Buonaparte commands the Artillery at Toulon--Fall of Toulon--The
Representatives of the People--Junot.
Buonaparte's first military service occurred, as we have seen, in the
summer of 1793. The king of France had been put to death on the 21st of
January in that year; and in less than a month afterwards the convention
had declared war against England. The murder of the king, alike
imprudent as atrocious, had in fact united the princes of Europe against
the revolutionary cause; and within France itself a strong reaction took
place. The people of Toulon, the great port and arsenal of France on the
Mediterranean, partook these sentiments, and invited the English and
Spanish fleets off their coast to come to their assistance, and garrison
their city. The allied admirals took possession accordingly of Toulon,
and a motley force of English, Spaniards, and Neapolitans, prepared to
defend the place. In the harbour and roads there were twenty-five ships
of the line, and the city contained immense naval and military stores of
every description, so that the defection of Toulon was regarded as a
calamity of the first order by the revolutionary government.
This event occurred in the midst of that period which has received the
name of _the reign of terror_. The streets of Paris were streaming with
innocent blood; Robespierre was glutting himself with murder; fear and
rage were the passions that divided mankind, and their struggles
produced on either side the likeness of some epidemic frenzy. Whatever
else the government wanted, vigour to repel aggressions from without was
displayed in abundance. Two armies immediately marched upon Toulon; and
after a series of actions, in which the passes in the hills behind the
town were forced, the place was at last invested, and a memorable siege
commenced.
It was conducted with little skill, first by Cartaux, a vain coxcomb who
had been a painter, and then by Doppet, an ex-physician, and a coward.
To watch and report on the proceedings of these chiefs, there were
present in the camp several Representatives of the People, as they were
called--persons holding no military character or rank, but acting as
honourable spies for the government at Paris. The interference of these
personages on this, as on many other occasions, was productive of
delays, blunders, and misfortunes; but the terror which their ready
access to the despotic government inspired was often, on the other hand,
useful in stimulating the exertions of the military. The younger
Robespierre was one of the deputies at Toulon, and his name was enough
to make his presence formidable.
Cartaux had not yet been superseded, when Napoleon Buonaparte made his
appearance at headquarters, with a commission to assume the command of
the artillery. It has been said that he owed his appointment to the
private regard of Salicetti; but the high testimonials he had received
from the Military Academy were more likely to have served him; nor is it
possible to suppose that he had been so long in the regiment of La Fere
without being appreciated by some of his superiors. He had, besides,
shortly before this time, excited attention by a pamphlet, called the
_Supper of Beaucaire_, in which the politics of the Jacobin party were
spiritedly supported; and of which he was afterwards so ashamed, that he
took great pains to suppress it. However this may have been, he was
received almost with insolence by Cartaux, who, strutting about in an
uniform covered with gold lace, told him his assistance was not wanted,
but he was welcome to partake in _his_ glory.
The commandant of the artillery, on examining the state of affairs,
found much to complain of. They were still disputing which extremity of
the town should be the chief object of attack; though at the one there
were two strong and regular fortifications, and at the other only a
small and imperfect fort called Malbosquet. On inspecting their
batteries, he found that the guns were placed about two gunshots from
the walls; and that it was the custom to heat the shot at a distance
from the place where they were to be discharged; in other words, to heat
them to no purpose. Choosing officers of his own acquaintance to act
under him, and exerting himself to collect guns from all quarters,
Buonaparte soon remedied these disorders, and found himself master of an
efficient train of 200 pieces; and he then urged the general to adopt a
wholly new plan of operations in the future conduct of the siege.
The plan of Buonaparte appears _now_ the simplest and most obvious that
could have been suggested; yet it was not without great difficulty that
he could obtain the approbation of the doctor, who had by this time
superseded the painter. "Your object," said he, "is to make the English
evacuate Toulon. Instead of attacking them in the town, which must
involve a long series of operations, endeavour to establish batteries so
as to sweep the harbour and roadstead. If you can do this--the English
ships must take their departure, and the English troops will certainly
not remain behind them." He pointed out a promontory nearly opposite the
town, by getting the command of which he was sure the desired effect
must be accomplished. "Gain _La Grasse_" said he, "and in two days
Toulon falls." His reasoning at length forced conviction, and he was
permitted to follow his own plan.
A month before nothing could have been more easy; but within that time
the enemy had perceived the importance of the promontory, which commands
the narrow passage between the port and the Mediterranean, and fortified
it so strongly, that it passed by the name of the Little Gibraltar. It
was necessary, therefore, to form extensive batteries in the rear of La
Grasse, before there could be a prospect of seizing it. Buonaparte
laboured hard all day, and slept every night in his cloak by the guns,
until his works approached perfection. He also formed a large battery
behind Malbosquet; but this he carefully concealed from the enemy. It
was covered by a plantation of olives, and he designed to distract their
attention by opening its fire for the first time when he should be about
to make his great effort against Little Gibraltar. But the
Representatives of the People had nearly spoiled everything. These
gentlemen, walking their rounds, discovered the battery behind the
olives, and inquiring how long it had been ready, were told for eight
days. Not guessing with what views so many guns had been kept so long
idle, they ordered an immediate cannonade. The English made a vigorous
sally, and spiked the guns before Buonaparte could reach the spot. On
his arrival at the eminence behind, he perceived a long deep ditch,
fringed with brambles and willows, which he thought might be turned to
advantage. He ordered a regiment of foot to creep along the ditch, which
they did without being discovered until they were close upon the enemy.
General O'Hara, the English commander, mistook them for some of his own
allies, and, rushing out to give them some direction, was wounded and
made prisoner. The English were dispirited when they lost their general;
they retreated, and the French were at liberty to set about the repair
of their battery. In this affair much blood was shed. Napoleon himself
received a bayonet-thrust in his thigh, and fell into the arms of
Muiron, who carried him off the field. Such was the commencement of
their brotherly friendship. His wound, however, did not prevent him from
continuing his labours behind Little Gibraltar.
That fort had very nearly been seized, by a sort of accident, some time
before his preparations were completed; a casual insult excited a sudden
quarrel between the men in Buonaparte's trenches and the Spaniards in
Little Gibraltar. The French soldiers, without waiting for orders,
seized their arms, and rushed to the assault with fury. Napoleon coming
up, perceived that the moment was favourable, and persuaded Doppet to
support the troops with more regiments; but the doctor, marching at the
head of his column, was seized with a panic, on seeing a man killed by
his side, and ordered a retreat, before anything could be effected.
A few days after, this poltroon was in his turn superseded by a brave
veteran, General Dugommier, and Napoleon could at last count on having
his efforts backed. But, for the second time, the Representatives did
their best to ruin his undertaking. The siege had now lasted four
months, provisions were scarce in the camp, and these civilians, never
being able to comprehend what was meant by bestowing all this care on a
place so far below the city as Little Gibraltar, wrote to Paris that
they saw no chance of success, and hoped the government would agree with
them that the siege ought to be abandoned. Two days before this letter
reached Paris, Toulon had fallen, and the Representatives gave out that
the despatch was a forgery.
The moment had at last come when Buonaparte judged it right to make his
grand attempt. During the night of the 17th of December he threw 8000
bombs and shells into Little Gibraltar, and the works being thus
shattered, at daybreak Dugommier commanded the assault. The French,
headed by the brave Muiron, rushed with impetuous valour through the
embrasures, and put the whole garrison to the sword. The day was spent
in arranging the batteries, so as to command the shipping; and next
morning--so true had been Buonaparte's prophecy--when the French stood
to their posts, the English fleet was discovered to be already under
weigh.
Then followed a fearful scene. The English would not quit Toulon without
destroying the French ships and arsenals that had fallen into their
possession; nor could they refuse to carry with them the Antijacobin
inhabitants, who knew that their lives would be instantly sacrificed if
they should fall into the hands of the victorious Republicans, and who
now flocked to the beach to the number of 14,000, praying for the means
of escape. The burning of ships, the explosion of magazines, the roar of
artillery, and the cries of these fugitives, filled up many hours. At
last the men-of-war were followed by a flotilla bearing those miserable
exiles; the walls were abandoned; and Dugommier took possession of the
place.
The Republicans found that all persons of condition, who had taken part
against them, had escaped; and their rage was to be contented with
meaner victims. A day or two having been suffered to pass in quiet, a
proclamation, apparently friendly, exhorted the workmen, who had been
employed on the batteries of the besieged town, to muster at
headquarters. One hundred and fifty poor men, who expected to be
employed again in repairing the same fortifications obeyed this
summons--were instantly marched into a field--and shot in cold blood;
not less than a thousand persons were massacred under circumstances
equally atrocious. Buonaparte himself repelled with indignation the
charge of having had a hand in this butchery. Even if he had, he was not
the chief in command, and durst not have disobeyed orders but at the
sacrifice of his own life. It is on all sides admitted that a family of
royalists, being shipwrecked on the coast near Toulon a few days after,
were rescued from the hands of the ferocious Republicans, solely by his
interference and address. Putting himself at the head of some of his
gunners, he obtained possession of the unhappy prisoners; quieted the
mob by assuring them that they should all be publicly executed the next
morning; and meanwhile sent them off during the night in artillery
waggons supposed to be conveying stores.
The recovery of Toulon was a service of the first importance to the
government. It suppressed all insurrectionary spirit in the south of
France; and placed a whole army at their disposal elsewhere. But he, to
whose genius the success was due, did not at first obtain the credit of
his important achievement at Paris. The Representatives of the People
never made their appearance on the eventful morning at Little Gibraltar,
until three hours after the troops were in possession of the best part
of the fortifications. Then, indeed, they were seen sword in hand in the
trenches, blustering and swaggering in safety. Yet these men did not
blush to represent themselves as having headed the assault, while, in
their account of the conflict, even the name of Buonaparte did not find
a place. The truth could not, however, be concealed effectually; and he
was appointed to survey and arrange the whole line of fortifications on
the Mediterranean coast of France.
It was during the siege of Toulon that Napoleon, while constructing a
battery under the enemy's fire, had occasion to prepare a despatch, and
called out for some one who could use a pen. A young sergeant, named
Junot, leapt out, and, leaning on the breastwork, wrote as he dictated.
As he finished, a shot struck the ground by his side, scattering dust in
abundance over him and everything near him. "Good," said the soldier,
laughing, "this time we shall spare our sand." The cool gaiety of this
pleased Buonaparte; he kept his eye on the man; and Junot came in the
sequel to be Marshal of France and Duke of Abrantes.