, the spectacle of the English army in full retreat.

The French columns seemed to rival each other in their efforts to

overtake the enemy. In their precipitation the English abandoned their

sick, hamstrung their horses, when unable to keep up with them, and

destroyed the greater part of their ammunition and baggage.

Marshal Soult, who had taken another road, was much nearer the enemy.

His orders to follow the English intermission were difficult of

accomplishing as the mud was deep and the soldiers sank up to their

knees.

Napoleon now decided that Moore was no longer worthy of his own

attention and intrusted the consummation of his ruin to Soult, who was

ordered to pursue the English to the last extremity, and "with his sword

at their loins." He therefore set out at once, his troops marching past

the Emperor.

Soult hung close on the rear of the English; he came up with them in the

mountains of Leon and continued to pursue them until they reached the

port of Corunna. Here Moore perceived that it would be impossible to

embark without a convention or battle and he chose the latter. The

attack was made by the French on the 16th of January in heavy columns

and with their usual vivacity; but it was sustained and repelled by the

English and they were permitted to embark without further molestation.

Sir John Moore fell in the action mortally wounded by a cannon shot. His

body was wrapped in a military cloak, instead of the usual vestments of

the tomb, and deposited in a grave hastily dug on the ramparts of the

citadel of Corunna, while the guns of the enemy paid him funeral honors.

The next morning the grenadiers of France, who had been struck with

admiration at the chivalry of the English commander, gathered reverently

around the new-made grave, and while the English fleet was yet visible

on the bosom of the Mediterranean, they erected a monument over his

body and placed thereon an appropriate inscription.

Napoleon, having been informed of the embarkation of the English army,

instead of returning to Madrid to complete his Spanish conquest,

proceeded at once towards Astorga where his fears with reference to

Austria were heightened by news from Paris by courier. The storm that

was gathering once more along the shores of the Danube was of more vital

consequence to France than the kingdom of Joseph Bonaparte. On his

arrival at Astorga he changed all his plans. "It was late at night when

the Emperor and Lannes, escorted only by their staffs, and some hundred

cavalry, entered Astorga," says General Marbot. "So tired and anxious

for shelter and warmth was everyone that the place was scarcely

searched. If the enemy had had warning of this, and returned on their

tracks, they might perhaps have carried off the Emperor; fortunately

they were in too great a hurry, and we did not find one of them in the

town. Every minute fresh bodies of French troops were coming up and the

safety of the Imperial headquarters was soon secured."

Proceeding to Valladolid with his Guard, which he wished to keep as near

to events in Germany as himself, after placing Joseph on the throne at

Madrid again, he soon afterwards hastened to Paris with all speed,

riding on post horses on one occasion not less than eighty-five miles in

five and one-half hours. He had traversed Spain with the rapidity of

lightning, followed by his Guard, to the spot where new dangers and

triumphs awaited him. He left behind a feeble king, equally as incapable

of keeping as obtaining a conquest; and marshals who, no longer

restrained by the presence of an inflexible chief, for the most part

delivered themselves over to their own self-love or private jealousies.

In his "Memorial" written in exile at St. Helena, Napoleon said "that

the war of Spain destroyed him, and that all the circumstances of his

disasters connect themselves with this fatal knot." "In the crisis

France was placed in," he said at another time, "in the struggle of new

ideas in the great cause of the age against the rest of Europe, we could

not leave Spain behind."

X

WAR WITH AUSTRIA, 1809.

Before Napoleon returned to Paris from Spain he learned that, yielding

to England's instigations, Austria was about to take advantage of his

being so far away, to cross its borders, invade Bavaria, carry the war

to the banks of the Rhine, and then effect the liberation of Germany.

The opportunity was an excellent one for attempting such an undertaking.

The Emperor had been compelled to send the pick of his battalions to the

other side of the Pyrenees, thus greatly reducing the number of French

foes in Germany. The French minister of foreign affairs, Talleyrand, had

during Napoleon's absence made every effort to conciliate the Emperor

Francis, but the warlike preparations throughout the Austrian dominions

proceeded with increasing vigor.

After the declaration of war by Austria on the 6th of April, couriers

were at once dispatched with orders to the armies on the Rhine, and

beyond the Alps, to concentrate themselves on the field. To the

ambassadors at Paris the Emperor spoke most freely of the coming

conquest. "They have forgotten the lessons of experience there," he

said; "They want fresh ones; they shall have them, and this time they

shall be terrible I promise you. I do not desire war; I have no interest

in it, and all Europe is witness that my whole attention and all my

efforts were directed towards the field of battle which England had

selected, that is to say, Spain. Austria, which saved the English in

1805 when I was about to cross the straits of Calais, has saved them

once more by stopping me when I was about to pursue them to Corunna. She

shall pay dearly for this new diversion in their favor. Either she shall

disarm instantly, or she shall have to sustain a war of destruction. If

she disarms in such a manner as to leave no doubt on my mind as to her

further intentions, I will myself sheathe my sword, for I have no wish

to draw it except in Spain against the English; otherwise the conflict

shall be immediate and decisive, and such that England shall for the

future have no allies on the Continent."

The instant Napoleon ascertained that Bavaria was invaded by the

Archduke Charles, he at once proceeded, without guards, without

equipage, accompanied solely by the faithful Josephine, to Frankfort and

thence to Strasbourg. Here he assumed command of the army on the 13th of

April, and immediately formed the plan of his campaign. He found the two

wings of his army, the one under Massena, the other under Davoust, at

such a distance from the centre that, had the Austrians seized the

opportunity, the consequences might have been fatal to the French.

On the 17th of April, while at Donawerth, Napoleon commanded Davoust and

Massena to march simultaneously towards a position in front, and then

pushed forward the centre in person, to the same point. The Archduke

Louis, who commanded the Austrian divisions in advance, was thus hemmed

in unexpectedly by three armies, moving at once from three different

points.