Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 2
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Title: Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 2
Editor: Charles F. Horne
Release date: August 27, 2008 [eBook #26422]
Most recently updated: January 4, 2021
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GREAT MEN AND FAMOUS WOMEN. VOL. 2 ***
Produced by Sigal Alon, Christine P. Travers and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling
has been maintained.
Captions marked with [TN] and the table of contents have been added
while producing this file.]
[Illustration: Repulsed at Torgau--Frederick waiting for morning.]
GREAT MEN AND FAMOUS WOMEN
_A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of_
THE LIVES OF MORE THAN 200 OF THE MOST PROMINENT PERSONAGES IN HISTORY
VOL. II.
Copyright, 1894, BY SELMAR HESS
edited by Charles F. Horne
[Illustration: Publisher's arm.]
New-York: Selmar Hess Publisher
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
SUBJECT AUTHOR PAGE
CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN, _General John Mitchell,_ 211
ROBERT, LORD CLIVE, _W. C. Taylor, LL.D.,_ 244
STEPHEN DECATUR, _Edward S. Ellis, A.M.,_ 318
GEORGE DEWEY, _Major-General Joseph Wheeler,_ 402
PRINCE EUGENE OF SAVOY, _G. P. R. James,_ 223
DAVID GLASCOE FARRAGUT, _L. P. Brockett, A.M.,_ 379
FREDERICK THE GREAT, _Major-General John Mitchell,_ 237
GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI, 389
ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT, _Oliver Optic,_ 343
SAM HOUSTON, _Amelia E. Barr,_ 331
THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON, _Marion Harland,_ 373
PAUL JONES, 301
FRANCOIS KELLERMANN, MARSHAL OF FRANCE, 251
JAMES LAWRENCE, 313
ROBERT EDMUND LEE, _General Viscount Wolseley,_ 363
Letter from Lee to his son on the subject of "Duty," 372
FRANCIS MARION, 296
JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, _L. Drake,_ 217
FIELD-MARSHAL COUNT VON MOLTKE, 395
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, _Colonel Clayton, R.A.,_ 262
LORD HORATIO NELSON, 279
MICHEL NEY, MARSHAL OF FRANCE,
_Louise Chandler Moulton,_ 255
OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, 325
DAVID DIXON PORTER, 387
ISRAEL PUTNAM, 284
WINFIELD SCOTT, _Hon. Theodore Roosevelt,_ 338
PHILIP HENRY SHERIDAN, 358
WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN, _Elbridge S. Brooks,_ 352
TECUMSEH, _James A. Green,_ 308
MARSHAL TURENNE, 205
ANTHONY WAYNE, _O. C. Bosbyshell,_ 289
ARTHUR, DUKE OF WELLINGTON, _L. Drake,_ 272
GENERAL JAMES WOLFE, _L. Drake,_ 231
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME II.
PHOTOGRAVURES
ILLUSTRATION ARTIST TO FACE
PAGE
REPULSED AT TORGAU--FREDERICK
WAITING FOR MORNING, _R. Warthmueller_ Frontispiece
THE MARSEILLAISE, _Gustave Dore_ 252
NAPOLEON AND THE SPHINX, _Jean Leon Gerome_ 264
SHERIDAN'S RIDE, _T. Buchanan Read_ 362
FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY, _W. H. Overend_ 386
ADMIRAL DEWEY AT MANILA
BAY, _H. T. See_ 402
THE DEWEY TRIUMPHAL ARCH, 406
WOOD-ENGRAVINGS AND TYPOGRAVURES.
TURENNE AT THE BATTLE OF THE DUNES, _Lariviere_ 208
CHARLES XII. AND AN UNWILLING
RECRUIT, _Thure von Cederstroem_ 212
PRINCE EUGENE AND THE MARSHAL DE
VILLARS, _P. Philippoteaux_ 226
GENERAL WOLFE LANDING AT LOUISBURG, _Wild_ 232
FREDERICK AND THE AUSTRIANS AFTER
LEUTHEN, _A. Kampf_ 242
MARSHAL NEY RETURNING THE CAPTURED
COLORS, _Meynier_ 256
A REVIEW OF THE BRITISH ARMY BY WELLINGTON, 274
NELSON AT TRAFALGAR, _W. H. Overend_ 282
MARION CROSSING THE PEDEE, _W. Ranney_ 300
PAUL JONES AND LADY SELKIRK, _W. H. Overend_ 304
TECUMSEH DEFENDS THE WHITES AT FORT
MEIGS, _Chapin_ 310
"DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP," _Alonzo Chappel_ 316
DECATUR'S CONFLICT WITH THE ALGERINE
AT TRIPOLI _Alonzo Chappel_ 322
JACKSON AT CHANCELLORSVILLE, _A. R. Ward_ 378
MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND
GARIBALDI, _C. Ademollo_ 394
MOLTKE AT VERSAILLES, 1870, _Anton von Werner_ 400
ADMIRAL DEWEY LOVING CUP, 404
MARSHAL TURENNE
(1611-1675)
[Illustration: Turenne. [TN]]
Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, esteemed, after
Napoleon, the greatest of French generals, was born September 16,
1611. He was the second son of the Duc de Bouillon, Prince of Sedan,
and of Elizabeth of Nassau, daughter of the celebrated William of
Orange, to whose courage and talents the Netherlands mainly owed their
deliverance from Spain. Both parents being zealous Calvinists, Turenne
was of course brought up in the same faith. Soon after his father's
death, the duchess sent him, when he was not yet thirteen years old,
into the Low Countries, to learn the art of war under his uncle,
Maurice of Nassau, who commanded the troops of Holland in the
protracted struggle between that country and Spain. Maurice held that
there was no royal road to military skill, and placed his young
relation in the ranks, as a volunteer, where for some time he served,
enduring all hardships to which the common soldiers were exposed. In
his second campaign he was promoted to the command of a company, which
he retained for four years, distinguished by the admirable discipline
of his men, by unceasing attention to the due performance of his own
duty, and by his eagerness to witness, and become thoroughly
acquainted with, every branch of service. In the year 1630, family
circumstances rendered it expedient that he should return to France,
where the Court received him with distinction, and invested him with
the command of a regiment.
Four years elapsed before Turenne had an opportunity of distinguishing
himself in the service of his native country. His first laurels were
reaped in 1634, at the siege of the strong fortress of La Motte, in
Lorraine, where he headed the assault, and, by his skill and bravery,
mainly contributed to its success. For this exploit he was raised, at
the early stage of twenty-three, to the rank of Marechal de Camp, the
second grade of military rank in France. In the following year, the
breaking out of war between France and Austria opened a wider field of
action. Turenne held a subordinate command in the army, which, under
the Cardinal de la Valette, marched into Germany to support the
Swedes, commanded by the Duke of Weimar. At first fortune smiled on
the allies; but, ere long, scarcity of provisions compelled them to a
disastrous retreat over a ruined country, in the face of the enemy. On
this occasion the young soldier's ability and disinterestedness were
equally conspicuous. He sold his plate and equipage for the use of the
army; threw away his baggage to load the wagons with those stragglers
who must otherwise have been abandoned; and marched on foot, while he
gave up his own horse to the relief of one who had fallen, exhausted
by hunger and fatigue. These are the acts which win the attachment of
soldiers, and Turenne was idolized by his.
Our limits will not allow of the relation of those campaigns in which
the subject of this memoir filled a subordinate part. In 1637-38 he
again served under La Valette, in Flanders and Germany, after which he
was made Lieutenant-general, a rank not previously existing in France.
The three following years he was employed in Italy and Savoy, and in
1642 made a campaign in Roussillon, under the eye of Louis XIII. In
the spring of 1643 the king died; and in the autumn of the same year
Turenne received from the queen-mother and regent, Anne of Austria, a
marshal's baton, the appropriate reward of his long and brilliant
services. Four years a captain, four a colonel, three Marechal de
Camp, five lieutenant-general, he had served in all stations from the
ranks upward, and distinguished himself in them not only by military
talent, but by strict honor and trustworthiness; rare virtues in those
turbulent times, when men were familiar with civil war, and the great
nobility were too powerful to be peaceful subjects.
Soon after his promotion he was sent to Germany, to collect and
reorganize the French army, which had been roughly handled at
Duttlingen. It wanted rest, men, and money, and he settled it in good
quarters, raised recruits, and pledged his own credit for the
necessary sums. The effects of his exertions were soon seen. He
arrived in Alsace, December, 1643, and in the following May was at the
head of 10,000 men, well armed and equipped, with whom he felt strong
enough to attack the Imperial army, and raise the siege of Fribourg.
At that moment the glory which he hoped for, and was entitled to
obtain, as the reward of five months' labor, was snatched from him by
the arrival of the celebrated Prince de Conde, at that time Duc
d'Enghien, to assume the command. The vexation which Turenne must have
felt was increased by the difference of age (for the prince was ten
years his junior), and of personal character. Conde was ardent and
impetuous, and flushed by his brilliant victory at Rocroi the year
before; Turenne, cool, calculating, and cautious, unwearied in
preparing a certainty of success beforehand, yet prompt in striking
when the decisive moment was come. The difference of their characters
was exemplified upon this occasion. Merci, the Austrian commander, had
taken up a strong position, which Turenne said could not be forced;
but at the same time pointed out the means of turning it. Conde
differed from him, and the second in command was obliged to submit. On
two successive days two bloody and unsuccessful assaults were made;
on the third Turenne's advice was taken, and on the first
demonstration of this change of plan Merci retreated. In the following
year, ill supplied with everything, and forced to separate his troops
widely to obtain subsistence, Turenne was attacked at Mariendal, and
worsted by his old antagonist, Merci. This, his first defeat, he felt
severely; still he retained his position, and was again ready to meet
the enemy, when he received positive orders from Mazarin to undertake
nothing before the arrival of Conde. Zealous for his country and
careless of personal slights, he marched without complaint under the
command of his rival; and his magnanimity was rewarded at the battle
of Nordlingen, in 1645, where the centre and right wing having failed
in their attack, Turenne, with the left wing, broke the enemy's right,
and falling on his centre in flank, threw it into utter confusion. For
this service he received the most cordial and ample acknowledgments
from Conde, both on the field and in his despatches to the Queen
Regent. Soon after, Conde, who was wounded in the battle, resigned his
command into the hands of Turenne. The following campaigns of
1646-47-48 exhibited a series of successes, by means of which he drove
the Duke of Bavaria from his dominions, and reduced the emperor to
seek for peace. This was concluded at Munster in 1648, and to
Turenne's exertions the termination of the Thirty Years' War is mainly
to be ascribed.
The repose of France was soon broken by civil war. Mazarin's
administration, oppressive in all respects, but especially in fiscal
matters, had produced no small discontent throughout the country, and
especially in Paris, where the Parliament openly espoused the cause of
the people against the minister, and was joined by several of the
highest nobility, urged by various motives of private interest or
personal pique. Among these were the Prince of Conti, the Duc de
Longueville, and the Duc de Bouillon. Mazarin, in alarm, endeavored to
enlist the ambition of Turenne in his favor, by offering the
government of Alsace, and the hand of his own niece, as the price of
his adherence to the Court. The viscount, pressed by both parties,
avoided declaring his adhesion to either; but he unequivocally
expressed his disapprobation of the cardinal's proceedings, and, being
superseded in his command, retired peaceably to Holland. There he
remained till the convention of Ruel effected a hollow and insincere
reconciliation between the Court and one of the jarring parties of
which the Fronde was composed. That reconciliation was soon broken by
the sudden arrest of Conde, Conti, and the Duc de Longueville. Turenne
then threw himself into the arms of the Fronde, and, at the head of
eight thousand men, found himself obliged to encounter the royal army,
twenty thousand strong. In the battle which ensued, he distinguished
his personal bravery in several desperate charges; but the disparity
was too great; and this defeat of Rhetel was of serious consequence to
the Fronde party. Convinced at last that his true interest lay rather
on the side of the Court, then managed by a woman and a priest, where
he might be supreme in military matters, than in supporting the cause
of an impetuous and self-willed leader, such as Conde, Turenne gladly
listened to overtures of accommodation, and passed over to the support
of the regency.
The value of his services was soon made evident. Twice, at the head of
very inferior troops, he checked Conde in the career of victory; and
again compelled him to fight under the walls of Paris; where, in the
celebrated battle of the Faubourg St. Antoine, the prince and his army
narrowly escaped destruction. Finally, he re-established the Court at
Paris, and compelled Conde to quit the realm. These important events
took place in one campaign of six months in 1652.
In 1654 he again took the field against his former friend and
commander, Conde, who had taken refuge in Spain, and now led a foreign
army against his country. The most remarkable operation of the
campaign was the raising the siege of Arras, which the Spaniards had
invested, according to the most approved fashion of the day, with a
strong double line of circumvallation, within which the besieging army
was supposed to be securely sheltered against the sallies of the
garrison cooped up within, and the efforts of their friends from
without. Turenne marched to the relief of the place. This could only
be effected by forcing the enemy's entrenchments; which were
accordingly attacked, contrary to the opinion of his own officers, and
carried at all points, despite the personal exertions of Conde. The
Spaniards were forced to retreat. It is remarkable that Turenne, not
long after, was himself defeated in precisely similar circumstances,
under the walls of Valenciennes, round which he had drawn lines of
circumvallation. Once more he found himself in the same position at
Dunkirk. On this occasion he marched out of his lines to meet the
enemy, rather than wait, and suffer them to choose their point of
attack; and the celebrated battle of the Dunes, or Sandhills, ensued,
in which he gained a brilliant victory over the best Spanish troops,
with Conde at their head. This took place in 1657. Dunkirk and the
greater part of Flanders fell into the hands of the French in
consequence; and these successes led to the treaty of the Pyrenees,
which terminated the war in 1658.
When war broke out afresh between France and Spain, in 1667, Louis
XIV. made his first campaign under Turenne's guidance, and gained
possession of nearly the whole of Flanders. In 1672, when Louis
resolved to undertake in person the conquest of Holland, he again
placed the command, under himself, in Turenne's hands, and disgraced
several marshals who refused to receive orders from the viscount,
considering themselves his equals in military rank. How Le Grand
Monarque forced the passage of the Rhine when there was no army to
oppose him, and conquered city after city, till he was stopped by
inundations, under the walls of Amsterdam, has been said and sung by
his flatterers, and need not be repeated here. But after the king had
left the army, when the princes of Germany came to the assistance of
Holland, and her affairs took a more favorable turn under the able
guidance of the Prince of Orange, a wider field was offered for the
display of Turenne's talents. In the campaign of 1673 he drove the
Elector of Brandenburg, who had come to the assistance of the Dutch,
back to Berlin, and compelled him to negotiate for peace. In the same
year he was opposed, for the first time, to the imperial general,
Montecuculi, celebrated for his military writings as well as for his
exploits in the field. The meeting of these two great generals
produced no decisive results.
[Illustration: Turenne at the battle of the Dunes.]
Turenne returned to Paris in the winter, and was received with the
most flattering marks of favor. On the approach of spring he was sent
back to take command of the French army in Alsace, which, amounting to
no more than ten thousand men, was pressed by a powerful confederation
of the troops of the Empire, and those of Brandenburg, once again in
the field. Turenne set himself to beat the allies in detail, before
they could form a junction. He passed the Rhine, marched forty French
leagues in four days, and came up with the Imperialists, under the
Duke of Lorraine, at Sintzheim. They occupied a strong position, their
wings resting on mountains; their centre protected by a river and a
fortified town. Turenne hesitated: it seemed rash to attack; but a
victory was needful before the combination of the two armies should
render their force irresistible; and he commanded the best troops of
France. The event justified his confidence. Every post was carried
sword in hand. The Marshal had his horse killed under him, and was
slightly wounded. To the officers, who crowded round him with
congratulations, he replied, with one of those short and happy
speeches which tell upon an army more than the most labored harangues,
"With troops like you, gentlemen, a man ought to attack boldly, for he
is sure to conquer." The beaten army fell back behind the Neckar,
where they effected a junction with the troops of Brandenburg; but
they dared attempt nothing further, and left the Palatinate in the
quiet possession of Turenne. Under his eye, and, as it appears from
his own letters, at his express recommendation, as a matter of policy,
that wretched country was laid waste to a deplorable extent. This
transaction went far beyond the ordinary license of war, and excited
general indignation even in that unscrupulous age. It will ever be
remembered as a foul stain upon the character of the general who
executed, and of the king and minister who ordered or consented to it.
Having carried fire and sword through that part of the Palatinate
which lay upon the right or German bank of the Rhine, he crossed that
river. But the Imperial troops, reinforced by the Saxons and Hessians
to the amount of sixty thousand men, pressed him hard; and it seemed
impossible to keep the field against so great a disparity of force;
his own troops not amounting to more than twenty thousand. He
retreated into Lorraine, abandoning the fertile plains of Alsace to
the enemy, led his army behind the Vosges Mountains, and crossing them
by unfrequented routes, surprised the enemy at Colmar, beat him at
Mulhausen and Turkheim, and forced him to recross the Rhine. This is
esteemed the most brilliant of Turenne's campaigns, and it was
conceived and conducted with the greater boldness, being in opposition
to the orders of Louvois. "I know," he wrote to that minister, in
remonstrating, and indeed refusing to follow his directions, "I know
the strength of the Imperialists, their generals, and the country in
which we are. I take all upon myself, and charge myself with whatever
may occur."
Returning to Paris at the end of the campaign, his journey through
France resembled a triumphal progress; such was the popular enthusiasm
in his favor. Not less flattering was his reception by the king, whose
undeviating regard and confidence, undimmed by jealousy or envy, is
creditable alike to the monarch and to his faithful subject. At this
time Turenne, it is said, had serious thoughts of retiring to a
convent, and was induced only by the earnest remonstrances of the
king, and his representations of the critical state of France, to
resume his command. Returning to the Upper Rhine, he was again opposed
to Montecuculi. For two months the resources and well-matched skill of
the rival captains were displayed in a series of marches and
countermarches, in which every movement was so well foreseen and
guarded against, that no opportunity occurred for coming to action
with advantage to either side. At last the art of Turenne appeared to
prevail; when, not many minutes after he had expressed the full belief
that victory was within his grasp, a cannon-ball struck him while
engaged in reconnoitring the enemy's position, previous to giving
battle, and he fell dead from his horse, July 27, 1675. The same shot
carried off the arm of St. Hilaire, commander-in-chief of the
artillery. "Weep not for me," said the brave soldier to his son; "it
is for that great man that we ought to weep."
His subordinates possessed neither the talents requisite to follow up
his plans, nor the confidence of the troops, who perceived their
hesitation, and were eager to avenge the death of their beloved
general. "Loose the piebald," so they named Turenne's horse, was the
cry; "he will lead us on." But those on whom the command devolved
thought of anything rather than of attacking the enemy; and after
holding a hurried council of war, retreated in all haste across the
Rhine.
The Swabian peasants let the spot where he fell lie fallow for many
years, and carefully preserved a tree under which he had been sitting
just before. Strange that the people who had suffered so much at his
hands should regard his memory with such respect!
The character of Turenne was more remarkable for solidity than for
brilliancy. Many generals may have been better qualified to complete a
campaign by one decisive blow; few probably have laid the scheme of a
campaign with more judgment, or shown more skill and patience in
carrying their plans into effect. And it is remarkable that, contrary
to general experience, he became much more enterprising in advanced
years than he had been in youth. Of that impetuous spirit, which
sometimes carries men to success where caution would have hesitated
and failed, he possessed little. In his earlier years he seldom
ventured to give battle, except where victory was nearly certain; but
a course of victory inspired confidence, and trained by long practice
to distinguish the difficult from the impossible, he adopted in his
later campaigns a bolder style of tactics than had seemed congenial to
his original temper. In this respect he offered a remarkable contrast
to his rival in fame, Conde, who, celebrated in early life for the
headlong valor, even to rashness, of his enterprises, became in old
age prudent almost to timidity. Equally calm in success or in defeat,
Turenne was always ready to prosecute the one, or to repair the other.
And he carried the same temper into private life, where he was
distinguished for the dignity with which he avoided quarrels, under
circumstances in which lesser men would have found it hard to do so,
without incurring the reproach of cowardice. Nor must we pass over his
thorough honesty and disinterestedness in pecuniary matters; a quality
more rare in a great man then than it is now.
CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN
By GENERAL JOHN MITCHELL
(1682-1718)
[Illustration: Charles XII. [TN]]
Charles XII., against whom it has been made a fault that he carried
virtues to extremes, was born at Stockholm, on June 27, 1682, during a
storm that
"Rived the mighty oak, and made
The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threatening clouds."
Astrologers observed that the star called the "Lion's Heart"
predominated at his nativity, and that the "Fox" was on the
decline--omens and prodigies well suited to announce the birth of a
prince who was himself a living tempest. Charles's infancy has nothing
very remarkable. His education was strictly attended to, and he proved
an attentive scholar. He acquired considerable knowledge of history,
geography, mathematics, and the military sciences, and became
perfectly familiar with several languages, though he never, after his
accession to the throne, spoke any but Latin, Swedish, or German. The
gallant Charles Stewart, the same who afterward led the king across
the Duna, was his instructor in the art of war, and is said to have
communicated to the young prince much of the fiery spirit for which he
was himself distinguished. In his fifteenth year Charles ascended the
throne, and, contrary to usual assertion, already evinced considerable
ability and application to business, though no particular predilection
for military affairs, unless his bear-hunting expeditions may be so
considered, for they were more than "faint images of war," being
attended with great danger. No arms were used in these encounters; the
sportsman was provided only with a single doubly-pointed stick and a
cast-net, like the one perhaps, used by the ancient gladiators. The
object of these fierce combats was to capture and bind the bear, and
to carry him in triumph from the scene of action! Charles was, it
seems, a great proficient in this dangerous sport.
At the age of eighteen Charles was obliged to take the field against
the four greatest powers of the North. Forced to contend with small
means against vastly superior foes, he made genius and courage supply
the place of numbers. Heroism was never more nobly displayed than by
this gallant monarch and his followers. What men could do was done.
For nine years he triumphed over constantly augmenting enemies. And
when the "unconquered lord of pleasure and of pain" fell at last,
crushed by the weight of masses, fortune more than shared with his
innumerable adversaries the honor of his overthrow.
It was during the Polish campaign of 1703 that Max Emanuel of
Wirtemberg, then only fourteen years of age, joined Charles. When
introduced, the king asked him whether he wished to go to Stockholm
for a time, or to remain with the army. The prince, of course,
preferred the latter. "Well, then," said Charles, "I will bring you up
in my own way," and immediately placed the boy, tired as he was from
his journey, on horseback, and led him a long and fatiguing ride. From
this period to the battle of Pultowa, Max continued to be his constant
companion, shared his dangers, and attended him in all his adventures,
many of which border almost on the fabulous. The affectionate kindness
evinced by Charles toward his pupil could not be surpassed. When the
boy, as sometimes happened, was worn down by sickness and fatigue, the
monarch attended him with parental care; and when on one occasion he
fell speechless from his horse, and his recovery was despaired of, the
king never left his couch till he was pronounced out of danger.
The adventures they encountered together were endless. On inspecting
the regiments before the opening of the campaign of 1706, they rode
five hundred miles in six days, were never in bed, and hardly ever out
of the saddle, and frequently reduced to milk and water as their only
nourishment--
"Alike to Charles was tide or time,
Moonless midnight or matin prime."
Having on another occasion lost their road and escort during a stormy
night, they arrived in the midst of a tempest before the town of
Tousha. Neither calling nor firing brought any one to the gates. The
king at last dismounted and sought for an entrance, while the prince
held the horses in the pelting rain. An entrance having at last been
discovered, they took possession of a hut in which was a fire. The
king threw himself, booted and spurred, on a bundle of straw, and fell
fast asleep. The prince, less hardy, took off his boots, filled them
with straw, and placed them by the fire. While sleeping, the flame
caught and consumed the valuable gambodoes. The prince was next day
obliged to get a pair of peasant's boots, in which he rode about for
eight days; a proof that the princely wardrobe was but slenderly
furnished.
And yet the camp was not without its gayeties either; for while the
head-quarters were wintering at Rawitcz, the town became the scene of
great festivities; balls and parties succeeding each other as rapidly
as battles had done before. Charles was usually present, was always
very polite, but made only a short stay, and retired as soon as he
could.
[Illustration: Charles XII. and an unwilling recruit.]
During the stay of the army in this place, a fire broke out and
consumed several houses. The king flew to aid in extinguishing the
flames. He ascended to the top of a house that was already on fire,
and continued working till the building was sinking under him. He
escaped with difficulty, was thrown down by one of the beams, and for
a moment believed to be dead. "It was discovered two years afterward,"
says Bardili, "that the place was set on fire by an incendiary bribed
by Augustus II. to slay the king of Sweden in the confusion;" and a
man actually came forward and denounced himself as the intended
assassin, declaring that some unknown power had prevented him from
stabbing the king when he got near his person. Charles said the man
was mad, and sent him about his business. Napoleon would have sent him
before a military commission and had him shot, as he caused the
student at Schoenbrunn to be shot.
We regret that we cannot give a sufficient account of the Duke of
Marlborough's visit to Charles's head-quarters at Altranstadt; for
what Voltaire says on the subject is but an idle fable. That the
English general should easily have penetrated the views of the Swedish
conqueror, which the latter took no pains to conceal, is sufficiently
probable; but that the conversation between two such men should have
turned principally on the king's large boots, which, as Voltaire says,
Charles told Marlborough "he had not quitted for seven years," is of
course a mere puerility. Besides, we find from Max's "Memoirs," that
Charles was not so coarse in his dress as is usually represented, for
his clothes were made of fine materials. He always wore a plain blue
coat with gilt buttons, buff waistcoat and breeches, a black crape
cravat, and a cocked hat; a waist-belt, and a long cut-and-thrust
sword. He never disfigured himself by the full-bottomed wig of the
period, but always wore his own brown hair, combed back from his
forehead. His camp-bed consisted of a blue silk mattress, pillow and
coverlid; materials that would have suited even a dandy guardsman.
The invasion of Saxony occasioned great uneasiness at Vienna,
Charles's arrival being considered alike dangerous to the Catholic
states of the Empire and to the success of the Grand Alliance. It
happened, under these unpleasant feelings, that at a party the Swedish
Minister, Count Stralenghielm, proposed his master's health as a
toast. An imperial chamberlain, a Count Zabor, a magnate of Hungary,
refused to drink it, declaring that "no honest man ought to drink the
health of the Turk, the devil, and of a third person." The Swede
struck the offender, and swords were drawn; but the adversaries were
of course separated. The ambassador demanded satisfaction for the
insult; and Zabor was arrested, and sent in irons to Stettin, and
delivered up to the Swedes. Charles instantly set him at liberty,
simply desiring him to "be more guarded in his speeches for the
future."
The Saxon nobility (Ritterschaft, chivalry) having been taxed to aid
in defraying the Swedish contributions, applied to Charles, claiming
their privilege of exemption from all taxation, except that of
furnishing horses for the chivalry engaged in defence of the country.
"Had the Saxon chivalry," said Charles, "acted up to the duties to
which they owe their privilege, I should not have been here."
The King of Sweden left Saxony, and set out on his Russian expedition
at the head of 43,000 men. Of these 8,000 remained in Poland; so that
he undertook the march to Moscow with only 35,000--a force amounting
to about one-fifteenth part of the army with which Napoleon set out on
a similar expedition. The Russians followed the same system they
afterward employed against the French, retiring and laving waste the
country. The difficulties the Swedes had to encounter, in consequence
of bad roads and want of provisions, are almost incredible. The
soldiers were forced to contend, not only against the enemy, but
against the localities also; roads for the advance of the army had to
be opened through forests and morasses before the least progress could
be made; and it often happened that a league a day was the greatest
extent of march gained after immense toil. But nothing checked the
ardor of these gallant soldiers. The Russians attempted to defend the
passage of rivers and swamps that impeded the march of the foe. Their
efforts were vain; no superiority of numbers, no strength of position,
could arrest the indomitable valor of Charles and his troops. And the
actions performed during this march would be deemed absolutely
fabulous, were they not recorded on authority which cannot be doubted.
During the severe winter of 1709, the army suffered dreadfully from
want and cold. When, early in spring, the thaw set in, the whole of
those flat countries were overflowed, and long marches had to be made
through complete inundations, by which quantities of stores were lost,
and the powder greatly damaged. It was, as we now find, in consequence
of the losses thus sustained that Charles accepted Mazeppa's proposal
of marching into the Ukraine. Finding his army too much weakened to
penetrate further into Russia, and not wishing to fall back upon
Livonia, which he thought would look like a retreat and encourage his
enemies, he determined to march to the south, and there await the
supplies and reinforcements which his generals were to bring up.
The loss of the convoy which General Lewenhaupt was conducting to the
army rendered further delay necessary, and obliged the king to
undertake the siege of Pultowa, in order to gain a firm footing in the
country, and to secure the supplies which the place contained. The
Swedish battering-train was weak, the powder not only bad from having
been frequently injured by the wet and dried again, but very scarce
besides. Still, courage and energy were making progress, when, June
27th, on his very birthday, Charles, in repulsing a sally, was struck
by a musket-ball that entered his left foot, above the root of the
toes, and went out at the heel. The king continued in the field for an
hour afterward, giving his orders as usual; but when he retired to his
quarters, the leg was so much swelled that the boot had to be cut off,
and the wound had so unfavorable an appearance as greatly to alarm the
attendants.
Charles behaved heroically, as usual. He held his leg to the surgeon
with his own hands, nor did a single groan escape him during the
terrible operation which the cutting away of some of the fractured
bones rendered necessary. At one time his life was despaired of, and
a general panic seized the army, but though the wound proved decisive
of his fate, the unhappy monarch had what may well be termed the
misfortune to recover.
The foe drew near. The Czar, well aware of the importance of Pultowa,
advanced to its relief with an army of 80,000 men, besides 40,000
irregulars, Kalmucks and Tartars. He brought 150 pieces of artillery
along with him. Even with this vast superiority, and after the
training of a nine years' war, the Russians did not venture to attack
the Swedes, but drew closer and closer around them, till they began at
last to intrench themselves within a league of the king's camp.
Charles's illness gave them but too much leisure.
A hostile fortress on one side, a hostile army on the other, nothing
but a victory could save the Swedes; and on the morning of the 8th of
July, only ten days after Charles had been wounded, they marched out
to battle. Their whole army did not amount to 20,000 men, 4,000 of
whom were left in the trenches and with the baggage. Their artillery
consisted of four field-pieces; and their powder was so bad that it
did not, as Count Poniatowsky and Lewenhaupt both affirm, throw the
musket-balls more than thirty yards from the muzzles of the pieces.
And yet these brave soldiers balanced fortune even against such
overwhelming numbers. Three out of the seven Russian redoubts were
taken; on the left wing the cavalry were victorious, and it is really
difficult to say what the result would have proved, had Charles been
able to exert his usual energy and activity. Certain it is that errors
were committed which could not have happened under his immediate
command; for the cavalry of the left wing did not follow up their
success, and the cavalry of the right wing lost their direction, and
took no share in the action. The king, who was carried on a litter
between two horses, was present in the hottest of the fire, and
exerted himself as much as was possible for a man in such a situation.
A shot broke the litter, and the wounded monarch was for some time
left alone on the ground. A lifeguardsman brought him a horse, and he
endeavored to rally the yielding troops. The steed was shot under him,
and--
"Gierta gave
His own, and died the Russian slave."
Having assembled and re-formed the remnants of his broken host round
the forces which had been left for the protection of the baggage, the
fainting monarch was placed in Count Piper's carriage, and conveyed
toward the Turkish frontier. The exertions of the wounded Charles to
rally his army at Pultowa contrast singularly with the total want of
any such exertion displayed by the unwounded Napoleon at Waterloo. We
take this want of exertion for granted, because had any been
displayed, the world's echoes would have rung with praise bestowed
upon the heroic effort.
The first result of the battle of Pultowa--its ultimate results are
only now becoming apparent--was the entire destruction of the Swedish
army, the famished and exhausted remains of which were some days
afterward obliged to lay down their arms on the banks of the Dnieper,
which they had no means of crossing.
With this battle, which opens a new era in European history, the
history of Charles XII. may be said to end; for his subsequent career
was only a succession of disappointments, his poor and thinly peopled
country not affording him the means of recovery from a single
'defeat'.
On his arrival at Bender, the king learned of the death of his sister,
the Duchess of Holstein; and he who had calmly supported the loss of
his fame and his army yielded to the most impassioned burst of sorrow,
and was during four days unable to converse with his most intimate
attendants--a proof how unjust are the accusations of want of feeling
so often brought against him. His long stay in Turkey is certainly
evidence of obstinacy, or of that pride which could not brook the
thought of returning, a vanquished fugitive, to his native land, which
had done so much for him, and which his best efforts had failed to
protect from unjust violence. In Charles's high and noble countenance
it is seen at once that he was endowed with--
"The glance that took
Their thoughts from others at a single look."
He knew the worthlessness of his enemies; and it is doubly galling to
the generous and the brave when fortune, in her base fancies, obliges
them to succumb to mean and malicious adversaries. And such was the
fate of Charles. His defeat was no sooner known than Denmark, Poland,
and Saxony again flew to arms. Hanover and Prussia joined the unworthy
league against the fallen monarch, who had been so dreaded, and was
therefore so much hated; for Charles had injured no one--he was the
aggrieved from first to last. His return to Sweden, the defence of
Stralsund, the invasion of Norway, call for no particular attention.
He was killed at the siege of Frederickshall, in Norway, on November
30, 1718, under circumstances that long gave currency to the belief
that he had been assassinated. Schott and Bardili positively assert
the fact; but we are on this point disposed to agree with Voltaire,
who, to save the honor of his countrymen, as positively denies it.
After evening service, the king went out as usual to visit the
trenches. He was attended by two French engineers, Megret and Siquier.
A heavy fire was kept up by the enemy. Near the head of the _boyau_,
or zigzag, he kneeled down, and, leaning against the parapet, looked
toward the fortress. As he remained motionless for a long time, some
one approached and found him perfectly dead, a ball having entered his
right temple and passed through his head. Even in death the gallant
hand had grasped the hilt of his sword; and this probably gave rise to
the belief in the murder, which was afterward confirmed by Siquier's
own confession. But this confession was only made while the pretended
criminal labored under an attack of brain fever, and was retracted as
soon as he recovered.
Thus fell, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, one of the most
extraordinary men that ever acted a part on the great stage of the
world. Endowed by nature with a noble person, "a frame of adamant, a
soul of fire," with high intellectual powers, dauntless bravery,
kingly sentiments of honor, and a lofty scorn of all that was mean
and little, he became, from the very splendor of these gifts, perhaps
one of the most unhappy men of his time. Less highly gifted, he would
have been less hated and less envied; of humbler spirit, he would have
been more pliant, and might possibly have been more successful.
JOHN, DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH
By L. DRAKE
(1650-1722)
[Illustration: A standing man behind a sitting woman. [TN]]
About noon, on June 24, 1650, John Churchill, afterward Duke of
Marlborough, was born at Ashe, in Devonshire. His school-days were
soon over; for his father, Sir Winston Churchill, having established
himself at court soon after the restoration of Charles the Second, was
anxious to introduce his children early into life, and obtained for
his son the situation of page of honor to the Duke of York, at the
same time that his only daughter, Arabella, became maid of honor to
the duchess.
While at school, young Churchill had discovered in the library an old
book on military subjects. This he read frequently, and conceived such
a taste for a martial life, that he longed to distinguish himself as a
soldier.
The Duke of York held frequent reviews of the guards. Churchill had
not long been his page, before the duke noticed his eagerness to be
present on these occasions. Pleased with this indication of military
ambition, the duke suddenly inquired one day, "What can I do for you,
Churchill, as a first step to fortune?"
The page threw himself on his knees before the duke. "I beseech your
Royal Highness," he entreated, with clasped hands, "to honor me with a
pair of colors."
"Well, well," said the duke, smiling at the lad's earnestness, "I will
grant your request by and by;" and his young favorite had not long to
wait before he got the post for which he had petitioned.
The youthful ensign, scarce fifteen years of age, first embarked for
Tangiers; and although his stay was short, yet in the sallies and
skirmishes with the Moors he showed that even now he possessed that
courage and ability which in after years placed him at the head of all
the heroes of his time.
Before the year in which he left England had expired, he was again in
his native country. He then accompanied the Duke of Monmouth to the
continent, to assist France against Holland. The Prince of Conde and
Marshal Turenne, the greatest generals of that time, commanded the
French army, so that Churchill had very favorable opportunities of
improving his military talent and genius.
A French officer, during the siege of Nimeguen, had failed to retain a
post of consequence, which he had been appointed to defend. The news
of its loss was brought to Turenne.
"I will bet a supper and a dozen of claret," instantly exclaimed the
marshal, "that my handsome Englishman will recover the post with half
the number of men that the officer commanded who lost it."
Churchill was despatched with a small company, and, after a short but
desperate struggle, retook the post, won the marshal his wager, and
gained for himself the applause and admiration of the whole army.
Next year, at the siege of Maestricht, Captain Churchill again
distinguished himself. At the head of his own company, he scaled the
ramparts, and planted the banner of France on the very summit,
escaping with a slight wound. Louis XIV. was so highly pleased with
his conduct that he thanked him at the head of the army, and soon made
him lieutenant-colonel. The Duke of Monmouth afterward confessed to
the king, that he was indebted for his life, on this occasion, to our
hero's gallantry and discretion.
On his return to England, he was made gentleman of the bedchamber and
master of the robes to his earliest patron, the Duke of York. At this
period he was captivated by the beauty of Miss Sarah Jennings,
daughter of a gentleman of ancient family, and maid of honor to the
duchess. Their marriage took place in 1678.
The services Colonel Churchill continued to yield the royal brothers
did not pass unrewarded. He was created Baron Churchill of Agmouth, in
Berwickshire; and a friendship sprung up between Lady Churchill and
the Princess (afterward queen) Anne, who, when she married Prince
George of Denmark, got her friend appointed lady of her bedchamber.
The day after James II. was proclaimed, he made his favorite,
lieutenant-general. The battle of Sedgemoor, in which the ill-fated
Duke of Monmouth with his rebel army was defeated, was won chiefly by
Churchill's courage and decision. Till the closing scene of James's
reign, there is little stated of Lord Churchill, although it is known
that he used his influence with his royal master to prevent the
arbitrary system of government the king endeavored to introduce.
Finding the monarch determined to persist in his encroachments, Lord
Churchill felt it his duty, however painful, to go over to the Prince
of Orange, by whom he was received with distinguished marks of
attention and respect; and, two days before his coronation, the prince
raised him to the dignity of Earl of Marlborough.
The affection the earl still felt toward his late benefactor, the
ex-king, led him into a correspondence with him. This, being
discovered, brought the displeasure of King William upon him, and for
some time he was deprived of all his appointments. At length a
governor being wanted for the young Duke of Gloucester, son of the
Princess Anne, the king, as an earnest of his returning favor,
conferred this honor on Marlborough. "Teach him, my lord," said his
majesty, "to be what you are yourself, and he will not want
accomplishments."
On the accession of Queen Anne, Marlborough was made captain-general,
master of the ordnance, and a knight of the garter. Soon after, he was
sent to Holland to aid the Dutch against the French. He was appointed
by them generalissimo of the forces, with a salary of L10,000 a year.
With his army he crossed the river Meuse, and advanced to the siege of
Rheinberg. "I hope soon to deliver you from these troublesome
neighbors!" he exclaimed to the Dutch deputies who accompanied him on
a reconnoitring party; and had it not been for the timidity of the
Dutchmen he would have fulfilled his intentions. He however, took
three towns out of the hands of the French, and the campaign ended by
the taking of Liege.
Marlborough soon returned to England, when the queen created him
Marquis of Blandford and Duke of Marlborough, an honor he reluctantly
accepted, and chiefly because it would give him more consideration if
again called upon to serve his country abroad.
In 1703 the duke was once more in Flanders, leading operations against
the French with his usual success.
The celebrated Prince Eugene was appointed his colleague; and the
first time these two generals met, they conceived that mutual esteem
and confidence, which afterward rendered them partners in the same
glory.
At the head of a noble army, the two generals penetrated into the
heart of Germany, driving the Elector of Bavaria before them, ere his
French allies could join him. It would take too much space to describe
all the victories, and relate the details of the burning of three
hundred towns, villages, and castles! These stern necessities of war
were far from pleasing to Marlborough, who grieved to see the poor
people suffering from their master's ambition. The Elector shed tears
when he heard of these devastations, and offered large sums to prevent
military execution on the land. "The forces of England," replied the
duke, "are not come into Bavaria to extort money, but to bring its
prince to reason and moderation. It is in the power of the Elector to
end the matter at once by coming to a speedy accommodation."
But the Elector knew that Marshal Tallard, with a powerful French
army, was approaching; and, buoyed up by expectation, replied, "Since
you have compelled me to draw the sword, I have thrown away the
scabbard!"
Prince Eugene had hastened from the Rhine to join Marlborough, with a
force of eighteen thousand men, and reached the plains of Hochstadt by
the time Tallard joined the Elector. As the prince and Marlborough
proceeded to survey the ground, previous to taking up their position,
they perceived some squadrons of the enemy at a distance. The two
generals mounted the steeple of a church close by, and, with their
glasses, discovered the quarter-masters of the enemy marking out a
camp between Blenheim and Luetzingen. Charmed beyond measure, they
resolved to give battle before the enemy could strengthen themselves
in their new position. Some officers, who knew the strength of the
ground selected by the enemy, ventured to remonstrate, and to advise
that no action should be hazarded. "I know the dangers of the case,"
said Marlborough, who had not made up his mind without due
consideration, "but a battle is absolutely necessary; and as for
success, I rely on the hope that the discipline and courage of the
troops will make amends for all disadvantages." Orders being issued
for a general engagement, the whole army commenced preparations with
cheerfulness and alacrity.
Marlborough showed that he was resolved to conquer or to die in the
attempt. Part of the night he passed in prayer, and toward morning
received the sacrament. Then, after taking a short sleep, he concerted
the arrangements for the action with Prince Eugene, particularly
pointing out to the surgeons the proper place for the wounded.
The forces of the duke and the prince formed an army of 33,500
infantry and 18,400 cavalry. They were opposed by a force of 56,000
men.
About six o'clock in the morning, Marlborough and Eugene took their
station on a rising ground, and calling all the generals, gave the
directions for the attack. The army then marched into the plain; and
being formed in order of battle, the chaplains performed service at
the head of each regiment.
The morning being hazy, the French and Bavarians did not even suspect
the approach of their enemies, and were completely taken by surprise.
A large gun boomed forth the signal for the onset; and as great a
battle was fought as the memory of man ever heard of. A panic seized
the whole of the troops which composed the right of the French army,
and they fled like a flock of sheep before the victorious
English,--deaf to the threats and entreaties of their commanders, and
without observing whither their flight led them. A body of cavalry,
the best and most renowned in the whole army, seized with fear,
hurried away Marshal Tallard with them in their flight; and, void of
all thought, threw themselves by squadrons into the Danube, men and
horses, officers and troopers together. Some escaped; but the greater
portion, who had sought to avoid an uncertain death on the field of
battle and honor, found a certain and shameful death in the river. The
poor marshal, after vainly endeavoring to stem this torrent of
despair, was obliged to surrender himself a prisoner of war with
several other general officers in his company. The defeat then became
complete. Of all the infantry the marshal had brought to the
assistance of the Elector, only two battalions escaped; eight and
twenty battalions were taken prisoners; and ten were entirely
destroyed!
The French, for many years, had never sustained any considerable
defeat; and in consequence, had looked upon themselves, and had been
regarded by other countries, almost as invincible. But now the charm
was broken.
After the battle, when Marshal Tallard was brought into the duke's
tent, the marshal exclaimed with emphasis, "Your grace has beaten the
best troops in the world!"
"I hope," quickly rejoined the duke, "that you except the troops which
defeated them."
The news caused great joy in England, except to a discontented party,
who considered that "it would no more weaken the power of the French
king, than taking a bucket of water out of a river." Marlborough's
answer, when he heard this, was, "If they will allow me to draw one or
two such buckets more, we may then let the river run quietly, and not
much apprehend its overflowing, and destroying its neighbors." Queen
Anne, however, as a monument of victory, commanded a splendid palace
to be built for the duke, at her own expense, to be called Blenheim.
It would fill a large volume to relate all the victories of the Duke
of Marlborough, none of which, however, exceeded the Battle of
Blenheim in importance. One, some years afterward, called the Battle
of Malplaquet, was a better contested fight, and perhaps ranks next;
in truth, after this battle, France never again ventured to meet
Marlborough in the field.
At three o'clock in the morning of September 11, 1709, the
confederated troops (for Eugene, with his army, was still with
Marlborough) began to raise their batteries, under cover of a thick
fog, which lasted till half-past seven. When it cleared away, the
armies found themselves close together, each having a perfect view of
the other. Marshal Villars commanded the French army. He was adored by
his troops, who placed unbounded confidence in him; and as he now rode
along their ranks the air rang with "Long live the king!" "Long live
Marshal Villars!" The right wing was commanded by Marshal Boufflers.
A discharge of fifty pieces of cannon from the confederates was the
signal for battle, which commenced a little after eight. Each army had
between ninety and one hundred thousand men, and the battle raged for
some time with unexampled bravery. All the duties of a skilful general
were performed by Marlborough; and late in the day the French army
left the field in the possession of the allies, both armies having
fought with almost incredible valor. The loss of the French was
fourteen thousand men; the allies, though victory was on their side,
lost nearly twenty thousand.
An officer of distinction in the French army, writing an account of
this battle said: "The Eugenes and Marlboroughs ought to be well
satisfied with us during that day; since, till then, they had not met
with resistance worthy of them. They may say, with justice, that
nothing can stand before them; for what shall be able to stem the
rapid course of these two heroes, if an army of one hundred thousand
of our best troops--posted between two roads, trebly entrenched, and
performing their duty as well as brave men could do--were not able to
stop them one day? Will you not, then, own with me, that they surpass
all the heroes of former ages?"
With his usual humanity, Marlborough's first care, at the close of the
action, was the relief of the wounded. Three thousand Frenchmen who lay
on the field shared his attention, with the wounded of his own army; and
he immediately arranged means for conveying them away. Still, next
morning--the day set apart for burying the slain--notwithstanding his
care, when riding over the field he saw among the heaps which covered
the plain, not only the numerous bodies of the slain, but of the dying
also. Nor did he feel only for the sufferings of his companions in arms;
the groans of wounded enemies, and the sight of their mangled limbs,
equally awakened his compassion. Learning also, that many French
officers and soldiers had crept into the neighboring houses and woods,
wounded, and in a miserable condition for want of assistance, he ordered
them every possible relief, and despatched a messenger with a letter to
the French marshal, humanely proposing; a conference to arrange the
means of removing these wretched sufferers. By this humanity the larger
portion of not fewer than thirty thousand men, to whose sufferings death
would soon have put an end, were saved. The officers gave their word
that they would not serve against the allies till they were regularly
exchanged; and the common soldiers were to be considered as prisoners of
war, for whom an equal number of allied troops were to be returned.
Many, many battles, too numerous to mention, were gained by this great
commander. When he came back to England, at the peace, he for some
time distinguished himself as an able statesman; but incurring the
displeasure of the queen, and that of the party then in power, he
found his situation so painful, that he determined to leave the
country till the course of events should again run in his favor. He
left Dover without any honors, as a private passenger, in a
packet-boat; but on its arriving off Ostend, as soon as the
townspeople knew that the Duke of Marlborough was on board, they made
a salute of all the cannon toward the sea; and when the vessel entered
the harbor, they fired three rounds of all the artillery on the
ramparts. The people crowded round him, and shed tears at the
ingratitude of his nation. Some, full of astonishment at the sight of
him, said, "His looks, his air, his address, were full as conquering
as his sword." Even a Frenchman exclaimed, "Though the sight is worth
a million to my king, yet I believe he would not, at such a price,
have lost the service of so brave a man."
Marlborough remained at Aix-la-Chapelle till the death of the queen.
On August 1, 1714, the day George the First was proclaimed, the duke
and duchess landed at Dover. Marlborough's reception was truly a
contrast to his departure. Now the artillery thundered forth a
welcome; while thousands of spectators hailed the return of the
voluntary exile. Passing on to London, he was met at Southwark by a
large body of the burgesses, who escorted him into the city; and
thence, joined by many of the first merchants, the nobility, and
gentry, he proceeded to St. James's, amid the joyful acclamations of
the crowd, "Long live the king!" "Long live the Duke of Marlborough!"
Old age had now laid his withering hand on the duke. For nearly two
years he continued to enjoy the favor and confidence of the new king,
who, on one occasion, said, "Marlborough's retirement would give me as
much pain as if a dagger should be plunged in my bosom." But he soon
was obliged to retreat to Blenheim, where he spent six years of
declining life among his family and friends. At length, after a
violent attack of palsy, the disease from which he suffered, he lay
for several days expecting death. Early in the morning of June 15,
1722, he resigned his spirit, with Christian calmness, into the hands
of his Creator.
The duke was nearly seventy-three when he died. His remains were
interred with every honor in Westminster Abbey, but soon after were
taken up, and conveyed to the chapel at Blenheim, and laid in a
magnificent monument, which the duchess had erected for this honorable
purpose.
PRINCE EUGENE OF SAVOY
By G. P. R. JAMES
(1663-1736)
[Illustration: Prince Eugene. [TN]]
Prince Eugene, the most famed of Austrian generals, was the son of
Eugene Maurice of Savoy (by the mother's side Count of Soissons) and
of Olympia Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin. His father intrigued,
and was banished from the court of France; and his mother also quitted
Paris not many years after, suspected of many vices of which she was
very probably innocent; and guilty of a thousand follies, which were
more strictly scrutinized than her crimes. Eugene was originally
destined for the Church, and, according to a scandalous custom, then
common in France as well as other Catholic countries, he obtained
several benefices while but a child, of which he was eager to divest
himself as soon as his mind was capable of discriminating between one
profession and another. He seems soon to have felt within himself that
ardent desire for military service, which is sometimes a caprice and
some times an inspiration; but Louis XIV., at whose court he still
remained, positively forbade his throwing off the clerical habit,
notwithstanding all the entreaties of the young abbe, and by so doing,
incurred the enmity of one who inherited from his mother no small
faculty of hatred.
At length, various circumstances with which he was in no degree
connected, brought about a change in the affairs of Europe that
afforded him an opportunity of escaping from the restraint placed upon
his inclinations, and of turning the genius they had despised against
those who had contemned him. France and Austria had long been either
secretly or openly at strife; but now the dilapidated state of the
German empire, after tedious and expensive wars, together with the
combination of external foes and internal insurrection, threatened the
nominal successor of the Roman Caesars with utter destruction. The
Hungarians in revolt, joined with the Turkish forces which they had
called to their assistance, marched into Germany and laid siege to
Vienna. Louis XIV. had hitherto taken care to foment the spirit of
insurrection, and to aggravate the more pressing dangers of Germany;
but at this moment, to cover the encouragement he had held out
privately to the rebels, he permitted the nobility of his court to
volunteer in defence of Christendom, which the fall of Vienna would
have laid open to Infidels. A large body of young men set out
immediately for Austria, among whom Prince Eugene contrived to effect
his departure in secret. The famous, but unamiable minister Louvois,
when he heard of the young abbe's escape remarked with a sneer, "So
much the better, it will be long before he returns."
The speech was afterward repeated to Eugene, who replied, "I will
never return to France but as a conqueror;" and he kept his word, one
of the few instances in which history has been able to record that a
rash boast was afterward justified by talents and resolution.
On arriving at Vienna, Eugene cast away the gown forever, and his rank
instantly procured him a distinguished post near the person of the
Duke of Lorraine, then commanding the imperial forces.
Shortly after he had joined the army, John Sobieski, the valiant King
of Poland, advanced to the assistance of the emperor, and the Turks
were forced to raise the siege of the Austrian capital. In the
campaign that followed against the Infidels, Eugene distinguished
himself greatly, both by a sort of light unthinking courage, and by a
degree of skill and judgment, which seemed to show that the levity he
was somewhat too fond of displaying, though perhaps a confirmed habit
from his education in an idle and frivolous court, was no true type of
the mind within. It was the empty bubble dancing on the bosom of a
deep stream. This was felt by those who surrounded him; and promotion
succeeded with astonishing rapidity. Before the end of three months he
was in command of a regiment of horse.
Continual battles, sieges, and skirmishes, now inured Eugene to all
the hardships and all the dangers of war, and at the same time gave
him every opportunity of acquiring a thorough knowledge of his new
profession, and of obtaining higher and higher grades in the service.
In the course of a very few years he had been wounded more than once
severely; but at the same time he had aided in the taking of
Neuhausel, Vicegradt, Gran, and Buda; was the first who entered sword
in hand into the intrenched camp of the Turks at Hersan; and had
received a commission as Lieutenant-general in the Austrian service.
The storming of Belgrade was the next great event in which Eugene was
called to act; and here, in command of a body of reserve, he attacked
the walls, after the first parties had been repulsed, and succeeded in
forcing his way into the city. The regiments which had failed at first
now rallied; and the path being open, the Imperial forces poured in in
all directions, and Belgrade was taken after a most obstinate defence.
Victor Amadaeus, Duke of Savoy, was shortly after this persuaded by his
cousin Eugene to embrace the interests of the house of Austria; and to
enter into the great alliance which had been formed for the purpose of
depressing France.
The vast power which Louis XIV. had acquired, and the evident
disposition he displayed to extend that power to the utmost, had armed
the fears of all the monarchs of Europe against him. At the same time,
the armies which had conquered for him were dispersed, and the
generals who had led them to victory had in most instances fallen into
the grave. Perhaps these considerations might lead the Duke of Savoy
to withdraw from an alliance which promised little support, and
eminent danger; but he had soon reason to repent of having done so.
Marshal Catinat, the best of Louis's living officers, was ordered to
act against him; the whole of Piedmont quickly fell into the hands of
the French; and on August 18th the duke was completely defeated by the
adverse general. Eugene, who was present, though wounded with a spent
ball, covered the retreat of the troops of Savoy; but the battle was
nevertheless completely lost, and influenced for long the fate of
Piedmont.
After various campaigns in Italy, where little was effected but a
diversion of the French forces from his scene of war in Germany and
the Netherlands, Eugene prevailed upon his cousin the Duke of Savoy,
to lead his troops into France and to draw the French army from Italy,
by carrying the war into their own country. The scheme was a bold one,
but it proved most successful, and Embrun, Quilestre, and Gap, having
fallen, the allied army, under Victor Amadaeus and Eugene, advanced
rapidly into Dauphiny. Terror and consternation spread before them;
and in revenge for the devastation committed by the French in the
Palatinate, they now ravaged the whole of Dauphiny, burning the
villages and hamlets, and laying the cities under heavy contributions.
The heart of France was open to the invading army; but, fortunately
for that country, a severe illness put a stop to the proceedings of
Victor Amadaeus. Returning to Turin in haste, he left his army to the
command of Prince Eugene; but the Italian generals contrived, by
hesitation in their obedience, and opposition to his wishes, to defeat
Eugene's best schemes, so that he was glad, by a rapid retreat, to
bring his army in safety to Savoy.
Eugene was now created Field-marshal; and received the order of the
Golden Fleece; but his gratification at these marks of approbation was
bitterly alloyed by a severe defeat which he suffered near Pignerol,
in company with his cousin the Duke of Savoy, who madly engaged the
French forces in a position where his own discomfiture was a certain
consequence.
Few movements of any import took place in Italy for some years after
this, in which Eugene was concerned. Victor Amadaeus, partly from
caprice, partly from fear, withdrew from his alliance with Austria,
and, once more signed a treaty of neutrality with France. The Imperial
troops, unable singly to keep the field against the French, abandoned
Savoy; and Eugene, though his efforts had proved unsuccessful, was
received at Vienna with the highest distinction.
The emperor, probably judging rightly in this instance, that the
prince had failed from his energies being crippled by a divided power,
now gave him the sole command of the army opposed to the Turks in
Hungary.
Eugene immediately found himself menaced by the whole force of the
Turkish Empire; but after some masterly manoeuvres he saved the city
of Peterwaradin, on which the Ottoman forces were marching; and then,
though with very inferior power, approached the intrenchments of the
Grand Vizier, at Zeuta, with the intention of forcing him from his
camp. At the very moment, however, that the army had advanced too far
to retreat, a courier arrived, bearing the emperor's commands to
Eugene, on no account to risk a battle. Eugene's measures were already
taken; he put the letter in his pocket, attacked the Turks, defeated
them completely, left twenty thousand Mussulmen dead on the field, and
ten thousand drowned in the Danube; pursued his victory by burning
Serai and securing the frontier line of fortresses, and then returned
to Vienna in expectation of reward and honor.
The emperor received him coldly, and before the day was over he was
put under arrest for disobedience of orders. The clamor, however, of
the people, and some feeling of shame in the bosom of the proud, weak
Leopold, soon caused him to restore Eugene to his rank, and to send
him once more against the Turks. Success, however, did not follow the
prince through the succeeding campaign; and before the season brought
it naturally to a close, peace had been determined on between Austria
and the Porte.
Some time previous to the period of which we now speak, Louis XIV. had
endeavored to tempt Eugene back to his Court, by the offer of a
Marshal's rank in the French army, the government of Champagne, and a
considerable yearly pension. Eugene, who felt that, however flattering
to himself, the offer originated alone in the selfishness of an
ambitious monarch, refused it in terms sufficiently galling to the
proud King of France. Nevertheless, after the peace of Westphalia,
Villars, who was sent as ambassador to Vienna, is supposed to have
been again charged with a mission of the same nature to Eugene. The
fact, however, is not only doubtful, but very improbable, from the
character of all parties concerned. Eugene was not a man to leave
himself the possibility of changing; Louis was not a man meanly to
solicit where he had once been refused; and Villars was not a man to
undertake a mean commission, even for a king. It is probable that the
courtesy which the prince evinced toward Marshal de Villars from a
sense of his personal merit, at a time when the haughty Court of
Vienna was mean enough to treat even an ambassador with cold
disrespect, was the sole origin of the report. However that might be,
Eugene remained for a length of time at Vienna, filling up his
inactivity by trifling with many arts and many enjoyments, till at
length the War of the Succession, as it was called, breaking out, he
was appointed to the command of the army in Italy.
[Illustration: Prince Eugene and the Marshal de Villars.]
At length a general engagement took place at Luzara, at which Philip
of Spain was present. The forces of the French have been estimated at
forty thousand, those of the Imperial general did not much exceed
one-half that number. The battle was long and fierce; and night only
terminated the contest. Both parties of course claimed the victory.
The French sung a Te Deum, but retreated; the Imperial army retained
their ground.
Nevertheless, the fruits of victory were gathered by the French. Their
immense superiority of numbers gave them the power of overrunning the
whole country; and the Imperial court, either from indolence,
heedlessness, or intrigue, failed to take any step to support its arms
in Italy; so that all which Eugene had taken, sooner or later fell
into the enemy's hands, and he himself, disgusted with the neglect he
had met with, left his army under the command of another, and set out
to see whether he could not procure some reinforcement, or at least
some supply of money to pay or provide for his forces. At Vienna he
found good reason to suspect that Count Mansfield, the minister of
war, had by some means been gained to the interest of France. But, in
the meanwhile Eugene was appointed minister of war; and sometime
after, in this capacity, proceeded to confer with Marlborough on the
united interests of England and Austria.
This negotiation was most successful; and here seems to have been
concerted the scheme which Marlborough afterward so gloriously pursued
for carrying on the war against France on the side of Germany, and of
thus freeing the Empire. In a military point of view, also, Eugene's
efforts, though supported by no great army, and followed by no great
victory, were wise and successful. He foiled the Hungarian rebels in
their bold attack upon Vienna, checked them in their progress
everywhere, and laid the foundation of their after subjugation. Soon
after this, Eugene took the command of the Imperial army on the Rhine;
and after considerable manoeuvring singly, to prevent the junction of
the French army with that of the Duke of Bavaria, finding it
impossible, he effected his own junction with the Duke of Marlborough,
and shared in the glories of the field of Blenheim.
Eugene was here always in the thickest of the fight, yet never for a
moment forgot that he was called upon to act as a general rather than
a soldier. His operations were planned as clearly and commanded as
distinctly in the midst of the hottest conflict, as if no tumult had
raged around him, and no danger had been near to distract his
attention; yet his horse was killed under him in the early part of the
battle; and at one moment, a Bavarian dragoon was seen holding him by
the coat with one hand, while he levelled a pistol at his head with
the other. One of the Imperialists, however, coming up at the moment,
freed his general from this unpleasant situation; and Eugene
proceeded to issue his orders, without the least sign of discomposure.
The following year Eugene returned to Italy, and once more began the
war against Vendome. Notwithstanding all his skill and activity,
however, the superiority of the French numbers, and the distinguished
military genius of their chief, prevented Eugene from meeting with any
very brilliant success. He surprised various detachments, relieved
several towns, was successful in many skirmishes; but he failed in
drawing the French out of Savoy, and was totally repulsed in
endeavoring to pass the Adda.
In the attempt to do so, many men and several valuable officers were
lost on both sides. The battle was long and furious. Both Vendome and
Eugene displayed all their skill to foil each other; and perhaps so
bravely contested a field was as honorable to each as a great victory.
Neither, however, could fairly claim the battle as won; for though
Eugene failed in passing the river, the French were the greatest
sufferers in the contest, and they did not succeed in compelling the
Germans to fly, though they prevented them from advancing to join the
Duke of Savoy. Eugene, with his wonted reckless courage, exposed
himself more than even was necessary, and in the very commencement of
the engagement was wounded severely in the neck, notwithstanding which
he remained a considerable length of time on horseback, till a second
musket-ball, in the knee, forced him to absent himself for a time from
the field. These wounds probably decided the failure of his attempt;
but they did not prevent him from securing his army in good winter
quarters, and checking all active operations on the part of Vendome.
The next campaign was more successful. Vendome, after defeating a body
of Imperial troops at Calemato, was recalled, and the command of the
French forces given to the Duke of Orleans and the Marechal de Marsin,
who with an army of eighty thousand men invested Turin, the last hold
of the Duke of Savoy.
Eugene immediately marched to form his junction with the duke; and no
longer opposed by the genius of Vendome, passed the Adige unattacked,
crossed the Tanaro, and the Po, joined his cousin near Carmagnola, and
advanced to the succor of Turin. The French were dispirited; and
uncertainty and divided councils pervaded their camp. On September
7th, the allied army, with less than half their numerical force,
attacked them in their intrenchment, forced their position in every
direction, and after one of the severest conflicts ever known,
completely defeated them, and raised the siege of Turin. The battle,
however, was at one time nearly lost to the allies by an accident
which befell Eugene. In rallying a body of Imperial cavalry, the
prince's horse received a ball in his chest, fell with the rider, and
threw him into a ditch, where, stunned with the fall, he lay for
several minutes among the dead and dying. The report spread through
the army that he was killed; a general alarm was the consequence; and
the infantry were beginning to give way, when, suddenly starting up,
Eugene commanded the nearest German regiment to fire upon the French
cavalry that were coming up to the charge. The effect was tremendous;
the French went to the right about; and, though they rallied again and
returned to the charge, the Imperial troops continued gradually to
force their way on, till their adversaries fled in confusion.
The consequence of this victory was the evacuation of the north of
Italy by the French. Eugene was now everywhere successful for some
time. He forced the passage of the Col de Tende, carried the French
intrenchments on the Var, and laid siege to Toulon. Here, however, he
failed; the defence was long and obstinate, reinforcements arrived at
the French city, and Eugene, together with the Duke of Savoy, agreed
to raise the siege once more, and retire into Piedmont.
Eugene was now again called to join Marlborough, in company with whom
he fought and conquered at Oudenarde, took Lille (where he was again
severely wounded), Ghent, Bruges, Tournay, and Mons; and forced the
French lines at Malplaquet, after a severe and long-protracted
struggle, in which two hundred thousand men were engaged, and nearly
sixty thousand fell.
If the victories of Blenheim and Oudenarde might more fairly be
attributed to Marlborough than to Eugene, the success at Malplaquet
was chiefly obtained by the prince, who had forced the intrenchments,
taken the wood of Sart, and turned the enemy's flank, before
Marlborough had made much progress against the other wing.
Eugene had strongly counselled the battle, though opposed by the
States of Holland, and had in a measure taken the responsibility upon
himself. On all occasions Eugene's impetuosity led him to expose his
person more than mere duty required, and now, having staked his fame
on the success of his attempt, he seems to have resolved not to
survive a defeat. In the very first attack he received a severe wound
behind the ear, which bled so profusely that all his staff pressed him
to retire for the purpose of having it dressed.
"If I am beaten," replied Eugene, "it will not be worth while; and if
we beat the enemy, I shall have plenty of time to spare for that."
After some short repose, we soon find Eugene once more acting against
the Turks in Hungary. No sooner was war determined, than Achmet III.
marched an immense force down to the frontiers of Hungary, to act
against Eugene, who had just taken the command of the German forces at
Peterwaradin. The Vizier Hali, commanding the Ottoman troops, full of
confidence in his own skill, and in his immense superiority of
numbers, advanced rapidly upon Eugene, and crossed the Save, which
formed the boundary of the two countries, determined to crush his
adversary by one great battle. Eugene was as desirous of such an event
as the vizier, and therefore the troops were soon engaged, almost
under the walls of Peterwaradin. The Turks fought bravely for many
hours, and the battle was long undecided; but at length, Eugene's
superior skill prevailed, and the enemy fled in every direction. The
Grand Vizier struggled to the last, with long and desperate bravery,
but after having received two severe wounds, he was borne away by the
fugitives to Carlowitz, where he died the next day, muttering to the
last imprecations against the Christians.
After the death of Hali from the wounds he had received at
Peterwaradin, the command of the Turkish army was given to the Pacha
of Belgrade, one of the most skilled officers in the Ottoman service.
But Eugene was destined to destroy the Turkish power in Hungary. The
campaign of the next year commenced with the siege of the
often-captured Belgrade; and it was soon completely invested and
reduced to sore distress. The Porte, however, was not unmindful of its
preservation; and, in the beginning of August, the pacha appeared on
the mountains surrounding the town, with an army of near two hundred
thousand men. Thus shut up between a strong fortress and an immense
army, with the dysentery in his camp, and his forces enfeebled by long
and severe labors, Eugene's situation was as difficult as it is
possible to conceive. Notwithstanding every disadvantage, his usual
bold course of action was pursued in the present instance, and met
with that success which is almost always sure to attend the
combination of daring and skill. After a short delay, to enable
himself to employ all his energies (having been himself greatly
debilitated by the camp fever), he attacked the Turkish army in their
intrenchments, and at the end of a very short but severe struggle,
succeeded in defeating a force more than three times the number of his
own.
Belgrade surrendered immediately; and the next year, without any great
military event, put an end to the war.
After the conclusion of peace, Eugene, who had been appointed governor
of the Austrian Netherlands, resigned that office, which he had never
personally filled, and was appointed vicar-general for the emperor in
his Italian dominions.
For many years after this Eugene spent his days in peace and
tranquillity, endeavoring to raise up a spirit of commerce among the
Germans, and to improve the finances of his sovereign, by whom he was
appreciated and loved. His greatest efforts were in favor of Trieste,
which he changed from a petty town to a great commercial city, and
which remains to the present day the best and the noblest fruit of all
his talents and all his exertions.
At first, everything promised that the old age of Eugene would have
passed in peace, uninterrupted by any warlike movements; but he was
once more called from his calmer occupations by the short war which
broke out with France in 1733.
Perhaps, in point of military skill, the two campaigns which followed
were the most brilliant of Eugene's life; but with only thirty
thousand men, opposed to a force of double that number, he could alone
act upon the defensive.
He did so, however, with more success than the scantiness of his
resources promised. He prevented the French from penetrating into
Swabia; and, though Philipsburg was taken notwithstanding all his
efforts, he contrived, by turning the course of the neighboring
rivers, to inundate the country on the German side of that city, and
to render its possession unprofitable to France.
Peace soon succeeded, and with these two campaigns ended Eugene's life
as a commander. He lived for some time after this, indeed, amusing
himself with the embellishments of his palace and gardens, and
employing a great many mechanics and laborers, during all seasons of
dearth or scarcity; but the battle-field never saw him more. His
health gradually and slowly declined, and on April 21, 1736, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age, he was found dead in his bed, after
having been slightly indisposed the night before.
GENERAL JAMES WOLFE
By L. DRAKE
(1726-1759)
[Illustration: James Wolfe. [TN]]
General Edward Wolfe, an officer who distinguished himself under the
Duke of Marlborough, was the father of James Wolfe, conqueror of
Quebec. He was the eldest son of the general, and was born at
Westerham, a small town in Kent, on November 6, 1726. As liberal an
education as could be acquired before the early age of fourteen, was
given to the future hero. He then went with his father to Flanders to
study the profession of an officer amid active warfare; and, thus
engaged, seven years soon passed. During this novitiate, he was not
without opportunities of distinguishing himself; his name was on
several occasions mentioned with honor; till at length, at the battle
of Laffeldt, his courage and skilful conduct attracted the notice of
his commander, the Duke of Cumberland, who, at the close of the day,
thanked him in the presence of the army; and from that time he was
marked out "as an officer of extraordinary merit and promise."
His merit, rather than any favor, brought Wolfe the rank of
lieutenant-colonel when he was barely twenty-two. The battalion he
commanded was soon distinguished by many and striking improvements in
discipline, so that its superiority at exercise, and in the order of
its quarters, gave sure proof of ability and temper in its young
commander. "The men," it is said, "adored while they profoundly
respected him; and his officers esteemed his approbation as much as
they dreaded his displeasure."
Canada, with a portion of New Brunswick, and also the islands of St.
John and Cape Breton, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, were at this
time possessed by the French; while Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
belonged to the English. The latter also claimed the tract of land
called New England, lying (as will be seen on looking at a map of
North America) to the west of New Brunswick, and south of the river
St. Lawrence. The French, however, disputed their claim to this
country; and constant quarrels arose between the rival settlers about
their right to land, of which, in reality, the poor Indians were the
proprietors. In virtue of a grant of parliament in 1750, a large body
of English took possession of this "debatable ground;" but scarcely
had they done so, when a superior force of French and Indians attacked
them, and killing some, made prisoners of others, and drove the rest
back. Many vigorous but unsuccessful efforts were made on the part of
the colonists and their neighbors, during eighteen months, to regain
their territory. A body of troops was then sent from England under
General Braddock, but this attempt also failed; and, the struggle
having now assumed some importance, an army of not less than sixteen
thousand men, under Lord Loudon, renewed the contest of 1755 against
the army under the Marquis de Montcalm, a most able and enterprising
officer. His superiority as a commander had been shown in several
instances, till, the slur which was being cast on the reputation of
our country's arms having excited attention at home, Lord Loudon was
recalled, and the army then in America was intrusted to General
Abercrombie (not the celebrated Abercromby). At the same time a fresh
force was raised at home, which put to sea in February, 1757. Wolfe
accompanied this expedition as brigadier under Major-General Amherst.
Its object was to reduce Cape Breton, the possession of which island,
commanding as it does the grand entrance of the St. Lawrence, was felt
to be of the greatest importance.
The town of Louisburg stands upon a small tongue of land, and at this
period was carefully fortified, having heavy batteries toward the sea,
and a strong defence of regular works on its land sides. Its harbor,
which is considered the most magnificent in the world, was carefully
guarded by five ships of the line extending quite across the mouth.
Goat Island formed one extremity of the entrance, and Lighthouse Point
the other; both these were surmounted by strong redoubts, having the
largest cannon and mortars used in war; while a garrison of 3,000
soldiers, with 2,500 seamen to man the intrenchments, seemed to
present an insuperable obstacle to a successful descent.
Four miles westward of the town, however, there was a little creek,
called Freshwater Cove; and, after much deliberation, it was resolved
to attempt a landing at this point. The frigates and lighter vessels
accordingly moved thither as soon as the weather moderated, and
anchored there one evening, with the wind still boisterous, and the
surf running very high. Next morning, at daybreak, the first division
of the troops entered their boats, Wolfe at their head.
The seamen had scarcely dipped their oars a second time, when a sudden
glancing of arms amid the sand-hills warned the troops to expect
opposition. The French had foreseen the probability of such an attempt
as the present, and had prepared to oppose it by throwing up
breastworks, placing field-pieces in the hollows, and stationing a
considerable force to dispute a landing.
[Illustration: General Wolfe landing at Louisburg.]
Gallantly the boats pressed onward; while the frigates, which had
approached within half-cannon shot of the shore, opening their fire,
swept the beach with a shower of round shot. The flotilla was now
within musket range, when the French all at once poured in a volley of
small-arms. Wolfe ordered his men not to fire in return; but, trusting
to the broadsides from the frigates, which, ploughing up the sand,
threw it high in the air, and thus kept the beach open, he urged his
rowers to their utmost strength, passed through a heavy surf, though
not without some loss, and made good his landing. Company by company,
as the men arrived, they quickly formed, and pushing on, after a sharp
encounter, forced the French to abandon their works, and retreat
within the walls of Louisburg.
The terrible surf proved the more formidable enemy. Above one hundred
boats, with a large number of their crews, were lost in attempting to
pass through to the shore. But officers and men were too enthusiastic
to be disheartened. In a short time all the troops were landed; guns,
stores, work-tools, ammunition, and provisions, followed quickly; and,
ere the enemy had learned that real danger at last threatened them,
the business of the siege was begun.
General Amherst invested the place without delay on the land side,
and, having opened his trenches before it, despatched Wolfe with the
light infantry and a body of Highlanders to attack the battery on
Lighthouse Point. Before dawn one morning, he reached the outposts,
drove them in, and followed with such rapidity, that, ere the enemy
could form, and almost before they had got under arms, they were
completely routed. The guns were immediately turned with terrible
accuracy upon the harbor and town. The five ships of war now found
their position very hazardous; one was soon on fire, and blew up; the
flames spread to two others, and the remaining two were attacked and
captured by boats. The breaching batteries shook the ramparts of the
town to their foundations, while the shells carried ruin and death
into the streets. On July 26th, the enemy, finding it impossible to
resist any longer, surrendered; the garrison became prisoners of war,
and the islands of Cape Breton and Prince Edward fell into the hands
of the English.
Wolfe's part in this campaign was now over, for domestic matters
summoned him to England. He had not, however, been long at home, when
he was informed from head-quarters, that his brilliant services as a
subaltern had caused the king to select him to conduct an enterprise
of still greater hazard and honor. It had been proposed in Council, as
the speediest mode of putting an end to the transatlantic war, that
the reduction of Quebec, the enemy's colonial capital, should be
effected. Competent authorities declared the attempt to be not
impracticable; it was therefore resolved on, and Wolfe was nominated
to the command of an armament to invest the town. An attack, to be
made on three other points, was determined as a commencement of the
campaign.
The armament set sail early in February, 1759. Admiral Saunders
commanded the fleet, which comprised twenty-two line-of-battle ships,
and an equal number of frigates. The whole came within sight of
Louisburg April 21st. The harbor being still choked with ice, the
vessels could not get in; and the delays which occurred prevented
Wolfe from entering the St. Lawrence till June. The ships reached the
Isle of Orleans by the end of the month; and, casting anchor,
possession was taken. The land was in a high state of cultivation,
affording abundant supplies to soldiers and sailors.
The Marquis of Montcalm, now an old but still energetic man, occupied
Quebec and the adjoining district with an army of five thousand
regular troops, and the same number of militia and Indians. He made
preparations for the defence with great judgment; the mass of his army
was in the town, which he had further protected by intrenchments
extending nearly eight miles to the west, till they reached the
Montmorency River. Montreal was also well garrisoned; and, twenty
miles above Quebec, a body of two thousand men lay encamped to attack
in flank any force which might attempt to land in that direction.
Many skirmishes took place at first between the Indians and British
troops; and one attack of more importance, on the intrenchments near
the St. Charles, was headed by Wolfe in person. It completely failed;
but it taught him the strength of the enemy's position, and clearly
showed that it would require stratagem to accomplish his design of
reducing the town itself.
A council was summoned, when it was found that disease and the petty
combats in which they had been engaged, had reduced the troops to five
thousand effective men. Insufficient as this army seemed, Wolfe
determined to remain idle no longer; and a plan of attack on the town
was agreed upon. Accordingly, the following morning (September 11th),
the ships of the line, with the exception of two or three, and all the
frigates, suddenly hoisted sail, and, exposed to a cannonade from all
the batteries, sailed up the river past Quebec. The troops had
previously been landed on the southern side of the river, and in perfect
safety they marched in the same direction. When they had proceeded about
nine miles, they found the fleet riding at anchor, already beyond the
reach or observation of the enemy. The point of attack Wolfe had chosen
lay within a mile and a half of Quebec, and consequently this march had
no other purpose in view than to mislead the enemy as to his intentions.
No sooner had the tide turned, and evening set in, than the surface of
the river suddenly swarmed with boats, which had secretly been brought
to this distant mustering-place. Then the signal for the ships to sail
was hung out, and they immediately began proudly to descend the channel,
leaving the flotilla boats behind them.
Before midnight, the fleet had reached its first anchorage, and the
troops up the river could hear the thundering of their guns, as they
cannonaded at long shot the fortifications below the St. Charles. The
cheering sound told them that the ships had repassed the town safely;
while the French naturally concluded, that from the ships a descent
was about to be attempted.
During the interval, the troops had silently and in complete order
taken their places in the boats; and, as soon as it became quite dark,
like a huge flock of waterfowl, they glided down the stream. Not a
word was spoken; the soldiers sat upright and motionless; and the
sailors scarcely dipped their oars, lest the splash should reach the
ears of the French placed along the shore at short distances. Wolfe
sat in the leading boat, surveying attentively each headland, to
prevent the hazard of shooting beyond the point at which he purposed
landing. Unobserved, he gained the little cove which has since borne
his name, and shortly before midnight all the men were landed.
The troops now stood upon a narrow beach. Above them rose a precipice,
nearly perpendicular, to the height of two hundred and fifty feet. A
winding path, broad enough to admit four men abreast, led to the
summit; and here lay one of the large plains, or table-lands, which
distinguish the heights of Abraham, on a level with the upper town of
Quebec. A battery of four guns, and a strong party of infantry,
defended this important pass. Vigilance, however, was not one of the
qualities of this guard; for the leading files of the British, under
Colonel Howe, were close upon the station of the French sentinel ere
he challenged. Replying with a hearty cheer, they sprung forward. An
irregular volley poured upon them; but the next instant they were high
on the ground, and at close bayonets with the French guard, who
immediately fled in terror, leaving Colonel Howe quietly in possession
of their redoubt and artillery.
Long before dawn, all the troops had gained this ground. Leaving two
companies in charge of the redoubt, Wolfe hastened forward with the
rest toward Quebec. He halted when within a mile of the town, and
there the men lay down with their arms in readiness for the first
alarm. A communication by small parties, called videttes, was kept up
with the companies at the redoubt.
A trooper, with his horse covered with foam, appeared in the French
camp at Beau Point, as the morning sky began to redden. He brought
Montcalm the first intelligence of the landing the English had
effected, and the unwelcome news was soon confirmed by the appearance
of some of the fugitive soldiers from the redoubt. The camp was
instantly in commotion; but the marquis gave his orders coolly, and
before an hour the entire army had crossed the river, and were in full
march for the Heights of Abraham.
About eleven in the forenoon, a large body of Indians and Canadian
riflemen were seen issuing from a wood on one side of the plain on
which the English were stationed. They were soon hidden again by a
thicket; and dexterously spreading themselves among the bushes, they
opened a smart skirmishing fire on the pickets. This was the first
warning that the long-wished-for event was at hand--a general conflict
might now be confidently expected.
Without delay, Wolfe drew up his men in two lines, placing a few light
companies in skirmishing order in front, and retaining one regiment
(the 47th) in divisions, as a reserve. The French skirmishers were
quickly engaged with the light troops, whom they compelled to fall
back on the line; while a heavy column advancing on the left, obliged
Wolfe to wheel round three battalions to strengthen that side. But ere
the column bore down, a fresh body of skirmishers appeared, and under
their cover it silently withdrew; then, suddenly appearing on the
right, it came down impetuously upon the irregular troops which Wolfe
had there stationed. These did their duty nobly; the fierce attack of
the enemy failed to break their order, or make them even flinch for a
moment. The skirmishers, meantime, continued to gall the light
infantry with their desultory fire, which acted also as a vail to
conceal the intended movements of the main body of the enemy. As the
light troops, however, hastily fell back, they caused a slight dismay
among their supporters. Wolfe instantly rode along the line, and
assured the men that these were only obeying instructions in order to
draw the French onward. "Be firm, my lads!" said he; "do not return a
shot till the enemy is within forty yards of the muzzles of your
pieces; then you may fire!"
The men replied by a shout; and, shouldering their muskets, they
remained as though on parade, while the French continued to press
nearer and nearer. At length they were within the appointed distance.
Every gun was now levelled--a crashing volley passed from left to
right--a dense smoke followed the discharge, and hid its effects for a
minute. The breeze soon carried this off, and then the huge gaps in
the enemy's line exceeded all expectation. In the rear, the ground
appeared crowded with wounded men hurrying or being borne from the
conflict; while the army, which had just advanced so confidently, now
wavered, and then stood still. Seeing the irresolution of the enemy,
Wolfe cheered his men to charge. A moment after, a musket-ball struck
his wrist. He paused only to wrap his handkerchief round the wound,
and again pressed on. He received a second ball in his body, but still
continued to issue his orders without evincing any symptom of pain,
when a third bullet pierced his breast.
Wolfe fell to the ground; he was instantly raised and borne to the
rear, where the utmost skill of the surgeons was put forth in a vain
attempt to save his life. While they were engaged in examining his
wounds, Wolfe continued to raise himself, from time to time, to watch
the progress of the battle. His eyesight beginning to fail, he leaned
backwards upon one of the grenadiers who had supported him from the
field, and his heavy breathing and an occasional groan, alone showed
that life remained.
"See how they run!" exclaimed an officer, beside the dying general.
"Who run?" cried Wolfe, instantly raising himself on his elbow, and
looking up, as if life were returning with full vigor.
"The French," answered the officer; "they are giving way in all
directions."
"Run, one of you," said the general, speaking with great firmness,
"run to Colonel Burton; tell him to march Webb's regiment down to
Charles River with all speed, so as to secure the bridge, and cut off
the enemy's retreat."
His orders were obeyed, and after a short pause, he continued, "Now,
God be praised, I shall die happy!" He fell back at these words,
turned convulsively on his side and expired.
Montcalm had also fallen in the battle; the enemy was totally routed,
and, five days after, Quebec capitulated to General Townshend.
The body of the gallant and high-minded Wolfe was conveyed home in a
ship of war. When the hero's remains arrived at Portsmouth,
minute-guns were fired, the flags half struck, and a body of troops,
with reversed arms, received the coffin on the beach, and followed the
hearse. Parliament voted Wolfe a monument in Westminster Abbey, and
in that venerable pile would have been his last resting-place; but a
mother claimed the ashes of her son, and laid them beside those of his
father, in a vault of the parish church of Greenwich.
FREDERICK THE GREAT
By GENERAL JOHN MITCHELL
(1712-1786)
[Illustration: Frederick the Great. [TN]]
How shall we describe the "Incomparable," the extraordinary compound
of so many brilliant and repulsive qualities? How is he to be
depicted, who was great as a king, and little as a man,--always
admired in his public, never beloved in his private, character;--a
just, generous, and laborious prince,--a vain, avaricious, and
cold-hearted individual; luxurious by temperament, temperate in
practice; a selfish epicurean, and affecting the harshness of the
cynic;--peacefully disposed, and cultivating the arts of peace, yet
exercising the arts of war in their direst form;--a man of letters,
ignorant of the beauties, and disdaining the language of his
country;--magnificent and mean; the builder of palaces, theatres,
libraries and museums, and dying, literally, without a whole shirt in
which he could be buried;--and, lastly, the most brilliant and
successful soldier of his time,--and almost destitute of the soldier's
first quality, personal courage?
Frederick, by general acclamation surnamed "The Great," was born on
January 24, 1712. His education was principally military; his very
toys were miniature implements of war suited to his age; and no sooner
was he able to handle a musket than he was sent to drill, and forced,
like all the Prussian officers of the period, to perform the duties
and submit to the privations of a private soldier,--obliged even to
stand sentinel before the palace in all the severities of a northern
winter. Though rather feeble of constitution, he soon became a
proficient in martial exercises. The different branches of science
bearing on the art of war he was forced to study; but his leisure
hours were devoted to reading French verses, and playing on the
flute--pursuits that greatly displeased his royal father, who
frequently threw the books into the fire, and the flutes out of the
window.
Frederick William,--the original founder of the pipe-clay science of
tactics, and the stick-and-starvation system of organization,--the
first inventor of pauper armies, dressed in martial uniforms,--became
gradually estranged from his poetical son; and often declared that the
dandy, "_Der Stutzer_" as he styled him, "would ruin everything." He
consequently treated him with so much severity, that the young prince
attempted to escape, intending to fly to England. The tragical result
of the adventure is well known. Frederick was thrown into prison; and
his friend and adviser, Katt, beheaded under his window, while
soldiers held the prince's head toward the scaffold on which the deed
of death was acting. What impression this dreadful scene made on his
mind is not known; but it ought to have been a deep and a lasting one.
It was the king's wish to follow up this execution by the trial of his
own son; but the remonstrances of the cabinet of Vienna, of his own
council, and, above all, of the upright and honest chaplain, Dr.
Reinbeck, reluctantly induced him to forego the intention. It is not
probable that he actually intended to put the prince to death, but
only to force him to resign his right to the throne in favor of his
second brother, William; a proposal to which Frederick constantly
refused to assent.
But though not tried, Frederick was severely punished, for he was
confined to the fortress of Kuestrin, where he was obliged to perform
the duties of a commissary of finance, and write the reports, and make
out the returns with his own hand. All this was, no doubt, of
advantage to the future sovereign. On condition of marrying the
Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick-Bevern, he was, at the end of eighteen
months, released from confinement, and allowed to reside in the small
town of Rheinsberg, where he resumed his flute and his French poets,
to which the study of French philosophers and French translations from
the classics was added. It was during his stay at Rheinsberg that his
correspondence with foreign men of letters commenced; and it was here
also that, with a party of friends, he formed an order of chivalry
termed the "Order of Bayard," the motto of the knights being, "Without
fear, and without reproach." But these were vain attempts at
knighthood, for there was nothing chivalrous in the character of
Frederick.
Two short journeys performed with his father, and a visit to the army
which Prince Eugene commanded on the Rhine in 1734, formed the only
interruption to the tranquil and philosophical life of Rheinsberg.
The first appearance in the field of the army bequeathed by Frederick
William to his son, forms an era in modern history; for a belief in
its efficiency was the mainspring that urged on the young king to
attack the Austrians; and its excellence became the lever with which
he ultimately raised his poor and secondary kingdom to the rank of a
first-rate European power. The history of the rise and formation of
this army, though a very curious one, would necessarily exceed our
limits; but no one will be able to write the life of Frederick, and do
full justice to the subject, without giving the reader a proper idea
of the nature and origin of the engine which helped so mainly to
render him great and famous. He had, no doubt, other claims to
greatness besides those which his military actions conferred upon
him; but it was the splendor of these actions that brought his other
merits to light; and little enough would have been heard of the
"Philosopher of Sans-Souci," had not the victor of so many fields made
him known to the world.
Frederick, while crown-prince, had not shown any great predilection
for military affairs; he was rather pacifically disposed; was even a
little taken with the philosophy of Wolf; and greatly captivated by
French literature, and by French poetry in particular. It is probable,
therefore, that the high opinion generally entertained of the
newly-formed army, and the favorable opportunity that fortune offered
on his accession to the throne, were the spurs "that pricked him on"
to the field.
The Emperor Charles VI., the last male descendant of the house of
Hapsburg, died in October, 1741, leaving his daughter, Maria Theresa,
to retain, if possible, his extensive dominions against the various
claimants who had not acknowledged the Pragmatic Sanction: an act by
which the emperor had bequeathed to her all the possessions of his
house. Frederick William had not acknowledged this deed, so that
Frederick was not bound by it; and having some well-grounded claims on
the duchies of Silesia, prepared to make them good--by force of arms,
if necessary--the moment the emperor died. The desire "to be spoken
of" was, as he himself confesses, one of his principal motives for
action on this occasion.
The young king resolved to lead the army he had inherited, personally
into the field; and as the Austrians were totally unprepared for the
visit, the principalities were occupied without resistance. It was not
till April 10, 1741, that an Austrian force, under General Neipperg,
came to give him the meeting; and there was but little wanting to have
rendered the battle of Molwitz, the first of Frederick's fields, the
last also. The ground was covered with snow. Both parties were of
about equal strength, and took up their ground, as the king himself
tells us, in a manner alike unskilful; but, on the part of the
tactician, this very want of skill tended to gain the battle; for
three battalions of the first line, not finding room to form up, were
thrown back _en potence_ on the extremity of the right wing, and, as
we shall see, repulsed the Austrian cavalry by their fire at the most
critical moment of the battle. The Austrians had been very merry at
the expense of the Prussian system of tactics, and had promised to
beat the pipe-clay out of their jackets at the first meeting; and now
the words of scorn were to be made good.
After the usual salutation of artillery, the Imperial cavalry,
practised in the Turkish wars, fell at full gallop upon the Prussian
cavalry of the right wing, and overthrew them in an instant; for, like
the infantry, they had been taught only to fire. Following up their
success, the Austrian horsemen dashed at the flank of the Prussian
infantry; but here the three battalions already mentioned as thrown
back _en potence_, presented a steady front, and by their rapid fire
repulsed the assailants, who, having their commander killed, seeing
the despised and pipe-clayed warriors standing immovably in their
ranks, from which a fire of never-heard rapidity was pouring out in
all directions, soon dispersed, leaving their comrades of the
infantry to try their fortune against these well-drilled foes. The
infantry were not more fortunate than the cavalry. The Prussians stood
firm as rocks, and fired three shots to their one; and as both were
equally unskilful in the use of arms, the quantity of shots fired
naturally decided the day. After a combat of several hours, the
Austrians retired from the field, leaving the victory and
battle-ground in the hands of the Prussians.
But where was he, the chieftain of that gallant host, the claimant of
dukedoms and principalities, the victor for whose brows a splendid
wreath of laurel had been so nobly gained by the blood of the brave?
Will blushing glory hide the tale of shame? Alas, no!--vain were the
courtly attempts made to conceal the truth, and history is forced to
confess that "Frederick the Great from Molwitz deigned to run." In the
scene of death, tumult, and confusion, which followed on the overthrow
of the Prussian cavalry, the king completely lost his presence of
mind, and fled as far as Oppeln, where the Austrian garrison,
unfortunately for their cause, received him with a fire of musketry,
that made him take another direction. He passed the night in great
anxiety at a small country inn twenty miles from the field. On the
following morning an aide-de-camp of the Prince of Dessau brought the
fugitive king back to his victorious army. "Oh, Frederick," says
Berenhorst, "who could then have foretold the glory thou wert destined
to acquire and to merit as well as any conqueror and gainer of battles
ever did?"
The war of the Austrian Succession having been now kindled, and Maria
Theresa been attacked on all the points of her extensive dominions,
Frederick made peace, left his allies to shift for themselves, and,
having obtained the principalities of Silesia, retired from the
contest. That he made good use of the time and additional sources of
strength gained, it is needless to say.
The splendid success of the Austrian arms against France, the rapid
preponderance that Maria Theresa was acquiring, alarmed him, however,
for his late conquests; and he determined again to take the field
before the strength of the house of Austria should outgrow his power
to repress it. Voltaire negotiated for France on this occasion, and
represented the danger with rather more than diplomatic ability. On
both sides the protocols were as often written in verse as in prose;
and Frederick, who hated George II., having told the poet, "Let France
declare war against England, and I march," the latter instantly set
out for Versailles, and thus gave the signal for the second Silesian
War. This was in 1744. The Prussian troops were again victorious in
battle, but the general result was not so much in their favor. The
king, after taking Prague, was forced to evacuate Bohemia and part of
Silesia; and though afterward brilliantly successful, particularly in
the fields of Hohenfriedberg, he did not hesitate to make a separate
peace the moment a fair opportunity offered. On taking the field, he
told the French ambassador, "I am going to play your game, and if the
trumps fall to my share, we'll go halves." The best part of the
promise was soon forgotten, and the French, Spaniards, and Bavarians
left, as before, to fight their own battle, the King of Prussia
having, in December, 1745, amicably concluded all his differences
with Saxony and Austria. The young and fortunate conqueror now
proceeded to improve and adorn his dominions; and it is almost
impossible to speak in too high terms of the great things he effected
with comparatively small means.
At this period of his life Frederick was singularly beloved and
admired by the new court and world with which he had surrounded
himself. His wit, fortune, and activity--a figure marked by
distinguished bearing, by beauty of a peculiar kind, even by dress and
apparel--a total of personal appearance that impressed itself
singularly on the eyes of the beholder, excited general enthusiasm.
Imitation is a proof and consequence of it; and many an orthodox
believer, who trembled in private, ridiculed religion in public,
because he had heard that the king was an atheist; and many a gallant
soldier, who hated the sight and smell of snuff, disfigured his nose
and lip with rappee, because such was the royal fashion. As a general,
he was looked upon as the first of his time. The feeble moment at
Molwitz had not become generally known; and the few who had witnessed
the unpleasant affair, were too loyal and well-disposed to call it
back to their recollection.
The king certainly did everything to deserve the favorable opinion
entertained of him. Arts, science, commerce, and agriculture were
encouraged; more than one hundred and thirty villages sprang up on
newly drained lands along the banks of the Oder; men of letters and
talents were brought to Berlin; theatres, operas, ballets, were
established; a sort of German Versailles arose amid the sands of
Brandenburg; and the "Garden House outside the gate," which was
Frederick William's summer residence and place of recreation, soon
sank down to the humble rank of a gardener's lodge to his son's
palace! The machinery of government was never carried on with such
perfect regularity. The king superintended the whole himself, and that
without any regular intercourse with his ministers, some of whom, it
is said, he never saw in his life. They furnished him every morning
with abridged statements of the business to be transacted, and he
wrote his order on the margin of the paper; the affairs of state were
all settled in a couple of hours. Literary compositions, in prose and
verse, military reviews, meals, and conversation, filled up the rest
of the day. "Frederick," says Voltaire, in his vile and mischievous
"Memoires," "governed without court, council, or religious
establishment" (_culte_). It was during this brilliant period of the
king's reign that the French poet passed some time at Berlin.
The Austrians, who had ridiculed the drilling and powdering, had paid
for their folly in many a bloody field, but had profited by the
lesson, and could now move as accurately and fire as quickly as their
neighbors. The first combat of the great Seven Years' War, which began
in 1756, already proved this to the conviction of all parties. The
Prussians purchased a slight advantage by a great loss of blood; and
on the very battle-field the general remark was, "These are no longer
the old Austrians." On the capture of the Saxon army, which
surrendered at Pirna, Frederick, who exacted such unlimited allegiance
from his subjects and soldiers, gave a strange proof of inconsistency,
and of that contempt with which he seemed to treat the feelings of
other men; for, without so much as asking their consent, he ordered
all the prisoners to be incorporated into the ranks of his army, and
expected to make loyal Prussians of them by merely changing their
uniforms. As was to be expected, they deserted immediately.
The progress of the war is out of our province. Spoiled by success,
Frederick, after gaining the dearly purchased victory of Prague,
attempted to reduce a city which he could not invest, and in which an
army was concentrated. The Austrians advanced with 60,000 men to raise
the siege; and the presumptuous king did not hesitate to rush upon
them with less than half the number of Prussians; a total defeat, the
first he had yet sustained, was the consequence. From this day it is
allowed that the Prussian infantry had no longer any superiority over
their enemies; henceforth the genius of their sovereign, the
confidence he inspired, and the dread entertained of him by his
adversaries, are the only advantages they have to depend upon. In the
second year of the war he writes to La Motte Fouque,--"Owing to the
great losses sustained, our infantry is very much degenerated from
what it formerly was, and must not be employed on difficult
undertakings." In the third year he says to the same,--"Care must be
taken not to render our people timid; they are too much so by nature
already."
Of this battle of Collin we must here report an anecdote
characteristic of what Frederick _then_ was. The left wing of the
Prussian army was obliquing in admirable order to the left, and
already gaining the right of the Austrians, according to the
prescribed disposition, when the king, at once losing patience in the
most unaccountable manner, sent directions to Prince Maurice of
Dessau, who commanded the infantry, ordering him to wheel up and
advance upon the enemy. The prince told the officer that the proposed
points had not yet been attained, and recommended that the oblique
march should still be continued. The king immediately came up in
person, and in haughty and overbearing style repeated the order, and,
when the Prince of Dessau attempted to explain, drew his sword, and in
a fiery and threatening tone exclaimed, "Will he (_er_) obey, and
immediately wheel up and advance?" The officers present were
terrified, fancying from his excited manner that he would be guilty of
some act of violence; but the prince, of course, bowed and obeyed,
and--the battle was soon lost.
Frederick, as an absolute king and commander, had, no doubt, many
advantages over the ill-combined coalition by which he was assailed;
but the mass of brute force was so great on the part of his
adversaries, that he was more than once on the very eve of being
crushed. At one time, indeed, he contemplated the commission of
suicide.
[Illustration: Frederick and the Austrians after Leuthen.]
The wonderful battles of Rossbach and Leuthen[1] reconciled him to
life. The former was not, as is well known, his work, as it was
almost gained before he well knew what was going on: it was due
principally to the indomitable bravery of Zeidlitz and the cavalry.
His conduct at Leuthen could not be surpassed; and his manner of
promoting General Prince Maurice of Dessau, who had most nobly aided
him in the battle, was highly characteristic. "I congratulate you on
the victory, _Field-marshal_," said Frederick, when they met on the
field. The prince was still so much occupied with what was going
forward, that he did not mark the exact words the king had used, till
the latter again called out, "Don't you hear, _Field-marshal_, that I
congratulate you on the victory gained?" when the newly promoted made
due acknowledgments in course. Frederick, in his great contest, was
assisted by an English, Hessian, and Hanoverian army, as well as by
English subsidies; but, making full allowance for the value of these
auxiliaries, it must still be admitted that great genius and courage
were required to enable a King of Prussia to resist the combined
forces of France, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. Frederick effected
this, and his conduct deservedly obtained for him the name of "Great."
[Footnote 1: It was the evening succeeding this battle of
Leuthen that Frederick, himself leading the advance after the
flying Austrians, entered the little town of Lissa, where a
body of the enemy, never dreaming the pursuit could reach so
far, were resting for the night. Frederick was as surprised
as they when, on entering a room of the principal inn, he
found it filled with Austrian officers. He had but a handful
of troops with him, and, had his enemies known it, was their
prisoner. But with the utmost coolness he saluted them,
"Good-evening, gentlemen. Is there still room for me, think
you?" Whereon the frightened Austrians, thinking themselves
surrounded by the whole Prussian army, decamped in wild
haste, and getting their troops together as they could, fled
from the dangerous neighborhood.]
During his first two wars, and till the period of the battle of
Rossbach in the third war, he always kept at a distance from the
scene, which may be allowed in a commander who has to overlook the
whole, and is not called upon to defend posts or lead attacks in
person. After the above period, however, and when he perceived that
the nature of the contest, and public opinion itself, demanded greater
exertions from him, he several times, on due deliberation, exposed
himself to the danger of an ordinary brigadier. Several occasions of
this kind might be specified. At the Battle of Kunersdorf, when
attempting to assemble some remnants of the infantry, who were still
holding their ground here and there, his horse was shot under him. At
Liegnitz, a spent ball struck him on the calf of the leg. At Torgau
again, when a newly advanced brigade began to give way, like all its
predecessors, he rode into the heaviest fire of musketry, and received
a shot on the breast, which penetrated his shirt, and for some moments
deprived him so completely of all power of breathing, that he was
believed to be dead.[2]
[Footnote 2: This battle of Torgau, Frederick planned to win
by a flank attack; but the flanking column was delayed in its
march, and at evening the king found himself everywhere
beaten back. His last chance of success against his many
opponents seemed lost: and he spent the night seated in the
church at Elsnig, in such mood as may be imagined. During the
night the flanking column at last arrived, fell on the enemy,
and crushed them. This was the last of Frederick's great
battles.]
Frederick outlived his last great war for twenty-three years, and died
in 1786, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. Every hour of this
last period of his life was assiduously occupied, almost to the hour
of his death, in zealous exertions to improve his country and
ameliorate the condition of his people. He certainly effected great
things, but left much that he might have achieved totally unattempted.
Living in the solitude which his dazzling fame had cast around him,
separated from all immediate intercourse with his species by the very
barrier his glory had interposed between him and other men, he acted
his part to admiration before the crowds who, from far and near, came
to behold him; but, blinded by the halo that encompassed him, he saw
little, and deemed less, perhaps, of mankind and their doings. In the
mass they may possibly not be deserving of high admiration, but
Frederick had never done them even justice; and in the latter years of
his life, he entirely lost sight of the direction they were taking; he
formed an ideal world to himself, and governed his country and
subjects accordingly. He was the admired wonder of the age; a
brilliant, if not spotless sun, that cast far aloft its vivid beams,
indeed, but remained stationary and concentrated within itself, while
all surrounding nature was in motion and in progress.
ROBERT, LORD CLIVE
By W. C. TAYLOR, LL.D.
(1725-1774)
[Illustration: Lord Clive. [TN]]
The history of British India is without a parallel in the annals of
mankind. It is little over a hundred years ago since "the company of
British merchants trading with the East Indies" possessed nothing more
than a few ports favorably situated for commerce, held at the will, or
rather the caprice, of the native princes, and defended against
commercial rivals by miserable fortifications, which could not have
resisted any serious attack. Now British sovereignty in India extends
over an empire greater than that possessed by Alexander or the Caesars,
and probably superior to both in the amount of its wealth and
population. The chief agent in raising the East India Company from a
trading association to a sovereign power was Lord Clive, whose own
elevation was scarcely less marvellous than that of the empire which
he founded.
Robert Clive was born September 29, 1725; his father was a country
gentleman, of moderate fortune and still more moderate capacity, who
cultivated his own estate in Shropshire. When a boy, the future hero
of India distinguished himself chiefly by wild deeds of daring and
courage, neglecting the opportunities of storing his mind with
information, the want of which he bitterly felt in after-life. His
violent temper, and his neglect of study, led his family to despair of
his success at home, and, in his eighteenth year, he was sent out as a
"writer," in the service of the East India Company, to the Presidency
of Madras. In our day such an appointment would be considered a fair
provision for a young man, holding out, besides, a reasonable prospect
of obtaining competency, if not fortune; but when Clive went to the
East the younger "writers," or clerks, were so badly paid, that they
could scarcely subsist without getting into debt, while their seniors
enriched themselves by trading on their own account. The voyage out,
from England to Madras, which is now effected in three or four weeks,
occupied, at that time, from six months to a year. Clive's voyage was
more than usually tedious; the ship was detained for a considerable
period at the Brazils, where he picked up some knowledge of
Portuguese, and contracted some heavy debts. This apparent misfortune
had the good effect of compelling him to reflect on his situation. He
avoided all amusements and dissipation, but availed himself of the
resources of the governor's library, which was liberally opened to him
in his hours of leisure. He, however, felt himself unhappy, for his
occupations were unsuited to his tastes, and he longed for an
opportunity of finding a mode of life more congenial to his
disposition.
The war of the Austrian Succession, in which George II. took the side
of the empress, while the French king supported her competitor,
extended to the Eastern World. Labourdonnais, the governor of the
French colony in the Mauritius, suddenly appeared before Madras, and,
as the town and fort were not prepared for defence, both were
surrendered on honorable terms. But Dupleix, the French governor of
Pondicherry, denying the right of Labourdonnais to grant any terms,
refused to ratify the capitulation, and directed Madras to be razed to
the ground. With still greater disregard for public faith, he led the
English who had capitulated through the town of Pondicherry, as
captives gracing his triumphal procession, in the presence of 50,000
spectators. Clive escaped this outrage by flying from Madras in
disguise; he took refuge at Fort St. David, a settlement subordinate
to Madras, where he obtained from Major Lawrence, one of the best
officers then in India, an ensign's commission in the service of the
company.
Peace between England and France having been established, Madras was
restored to its former owners. Clive, however, did not return to his
civil pursuits; he occasionally acted as a writer, but he was more
frequently employed as a soldier in the petty hostilities which arose
between the English and the natives. Events, however, were now in
progress, which made the French and English East India companies
competitors for an empire, though neither understood the value of the
prize for which they contended; and Clive, fortunately for his country
and himself, was almost forced to take the position of a military
commander.
To explain fully the position of India, at this period, would take far
more pages than we can afford lines; a very brief sketch, may,
however, help our readers to comprehend the course of events. India,
in its entire extent, was nominally governed by the Emperor of Delhi,
or, as he was generally, though absurdly, called in Europe, "the Great
Mogul." Under him were several viceroys, each of whom ruled over as
many subjects as any of the great sovereigns of Europe; and the
delegates of these viceroys had a wider extent of territory than is
included in most of the minor states of Germany. This empire began to
lose its unity toward the close of the seventeenth century. The
different viceroys, while professing a nominal allegiance to the crown
of Delhi, established a substantial independence; several of their
immediate vassals treated them as they had done the emperor; and
several warlike tribes took advantage of this disorganization to
plunder the defenceless provinces. Of these the most formidable were
the Mahrattas, whose name was long the terror of the peninsula.
Dupleix, whose name has already been mentioned as the French governor
of Pondicherry, was the first who conceived the possibility of
establishing a European dominion on the ruins of the Delhi empire;
and, for this purpose, he wisely resolved to attempt no direct
conquest, but to place at the head of the different principalities,
men who owed their elevation to his aid, and whose continuance in
power would be dependent on his assistance. With this view he
supported a claimant to the viceroyalty of the Deccan, and another to
the subordinate government of the Carnatic; or, as the Indians term
it, a rival nizam, and a rival nabob, against the princes already in
possession of these territories. His efforts were equally splendid and
successful; the competitors whom he had selected became masters of the
kingdom, and he, as the bestower of such mighty prizes, began to be
regarded as the greatest authority in India. The English were struck
with astonishment, and, as there was peace with France, they were at a
loss to determine on the line of conduct that they ought to pursue.
Mohammed Ali, whom the English recognized as Nabob of the Carnatic,
was reduced to the possession of the single town of Trichinopoly, and
even that was invested by Chunda Sahib, the rival nabob, and his
French auxiliaries. Under these circumstances Clive proposed to the
Madras authorities the desperate expedient of seizing on Arcot, the
capital of the Carnatic, and thus recalling Chunda Sahib from the
siege of Trichinopoly. With a force of 200 Europeans and 300 Sepoys,
under eight officers, four of whom had been taken from the
counting-house, Clive surprised Arcot in the midst of a terrific
storm, and the garrison fled without striking a blow. Being reinforced
by large bodies of troops, the expelled garrison, swelled to the
number of 3,000 men, formed an encampment near the town; but Clive
took them by surprise in the night, slew great numbers, put the rest
to flight, and returned to his quarters without a single casualty.
Chunda Sahib sent 10,000 men, including 150 French soldiers, under his
son, Rajah Sahib, to recover Arcot. Clive's little garrison endured a
siege of fifty days against this disproportionate force, and against
the pressure of famine, which was early and severely felt. Nothing in
history is equal to the proof of devotion which the native portion of
this gallant little band gave to their beloved commander; the Sepoys
came to Clive with a request that all the grain should be given to the
Europeans, who required more nourishment than the natives of Asia,
declaring that they would be satisfied with the thin gruel which
strained away from the rice. Rajah Sahib at length made an attempt to
take the place by storm; he was defeated with great loss, principally
by Clive's personal exertions, upon which he abandoned the siege,
leaving behind him a large quantity of military stores.
Clive followed up his victory with great vigor, and the government of
Madras, encouraged by his success, resolved to send him with a strong
detachment to reinforce the garrison of Trichinopoly. Just at this
conjuncture, however, Major Lawrence returned from England and assumed
the chief command. If Clive was mortified by the change, he soon
overcame his feelings; he cheerfully placed himself under the command
of his old friend, and exerted himself as strenuously in the second
post as when he held the chief command. The French had no leaders fit
to cope with the two friends, and the English triumphed everywhere.
The besiegers of Trichinopoly were themselves besieged, and compelled
to capitulate. Chunda Sahib fell into the hands of the Mahrattas, and
was put to death at the instigation of his rival. The forts of
Covelong and Chingleput were taken by Clive, though his forces
consisted of raw recruits, little better than an undisciplined rabble.
Dupleix, however, was not driven to despair, but still sought means of
renewing the contest.
After the capture of Chingleput, Clive returned to Madras, where he
married Miss Maskelyne, sister to the Astronomer Royal, and
immediately after returned to England. He was received with great
honors by the Court of Directors, and, through the influence of Lord
Sandwich, obtained a seat in Parliament; but his election having been
set aside, he again turned his thoughts toward India, where both the
company and the government were eager to avail themselves of his
services. The directors appointed him governor of Fort St. David; the
king gave him the commission of a lieutenant-colonel in the British
army; and thus doubly authorized, he returned to Asia in 1755.
The first service on which he was employed after his return to the
East was the reduction of the stronghold of Gheriah. This fortress,
built on a craggy promontory, and almost surrounded by the ocean, was
the den of a pirate named Angria, whose ships had long been the terror
of the Arabian seas. Admiral Watson, who commanded the English
squadron, burned Angria's fleet, while Clive attacked the fastness by
land. The place soon fell, and a booty of a hundred and fifty thousand
pounds sterling was divided among the conquerors.
About two months after Clive had entered on his government at Fort St.
David, intelligence was received of the destruction of the English
settlement at Calcutta by Surajah Dowlah, the Nabob of Bengal.
Although scarcely any resistance had been made, the English prisoners,
146 in number, were all thrust into a close and narrow apartment
called the Black Hole, which, in such a climate, would have been too
close and too narrow for a single prisoner. Their sufferings during
the dreadful night, until death put an end to the misery of most,
cannot be described; 123 perished before morning, and the survivors
had to be dug out of the heap formed by the dead bodies of their
companions.
The authorities at Madras, on receiving this intelligence, resolved to
avenge the outrage; 900 Europeans and 1,500 Sepoys, under the command
of Clive, were embarked on board Admiral Watson's squadron; the
passage was rendered tedious by adverse winds, but the armament
arrived safely in Bengal. Clive proceeded with his usual promptitude;
he routed the garrison which the nabob had placed in Fort William,
recovered Calcutta, and took Hoogly by storm. Surajah Dowlah, who was
as cowardly as he was cruel, now sought to negotiate peace, but at the
same time he secretly urged the French to come to his assistance. This
duplicity could not be concealed from Clive and Watson. They
determined accordingly to attack Chandernagore, the chief possession
of the French in Bengal, before the force there could be strengthened
by new arrivals either from the South of India or Europe. Watson
directed the expedition by water; Clive by land. The success of the
combined movements was rapid and complete. The fort, the garrison, the
artillery, the military stores, all fell into the hands of the
English, and nearly five hundred European troops were among the
prisoners.
Soon after, Clive marched to attack Surajah Dowlah near Plassey. At
sunrise on the morning of June 23, 1757, the army of the nabob,
consisting of 40,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, supported by fifty
pieces of heavy ordnance, advanced to attack the English army, which
did not exceed three thousand men in all, and had for its artillery
but a few field-pieces. But the nabob had no confidence in his army,
nor his army in him; the battle was confined to a distant cannonade,
in which the nabob's artillery was quite ineffective, while the
English field-pieces did great execution. Surajah's terror became
greater every moment, and led him to adopt the insidious advice of a
traitor, Meer Jaffier, and order a retreat. Clive saw the movement,
and the confusion it occasioned in the undisciplined hordes; he
ordered his battalions to advance, and, in a moment, the hosts of the
nabob became a mass of inextricable confusion. In less than an hour
they were dispersed, never again to reassemble; though only five or
six hundred fell; their camp, guns, baggage, with innumerable wagons
and cattle, remained in the hands of the victors. With the loss of
only 22 soldiers killed and 50 wounded, Clive had dispersed an army of
60,000 men, and conquered an empire larger and more populous than
Great Britain. Surajah Dowlah fled from the field of battle to his
capital, but, not deeming himself safe there, he tried to escape by
the river to Patna. He was subsequently captured, and barbarously
murdered by the son of Meer Jaffier. In the meantime Clive led Meer
Jaffier in triumph to Moorshedabad, and installed him as nabob.
Immense sums of money were given to the servants of the company; Clive
received for his share between two and three hundred thousand pounds.
Nor was this all: Shah Alum, the son of the Emperor of Delhi, having
invaded Bengal, Clive delivered Meer Jaffier from this formidable
enemy, and was rewarded with the jaghire or estate of the lands south
of Calcutta, for which the company were bound to pay the nabob a
quit-rent of about thirty thousand pounds annually. But the gratitude
of Meer Jaffier did not last long; weary of his dependence on the
English, he sought an alliance with the Dutch, who had a factory at
Chinsurah. The authorities of this place sent earnest letters to their
countrymen in Batavia, urging them to take this opportunity of
raising a rival power to the English in India, and their advice was
taken. Seven large ships from Java, having on board 1,500 troops,
appeared unexpectedly in the Hoogly. Though England was at peace with
Holland, Clive resolved to attack them without delay. The ships were
taken and the army routed. Chinsurah was invested by the conquerors,
and was only spared on the condition that no fortifications should be
built, and no soldiers raised, beyond those that were necessary for
the police of the factories.
Three months afterward he returned to England, where he was received
with a profusion of honors; he was raised to the Irish peerage, and
promised an English title. George III., who had just ascended the
throne, received him with marked distinction, and the leading
statesmen of the day vied with each other in showing him attention. By
judicious purchases of land he was enabled to acquire great
parliamentary influence, and by large purchases of India stock he was
enabled to form a strong party in the Court of Proprietors. The value
of such support was soon shown; the Court of Directors, instigated by
Mr. Sullivan, the personal enemy of Lord Clive, withheld the rent of
the jaghire that he had received from Meer Jaffier, and it was
necessary to institute a suit in chancery to enforce payment.
But Clive's greatest strength was derived from the misconduct of his
successors in the government of Bengal. "Rapacity, luxury, and the
spirit of insubordination," says a late writer, "spread from the civil
service to the officers of the army, and from the officers to the
soldiers. The evil continued to grow till every messroom became the
seat of conspiracy and cabal, and till the Sepoys could only be kept
in order by wholesale executions." Individuals were enriched, but the
public treasury was empty, and the government had to face the dangers
of disordered finances, when there was war on the frontiers and
disaffection in the army. Under these circumstances it was generally
felt that Clive alone could save the empire which he had founded.
Lord Clive felt the strength of his position. He refused to go to
India so long as his enemies had preponderating power in the Court of
Directors; an overwhelming majority of the proprietors seconded his
wishes, and the Sullivan party, lately triumphant, was deprived of
power. Having been nominated governor-general and commander-in-chief
of the British possessions in Bengal he sailed for India, and reached
Calcutta in May, 1765. He at once assembled the council, and announced
his determination to enforce his two great reforms--the prohibition of
receiving presents from the natives, and the prohibition of private
trade by the servants of the Company. The whole settlement seemed to
be set, as one man, against these measures; but Clive declared that if
the functionaries in Calcutta refused obedience, he would send for
some civil servants from Madras to aid him in conducting the
administration. As he evinced the strength of his resolution by
dismissing the most factious of his opponents, the rest became alarmed
and submitted to what was inevitable.
Scarcely had the governor-general quelled the opposition of the civil
service when he had to encounter a formidable mutiny of the officers
of the army, occasioned by a diminution of their field allowances. Two
hundred English officers engaged in a conspiracy to resign their
commissions on the same day, believing that the governor-general would
submit to any terms rather than see the army, on which the safety of
the empire rested, left without commanders. They were mistaken in
their calculations; Clive supplied their places from the officers
round his person; he sent for others from Madras; he even gave
commissions to some mercantile agents who offered their support at
this time. Fortunately the soldiers, and particularly the Sepoys, over
whom Clive had unbounded influence, remained steadfast in their
allegiance. The leaders were arrested, tried, and dismissed from the
service; the others, completely humbled, besought permission to
withdraw their resignations, and Clive exhibited lenity to all, save
those whom he regarded as the contrivers of the plot.
In his foreign policy he was equally successful. The Nabob of Oude,
who had threatened invasion, sought for peace as soon as he heard of
Clive's arrival in India; and the Emperor of Delhi executed a formal
warrant, empowering the Company to collect and administer the revenues
of Bengal, Bahar, and Oussa; that is, in fact, to exercise direct
sovereignty over these provinces. Never had such a beneficial change
been wrought in the short space of eighteen months. The
governor-general set a noble example of obedience to his own
regulations; he refused the brilliant presents offered him by the
native princes, and when Meer Jaffier left him a legacy of sixty
thousand pounds, he made the whole over to the Company, in trust, for
the officers and soldiers invalided in their service.
At the close of January, 1767, the state of his health compelled Lord
Clive to return to England. His reception at home was far from being
gratifying; his old enemies in the India House, reinforced by those
whose rapacity he had checked in Bengal, assailed him publicly and
privately; the prejudices excited against those who had suddenly made
large fortunes in India, were concentrated against him who was the
highest, both in rank and fortune; while his ostentatious display of
wealth and grandeur increased the unfavorable impression on the public
mind. The dreadful famine which desolated Bengal in 1770, was, with
strange perversity, attributed to Lord Clive's measures, and his
parliamentary influence was greatly weakened by the death of George
Grenville. Such was his position in the session of 1772, when the
state of India was brought before Parliament, and all the evils of its
condition made subjects of charge against the best of its rulers.
Clive met the storm with firmness. Lord Chatham declared that the
speech in which he vindicated himself at an early stage of the
proceedings was one of the finest ever delivered in the House of
Commons; his answers, when subjected to a rigid examination before a
committee of inquiry, were equally remarkable for their boldness and
candor. But there were some of his deeds which could not be justified,
and a vote of moderate censure on his conduct was sanctioned by the
House of Commons. This was a disgrace, for which the favor of his
sovereign, though it never varied, afforded him no consolation; his
constitution, already weakened by a tropical climate, began to give
way; to soothe the pains of mind and body he had recourse to the
treacherous aid of opium, which only aggravated both; at length, on
November 22, 1774, he died by his own hand.
That Clive committed many faults cannot be denied; and it is not
sufficient excuse to say that they were necessary to the founding of
the British empire in India. But his second administration, the
reforms he introduced into the government, and the system of wise
policy which he established, may well atone for his errors; indeed, it
has done so in India, where the natives not only respect his memory as
a conqueror, but venerate it as a benefactor.
FRANCOIS KELLERMANN, MARSHAL OF FRANCE
(1735-1820)
[Illustration: Francois Kellermann. [TN]]
Francois Christopher Kellermann, who with a little army of raw
recruits defeated the forces of united Europe at Valmy, and saved
France from destruction, was born of a respectable family at
Strasbourg, then part of France, on May 28, 1735. At the age of
seventeen, he became a cadet in the regiment of Lowendalh; and passing
through the grades of ensign and lieutenant in 1753 and 1756, became
captain of dragoons, in which rank he served in the Seven Years' War
until 1762, and was favorably mentioned in the reports of the battle
of Bergen. A brilliant charge of cavalry, against a corps commanded by
General Scheider, procured him, in the last year, the distinction of
the cross of St. Louis, then an honor of the highest esteem. After the
peace of 1763, he passed with the same rank into the legion of
Conflans, and in 1765 and 1766 was charged by the king with the
execution of some important commissions in Poland. In 1771, the
increasing troubles in Poland furnished a pretext for the invasion of
that country by the united troops of France and the Germanic
confederation; and Kellermann was appointed to accompany the French
commander-in-chief of the expedition, Baron de Viomenil; and in 1772,
he was placed at the head of a native corps of cavalry which he had
been concerned in organizing. His conduct in the retreat from the
castle of Cracow, in 1772, elevated his character for dexterity and
courage. In 1780, he became lieutenant-colonel of hussars; on January
1, 1784, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier, and in 1788,
received the rank of major-general. In 1790, under the National
Assembly, he was placed in command of both departments of Alsace, and
so approved were his services in placing that frontier in a state of
defence against the threatened invasion of combined Europe, that, in
1792, he received the cordon rouge of the order of St. Louis, and was
appointed lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of the forces
assembled at Neukirch, and afterward, on August 28th, in the same
year, of the army of the Moselle.
It was at this time that the formidable invasion under the Duke of
Brunswick, consisting of 138,000 men, of whom 66,000 were under the
King of Prussia in person, and 50,000 were Austrians under Prince
Hohenlohe and Marshal Clairfait, marched to France, and menaced
Dumouriez, who occupied the defiles of Varennes, with very inferior
forces. Against this mighty invasion the French nation rose as one
man. Recruits poured to the borderland singing the Marseillaise, their
newly adopted national hymn. Rapidly reducing this motley force to
order, Kellermann, with 22,000 men, marched from Metz, on September
4th, for Chalons with the utmost celerity, reached Bar before the
Prussians, saved the magazines on the upper Saone and Marne, and put
himself in a situation to communicate with Dumouriez. The latter
general was attacked on September 16th, and immediately ordered
Kellermann to take a designated position on his left, which was,
accordingly, accomplished on the 19th. No sooner had Kellermann
arrived here, than he perceived that the position was altogether
defective. A pond on his right separated him from Dumouriez; the
marshy river of the Auve, traversed by a single narrow bridge, cut off
his retreat in the rear; and the heights of Valmy commanded his left.
While he was shut up in this isolated position, the enemy might march
upon the magazines at Dampierre and Voilmont, cut both the French
armies off from Chalons, and then fall upon each of them in
succession. Kellermann instantly resolved to rectify this error in the
disposition of the troops; and by four o'clock on the following
morning, his army was in motion by its rear upon Dampierre and
Voilmont. But the Prussians, equally alive to the disadvantage in
which Kellermann had been placed, were already in movement to attack
him, and it became impracticable to pass the Auve. Leaving his
advanced-guard and his reserve to check the Prussians on the plain,
Kellermann drew off the rest of his army to the heights of Valmy, and
placing a battery of eighteen pieces near the mill of Valmy, at seven
in the morning was drawn up in a strong position to receive the attack
of the enemy. The King of Prussia, who commanded in person, drew up
his army in three columns on the heights of La Lune, and advancing in
an oblique direction a vehement fire was kept up on both sides for two
hours. About nine, a new battery on the enemy's right suddenly opened
in the direction of the mill, near which Kellermann and his escort,
with the reserve cuirassiers, were stationed, and produced the utmost
confusion. Most of the escort were killed or wounded, and Kellermann
had a horse shot under him, while about the same time the explosion of
two caissons of ammunition near the mill added to the alarm.
Kellermann, however, quickly disposed a battery so as to return the
fire, and the battle was restored on that side. After some time, two
of the Prussian columns, flanked by powerful cavalry, advanced in
formidable array toward the mill, while the third remained in reserve.
Kellermann drew up his men in column by battalions, and advancing
his reserved artillery to the front of his position, waited the
advance of the enemy, who approached in silence. When they were within
range of a destructive fire, Kellermann, waving his hat upon the end
of his sabre, shouted, "Vive la Nation!" to which the whole army
responded with enthusiastic cries, and at the same moment, the
artillery opened a tremendous fire. The Prussians halted; the heads of
their columns melted away under the galling discharges; and they
retreated, in good order, to their original position after sustaining
a serious loss. The fire, however, continued on both sides with
spirit; and about four o'clock in the afternoon the Prussians renewed
their attack in column, but were again repulsed, even more decidedly,
and by six in the evening were in full retreat. The victory was thus
decided in favor of the French; but the safety of the magazines at
Dampierre and Voilmont was still not secured.
[Illustration: The Marseillaise.]
Kellermann allowed his army about two hours' repose, and then, leaving
large fires lighted along his whole line, and some regiments of light
cavalry to defend the position, if the enemy should attempt an attack,
he quietly drew off about nine o'clock at night, and reached Dampierre
without the enemy being aware of his movement. About six o'clock the
next morning, the Prussians marched for the same point, and were not a
little astonished to find Kellermann's army drawn up in line of battle
on the heights of Dampierre, in a position which rendered it
impracticable to attack. They immediately retreated, and their
retiring columns suffered severely from a fire opened by the French
artillery. This operation raised the reputation of Kellermann to an
exalted height. The allies soon afterward retreated from France, and
Kellermann desired to attack their rear; but Dumouriez would not allow
the movement to be made.
In recompense of these services Kellermann was made commander-in-chief
of the army of the Alps; but incurring the jealousy of the ruling
faction, he was thrown into prison in June, 1793, and lingered there
for thirteen months, until the 9th Thermidor (July 27, 1794) restored
him to liberty. In 1795 the army of Italy was reincorporated with the
army of the Alps, from which it had been separated in the beginning of
1793; and the command of the united force was given to Kellermann at
the close of that month. On his way to Nice to take the command, he
met Napoleon at Marseilles, who, having been displaced by the
reconstruction of the army, was now visiting his mother at that place
on his way to Paris. Napoleon gave much valuable information
respecting the seat of war; and Kellermann, continuing his journey,
reached head-quarters at Nice on May 9, 1795. His operations during
the campaign that followed diminished the reputation which he had
previously acquired. "Throughout the conduct of this war," says
Napoleon, "he was constantly committing errors." On June 23d General
Devins, at the head of the Austrian and Piedmontese armies, advanced
against his positions; and after a series of engagements on the 25th,
26th, and 27th, Kellermann was driven out of all the posts in which
Napoleon's arrangements had placed him in the preceding October, and
falling back to the line of the Borghetto, wrote to the Directory
that, unless he was speedily reinforced, he would be obliged even to
quit Nice. The government were now satisfied that the command of the
army of Italy was beyond Kellermann's abilities; and again separating
the army of the Alps from it, they placed Kellermann at the head of
the latter as a reserve, and intrusted the army of Italy to General
Scherer, and sometime afterward to Napoleon.
After the conquest of Milan, the Directory, either jealous of Napoleon
or elated by success, decided to divide his army, and to place 20,000
men under Kellermann to cover the siege of Mantua, and to direct the
rest under Napoleon upon Rome. Napoleon immediately resigned his
command, and wrote to the Directory: "I will not serve with a man who
considers himself the best general in Europe; it is better to have one
bad general than two good ones." The Directory, in alarm, abandoned
their design; Kellermann was left at Chambery, and Napoleon was
allowed to follow his own plans.
In 1797, Kellermann was made inspector-general of the cavalry of the
army of England and of that of Holland; and in 1799, he took his place
in the Senate, and was elected president on August 1, 1801. In 1804,
he was created a Marshal of the Empire, and in the following year,
received the grand eagle of the Legion of Honor. In 1803, he commanded
the third corps of the army of reserve on the Rhine; and, in 1806, was
placed at the head of the whole of that army; to which authority the
command of the army of reserve in Spain was added in 1808; and in the
same year, in honor of the great victory of his more vigorous days, he
was created Duke of Valmy.
In 1809, he commanded the army of reserve on the Rhine, the army of
observation of the Elbe, the fifth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth
military divisions, and the army of reserve of the North. In 1812, he
was charged with the duty of organizing the cohorts of the national
guard in the first military division; he afterward commanded the
twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth divisions. In 1813, he was at first
provisional commander of the corps of observation on the Rhine, and
then received the command of the second, third, and fourth military
divisions. After the battle of Leipsic, he performed a valuable
service in reconducting to France a body of about six thousand
soldiers, who had been wounded in the affairs about Dresden.
Upon the restoration of Louis XVIII., Marshal Kellermann received the
command of the third and fourth divisions, and took no part in the
events of the "hundred days." Upon the second restoration, he was
placed at the head of the fifth division, received the grand cross of
the order of St. Louis, and was made a peer of France.
He died at Paris, on September 13, 1820, aged eighty-five years. He
left a son, the celebrated general who made the decisive charge at
Marengo, and distinguished himself in Spain and at Waterloo, and who
died on June 2, 1835; and a daughter, married to General de Lery.
MICHEL NEY, MARSHAL OF FRANCE[3]
By LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON
(1769-1815)
[Footnote 3: Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.]
[Illustration: Michel Ney. [TN]]
Among the marshals of the great Napoleon, Ney has always held in my
mind the place of honor. "The Bravest of the Brave" was the sobriquet
bestowed on him by the men of his own nation and his own time; and the
briefest record of his life cannot fail to prove how well the title
was deserved. I could wish for a larger canvas on which to paint his
portrait; but the space allotted to me here will at least suffice to
reveal his character, and chronicle the main events of his career.
Michel Ney was born on January 10, 1769, in the small town of
Sarre-Louis, in Lorraine, which province had at that time only
recently been annexed to France. He was in reality, therefore, more
German than French. His father was a working cooper by trade, but he
wished his son to be something better, and arranged for him to study
law. Life at a desk, however, had no interest for the future marshal,
who, even then, had no doubt as to what should be his future career.
In 1787 he enlisted, at Metz, as a private hussar. His rise was rapid
from the first. He greatly distinguished himself in the Netherlands,
where revolutionary France, under Dumouriez and others was holding her
own against allied Europe. He became lieutenant in 1793, and captain
in 1794. In 1796, after a brilliant conflict under the walls of
Forchheim, which resulted in the taking of that town, and on the field
of battle, he was made General of Brigade.
Next year, in trying to save a gun from capture, he was taken prisoner
by the Austrians; but General Hoche, who was then commanding the army
of the Sambre and Meuse, soon effected his exchange. In 1798 he served
with great distinction under Massena, in Switzerland, and was made
general of division.
In 1799 he was transferred to the army of the Rhine, which he
commanded for some time, fighting with varying success, but with
unvarying energy and courage. He fought under Moreau at the famous
battle of Hohenlinden, and at the peace of Luneville was appointed
inspector-general of the cavalry.
In 1802 Napoleon having discovered that Switzerland "could not settle
her intestine divisions except by the interposition of France," sent
Ney, with 20,000 men, to dissolve the Diet and disband its forces.
This mode of settling intestine divisions did not commend itself to
the Swiss. It is generally admitted, however, that Ney acted with as
much moderation as his odious task permitted; and he doubtless
welcomed his recall to take a command in the army which was being
collected at Boulogne, ostensibly for the invasion of England.
When Napoleon was proclaimed emperor Ney was made a marshal, "for a
long succession of heroic actions," and when the army, instead of
crossing the Channel, turned back to crush Austria and the coalition,
Ney commanded the sixth corps. By October 14, 1805, Napoleon had
surrounded Mack and his army in Ulm, and on that day Ney carried the
heights of Elchingen after a terrific combat. It was from this
achievement that his title of Duke of Elchingen was derived. After the
capitulation of Ulm Ney had, at Innsprueck, the proud satisfaction of
restoring to the seventy-sixth regiment the flags of which they had
been despoiled. He was sent into the Tyrol in pursuit of the Archduke
John, whose rear-guard he caught and cut to pieces at the foot of
Mount Brenner, at the same time that Napoleon, at Austerlitz, brought
the war to a close.
After the peace of Presburg Ney remained in Suabia until the rupture
with Prussia. The day of Jena found him so anxious for the fray that
he attacked the enemy without waiting for orders, and brought the
whole Prussian cavalry upon his small division of some three thousand
men, and held them at bay until Napoleon sent him assistance. Though
Prussia was practically annihilated by the battles of Jena and
Auerstadt, Russia was still to be reckoned with. Napoleon invaded
Poland, and found himself forced into a winter campaign at a
formidable distance from France. Marching and countermarching through
mud and snow the whole army was subjected to horrible suffering; but
even then Ney's impetuous energy was unabated. Napoleon even rebuked
him for "fool-hardiness;" and more than once his only salvation from
destruction was in the slowness and density of the Russians. He took
little part in the dreadful and indecisive battle of Eylau, after
which Napoleon remained for eight days without making any movement;
but it was to him that, at Friedland, Napoleon allotted the post of
honor and of danger, saying, as the marshal went off proud of his
task, "That man is a lion."
Napoleon about this time discovered that "the interposition of France
was necessary in the affairs of Spain;" and after the peace of Tilsit
Ney was only allowed to remain in France long enough to recruit his
forces, before being sent to the Peninsula. A few months later in the
year, when Napoleon visited Spain, Ney was given the command of the
sixth corps there, but he was destined to reap few Spanish laurels,
and it is said that he endeavored to persuade the emperor to
relinquish the hopeless struggle against an entire people. While Soult
was engaged in the difficult task of forcing the English from the
Peninsula by way of Corunna, Ney held Galicia and the Asturias,
destroyed guerilla bands, defeated Sir Robert Wilson, and intercepted
the enemy's convoys; but the whole country was in arms against the
French, who after six months' unceasing struggle, were compelled to
retreat.
[Illustration: Marshal Ney returning the captured Colors.]
When Massena was sent to Portugal with orders from Napoleon to drive
the "English leopards and their Sepoy general into the sea," Ney,
acting under his directions, took Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida. At
Busaco, on September 27, 1810, he differed from his commander-in-chief
as to the advisability of attacking the English position in front,
which was strong. Massena suffered a severe repulse; and Ney was
undoubtedly right, since the fact remains that after the battle
Wellington's position was easily turned, and he was compelled to fall
back. He retreated upon the famous lines of Torres Vedras, before
which Massena sat helplessly for months, until famine forced him to
break up his camp. Ney was intrusted with the command of the
rear-guard, and the universal opinion of military critics is that his
management of this retreat was one of his most splendid feats of arms.
On one occasion he confronted, with 5,000 men, Wellington and his army
of 30,000, and delayed them for many hours, while the sick and
wounded, the baggage wagons, and the main body of the French army made
good their retreat. While Ney was in front of him Wellington knew no
repose, nor, for all his efforts, did he succeed, during the whole
pursuit, in capturing an ammunition wagon or even a single gun. But
when Massena--with a view to saving his military reputation, which had
been gravely compromised by his want of success--proposed again to
advance upon Lisbon, Ney flatly refused to obey him, and after a
violent quarrel, was ordered by Massena to relinquish his command and
retire into the interior of Spain to await the decision of the
emperor. Napoleon recalled him to France, and gave him the command of
the third corps of that avalanche of men--men of so many nations and
kindreds and peoples--which he was preparing to hurl upon Russia.
The Grand Army crossed the Niemen in June, 1812, and followed an
ever-retreating foe to Smolensk, where the Russian general, Barclay de
Tolly, had received positive orders from Alexander to give battle, and
where he had placed a garrison of 30,000 men. On August 14th Ney
cleared the neighboring town of Krasnoi at the point of the bayonet,
and during the next two days the Russians were slowly forced back
under the walls of Smolensk. On the 17th a general attack was ordered,
and Ney was directed to take the citadel. But so obstinate was the
Russian defence that when night came no entrance had been effected.
However, an hour after midnight the Russian general set fire to the
town, and abandoned it, having lost 12,000 men in the defence. At a
council of war which followed the capture of the place, Ney strongly
recommended that the Grand Army should establish itself upon the banks
of the Dwina and the Dnieper, and occupying Smolensk and its environs
with a vanguard, there await the Russian attack. His advice was
overruled, however, and he was forced to follow the retreating foe
upon the road to Moscow. But Russia was thoroughly dissatisfied with
the way in which the war had so far been carried on, and Barclay de
Tolly was at this juncture superseded by Kutusof, who, having
intrenched himself strongly near the little village of Borodino,
prepared to dispute the farther progress of the invaders. The battle
which followed, on September 7th, was one of the most obstinate and
sanguinary of modern times. It lasted from early morning till late at
night, and more than eighty thousand men were killed or wounded. Ney
fought like a common soldier in the very thickest of the conflict. The
Russian positions were at last carried, and Ney sent to the emperor
for reinforcements with which to complete the victory. The emperor had
only his guard in reserve, and refused this request. "If there should
be another battle to-morrow," he said, "with what am I to fight it?"
"Let him go back to Paris, and play at emperor, and leave fighting to
us," cried Ney, scornfully, when he heard this message. Had his
request been granted, and the Imperial Guard been hurled into the
conflict at the right moment, it seems probable that the Russian army
would have been entirely destroyed. As it was, they drew off in good
order, under cover of night, and Kutusof even had the effrontery to
claim a victory. For his services during this memorable day Ney
received the title of Prince of the Moskowa.
The result of the battle of Borodino was to leave Moscow at the mercy
of the invaders, and a barren prize indeed it proved to them. In the
horror of the fearful retreat from the ruined city the fame of Ney
reached its highest point. Nothing in all history surpasses the record
of his indomitable courage and cheerfulness in the most hopeless
situations, and amid the most frightful hardships. As in Spain, he had
the command of the rear-guard, and the soldiers, preyed upon alike by
the Cossacks and the cold, died in the path like flies. Without
artillery and without cavalry, they yet succeeded, day after day, in
obstructing their pursuers. Ney was on foot in the midst of them,
carrying a musket and fighting like the humblest private. But at
Smolensk--where the army expected to find everything, and really found
nothing--they stayed too long, and on resuming their march found the
Russians barring their path. Napoleon and the Imperial Guard cut their
way through. The first and fourth corps succeeded, after a desperate
conflict, in evading their enemies, but Ney, who had received orders
to blow up the fortifications of Smolensk before leaving the town,
found himself with some eight thousand men cut off from the main body
of fugitives by an army of 50,000 Russians. He attacked them as though
the numbers were equal, lost in a short time nearly half his little
force, and was obliged to fall back. Being called upon to surrender,
he answered, proudly, "A Marshal of France never surrenders," and gave
the order, as night approached, to retreat toward Smolensk, which was
indeed the only way open to him. The soldiers were in despair. Ney
alone did not lose heart. In the gathering dusk they came upon a small
rivulet. The marshal broke the ice and watched the flow of the current
beneath. "This must be a feeder of the Dnieper," he said. "We will
follow it, and put the river between us and our enemies." This they
succeeded in doing; but were obliged to leave their wounded, their
artillery, and their baggage upon the other side. Ney had left
Smolensk on November 17th, with about eight thousand men. On the 20th
he joined Napoleon, who had given him up for lost--with somewhere
about one thousand. Napoleon, hearing that he was come, fairly leaped
and shouted for joy, exclaiming, "I have three hundred millions of
francs in the Tuileries--I would have given them all rather than have
lost such a man."
A few days afterward Ney was fighting madly on the shores of the fatal
Beresina to clear the way for the surging and almost frenzied crowd of
soldiers, stragglers, women and children, who, under the merciless
fire of the Russian batteries were streaming across the river on the
rickety bridges improvised by the French engineers. The Grand Army was
by this time only a crowd of wretched and undisciplined fugitives. Ney
managed to preserve the semblance of a rear-guard, and if it had not
been for his unceasing efforts it seems probable that hardly a single
soldier would ever have seen again the shores of France. As it was,
when he crossed the Niemen on December 13th, himself the last man to
leave Russian territory--his rear-guard had vanished, and he had with
him only his aides-de-camp, while of about five hundred thousand men
who had crossed the river five months before scarcely fifty thousand
returned.
No sooner did this catastrophe become known than Europe--so long
ground under his heel--rose against Napoleon, who at once called upon
France for fresh levies. Ney was given the command of the first Corps.
On April 29, 1813, he drove the allies from Weissenfels toward
Leipsic. On May 1st he again compelled a retrograde movement; and on
May 2d he commanded the French centre at the battle of Lutzen, where,
indeed, he bore the brunt of the fighting. The allies were compelled
to retire, but they did not consider themselves beaten, and they
fought again at Bautzen a few days afterward. Lutzen and Bautzen were
both dubious victories, but at Dresden the allies were defeated with
great loss.
This victory, however, was annulled by the defeat of Vandamme, who was
taken prisoner in Bohemia, after losing 10,000 men. When Napoleon
heard of this disaster he at once sent Ney to replace Oudinot in the
command of the Northern army, with the object of pushing on to Berlin;
but for once Ney's evil stars were in the ascendant, for on September
5th he was totally defeated by Bernadotte, at Dennewitz, losing 10,000
prisoners and eighty guns. "The Bravest of the Brave" was
inconsolable. For some days he took no food, and scarcely spoke. He
wished to give up his command and fight as a grenadier. "If I have not
blown out my brains," he said, "it is only because I want to rally my
army before dying."
And now came the catastrophe at Leipsic--the three days' battle of the
Nations--where, on the first day, Ney was defeated by Bluecher, after a
desperate struggle in which he lost 4,000 killed and wounded, and
upward of two thousand prisoners. On the third day, after the
defection of the Saxons, he held out for five hours with 5,000 men
against 20,000, and retired fighting to the end. Through the whole of
the succeeding campaign of France, he was at the emperor's side; and
when, in spite of all the genius of Napoleon, and all the bravery of
his soldiers, Paris capitulated, Ney was one of three marshals sent by
the defeated Emperor of the French to negotiate with the Emperor of
Russia for his abdication in favor of his son, the King of Rome.
This mission failed of any result--Napoleon went to Elba, and Louis
XVIII. reigned over France in his stead. Ney accepted the new order of
things, and was created a peer of France, knight of St. Louis, and
governor of the sixth Military Division. But the world was for the
time at peace; and Ney's occupation was gone. He had been a fighter
all his life--he could not turn courtier at the end. He had married,
in 1810, Mlle Auguie, who had been brought up in the court of Louis
XVI., was a friend of Hortense Beauharnais, and naturally fond of
gayety and society. The great marshal was a simple and rather
illiterate man, who had had no time to cultivate fashionable graces,
so it happened that when Madame la Marechal gave a banquet or a ball,
Ney used not to appear, but dined by himself, in his own apartments,
as far removed as possible from the noise of the festival. It is said
that outside the field of battle he was one of the timidest of men,
and even submitted quite tamely to the insolence of his own servants.
In January, 1815, he departed for his country-seat of Coudreaux, near
Chateaudun, where he lived in the simplest possible fashion, till on
March 6th, an aide-de-camp of the Minister of War brought him an order
to return at once to the head-quarters of the Military Division of
which he was commander. Instead of going directly to his post, he went
by way of Paris, where he heard for the first time of the landing of
Napoleon.
"It is a great misfortune," said he. "Whom can we send against him?"
Then, having visited the king, and assured him of his devotion to the
monarchy, he went to his command at Besancon. Next morning he heard
that Grenoble had declared for the emperor, and that the occupation of
Lyons was inevitable. He could observe for himself the dissatisfaction
of the troops by whom he was surrounded. On the 12th he was at
Lons-le-Saulnier, organizing his troops, and writing to the minister
of war for ammunition and horses. But he soon saw that resistance was
hopeless. The Bourbons had managed, as usual, to make themselves
hated. The king's brother and Marshal Macdonald had been obliged to
flee from Lyons when Napoleon appeared. All the soldiers were
delighted at the thought of having their "Little Corporal" back again.
On the night of the 13th Ney received an emissary from Napoleon. What
memories must have stirred in his heart, of old perils and old
glories! How could he resist the mighty spell of the past? On the 14th
he announced to his troops that the house of Bourbon had ceased to
reign, and proclaimed Napoleon.
"It was a grievous fault, and grievously did Caesar answer it." From
this moment Ney knew no more peace of mind. So bitter was his remorse
that he could not face his fellow-soldiers, and obtained Napoleon's
permission to retire for a time into the country. When he returned,
Napoleon said, banteringly, "I heard you had emigrated." "Ah, sire,"
answered Ney, "I ought to have done so long ago, but it is too late
now."
The approach of war revived his spirits to some extent, and when, a
few days before the battle of Waterloo, he joined the army in
Flanders, he looked like the Ney of old. At Quatre Bras, on June 16th,
despite an obstinate combat, he failed to drive Wellington from his
position, and the next day he does not appear to have discovered that
the English had fallen back upon Waterloo until some hours after their
departure. At the great battle of Waterloo, on June 18th, he fought
with the same reckless bravery as ever. He had five horses killed
under him, and his clothing was riddled with bullets. Napoleon said,
not without truth, that he behaved like a madman. After his fifth
horse was shot he fought on foot until forced from the field by the
rush of fugitives. He had done his best to die on the field of battle,
but almost miraculously he escaped without a wound.
After the second restoration of the Bourbons Ney retired into the
country, meaning to escape to the United States, and was provided by
Fouche with a passport for this purpose. He delayed, for some reason,
to use it; and on August 3d he was arrested at the house of a
relative. A council of war was appointed to try him, composed of
Marshals Massena, Augereau, Mortier, and three lieutenants. It would
have been better for Ney had he submitted himself to their verdict;
but he unwisely denied their competence, and demanded, as a peer of
the realm, to be tried by his peers, and it was a tribunal which
showed him no mercy. It does not appear that the king desired his
death; but Talleyrand declared that it would be a grand example, and
the royalists generally thirsted for his blood. He was condemned, by a
majority of 139 to 17, to be shot for high treason.
On December 7th his wife and four children were admitted to his prison
in the early morning, to take leave of him. But neither in this
painful ordeal nor at any time afterward, did the condemned marshal
show any sign of weakness. At eight o'clock he was taken in a carriage
to the place of execution, outside the garden gates of the Luxembourg.
The officer who commanded the firing party wished to bandage his eyes,
but Ney said, quietly--"Are you ignorant that for twenty-five years I
have been accustomed to face both balls and bullets?" Then, raising
his voice, he cried, "I protest against my condemnation. I wish that I
had died for my country in battle. But here is still the field of
honor. _Vive la France!_"
The officer in command, to his credit be it said, was dumb. He seemed
incapable of giving the word to fire; and Ney himself, taking off his
hat, and striking his breast, cried, in a loud voice--"Soldiers, do
your duty--fire!"
Thus died, in his forty-seventh year, "The Bravest of the Brave."
[Signature of the author.]
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
By COLONEL CLAYTON, R.A.
(1769-1821)
[Illustration: "The coronation of Josephine". [TN]]
Napoleon Bonaparte, the second son of Charles Bonaparte and his wife,
Letizia de Ramolino, was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on August 15,
1769. In 1779 he entered the Royal Military School of Brienne le
Chateau; there he remained till the autumn of 1784, when he was
transferred to the Military School of Paris, according to the usual
routine. An official report on him by the Inspector of Military
Schools in this year speaks highly of his conduct, and notifies his
great proficiency in mathematics and fair knowledge of history and
geography, but says he is not well up in ornamental studies or in
Latin, and, curiously enough, adds that he will make an excellent
sailor. Napoleon lost his father in 1785, and the same year he was
commissioned as second-lieutenant of artillery, in which capacity he
served at Valence and other garrisons. He spent his periods of leave
in Corsica, and appears to have wished to play the leading part in the
history of his native island, showing the first signs of his ambitious
and energetic character. During the critical times following the first
French Revolution, he at first joined the moderate party of Paoli;
but, trying for military power, though by untiring activity and
reckless audacity he succeeded in being elected lieutenant-colonel of
the National Volunteers of Ajaccio, he failed in an attempt to seize
that town and was obliged to return to France. The French Government
soon made an endeavor to crush Paoli and do away with Corsican
privileges, and the islanders rallied round the patriot. Napoleon now
turned against him and attempted to seize the citadel of Ajaccio for
the French; but failing again, with all his relatives he fled a second
time to France.
From this time onward Napoleon looked to France for his career. The
narrow horizon of his native island was no longer wide enough for him,
but from its bracing mountain air and from the quick blood of his race
he drew a magnetic force, which imparted to his decisions and actions
a rapidity and energy that carried all before them, while at the same
time a power of calm calculation, of industry, and of self-control
enabled him to employ his genius to the best advantage. The force of
his personality was so overwhelming that in considering his career the
regret must ever be present that the only principle that remained
steadfast with him, and is the key to his conduct throughout, should
have been the care for his own advancement, glory, and power. Napoleon
now joined the army under Carteaux, which acted against the
Marseillais who had declared against the National Convention and
occupied Avignon. At this time he became attached to the younger
Robespierre, who was a commissioner with the army, and embraced his
Jacobin principles. He was shortly promoted chef de bataillon, and
commanded the artillery at the siege of Toulon, where he highly
distinguished himself, and is generally believed to have been the
author of the plan of attack which led to the fall of the place. He
was then promoted general of brigade.
On the fall of the Robespierres, Napoleon incurred serious danger, but
was saved by powerful influence enlisted in his favor. He was,
however, ordered to take command of an infantry brigade in the Army of
the West. This he considered would stifle his military career, and
neglecting to obey the order, he was in consequence removed from the
list of employed general officers. Disgusted with his apparent lack of
prospects, he was now anxious to be sent to Turkey to reorganize the
Turkish artillery. But on the eve of the 13th Vendemiaire (October 5,
1795) he was appointed second in command of the Army of the Interior
under Barras, and did the National Convention good service next day in
repelling the attack of the Sections of Paris. Influenced partly by
fear and partly by appreciation of his talents, the Directory
appointed General Bonaparte to the command of the Army of Italy, on
February 23, 1796. On March 9th he married Josephine Tascher de la
Pagerie, widow of General Vicomte Alexandre de Beauharnais, and left
Paris for Italy two days later.
On joining the army Bonaparte inaugurated a new era in the wars of the
Republic. Previously the leading motives had been pure patriotism and
love of liberty; Bonaparte for the first time, in his proclamation on
taking command, invoked the spirit of self-interest and plunder, which
was to dominate the whole policy of France for the next twenty years.
Evil as were the passions which he aroused, Napoleon's great military
genius flashed forth in its full brilliancy in this his first
campaign. His power lay in the rapidity and boldness of his decisions,
and in the untiring energy with which he carried them out, confounding
his enemies by the suddenness and lightning rapidity of his blows,
which never gave them time to recover. He found the French army about
thirty-six thousand strong, distributed along the crests of the
mountains from Nice to Savona, and opposing 20,000 Piedmontese under
Colli and 38,000 Austrians under Beaulieu. These two generals had,
however, differing interests: Colli's main object was to protect
Piedmont, Beaulieu's to cover Lombardy. Hence, if Bonaparte could
penetrate the point of junction of the two armies, it was probable
they would separate in their retreat, and could be beaten singly. He
therefore attacked the centre of the allied line, and, driving back
the Austrians from Montenotte on April 12th, turned against the
Piedmontese and defeated them at Millesimo the next day. Losing no
time he left a division under Augereau to keep the Piedmontese in
check, and led the bulk of his army against the Austrians, defeating
them heavily at Dego on the 14th. The allied armies then retreated in
diverging directions as expected, and Bonaparte, following the
Piedmontese, beat them at Ceva and Mondovi, and forced the King of
Sardinia to sign the armistice of Cherasco, leaving him free to deal
with the Austrians. He crossed the Po at Piacenza on May 7th, and
obliged the Austrians to retreat to the Adda. Following them he forced
the bridge of Lodi on May 11th, and entered Milan amid the rejoicings
of the people on the 15th. But his ill-omened proclamation had done
its work; violence and pillage were rampant in the French army, and he
could do little to restrain them. Indeed, he himself showed an example
of plundering, though under more organized forms. Heavy contributions
were exacted, curiosities and works of art were demanded wholesale and
despatched to France; and the Directory, demoralized by the
unaccustomed wealth that flowed in upon them, became fully as eager as
Napoleon for fresh conquests and their accruing spoils.
The Austrians still held Mantua, which Napoleon now besieged,
occupying himself at the same time in consolidating his conquests. The
Austrians made strenuous efforts to save the fortress. They were much
superior in number to the French, but were defeated again and again by
the rapidity and genius of their opponent. Finally, at the end of
October, an Austrian army of 50,000, but mostly recruits, advanced
under Alvinzi. Then followed the three days' battle of Arcola, during
which Napoleon had a very narrow escape, but which ended in Alvinzi's
defeat and retreat on Tyrol. From Arcola Napoleon dated his firm
belief in his own fortune. Once again, in January, 1797, Alvinzi tried
to relieve Mantua. But Napoleon moved in full force on Rivoli, and won
a decisive battle there on January 14th, the Austrian detachment on
the Lower Adige having to lay down their arms next day at Roverbella.
Wuermser capitulated at Mantua on February 2d, Napoleon treating him
with generosity. This first Italian campaign was perhaps the most
skilful of all those of Napoleon. Everything was done accurately and
rapidly, and without throwing away chances. Some of his later
campaigns, though equally brilliant, show him acting more with the
gambler's spirit, running unnecessary risks with almost a blind
reliance upon his star, in the hope of obtaining results which should
dazzle the world.
In political matters during this time Napoleon was acting less as a
servant of the French Directory than as an independent ruler. He
entirely ignored the instructions he received from Paris, levying
contributions, entering into negotiations, and deposing princes at his
own will, and writing that he is not fighting "for those rascals of
lawyers."
[Illustration: Napoleon and the Sphinx.]
Napoleon returned to Paris on December 5, 1797. The Directory, fearing
his ambition, thought they could only keep him quiet by employing him,
and gave him command of the so-called Army of England. But he was bent
on the conquest of Egypt. He appears to have had something visionary
in his temperament, and to have dreamed of founding a mighty empire
from the stand-point of the East, the glow and glamour of which seem
always to have had a certain fascination for him. He therefore
employed the resources of the Army of England to prepare for an
expedition to Egypt, and the Directory yielded to his wishes, partly
no doubt, through the desire of getting him away from France. But
their aggressive policy was at the same time fast bringing on another
European war. The expedition sailed from Toulon on May 19, 1798,
captured Malta from the Knights of St. John by treachery, and,
escaping by great luck from the British fleet under Nelson, arrived at
Alexandria on June 30th. The army was disembarked in haste, for fear
lest Nelson should arrive, and on July 8th Napoleon marched on Cairo.
He defeated the Mamelukes at Chebreiss and the Pyramids, and entered
Cairo on July 24th. He then occupied himself with organizing the
government of Egypt, but his position was rendered very hazardous by
the destruction of the French fleet on August 1st by Nelson at the
battle of the Nile, and he saw that his dream of founding an empire in
the East could not be realized. He thought, however, that he might
create a revolution in Syria, by the aid of which he might overthrow
the Turkish power, and march in triumph back to Europe through Asia
Minor and Constantinople. He accordingly entered Syria in February,
1799, with 12,000 men, but was brought to a standstill before St. Jean
d'Acre. Failing to capture that fortress, supported as it was by the
British squadron under Sir Sidney Smith, in spite of the most
desperate efforts, he was obliged to return to Egypt. After his
return, Napoleon defeated a Turkish army which had landed at Aboukir,
but learning the reverses that had been suffered by the French arms in
Europe, he resolved to leave Egypt and return to France. He embarked
secretly on August 22d, leaving a letter placing Kleber in command of
the Army of Egypt, and landed in France six weeks later.
He found matters at home in great confusion. The wars had been
mismanaged, Italy was almost lost, and the government, in consequence,
was in very bad odor. The revolution of the 18th Brumaire followed
(November 9, 1799), when the legislature was forcibly closed, and a
provisional executive of three consuls, Sieyes, Roger-Duclos, and
Bonaparte, formed to draw up a new constitution. This was promulgated
on December 13th; the executive was vested in three consuls,
Bonaparte, Cambaceres, and Lebrun, of whom Bonaparte was nominated
First Consul for ten years. He was practically paramount, the two
remaining consuls being ciphers, and the other institutions being so
organized as to concentrate power in the executive. Sieyes became
president of the Senate. The governmental crisis being settled,
energetic steps were taken with regard to the civil war in the west. A
proclamation was issued promising religious toleration at the same
time that decided military action was taken, and these measures were
so successful that all was quiet at home by the end of February, 1800.
Then Napoleon turned his attention abroad. He made overtures for peace
to England and Austria, now the only belligerents, as he wished to
lull suspicion by posing as the friend of peace, not as a military
ruler; but he inwardly rejoiced when they rejected his overtures.
The situation of the belligerents on the Continent was this: the Army
of the Rhine under Moreau, more than one hundred thousand strong, was
distributed along the Rhine from the Lake of Constance to Alsace,
opposed to Kray, whose head-quarters were at Donaueschingen in Baden;
while Massena, with the Army of Italy, was on the Riviera and at
Genoa, opposed to an Austrian army under Melas. Napoleon intended to
gain himself the chief glory of the campaign; so, giving Moreau orders
to cross the Rhine, but not to advance beyond a certain limit, and
leaving Massena to make head as best he could against Melas, with the
result that he was besieged in Genoa and reduced to the last
extremity, he prepared secretly an army of reserve near the Swiss
frontier, to the command of which Berthier was ostensibly appointed.
Outside, and even inside France, this army of reserve was looked upon
as a chimera. Moreau crossed the Rhine on April 24th, and drove Kray
to Ulm, but was there checked by Napoleon's instructions, according to
which he also sent a division to co-operate with the army of reserve.
Napoleon himself went to Geneva on May 9th, and assuming command of
this army crossed the St. Bernard, and reached the plains of Italy
before Melas had convinced himself of the existence even of the army
of reserve, and while his troops were scattered from Genoa to the Var.
Napoleon's obvious course would now have been to move straight on
Genoa, relieve Massena, and beat in detail as many of Melas's troops
as he could encounter. But this would not have been a sufficiently
brilliant triumph, as the bulk of the Austrian army might have
escaped; and trusting in his star, he resolved to stake the existence
of his army on a gambler's cast. Leaving Massena to be starved out, he
moved to the left on Milan, and occupied the whole line of the Ticino
and Po as far as Piacenza, so as to cut off entirely the retreat of
the Austrians. He then crossed the Po, and concentrated as many troops
as he could spare at Stradella. The strategy was brilliant, but the
risk run excessive. His army was necessarily scattered, while Melas
had had time to concentrate, and he was besides ignorant of the
Austrian position. He sent Desaix with a column to seek information,
and moved himself on Alessandria, where he found Melas. Next day, June
14th, Melas marched out to attack the French on the plains of Marengo,
and despite all Napoleon's efforts, had actually defeated them, when
fortunately, Desaix returned, and his advance, together with a cavalry
charge by Kellermann, changed defeat into victory. Melas, losing his
head, signed a convention next day, giving up almost all North Italy,
though Marmont says that if he had fought another battle he must have
won it. Napoleon returned to Paris with the glories of this
astonishing campaign; but peace did not follow till Moreau, when his
liberty of action was restored to him, had won the battle of
Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800. Then followed the treaty of Luneville
with Germany, in February, 1801, the concordat with Rome, in July,
1801, and the treaty of Amiens with England, in March, 1802, so that
Napoleon was able to figure as the restorer of peace to the world. He
then devoted himself to the reconstruction of the civil institutions
of France, employing in this great work the best talent that he could
find, and impressing on their labors the stamp of his own genius. The
institutions then created, which still remain for the most part, were
the restored Church, the judicial system, the codes, the system of
local government, the University, the Bank of France, and the Legion
of Honor.
France at this period, sick of the failure of republican government,
was gradually veering toward monarchy, and Napoleon knew how to take
advantage of events to strengthen his position, and in due time
establish his own dynasty.
Preparations for the invasion of England had been steadily proceeding,
but Napoleon's aggressive demeanor after becoming emperor alarmed the
European cabinets, so that Pitt was able to revive the coalition, and
in 1805 Napoleon found himself at war with Russia and Austria, as well
as with England. Forced by England's naval supremacy to abandon the
notion of invasion, he suddenly changed front in August, 1805, and led
his armies through Hanover and the smaller German states, disregarding
the neutrality even of Prussia herself, and reached the Danube in rear
of the Austrian army under Mack, which was at Ulm. The surprise was
complete; Mack surrendered October 19th, and Napoleon then marched on
Vienna, which he entered November 13th. But his position was critical.
The Archduke Charles was approaching from Hungary, a Russian army was
entering Moravia, and Prussia, inc
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