After the victory of Lutzen, Napoleon proposed a cessation of
hostilities. But those allies who continually accused him of being
always for war, rejected his conciliatory proposals, and resolved to try
the sword again. They entrenched their camps at Bautzen, and far from
attempting the offensive, which they had found so perilous, they
anxiously awaited reinforcements. In the meantime, Napoleon had entered
Dresden in triumph. There he remained a week. Finding that all attempts
at conciliation were fruitless, he then determined to prosecute the
campaign vigorously. On the 18th of May, he commenced the march upon
Bautzen, and on the 21st, he reached the position of the allies. They
were posted in the rear of Bautzen, with the river Spree in front; a
chain of wooded hills and various fortified eminences to the right and
left were occupied.
The action at this place commenced by the movement of a column of
Italians, who were intended to turn the Prussian flank. This body,
however, was attacked and dispersed before Marshal Ney could support
them. The remainder of the day was spent by the French in passing the
Spree, which was effected without molestation. The Emperor bivouacked in
the town of Bautzen for the night. While the camp-fires of the French
and their adversaries blazed near each other beyond the Spree, Napoleon
called a council of his principal marshals, and after much deliberation,
it was resolved to turn the camp of the enemy, instead of storming it.
Day had just peeped in the east, and the fires had died out, when the
dauntless Ney made a wide circuit to the right of the Russians, while
Oudinot engaged their left, and Soult and the Emperor attacked the
centre. The battle was fiercely fought. The Prussians, under the lead of
the bold and pertinacious Blucher, kept their ground for four hours
against the repeated charges of Soult. The slaughter was dreadful on
both sides. At length, the Prussians were driven back, and the French
were left in undisputed possession of the heights. Ney had now gained
the rear of the allies, and he poured in murderous volleys of shot on
their dispirited ranks. Panic stricken at this furious assault, they
commenced their retreat, with such celerity as to gain time to rally on
the roads leading to Bohemia. As night descended, the French shouted
lustily for another victory. And there was revelry around the camp-fires
of Napoleon’s army. But the Emperor’s heart was sorely touched.
General Bruyeres, a gallant officer, had been stricken down in the
joyous moment of victory, at the head of the Imperial Guard. But it was
not for him that the Emperor wept. About seven in the evening, the grand
marshal of the palace—the devoted Duroc—he who was dearer to Napoleon
than even Lannes or Bessieres—was mortally wounded. He was standing on a
slight eminence, and at a considerable distance from the firing,
conversing with Marshal Mortier and General Kirgener, all three on foot,
when a cannon ball, aimed at the group, ploughed up the ground near
Mortier, ripped open Duroc’s abdomen, and killed General Kirgener. The
grand marshal was conveyed to a lowly house as the victors encamped for
the night. Napoleon was deeply affected when informed of the mournful
event. He hastened to Duroc, who still breathed, and exhibited wonderful
self-possession. Duroc seized the Emperor’s hand and pressed it to his
lips. “All my life,” he said, “has been devoted to your service, and I
only regret its loss for the use which it might still have been to you.”
“Duroc,” replied the Emperor, “there is another life. It is there that
you will await me, and that we will one day meet.”
“Yes, sire; but that will be in thirty years, when you shall have
triumphed over your enemies, and realized the hopes of our country. I
have lived an honest man; and have nothing to reproach myself with. I
leave a daughter; your majesty will be a father to her.”
Napoleon was deeply affected. He felt that the time was coming when he
should need friends like Duroc. He took the right hand of the grand
marshal in his own, and remained for a quarter of an hour with his head
resting on the left hand of his old comrade, without being able to
proffer a word.
Duroc was the first to break the silence. He did so, in order to spare
Napoleon any further laceration of mind. “Ah, sire,” said he, “go hence!
This spectacle pains you!”
Napoleon paused a moment, and then rose and said:
“Adieu, then, my friend!” and he required to support himself on Marshal
Soult and Caulaincourt, in order to regain his tent, where he would
receive no person the whole night. He was again victorious. But he had
lost his most faithful friends. His enemies were every day increasing in
numbers, while he was only growing weaker by the gradual diminution of
his forces; but some of the generals, upon whom he was most accustomed
to rely, were of doubtful fidelity. Victorious or not, he saw that the
struggle was to be continued against fearful odds, and a cloud
approached his star.
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[Illustration: NAPOLEON AT MONTEREAU. Page 421.]
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[Illustration]