the ceremony was over, the Emperor was returning to Boulogne
followed by his marshals and an immense retinue, when he stopped
in the shelter of one of these batteries, and calling to Marmont,
who had served in the artillery, said "Let us see if we can
remember our old trade and land a bomb on that English brig." And
dismissing the corporal who was in charge of the weapon, the
Emperor aimed and fired at the vessel. The bomb brushed the
vessel's sails and fell into the sea. Marmont tried but with no
better fortune. The Emperor then recalled the corporal to his
post and the latter took aim and fired with such effect that he
landed a bomb on the brig, which promptly sank, to the great
delight of the onlookers, whereupon Napoleon pinned a medal to
the soldier's uniform. How much truth there is in this tale, I do
not know. I shared in the favours being distributed on that day.
I had been a sous-lieutenant for five and a half years, and had
been through several campaigns. The Emperor, at the request of
Augereau promoted me to lieutenant; but for a moment I thought he
was going to refuse me this rank, for remembering that a Marbot
had figured in the conspiracy of Rennes, he frowned when the
marshal spoke up for me and, looking closely at me he said "Is it
you who...?" "No sire, it is not me who!..." I replied. "Ah!" he
said, "you are the one who was at Genoa and Marengo. I appoint
you lieutenant."
The Emperor also granted me a place at the military school of
Fontainebleau for my younger brother, Felix, and from that day on
he no longer confused me with my elder brother for whom he always
had antipathy, though Adolphe had done nothing to deserve it.
As the troops of 7th Corps were not concentrated in an
encampment, Marshal Augereau's presence in Brest was of very
little use; so he was given permission to spend the rest of the
summer and the autumn at his fine estate of La Houssaye, near
Tournan, in Brie. I even suspect that the Emperor preferred to
have him there rather than in the depths of Brittany at the head
of a large army. However, any doubts which the Emperor may have
had about Augereau's loyalty were without foundation, and arose
from the underground plots of a General S....
S.... was a brigadier-general serving in 7th Corps. A capable
officer, but over-ambitious. He was regarded as untrustworthy by
his fellow generals, who did not associate with him. Angered by
this rejection, and bent on revenge, he sent to the Emperor a
letter in which he denounced all the generals, as well as the
marshal, as conspiring against the empire. Napoleon, to his
credit, did not employ any secret means to ascertain the truth:
he simply passed the general's letter on to Marshal Augereau. The
marshal felt sure that nothing serious was going on in his army;
however as he knew that several generals and colonels had engaged
in some thoughtless talk, he resolved to put an end to this sort
of thing. As he did not wish to jeopardize the career of those
officers to whom he intended to deliver a rebuke, he thought it
would be best if his words were carried by an aide-de-camp, and
he chose to take me into his confidence for this important
mission.
I left La Housaye in August, in very hot weather, and rode at
full speed the one hundred and sixty leagues between the chateau
and the town of Brest, and as many again on the way back. I
stayed no more than twenty-four hours in the town, so I arrived
back completely worn out, for I think that there is no more
exhausting job than riding rapidly on horseback from post-house
to post-house. I had found things a good deal more serious than
the marshal had thought; there was, in fact a considerable
ferment in the army, but the message I had brought calmed down
the generals, almost all of whom were devoted to the marshal.
I was beginning to recover from my exertions when the marshal
said to me one morning, that the generals wanted to denounce
S.... as a spy. He added that it was absolutely essential that
he sent one of his aides-de-camp, and he wanted to know if I felt
able to make the journey again. He said he would not order me to
go, but would leave it to me to decide whether I could do it or
not. If it had been merely a matter of reward or even promotion,
I think I would have refused the task, but it was a question of
obliging my father's friend, who had welcomed me with so much
kindness, so I said that I would be ready to go in an hour's
time. I was worried that I might not be able to complete the
journey, because of the extremely tiring nature of this form of
travel; I rested for no more than two hours out of the
twenty-four, when I flung myself down on a heap of straw in the
post-house stables. It was fearfully hot weather, but I managed
to reach Brest and return without accident, and had the
satisfaction of being able to tell the marshal that the generals
would limit themselves to expressing their mistrust of S....
General S... being now discredited, deserted and went to England,
and is said to have wandered over Europe for twenty years before
dying in poverty.
After my second return from Brest, the marshal rewarded me by
putting me in direct contact with the Emperor. He sent me to
Fontainebleau to meet Napoleon and conduct him to La Houssaye,
where he was to spend a day in the company of several of his
marshals. It was while walking with them and discussing his
plans, and the manner in which he intended to uphold his dignity
and theirs, that he presented each of them with a sum of money
sufficient for them to purchase a mansion in Paris. Marshal
Augereau bought that of Rochechouart, in the Rue
Grenelle-St-Germain, which is today occupied by the ministry of
information. The mansion was superb, but the marshal preferred to
stay at La Houssaye, where he kept up a great state; for over and
above his aides-de-camp, each of whom had his own apartments, the
number of invited guests was always considerable. One enjoyed
complete liberty; the marshal allowed his guests to do as they
pleased, provided that no noise reached the wing of the chateau
occupied by his wife.
This excellent woman, who had become a chronic invalid, lived
very quietly, and appeared only rarely at the table or in the
salon, but when she did, far from constraining our high spirits,
she took pleasure in encouraging them.
She had with her two extraordinary lady companions. The first of
these always wore men's clothing, and was known by the name of
Sans-gene. She was the daughter of one of the leaders who, in
1793, defended Lyon against the forces of the convention. She
escaped, with her father, both of them disguised as soldiers, and
took refuge in the ranks of the 9th Dragoon regiment; where they
assumed nommes de guerre and took part in campaigning.
Mlle. Sans-Gene, who combined with her masculine attire and
appearance, a most manly courage, received several wounds, one of
them at Castiglione, where her regiment was part of Augereau's
division. General Bonaparte, who had often witnessed the prowess
of this remarkable woman, when he became First Consul, gave her a
pension and a position beside his wife; but life at court did not
suit Mlle. San-Gene. She left Mme. Bonaparte, who by mutual
consent handed her over to Mme. Augereau to whom she became
secretary and reader. The second lady companion of Mme. Augereau
was the widow of the sculptor Adam, and in spite of her eighty
years was the life and soul of the chateau.
Noisy parties and practical jokes were the order of the day at
this period of time, particularly at La Houssaye, whose
proprietor was not happy unless he could see his guests and the
younger members of his staff gay and animated. The marshal came
back to Paris in November; the time for the coronation was
drawing near and already the Pope, who had come for the ceremony,
was at the Tuileries. A crowd of magistrates and deputations from
various departments had collected in the capital, where also were
all the colonels of the army, with detachments from their
regiments, to whom the Emperor distributed, on the Champ de Mars,
the eagles, which became so celebrated. Paris, resplendent,
displayed a luxury hitherto unknown. The court of the new
Emperor became the most brilliant in the world; everywhere were
fˆtes, balls, and joyous assemblies.
The coronation took place on the 2nd December. I accompanied the
marshal at this ceremony, which I shall not describe, since the
details are so well known. Some days later the marshals held a
ball in honour of the Emperor and Empress. There were eighteen
marshals, and Marshal Duroc, although he was only Prefect of the
Palace, joined with them, which made nineteen subscribers, each
one of whom paid up 25,000 francs for the expenses of the event,
which therefore cost 475000 francs. The ball took place in the
great ballroom of the Opera, where never before had something so
magnificent been seen. General Samson of the engineers was the
organiser; the aides-de-camp acted as stewards, to welcome the
guests and to distribute tickets. Everyone in Paris wanted one,
so the aides were overwhelmed by letters and requests. I never
had so many friends! Everything went off perfectly, and the
Emperor appeared very pleased. So we ended the year 1804 in the
midst of celebrations, and entered the year 1805, which was to be
a year of many important events.
In order that his army could participate in the general
jollifications, Marshal Augereau went to Brest, in spite of the
rigours of winter, and gave a number of magnificent balls, at
which he entertained a succession of officers, and even a good
number of soldiers. At the beginning of spring, he returned to La
Houssaye to await the moment for the invasion of England.
This expedition, which was regarded as chimerical, was, however,
on the point of realisation. The presence of an English squadron
of about fifteen ships, cruising endlessly in the Channel, made
it impossible to transport a French army to England in boats and
barges which would have sunk on the least contact with a larger
vessel; but the Emperor could dispose of sixty ships of the line,
either French or foreign, dispersed in the harbours of Brest,
Lorient, Rochefort, Le Ferrol, and Cadiz; it was a matter of
concentrating them, unexpectedly, in the Channel, and crushing,
by a greatly superior force, the little English squadron, to
become masters of the passage, if only for three days.
To achieve this, the Emperor ordered Admiral Villeneuve, the
commander-in-chief of all these forces, to gather together, from
the French and Spanish ports whatever ships were available, and
head, not for Boulogne, but for Martinique, to where it was
certain the English fleet would follow him. While the English
were making their way to the Antilles, Villeneuve was to quit the
islands, and returning round the north of Scotland, was to enter
the eastern end of the channel with sixty ships, which would
easily overcome the fifteen which the English maintained before
Boulogne, and so put Napoleon in command of the crossing; while
the English, on their arrival at the Antilles, would search
around for Admiral Villeneuve's fleet, and thus waste valuable
time.
A part of this fine plan was now put into action. Villeneuve
left, with not sixty, but some thirty ships. He reached
Martinique. The English, led astray, hurried to the Antilles,
which Admiral Villeneuve had left, but the French admiral,
instead of returning via Scotland, made for Cadiz in order to
pick up the Spanish fleet, as if thirty ships were not enough to
overcome or chase away the fifteen English vessels!
That, however, is not all. Having arrived at Cadiz, Villeneuve
spent a great deal of time repairing his ships; time during which
the enemy fleet also returned to Europe, and established a
patrolling force off Cadiz. In the end, the coming of the equinox
gales having made sailing from this port difficult, Villeneuve
found himself blockaded; so the ingenious plans of the Emperor
came to nothing, and he, realising that the English would not be
taken in a second time, gave up the idea of invading Britain, or
at least postponed it indefinitely, and turned his attention to
the continent.
Before I recount the principal events of this long war, and the
part which I played in it, I must describe a terrible misfortune
which befell the family.
My brother, Felix, who was at the military school of
Fontainebleau, was a little short-sighted; he had, therefore,
hesitated before taking up a military career; nevertheless, once
embarked on it, he worked with such enthusiasm that he soon
became a sergeant-major, a position difficult to maintain in a
school. The pupils, an unruly lot, were in the habit of burying
in the earth of the fortifications which they were digging, the
implements which had been issued to them for the work. General
Bellavene, the head of the school, a very strict man, ordered
that the implements should be issued to the sergeant-majors, who
would then be accountable for them.
One day, my brother, having seen a pupil bury a pick, rebuked
him. The pupil replied very rudely and added that in a few days
they would be leaving school, and being then the equal of his
sergeant-major, he would demand satisfaction for the reprimand.
My brother replied indignantly that there was no need to wait so
long.
Lacking swords, they used compasses fixed to wooden batons:
Jacqueminot, who later became a lieutenant-general, was my
brother's second. My brother's poor eyesight put him at a
disadvantage, but he succeeded in wounding his opponent, though
he received in return a wound which penetrated his right arm. His
companions dressed it secretly.
By an unhappy coincidence, the Emperor had come to Fontainebleau,
and had decided to conduct manoeuvres for several hours, under a
blazing sun. My poor brother, compelled to run without rest, his
arm dragged down by the weight of his heavy musket, was overcome
by the heat and his wound re-opened! He should have fallen out on
the pretext of an indisposition, but he was in front of the
Emperor who, at the end of the session, would distribute the
commissions of sous-lieutenant, so eagerly desired. Felix made
superhuman efforts to resist, but at last his strength failed him
and he collapsed and was carried away in a most serious
condition.
General Bellavene sent an unfeeling message to my mother, saying
that if she wished to see her son, she must come immediately, for
he was dying. My mother was so distressed by this news, that she
was unable to make the journey. I posted there as quickly as I
could, but on my arrival I was told that my brother was dead.
Marshal Augereau did all that he could for us, in these unhappy
circumstances, and the Emperor sent the marshal of the palace,
Duroc, to convey his condolences to my mother.
All too soon another source of sadness would come to afflict her;
I would be forced to leave her, as war was about to break out on
the continent.
At a time when it might have been thought that the Emperor had
the greatest need to be at peace with the continental powers, in
order to execute his design for the invasion of England, he
issued a decree whereby he annexed the state of Genoa to France.
This was greatly to the advantage of the English, who profited
from this decision to frighten all the peoples of the continent,
to whom they represented Napoleon as aspiring to become the
master of the whole of Europe. Austria and Russia declared war
on us, Prussia, more circumspect, made preparations, but as yet,
said nothing.
The Emperor had no doubt foreseen these reactions, and a wish to
see hostilities break out perhaps underlay his seizure of Genoa;
for, despairing of ever seeing Villeneuve in control of the
channel, he wanted a continental war to deflect the ridicule to
which his proposed invasion, threatened for three years, but
never put into action, might have exposed him by displaying his
impotence in the face of England. The new coalition extricated
him nicely from an awkward situation.
Three years under arms had had an excellent effect on our
soldiers. France had never had an army so well trained, so well
organised, so keen for action, nor a leader in control of so much
power and such moral and material resources, who was so skillful
in their employment. So Napoleon accepted the outbreak of war
with pleasure, so confident was he of conquering his enemies, and
of making use of their defeat to strengthen his position on the
throne; for he knew the enthusiasm which the prospect of military
triumph always stirred up in the martial French spirit.
Chap. 23.
The great army which the Emperor was about to set in motion
against Austria, now had its back to that Empire, since the
forces deployed on the coasts of the North Sea, the Channel and
the Atlantic were facing England. On the right wing the 1st
Corps, commanded by Bernadotte, occupied Hanover; the 2nd, under
the orders of Marmont, was in Holland; the 3rd under Davout was
in Bruges; the 4th, 5th and 6th commanded by Soult, Lannes and
Ney, were encamped at Boulogne and in the surrounding district,
while finally the 7th commanded by Augereau was in Brest, and
formed the extreme left.
To break up this long cordon of troops and form them into a large
body which could march toward Austria, it was necessary to effect
an immense turn round from front to back. Each army had to make
an about turn, in order to face Germany, and form columns, to
march there by the shortest route. Thus the right wing became the
left, and the left the right.
Obviously, to go from Hanover or Holland to the Danube, the 1st
and 2nd Corps had a much shorter distance to travel than those
who came from Boulogne, and they in turn were nearer than
Augereau's corps, which, in order to go from Brest to the
frontiers of Switzerland on the upper Rhine, had to cross the
whole of France, a journey of some three hundred leagues. The
troops were on the road for two months, marching in several
columns; Marshal Augereau was the last to leave Brest, but he
then went on ahead, and stopped first at Rennes and then
successively at Alon‡on, Melun, Troyes and Langres, at which
stops he inspected the various regiments, whose morale was raised
by his presence. The weather was superb: I spent the two months
travelling endlessly in an open carriage, from one column to
another, carrying the marshal's orders to the generals, and was
able to stop twice at Paris to see my mother. Our equipment had
gone on in advance. I had a mediocre servant, but three excellent
horses.
While the Grande Armee was wending its way towards the Rhine and
the Danube, the French troops stationed in northern Italy, under
the command of Massena, concentrated in the Milan area in order
to attack the Austrians in the region of Venezia.
To transmit his orders to Massena, the Emperor was obliged to
send his aides-de-camp through Switzerland, which remained
neutral. Now it so happened that while Marshal Augereau was at
Langres, an officer who was carrying Napoleon's despatches was
thrown out of his carriage and broke his collar-bone. He was
taken to Marshal Augereau whom he told that he was unable to
continue his mission. The marshal, knowing how important it was
that the Emperor's despatches should arrive in Italy without
delay, entrusted me with the task of delivering them, and also of
going through Huningue, where I was to pass on his order to have
a bridge built over the Rhine at this spot. I was delighted to
have this mission, as it meant that I would have an interesting
journey and would be sure of rejoining 7th Corps before they were
in action against the Austrians.
It did not take me long to reach Huningue and Basle; I went from
there to Berne and on to Rapperschwill, where I left my carriage:
then, on horseback and not without some danger, I crossed the
Splugen pass, at that time almost impracticable. I entered Italy
at Chiavenna, and joined Marshal Massena near Verona. I went off
again without any delay, for Massena was as impatient to see me
go with his replies to the Emperor as I was to rejoin Marshal
Augereau before there was any fighting. However my return journey
was not as rapid as my journey out, because a very heavy fall of
snow had covered not only the mountains but also the valleys of
Switzerland; it had begun to freeze hard, and horses slipped and
fell at every step. It was only by offering 600 francs that I was
able to find two guides who were prepared to cross the Splugen
with me. It took us more than twelve hours to make the crossing,
walking through snow sometimes up to our knees. The guides were
on the point of refusing to go any further, saying that it was
too dangerous, but I was young and venturesome, and I knew the
importance of the despatches which the Emperor was awaiting.
I told my guides that even if they turned back, I would go on
without them. Every profession has its code of honour; that of
the guides consists principally in never abandoning the traveller
committed to their care. Mine then went forward, and after some
truly extraordinary exertions, we arrived at the large inn
situated at the foot of the Splugen as night was falling. We
would have undoubtedly died if we had been trapped on the
mountain, for the path, which was barely discernable, was edged
by precipices which the snow prevented us from seeing clearly. I
was exhausted, but a sleep restored my strength, so I left at
daybreak to reach Rapperschwill, where there were carriages and
passable roads.
The worst of the journey was over; so, in spite of the snow and
bitter cold, I reached Basle and then Heningue, where the 7th
Corps was stationed, on the 19th October. The next day we began
to cross the Rhine over a bridge of boats built for that purpose;
for although there was, less than half a league away in the town
of Basle, a stone bridge, the Emperor had ordered Marshal
Augereau to respect the neutrality of Switzerland, a neutrality
which they themselves broke, nine years later, by handing the
bridge to the enemies of France in 1814.
Here I was then, involved once more in a war. It was now 1805, a
year which for me heralded a long series of battles which lasted
continuously for ten years, for it did not end until ten years
later at Waterloo. However numerous the wars of the Empire might
be, nearly all French soldiers enjoyed one or even several years
of respite, either because they were in a garrison in France, or
they were stationed in Italy or Germany when we were at war with
Spain; but, as you will see, this did not happen to me; I was
continually sent from north to south, and south to north,
everywhere where there was fighting. I did not spend a single one
of these ten years without coming under fire and without shedding
my blood in some foreign country.
I do not intend to give, here, a detailed account of the campaign
of 1805. I shall limit myself to recalling the principal events.
The Russians, who were marching to the aid of Austria, were still
far away, when Field-marshal Mack, at the head of eighty thousand
men, advanced, unwisely, into Bavaria, where he was defeated by
Napoleon, who forced him to retreat to the fortress of Ulm, where
he surrendered with the greater part of his army, of which only
two corps escaped the disaster.
One of these, commanded by Prince Ferdinand, managed to reach
Bohemia; the other, commanded by the elderly Field-marshal
Jellachich, escaped into the Vorarlberg near Lake Constance,
where, flanked by neutral Switzerland, it guarded the narrow
passes of the Black Forest. It was these troops which Marshal
Augereau was about to attack.
After crossing the Rhine at Huningue, 7th Corps found itself in
the country of Baden, whose sovereign, along with those of
Bavaria and Wurtemberg, had just concluded an alliance with
Napoleon; so we were received as friends by the population of
Brisgau. Field-marshal Jellachich had not dared to oppose the
French in such open country, but awaited us beyond Freiburg, at
the entrance to the Black Forest, the passage through which he
expected us to effect only at the cost of much bloodshed. Above
all, he hoped to stop us at the Val d'Enfer, a very long and
narrow pass, dominated on both sides by sheer cliffs, and easy to
defend. But the men of 7th Corps had now heard of the successes
achieved by their comrades at Ulm and in Bavaria, and anxious to
emulate them, they advanced through the Black Forest with such
elan that they crossed through it in three days, in spite of the
natural obstacles, the enemy resistance and the difficulty in
finding food in this dreadful wilderness. The army finally broke
out into fertile country and made camp around Donauschingen, a
very pleasant town where there is the magnificent chateau of the
ancient line of the princes of Furstenburg.
The marshal and his aides-de-camp were billeted in the chateau,
in the courtyard of which is the source of the Danube; this great
river demonstrates its power at the moment of its birth, for at
the spot where it issues from the earth it already bears a boat.