Napoleon’s First Fight with the English
(1793)
The first six months of the year 1793 were notable ones in France. No
more fortunate than many others who did not wear the imperial purple,
the King paid for his incompetency with his head. Louis XVI. was one
of those weak persons who mean well but carry their good intentions
to no practical issue. His execution on the 21st January brought more
important and far-reaching results than his thirty-eight years of life.
Republican France, proclaimed on the 22nd September 1792, was no longer
a mere dream of enthusiasts, but a reality, although the foundations
were insecure and the superstructure top-heavy. The seed of liberty
had been planted, and it was fondly hoped that it would bring forth an
increase which would blossom in every country.
In the previous April the luckless Louis had been reluctantly compelled
to declare war on Austria, the latter Power receiving the support of
Prussia. The attempt on the part of the half-disciplined French troops
under General Dumouriez to invade the Austrian Netherlands signally
failed. This poor beginning was amply retrieved at Valmy and by the
seizure of the Netherlands after the battle of Jemappes on the 6th of
the following November. Savoy and the Rhine Valley were also occupied,
and promises of assistance made to all countries that cared to raise
the standard of revolt.
With the execution of Louis XVI. monarchical Europe assumed a more
threatening aspect. The Convention had already stated that its
business was to drive out “tyrants” who occupied thrones, and such a
proclamation was not pleasant reading for those whom it most concerned.
Owing to an “attachment to the coalition of crowned heads” on the part
of George III., France declared war against England on the 1st February
1793, and as the latter had allied herself to Holland, that country
also received the same unwelcome challenge. The two Powers shortly
afterwards joined hands with Russia, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire
for the purpose of mutual support. France had more than her hands full,
especially as she was in an unsettled state within her own borders.
The momentary triumphs of the Revolutionary troops did not last. The
Convention supported the war in the Netherlands half-heartedly, and
so enraged Dumouriez that he deserted to Austria and subsequently
retired to England, where he spent his remaining days. Government
passed into the hands of a select few known as the Committee of
Public Safety. In the Convention were two parties, the Girondists or
moderate republicans, and the Mountain, whose views were considerably
more advanced and far less reasonable. They could not rule themselves
much less the nation. The Mountain prevailed, and the cause of the
Girondists was taken up with enthusiasm by the people of La Vendée,
a department of Brittany, which had no sympathy with the extreme
measures advocated by the Mountain. In company with several other
populous centres Marseilles revolted, and it was to this city that
the Bonapartes proceeded in September, 1793, after having led a dreary
existence on the outskirts of Toulon. By this time affairs had quieted
down again. Napoleon’s sympathy was with the policy of the Mountain.
Having been promoted to the position of _capitaine commandant_ he had
joined his regiment at Nice in the previous June. He sent his family
every sou he could spare from his meagre pay, but this did not suffice
to keep its members from actual want, and the proud Letizia and her
children were obliged to eat the bread of charity. Gradually things
took on a rosier complexion, and Joseph, Lucien, and Joseph Fesch, who
was of the party, obtained positions which presumably left a small
margin for the benefit of their sorely-stricken relations. It seemed as
though Dame Fortune were indeed smiling when small pensions from a fund
which had been voted for Corsican refugees were granted to the mother
and each child under the age of fifteen.
Being unable to get an appointment on active service, for which he
ardently longed, Napoleon sought solace in literature. Had he failed
in the army it is not at all improbable that he would have become a
literary man; although it is doubtful if his achievements in this
field would have made his name famous. For the moment he sheathed his
sword and took up his pen, producing a pamphlet written in the form of
a dialogue, entitled “The Supper at Beaucaire.” To quote the opinion
of Sir John Seeley: “It is highly characteristic, full of keen and
sarcastic sagacity, and of clear military views; but the temperature
of its author’s mind has evidently fallen suddenly; it has no warmth,
but a remarkable cynical coldness.” It was published at Avignon in
August 1793. Like his previous publications it attracted little or no
attention in the days when printing presses were turning out pamphlets
by the thousand, but as if to counterbalance the failure, Napoleon was
about to have an opportunity to show his talents along the line they
were slowly but surely developing.
The inhabitants of the great southern seaport and arsenal of Toulon,
the majority of them royalists to the core, had openly rebelled. Unlike
those of Marseilles, who had raised an army against the Convention,
they had gone so far as to call in the assistance of the enemy. English
and Spanish fleets under Hood and Langara respectively, blockaded the
harbour; in other words prevented or attempted to prevent the entry
and exit of vessels; and troops which had been hastily landed were in
command of the town. It soon became evident that the Convention would
have to re-take the place by force.
The commander of the artillery having been wounded, Napoleon, now _chef
de bataillon_, was called upon to take his place. The army which he
joined consisted of a motley crowd hastily gathered together. Trained
officers were in the minority, for the simple reason that until the
fall of Louis XVI. none but the nobility had been allowed to hold a
command. Their plebeian successors endeavoured to make up for a lack
of military education by a zeal which was not infrequently manifested
in the wrong place and at the wrong moment. For instance, Carteaux,
originally an artist, having been invested with the command of the
army marching on Toulon and failing miserably, his place was taken
by Doppet, a retired doctor who succeeded no better. Not until the
amateurs had been tried and found wanting was the position given to
Dugommier, a veteran who had served with the colours for half a
century, and who was to meet his death by a Spanish bullet in the
following year.
Modern authorities regard with suspicion the oft-repeated assertion
that Napoleon persuaded the Council of War to adopt the plan he had
drawn up for the purpose of capturing the well-nigh impregnable town.
There is no doubt that he behaved with consummate bravery throughout
the siege. He seemed to know instinctively what to do in a case of
emergency. Examples could be multiplied, but one must suffice. A
soldier who was serving a big gun was struck lifeless while Napoleon
was standing near. Without hesitation he took the dead man’s place and
proceeded to ram home the ammunition until another artilleryman stepped
forward. He did not expect others to do what he feared to undertake
himself, and he was never backward in appreciating bravery and resource
in others.
One day he was directing the construction of a battery when it became
necessary for him to dictate a despatch. He called for some one to
write it for him, and a young man named Junot offered to do so. A heavy
shot came to earth within such a short distance of them that Junot was
literally covered with dust. “Good,” he exclaimed, “we shall not want
sand this time,” referring, of course, to the old method of blotting
wet ink. Napoleon never forgot the incident, and Junot received his
reward when Napoleon came into his own. Victor Perrin also came under
the notice of Napoleon at the siege of Toulon. He was twice wounded,
but stuck to his guns, which he fired with much skill.
Having ordered a battery to be erected in an exposed position in
the near vicinity of Fort Mulgrave, one of the most important of
the English strongholds, Napoleon named this “the battery of the
fearless.” His keen sense of the dramatic told him that henceforth it
would be deemed an honour to be there, either dead or alive. Doppet
says that “whenever he visited the outposts of the army, he was always
sure to find the Commandant of Artillery at his post; he slept little,
and that little he took on the ground, wrapped in his mantle: he
hardly ever quitted his batteries.” Napoleon developed extraordinary
initiative. He sent for the guns not in use by the Army of Italy,
procured horses by requisition, established a repair shop, ordered five
thousand sand-bags to be made every day at Marseilles to be used for
purposes of defence, and had a small army of smiths, wheelwrights, and
carpenters at his command. “Nothing was done but by Bonaparte’s orders
or under his influence; everything was submitted to him,” Marmont
assures us. “He made tables of what was required; indicated how this
was to be obtained; put everything in motion, and, in a week, gained an
ascendancy over the Commissioners almost impossible to be concealed.”
Fort Mulgrave, called by its besiegers “the little Gibraltar,” was
the key of the position, for it commanded the inner harbour. Before
dawn on the morning of the 17th December, three columns of soldiers
set out to reduce it, a previous attack having failed largely owing
to the premature sounding of the retreat. Twice the attacking party
was all but successful, and as a last resource the reserves under
Napoleon were called up. Although his battalion was not the first to
scale the walls, young Bonaparte and his men did magnificent work,
and soon the guns which had been trained on the French were firing in
the direction of the enemy. On the same day the Tricolour waved over
two more forts which had been evacuated, the enemy finding Toulon
untenable and resistance impossible in the face of the 37,000 men who
were confronting them; the English, Spanish, Piedmontese and Neapolitan
forces not numbering more than 17,200. Napoleon began to bombard the
now doomed city and the fleet which still lay in the roadstead. That
night Sidney Smith, a gallant young English captain, with a little
body of men equally brave, set fire to a dozen French ships in the
harbour. The naval stores were soon well alight, the flames spreading
with bewildering rapidity, and the Spaniards exploded two powder-ships.
On the 19th, Lord Hood in the _Victory_ weighed anchor, and the
British fleet left the scene of disaster with over 14,000 of the
terror-stricken inhabitants on board, and four ships-of-the-line, three
frigates and several smaller vessels as spoil.
The luckless Toulonese paid heavily for their defection. For hours
the city was given up to pillage, the Republican troops losing all
restraint and refusing to listen to the humane pleadings of Dugommier.
Nor was this all, for about 1800 persons perished by the guillotine or
were shot. The Reign of Terror was not confined to Paris.
“Who is that little bit of an officer, and where did you pick him
up?” some one is reported to have asked Dugommier. “That officer’s
name,” was the reply, “is Napoleon Bonaparte. I picked him up at the
Siege of Toulon, to the successful termination of which he eminently
contributed, and you will probably one day see that this little bit of
an officer is a greater man than any of us.”
It is certain that Dugommier was highly pleased with the conduct of
his able lieutenant, indeed he “mentioned him in despatches,” an
honour for which every soldier longs. “Among those who distinguished
themselves most,” he writes, “and who most aided me to rally the
troops and push them forward, are citizens Buona Parte, commanding the
artillery, Arena and Cervoni, Adjutants-General.” Generals Du Teil and
Salicetti also said kind things of the Corsican. “Words fail me to
describe Bonaparte’s merit”; says the former, “to a mind well stored
with science, he brings great intelligence and unlimited courage. Such
is a weak sketch of the qualities of this incomparable officer.”
For the services thus rendered Napoleon received another step in rank,
and on the 1st February 1794, he became General of Brigade. His duties
were to inspect the defences of the southern coast and to supervise
the artillery and stores of the Army of Italy, commanded by General
Schérer, whose headquarters were at Nice. Napoleon arrived at that town
in the following March, and a month later was appointed General in
Command of the Artillery.