Marshal was hoping to return to Paris when suddenly he was informed by
the Emperor of the probability of a campaign against Prussia. On the
23rd definite orders arrived indicating the points of assembly; by the
next day detailed letters of instructions for every corps had been
worked out and despatched by the headquarters staff. Napoleon himself
arrived at Wuerzburg on October 2nd, and found his army concentrated, but
deficient of supplies. At first his anger burst out against the chief of
the staff, but a moment's reflection proved to him that there was not
sufficient transport in Germany to mass both men and supplies in the
time he had given, and he entirely exonerated Berthier, who by hard work
contrived in three days to collect sufficient supplies to allow of the
opening of the thirty days' campaign which commenced with Jena and ended
by carrying the French troops across the Vistula. The fresh campaign in
the spring of 1807 was attended by an additional difficulty, there
existed no maps of the district, and the topographical department of the
staff was worked off its legs in supplying this deficiency. Meanwhile,
during the halt after Pultusk, the major-general was busy re-clothing
and re-equipping the army and hurrying up reinforcements; while in
addition to the work of the War Office he had to supervise the French
forces in Italy and Naples. After Tilsit, as after Pressburg, Napoleon
hurried back to France and left the Prince of Neuchatel to arrange for
the withdrawal of the Grand Army, and it was not till July 27th that
Berthier at last returned to Paris.
The Prince came back more than ever dazzled by the genius of the
Emperor; not even Eylau had taught him that there were limits to his
idol's powers. But with more than eight hundred thousand men on a war
footing, with divisions and army corps scattered from the Atlantic to
the Niemen, from Luebeck to Brindisi, it was impossible for one man to be
at once chief of the staff and Minister of War. Accordingly, on August
9th the Emperor made General Clarke Minister of War, and, to show that
this was no slight on his old friend, on the same day he created the
Prince of Neuchatel Vice-constable of France. For the next three months
Berthier was able to enjoy his honours at his home at Grosbois, or in
his honorary capacity at Fontainebleau, but in November the Emperor
carried him off with him to Italy on a tour of inspection. During the
whole of this holiday in Italy the Prince was busy elaborating the
details of the coming campaign in Spain, and it was the Spanish trouble
which cut short his honeymoon, for on April 2nd he had to start with the
Emperor for Bayonne. From the outset the Prince warned the Emperor that
the question of supplies lay at the root of all difficulties in Spain;
but Napoleon clung to his idea that war should support war, and Berthier
knew that it was hopeless to attempt to remove a fixed idea from his
head, and, still believing in his omnipotence, he thought all would be
well. Meanwhile, as the summer went on, it was not only Spain that
occupied the Prince's attention, for the conquest of Denmark had to be
arranged, and the passes in Silesia and Bohemia carefully mapped, in
view of hostilities with Prussia or Austria. Early in August Berthier
was at Saint Cloud making arrangements to reinforce Davout in Silesia,
owing to the growing hostility of Austria, when, on the 16th, arrived
the news that Joseph had had to evacuate all the country west of the
Ebro. But Napoleon and Berthier could not go to his help until after the
imperial meeting at Erfurt in September. However, on reaching Spain, the
magic of the Emperor's personality soon restored the vigour and prestige
of the French arms. Still the Prince Marshal could not hide from himself
that all was not as it used to be; Napoleon's temper was more uncertain,
and the Marshals, smarting under reprimands, were not pulling together.
When the Emperor returned to France, after having missed "the
opportunity of giving the English a good lesson," he left Berthier
behind for a fortnight "to be sure that King Joseph had a proper
understanding of everything." But trouble was bound to come, for the
Emperor himself was breaking his own canon of the importance of "the
unity of command" by nominally leaving Joseph in control of all the
troops in Spain, but at the same time making the Marshals responsible to
himself through the major-general.
In 1809 Napoleon made another grave mistake. He had calculated that
Austria could make no forward movement before April 15th, and
accordingly he sent Berthier early in March to take temporary command of
the Grand Army, with instructions to order Davout to concentrate at
Ratisbon and Massena at Augsburg. His idea was that there would be ample
time later to order a concentration on either wing or on the centre. But
the Austrians were ready quite a fortnight before he had calculated. The
major-general kept him well informed of every movement of the enemy, and
pointed out the dangerous isolation of Davout. Still the Emperor did not
believe the Austrian preparations were so forward; and a despatch from
Paris, written on April 10th, which arrived at headquarters at
Donauwoerth on the 11th, ordered the major-general to retain Davout at
Ratisbon and move his own headquarters there, "and that in spite of
anything that may happen." Unfortunately, a semaphore despatch sent a
few hours later, when Napoleon had really grasped the situation, went
astray and never reached Berthier. The Prince of Neuchatel understood as
clearly as any one the dangerous position of Davout; the Duke of Eckmuehl
himself thought that the major-general was trying to spoil his career by
laying him open to certain defeat; depression spread through all the
French corps. But after years of blind devotion to his great chief
Berthier could not steel himself to break distinct orders, emphasised as
they were by the expression "in spite of whatever may happen," and a
great catastrophe was only just averted by the arrival of Napoleon, who
at once ordered Davout to withdraw and Massena to advance. Berthier
himself was visited by the full fury of the Emperor's anger. But the
cloud soon passed, for Berthier was as indispensable as ever, and more
so when, after the failure at Aspern-Essling, immense efforts had to be
made to hurry up troops from every available source. At the end of the
campaign the Emperor justly rewarded his lieutenant by creating him
Prince of Wagram.
Once again Napoleon left Berthier to arrange for the withdrawal of the
army, and it was not till December 1st that the Prince of Wagram
regained Paris and took up the threads of the Peninsular campaign. His
stay there was short, for by the end of February he was back again in
Vienna, this time not as major-general of a victorious army, but as
Ambassador Extraordinary to claim the hand of the Archduchess Marie
Louise for his master, the Emperor Napoleon, and to escort her to her
new home. For the next two years the Prince remained at home at Grosbois
or on duty at Fontainebleau, but in spite of great domestic happiness he
was much worried by the terrible Spanish war. No one saw more clearly
that every effort ought to be made to crush the English, but he was
powerless to persuade the Emperor, and he had to endure to the full all
the difficulties arising from breaking the "unity of command." No one
understood better what hopeless difficulties would arise when Napoleon
ordered him to write, "The King will command the army.... The Guard does
not form part of the army." To add to these troubles, it became more and
more evident that Germany was riddled with secret societies and that war
with Russia was inevitable. So it was with a sigh of relief that in
January, 1812, he received the order to turn his attention from Spain
and resume his functions as major-general of the Grand Army. Not that he
desired further active service; like many another of the Emperor's
soldiers, he mistrusted the distant expedition to Russia, and feared for
the honour and safety of France. Already in his sixtieth year, there was
little he could gain personally from war. As he said to Napoleon, "What
is the good of having given me an income of sixty thousand pounds a year
in order to inflict on me the tortures of Tantalus? I shall die here
with all this work. The simplest private is happier than I." The
Emperor, knowing the attitude of many of his Marshals, and himself
feeling the strain of this immense enterprise, was unusually irritable.
Consequently relations at headquarters were often strained, and the
Marshals were angry at the severe reprimands to which they were
subjected. The controlling leaders being out of gear the machine did not
run smoothly: there was nothing but friction and tension. The Marshals
were inclined to attribute their disgrace to the ill-will of Berthier
and not to the temper of Napoleon. Particularly was this the case with
Davout, who since 1809 had suspected that Berthier desired to ruin his
reputation. Accordingly the Prince of Eckmuehl set down the succession of
reprimands which were hurled at his head to the machinations of the
major-general, and not, as was the case, to Napoleon's jealousy of him,
because people had prophesied he would become King of Poland. This
misunderstanding was most unfortunate, for it prevented Berthier from
effecting a reconciliation between Davout and the Emperor. Hence
Napoleon was driven more and more to trust to the advice of the rash,
unstable King of Naples. The major-general's lot through the campaign
was most miserable. Working day and night to supervise the organisation
of the huge force of six hundred thousand men; mistrusted by his former
comrades; blamed for every mishap by the Emperor, whatever the fault
might be, he had to put up with the bitterest insults, and while working
as no other man could work, to endure such taunts as, "Not only are you
no good, but you are in the way." Everything that went wrong "was the
fault of the general staff, which is so organised that it foresees
nothing," whether it was the shortcomings of the contractors or the
burning of their own magazines by the Russians. But what most moved
Napoleon's anger against the chief of the staff was that Berthier, with
"the parade states" before him, emphasising the enormous wastage of the
army, constantly harped on the danger of pressing on to Moscow. So
strained became the relations between them, that for the last part of
the advance they no longer met at meals. But during the hours of the
retreat the old friendship was resumed. Berthier bore no malice, and
showed his bravery by himself opposing the enemy with musket and
bayonet; and on one occasion, with Bessieres, Murat, and Rapp, he saved
the Emperor from a sotnia of Cossacks.
When Napoleon quitted the army at Vilna he left the major-general behind
to help the King of Naples to withdraw the remnant of the Grand Army.
Marching on foot through the deep snow, with fingers and nose
frostbitten, the sturdy old veteran of sixty endured the fatigue as well
as the hardiest young men in their prime; and in addition to the
physical fatigue of marching, had to carry out all the administrative
work, and bear the moral responsibility for what remained of the army;
for the King of Naples, thinking of nothing but how to save his own
crown, when difficulties increased, followed the example of Napoleon and
deserted his post. Thereon the major-general took on himself to nominate
Prince Eugene as Murat's successor. But in the end his health gave way,
and the Emperor himself wrote to Prince Eugene telling him to send the
old warrior home.
Berthier reached Paris on February 9th, much broken down in health; but
his wonderful physique soon enabled him to regain his strength, and by
the end of March he was once again hard at work helping the Emperor to
extemporise an army. With his complete knowledge of this force, no one
was more astonished than Berthier at the successes of Luetzen and
Bautzen, and no one more insistent in his advice to the Emperor to
accept the terms of the Allies during the armistice; but he advised in
vain. Then followed the terrible catastrophe of Leipzig, due undoubtedly
to Berthier's dread of acting without the express orders of the Emperor.
The engineer officer charged with preparing the line of retreat reported
that the one bridge across the Elster was not sufficient. The
major-general, knowing that the Emperor desired to hide any signs of
retreat from the Allies, replied that he must await the Emperor's
orders, so, when, after three days' fighting, the retreat could no
longer be postponed, a catastrophe was inevitable.
Yet, in spite of everything, the Emperor refused to acknowledge himself
beaten, and by the commencement of 1814 was once again ready to take the
field, though by now the Allies had invaded France. Loyal as ever,
Berthier worked his hardest; but he once again incurred the Emperor's
anger by entreating him to accept the terms offered him at Chatillon.
Still, when the end came and Napoleon abdicated, Berthier remained at
his side, and it was only when the Emperor had released his Marshals
from their allegiance that on April 11th he sent in his adhesion to the
new government. When all save Macdonald had deserted the fallen Emperor,
Berthier stayed on at Fontainebleau, directing the withdrawal of the
remnants of the army, and making arrangements for the guard which was to
accompany Napoleon to Elba. But though he remained with him until the
day before he started for Elba, Berthier refused to share his exile, and
at the time Napoleon was magnanimous enough to see that, owing to his
age and the care of his children, he could not expect such a sacrifice.
So far, the Prince had done all that honour and affection could demand
of him. But, unfortunately for his fame, instead of withdrawing into
private life, he listened to the prayers of his wife, who keenly felt
the loss of her title of "Serene Princess." It was at her desire that he
continued to frequent the Bourbon court and actually accepted the
captaincy of one of the new companies of royal guards. This and the fact
that, as senior of the Marshals, Berthier had led his fellow Marshals to
meet the King at Compiegne, caused the Prince of Wagram to be regarded
as a traitor by Napoleon and the Imperialists. Moreover, the Prince
Marshal now saw in Napoleon the disturber of the peace of Europe, so
when the Emperor suddenly returned from Elba he withdrew from France,
and retired to Bamberg, in his father-in-law's dominions.
It is commonly supposed that Berthier committed suicide, but the medical
evidence shows that his fall was probably the result of giddiness
arising from dyspepsia. It was on June 1st that the accident happened.
He was watching a division of Russian troops passing through the town,
and was much distressed by the sight, and heard to murmur, "My poor
country!" Ever interested in soldiers, he got on a chair on the balcony
before the nursery windows to get a better view of the troops, and while
doing so lost his balance and fell to the ground.
For the moment the tragic death of the Marshal was the talk of Europe,
but only for the moment, for the fate of the world was hanging on the
issues of the great battle which was imminent in Belgium. If the Prince
of Wagram had been there, it is more than conceivable that the scales
would have fallen other than they did; for it was the indifferent staff
work of Soult and the bad drafting of orders which lost the French the
campaign. Of this, Napoleon was so firmly convinced that he never could
efface it from his memory; again and again he was heard saying, "If
Berthier had been here I should never have met this misfortune." The
Emperor, in spite of the fact that in 1814 he had told Macdonald that
Berthier could never return, was convinced that he would, and had told
Rapp that he was certain he would come back to him. It was this failure
to return which so embittered the fallen Emperor against the Prince of
Wagram, and led to those cruel strictures on his character to which he
gave vent at St. Helena. Moreover, Napoleon, so great in many things,
was so jealous of his own glory that he could be mean beyond words. Even
in the early years when he heard people praising Berthier's work in
1796, he told his secretary, Bourrienne, "As for Berthier, since you
have been with me, you see what he is--he is a blockhead." At St.
Helena, forgetting his old opinions, "Berthier has his talents,
activity, courage, character--all in his favour." Forgetting that he
himself had taught Berthier to be imperious, he derided his rather
pompous manner, saying, "Nothing is so imperious as weakness which feels
itself supported by strength. Look at women." Berthier, with his
admirably lucid mind, great physique, methodical powers and ambition,
would have made his name in any profession. He undoubtedly chose to be
second to Napoleon; he served him with a fidelity that Napoleon himself
could not understand, and he won his great commander's love and esteem
in spite of the selfishness of the Corsican's nature. "I really cannot
understand," said Napoleon to Talleyrand, "how a relation that has the
appearance of friendship has established itself between Berthier and
me. I do not indulge in useless sentiments, and Berthier is so
uninteresting that I do not know why I should care about him at all, and
yet when I think of it I really have some liking for him." "It is
because he believes in you," said the former bishop and reader of men's
souls. It was this belief in Napoleon which in time obsessed the Prince
of Wagram's mind, which killed his own initiative and was responsible
for his blunders in 1809 and at Leipzig, and turned him into a machine
which merely echoed the Emperor's commands. "Monsieur le Marechal, the
Emperor orders." "Monsieur, it is not me, it is the Emperor you ought to
thank." These hackneyed phrases typified more than anything else the
bounds of the career which the Marshal had deliberately marked out for
himself. In Berthier's eyes it was no reproach, but a testimony to his
own principles, "that he never gave an order, never wrote a despatch,
which did not in some way emanate from Napoleon." It was this which,
with some appearance of truth, pointing to his notable failures, allowed
Napoleon to say of him at St. Helena, "His character was undecided, not
strong enough for a commander-in-chief, but he possessed all the
qualities of a good chief of the staff: a complete mastery of the map,
great skill in reconnaissance, minute care in the despatch of orders,
magnificent aptitude for presenting with the greatest simplicity the
most complicated situation of an army."
II
JOACHIM MURAT, MARSHAL, KING OF NAPLES
Stable-boy, seminarist, Marshal, King, Murat holds the unchallenged
position of Prince of Gascons: petulant, persevering, ambitious and
vain, he surpasses D'Artagnan himself in his overwhelming conceit. The
third son of an innkeeper of La Bastide Fortuniere in upper Quercy,
Joachim Murat was born on March 25, 1767. From his earliest childhood
Joachim was a horse-lover and a frequenter of the stables; but his
parents had higher aims for their bright, smiling, intelligent darling,
and destined him for the priesthood. The young seminarist was highly
thought of by the preceptors at the College of Saint Michel at Cahors
and the Lazarist Fathers at Toulouse; but neither priest nor mother had
truly grasped his dashing character, and one February morning in 1787
Joachim slipped quietly out of the seminary doors and enlisted in the
Chasseurs of the Ardennes, who were at the moment billeted in Toulouse.
Two years later this promising recruit, having fallen foul of the
military authorities, had to leave the service under a cloud. A post as
draper's assistant was a poor exchange for the young soldier, who found
the cavalry service of the royal army scarcely dashing enough, but the
Revolution gave an outlet which Murat was quick to seize. For three
years the future King harangued village audiences of Quercy on the
iniquities of caste and the equality of all men; so that when, in
February, 1792, the Assembly called for volunteers for the "Garde
Constitutionnelle" of Louis XVI., what better choice could the national
guard of Montfaucon make than in nominating Joachim Murat, the handsome
ex-sergeant of the Chasseurs of the Ardennes?
In Paris, Joachim soon found that the royal road to success lay in
denouncing loudly all superior officers of lack of patriotism. Soon
there was no more brazen-voiced accuser than Murat. In the course of a
year he worked his way out of the "Garde Constitutionnelle," and by
April, 1793, he had attained the rank of captain in the 12th Chasseurs.
Meanwhile, he had been selected as aide-de-camp by General d'Ure de
Molans. Having seen no service, he owed his appointment largely to his
conceit and good looks. Blue-eyed, with an aquiline nose and smiling
lips; with long chestnut curls falling over his well-poised head;
endowed with great physical strength, shown in his strong, supple arms
and in the long flat-thighed legs of a horseman, he appeared the most
perfect type of the dare-devil, dashing cavalry soldier. The moderate
republican general, d'Ure de Molans, was useful to him for a time, but
the young Gascon saw that the days of the extremist were close at hand;
accordingly, he allied himself with an adventurer called Landrieux, who
was raising a body of cut-throats whose object was plunder, not
fighting. The Convention, which had licensed Landrieux to raise this
corps of patriotic defenders of the country, accepted his nomination of
Murat as acting lieutenant-colonel. But they soon fell out, for Murat
had the audacity to try and make these patriots fight instead of merely
seeking plunder. The consequence of this quarrel was that, early in
1794, he found himself accused as a ci-devant noble. Imprisoned at
Amiens, and brought before the Committee of Public Safety, in a fit of
republican enthusiasm he changed his name to Marat. But this did not
save him, and he owed his life to a deputation from his native Quercy,
which proved both his humble birth and his high republicanism.
[Illustration: JOACHIM MURAT, AFTERWARDS KING OF NAPLES
FROM THE PAINTING BY GERARD AT VERSAILLES]