day, for the first time, he came in contact with his future chief, the
young General Bonaparte, and gained his attention by the masterly way he
saved the guns at Sablons from the hands of the Royalists. The future
Emperor ever knew when to reward merit, and on being appointed to
command the army in Italy he at once selected him as his aide-de-camp.
So far he had seen little or no war service. But the campaign of 1796
proved that Bonaparte's judgment was sound, for by the end of the year
there was no longer any necessity for Murat to blow his own trumpet. In
the short campaign against the Sardinians he showed his talent as a
cavalry leader by his judgment in charges at Dego and Mondovi. He had no
cause to grumble that he was not appreciated, for his general selected
him to take to Paris the news of this victorious campaign and of the
triumphant negotiations of Cherasco. He returned from Paris in May as
brigadier-general, in time to take part in the crossing of the Mincio
and to rob Kilmaine of some of his honours. The commander-in-chief still
kept him attached to the headquarter staff, and constantly employed him
on special service. His enterprises were numerous and varied--one week
at Genoa on a special diplomatic mission, a week or two later leading a
forlorn attack on the great fortress of Mantua, then commanding the
right wing of the army covering the siege, he showed himself ever
resourceful and daring. But during the autumn of 1796 he fell under the
heavy displeasure of his chief, for at Milan and Montebello Josephine
had shown too great favour to the young cavalry general. Murat
accordingly had no scruples in intriguing with Barras against his chief.
But his glorious conduct at Rivoli once again brought him back to
favour, and Bonaparte entrusted him with an infantry brigade in the
advance on Vienna, and later with a delicate independent mission in the
Valtelline. But Murat, unlike Lannes, Marmont, and Duroc, was not yet
indispensable to Bonaparte, and accordingly was left with the Army of
Italy when the general returned in triumph to Paris. It was mainly owing
to Massena's enthusiastic report of his service in the Roman campaign,
at the close of 1797, that he was selected as one of the supernumerary
officers in the Egyptian expedition.
So far, Murat had not yet been able to distinguish himself above his
comrades-in-arms. Massena, Augereau, Serurier, and Laharpe left him far
in the rear, but Egypt was to give him the chance of proving his worth,
and showing that he was not only a dashing officer, but a cavalry
commander of the first rank. He led the cavalry of the advance guard in
the march up the Nile, and was present at the battle of the Pyramids and
the taking of Cairo. But so far the campaign, instead of bringing him
fresh honours, nearly brought him disgrace; for he joined the party of
grumblers, and was one of those who were addressed in the famous
reprimand, "I know some generals are mutinous and preach revolt ... let
them take care. I am as high above a general as above a drummer, and, if
necessary, I will as soon have the one shot as the other."
On July 27, 1798, Murat was appointed governor of the province of
Kalioub, which lies north of Cairo; to keep order among his turbulent
subjects his whole force consisted of a battalion of infantry,
twenty-five cavalrymen, and a three-pounder gun. His governorship was
only part of the work Bonaparte required of him, for he was constantly
away organising and leading light columns by land or river, harrying the
Arabs and disbanded Mamelukes, sweeping the country, collecting vast
depots of corn and cattle, remounting the cavalry--proving himself a
past master in irregular warfare. So well did he do his work that the
commander-in-chief selected him to command the whole of the cavalry in
the Syrian expeditionary force. Thanks to his handling of his horsemen,
the march through Palestine occasioned the French but little loss.
During the siege of Acre he commanded the covering force, and pushed
reconnaissances far and wide. So feared was his name that the whole
Turkish army fled before him on the banks of the Jordan, and left their
camp and immense booty in the hands of the French. But though he had
thus destroyed the relieving force, Acre, victualled by the English
fleet, still held out, and Bonaparte had to retreat to Egypt.
It was at Aboukir that Murat consolidated his reputation as a great
commander. The Turkish general had neglected to rest the right flank of
his first line on the sea, and Murat, seizing his opportunity, fell on
the unguarded flank with the full weight of his cavalry, and rolled the
unfortunate Turks into the water. Thereafter, by the aid of a battery of
artillery, the centre of the second line of the Turkish army was broken,
and the French horse dashing into the gap, once again made short work of
the enemy, and their leader captured with his own hands the Turkish
commander. Bonaparte, in his despatch, did full justice to his
subordinate. "The victory is mainly due to General Murat. I ask you to
make him general of division: his brigade of cavalry has achieved the
impossible." Murat himself was much distressed at being wounded in the
face, as he feared it might destroy his good looks; however, he soon had
the satisfaction of writing to his father: "The doctors tell me I shall
not be in the least disfigured, so tell all the young ladies that even
if Murat has lost some of his good looks, they won't find that he has
lost any of his bravery in the war of love."
His grumbles forgiven, Murat left Egypt among the chosen band of
followers of whose fidelity Napoleon was assured; his special mission
was to gain over the cavalry to the side of his chief. He it was who,
with Leclerc, on the 18th Brumaire, forced his way into the Orangerie at
the head of the grenadiers and hurled out the deputies. The First
Consul rewarded him amply, appointing him inspector of the Consular
Guard, and, later still, in preference to his rival, Lannes, gave him in
marriage his sister Caroline. Murat had met Caroline Bonaparte at
Montebello during the Italian campaign of 1796, and had at once been
struck by her beauty. Like many another cavalier, he had a flame in
every country, or rather, in every town which he visited. But by 1799
the gay Gascon saw that it was time to finish sowing his wild oats,
since destiny was offering him a chance which falls to the lot of few
mortals. It was by now clear that the First Consul's star was in the
ascendant. Already his family were reaping the fruits of his success.
Ambition, pride and love were the cords of the net which drew the
willing Murat to Caroline. As brother-in-law to the First Consul,
Joachim felt secure against his bitter rival, Lannes. To add point to
this success, he knew that the victor of Montebello was straining every
nerve to gain this very prize. Moreover, Fortune herself favoured his
suit. Bonaparte had offered the hand of Caroline to the great General
Moreau, but the future victor of Hohenlinden refused to join himself to
the Corsican triumph. To cover his confusion the First Consul was glad
to give his sister's hand to one of his most gallant officers,
especially as by so doing he once and for all removed the haunting fear
of an intrigue between him and Josephine. Accordingly, on January 25,
1800, Murat and Caroline were pronounced man and wife in the temple of
the canton of Plailly, by the president of the canton. Though Caroline
only brought with her a dot of forty thousand francs, she stood for what
was better still, immense possibilities.
Murat's honeymoon was cut short by the Marengo campaign. In April he
started, as lieutenant-general in command of the cavalry, to join the
Army of the Reserve at Dijon. Once the corps of Lannes had, by the
capture of Ivrea, secured the opening into Italy, the cavalry were able
to take up their role, and with irresistible weight they swept down the
plains of Lombardy, forced the river crossings, and on June 2nd entered
Milan. Thence the First Consul despatched his horsemen to seize
Piacenza, the important bridge across the Po, the key of the Austrian
lines of communication. Murat, with a few troops, crossed the river in
some twenty small rowing-boats, and, dashing forward, captured the
bridge head on the southern bank, and thus secured not only the peaceful
crossing of his force, but the capture of the town and the immense
Austrian depots. At Marengo the cavalry acted in separate brigades, and
the decisive stroke of the battle fell to the lot of the younger
Kellermann, whose brilliant charge decided the day in favour of the
French. The despatches only mentioned that "General Murat's clothes were
riddled by bullets."
So far Murat had always held subordinate commands; his great ambition
was to become the commander-in-chief of an independent army. His wife,
Caroline, and his sister-in-law, Josephine, were constant in their
endeavours to gain this distinction for him from the First Consul. But
it was not till the end of 1800 that they succeeded; and then only
partially, for in December the lieutenant-general was appointed
commander of a corps of observation, whose headquarters were at Milan,
and whose duty was to overawe Tuscany and the Papal States. His campaign
in central Italy is more noticeable for his endeavours to shake himself
free from the control of General Brune, the commander-in-chief of the
Army of Italy, than for any very brilliant manoeuvres. Tuscany and the
Papal States were easily conquered, and the King of Naples was only too
glad to buy peace at Foligno. Italy lay at the feet of the French
general, but what was most gratifying of all, after his successful
negotiation with the King of Naples, the First Consul tacitly accepted
the title which his brother-in-law had assumed of commander-in-chief of
the Army of Naples. Murat had the satisfaction of having under his
orders Lieutenant-General Soult, three generals of division and four
generals of brigade. For the moment his Gascon vanity was satiated,
while his Gascon greed was appeased by substantial bribes from all the
conquered countries of the Peninsula. The "commander-in-chief" was
joined at Florence in May, 1801, by his wife, Caroline, and his young
son, Achille, born in January, whom he found "charming, already
possessed of two teeth." In the capital of Tuscany Murat gravely
delivered to the inhabitants a historical lecture on their science,
their civilisation, and the splendour of their state under the Medici.
He spent the summer in visiting the watering-places of Italy. In August
the First Consul raised him to the command of the troops of the
Cisalpine Republic, and he retained this post for the next two years,
and had his headquarters in Milan, making occasional expeditions to
Paris and Rome, and on the whole content with his position, save for
occasional quarrels with Melzi, the president of the Italian Republic.
Their jurisdictions overlapped and the Gascon would play second fiddle
to no one save to his great brother-in-law.
In January, 1804, the First Consul recalled Murat to Paris, nominating
him commandant of the troops of the first military division and of the
National Guard, and Governor of the city. Bonaparte's object was not so
much to please his brother-in-law as to strengthen himself. He was
concentrating his own family, clan, and all his most faithful followers
in readiness for the great event, the proclamation of the Empire. Men
like Lannes, whose views were republican, were discreetly kept out of
the way on foreign missions; but Murat, as Bonaparte knew, was a pliant
tool. As early as 1802 he had hotly favoured the Concordat, and had had
his marriage recelebrated by Cardinal Consalvi; and both Caroline and
Joachim infinitely preferred being members of the imperial family of
the Emperor of the French to being merely relations of the successful
general and First Consul of the French Republic. They were willing also
to obey the future Emperor's commands, and to aid him socially by
entertaining on a lavish scale, and their residence in Paris, the Hotel
Thelusson, became the centre of gorgeous entertainments. While Murat
strutted about in sky-blue overalls, covered with gold spangles,
invented new uniforms, and bought expensive aigrettes for his busby, his
wife showed her rococo taste by furnishing her drawing-room in red satin
and gold, and her bedroom in rose-coloured satin and old point lace.
They had their reward. Five days after the proclamation of the Empire,
after a furious scene, Napoleon conceded the title of Imperial Highness
to his sister with the bitter words: "To listen to you, people would
think that I had robbed you of the heritage of the late King, our
father." Meanwhile the Governor of Paris had received his Marshal's
baton, and in the following February was created senator, prince, and
Grand Admiral of France.
The rupture of the peace of Amiens did not affect the life of the
Governor of Paris; for two years he enjoyed this office, with all its
opportunities of ostentation and display. But in August, 1805, the
approaching war with Austria caused the Emperor to summon his most
brilliant cavalry leader to his side. In that month he despatched him,
travelling incognito as Colonel Beaumont, to survey the military roads
into Germany, and especially to study the converging roads round
Wuerzburg, and the suitability of that town as an advance depot for an
army operating on the Danube. From Wuerzburg Murat travelled hurriedly
through Nuremberg, Ratisbon, and Passau, as far as the river Inn,
returning via Munich, Ulm, the Black Forest, and Strassburg. Immediately
on his return the Emperor appointed him "Lieutenant of the Empire, and
commandant in his absence" of all the troops cantonned along the Rhine,
and of such corps of the Grand Army as reached that river before
himself. When war actually broke out Murat's duty was to mask, with his
cavalry in the Black Forest, the turning movement of the other corps of
the Grand Army which were striking at the Austrian rear. Once the
turning movement was completed the Prince was entrusted with the command
of the left wing of the army, which included his own cavalry division
and the corps of Lannes and Ney. Excellent as he was as cavalry
commander in the field, Murat had no head for great combinations.
Instead of profiting by the advice of those able soldiers, Lannes and
Ney, he spent his time quarrelling with them. He accordingly kept his
troops on the wrong side of the Danube, with the result that in spite of
Ney's brilliant action at Elchingen, two divisions of the Austrians
under the Archduke Ferdinand escaped from Ulm. Prince Murat, however,
retrieved his error by his brilliant pursuit of the escaped Austrians,
and by hard riding and fighting captured quite half of the Archduke's
command.
Impetuosity, perseverance, and dash are undoubtedly useful traits in the
character of a cavalry commander, and of these he had his fair share.
But his jealousy and vanity often led him astray. During the advance
down the Danube, in his desire to gain the credit of capturing Vienna,
he lost touch completely with the Russians and Austrians, who had
retreated across the Danube at Krems, and he involved the Emperor in a
dangerous position by leaving the unbeaten Russians on the flank of his
line of communications. But the Prince quickly made amends for his
rashness. The ruse by which he and Lannes captured the bridge below
Vienna was discreditable no doubt from the point of view of morality. It
was a direct lie to tell the Austrian commander that an armistice had
been arranged and the bridge ceded to the French. But the fact remains
that Murat saved the Emperor and the French army from the difficult and
costly operation of crossing the broad Danube in the face of the
Allies. A few days later the Prince's vanity postponed for some time the
culminating blow, for although he had so successfully bluffed the enemy,
he could not realise that they could deceive him, and believing their
tales of an armistice, he allowed the Allies to escape from Napoleon's
clutches at Hollabruenn. At Austerlitz the Prince Marshal covered himself
with glory. In command of the left wing, ably backed by Lannes, he threw
the whole weight of his cavalry on the Russians, demonstrating to the
full the efficacy of a well-timed succession of charges on broken
infantry, and giving a masterly lesson in the art of re-forming
disorganised horsemen, by the use he made of the solid ranks of Lannes'
infantry, from behind which he issued again and again in restored order,
to fall on the shaken ranks of the enemy. At Austerlitz he was at his
best. His old quarrel with Lannes was for the moment forgotten; his
lieutenants, Nansouty, d'Hautpoul, and Sebastiani, were too far below
him to cause him any jealousy. The action on the left was mainly one of
cavalry, in which quickness of eye and decision were everything, where a
fault could be retrieved by charging in person at the head of the staff,
or by a few fierce words to a regiment slightly demoralised. Rapidity of
action and a self-confidence which on the battlefield never felt itself
beaten were the cause of Murat's success.
It was the fixed policy of Napoleon to secure the Rhine valley, so that
never again would it be possible for the Austrians to threaten France.
To gain this end he originated the Confederation of the Rhine, grouping
all the small Rhineland states in a confederation of which he himself
was the Protector, and binding the rulers of the individual states to
his dynasty, either by marriage or by rewards. As part of this scheme
the Emperor allotted to Murat and Caroline the duchies of Cleves and
Berg, welding them into one province under the title of the Grand Duchy
of Berg. Thus the Gascon innkeeper's son became in 1806 Joachim, Prince
and Grand Admiral of France, and Grand Duke of Berg. He gained this
honour not as Murat, the brilliant cavalry general, but as Prince
Joachim, the brother-in-law of the Emperor Napoleon. The Grand Duke and
the Grand Duchess did not, however, reside long in their capital,
Duesseldorf; they infinitely preferred Paris. In their eyes Berg was but
a stepping-stone to higher things, a source of profit and a pretext for
exalting themselves at the expense of their neighbours. The Grand Duke
entrusted the interior management of the Duchy to his old friend Agar,
who had served him well in Italy, and who later became Count of Mosburg.
Any prosperity which the Grand Duke enjoyed was entirely due to the
financial ability of Agar. Murat, however, kept foreign affairs in his
own hands. As Foreign Minister, by simply taking what he wanted, he
added considerably to the extent of his duchy. But, like all Napoleon's
satellites, he constantly found his position humiliating, for in spite
of his tears and prayers, he had continually to see his duchy sacrificed
to France. It was no use to complain that Napoleon had taken away the
fortress of Wesel, which had been handed over to the Grand Duchy by
special treaty by the King of Prussia, for, as Queen Hortense wisely
asked him, "Who had really made that treaty? Who had given him the
duchy, the fortress, and everything?"
In September, 1806, Murat's second and last visit to Duesseldorf was
brought to an abrupt close by the opening of the Prussian campaign. On
the eve of the battle of Jena his cavalry covered forty miles and
arrived in time to give the enemy the coup-de-grace on the following
day, driving them in flight into Weimar. Then followed the famous
pursuit across Prussia, in which Murat captured first-class fortresses
with cavalry regiments, and divisions of infantry with squadrons of
horse, and ended by seizing Bluecher and the whole of the Prussian
artillery on the shore of the Baltic at Luebeck. But though his cavalry
had thus wiped the Prussian army out of existence, the war dragged on,
for, as in 1805, the Russians had entered the field. In November the
Emperor despatched his brother-in-law to command the French corps which
were massing round Warsaw. The Grand Duke read into this order the idea
that he was destined to become the King of a revived Poland; accordingly
he made a triumphant entry into Warsaw in a fantastic uniform, red
leather boots, tunic of cloth of gold, sword-belt glittering with
diamonds, and a huge busby of rich fur bedecked with costly plumes. The
Poles greeted him with enthusiasm, and Murat hastened to write to the
Emperor that "the Poles desired to become a nation under a foreign King,
given them by your Majesty." While the Grand Duke dreamed of his Polish
crown, the climate defeated the French troops, and when the Emperor
arrived at the front the Prince had to lay aside his royal aspirations.
But in spite of his disappointment he was still too much of a Frenchman
and a soldier to allow his personal resentment to overcome his duty to
his Emperor, and he continued to hope that by his daring and success he
might still win his Polish crown. At Eylau he showed his customary
bravery and his magnificent talent as a cavalry leader, when he saved
the shattered corps of Augereau by a successful charge of over twelve
thousand sabres. At the battle of Heilsberg the celebrated light
cavalryman, Lasalle, saved his life, but a few minutes later the Grand
Duke was able to cry quits by himself rescuing Lasalle from the midst of
a Russian charge. Unfortunately for Murat, the prospective alliance with
Russia once and for all compelled Napoleon to lay aside all thought of
reviving the kingdom of Poland, and when the would-be King arrived with
a Polish guard of honour and his fantastic uniform, he was met by the
biting words of the Emperor: "Go and put on your proper uniform; you
look like a clown."
After Tilsit the disappointed Grand Duke returned to Paris, where his
equally ambitious wife had been intriguing with Josephine, Talleyrand
and Fouche to get her husband nominated Napoleon's successor, in case
the accidents of the campaign should remove the Emperor. But Napoleon
had no intention of dying without issue. Thanks to his brother-in-law's
generosity, Murat was able to neglect his half-million subjects in Berg
and spend his revenues right royally in Paris. But early in 1808 his
ambition was once again inflamed by the hope of a crown--not a revived
kingship in Poland, but the ancient sceptre of Spain. Napoleon had
decided that the Pyrenees should no longer exist, and that Portugal and
Spain should become French provinces ruled by puppets of his own. Junot
already held Portugal; it seemed as if it needed but a vigorous movement
to oust the Bourbons from Madrid. Family quarrels had already caused a
revolution in Spain. Charles had fled the kingdom, leaving the throne to
his son Ferdinand. Both had appealed to Napoleon; consequently there was
a decent pretext for sending a French army into Spain. On February 25th
Murat was despatched at a few hours' notice, with orders to take over
the supreme command of all the French corps which were concentrating in
Spain, to seize the fortresses of Pampeluna and St. Sebastian, and to
advance with all speed on Madrid, but he was given no clue as to what
the Emperor's ulterior object might be. He was ordered, however, to keep
the Emperor daily informed of the state of public opinion in Spain.
Prince Joachim very soon perceived that King Charles was rejected by
everybody, that the Prime Minister, the Prince of Peace, was extremely
unpopular, and that Ferdinand was weak and irresolute: it seemed as if
he would follow the example of the King of Portugal, and would flee to
the colonies when the French army approached his capital. The only
disquieting feature of the situation was the constant annihilation of
small parties of French soldiers and the brutal murder of all
stragglers. On March 23rd the French army entered Madrid. All was
tranquil. Meanwhile the ex-King Charles had retired to Bayonne, and, by
the orders of the Emperor, the Prince of Peace was sent there also,
whereupon King Ferdinand, fearing that Napoleon might take his father's
part, hurried off to France. At Bayonne both the claimants to the
Spanish throne surrendered their rights to the Emperor, while at Madrid,
Murat, hoping against hope, played the royal part and kept the
inhabitants quiet with bull-fights and magnificent fetes. So far the
Spaniards, though restless, were waiting to see whether the French were
friends, as they protested, or in reality stealthy foes. The crisis came
on May 2nd, when the French troops were compelled to evacuate Madrid on
account of the fury of the populace at the attempted abduction of the
little Prince, Don Francisco. Murat showed to the full his indomitable
courage, fighting fiercely, not only for his Emperor, but for the crown
which he thought was his. Bitter indeed were his feelings when he
received a letter dated that fatal day, May 2nd, informing him that
Joseph was to be King of Spain, and that he might choose either Portugal
or Naples as his kingdom. In floods of tears he accepted Naples, but so
cruel was the blow that his health gave way, and instead of hurrying off
to his new kingdom he had to spend the summer drinking the waters at
Bareges; his sensitive Gascon feelings had completely broken down under
the disappointment, and, for the time being, he was physically and
morally a wreck.