the commander of the British squadron, to take him by sea to Italy, so
that he might escape the danger which he knew threatened him from the
hatred of the royalists. Unfortunately for the fame of England, Lord
Exmouth refused in the rudest terms, calling him "the prince of scamps"
and a "blackguard." Accordingly he set off by land, receiving a promise
of protection from the royalist commander, but no escort. With his two
aides-de-camp he reached Avignon in safety, but there he was set on by
the mob, chased into a hotel and shot in cold blood, and his body thrown
into the Rhone; a fisherman by night rescued the corpse, and for many
years the body of the Marshal reposed in the humble grave where the
kindhearted fisherman had placed it. Meanwhile the Government sanctioned
the story that he had committed suicide. But at last the persistence of
his widow compelled an inquiry, when the truth was revealed, and it was
proved without doubt that the murder had been connived at by the
authorities. The inquiry further revealed that the real cause of the
Marshal's death was not so much the measures he had taken to stamp out
the bands of royalists during his command in the Midi, as his old
connection with Camille Desmoulins and Danton. In spite of the fact
that he was not in Paris during the September massacres, and that he was
constantly employed with the army, rumour said that it was Brune who had
carried round Paris the head of the Princess Lamballe on a pike, and the
cunning revival of this story by the leaders of the White Terror had
roused the mob to commit the outrage. The story was absurd. The archives
of the War Office proved beyond doubt that he was not in Paris at the
time of the execution of the Princess. Strange to say, the Marshal
himself years before seems to have foretold his own death when, writing
about the Terrorists, he composed the following lines:--
"Against one, two hundred rise,
Assail and smite him till he dies.
Yet blood, they say, we spare to spill,
And patriots we account them still.
Urged by martial ardour on,
In the wave their victim thrown,
Return their frantic joy to fill;
Yet these men are patriots still."
Though his faithful wife had forced the authorities to remove the stain
of suicide from the Marshal's fair fame, it was not till 1839, the year
after her death, that at last a fitting monument was raised at
Brives-la-Gaillard to the memory of the Marshal, who, whatever his
failings as a commander might be, had lived a staunch friend, a true
patriot, a courageous soldier; and had twice received the grateful
thanks of the Government, and had twice been acclaimed as the saviour of
his country.
XVII
ADOLPHE EDOUARD CASIMIR JOSEPH MORTIER, MARSHAL, DUKE OF TREVISO
Edouard Mortier was born near Cambrai on February 13, 1768. His father,
a prosperous farmer, gave the future Marshal a fair education. Becoming
a man of some importance on the outbreak of the Revolution, he was able
in 1791 to secure for his son a commission in the volunteer cavalry of
the north. Extremely tall, heavily built, slow of speech, "with a stupid
sentinel look," the yeoman captain of 1791 gave the casual observer but
little sign of promise. But in spite of those rather weary looking eyes,
young Mortier was possessed of a burning enthusiasm and a dauntless
courage. From his first engagement at Quievrain, in April, 1792, where
he had a horse killed under him, to the day he and Marmont surrendered
Paris in 1814, every skirmish or engagement in which he took part bore
testimony to his extraordinary bodily strength and bravery. Nature
having also endowed him with a kindly temperament, it was not to be
wondered at that his men swore by him, and were ready to follow him
anywhere. But in spite of many gallant actions and numerous mentions in
despatches, promotion came but slowly; for Mortier spent the first six
years of his service with the armies of the Sambre and Meuse and of the
Rhine, and had to compete against such men as Soult, Ney, St. Cyr,
Kleber, and Desaix, who were on a higher mental plane. Still, he was
recognised as one who was bound to rise, and was one of those whom
Kleber singled out for commendation when he wrote to the Directory
saying, "With such chiefs a general can neglect to count the number of
his enemies"; and well he might, for on the day after he wrote his
report, Mortier, with a single battalion and four squadrons of cavalry,
having been ordered to try and drive two thousand of the enemy out of a
strong position on the Wisent, attacked them with such vivacity that, to
the surprise of everybody, in an hour he drove them in flight.
After the campaign in 1798 Jourdan sent up his name for the command of a
brigade; but he preferred the colonelcy of the twenty-first regiment of
cavalry. However, a few months later, on February 22nd, he was promoted
general of brigade. It was in this capacity that he served under Massena
in the celebrated campaign in Switzerland. At the second battle of
Zurich he did yeoman service; by a vigorous demonstration he held the
enemy near the town while Massena completed his turning movement; he
further distinguished himself by his vigour and resource during the
pursuit of the Russians; thus he won his promotion to general of
division on September 25, 1799. When Bonaparte became First Consul,
Mortier found no cause for dissatisfaction with the change of
Government; no politician, he was ready to accept any strong government.
Fortunately for him his dogged character and his fighting record
attracted the First Consul's attention. Bonaparte saw in him a man
without guile, a soldier who would accept any order from his chief, and
execute it instantly without questioning. Still, it was a great piece of
fortune for the general of division, who had hitherto held no
independent command in the field, that he lay with his troops near the
Vaal, at the time that the First Consul determined to punish England for
her suspicion of him by seizing Hanover. With twenty thousand men
General Mortier issued from Holland, fell suddenly on the Hanoverian
troops at Borstel on the Weser, and forced Count Walmoden to sign a
convention whereby the Hanoverian army was to retire behind the Elbe and
not to bear arms against the French as long as the war continued. The
English Government refused to ratify it, so Mortier at once called on
Walmoden to resume hostilities; but so unequal was the contest, that the
Hanoverian general was forced to accept a modified form of the former
convention. Thereon Mortier hurriedly occupied Hamburg and Bremen, and
closed the Elbe to English commerce. But brilliant as his operations had
been in the field, as military governor of the ceded provinces he
established a reputation for great rapacity, which followed him
throughout his career.
Napoleon, however, winked at his general's peculations so long as they
did not affect his treasury, and he showed his approbation of his
successful campaign by making him one of the four commandants of the
Guard, and including him, in 1804, among the first creation of Marshals.
Next year Mortier marched to Germany in command of a division of the
Guards. When after Ulm the army was reorganised for the advance on
Vienna, a new corps, composed of the division of Dupont and Gazan, was
entrusted to the Marshal. The duty he was to perform was difficult; he
was to cross the Danube at Linz and, unsupported save by a flotilla of
boats, hang on the Russian rear, while the rest of the army marched on
Vienna by the right bank of the river. The Emperor impressed on him the
necessity for caution, and warned him that he must throw out a ring of
vedettes and keep somewhat behind Lannes's corps, which was marching in
advance of him on the other side of the river. Unfortunately the
Marshal, in his eagerness to inflict loss on the Russians, whom he
believed to be flying in complete rout, neglected all warnings and
pushed recklessly forward. At Duerrenstein (near the castle where Richard
Coeur de Lion was imprisoned by the Archduke of Austria) he fell into
a trap. The enemy allowed him to pass the defile of Duerrenstein with
Gazan's division, knowing that Dupont was many miles in the rear, and
then closed in on him on front and rear. With but seven thousand men,
surrounded by thirty thousand Russians, it seemed that the Marshal was
lost. But he kept his head, and at once turned about to try and break
back and join Dupont, who he knew would hurry to his support. Firing at
point-blank range, struggling bayonet against bayonet, the small French
force worked its way towards the defile. Darkness fell, but still the
fight continued, and at last Dupont's guns were heard at the other side
of the gorge. But by then two-thirds of Gazan's division had fallen,
three eagles were taken, and Mortier himself, conspicuous by his
towering height, owed his safety to his skill with his sabre. His
officers had begged him to escape across the river by boat, lest a
Marshal of France should become a prisoner in the hands of the despised
Russians; this he indignantly refused. "No," he said, "reserve this
resource for the wounded. One who has the honour to command such brave
soldiers should esteem himself happy to share their lot and perish with
them. We have still two guns and some boxes of grape; let us close our
ranks and make a last effort." But still the Russians pressed the
devoted column, and now all the ammunition was expended and the
survivors were preparing to sell their lives dearly, when Dupont's men
at last hurled the enemy aside, and amid cries of "France! France! you
have saved us!" the undaunted remnant of Gazan's division threw
themselves into the arms of their comrades. On the morrow the sorely
battered corps was recalled across the Danube, but the Emperor could not
lay all the blame on Mortier, for it was his own mistake in strategy in
dividing his army by the broad Danube which had really caused the
disaster.
[Illustration: ADOLPHE EDOUARD MORTIER, DUKE OF TREVISO
FROM AN ENGRAVING AFTER THE PAINTING BY LARIVIERE]
In 1806 the Marshal acted independently on the left of the Grand Army,
and after occupying Cassel and Hamburg, where his cruel exactions
greatly increased his reputation for rapacity, he was entrusted with the
operations against the Swedes. In 1807, however, he was called up to
reinforce the Grand Army in time to take part in the decisive battle at
Friedland. In July, 1808, Napoleon rewarded him by creating him Duke of
Treviso. A month later he despatched him to Spain in command of the
fifth corps, which was composed of veterans of the Austrian and Prussian
campaigns, very different from the recruits of the third corps and other
corps in Spain. But in spite of this magnificent material the Marshal
did not distinguish himself. The severe reverse he had received at
Duerrenstein seemed to have killed his dash. His physical bravery
remained the same as ever, but his moral courage had deteriorated, and
in Spain his manoeuvres were always halting and timid. At Saragossa he
did not press the siege with the vehemence Lannes showed when he
superseded him; but at the battle of Ocana he showed that during a
combat his nerve was as good as ever. The first lines of the French,
broken by the fire of the Spanish battery, had begun to waver; the
Marshal was slightly wounded, but at the critical moment he rode up to
Girard's division, which was in reserve, and leading it through the
intervals of the first line, he caught the victorious enemy at a
disadvantage, and completely turned the fortunes of the day. The
remainder of the Duke of Treviso's service in the Peninsula was spent
under the command of Marshal Soult, either in front of Cadiz or as a
covering force to the troops occupied in that siege. From Spain he was
recalled in 1812 to command the Young Guard in the Russian campaign.
When the French evacuated Moscow the Marshal, at the Emperor's commands,
had the invidious duty of blowing up the Kremlin. During his retreat he
showed himself worthy of his post of commander of the Young Guard, and
in 1813, in the same capacity, he fought throughout the campaign, taking
his share in the battles of Luetzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Leipzig, and
Hanau. After Dresden he incurred, along with St. Cyr, the wrath of the
Emperor for not having aided Vandamme. But the fact remains that the
blame of the disaster at Kuelm rests entirely on Napoleon and Vandamme.
No orders were sent to Mortier or St. Cyr till after the disaster had
occurred, and Vandamme had not taken the most elementary precautions
against surprise. In 1814 the Marshal fought gallantly at Montmirail and
Troyes, but, like Victor and Ney, he showed but little ingenuity. When
Napoleon made his last dash eastward, he left Mortier and Marmont to
hold off the Prussians from Paris. The Duke of Treviso, though far
senior to the Duke of Ragusa, bowed to his superior genius, and in the
operations ending in the surrender of Paris he carried out his junior's
ideas with great generosity and without the least show of jealousy.
Like the rest of the Marshals, the Duke of Treviso made his submission
to the new Government. On the return of Napoleon he for a time kept true
to his oath to the Bourbons. When the Duke of Orleans, who shared with
him the command of the north, on leaving Lille, wrote to him, "I am too
good a Frenchman to sacrifice the interests of France, because now
misfortune compels me to quit it. I go to hide myself in retirement and
oblivion. It only remains for me to release you from all the orders
which I have given you, and to recommend you to do what your excellent
judgment and patriotism may suggest as best for the interests of
France," the Marshal, in spite of his decoration of St. Louis and his
seat as a peer of France, once again returned to his old allegiance. The
Emperor greeted him warmly and created him one of his new peers, and in
June sent him to the frontier in command of the Young Guard; but an
attack of sciatica forcing him to bed, he escaped the disaster of
Waterloo. On the second restoration he lost for the time his honours and
dignities, but refused to re-purchase them at the price of sitting as
judge on Marshal Ney; however, in 1819 he was reinstated in all of them.
It was not till the accession of the July monarchy that the Duke of
Treviso once again played a prominent part. In 1831 his old friend, the
Duke of Orleans, now become King, made him Grand Chancellor of the
Legion of Honour, and in November, 1834, called on him to accept the
onerous task of head of the Government and Minister of War. To help his
friend and sovereign the Duke accepted the responsibility, but soon
found that he was unequal to the task. A frank and loyal soldier, of
unimpeachable honour, integrity, and character, he could shine in the
field, but not in the forum. His fine, lofty figure, commanding air,
military bearing, and frankness were of no avail in the Chamber of
Peers, where what was wanted was a subtle spirit which could discern and
influence the drift of parties, a clear, facile tongue, and an apparent
acquaintance with any subject which might come up for discussion. These
were the very qualities in which the Marshal was most lacking.
Slow-witted by nature, with a limited vocabulary and a bad delivery, he
soon found himself unfitted for the post, and resigned in February,
1835. But unfortunately for him he still retained his position as Grand
Chancellor, and in this capacity he attended Louis Philippe on his way
to the ill-fated review of July 29th. As the procession arrived at the
boulevard of the Temple, the Marshal complained of the heat; his staff
tried to persuade the old soldier to go home, but he refused, saying,
"My place is by the King, in the midst of the Marshals, my comrades in
arms." Scarcely had he spoken when Fieschi hurled the fatal bomb, which
missed the King and the princes, but killed the Marshal and many another
soldier.
The Duke of Treviso, while doing his duty by his sovereign, met his
death like a soldier, though not on the field of battle. As with Davout,
the key to his character was his dogged determination; but though he
resembled the Prince of Eckmuehl on the battlefield, he had not his
powers of organisation, nor his clear insight into matters of policy and
strategy. But he had other qualities which Davout lacked. He was
kind-hearted, and beloved by his men. His simplicity and faithfulness
appealed to Napoleon, and to all who came in contact with him, and it
was for this reason that the Emperor entrusted him with the Young Guard.
What distinguished him from many of the other Marshals was his lack of
jealousy, and the generous way in which he co-operated with his comrades
in arms. When the funeral procession passed down the Rue Royale on its
way to the Church of the Invalides, with four Marshals on horseback
holding the corners of the pall, men felt, and felt rightly, that France
had suffered a loss, for one was gone who, peasant-born, had in his high
position known how to retain the simple virtues of a peasant, whose one
vice was the peasant vice of avarice, and who, with this exception, had
never allowed place or power to interfere with what he thought was his
duty.
XVIII
JEAN BAPTISTE BESSIERES, MARSHAL, DUKE OF ISTRIA
Fidelity and conscientiousness are great assets in life's race, and to
these Jean Baptiste Bessieres added great presence of mind and
considerable dash. It is not therefore surprising that, in an age when
disinterestedness and reliability were notably absent among public men,
his force of character pushed him above the ordinary adventurers, and
caused him to become one of Napoleon's most trusted lieutenants. The
Marshal was born at Prayssac in 1768. His father, a surgeon, brought up
his son in his own profession. But the outbreak of the Revolution opened
a wider field to the audacious young Gascon. Early in 1792 Jean Baptiste
quitted Cahors and the medical profession, and started off to Paris as
one of the newly-enrolled "garde constitutionnelle." His fidelity and
courage were soon put to the test. He aided the royal family in the
flight to Varennes, and consequently had to seek safety in retirement.
But the life of a soldier was as the breath of his nostrils, and three
months later he managed to enlist in the 22nd Chasseurs, a corps which
formed part of the Army of the Pyrenees. There his courage and ability
made him conspicuous. Within three months of enlisting he was promoted
sub-lieutenant. The year 1793 proved a disastrous one for France. Defeat
followed defeat. But Jean Baptiste never despaired, and when success
ultimately smiled on the French arms, he had established a reputation as
a daring and capable squadron commander. Still, like many another of the
successful soldiers of the age, Bessieres owed his quick promotion to
his early friendship with the great Corsican. It was Murat who called
Napoleon's attention to the future commander of the Imperial Guard, and
Bonaparte, with his eagle eye, at once appreciated his qualities. When
the young chief formed his special bodyguard, called the Guides, he
placed him at their head. The new corps was composed of the choicest
troops, and formed the nucleus of the Imperial Guard. Henceforward
Bessieres became his chief's confidant and inseparable friend. It was
the rare fidelity that he displayed to his master and his constant
attention to detail, his intuitive knowledge of his commander's
requirements, and his energy in carrying out his plans, rather than
great military genius, which accounted for the Emperor's life-long
appreciation of the commander of his Guides.
At Lonato and Castiglione Bessieres proved the correctness of the young
Corsican's judgment. At Roveredo he broke through the centre of the
Austrian infantry, and, with six others, captured two of the enemy's
guns. At the first battle of Rivoli, in accordance with his general's
commands, he laid an ambuscade in the marsh on the Austrian left, which
proved the decisive factor in the battle. In the following year he again
distinguished himself at the second battle of Rivoli and at the siege of
Mantua. As a reward for his services Bonaparte sent him to Paris with
the official despatches and the stands of colours won from the enemy,
and at the end of the campaign promoted him full colonel, and as a
further mark of his confidence appointed him tutor and instructor to his
stepson, Eugene. Bessieres accompanied Bonaparte to the East, and served
by his side in Egypt and Syria.
The commander of the Guides was among the chosen body of friends who
accompanied Bonaparte on his secret return to France, and in Paris he
helped Murat, Lannes, and Marmont to win over the army, and took a
prominent part in the coup d'etat of the 18th Brumaire. Immediately
after becoming First Consul Napoleon created the consular Guard,
composed of four battalions of infantry and two regiments of cavalry. He
placed at the head of the infantry Lannes, and at the head of the
cavalry Bessieres. With the cavalry of the Guard Bessieres took part in
the famous march across the Alps and in the drawn battle of Marengo.
Faithful as he had proved himself in war, he showed his fidelity in
peace by exposing the plot of the artist, Caracchi, and thus by ties of
gratitude bound himself closer to the First Consul. Tall, good-looking,
with a graceful figure and a charming smile, the commandant of the Guard
captivated everybody by his intelligence and his distinguished bearing,
which had a piquant flavour by reason of his adherence to the queue and
powder of a bygone age.
Rejecting the brilliant match proposed by the First Consul, he chose as
his bride Mademoiselle Lapezriere, a young lady of a royalist family.
The couple were married by a nonjuring priest, and, far from incurring
displeasure, were greatly complimented, for Bonaparte already desired
the Concordat with the Pope, and saw in the bride a useful supporter of
his scheme. Madame Bessieres was a great social success: a favourite of
Napoleon and a close friend and confidant of Josephine; everywhere she
was welcomed for her beauty, her force of character, and the charm of
her manner.
During the year of peace and the preparation for the invasion of
England, Bessieres accompanied the First Consul on all his numerous
expeditions. To his credit be it said, he protested loudly against the
ill-judged execution of the Duc d'Enghien. When the First Consul became
Emperor he enrolled his friend among his new Marshals, not for his
military genius, but as a reward for his fidelity, for none knew better
than Napoleon how lacking the new Marshal was in many of the requisites
of a great commander.
In 1805 the cavalry of the Guard formed part of the Grand Army, and
their commander, by his able backing of Murat, had his share in helping
to win the battle of Austerlitz. During the interval between the
Austrian and the Prussian campaigns the Marshal was busily occupied in
Paris in reorganising and expanding the Guard, and, as usual, was in
close touch with the Emperor. In the Prussian campaign Bessieres had his
first taste of an independent command, and gained great credit for his
masterly manoeuvring in Poland, where with a weak force he kept the
enemy in complete ignorance of the movements of the French, and covered
the conjunction of the various corps of the army.
After the peace of Tilsit he was entrusted with the delicate mission of
negotiating a marriage between Princess Charlotte of Wuertemburg and
Prince Jerome, the new King of Westphalia. Hardly had he returned to
Paris when he was hurried off again on active service, this time to
Spain. It was just a week before the disaster of Baylen that Marshal
Bessieres was confronted with a most serious problem. The Spanish levies
from Old Castile, under Cuesta, had effected a junction with the levies
of Galicia, under Blake, and were threatening to overwhelm the weak
force of ten thousand men with which the Marshal was attempting to put
down the guerilla warfare in the northern provinces. Bessieres had not
been the great Emperor's confidant for nothing, and he at once saw that,
unless he took the initiative, his force was doomed, for the enemy were
in overwhelming strength, and every day added to their numbers. He knew
well how ill-disciplined their forces were, and he determined to try the
effect of a surprise. Everything fell out as he wished. On July 14th he
found the Spanish armies in position outside Medina del Rio Seco, some
few miles east of Valladolid. The Spaniards, not knowing whether the
French were advancing from the direction of Valladolid or Burgos, had
placed the army of Blake on the Valladolid road, and that of Cuesta on
the Burgos road. Accordingly the Marshal was able to surprise and defeat
Blake, and then to turn and inflict a similar defeat on Cuesta. So far
his dispositions had been excellent, but, as General Foy said, "He could
organise victory, but he could not profit by it," for he was paralysed
by the extent of the guerilla warfare with which he was faced, and after
a short but bloody pursuit he called off his troops. Still, he had
accomplished much; for the time he had dispersed all organised
resistance in the northern provinces, and had opened the road to Madrid
for King Joseph.