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Nap le on \ 
 Bonaparte \ 
 
 A HISTORY 
 WRITTEN FOR BOYS 
 
 By 
 
 W^illiam C. Sprague 
 
 Editor of "The American Boy" 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 
 ^. Wessels Company 
 
 New York 
 
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Copyrighted, 1903, by A. Wessels Company 
 New York 
 
 Printed October, 1903 
 
 
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 T/ie Heintzemann Press, Boston 
 
PREFACE 
 
 At first thought it may seem that there is 
 Uttle excuse for a new Life of Napoleon. A 
 Uttle consideration and investigation, however, 
 will develop the fact that few if any attempts 
 have been made to write the story of ' ' The 
 Little Corporal " in a way to interest boys and 
 at the same time to present the salient points 
 of the life truthfully and impartially in small 
 compass. Whether I have succeeded in doing 
 this to the boy's satisfaction he will have to 
 be the judge. 
 
 In the writing of the story I have had re- 
 course to the many books dealing with the 
 subject, both friendly and unfriendly to the 
 "Man of Destiny," and have tried to take a 
 conservative, middle course in my treatment of 
 it. I am convinced, first, last and all the time, 
 that out of the turmoil and strife, the error 
 and sin, the inordinate ambition and the folly 
 of the days of the great Revolution, God has 
 wrought much for the betterment of France 
 and of the world at large. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I owe much to the works of Scott, Lock- 
 hart, Abbott, The Berkely Men and others for 
 data, and in the use of it trust that i have not 
 overstepped the bounds of good usage and good 
 conscience. 
 
 William C. S Prague. 
 
 October 1, 1903. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Corsica and the Corsicans — Napoleon's parentage and birth 
 — His childhood — At school at Autun — At school at 
 Brienne — At school at Paris 9 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 The French Revolution 28 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 Napoleon's First Seven Years as a Soldier 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Napoleon's First Great Military Success — He Marries 46 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Sardinia Humbled and Austria in Retreat 54 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Conqueror of Italy 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Peace with Austria — The Court of Montebello 81 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Egyptian Campaign — Battle of the Pyramids 91 
 
 [5] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 The Battle of the Nile — The Syrian Campaign 99 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Napoleon in Paris — The Revolution of 1799 — The Consu- 
 late 112 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Napoleon Chief Consul — The Crossing of the Alps — Ma- 
 rengo 118 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Peace — Reforms — Consul for Life — War with England — 
 
 Conspiracies 131 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Napoleon Emperor — Death of Nelson — Austerlitz — Jena 
 
 — Eylau — Treaty of Tilsit 142 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 Conquest of Spain and Portugal — War with Austria 160 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Josephine divorced — Napoleon marries Maria Louisa of Aus- 
 tria — War with Russia — The Retreat from Moscow 175 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 The Prussian Campaign 192 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 France Invaded — Napoleon Overthrown and Deposed 202 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Elba — The One Hundred Days — Waterloo — St. Helena — 
 
 The End 216 
 
 [6] 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 Napoleon Crossing the Alps Frontispiece 
 
 The Battle of Rivoli Face Page 71 " 
 
 Napoleon, Emperor 142 
 
 Murat at Jena 154 
 
 The Battle of Friedland 158 
 
 The Retreat from Russia 188 ' 
 
 Napoleon's Retreat, Battle of "Waterloo 228 -^ 
 
 [7] 
 
Napoleon Bonaparte 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CORSICA AND THE CORSICANS NAPOLEON^S 
 
 PARENTAGE AND BIRTH HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 AT SCHOOL AT AUTUN — AT SCHOOL AT 
 
 BRIENNE — AT SCHOOL AT PARIS 
 
 In the sunny Mediterranean, one hundred 
 and six miles southeast of Nice on the coast of 
 France, ninety-eight miles south of Genoa, 
 where Christopher Columbus was born, and 
 fifty-four miles west of Tuscany, lies a rocky 
 island known as Corsica, the birthplace of Na- 
 poleon Bonaparte. The island is not much 
 larger than the State of Connecticut, and nine- 
 tenths of it is uncultivated. Wild and for- 
 bidding mountains traverse it from end to end, 
 some of whose peaks carry the eternal snows. 
 Its lowlands are carpeted with luxuriant and 
 
 [9] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 varied vegetation, and its uplands are clothed 
 with magnificent forests. 
 
 Few countries of the size of Corsica have 
 produced more illustrious characters, or wit- 
 nessed more thrilling achievements than has 
 she. War was ever the principal occupation of 
 her inhabitants. Scarcely a generation of Cor- 
 sicans but has heard the tocsin ring. Their 
 fight has not been the fight of aggressors but 
 the fight of men and women battling for their 
 homes and their lives, falling prey to each suc- 
 ceeding world power — a very shuttlecock on 
 the battledore of fate. This has had much to do 
 with creating Corsican character — revengeful, 
 ferocious, liberty-loving, hospitable, simple of 
 manners. 
 
 In early days the Phocasans (an Asiatic 
 people) settled here, but were compelled later 
 to submit to the Etruscans, and then to the 
 Carthagenians. The all-conquering Romans 
 wrested it from the latter and used it as a place 
 of banishment, and here the old Roman philoso- 
 pher Seneca was compelled to spend eight years 
 of his life. Then came the Vandals, Byzan- 
 tines, Ostragoths, Franks, Saracens, Pisans, 
 Genoese, and finally the French. 
 
 Modern history first finds the Corsicans 
 fighting for independence against the Genoese. 
 [10] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 In 1735 the former were triumphant, pro- 
 claimed their independence, and declared that 
 the people were the only source of the laws, 
 Corsica now became a little democracy, broken 
 up into village communities that were self- 
 ruhng, but all united in a confederation for 
 mutual protection and defence. Considering 
 the fact that the nations of Europe had at this 
 time almost without exception despotic govern- 
 ments and were ruled by hereditary kings, we 
 wonder at seeing on this little island not only 
 the seeds but the growing plant of freedom and 
 equality. 
 
 Corsican history is full of the bravery of this 
 little people surrounded on all sides by ene- 
 mies, and fighting, generation after generation, 
 for their homes and their rights. But our story 
 has not so much to do with Corsica as it has 
 to do with Corsica's greatest son, Napoleon 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 Genoa ceded Corsica to France August 6, 
 1764, at a time when she had nothing to cede, 
 and France at once set out to take possession 
 of her new territory. The Corsicans resisted, 
 but were unable to defend themselves against 
 the tremendous odds, and on June 12, 1769, 
 the island became a part of France. Just two 
 months and three days later, August 15th, 
 [11] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, a 
 port town of Corsica, and hence escaped but 
 a few days being born an alien. Dumas, the 
 great French writer, says : " The new-born 
 child breathed the air that was hot with civil 
 hates, and the bell which sounded his baptism 
 still quivered with the tocsin." 
 
 By blood, the young Napoleon was Italian. 
 The name Bonaparte appears in the annals of 
 the early Italian states, and often with distinc- 
 tion. His immediate ancestors were said to 
 have come from Tuscany. His father, Charles 
 Bonaparte, married, at the age of eighteen, 
 Letitia Bamolino, a Corsican girl of fifteen, 
 distinguished for her beauty, high spirit, intelli- 
 gence, judgment, common sense, inflexible 
 courage, frugality, industry, loftiness and 
 energy of character. Charles Bonaparte was 
 a handsome, high-spirited man, a lawyer by 
 profession, his degree in law having been taken 
 in Italy. The family were not rich, and 
 neither were they poor. They were looked 
 upon as among the people of gentle blood and, 
 as we shall see later, when Napoleon made 
 application for admission to a military school, 
 he was able to trace his nobility back through 
 three generations, as required of an applicant. 
 
 Napoleon was one of thirteen children born 
 [12] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 to Charles and Letitia Bonaparte. Those who 
 grew to manhood and womanhood were Joseph, 
 Napoleon, Lucien, Louis, Jerome, Ehza, Caro- 
 line, and Pauhne. 
 
 After the war between France and Corsica 
 ended. General Marboeuf, who became the 
 French Governor of Corsica, made the home 
 of Charles Bonaparte his favorite resort, and 
 afterwards this French count was of assistance 
 to Napoleon when the latter came to seek a mili- 
 taiy education. Through the influence of 
 General Marboeuf, Napoleon's father was 
 made assessor of the high court of Ajaccio and 
 a member of the council of Corsican nobles; 
 later he became a representative of these 
 nobles at the court of King Louis of France. 
 
 We, of course, want to know something 
 about Napoleon's childhood. The child being 
 father to the man, perhaps we can find some 
 explanation of his wonderful career in the con- 
 ditions of his early life. We have seen that 
 he was one of a number of children, and that 
 the home was not a home of ease and idleness. 
 The little Napoleon had no doubt his share of 
 the work to do. How well he did it we are left 
 only to surmise from the nature of the man 
 into which he developed. He says of himself 
 that he was not a good-natured boy and that he 
 [13] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 was inclined to be morose and quarrelsome; 
 that he was always getting into trouble with his 
 brothers. We can almost venture to guess that 
 he was incHned to be imperious and want his 
 own way, which does not always make a boy 
 popular nor conduce to peace. He must have 
 been something of a warrior from the begin- 
 ning. But how could he well have been other- 
 wise? The blood of warriors was in his veins. 
 His father, and his father's father, had fol- 
 lowed the Corsican patriots into the field and 
 fought for home and country. It is said that 
 even his mother, a very short time before his 
 birth, followed the troops in the campaign 
 against the French invader. In his boyhood he 
 hated France, the country of which later he was 
 to be the idol. The atmosphere about him was 
 filled with war. He heard nothing but the sto- 
 ries of fights, of plots and counterplots, of 
 wrongs and of rebellion. No wonder he longed 
 for a military education, the highest education 
 then known, fit only for the sons of nobles. 
 Historians all tell us that the toy which he most 
 prized was a little brass cannon weighing thirty 
 pounds. This toy he planted on mimic bat- 
 teries thrown up among the rocks, and there he 
 pretended he was a Corsican army defending 
 his country from the hated Frenchmen. There 
 [ 14 ] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 are indications that he early dreamed that some 
 day he would rise like Paoli, the Corsican hero 
 of whom his father must have told him, drive 
 the Frenchmen from his native shores and 
 bring back the days of Corsican independ- 
 ence. 
 
 There was one member of the family whom 
 we must not forget. He is known in Napo- 
 leon's Memoirs as " Uncle Fesch." Napole- 
 on's grandmother married a second htisband, 
 an army officer by the name of Fesch, and from 
 this union came a son Joseph, who was the 
 Uncle Fesch of history. From Uncle Fesch 
 Napoleon learned his alphabet. 
 
 There are two spots in Corsica near together 
 that tourists visit; one is the house in which 
 Napoleon was born, a yellowish-gray plas- 
 tered house of three stories, which still 
 remains. In it is a small room, with two win- 
 dows, a cupboard in the wall, and a marble 
 chimney-place, in which Napoleon was born; 
 the other is a place about a mile from Ajaccio, 
 which was the summer home of the Bonapartes. 
 Here is a sort of a summer-house under a 
 rock which stands out in full view of the sea. 
 Napoleon, as a boy, loved to play here, and 
 later as a young man he brought his books to 
 this spot, and lay looking out on the sea and 
 [15] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 dreaming the wonderful dreams so soon to 
 become realities. 
 
 In his sixth year Napoleon was sent' to a 
 " dame's school; " and we now begin to see him 
 developing the traits of character that after- 
 wards distinguished him. At this school he did 
 what many another little boy has done — fell in 
 love with a little girl; her name was Giacomi- 
 netta. Frequently they were seen walking 
 hand in hand. Napoleon was a handsome boy, 
 but he was careless abotit his dress, and this 
 latter fact is indicated by a httle couplet that 
 mischievous boys in the school composed and 
 called out to him whenever they saw the youth- 
 ful lovers together: 
 
 " Napoleon with his stockings half off 
 Makes love to Giacominetta." 
 
 Now the time has come, so important in a 
 boy's life, when the young Napoleon must leave 
 home to get an education. It was the ambition 
 of every French boy at that time to attend a 
 military school, but it was not possible for every 
 French boy to do so, as these schools were 
 largely reserved for the rich and the nobility. 
 Napoleon did not belong to a rich family, but 
 he was able to trace his nobility through several 
 [16] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 generations. He wanted to enter the military 
 school at Brienne, a town in France, and now 
 it was fortunate that the family had the 
 friendly aid of General Marboeuf, for it was 
 through him that the application of young 
 Napoleon was made and accepted. This was 
 in the year 1776, when he was a little under 
 seven years of age and the very year in which 
 the American colonies declared their independ- 
 ence of Great Britain. The boy had another 
 difficulty to overcome, for he could not speak 
 French; at least, he did it only imperfectly, 
 for, as we have learned, his family and their 
 neighbors were Italians. So before going to 
 Brienne, he was sent to school to the Bishop 
 of Autun, and he himself leaves evidence in 
 his writings that his parting with his mother 
 gave him great grief, and that through all his 
 life he remembered how sad he felt on that 
 occasion. 
 
 We are told that at the school at Autun he 
 was a thoughtful and gloomy boy; we need 
 not think this strange when we remember how 
 young he was and that he was away from home 
 for the first time in his life, in a strange 
 land among boys whose language he did not 
 understand. The boys nicknamed him, and 
 made fun of his origin. The httle island of 
 [H] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Corsica was despised by them, for it had only 
 been a part of the French domain a few years 
 and its inhabitants were even then scarcely con- 
 quered. Probably young Napoleon incurred 
 the enmity of his schoolmates by his loyalty to 
 his native land and to his people. If so, all 
 honor to him! 
 
 Paoli, the great Corsican leader under 
 whom his father had fought, was a hero in 
 the boy's eyes. He could hear nothing said 
 of Paoli or his countrymen without becoming 
 angry and taking up their cause. Most of the 
 boys with whom he associated were the sons 
 of nobles, and many of them were slipplied 
 with better clothing, better furnishings, and 
 more money than he had. They made fun of 
 his poverty ; they taunted him with not having 
 as good blood in his veins as they had; and 
 we have a record of his replying to one of them, 
 " I would rather be the son of a peasant than 
 descended from any of the petty tyrants of 
 Italy." Some one said in his presence, " The 
 Corsicans are a lot of cowards," and his reply 
 was, " Had you French been but four to one 
 against us you would never have conquered 
 us, but you were ten to one." His teacher then 
 said, " But you had a good general, PaoH." 
 [18] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 " Yes," replied the boy, " and I would like to 
 resemble him." 
 
 JSTapoleon says of himself that at this time 
 he was headstrong, that nothing overawed him 
 or disconcerted him, that he was quarrelsome, 
 mischievous, and afraid of no one. But this 
 temperament was not the result of bad training, 
 for his mother had been very particular about 
 his conduct — that mother of whom he once, 
 when he had grown to manhood, exclaimed, 
 "Ah, what a woman! Where look for her 
 equal? " 
 
 On May 12, 1779, Napoleon left Autun, and 
 seven days later, at about ten years of age, 
 entered the military school of Brienne. He 
 says of himself: " On entering Brienne I was 
 delighted. My head began to ferment. I 
 wanted to learn, to know, to distinguish myself. 
 I devoured the books that came in my way." 
 The teachers in this school were incompetent 
 monks. His schoolmates were proud, idle, ex- 
 travagant young aristocrats, most of them the 
 sons of nobles. Here the experience he had at 
 Autun was repeated. The boys made fun of 
 his father's being a lawyer and reviled his 
 mother. 
 
 Everything conspired against him. In per- 
 sonal appearance he was pitifully thin, short, 
 [19] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 awkward. He was poor, and, what was more, 
 he was bashful. He had come from a country 
 where the people had learned to rtile themselves 
 and where there was equality of right, into an 
 atmosphere of servile submission to inherited 
 rank. Despised and neglected, he became 
 moody and discontented and withdrew from 
 society. Alone with his books, he studied and 
 planned how some day, despite the unequal 
 chances, he would make these proud fellows 
 bow the knee. He studied hard, particularly 
 in mathematics, and the records of the school 
 at Brienne show that he stood first in that 
 study. This, too, no doubt, created jealousies 
 that made matters hard for him. He stood 
 fairly well in history and geography, but Latin 
 and German and ornamental branches he dis- 
 liked. 
 
 Every student in the school received a bit 
 of ground for his own use, and by some 
 means Napoleon got the use of not only his 
 own but of two others, the whole of which he 
 hedged in, and here in seclusion he studied and 
 dreamed. The more he withdrew himself from 
 the society of the boys the less did they leave 
 him alone. They followed him about calling 
 him by his nicknames. Often he would remain 
 silent, but at times with bursts of anger he 
 [20] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 would break out and defy them single-handed. 
 Instead of compelling him by their taunts and 
 abuses to ape their manners and despise his 
 country and his countrymen, it drove him into 
 that very state of mind which prompted him 
 later to do the things that have made him fa- 
 mous. It gave him a hungering for distinction, 
 not the kind of distinction that birth gives, but 
 the kind that is won by work. Having felt the 
 abuse of the slanderer he came to have a deep 
 dread of disgrace and love of fame that would 
 enable him to overcome inequalities of station. 
 He learned to hate the nobility and to espouse 
 the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. 
 At times he broke out in torrents of invective 
 against that minister of France who had 
 brought war upon Corsica. To some one who 
 had spoken slightingly of Paoli he cried out, 
 " Paoli was a great man; he loved his country. 
 I will never forgive my father for his share in 
 uniting Corsica to France. He should have 
 followed Paoli," meaning that when Paoli re- 
 fused to surrender to the French at the end 
 of the war and left the island his father should 
 have gone with him. 
 
 Nothwithstanding the treatment his fellow 
 students visited upon him he compelled their 
 respect at times, and so it has been and always 
 [21] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 will be with the boy who goes straight ahead 
 and does his duty. In the school it was the 
 custom to give each boy in turn charge for a 
 certain time of the conduct of other boys. On 
 such occasions when young Napoleon was 
 chosen to take charge he never tattled. Then, 
 too, he was brave, and when an opportunity 
 arose requiring a strong, brave heart Napoleon 
 became a hero even among those who affected 
 to despise him. 
 
 One winter Napoleon suggested that the 
 students engage in mimic war. A snow fort 
 was built, and Napoleon, first at the head of the 
 defenders and then at the head of the attacking 
 party, displayed something of the wonderful 
 generalship that afterwards distinguished him. 
 He studied his plan of attack or his plan of 
 defence as a general would map out a real 
 campaign. His imperious nature showed itself 
 in the mimic attack on the snow fort when with 
 a chunk of ice he knocked a boy down who 
 disobeyed his orders. Afterwards, at Paris, 
 when Napoleon was attending a higher military 
 school, his biographers tell us that he was often 
 seen at night in the fort drawing plans of 
 attack and defence. 
 
 At another time, while at Brienne, the boys 
 of the school had been refused permission to 
 [ 22 1 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 attend a fair which was being held in the 
 neighborhood. Marshahng a number of the 
 students together, he led them in an attempt to 
 undermine the wall around their yard in order 
 to effect their escape. 
 
 These incidents may, perhaps, be laid to 
 boyish love of adventure, but they all indicated 
 the uncurbed, imperious nature of the boy. 
 Such a boy could not surrender his prejudices. 
 He would not truckle or bow down to unjust 
 authority. He was the kind of a boy to clench 
 his fists and grind his teeth and vow, in the soli- 
 tude of his room, undying hatred of shams and 
 pretenses. He would stamp his feet with im- 
 patience that the time was coming so slowly 
 when he could show these boastful aristocrats 
 that even without title and without wealth, a 
 poor and despised Corsican, he would some day 
 cause them to tremble. " I hope," he said, 
 " some day to give Corsica her freedom," and 
 he made every hour of his student life bend to 
 the attainment of this ambition. 
 
 His nature as a boy was a strange mix- 
 ture of good and evil. While he was unsocial, 
 quarrelsome, imperious, headstrong, and at 
 times even savage toward his fellows, he was 
 submissive, upright, thoughtful, exemplary, 
 industrious, obedient in his deportment toward 
 [23] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 his teachers. He read ahnost constantly, and 
 the books that he read were such books as 
 " Plutarch's Lives " and the poetry of Os- 
 sian, books filled with stories of heroes, men 
 of giant courage who did great things. He 
 refused to borrow money, notwithstanding 
 that he was poor and suffered the taunts of 
 his fellow students by reason of his poor 
 clothes. We even hear of his writing home 
 to his father, in his despair entreating him 
 to take him away from the school or give him 
 enough to support himself. His refusal to 
 borrow was a noble one. " I have no right," 
 he said, " to add to the burdens of my mother 
 by borrowing money that I may not be able to 
 repay." 
 
 He declaimed against the luxury of the 
 young men about him who idled away their 
 time and dressed and lived extravagantly. He 
 denounced the French system of military edu- 
 cation, even writing a letter to his instructors in 
 which he drew a contrast between the sort of 
 education the boys of France were getting and 
 that which the Spartan youth enjoyed. Being 
 reproved for his ingratitude as a pensioner of 
 the king, for the schools were supported by 
 the king's bounty, he broke out in furious in- 
 dignation. " Silence! " said the gentleman at 
 [24] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 whose table he was sitting. " It ill becomes you 
 who are educated by the king's bounty, to 
 speak as you do." The boy was nearly stifled 
 with rage, and turning red and pale by turns, 
 he cried out, " I am not educated at the king's 
 expense but at the expense of the nation," and 
 by " nation " he meant the people who paid 
 the taxes to support the royal bounties. In his 
 letter to the head of the school decrying against 
 the luxury of the young nobles, he said no man 
 could be fitted for military life without habits 
 of independence. He advised that the young 
 men be obliged to clean their own rooms, groom 
 their own horses, and inure themselves to hard- 
 ship. " If I were King of France," he cried, 
 " I would change this state of things very 
 quick." 
 
 It was the custom every year to select three 
 of the best scholars from each of the twelve 
 provincial military schools to be sent to Paris 
 to the higher school. It fell to the good fortune 
 of Napoleon five years after his entering the 
 school at Brienne to be thus selected for promo- 
 tion, and on the 30th of October, 1784, he en- 
 tered Paris as a student — that Paris that 
 afterwards was to cry " Vive I'Empereur! " 
 in a frenzy of joy at sight of him. 
 
 In an old manuscript which belonged to the 
 [25] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 then minister of war, in an article under the 
 head, " School of Brienne," appears the fol- 
 lowing: "Bonaparte, five feet, six and one- 
 half inches. Good constitution. Health excel- 
 lent. Character mild, honest, grateful. Con- 
 duct exemplary. He has always distinguished 
 himself by his application to mathematics. 
 Understands history and geography tolerably 
 well. Is indifferently skilled in merely orna- 
 mental studies. Would make an excellent 
 sailor. Deserves to be passed on to the school 
 at Paris." 
 
 On Napoleon's certificate which was fur- 
 nished him on his graduation from Brienne, was 
 written these words: "Character masterful, 
 imperious, and headstrong." His old history 
 teacher, in a list of his scholars, wrote: " Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte — a Corsican by birth and 
 character — he will do something great, if cir- 
 cumstances favor him." Hear this prophecy 
 and then turn to the words of Lockhart, the his- 
 torian, " Napoleon was the greatest actor the 
 world has known since the time of Caesar. He 
 moved over the earth as a meteor traverses the 
 sky, astonishing and startling all by the sudden- 
 ness and brilliancy of his career. The earth will 
 feel his power till its last cycle shall have been 
 [26] 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD 
 
 run." Thus did his old master see the man in 
 the boy. 
 
 Of Napoleon's course in the school at Paris 
 we know but little. We hear once of his having 
 written disrespectfully of the king and of his 
 being ordered to burn the letter. One says of 
 him at Paris, " He showed a great memory and 
 great judgment, and here his mind appeared 
 to those about him to have been molded in an 
 antique cast." 
 
 In August, 1785, when at the age of sixteen, 
 he was examined by the celebrated mathemati- 
 cian. La Place, he obtained the brevet of a 
 second lieutenant of artillery in the regiment 
 of La Fere. He at once joined the regiment 
 which at that time was stationed at Valence. 
 He and a comrade started from Paris to join 
 the regiment, and on the way their money gave 
 out, compelling them to make the remainder 
 of their journey on foot. Joining his regiment, 
 he was almost immediately promoted to the 
 first lieutenancy. He was now in the army of 
 France, enrolled under the banner of King 
 Louis XVI., and in the path that was so soon 
 to lead to almost unparalleled glory. 
 
 [27] 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 Leaving Bonaparte, the sixteen-year-old 
 lieutenant of artillery, with his regiment at 
 Valence, let us take a glance at the condition 
 of France at that time — that France which 
 was about to become the theatre of the most 
 terrible drama the world has ever seen. It can 
 only be a glance because history moved won- 
 derfidly fast near the close of the eighteenth 
 century, and the space at our command is lim- 
 ited. Still something must be said of the great 
 French Revolution and the causes that led up 
 to it, or we shall fail to understand much that 
 we shall hereafter read. 
 
 At just about the time when the American 
 colonies were engaged in a war with the mother 
 country to rid themselves of the burdens of 
 unjust taxation and to set up for themselves 
 a free and independent government of which 
 liberty and equality should be the watchwords, 
 . [28] 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 the French people were manifesting an impa- 
 tience with their king and giving signs of the 
 approach of that time when they should throw 
 oiF the rule of a sovereign whose right to rule 
 lay solely in the fact that he was the descendant 
 of a king, and declare for the principles of 
 democracy. Indeed, within seventeen years 
 from the time of the signing of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence the head of Louis XVI. 
 dropped from the block, to be followed soon 
 after by that of his queen, Marie Antoinette, 
 and the rule of kings and queens in France, 
 at least for a time, was at an end. 
 
 The French Revolution did not come in a 
 moment. There was warning enough if men 
 had stopped to think. When the storm burst 
 the world stood in amazement at its fury, but 
 the clouds had been gathering for many years. 
 A great change had been coming over the dis- 
 position of the people of France toward roy- 
 alty; and when we say " people " we mean the 
 masses of the population aside from the nobles 
 and the high church officials. Perhaps no 
 people in Europe had been for centuries more 
 loyal to their rulers than were the French. 
 Their loyalty was even of an unreasoning kind. 
 They were ready to suffer any burdens if by 
 doing so they coUld add to the glory of their 
 [ 29 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 king. They paid heavy taxes. They impover- 
 ished themselves. They gave their children to 
 fight in war. They seemed to find compensa- 
 tion enough for it all in seeing magnificent 
 palaces arise on every side and in witnessing 
 the pomp and glory of royal display. 
 
 But a change had finally come. First, whis- 
 pered criticism, then murmurs of complaint, 
 then remonstrance and protest, and fijially 
 open revolt and insurrection. Taxes grew 
 heavier and heavier, and still there was not 
 enough money in the royal treasury to meet the 
 extravagant expenditures made in keeping up 
 the royal show. And what seems strange to 
 us in this enlightened day, the common people, 
 the burghers in the small towns, the small 
 traders, and the farmers paid all the taxes, 
 while the nobles and the clergy, for whom the 
 bulk of the taxes were levied, paid none. 
 Knowing this fact alone, we are led to wonder 
 that the ancient system lasted as long as it did. 
 
 But there were other causes of discontent. 
 For fifty years prior to the reign of Louis 
 XVI. the French armies had been defeated on 
 every side and had lost spirit. France had 
 been forced to give Canada to England. The 
 soldiers were now joining in the popular cry 
 against the privileged classes. The common 
 [30] 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 soldier could never expect to be an officer, or if 
 an officer, could never rise to a position higher 
 than that of captain. The chief positions in 
 the army were reserved for the nobles and were 
 filled by the king's appointment, and generally 
 went to his poverty-stricken favorites among 
 the nobility. 
 
 The church had become corr\ipt. The higher 
 offices in the church were given to young 
 nobles, many of whom were without pretense 
 of piety, while the lower offices were held by 
 priests and curates on poor pay who could 
 never hope to rise above their station. There 
 was, therefore, dissatisfaction and dissension in 
 that one part of the nation in which we would 
 last expect to see discontent. Religion itself 
 had fallen into disrepute. With the quarrel- 
 ings among the churchmen themselves and the 
 errors that had crept into church doctrines and 
 dogmas, men turned their backs upon religion 
 and declared the whole thing to be a lie. 
 France became frightfully infidel. Men 
 openly blasphemed God and ridiculed His 
 church. As a result the grossest immorality 
 flourished. Men and women became vulgar. 
 The literature of the day was corrupted. 
 
 It came to be the style, too, for writers and 
 speakers to talk prettily about liberty and 
 131] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 equality — words that Frenchmen had never 
 before thoroughly understood. The king and 
 the nobles, who had the most to fear from these 
 words, at first took them as a joke, listened and 
 applauded, not thinking that the ideas behind 
 these words were making their way into the 
 hearts and minds of men; and not dreaming 
 that soon these words would be sung in the 
 blood-red streets of Paris to the stirring music 
 of The Marseillaise. When they woke up to 
 the truth and tried to mend matters it was too 
 late. 
 
 The French officers and private soldiers who 
 had volunteered to cross the ocean to fight for 
 American independence, such men as Lafay- 
 ette and Rochambeau, returned to France as 
 heroes. They had helped to set a people free 
 from the rule of King George of England. 
 Why could they not help to set another people 
 free from the rule of King Louis of France? 
 Wherever these soldiers went they became the 
 centres of interest and influence. 
 
 As a result of this discontent, this newborn 
 spirit of debate and discovery, clubs began to 
 form in eveiy part of France where the most 
 violent revolutionary language was freely used. 
 Paris itself took the lead in complaining of 
 the unjust taxes imposed by the king and the 
 [32] 
 
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 burdens imposed by the privileged classes. The 
 provinces were not slow in following it. For 
 the first time in the history of France there 
 was published a detailed account of the king's 
 receipts and expenditures; and strange to say 
 the publication was made with the king's con- 
 sent. The people criticized the throne for its 
 extravagance. They saw for the first time with 
 their eyes wide open that the king and the 
 nobles were well fed, well housed, well clothed, 
 and lived in sumptuous ease, while they them- 
 selves paid for it all by the sweat of their brows. 
 
 Out of it all came the Revolution. France 
 became as a mountain shaking under the vol- 
 cano. All Europe looked on in dismay. 
 
 But interesting, yes, thrilling as is the story 
 of France from 1788 to 1795, we must pass 
 it by with the single assertion that out of all 
 its bloodshed and its devilish cruelty came the 
 end of the monarchy and the birth of Republi- 
 can France. Louis XVI. — a better king than 
 many who had preceded him, a victim to the 
 onward march of mind which he could neither 
 understand nor keep pace with — laid his head 
 upon the block, saying, " Frenchmen, I die 
 innocent of the offences imputed to me. I 
 pardon all my enemies, and I implore Heaven 
 that my beloved France — " then the drums 
 [33] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 beat, the guillotine descended, the priest ex- 
 claimed, " Son of St. Louis! Ascend to 
 Heaven," and the populace shouted, " Vive la 
 Republique! " 
 
 [34] 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 NAPOLEON^S FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
 
 To return now to Napoleon. Into this 
 seething caldron of blood and fury he came, 
 a lieutenant in the king's army. It was eight 
 years before King Louis' death. We have 
 seen that as a Corsican boy he had hated the 
 French. He could not forget the struggles 
 by which Corsica, his native land, had sought 
 to retain her independence; nor could he fail 
 to remember that she had lost it to this very 
 king in whose army he was now a paid officer. 
 We might reasonably expect that in the midst 
 of this struggle between king and people 
 ISTapoleon would be found among those who 
 sided with the people, and so it was. 
 
 The first seven years after he entered the 
 army Napoleon spent much of his time on fur- 
 loughs at his home in Corsica, and one reading 
 the account of these seven years cannot but feel 
 that the young officer was half-hearted, to say 
 [35] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 the least, in his service as a soldier in the royal 
 army, and must conclude that his heart was set 
 on some day becoming another Paoli and free- 
 ing Corsica from French rule. 
 
 With his regiment at Valence we find Napo- 
 leon more sociable and more contented than 
 when he was in school. He went more into 
 society; indeed, we find him again falhng in 
 love, and this time he proposed and was re- 
 jected. But he still kept tip his reading and 
 study. A rich bookseller in the city freely lent 
 him books, and we find him reading such 
 authors as Adam Smith, and Voltaire, and 
 Rousseau, and Raynal — books that breathed 
 the new philosophy of freedom and equality, 
 and did much to fan the fires of the Revo- 
 lution. In the pages of Raynal he must have 
 read that author's prediction that if France did 
 not mend her way a revolution was at hand. 
 
 At this time the young lieutenant is de- 
 scribed as being short, slim, active, and awk- 
 ward, with boots so big for his legs that a young 
 woman nicknamed him " Puss in Boots." His 
 eyes were deep set and brilliant. He wore his 
 hair in immense " dog ears," which was the 
 fashion of the time, and this is said to have 
 given his dark Italian face a sinister look, 
 though in outline it was classic. He was 
 [36] 
 
FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
 
 still inclined to be silent and moody, but he 
 could be drawn out by congenial company, 
 and when he tried to be pleasant he could be 
 magnetic and fascinating. He was often criti- 
 cized for not joining in the amusements of 
 young people. On one occasion he replied, " It 
 is not by playing and dancing that a man is to 
 be formed." His landlady once complained to 
 him of his silence and his unsocial ways. After- 
 wards, when at the head of the army of Italy, 
 he met this woman, and in the course of his 
 conversation with her said, " Ah, my good 
 woman, had I passed my time as you wished 
 to have me, I should not now be in command 
 of the army of Italy." He was not a brag- 
 gart, but in a quiet way he was imperious and 
 acted as if he felt himself better than his fel- 
 lows and capable of any task, and to a great 
 degree his estimate of himself was a true one. 
 We must pass rapidly over these seven years 
 that may be called the Corsican period of his 
 life, although it is important. As we have 
 said, during these years, from 1789 to 1796, he 
 spent most of his time in taking long holidays 
 at Ajaccio, his Corsican home, where still lived 
 his mother, brothers, and sisters, his father 
 having died the year the boy entered the army. 
 Historians disagree as to just how Napoleon 
 [37] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 was able to obtain these long furloughs. Some 
 say that he was ill most of the time, but others 
 more than hint that he was not so ill as he 
 pretended to be, and that he told downright 
 lies to get away from the army and be at home. 
 
 One thing seems certain : he at this time dis- 
 liked the routine of camp life. Loafing about 
 the camp and doing its petty duties fretted 
 him. He was ambitious to be doing something 
 great. In the army of France, too, he could 
 never expect, without more influence than he 
 had, to rise above the position of captain, and 
 this was not enough. He felt himself born to 
 greatness, and this was no place for him. We 
 are driven to the conclusion that he wanted to 
 go to Corsica in these troublous times in order 
 to take advantage of any opportunity that 
 might come to him to spring forth as a leader 
 of the Corsicans and strike for them a blow 
 for independence. 
 
 During these years he tried authorship, 
 partly, perhaps, to make money out of it with 
 which to support the family, for they were 
 poor, his salary as a lieutenant being only $225 
 a year, but mostly to give vent to his deep and 
 serious thoughts and feelings which burned for 
 utterance. His most ambitions work was a 
 history of Corsica, in which he tried to tell 
 [38] 
 
FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
 the story of Corsica's wrongs and her struggles 
 for independence. He wrote and rewrote this. 
 Nothing discouraged him — not even the ad- 
 verse opinions of his friends. It was never 
 pubhshed, but manuscript pages of it are still 
 in existence. It shows a heart burning with 
 love of country. The whole purpose of it 
 seems to have been to arouse the Corsicans to 
 renewed effort to regain their freedom. He 
 wrote a story entitled " Count of Essex," which 
 breathed hatred of France. He competed for 
 a prize offered by the Academy of Lyons for 
 the best essay on " What truths are most im- 
 portant to inculcate in men for their happi- 
 ness? " All his writings of this period show a 
 seriousness far beyond his years and a fierce 
 impatience, as if he felt he had a great work 
 to accomplish in the world and was not willing 
 to wait for it. 
 
 His furloughs in Corsica during these seven 
 years were four in number, at least one of more 
 than a year in length. In the case of two of 
 these furloughs he overstayed his time. In 
 one instance his excuse was a lie, and the other 
 he was dismissed from the French army for 
 disobedience to orders. 
 
 We are told that when on these holidays in 
 Ajaccio he spent much of his time in an attic 
 [39] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 of his mother's home reading and writing, and 
 that when he appeared on the streets he held 
 himself aloof from his former companions. 
 We can easily imagine how it was: Napoleon 
 had been abroad, he had been to the great Paris. 
 He had been graduated from a military school 
 and wore the king's uniform, and was under 
 pay from the king. The boys with whom he 
 used to play, of course, easily misunderstood 
 him and thought him stuck up; and yet there 
 was something of the mischievous boy about 
 him after all. He and his sister Pauline once 
 were caught mimicking the tottering gait of 
 their old grandmother. Pauline got a spank- 
 ing for it. ISTapoleon, being dressed in his 
 regimentals, escaped for the time being; but 
 a few hours later his mother suggested that he 
 had been invited to dinner by some important 
 personage, and Xapoleon rushed off to his 
 bedroom to change his clothes. This gave his 
 mother the opportunity she was after, and as 
 soon as his regimentals were off she spanked 
 him soundly. 
 
 T^apoleon frequently dined with the French 
 officers at Ajaccio, and invariably he fell to 
 talking of history and the science of govern- 
 ment. They didn't like this, for they could 
 see underneath it all that Napoleon was a very 
 [40] 
 
FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
 
 poor Frenchman, and that he knew too much 
 for them, so they called his talk " ridiculous 
 stuff and pedantry." Sometimes he came so 
 near being disloyal in his talk that the French- 
 men left him or refused to invite him again to 
 their tables. 
 
 When the Revolution broke out Napoleon 
 was with his regiment in France. Getting a 
 leave of absence on the pretext of illness he 
 hurried home to stir up the island, with a vague 
 hope that out of it all would come independ- 
 ence for Corsica. Paoli, of whom we read in 
 our first chapter, since Corsica had fallen into 
 the hands of France, had been staying in Eng- 
 land. Now the Revolutionary Assembly of 
 Paris called upon him to return, guaranteeing 
 to Corsica considerable local freedom. So the 
 old hero returned to his native land in May of 
 1790, and on landing upon the shore dropped 
 upon his knees and kissed the earth. Napoleon 
 was one of those who welcomed the great leader 
 to his native land. Together one day they rode 
 over the old battlefield of Ponte Nuovo, where 
 Corsica made her last stand for freedom. Paoli 
 was struck with Napoleon's manner and talk, 
 and said of him on this occasion, *' He is not 
 modern, but reminds me of Plutarch's heroes." 
 Napoleon, though an officer in the king's army, 
 [41] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 at once set to work organizing volunteer regi- 
 ments of the National Guard in behalf of the 
 Revolutionary Assembly, and by the volun- 
 teers he was elected to the position of lieu- 
 tenant-colonel. 
 
 In February, 1791, his leave of absence hav- 
 ing expired, we find Napoleon at Auxonne 
 with his old regiment, having taken with him 
 his twelve-year-old brother Louis, in order to 
 relieve his mother and educate the boy. He 
 was now getting a salary of $260 a year, and 
 it was only by the strictest economy that he and 
 his little brother could live. He avoided so- 
 ciety at this time. He ate, for the most part, 
 only bread, and gave all his spare time to teach- 
 ing his brother. Indeed, there is nothing in 
 the life of Napoleon so captivating as his care 
 of his own family. It is an admirable trait 
 in a young man, and even the enemies of 
 Napoleon must give him credit here. We can 
 imagine that one great reason for his frequent 
 absences from the army was that he might be 
 with his mother and assist her in her poverty. 
 Afterwards, on being raised to a position where 
 he could command money and infltience, his 
 first thought was to put them beyond want. 
 
 While still In the army of the king, he was 
 attending secret meetings. Indeed, he became 
 [42] 
 
FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
 a member of a political club, and filled all the 
 offices in turn — librarian, secretary, and presi- 
 dent. He afterwards said that if at this time 
 he had been ordered to fire upon the people, 
 habit, prejudice, education, and the king's 
 name would not have induced him to obey. 
 
 Finally, on the occasion of his last visit home 
 he overstayed his time, and his name was 
 stricken from the regular army Hst in conse- 
 quence. At this time he was both a lieutenant 
 in the army of the king and a lieutenant-colonel 
 of the National Guard of Corsica. In the 
 latter he probably received no pay, and in the 
 former but a paltry $260, and now he had lost 
 even this and was without any resources what- 
 ever. He longed to go to Paris and throw 
 himself into its exciting life, but he was so 
 poor that he had to pawn his watch in order 
 to buy bread and keep soul and body together. 
 He wrote to his rich uncle in Ajaccio for a 
 loan, saying that he must go to Paris. In his 
 letter he says : " There one can push to the 
 forefront. I feel assured of success. Will 
 you bar my road for the lack of a hundred 
 crowns?" 
 
 In May, 1792, we find him in Paris without 
 work and without an office, wandering about 
 its streets looking with mingled feelings of 
 [43] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 exultation and pity upon the horrible scenes 
 passing before his eyes, and burning with a 
 desire to do something great. He was in 
 Paris on that memorable twentieth of June, 
 1792, when the Paris mob, bearing the red cap 
 of liberty, marched to the Tuileries to make 
 demands on the king. He was there on the 
 tenth of August of that same year and saw the 
 royal Swiss guards that were protecting the 
 king cut to pieces and five thousand persons 
 massacred. He was there when the Revolu- 
 tionary Tribunal was set up and the National 
 Assembly exiled forty thousand persons. 
 
 In September, 1792, the school at St. Cyr, 
 which one of his sisters was attending, was 
 abolished by the government, and he returned 
 to Corsica as her escort. Here he found Paoli 
 growing lukewarm toward the Revolution. 
 England was trying to get hold of Corsica, and 
 Paoli favored England over revolutionary 
 France. Bonaparte was rabid either for in- 
 dependence for the island or for revolutionary 
 France in preference to England, so Paoli and 
 Napoleon quarreled and the latter joined the 
 former's enemies. Then Napoleon tried to get 
 possession of the citadel of Ajaccio, and fail- 
 ing in his attempt, the Corsican government, 
 which, with Paoli, was favorable to England, 
 [44] 
 
FIRST SEVEN YEARS AS A SOLDIER 
 
 drove the whole Bonaparte family out of the 
 island. Napoleon himself barely escaping with 
 his life. 
 
 The Revolutionary government of France, 
 being sorely in need of all its skilled army offi- 
 cers, now readily forgave Napoleon for his 
 disobedience to orders and restored him to 
 the army; he now became a red-hot Revolu- 
 tionist. There were two great parties among 
 the Revolutionists, namely, the Girondists, who 
 were moderate in their views, and the Jacobins, 
 who were radical, and believed in and preached 
 absolute equality among men. They would have 
 no king, no nobility. This was well enough, 
 but they carried their views and their actions 
 to extremes. They were brutal and cruel, and 
 among them were the Terrorists, with such men 
 as Maximilien Robespierre at their head. 
 There can be no doubt that Napoleon made 
 friends with the most bloodthirsty of the 
 Jacobin party, though there is evidence that 
 he did not approve of the most violent part of 
 their program. He became personally ac- 
 quainted with Augustin Robespierre, brother 
 of the all-powerful leader, and allied himself, 
 in a measure, with the extreme Republicans 
 under whom Paris was flowing with blood. 
 
 [45] 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NAPOLEON^S FIRST GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS — 
 HE MARRIES 
 
 Now comes an event in the career of Na- 
 poleon that puts him on the high road to pros- 
 perity and favor, though he was yet to have 
 some hard days. The French city of Toulon, 
 on the Mediterranean coast, had fallen into 
 the hands of the Royalists, or the party who 
 favored a king for France. The English were 
 on the side of the Royalists. At an opportune 
 moment Toulon was surrendered to the Eng- 
 lish by the Girondists and Royalists of the city. 
 Toulon was one of the most important military 
 and naval centres of France. Here were many 
 French ships of the line and vast military 
 stores. The importance of the surrender was 
 at once recognized and an army was immedi- 
 ately raised by the Revolutionists and sent to 
 retake it. For months the Convention forces 
 laid siege to the city, but without success. 
 [46] 
 
HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 
 
 There are several stories as to how Napoleon 
 appeared on the scene, but it is enough for us 
 to know that at an opportune moment he ap- 
 pears and is found unfolding to the general in 
 charge a plan by which the city might be taken. 
 His suggestion, briefly, was that instead of as- 
 saulting the defenses of the city, a hill over- 
 looking the harbor should be fortified and that 
 guns be planted to command the English gun- 
 boats. The English had foreseen the impor- 
 tance of this hilltop and had planted defenses 
 there. The French, to carry out Napoleon's 
 plan, assaulted and carried them. Napoleon 
 was in the thick of the fight and received a 
 bayonet thrust in his thigh. The wound was 
 not so serious, however, but that he remained 
 throughout the battle, present, as some one 
 writes, everywhere at once, a very paragon of 
 energy. Having captured the height, the 
 French planted their guns upon it, and then 
 opened fire upon the English vessels in the 
 harbor. 
 
 After several thousand shells had been fired 
 the English departed, and the city was at the 
 mercy of the Revolutionary forces. The hor- 
 rors that followed are almost unspeakable. 
 Thousands of the inhabitants fled to the water's 
 edge, crying to the English to protect them. 
 [47] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Fifteen thousand were carried away in boats 
 by the English, and thousands of those who 
 remained were shot down in the streets by the 
 frenzied victors. There is every evidence that 
 it was Napoleon's foresight and plan of action 
 that won this notable victory for the Revolu- 
 tion, and we might now expect him to be in 
 high favor and that his career would be free 
 from embarrassment, but it was not so. For 
 a time, indeed, he seemed to prosper. He was 
 made general of artillery, and inspector gen- 
 eral in the army of Italy. He was sent to 
 inspect the defenses of the Revolutionary 
 forces on the Mediterranean, and in July, 
 1794, was set to Genoa by Robespierre on a 
 diplomatic mission in which he was successful. 
 
 Then came misfortune. By one of those 
 sudden turns of the wheel of fortune, then 
 so frequent in Paris, Robespierre was be- 
 headed, and the enemies of Robespierre, be- 
 lieving Napoleon to be in conspiracy with 
 him, threw him into prison, from which, how- 
 ever, he was soon released on the ground that 
 he could not be spared from the service. 
 
 In March, 1795, the Paris Committee of 
 
 Public Safety, now having its turn at the 
 
 head of the government, ordered Napoleon to 
 
 proceed to the army of the West to take com- 
 
 [48] 
 
HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 
 
 mand of the artillery there. Napoleon saw in 
 this an attempt to crush him, for it took him 
 away from the army of Italy, where he had 
 made a reputation, and away from his friends 
 and the ground with which he was familiar. 
 By one subterfuge after another he succeeded 
 in disobeying the order, and by a happy circum- 
 stance obtained a position in the topographical 
 section of the war office, where, with three 
 others, it was his business to draw up plans and 
 orders for all the Revolutionary armies. 
 
 It was a strange fatality that kept the young 
 officer in Paris at this time. Paris had been 
 for years the scene of almost continued riot 
 between contending factions. On the 4th of 
 October, 1795, a section of Paris declared itself 
 in insurrection against the Convention, which 
 was at this time the governing body of the 
 Revolution. The National Guard, forty thou- 
 sand strong, were in sympathy with the insur- 
 gents. The Convention had but eight thousand 
 troops on which it could rely. The inslir- 
 gents were about to attack the Tuileries, where 
 the Convention sat. The Convention chose two 
 commanders for its troops, but the first left 
 the city without taking command, and the sec- 
 ond was placed under arrest for his cowardice 
 and inaction. Then the Convention chose 
 [49] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Barras as head of the Paris forces, and Barras 
 asked that Napoleon Bonaparte be put second 
 in command, saying: "I have precisely the 
 man we want. It is the little Corsican officer, 
 who will not stand on ceremony." Napoleon, 
 who was in the topographical office at the time, 
 was sent for and sworn in. 
 
 On that fated 5th of October, 1795, Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte was the real leader of the Con- 
 vention forces. About the Tuileries he built 
 a fortress. Murat, with three hundred horse, 
 was sent at a gallop to Sablons, five miles off, 
 to bring fifty cannon that were there, and these 
 Napoleon posted about the Tuileries command- 
 ing all the avenues of approach. Napoleon's 
 energy was magnificent. His orders were 
 given with promptness and decision. He was 
 everywhere at once. He neither ate nor slept. 
 Those who saw him became enthusiastic. His 
 preparations filled the Convention with confi- 
 dence. Finally, at two o'clock in the after- 
 noon, the insurgent forces arrived, marching 
 solidly along the avenues leading to the Tuile- 
 ries. The firing commenced at four o'clock, and 
 by six the storm was over and Napoleon had 
 won with his eight thousand troops a victory 
 for the Government of the Revolution over an 
 army five times as great. With the ending of 
 [50] 
 
HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 
 
 the fight the army went throughout the city 
 disarming its terrified citizens. 
 
 And now comes a pretty story, which we 
 may or may not beheve, according as we be- 
 heve the friends or the enemies of the Httle 
 Corsican. Napoleon was now the hero of 
 Paris. His star had surely risen, not to set 
 until the night of Waterloo. A little boy of 
 fourteen, by name Eugene de Beauharnais, 
 called upon Napoleon and begged of him that 
 his father's sword, which had been taken from 
 his mother's home on the night before by the 
 soldiers of the Convention in their work of 
 disarming the citizens, be returned to him. 
 That father had fallen a victim to the cruel 
 Robespierre in the bloody days of the Terror- 
 ists. Napoleon was so struck with the boy's 
 manner and words that he returned to him the 
 sword, and the boy took it in his eager hands 
 and covered it with kisses. 
 
 On the following day, it is related, the 
 mother of this boy, Madame de Beauharnais, 
 called in person to thank Napoleon for his 
 kindness. Her manner was so gracious that it 
 charmed the young soldier of twenty-six. 
 Long years afterwards Napoleon said that he 
 first met Josephine, the future empress, for 
 it is she of whom we are speaking, at the 
 [51] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 home of B arras, one of the greatest men of 
 Paris at the time. It is possible he meant 
 that he first met her there in a social way. At 
 any rate, the story of the sword seems to be 
 well authenticated, and at least is pretty 
 enough to be believed. 
 
 Josephine de Beauharnais was born on the 
 Island of Martinique. She was the daughter 
 of a planter, and married, while quite young, 
 Vicomte de Beauharnais, who afterwards 
 served as a general officer in the Republican 
 armies. Josephine, herself, after the murder 
 of her husband by Robespierre, had been im- 
 prisoned for a short time, and during her 
 imprisonment had formed a friendship with 
 a lady who a short time afterwards married 
 one of the leaders of the Revolution. By her 
 Josephine was afterwards introduced into the 
 leading society of Paris, and when General 
 B arras became the First Director and held his 
 court at the Luxembourg, Josephine was one 
 of the beautiful women who ornamented its 
 society. She had had by Vicomte de Beauhar- 
 nais, a boy Eugene, whom Napoleon adopted 
 afterward as his own, and a daughter Hortense, 
 who married Louis of Holland. Shortly after 
 meeting Josephine, Bonaparte offered her his 
 hand and she accepted it. By this means the 
 [52] 
 
HIS GREAT MILITARY SUCCESS 
 
 young general gained an alliance with the 
 society of the leading men of the Revolution, 
 and particularly with B arras, who at that mo- 
 ment was the most powerful man in France 
 and at the head of the armed forces of Paris 
 and the Army of the Interior. B arras had said 
 to his associates, referring to Napoleon, " Pro- 
 mote this young man or he will promote him- 
 self." They took the hint, and when B arras 
 resigned as commander of the Army of the 
 Interior, Napoleon was made his successor. 
 
 We find him noAV occupying a fine residence 
 in Paris and surrounding himself with a splen- 
 did staiF, fine horses and equipages, and min- 
 gHng in the brilliant society of the capital. On 
 the same day that he marries Josephine, March 
 9, 1796, he is appointed to the command of the 
 army of Italy, and the Corsican boy, who but 
 a year before was pawning his watch to buy 
 bread, now steps out upon the stage of Euro- 
 pean affairs to dazzle the world with his genius 
 and his success. 
 
 [53] 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SARDINIA HUMBLED AND AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 Napoleon never wasted time. Three days 
 after his marriage to Josephine he rushed with 
 the speed of a courier to take command of that 
 division of the French army known as the 
 Army of Itaty, whose headquarters were at 
 Nice. This army, though nominally composed 
 of 50,000 men, could scarcely muster 25,000 
 fit for the field. They were hrave fellows, but 
 hungry, half -clothed, and discouraged. Their 
 equipment was meagre; their cavalrymen 
 were without horses, and their artillery con- 
 sisted of but sixty pieces. Arrayed against 
 them, and holding all the passes of the Alps, 
 were three proud and splendid armies of Aus- 
 tria and Sardinia, with 200 pieces of artillery. 
 
 Napoleon was but twenty-six years old at 
 
 this time. What could so young a man do with 
 
 such an army to repel the advance into France 
 
 of a powerful enemy generaled by Beaulieu, 
 
 [54] 
 
AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 a man seventy-two years of age, who had spent 
 a lifetime learning the art of war? Napoleon's 
 battalion commanders were men of splendid 
 ability and courage, like Murat, Augereau, 
 Massena, Serrurier, Joubert, and Lannes, but 
 amid the poverty and general discontent their 
 spirits were broken. What could these feeble 
 battalions do to repel the well-clothed, well-fed 
 forces of Austria and Sardinia? A heart less 
 stout, a spirit less undaunted, would have peti- 
 tioned for reinforcements — at least for 
 enough to eat; but not so, Napoleon. In the 
 years since he had left the military school he 
 had known hardship, he had fought adversity 
 in every form; true, he had won victories, but 
 others had gained the credit. 
 
 Now, for the first time in his life, he was 
 his own master, and his heart burned within 
 him to conquer adversity and to be master 
 of fate. When some one suggested that he 
 was too young for the command, he cried, 
 " In a year I shall be either old or dead;" 
 and as showing how desperate was his pur- 
 pose to win, he said, " In three months I 
 shall be either in Milan (the enemy's capital) 
 or in Paris." There could be no half-way busi- 
 ness with him. There could be no temporizing. 
 It must be either glory or shame, and that, too, 
 [55] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 right quickly. Hear his address to his troops: 
 " Soldiers, you are hungry and naked; the 
 Republic owes you much, but she has not the 
 means to pay her debts. I am come to lead you 
 into the most fertile plains that the sun be- 
 holds; rich provinces, opulent towns, all shall 
 be at your disposal. Soldiers of Italy! Will 
 you be wanting in courage? " 
 
 This was the first word of encouragement 
 the army had heard for many a day, and an 
 electric thrill went through every heart, and to 
 a man the army turned its face resolutely 
 toward the Alps, amid whose fastnesses were 
 its enemies — those Alps of which it had been 
 said, " Here let ambition be stayed." 
 
 To await the coming of the enemy was not 
 the way of Napoleon. Before him lay almost 
 impassable barriers of rock. Hannibal had 
 pierced their dangerous defiles. But a greater 
 general than Hannibal was here. Leading his 
 army over the lower ridges where the moun- 
 tains come down to the sea and toward Genoa, 
 he finds upon the very threshold of Northern 
 Italy seventy-five thousand Austrians and Sar- 
 dinians with two hundred pieces of artillery all 
 under the command of Beaulieu. One Aus- 
 trian army is posted at Voltri, another at 
 Monte Notte, and the Sardinian army at Ceva. 
 [56] 
 
AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 After a march of incredible swiftness Napo- 
 leon throws his forces about the Austrian posi- 
 tion at Monte Notte, surrounding them in a 
 night. In the fierce battle that ensues the Aus- 
 trians are routed, and, fleeing, leave behind 
 them their colors and their cannon, with 1,000 
 killed and 2,000 prisoners, and this is all so 
 speedily done that the commanders at Voltri 
 and at Ceva know nothing of it till it is over. 
 The two remaining armies then hasten to join, 
 but they are not quick enough for Napoleon, 
 who, attacking one army at Millesimo and the 
 other at Dego, sends both of them flying to 
 the mountains, leaving their cannon and their 
 baggage, and the better part of their troops, 
 in the hands of the youthful conqueror. The 
 Sardinians flee toward Turin, the capital of 
 their fair province of Piedmont, while the Aus- 
 trians turn toward Milan, the capital of one 
 of their Italian provinces. Napoleon himself 
 joins in the pursuit of the Sardinians, and tak- 
 ing possession of Cherasco, in the neighborhood 
 of Turin, there receives the surrender of the 
 forces of King Victor of Sardinia, and dic- 
 tates a provisional treaty with that monarch 
 by which the French Republic becomes pos- 
 sessed of a great part of Piedmont, including 
 Coni and Tortona, " The Keys of the Alps." 
 [57] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Hardly an appearance of power is left to King 
 Victor, who shortly after dies of a broken 
 heart. 
 
 Napoleon now stands upon the soil of North- 
 ern Italy, with the Alps at his back, and his 
 face toward the richest and fairest fields of all 
 Europe. In his exultation he cries, " Hanni- 
 bal forced the Alps. We have turned them." 
 Thus, in less than a month, has this youthful 
 genius won six battles, killed, wounded, and 
 taken prisoners 25,000 of the best fighting 
 men of Europe, and captured eighty guns and 
 twenty-one standards. He has destroyed the 
 Sardinian army, taken every place of impor- 
 tance in Piedmont excepting Turin, and has 
 drawn to himself the wondering gaze of all 
 Europe. 
 
 Listen to his exultant address to his troops: 
 " Hitherto you have been fighting for bar- 
 ren rocks, memorable for your career but 
 useless to your country; now yoUr exploits 
 equal those of the armies of Holland and the 
 Rhine. You were utterly destitute and you 
 have supplied all your wants. You have 
 gained battles without cannon, passed rivers 
 without bridges, performed forced marches 
 without shoes, bivouacked without strong 
 liquors, and often without bread. None bnt 
 [58] 
 
AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 Republican phalanxes, soldiers of liberty, could 
 have endured such things. Thanks for your 
 perseverance! But, soldiers, you have done 
 nothing — for there remains much to do. 
 Milan is not yet ours. The ashes of the con- 
 querors of Tarquin are still trampled by the 
 assassins of Basseville." ^ 
 
 The fleeing Austrians, with Beaulieu at their 
 head, took position beyond the river Po, think- 
 ing that with this barrier they could prevent the 
 victorious French from entering Lombardy. 
 By a trick Napoleon deceived Beaulieu into 
 thinking that he would attempt to cross the 
 Po at Valenza, and then, by one of those swift 
 marches for which he had already become fa- 
 mous, he swept fifty miles farther to the east, 
 and, before the Austrians were aware of it, 
 crossed the Po at Piacenza and was marching 
 into Lombardy. In the battle that followed 
 the Austrians were again beaten, and fled, 
 leaving cannon behind them, and never halting 
 till they had crossed the river Adda, where they 
 
 ' Some of the rrench students in Eome had dared to wear the 
 tri-color cockade of the Eepnblic. The Pope had not recognized 
 at this time the Trench Republic. In the disorders consequent 
 on the action of the students the Papal army had hot interfered 
 to protect the students, and Basseville, the envoy of France resid- 
 ing in Eome at the time, was mobbed and assassinated, and the 
 perpetrators of the deed went unpunished. 
 
 [59] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 again took up position, leaving Milan at the 
 mercy of the French. 
 
 But it was not Milan that Napoleon was 
 after; it was Beaulieu. The Austrian general 
 figured that the French would cross the Adda 
 at Lodi, and for once he was right. When 
 Napoleon appeared at Lodi he found the only 
 bridge (a wooden one 500 feet long) swept 
 by thirty cannon posted on the opposite banks. 
 Here took place one of the most brilliant vic- 
 tories of Napoleon's career. Having formed 
 3,000 of his men into a solid column a few 
 hundred yards away from the bridge, in a place 
 sheltered from the storm of shot that was fall- 
 ing, and having sent his cavalry to a distant 
 point where they were enabled to ford the river 
 and come up in the rear of the Austrians, he 
 waited. 
 
 Soon he saw signs of confusion and knew 
 that his cavalry were charging the Austrian 
 position. At the word of command the col- 
 umn of 3,000 wheeled to the left and poured 
 like an avalanche across the bridge amid a 
 perfect tempest of shot and shell, protected 
 only by a few cannon on the French side, two 
 of which Napoleon had pointed with his own 
 hand, thus earning for himself a name that 
 followed him through life as " The Little 
 [60] 
 
AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 Corporal." So terribly destructive was the fire 
 of the Austrian guns that the column wavered. 
 Napoleon, Lannes, and other commanders hur- 
 ried forward cheering on their men and shout- 
 ing " Vive la Republique." Lannes reached 
 the shore first, followed closely by Napoleon, 
 while the soldiers of the Republic charged the 
 gunners and routed them before they could be 
 relieved or supported by the main army of the 
 Austrians who had posted themselves too far 
 back. Two hundred Frenchmen lay upon the 
 bridge of Lodi when the battle was over. 
 
 Four days after the battle of Lodi, Milan, 
 the home of the Lombard kings, threw open 
 its massive gates to the triumphant French, 
 and Napoleon addressed his troops as follows : 
 " Soldiers! You have precipitated yourselves 
 like a torrent from the Apennines. You have 
 overwhelmed or swept before you all that op- 
 posed your march. Piedmont, delivered from 
 Austrian oppression, has returned to her natu- 
 ral sentiments of peace and friendship toward 
 France. Milan is yours; and over all Lom- 
 bardy floats the flag of the Republic. . . . The 
 army, which proudly threatened you, finds no 
 remaining barrier against your courage. The 
 Po, the Ticino, the Adda, could not stop you 
 a single day. Those boasted ramparts of Italy 
 [61] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 proved insufficient. You traversed them as 
 rapidly as you did the Apennines. Successes 
 so numerous and briUiant have carried joy to 
 the hearts of your countrymen. Your repre- 
 sentatives have decreed a festival to be cele- 
 brated in all the Communes of the Republic in 
 honor of your victories. Then will your 
 fathers, mothers, wives, sisters, all who hold 
 you dear, rejoice over your triumphs, and boast 
 that you belong to them. . . . The French 
 people, free and respected by the whole world, 
 shall give to Europe a glorious peace which 
 shall indemnify it for all the sacrifices which it 
 has borne the last six years. Then by your own 
 firesides you shall repose and your fellow- 
 citizens when they point dut any one of you 
 shall say, ' He belonged to the Army of 
 Italy.' " 
 
 Beaulieu, with his Austrians, continued in 
 their retreat till they had crossed the Mincio, 
 with the French cavalry in hot pursuit. Napo- 
 leon himself went to Milan, where he levied a 
 tribute of four million dollars and required the 
 proud capital to give up to France twenty of 
 the finest pictures of the Ambrosian gallery. 
 The wealthy princes of Parma and Modeiia 
 now bought the favor of France with pictures 
 and statues and immense sums of money. The 
 [ 62 ] 
 
AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 Duke of Modena gave up the famous St. Je- 
 rome of Correggio, which he afterwards tried 
 to redeem at four hundred thousand dollars, 
 but in vain. These, and other works of art 
 obtained in the rich cities of Italy, became 
 the foundation of the rich treasures of the 
 Louvre. 
 
 While Milan was in possession of Napoleon, 
 the citadel still held out. Leaving a detach- 
 ment of troops to hold the city, Napoleon him- 
 self hastened after Beaulieu, who had now 
 established himself on the east bank of the 
 Mincio, with one arm of the army at Peschiera 
 and the other at Mantua, one of the strongest 
 army positions in Europe. 
 
 Now that Napoleon had humbled Sardinia 
 and conquered the army of Austria, and a 
 large portion of Northern Italy was in his 
 hands, those who were in direction of affairs 
 at Paris began themselves to be afraid of him. 
 What may not this young man do? His popu- 
 larity is already boundless among the people. 
 His name is in every mouth. May he not re- 
 turn at any moment and use this popularity for 
 his own ends, and possibly assume the role of 
 dictator and make himself master of France? 
 An order, therefore, goes out from Paris that 
 Napoleon is to share the command in Northern 
 [63] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 Italy with Kellerman, a brave Frenchman, 
 though one not capable of independent com- 
 mand. Napoleon immediately resigns, saying, 
 " You had better have one bad general than 
 two good ones." The order is at once revoked, 
 and Napoleon again assumes command. 
 
 At this time popular uprisings took place 
 throughout Lombardy and thirty thousand men 
 were under arms. Napoleon fell upon the 
 insurgents with merciless vigor and meted out 
 a punishment too horrible to describe, leaving 
 an indelible stain on his name. 
 
 Beaulieu calculated that Napoleon would 
 cross the Mincio at Peschiera, where he him- 
 self had crossed it, but again he was deceived, 
 for the French crossed at Borghetto, fell again 
 upon the Austrians, and compelled them to re- 
 treat to the river Adige. Just after this battle 
 Napoleon had a narrow escape. He and his 
 officers were sitting at dinner, thinking that the 
 Austrian army had passed far beyond them 
 and was fleeing to the east. A straggling por- 
 tion of the Austrian army, hastening to the 
 assistance of their friends and not knowing 
 that they had been routed, came into Borghetto 
 just at this time. Napoleon's attendants had 
 barely time to shut the gates of the inn and 
 alarm their chief. Bonaparte threw himself 
 [64] 
 
AUSTRIA IN RETREAT 
 
 upon a horse and, galloping out by a back pas- 
 sage, escaped. It was this happening that in- 
 duced Napoleon to institute a small corps of 
 picked men called " guides " to watch continu- 
 ally over his personal safety, and out of this 
 came afterwards the famous Imperial Guard 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 Mantua and the citadel of Milan were now 
 the last footholds of the Austrians in Italy. 
 Mantua was on an island approached by five 
 narrow causeways. The city was held by 
 15,000 Atistrians. By a sudden attack the 
 French obtained four of these causeways, and 
 then sat down before the fifth, determined to 
 starve out the Austrians or meet them in battle 
 if they should attack. 
 
 Napoleon now took possession of Verona and 
 all the strong places of Venice. It is hard to 
 excuse this proceeding, for Venice was a neu- 
 tral power. She had harbored the eldest 
 brother of Louis XVI., known as the " Pre- 
 tender," and this was made the ostensible cause 
 of what looks like an insult to a friendly power ; 
 it was probably the work of the Directory at 
 Paris and not of Napoleon. 
 
 Leaving one of his generals to blockade 
 Mantua, Napoleon turned his attention to 
 Naples. The king immediately made a 
 [65] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 friendly treaty and withdrew his forces from 
 the Austrian army. 
 
 Napoleon now had the Pope at his mercy, 
 and immediately took possession of Bologna 
 and Ferrara in the Church's dominions. This 
 brought the Pope at once to terms, with an 
 agreement to pay $5,000,000 and to turn over 
 to France a hundred of the finest pictures and 
 statues in the Papal gallery, and inmiense stip- 
 pUes. 
 
 [eei 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 But Austria was not yet conquered. Rais- 
 ing 80,000 more men — the best troops in the 
 world — she sent them with Field Marshal 
 Wurmser, a hero of many wars, to humble the 
 proud conqueror of Italy and his 30,000; but 
 he made a blunder at the very start. Dividing 
 his army into two divisions, he sent one, under 
 Melas, down the Adige to drive the French 
 from Verona, and the other, under Quasdan- 
 owich, down the valley of the Chiese toward 
 Brescia to cut off ISTapoleon's retreat to Milan. 
 
 Napoleon's eagle eye saw his opportunity, 
 and, burying his cannon in the trenches before 
 Mantua, he rushed like the wind to meet Quas- 
 danowich. Battles at Salo and Lonato sent the 
 Austrians in full retreat. 
 
 After the engagement at Lonato Napoleon 
 again came near falling into the hands of the 
 enemy. One division of the defeated Austrian 
 [67] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 army, wandering about in anxiety to find some 
 way of reaching the Mincio, came suddenly on 
 Lonato, the scene of the late battle, at a mo- 
 ment when Napoleon was there with only his 
 staff and guards about him. But for his pres- 
 ence of mind he must have been a prisoner. 
 An Austrian officer was sent to demand the 
 surrender of the town, and was brought, as 
 was the custom, blindfolded, to Bonaparte. 
 Causing his whole staff to draw up around him 
 he ordered that the bandage be removed from 
 the messenger's eyes, and thus saluted him: 
 " What means this insolence? Do you beard 
 the French general in the middle of his army? " 
 The messenger retreated, stammering and 
 blushing, and assured his commander that 
 Lonato was occupied by the French in great 
 numbers. Four thousand Austrians laid down 
 their arms before the trick was discovered. 
 
 Salo and Lonato having been won. Napoleon 
 fell on Wurmser, but not before the latter had 
 gained a few successes, and cutting his columns 
 in two, sent them flying in confusion. Thus 
 in one week the Austrians lost 40,000 men, 
 against a total loss to the French of seven thou- 
 sand. During these seven days Napoleon never 
 took off his boots and slept by snatches — never 
 more than an hour at a time. The spirit of 
 [68] 
 
CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 revolt which again had arisen was stilled by this 
 victory. The Archbishop of Ferrara, when 
 brought before Napoleon, tittered the one word 
 " peccavi " (I have sinned), and Napoleon 
 ordered him to fast and pray for seven days in 
 a monastery. 
 
 Again the trumpets sounded from the Tyrol 
 and 50,000 fresh troops were hurrying to put 
 themselves under the defeated but not discour- 
 aged Wurmser. Once more that general made 
 the fatal blunder and divided his army. With 
 30,000 men Wurmser came down the defiles of 
 the Brenta, leaving 20,000 under Davidowich 
 at Roveredo. 
 
 Napoleon waited till Wurmser had reached 
 Bassano; then, with the sweep of an eagle, he 
 pounced upon Davidowich, and in a desperate 
 encounter in which Napoleon lost an intrepid 
 officer, Dubois, he bayonetted his way to vic- 
 tory up height after height of the enemy's 
 defenses. The Austrians fled to Levisa, and 
 there again misfortune overtook them. Then 
 Napoleon, marching his army sixty miles in 
 two days, fell on Wurmser, and 6,000 Aus- 
 trians laid down their arms. The brave Wurm- 
 ser fled with one division of his army and 
 made his way into Mantua, and there alone 
 was he for the time safe from " The Little 
 [69] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Corporal " and his all-conquering army. Na- 
 poleon at once appeared before Mantua, 
 stormed and took the five approaches to the 
 city, and shut up effectually within its gates 
 26,000 men. 
 
 While all this was going on Napoleon sent 
 an expedition to Corsica and wrested it from 
 the hands of the English. 
 
 Austria, though sorely wounded in pride and 
 sorely distressed by the loss of three great 
 armies, was not ready to yield, and in a few 
 days word reached Napoleon that a fourth 
 army of 60,000 men under command of an- 
 other distinguished marshal of the empire, 
 Alvinzi, was on the way. Alvinzi himself, with 
 one division, appeared at Friule, and Davido- 
 wich with another near Trent. 
 
 The French who were at Trent were under 
 Vaubois. These were to look after Davido- 
 wich, while Massena was sent to Bassano to 
 check the approach of Alvinzi. Neither of 
 these French generals could hold his position. 
 Trent and Bassano were both abandoned, and 
 even Napoleon retreated on Verona. Napo- 
 leon was now in a tight place. His forces were 
 divided, part of them watching the 26,000 Aus- 
 trians shut up in Mantua, and another part 
 in the field trying to check the advances of 
 [70] 
 
CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 the two Austrian divisions under Alvinzi and 
 Davidowich, which were hastening to join 
 Wurmser in Mantua. The defeats just suf- 
 fered by the French and the news of calamities 
 threatening them, discomfited the troops. Then 
 on the plains of Rivoli Napoleon caused his 
 battahons to be drawn up before him and thus 
 addressed them : " You have displeased me. 
 You have stiff ered yourselves to be driven from 
 positions where a handful of determined men 
 might have bid an army defiance. You are 
 no longer French soldiers! You belong not 
 to the Army of Italy." At these words of 
 displeasure from their beloved commander, the 
 soldiers sobbed like children. Rushing from 
 the ranks, they surrounded him and pleaded 
 for their arms and their colors. The sick and 
 the wounded left the hospitals, many with their 
 wounds still bleeding, crying, " Place us once 
 more in the van and you will judge whether 
 we do not belong to the Army of Italy." In 
 the engagements that followed, !N"apoleon had 
 no further reason to complain. 
 
 Making believe that he was retreating 
 toward Mantua, Xapoleon quickly wheeled his 
 columns and threw himself into the country 
 between the two di^asions of the Atistrian 
 army. Three battles ensued, in which the 
 [71] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 French were victorious, known as the Battles 
 of Areola, among the most desperate of the 
 war. 
 
 One incident of this battle deserves to be 
 mentioned. Napoleon ordered Augereau to 
 carry the bridge of Areola. It seemed that 
 no army could cross it without complete des- 
 truction. The intrepid Augereau obeyed 
 orders and marched his columns upon the 
 bridge, but in the face of the deadly fire they 
 wavered and turned to fly over the corpses of 
 nearly half their comrades. Napoleon dashed 
 to the head of the column, snatched a standard, 
 and cried out to his grenadiers: " Soldiers! 
 Are you no longer the brave warriors of Lodi? 
 Follow me ! " And they did follow him ; but 
 the arrival of a fresh column of Austrians 
 caused the French to fall back, and Napoleon 
 himself, seized by his grenadiers, was dragged 
 along and hurled into a morass up to his waist. 
 The Austrians were between him and his baf- 
 fled column. The battle seemed to be decided. 
 But Napoleon was not to be beaten. As the 
 smoke rolled away the army saw their com- 
 mander's danger. In an instant they formed, 
 and with the cry, " Forward, soldiers, to save 
 the general," they threw themselves upon the 
 enemy, hurled them from the bridge, and won 
 [72] 
 
CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 the day. The news of this battle made France 
 crazy with joy, and filled Europe with amaze- 
 ment. It was in this battle that the brave 
 Muiron, seeing a bomb about to explode, saved 
 Napoleon's life at the cost of his own by throw- 
 ing himself between it and his general. 
 
 Alvinzi now retreated on Montebello, and 
 for two months Napoleon was the undisputed 
 master of Lombardy. In these two months 
 he did not rest, but founded the Cispadane and 
 Transpadane Republics from the newly ac- 
 quired territories, and these immediately made 
 levies of troops and sent them to join the army 
 of France. 
 
 But the Austrians were tenacio'us. Their 
 Council at Vienna at once organized a new 
 army of 60,000 men, the fifth that had been 
 raised for the purpose of crushing Napoleon, 
 and put Alvinzi at its head. At the same time 
 the Pope had 40,000 men and Naples 30,000 
 ready, in case disaster should come to the 
 French arms, to rise and sweep them from 
 Italy. The Tyrolese, whose loyalty to Austria 
 was so great, hardy mountaineers as they were, 
 and perhaps the best sharpshooters the world 
 has ever seen, flocked to the standard of Aus- 
 tria as they had done in the four previous cam- 
 paigns. Napoleon proclaimed that every Ty- 
 [73] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 rolese caught in arms should be shot as a brig- 
 and. Alvinzi replied that for every murdered 
 peasant he would hang a French prisoner of 
 war. Napoleon rejoined that the first execu- 
 tion of this threat would be followed by the 
 gibbeting of Alvinzi's own nephew, who was 
 in his hands. None of these threats were car- 
 ried out. 
 
 Alvinzi sent a spy to Mantua to tell Wurm- 
 ser and his 26,000 Austrians that a new army 
 was ready to attempt his relief, and to say that 
 if things came to the worst he should fight his 
 way out of Mantua, retire on Romagna, and 
 put himself at the head of the Pope's forces. 
 The spy was captured, and, being brought be- 
 fore Napoleon, confessed that he had swal- 
 lowed the ball of wax in which the despatch 
 was wrapped. His stomach was compelled to 
 surrender its contents, and Napoleon, learning 
 the secret, prepared to meet the enemy. 
 
 Alvinzi's army, repeating the blunder so 
 often made by the Austrians, divided itself into 
 two parts, one under the commander-in-chief 
 coming down the Adige, the other under Pro- 
 vera coming down the Brenta, and intending 
 to strike across to the lower Adige and join 
 Wurmser. Napoleon sent Joubert to Rivoli 
 to dispute that position, and Augereau to 
 [74] 
 
CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 watch Provera. The first fighting took place 
 at Rivoh. Napoleon hiirried there from Ve- 
 rona in time to be present in a great battle in 
 which he had three horses shot under him. The 
 army of Alvinzi was routed. Napoleon then 
 heard that Provera had forced his way to the 
 Lago di Guarda, and by marching all day and 
 all night toward Mantua the French reached 
 that point just as Provera's troops came upon 
 the scene. Night fell with the two armies in 
 sight of each other. 
 
 Napoleon passed the night walking about 
 the outposts in great anxiety. At one of 
 these he found a grenadier asleep by the 
 root of a tree, and, taking his gun, with- 
 out awakening him, performed a sentinel's 
 duty in his place. The man, starting from his 
 slumbers, and perceiving with terror the face 
 of his general, fell on his knees before him. 
 " My friend," said Napoleon, " here is your 
 musket. You have fohght hard and marched 
 long and your sleep is excusable; but a mo- 
 ment's inattention might at present ruin the 
 army. I happened to be awake and have held 
 your post for you. You will be more careful 
 another time." This story, and scores of others 
 like it, flying from soldier to soldier, inspired 
 the army with a zeal and a devotion to their 
 [75] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 young leader the like of which the world has 
 never seen. 
 
 The next day came the battle of St. George, 
 which ended with Provera in retreat. Then 
 Wurmser attempted to bring his forces out 
 of Mantua, but was forced to return. Provera 
 found himself entirely cut off from Alvinzi 
 and snrrounded by the French, so he and 5,000 
 of his men laid down their arms. So great was 
 the terror inspired by the name of Napoleon at 
 this time that another body of 6,000 Austrians 
 surrendered to but five hundred French. 
 
 Then the brave Wurmser asked for terms, 
 and Napoleon gave an example of a courtesy 
 characteristic of his better moments. Not only 
 did he make such favorable terms with his old 
 enemy that the Directory at home were dis- 
 pleased, but, when taken to task for it, he said : 
 " I have granted the Austrians such terms as 
 were in my judgment due to a brave and honor- 
 able enemy and to the dignity of the French 
 Republic." Wurmser and his garrison marched 
 out of Mantua, but Napoleon refusing to be 
 present and witness the humiliation of the dis- 
 tinguished veteran, delegated to one of his 
 generals the duty of receiving his sword. 
 
 The loss of the Austrians at Mantua was 
 26,000 men, all their military stores, 500 brass 
 [76] 
 
CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 cannon, and sixty stands of colors. Napoleon 
 sent Augereau to Paris to present these colors 
 to the Directory. At sight of them Paris was 
 frantic with joy and a national festival was 
 proclaimed. 
 
 While all this was in progress Rome trem- 
 bled. Nothing like the fear and dismay that 
 filled its streets had been known since the days 
 when the barbarian hordes had swept down 
 upon them from the north. The Papal armies 
 were defeated at Imola; Faenza was carried 
 by the bayonet; Ancona was taken, and then 
 Loreto, a place famous for its wealth and its 
 treasures. The priests, particularly those who 
 had fled from France at the breaking out of the 
 Revolution, were filled with the deepest terror, 
 till Napoleon issued a proclamation that none 
 of this class should be molested. The Pope 
 then sued for peace and the treaty of Tollentino 
 followed, by which the Pope gave to the con- 
 queror the territory of Avignon, Ferrara, 
 Bologna, Romagna, and a part of Ancona, 
 besides $2,000,000 and one hundred of the fin- 
 est works of art in Rome. The Directory at 
 home urged that the Pope be dethroned, but 
 Napoleon thought and acted otherwise, leaving 
 to him a part at least of his ancient patrimony. 
 
 Napoleon was now master of all Northern 
 [ 77 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Italy save the territory of Venice. Venice 
 could raise 50,000 men. She professed to be 
 neutral. Napoleon suspected her and sent 
 word that any breach of neutrality would bring 
 down upon her vengeance and the destruction 
 of her ancient government. And the Aus- 
 trians, too, were still unconqliered. A large 
 Austrian army was bivouacked at Friule under 
 the command of a new general, this time a 
 young man, the Archduke Charles, who had 
 made a splendid record with the army on the 
 Rhine. One division of the Austrian army was 
 stationed on the Tyrolese frontier, and another 
 on the Friulese. Napoleon, who had received 
 20,000 fresh troops, met the enemy on the Tag- 
 liamento. Appearing before them he made a 
 display of force, then feigned a retreat. In the 
 moment's lull that followed he sprang forward, 
 forded the river, and struck the Austrians a 
 blow before they were prepared. 
 
 Then began an Austrian retreat which 
 lasted for twenty days, during which ten 
 pitched battles were fought and Friule, 
 Trieste, Styria, and every stronghold in 
 Carinthia fell into Napoleon's hands. The 
 archduke then rushed on to Vienna, the 
 Austrian capital. In the meantime the 
 Venetians in Napoleon's rear had thrown 
 [78] 
 
CONQUEROR OF ITALY 
 
 off their neutrality. The archduke expected 
 and hoped that Napoleon would be lured on 
 to Vienna, where far from his base of supplies 
 and in the heart of the enemy's country, with 
 hostile armies in his front and his rear, he 
 would be destroyed. So great was the terror 
 at this time in Vienna that the royal family 
 fled terror-stricken into Hungary, carrying 
 with them little Marie Louisa, afterwards the 
 wife of Napoleon, then but six years old. 
 
 But Napoleon was not to be thus trapped. 
 The Venetians were massacring the wounded 
 French in the hospitals of Verona and else- 
 where. They were cutting ofl* Napoleon's sup- 
 plies and were shutting up his troops in their 
 garrisons. Napoleon first wrote the Archduke 
 Charles as a brother soldier, begging of him to 
 put an end to war with a fair treaty. The arch- 
 duke refused, though later he was compelled 
 to do so by his superiors. Then without wait- 
 ing. Napoleon turned his column and swept 
 back like an Alpine tempest upon Venice. 
 
 When the news came to Venice of the retreat 
 of the Archduke Charles, and that the all-con- 
 quering Napoleon, with vengeance in his hand, 
 was flying at the head of his army to punish, 
 she trembled and supphcated. Napoleon was 
 angry. " French blood," he said, " has been 
 [79] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 treacherously shed. If you could offer me the 
 treasures of Peru, if you could cover your 
 whole dominion with gold, the atonement 
 would be insufficient — ^the lion of St. Mark 
 must lick the dust." 
 
 Venice surrendered to him without a blow. 
 The oligarchy ceased to rule, and a democratic 
 government on the model of France was set 
 up. Large territory was surrendered to the 
 French, besides five ships, $600,000 in gold and 
 the same amount in naval stores, twenty of the 
 best pictures, and five hundred manuscripts. 
 The Venetian Senate tried to bribe Napoleon 
 with a purse of $1,400,000. He rejected it 
 with scorn, as he did a bribe of $800,000 ten- 
 dered by the Duke of Modena, and one far 
 more princely offered by Austria. To Aus- 
 tria he answered, " I thank thee, emperor, but 
 if greatness is to be mine it shall come from 
 France." 
 
 Venice turned over to the conqueror also 
 something of more importance even than 
 money, and that was the person of Count 
 D'Entraigues, a representative of the Royal- 
 ists, and his papers. The papers were sent to 
 Paris, and by them it was proved that Piche- 
 gru, a great general of France, the conqueror 
 of Holland, was a traitor. 
 [80] 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PEACE WITH AUSTRIA THE COURT OF 
 
 MONTEBELLO 
 
 Napoleon had set out at the head of a dis- 
 heartened army, in the face of insurmountable 
 difficulties, to do foUr things: To compel the 
 King of Sardinia to abandon his alHance with 
 Austria, to weaken the Austrians so as to draw 
 the Itahans away from them, to compel the 
 Pope, who more than secretly was opposing the 
 Republic, to submit, and to make the Republic 
 respected, independent, and powerful among 
 the nations of the earth. In four weeks he had 
 defeated the Sardinians, and in less than two 
 years had destroyed six Austrian armies, had 
 humbled the Pope, had transformed ISTorthern 
 Italy into independent republics in alliance 
 with France, had made the name of the Repub- 
 lic feared and respected throughout the world, 
 and won for himself a place higher than that 
 of Alexander, or Ceesar, or Frederick II. He 
 [81] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 had done all of these things by the aid of sol- 
 diers, the bravest the world has ever seen, pas- 
 sionately devoted to their young commander. 
 He had done it by the exercise of an energy and 
 intelligence on the field of battle never sur- 
 passed nor equalled by a commander. 
 
 Instead of adopting the old tactics of war, 
 he invented new ones. Instead of waiting for 
 supplies, he depended upon what the invading 
 territory could furnish. He marched with a 
 rapidity never before heard of. If speed was 
 necessary to meet an emergency, baggage, can- 
 non, clothing, everything was sacrificed to it. 
 He could concentrate men more swiftly, could 
 detect a weak spot in the enemy's line or plan 
 easier, could take advantage more surely and 
 more speedily of the enemy's weaknesses, than 
 could any commander the world had ever 
 known. He was always doing the unexpected. 
 He never waited for the enemy. He counted 
 nothing as impossible. He braved every- 
 thing himself, and expected every soldier to 
 do the same. He filled the hearts of his men, 
 by his example and his precept, with veneration 
 and affection, the extent of which can scarcely 
 be understood. An old Hungarian officer 
 questioned as to the state of the war, said : " He 
 is a young man who knows absolutely nothing 
 [ 82 ] 
 
PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 of the rules of war. To-day he is in our rear, 
 to-morrow on our flank, next day again in our 
 front. Such violations of the principles of the 
 art of war are intolerable." 
 
 The " Little Corporal " was now virtually 
 the master of all Italy; still there was much 
 to be done. Nearly every state in Italy had 
 been torn from its foundations. Boundary 
 lines that had existed for centuries had been 
 blotted out. The people were crying for a 
 democratic government and for liberty. Bona- 
 parte set to work at once to bring order out of 
 chaos. He established his residence at Monte- 
 bello, a beautiful palace near Milan, and sent 
 for his wife Josephine, his mother, his brothers 
 Joseph and Louis, and his beautiful sister 
 Pauline, then sixteen years old, whom the poet 
 Arnault declared to be the prettiest woman in 
 the world. 
 
 As Bonaparte was perhaps the most distin- 
 guished man in Europe, so Josephine now be- 
 comes the most distinguished woman. Monte- 
 bello becomes the most brilliant court in Eu- 
 rope. At one end of the palace receptions and 
 balls followed one another on a scale of mag- 
 nificence not equalled by that of any king in 
 Europe, mth Josephine, gracious, witty, and 
 beautiful, as the queen of all hearts. Of her 
 [83] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Madame de Remusat said, " Love seems to 
 come every day to place at her feet a new con- 
 quest over a people entranced with its con- 
 queror." At the other end of the palace was 
 Napoleon in the bloom and splendor of his life, 
 the centre of the world's gaze, holding in his 
 hand the destiny of nearly every European 
 state. 
 
 Napoleon gave but one hour a day to society, 
 while for the rest of the time, allowing himself 
 scarcely time for sleep and food, he received 
 couriers from kings and princes sohciting his 
 influence or imploring his protection, and spent 
 his time in formulating plans for the establish- 
 ment of republics and the betterment of the 
 condition of the people of Italy. He projected 
 roads, canals, bridges, harbors, arsenals, and 
 insitutions of learning, calhng about him 
 scholars, and artists, and statesmen, and giving 
 to the world an unparalleled exhibition of wis- 
 dom and energy. In excising himself from 
 joining in the great festivities of the court, he 
 said, " I only subdue provinces ; Josephine 
 conquers hearts." 
 
 Soon a formal treaty was made with Austria, 
 
 known as the Treaty of Campo Formio, from 
 
 the little town in which the treaty was signed. 
 
 The Austrian commissioners met Napoleon 
 
 [84] 
 
PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 there and demanded terms to which he would 
 not accede, threatening that if he did not 
 accept them Russia and Austria would to- 
 gether compel him to adopt terms less 
 favorable. 
 
 When his proposition was made, Napoleon 
 rose from the table at which they were sitting, 
 took from the sideboard a porcelain vase that 
 was said to have been given to one of the com- 
 missioners by Catherine of Russia, and said, 
 " Gentlemen, the truce is broken; war is de- 
 clared; but, remember, in three months I will 
 demolish your monarchy as I now shatter this 
 porcelain." He then dashed the vase into 
 fragments on the floor, and bowing, abruptly 
 withdrew, entered his carriage, and urged his 
 horses at full speed toward the headquarters 
 of the army. The Austrians immediately 
 agreed to Napoleon's terms, and the next day 
 a treaty was signed which extended the boun- 
 dary of France to the Rhine on the north, com- 
 pelled Austria to recognize the republics of 
 Northern Italy, and liberated Lafayette, who 
 had for fotir years been lying in an Austrian 
 dungeon. 
 
 A congress of all the German States was 
 now called at Restadt, and Napoleon was ap- 
 pointed by France as her representative. He 
 [85] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 at once set out to fulfil his commission, accom- 
 panied by the love and acclamations of the 
 army he was leaving forever, and hailed along 
 the route through Switzerland by illuminations, 
 processions, bonfires, the ringing of bells, and 
 the huzzas of the people. Some one who saw 
 him at that time said that he showed a calm, 
 pensive, and thoughtful aspect, and that 
 he was thin and pale, and bore an air of 
 fatigue. 
 
 While listening to those who conversed with 
 him, he seemed to be thinking above and be- 
 yond them. He was doubtless dreaming of the 
 day when he should be a greater Napoleon, 
 though all the world seemed then to be at his 
 feet. It was at this time, it may be believed, 
 that he formulated roughly in his mind that 
 plan of universal conquest, in which, by hum- 
 bling the kings of the earth, he should set 
 France on the pinnacle, and perhaps a 
 Bonaparte as a world ruler. England, that 
 ancient and hereditary enemy of France, whose 
 hand had been seen and felt in every move 
 against republican France, must be humbled. 
 It was not Napoleon who first conceived of 
 striking England by putting in danger her 
 provinces in the far East, but it was Napo- 
 [86] 
 
PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 leon who first saw and grasped at the oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 Things were not going well in France. The 
 Directory had become unpopular and its mem- 
 bers were quarrehng among themselves; in- 
 deed, B arras, the most powerful of them, had 
 called on the army to protect him and his 
 partisans from personal violence and keep the 
 government secure. Napoleon sent Augereau, 
 with a strong body of veteran soldiers, to 
 Paris, and that rough warrior soon mended 
 matters. 
 
 Napoleon himself stayed but two days at 
 Restadt. Then, rushing like a meteor through 
 France, he arrived in Paris on the seventh of 
 December, 1797, after an absence of eighteen 
 months. Everybody in Paris wanted to see the 
 youthful hero, but Napoleon was nowhere to 
 be seen. What had become of him? He was 
 there ; but dressed in the garb of a plain citizen, 
 he kept himself unobserved from the multitude. 
 He and Josephine took a small house and lived 
 unostentatiously, cultivating the society of men 
 of learning. 
 
 The Directory, although jealous of Napo- 
 leon and fearful that the people would turn 
 them out of office and put Napoleon at the head 
 of affairs, found it necessary to give to the 
 [87] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 conqueror of Italy a reception worthy of his 
 services. The reception took place on Decem- 
 ber tenth, 1797. Perhaps no grander ovation 
 was ever given a man than that given to the 
 fragile figure with the pale, wasted cheeks, 
 dressed in the plain clothes of a citizen, and 
 accompanied by the distinguished Talleyrand 
 and the officers of the armies of France, ar- 
 rayed in their gorgeous liveries. Talleyrand 
 introduced him, saying, " Every French- 
 man must feel himself elevated by the hero of 
 his country." 
 
 In making reply, Napoleon handed to the 
 Directory the Treaty of Campo Formio, and 
 said: " Citizens: The French people, in 
 order to be free, had kings to combat. To 
 obtain a constitution founded on reason it had 
 the prejudices of eighteen centuries to over-' 
 come. Priestcraft, feudalism, despotism, have 
 successively for two thousand years governed 
 Europe. From the peace you have just con- 
 cluded dates the era of representative govern- 
 ments. You have succeeded in organizing the 
 great nation whose vast territory is circum- 
 scribed only because Nature herself has fixed 
 its limits. You have done more. The two fin- 
 est countries in Europe, formerly so renowned 
 for the arts, the sciences, and the illustrious 
 [88] 
 
PEACE WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 men, whose cradle they were, see with the 
 greatest hopes genius and freedom isstiing from 
 the tombs of their ancestors. I have only to 
 deliver the treaty signed at Campo Formio and 
 ratified by the emperor. Peace secures the lib- 
 erty, the prosperity, and the glory of the 
 Republic. As soon as the happiness of France 
 is secured by the best organic laws, the whole of 
 Europe will be free." 
 
 He ceased amid the shouts of " Live Napo- 
 leon, the conqueror of Italy, the pacificator of 
 Europe, the savior of France! " Barras made 
 reply, saying, " Nature has exhausted her 
 energies in the production of a Bonaparte." 
 A new song called the " Hymn of Liberty " 
 was then sung in full chorus, accompanied by 
 a great orchestra, and the five Directors arose 
 and encircled Napoleon in their arms. Thiers 
 says, " All heads were overcome with intoxi- 
 cation." 
 
 Talleyrand also gave a great ball costing 
 over twelve thousand francs. The French In- 
 stitute elected Napoleon one of its members — 
 a distinguished honor for one so young — and 
 from that time on during his stay in Paris 
 Napoleon, dressed in the garb of the Institute, 
 associated with learned men, attended lectures, 
 and studied problems of science and philoso- 
 [89] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 phy. When he made reply to the offer of 
 membership in the Institute, he said, " True 
 conquests — the only ones which leave no re- 
 gret behind them — are those which are made 
 over ignorance." 
 
 [90] 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN — BATTLE OF THE 
 PYRAMIDS 
 
 The Directory were now intent upon mak- 
 ing war against England, who had all along 
 continued to offer aid to the enemies of France. 
 No peace in France could be secure with that 
 powerful enemy riding mistress of the seas 
 and plotting against her in every court of 
 Europe. The plan of the Directory was to 
 land an army in England and march to Lon- 
 don. Bonaparte was called upon to head the 
 enterprise, but after a week spent on the north- 
 ern coast of France, during which he weighed 
 all the chances, he set out for Paris, determined 
 to oppose the attempt, but with a plan secretly 
 formulated in his own mind of attacking Eng- 
 land by way of Egypt, and cutting her off 
 from intercourse with her territories in India. 
 
 The Directory, always jealous of Napoleon 
 and still compelled by his popularity among the 
 [91] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 people and in the army to keep him at the 
 front, Hstened eagerly to this plan, which would 
 not only, if successful, strike a mortal blow at 
 England but also remove from France Bona- 
 parte himself, and gave to it their consent. 
 
 With his usual energy, Bonaparte set to 
 work to raise an army for the Egyptian cam- 
 paign, allowing it to be understood that the 
 real purpose of the preparations was an attack 
 on England at home. He drew from the army 
 of Italy a strong body of his old veterans, 
 commanded by such men as Murat, who had 
 done heroic service in the campaigns against 
 Austria. He did what never before had been 
 done — added to his staff a body of one hun- 
 dred learned men known as " savants," mem- 
 bers of the French Institute, who, carrying 
 with them books and maps and scientific instru- 
 ments, were to make conquests for science and 
 art, as fast as the army made conquests of men 
 and territory. 
 
 The army assembled at Toulon, where a 
 powerful fleet was being collected to transport 
 it across the Mediterranean; but Nelson, the 
 Xeptune of the seas, the greatest sea fighter 
 England ever had, was also on the Mediter- 
 ranean with a strong fleet watching the harbor 
 of Toulon. But fate still favored the " Little 
 [92] 
 
THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 Corporal." A wild tempest coming down 
 from the Alps drove the English ships far out 
 into the Mediterranean, compelling them to 
 put into Sardinia for repairs. By daybreak 
 of the morning after the storm the whole 
 French fleet put to sea — a sight magnificent 
 and inspiring, for when the sun rose twenty 
 miles of water were covered with sails, and 
 thirteen battleships, fourteen frigates, and four 
 hundred transports were rushing before a 
 favoring wind, carrying forty thousand of the 
 best soldiers of France and ten thousand sailors, 
 the latter under the command of Admiral 
 Brueys, a sea commander second only to Nel- 
 son. 
 
 On June tenth, 1798, the fleet appeared off* 
 the island of Malta, where, behind an impreg- 
 nable fortress, were the Knights of Malta, suc- 
 cessors of the Christian warriors of time gone 
 by, who had bound themselves by oath to rescue 
 the tomb of Christ from the infidel. But the 
 knights of Napoleon's day were not those who 
 had once upheld the banner of the Cross. They 
 were luxury-loving and indolent, and, we are 
 led to suspect, easily tempted by bribes, for 
 Malta was surrendered to Napoleon, with its 
 1,200 cannon, its 10,000 pounds of powder, and 
 its 40,000 muskets, without a blow. 
 [93] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Leaving a garrison to defend Malta, the 
 French fleet continued its way. Nelson was 
 now in hot pursuit, and taking a more direct 
 line than were the French, he reached Egypt 
 first. Not finding the French there, he sailed 
 off to the East in search of them. Then Napo- 
 leon slipped by without being seen and entered 
 the harbor of Alexandria at the mouth of the 
 Nile. Immediately disembarking, he sent a 
 portion of the army to attack Alexandria, the 
 ancient home of the Ptolemies and of Cleo- 
 patra. The suddenness of their coming had 
 given little opportunity for defense, and with 
 the loss of only three hundred men the French 
 poured into the city. 
 
 Egypt nominally belonged to Turkey, but 
 her real rulers were the Mamelukes, an order of 
 fierce warriors, who, dividing the country up 
 into twenty-four districts, with a chief Mame- 
 luke at the head of each, terrorized and kept 
 the country in subjection. Bonaparte at once 
 announced that he had come to free Egypt 
 from the Mamelukes and professed his friend- 
 ship for Turkey; but England saw to it that 
 the Turkish government were not deceived, and 
 that it would have none of his friendship. 
 Bonaparte gave orders that the religion of the 
 people should be respected, and he himself 
 [94] 
 
THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 went so far as to express a belief in the Koran 
 and in Mahomet. 
 
 On July seventh, Bonaparte led his army out 
 of Alexandria toward Cairo with the purpose 
 of meeting the Mamelukes in battle. The heat 
 was terrific. The sands of the desert were 
 heavy. There was little or no water. Soldiers 
 died of fatigue and thirst, on the way. The 
 Mameluke horsemen, appearing singly and in 
 groups, harassed the line of march and bru- 
 tally butchered every Frenchman who fell 
 wearied by the wayside. The soldiers mur- 
 mured and threatened open revolt. Even such 
 men as Murat and Lannes threw their hats 
 upon the sand and stamped upon their cockades 
 in their anger. Bonaparte was the same im- 
 perturbable, sphinx-like leader. He wore his 
 uniform buttoned up to the throat and not 
 a drop of perspiration showed upon his brow. 
 He was the last to go to sleep at night and the 
 first to awaken in the morning. 
 
 After fourteen days of unparalleled suffer- 
 ing the army reached the pyramids, and from a 
 shght eminence near by saw encamped at their 
 base the Mameluke army of 20,000 infantry 
 and 10,000 cavalry, with forty cannon. Napo- 
 leon went forward with a few of his staff, and 
 by the aid of glasses saw that the enemy's guns 
 [95] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 were without carriages and could not easily be 
 moved. Taking advantage of this fact he drew 
 his columns oiF out of range of the guns and 
 there prepared for the attack. The Mameluke 
 commander, Mourad Bey, at once threw the 
 whole force of his cavalry upon the French 
 line. In an instant Bonaparte formed his men 
 into separate squares and thus awaited the at- 
 tack. 
 
 The Mameluke cavalry were the best cavalry 
 in the world. The men had been trained to 
 fight on horseback from childhood. Their 
 horses were the noblest Arabians. Their pis- 
 tols and carabines were of the finest English 
 manufacture and their swords were of Damas- 
 cus steel. They wore plumed turbans and gar- 
 ments that shone in the sun, and each man car- 
 ried with him his entire wealth. This intrepid 
 body of 10,000 savage horsemen plunged in a 
 solid mass, with gleaming weapons and terri- 
 fying shrieks, lipon the solid lines of French 
 infantry. Bonaparte shouted to his men: 
 " Soldiers! From those summits (pointing to 
 the pyramids) forty centuries look down upon 
 your actions." The onsweep of the Mameluke 
 horse raised a cloud of impenetrable dust, blind- 
 ing the eye and choking the throat. The five 
 French squares stood the impetuous onset like 
 [96] 
 
THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN 
 solid rock. Not one was broken; not one wa- 
 vered. The Mamelukes threw away their lives 
 with the utmost recklessness. They even 
 wheeled their horses round, and reined them 
 back upon the enemy, that they might kick 
 their way into these lines of living men. Un- 
 able to break the ranks, they hurled their pis- 
 tols and carabines at the heads of the French. 
 They displayed superhuman bravery; and not 
 until more than two thousand of their number 
 lay upon the burning sand did they turn and 
 flee. " Could I have united the Mameluke 
 horse to the French infantry," said Bonaparte, 
 " I should have reckoned myself master of the 
 world." The infantry, too, fled in confusion 
 to the banks of the Nile and plunged in, at- 
 tempting to swim to the farther bank, and 
 thousands thus lost their lives. 
 
 Scarcely had victory been assured than the 
 savants began the exploration of the pyramids. 
 Bonaparte himself after the battle entered their 
 mysterious portals and stood amid the mum- 
 mies of the Pharaohs. At night, as the undis- 
 puted conqueror of lower Egypt, he took up 
 his abode in the country palace of Mourad Bey, 
 where many hours were passed in exploring 
 its oriental splendors. Many a French soldier 
 was made rich after the battle of the pyramids 
 [97] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 by the treasure that he was able to take from 
 the body of a single Mameluke, the gold and 
 trappings alone on any one Mameluke being 
 worth from $1,200 to $2,000. 
 
 This bloody battle cost the French scarcely 
 one hundred men in killed and wounded, while 
 more than 10,000 of the enemy perished. 
 " But," as Sir Walter Scott says, *' it was not 
 the will of Heaven that even the most fortunate 
 of men should escape reverses, and a severe one 
 awaited Bonaparte." 
 
 [98] 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE NILE — THE SYRIAN 
 CAMPAIGN 
 
 On August first (1798), ten days after the 
 battle of the Pyramids, Lord Nelson with his 
 splendid fleet, having learned that the French 
 had landed in Egypt, came upon thirteen 
 French ships of the line and four frigates under 
 Admiral Brueys in the Bay of Aboukir, and 
 after a terrible battle, which raged from six 
 o'clock that evening until noon of the next day, 
 gained a complete victory. This is known in 
 history as the Battle of the Nile. Four French 
 ships alone escaped. Admiral Brueys and five 
 thousand brave French sailors were killed, and 
 Napoleon was practically made a prisoner in 
 Egypt with his thirty thousand men. 
 
 It was the great general's first reverse, and it 
 was sudden and terrible. All Etirope outside 
 of republican France rejoiced, and every mon- 
 arch settled himself more firmly on his throne. 
 
 ... [99] 
 
 L.of Q. 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Nelson was overwhelmed with titles and pres- 
 ents. He was made Baron of the Nile and 
 given a pension of ten thousand dollars a year. 
 Every king and prince of Europe hastened to 
 show him favor. Then followed new and more 
 powerful combinations against France. With 
 Bonaparte beyond seas and unable to return, 
 now was the time to crush republicanism and 
 seat the Bourbons on their hereditary throne. 
 
 But what of Napoleon? Does he act the 
 prisoner? Does he rail at fate? Not a word or 
 gesture betraj^s fear or discouragement. He 
 writes to one of his generals : " We must die 
 in this country or get out of it greater than the 
 ancients. This will oblige us to do greater 
 things than we intended. We must hold otir- 
 selves in readiness. We will at least bequeath 
 to Egypt a heritage of greatness." Then this 
 imperturbable, sphinx-like man takes his pen 
 and writes to the widow of the brave Brueys: 
 " I feel warmly for your grief. We feel, in 
 such a situation, that there is nothing which 
 yet binds us to life, that it were far better to 
 die. But when, after such just and unavoid- 
 able throes, we press our children to our hearts, 
 tears and more tender sentiments arise, and 
 life becomes bearable for their sakes. Yes, 
 madame ! They will open the fountains of your 
 [ 100 ] 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE 
 heart. You will watch their childhood, educate 
 their youth. You will speak to them of their 
 father, of your present grief, and of the loss 
 which they and the Republic have sustained in 
 his death," etc. And yet there are those who 
 say that Napoleon had no heart! 
 
 Napoleon was still master of Egypt, and he 
 was a master infinitely wiser and better than 
 any she had ever known. He drove the Mame- 
 lukes into the fastnesses of upper Egypt; he 
 inspected routes for new canals and opened up 
 old ones; he built fortifications and organized 
 a government; he ransacked the monuments, 
 and started Egypt on a career of progress, 
 traces of which are even now felt in that ancient 
 land. 
 
 Now, England, Russia, Turkey, Austria, 
 Sardinia, Naples crouched like panthers to 
 spring at the signal upon unhappy France. A 
 great fleet was to land an army of the allies on 
 the coast of Egypt. Another overwhelming 
 force was to go against Napoleon by the way 
 of Syria and the desert. A vast army was to 
 come from India by way of the Red Sea. At 
 the same time all Europe was to pour its armies 
 across the Alps and, retaking the territory Na- 
 poleon had won, drive the French out of Italy. 
 The Mamelukes, thus encouraged, sprang into 
 [101] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 activity again. Every Frenchman in Egypt 
 seemed doomed to die. 
 
 Then the genius of Napoleon shone out. A 
 revolt in Cairo was put down with a speed and 
 a thoroughness that caused all Egypt to hold 
 its breath in awe. In January (1799) , hearing 
 that a Syrian army had invaded Egypt on the 
 east and had captured El Arish, Napoleon, at 
 the head of but ten thousand of his men, sud- 
 denly appeared before this desert fortress at 
 the midnight hour, after a jfive days' march 
 of awful suffering in which men, crazed by 
 heat and thirst, broke their muskets and prayed 
 for death. The fight that followed was sharp 
 and decisive; Napoleon was again victor with 
 two thousand bloodthirstj'- Arabs as his pris- 
 oners. To keep them was out of the question, 
 so they were allowed to go on the promise that 
 they would nevermore bear arms against him. 
 But no sooner were they out of sight than they 
 made straight for Jaffa, where they joined the 
 forces of " Achmet, the butcher," and were 
 afterwards found in the front rank of the infi- 
 dels pouring hot shot into the French columns. 
 Napoleon then pressed on to Gaza where he 
 won another battle, then on to Jaffa, which he 
 reached March third. 
 
 The horizon was now black with tokens of 
 [ 102] 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE 
 
 disaster to the daring leader and his devoted 
 band. The warships of England, Russia, and 
 Turkey hovered along the coast, capturing or 
 destroying suppHes and reinforcements sent to 
 him from Egypt, and landing armies under 
 skilled European leaders with artillery and all 
 the munitions of war. 
 
 With his usXial confidence Napoleon sum- 
 moned Jaffa to surrender. The reply was the 
 head of the messenger elevated on a pole set 
 on the wall of the city. Maddened to frenzy, 
 the French soldiers, having previously made a 
 breach in the wall, poured through the opening 
 like so many demons of the under world. Jaffa 
 became a pandemonium of horror. Napoleon 
 tried to stop it; his aides, coming upon the 
 scene of butchery, ordered the carnage to cease, 
 and with two thousand prisoners, many of 
 whom were the Arabs whom he had liberated 
 at El Arish, came before him. The army cried 
 for the blood of the treacherous infidels. Napo- 
 leon hesitated. His own troops were on short 
 rations ; they refused to divide with such prison- 
 ers. Napoleon still hesitated. To free these men 
 again was to see them again arming themselves 
 against his men, his " children," as he fondly 
 called them. A council of generals was called 
 one day to decide the question; it adjourned 
 [ 103 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 to the next, then to the next, and then by unani- 
 mous vote the prisoners were condemned to 
 death; and so, on the sandhills near the coast, 
 drawn Up in small squares, they received the 
 awful reward of their treachery. Napoleon 
 by this act brought upon himself the name of 
 a bloodthirsty savage and was accounted by 
 Englishmen as no better than the infidels who 
 knew no mercy. Yet Sir Walter Scott says 
 of this act, " We do not view it as the indul- 
 gence of an innate love of cruelty." Argu- 
 ments have been piled high by friends and foes 
 of Napoleon, blaming and excusing. Space 
 does not permit our entering into the contro- 
 versy. We can only say war is war ; and to the 
 man who is sent to conquer or to kill, the end 
 ofttimes seems to justify the means. In his 
 account of the event later. Napoleon says that 
 under the same circumstances he would again 
 do the same, " and so," says he " would Well- 
 ington, or any general." 
 
 " On to Acre " was now the word. This town 
 was the most important military post in Syria 
 and was defended by Achmet the butcher, sup- 
 ported by Colonel Philippeaux, a French royal- 
 ist engineer and a former schoolmate of Na- 
 poleon, and, most important of all, by Sir 
 Sidney Smith, an English admiral, who had 
 [ 104] 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE 
 
 just arrived with several English ships after 
 capturing, a few days before, forty-four heavy 
 siege guns that were being sent from Egypt 
 to strengthen the French. 
 
 Napoleon sent a messenger calling upon 
 Achmet to make peace. The infidel killed the 
 messenger, and then Napoleon issued an 
 address to the people of Syria showing that he 
 had been provoked to war, and calling upon 
 them to remain quiet in their homes, prom- 
 ising them his favor when peace should 
 come. 
 
 Plague now broke out in the French army. 
 Before it the stern soldiers of France quailed 
 as they had not before cannons' moUths. The 
 sick were abandoned by their comrades and 
 even by their physicians. Napoleon, fearless 
 here as ever, walked amid them, pressed their 
 sores, encouraged them, and inspired them 
 with even greater love for him. 
 
 The assault on Acre began. Win, and Na- 
 poleon was master of Syria and with a word he 
 could change the face of the world! 
 
 An army of thirty thousand Turks, among 
 them twelve thousand of the best horsemen in 
 the world, was marching against him. With six 
 thousand of his eight thousand available troops 
 he went to meet them. At the foot of Mt. 
 [ 105 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Tabor was then fought one of the most awful 
 battles of history, and, astonishing to relate, 
 Napoleon won it with six thousand men over 
 an army of thirty thousand. Kleber, Murat 
 (whom Napoleon said in battle was the bravest 
 man in the world) , and Napoleon himself di- 
 vide the credit for the generalship displayed, 
 and every French soldier won the name of hero. 
 
 Napoleon then returned to the siege of Acre. 
 Sir Sidney Smith conducted the defense. Not 
 counting on the extent of the French soldiers' 
 loyalty to their leader, he caused circulars to 
 be thrown over the walls, offering the free 
 transportation to France of any French sol- 
 dier deserting his commander. Not one ac- 
 cepted the offer. Napoleon said of Sir Sidney, 
 " He has gone mad." Sir Sidney replied by a 
 challenge to a duel. Napoleon said if he would 
 send Marlborough from his grave he would 
 meet him, but that if Sir Sidney must fight 
 he would send a French grenadier to meet 
 him. 
 
 For sixty days the siege had gone on. Three 
 thousand Frenchmen had lost their lives and 
 the hospitals were full. At this time thirty 
 English and Turkish ships of the line arrived, 
 the latter bringing twelve thousand fresh 
 troops. Napoleon resolved to attack before 
 [106] 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE 
 
 thej^ could be landed, and under the cover of 
 night began the assault. The conflict was ter- 
 rific, and in the end, which soon came, Napoleon, 
 at the age of twenty-nine, met the first real dis- 
 appointment of his world-conquering ambition. 
 Crushed and beaten, he withdrew his shattered 
 columns and began the long, terrible march 
 back across the desert to Egypt. In his address 
 to his troops he recalls to their minds that they, 
 a handful of men, had maintained a war for 
 three months in the heart of Syria, had taken 
 forty pieces of cannon, fifty stands of colors, 
 six thousand prisoners, and captured or des- 
 troyed Gaza, Jaffa and Acre. " Soldiers! We 
 have yet a toilsome and a perilous task to per- 
 form. After having, by this campaign, se- 
 cured ourselves from attack from the east, it 
 will perhaps be necessary to repel efforts which 
 may be made from the west." 
 
 In twenty-five days the French army, or 
 rather its surviving remnant, reached Egypt 
 and entered Cairo in great pomp. Much of 
 the way Napoleon had proceeded on foot, that 
 the sick and wounded, of whom there were 
 twelve hundred, might have conveyance. One 
 day he saw an officer in full health riding a 
 horse and refusing to give it to a sick comrade. 
 Napoleon was so aroused that he struck the f el- 
 [107] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 low from his horse with the hilt of his sword. 
 Even the artillery pieces were left in the sand 
 that the horses might be used by the hospital 
 corps. 
 
 Napoleon found the army he had left in 
 Egypt in great discontent. They had been 
 absent from home a year, and for the six 
 months last past not a ship had been able to 
 reach them from France. Then, too, a great 
 army of English, Turks, and Russians was 
 preparing to invade Egypt by way of the 
 sea. 
 
 One day in July (1799) this fleet appeared 
 in the Bay of Aboukir. It was said that eigh- 
 teen thousand Turks had landed, and that the 
 Mamelukes were gathering in upper Egypt. 
 At four o'clock of the morning after receiving 
 the news, the French army of only eight thou- 
 sand men was in motion. By one of those 
 incredible marches for which Napoleon was fa- 
 mous, the main division of six thousand came 
 within sight of the Turks in five days. Two 
 thousand under Kleber had not yet arrived ; but 
 Napoleon acted at once. It was six thousand 
 travel-worn veterans against eighteen thousand 
 well provisioned, well groomed Turks, led by 
 English and French officers, entrenched and 
 ready, and protected by the fleet in the harbor. 
 [108] 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE 
 
 " This battle," said Napoleon to Murat, " will 
 decide the fate of the world." 
 
 The battle began at daybreak. By four 
 o'clock of the afternoon victory perched upon 
 the banners of Napoleon, after a battle which 
 history records as one of the fiercest ever 
 fought. Only two thousand prisoners were 
 taken; few escaped, so that nearly sixteen 
 thousand of the enemy were killed. Sir Sidney 
 Smith, who was present and had chosen the 
 Turkish position and directed to a great ex- 
 tent the movements of the allied forces, barely 
 escaped alive to his ship. Thus the loss of 
 Admiral Brueys and the French fleet of the 
 year before in these same waters was merci- 
 lessly avenged. 
 
 After the battle Kleber came up with his two 
 thousand men and, learning the glorious news 
 of the day, threw his arms about Napoleon and 
 cried, " Let me embrace you, general. Yoti 
 are as great as the universe." 
 
 Napoleon now returned to Cairo, but not 
 before receiving a bundle of papers from the 
 English ships, giving the first news he had re- 
 ceived from France for nearly a year. He now 
 learned that France was in confusion. Uni- 
 versal war had been declared against her. 
 Treaties had been broken. Austria had in- 
 [109] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 vaded Italy and regained her territories there. 
 On every side armies were massing to sweep 
 upon France and, crushing republicanism, seat 
 the Bourbons again on the throne. It was now 
 France against Europe; republicanism against 
 monarchy. 
 
 In a moment the mind of this wonderful man 
 was made up. He would return to France. 
 She had more need of him now than ever. Per- 
 haps he dreamed that it was greater to be 
 master of France than to be master of Egypt 
 — where, though a conqueror, he was, indeed, 
 little more than a prisoner. 
 
 So having given directions for the govern- 
 ment of the country and having marked out 
 lines of reform and progress for those who 
 were to remain, but keeping his intended 
 departure a secret from all, he took a 
 small party and proceeded to Alexandria. 
 From here, with eight companions who were 
 still ignorant of his intentions, he made 
 his way to the coast. When night fell they 
 found themselves embarking in a fishing- 
 boat and being rowed in the direction of two 
 frigates and two smaller boats that rode at 
 anchor a short distance out. Napoleon then 
 told his companions they were bound for 
 France and their joy was beyond measure. 
 [110] 
 
BATTLE OF THE NILE 
 
 After fifty days of anxiety, during which they 
 several times barely escaped capture, the little 
 fleet weighed anchor October ninth (1799) in 
 the harbor of Frejus, and Napoleon was once 
 more on the soil of France. 
 
 [ 111 ] 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 NAPOLEON IN PARIS — THE REVOLUTION OF 
 1799 — THE CONSULATE 
 
 In reality Napoleon was a general leaving 
 his post without orders, and was subject to pun- 
 ishment; in appearance he was a prince and a 
 conqueror returning to spread his trophies be- 
 fore the eyes of his subjects and to accept their 
 homage. In five days he was in Paris, having 
 been accompanied on his journey by the huz- 
 zas of the people. The trembling Directory 
 received him with a great show of joy. A 
 public dinner and reception followed and after 
 that Napoleon disappeared from public view, 
 avoiding notice, and assuming the habits and 
 garb of a retired gentleman and student; but 
 not for long. France had again become a 
 threatening volcano, and the presence of Napo- 
 leon in Paris did not cause the earth to grow 
 more solid. 
 
 Events now follow one another with start- 
 [112] 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF 1799 
 ling rapidity, for France is rushing on with 
 the speed of a hurricane to another revolution. 
 The principal actors in the turbulent days at 
 hand are Sieyes at the head of the Moderates, 
 B arras at the head of the Democrats, both 
 members of the Directory, Lucien (Napoleon's 
 brother), and Talleyrand. Both the Moder- 
 ates and the Democrats sought the support of 
 Napoleon. He chose the Moderates and se- 
 lected as his chief confidants (we had almost 
 said conspirators) Lucien, Talleyrand, and 
 Sieyes. Lucien was president of the Council 
 of Five Hundred (corresponding to our House 
 of Representatives), and Sieyes and his party 
 held a majority in the Council of Ancients 
 (corresponding to our Senate) . 
 
 Napoleon now beheved that if France was 
 to be saved to a republican form of govern- 
 ment and preserved from destruction at the 
 hands of England and her allies, it must be 
 through himself. Once convinced of this, 
 his plan of action was like to his plan of 
 battle — no hesitation, no delays, no count- 
 ing the cost, no fear. With the friendship 
 of Sieyes and his party and of his brother 
 Lucien, he could count on powerful sup- 
 port in both legislative branches. He knew 
 how he stood with the army and the people. 
 [113] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Three regiments of dragoons asked for the 
 honor of being reviewed by him, and forty offi- 
 cers of the National Guard asked leave to call 
 upon and congratulate him, as did also the offi- 
 cers of the garrison of Paris. Napoleon ap- 
 pointed a day — the tenth of November 
 (1799) and the time six in the morning. At 
 the appointed hour the dragoons were drawn 
 up at the Champs-Elysees and Napoleon's 
 residence was filled with a great concourse of 
 officers. The Council of Ancients met at seven 
 o'clock the same morning in the Tuileries. Its 
 president, who was in the secret, declared that 
 the salvation of the State demanded urgent 
 measures and proposed two decrees: That the 
 meetings of the two legislative bodies be at once 
 transferred from Paris to St. Cloud, some miles 
 from Paris ; and that Napoleon should be put 
 in command of the troops in and about Paris. 
 The Council agreed, and a messenger sped 
 away to announce the decrees to Napoleon in 
 the midst of his martial company. 
 
 Instantly mounting his horse, the general 
 rode to the Tuileries and addressing the Coun- 
 cil said: " You are the wisdom of the nation. 
 I come, surrounded by the generals of the 
 Republic, to promise you their support. Let 
 us not lose time in looking for precedents. 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF 1799 
 !N'othing in history resembled the close of the 
 eighteenth century — nothing in the eigh- 
 teenth century resembled this moment. Your 
 wisdom has devised the necessary measure ; our 
 arms shall put it in execution." 
 
 The soldiers received the news with joy; the 
 three out of the five members of the Directory 
 not in the secret were astounded, and Moulins 
 proposed to send a part of the directorial guard 
 to arrest Napoleon, but the guard laughed at 
 him. Barras sent his secretary to protest, and 
 Napoleon sent him back word: "What have 
 you done for that fair France which I left 
 you so prosperous? For peace, I find war; for 
 the wealth of Italy, taxation and misery. 
 Where are the 100,000 brave French whom I 
 knew — where are the companions of my glory? 
 They are dead." Then the Directors resigned 
 their offices and the Directory was no more. 
 
 The Council of Five Hundred, which met 
 at ten o'clock of the same morning, were indig- 
 nant over their place of meeting being moved 
 to St. Cloud, but they were helpless and ad- 
 journed with cries of " Vive la Republique." 
 
 Calling to their aid the mob of Paris, they 
 
 repaired to St. Cloud, whereupon Napoleon 
 
 sent to watch and overawe them a strong body 
 
 of soldiers under the command of Murat. At 
 
 [115] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 two o'clock of the following day the two legis- 
 lative bodies met in their new quarters watched 
 by the mob of Paris, who in turn were under 
 the eagle eye of Murat and his men. A tumul- 
 tuous debate at once began in the Council of 
 Ancients, when suddenly Napoleon appeared 
 among them, supported by armed men who 
 stood just without the doors. In a short impas- 
 sioned address he called on them for support in 
 the name of Liberty and Equality. Shouts 
 arose on all sides, " Vive Bonaparte." He then 
 rode to the Council of Five Hundred, where the 
 opposition to him was overwhelming in num- 
 bers. Shouts of " Down with the dictator " 
 rang in his ears. He entered accompanied by 
 four grenadiers, and alone strode to the center. 
 A fierce outcry arose and many rushed toward 
 him with murderous intent. The grenadiers 
 sprang to the rescue and not without wounds 
 bore him away. He then addressed the soldiers 
 and was answered with " Vive Bonaparte." 
 The Council was now in an uproar. Lucien 
 Bonaparte, its president, indignantly left the 
 chamber and mounting a horse, cried out in 
 the presence of Napoleon and his officers: 
 " General Bonaparte, and you soldiers of 
 France, the president of the Council of Five 
 Hundred announces to you that factious men 
 [116] 
 
THE REVOLUTION OF 1799 
 with daggers interrupt the deliberations of the 
 Senate. He authorizes you to employ force. 
 The Assembly of Five Hundred is dissolved." 
 " Forward, grenadiers," was the order, and 
 with bayonets at charge the soldiers cleared the 
 hall. Napoleon had become another Cromwell. 
 The friendly members of the Five Hundred 
 and of the Ancients now met in separate bodies 
 and adjourned for three months, but not before 
 placing the whole authority of the State in a 
 provisional consulate — the consuls being Na- 
 poleon Bonaparte, Sieyes, and Ducos. Thus 
 was accomplished one of the greatest revolu- 
 tions of history and without the shedding of 
 blood. From that moment, scarcely a month 
 after landing on the coast of France, Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte was the ruler of France. To 
 be sure, he was but one of three consuls in the 
 supreme command, but of the three Napoleon 
 at once showed himself to be the real master of 
 France — and he not yet thirty years of age! 
 
 [117] 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NAPOLEON CHIEF CONSUL — THE CROSSING OF 
 THE ALPS — MARENGO 
 
 The legislative bodies having on November 
 nineteenth adjourned until the following Feb- 
 ruary, all power was now lodged in the three 
 consuls and two small committees representing 
 the Ancients and the Five Hundred. At the 
 first meeting of the consuls Ducos and Sieyes 
 proposed to Napoleon that he share with them 
 in the division of $160,000 which they (Ducos 
 and Sieyes) had taken from the treasury and 
 hidden away for themselves in anticipation of 
 another revolution, but Napoleon flatly refused 
 to touch the plunder. Of the three men, who 
 were now virtually presidents of France, Na- 
 poleon was easily the master spirit, and it was 
 well for his associates that they at once recog- 
 nized it. 
 
 It will be impossible in the space at command 
 [118] 
 
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
 
 to do more than outline the events of the days, 
 momentous for France, that followed. Napo- 
 leon at once entered on the great task of restor- 
 ing peace and prosperity throughout France. 
 A regular system of taxation took the place 
 of the income tax that had amounted to forced 
 loans. The Bank of France was instituted. 
 Tyrannical laws were repealed. Churches long 
 closed were re-opened for Christian worship — 
 this last against the protest of Napoleon's 
 friends and advisers. 
 
 Twenty thousand persons were released 
 from imprisonment. Exiles to the number of 
 140,000 were recalled and restored to the rights 
 of citizenship, among them Lafayette and 
 Carnot, the latter being at once placed at the 
 head of the War department. Public improve- 
 ments were inaugurated everywhere. 
 
 Employment was given to men of all ranks. 
 Rogues and speculators Napoleon despised, 
 but practical men — men who could and 
 would work, were sought for and given places 
 of honor and emolument. Napoleon himself 
 worked from twelve to eighteen hours a day. 
 Of course the army was immediately strength- 
 ened, provisioned, equipped, and paid. 
 
 A new constitution was drawn up and 
 submitted to the people, who ratified it by an 
 [119] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 almost unanimous vote, providing for three as- 
 semblies or legislative bodies and three execu- 
 tives to be known as Chief Consul, Second Con- 
 sul, and Third Consul, with Napoleon named 
 as Chief Consul, Cambaceres as Second, and 
 Lebrun as Third. By the provisions of this 
 constitution, which we cannot en'umerate, the 
 power of the state was practically lodged in 
 Napoleon, the Chief Consul. In announcing 
 the constitution to the people, the consuls de- 
 clared that it was grounded on the principles of 
 representative government, and the sacred 
 rights of property, of equality, and of liberty. 
 The French people saw the hand of Napoleon 
 in it all, and recognizing that at last a great 
 and strong man that could hold France to a 
 settled course was at the helm, they rejoiced 
 and looked to the future with unbounded hope. 
 On February nineteenth, 1800, barely four 
 months after his return from Egypt, Napoleon 
 took up his residence in the Tuileries — the 
 old home of the monarchs of France, threw 
 open its splendid halls to pomp and ceremony, 
 and himself adopted a dress of red silk. With 
 consummate skill he grouped aboUt him the 
 ablest men of France, giving to each the post 
 that he was best fitted to fill. Mutually jealous 
 and suspicious of one another, each sought the 
 [120] 
 
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
 
 favor of Napoleon and each did his bidding 
 with more or less fidelity. 
 
 There was the distinguished, though im- 
 moral, Talleyrand for foreign affairs ; Carnot 
 for the War department; Fouche, a profli- 
 gate, but with a perfect knowledge of every 
 faction and intrigue in France, for head of 
 the police. Napoleon met all criticism with 
 the cry, " Forget the bad in the past and 
 remember only the good. We are creating a 
 new era." 
 
 Caste was abolished. Equality of all 
 Frenclmien before the law was established. 
 Every man must bear his proportion of the 
 taxes, and every man was given to under- 
 stand that he could aspire to the position 
 for which he was fitted. It was about this 
 time (December fourteenth, 1799) that George 
 Washington died. On hearing the news Napo- 
 leon said, " The great light of the world has 
 gone out," and at once ordered that crape be 
 placed on the colors of France for ten days. 
 
 Having thus laid the foundation for peace 
 and prosperity at home, Napoleon sought to 
 establish that peace with foreign powers which 
 alone would give tranquillity to France; so 
 on Christmas day, 1799, he wrote to King 
 George III. of England, asking that the wars 
 [121] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 that had ravaged Europe for the eight years 
 past might be ended. England's king coUld 
 not forgive France for her revolution, and the 
 answer he made to Napoleon's proposals for 
 peace was that he could see no favorable 
 opportunity at hand for making peace and 
 that he could see none in the future but 
 through the restoration of the Bourbon kings 
 to the French throne. 
 
 The answer of the French people was their 
 finger pointed at the demand of the heir of 
 the House of Stuart that George III. restore 
 to him the throne of England, inferring that if 
 the principle of legitimacy was to be recog- 
 nized in England the English throne belonged 
 to the Stuarts. 
 
 England's reply was virtually a declaration 
 of war. On the very day of its receipt Napo- 
 leon issued a trumpet call to the armies of 
 France, calling all the veterans who had ever 
 served to form an army of reserve and making 
 a levy of 30,000 new men. Already France 
 had four armies in the field, stationed on her 
 northern and eastern boundaries to hold in 
 check the advance of her allied enemies, of 
 which England and Austria were chief. 
 
 Napoleon himself could not legally com- 
 mand the armies, being First Consul, but he 
 [ 122 ] 
 
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
 
 could be present with them and, through his 
 choice of leaders, could really be general-in- 
 chief . As nominal general-in-chief he chose his 
 friend Berthier. Massena, beloved by the vet- 
 erans of many battles, had been sent to com- 
 mand the Army of Italy, which was now barely 
 holding the last post of defense against the 
 Austrians on the Italian boundary. MoreaU, 
 second in reputation only to Napoleon himself, 
 was given command of the armies of the Dan- 
 ube and Switzerland, henceforth to be known 
 as the Army of the Khine, composed of 150,- 
 000 men. The army of reserve, composed of the 
 veterans, was to rendezvous at Dijon, osten- 
 sibly to support Massena and Moreau. But a 
 far deeper plan lay in the brain of the First 
 Consul, as yet known only to himself. While 
 the Austrians were laughing and jesting over 
 the little force at Dijon, troops were marching 
 in every part of France on the roads leading 
 thereto. The Army of Italy was in dire straits. 
 That portion under Massena was besieged in 
 Genoa by the Austrian General Ott. Nice was 
 in the hands of the Austrian General Melas, 
 who, with 30,000 troops, was preparing to enter 
 France, join the Royalists, and win an easy 
 victory. 
 
 As stated, Napoleon had a secret — a tre- 
 [123] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 mendous, dazzling secret; none other than 
 a purpose and plan to climb the seemingly im- 
 passable Alpine barriers of snow and ice and, 
 rushing down hke an avalanche into the plains 
 and valleys of Italy, come upon the Austrians 
 in the rear. The name of Napoleon, already 
 world-renowned, was about to shine with an 
 almost supernatural light. A Russian army 
 a short time before had tried to scale the Alps 
 and had failed after losing half its number. 
 Napoleon was to creep with an army equipped 
 with all the heavy munitions of war up and over 
 giddy heights where only the most intrepid 
 mountaineer dare make his way. He was to 
 spring suddenly from these mountain fast- 
 nesses and overwhelm an enemy proud, vic- 
 torious, and outnumbering his own; this, too, 
 with an army two-thirds of whose number had 
 never seen a shot fired in earnest. 
 
 On May seventh Napoleon appeared at 
 Dijon, spent two hours in reviewing some 8,000 
 half -clad troops, then hastened to Genoa, where 
 he received a report from a trUsty officer who 
 had explored the passes of the mountains. Na- 
 poleon asked, "Is it possible to pass?" The 
 reply was, " The thing might be done." " Very 
 well — then it shall be," came the prompt and 
 decisive rejoinder. 
 
 [ 124] 
 
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
 Assembling the Army of the Rhine and the 
 reserves of Dijon, Napoleon divided his force 
 into four divisions which were to cross by four 
 different routes. He himself took command of 
 the main division of 35,000 men who were to 
 perform the herculean task of transporting 
 themselves and the heavy artillery over the 
 huge barriers of the great St. Bernard. The 
 start was made May fifteenth, and in one week 
 the prodigious task was accomplished. Can- 
 non were grooved into the trunks of trees and 
 hauled by the men — often a hundred to one 
 cannon. Gun carriages, taken to pieces, were 
 strung on poles and carried on men's shoulders, 
 the wheels being bound to the backs of mules. 
 Knee deep often in snow and ice, they pushed 
 on and up through freezing cold and on the 
 very brink of deadly precipices. 
 
 Says one historian: "Extraordinary was 
 their order, wonderful their gayety, astonishing 
 their activities and energy. Laughter and song 
 lightened their toils. Indeed, they seemed to 
 be hastening to a festival." One little fort, at 
 Bard, stuck up on the mountains, offered re- 
 sistance, but a goat path was found leading up 
 and around it over which the army passed with 
 immense difficulty. 
 
 After five days Napoleon halted on the 
 [ 125 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 summit of the mighty St. Bernard at the 
 convent of the Hospitallers. Here good 
 monks, with their famous dogs, were devot- 
 ing themselves to the work of saving the lives 
 of travellers in the great mountains. Na- 
 poleon, with his usual foresight and fatherly 
 care of his soldiers, had provided these monks 
 in advance with the means by which they could 
 meet every soldier as he passed with bread and 
 cheese and wine. Thus cheered, the soldiers of 
 France, with shouts of joy, began the descent 
 into the fair fields of northern Italy, and soon 
 the four divisions of the army were pouring 
 out of the mountains toward Milan. 
 
 As stated, one division of the Army of Italy, 
 under Massena, was shut up in Genoa, and an- 
 other, under Suchet, was holding the very last 
 line of defense on the old frontier of France. 
 These were almost readj^ to give up. Indeed, 
 the garrison in Genoa was in a state of starva- 
 tion, the soldiers eating their shoes and their 
 knapsacks. Had they known that Napoleon 
 was coming they might have held out a little 
 longer, but they did not, so on June fourth 
 they surrendered to the Austrians on the condi- 
 tion that they be allowed to march out with 
 arms and baggage and join their comrades 
 under Suchet. 
 
 [126] 
 
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
 
 Napoleon did not learn of the surrender until 
 some days later. On the first of June Napo- 
 leon, with his whole army, crossed the Ticino, 
 entered Milan, and reestablished the Cisalpine 
 Republic. Quickly the French then took Tur- 
 bigo and Pavia and threatened Turin. Melas, 
 commander of the Austrians, learning of Na- 
 poleon's arrival, assembled his armies at Ales- 
 sandria to prepare for the battle that was to 
 decide the fate of Italy. On June fifth, Napo- 
 leon, not yet knowing that Genoa had surren- 
 dered, sent Lannes with a division to attack Ott 
 and relieve Genoa. At Montebello, Lannes 
 came upon a strong force of Austrians and a 
 bloody battle was fought resulting in victory 
 for the French and the capture of 5,000 Aus- 
 trians. This victory won for Lannes the title, 
 afterwards conferred upon him, of Duke of 
 Montebello. Then Napoleon, having heard of 
 the fate of Genoa, sent word to Suchet to cross 
 the mountains and march on the Scrivia, and he 
 himself halted with his army at Stradella. Here 
 for three days he awaited the enemy, but as it 
 did not come he gave orders to advance and led 
 the army down on to the plains of Marengo. 
 
 On the evening of June thirteenth nothing 
 separated the two great armies of France and 
 Austria save the river Bormida. The morning 
 [ 127 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 of the fourteenth saw the Austrians crossing 
 the river and witnessed one of the greatest 
 battles that was ever fought. The Austrians 
 numbered 36,000 and the French 16,000. For 
 hours the battle raged so close and so deadly 
 that at times the muskets of the opposing forces 
 nearly touched. Before the superior force of 
 the Austrians the French at last gave way and 
 started in mad retreat leaving all their artillery 
 excepting twelve pieces with the enemy. 
 
 But the star of Napoleon was still ascendant. 
 The French general, Dessaix, who had been 
 separated at the beginning of the battle by half 
 a day's march from the main body, suddenly in 
 the midst of the rout appeared on the scene with 
 his reserves. Riding up to Napoleon he cried, 
 " I think this is a battle lost." " I think it is a 
 battle won," said Napoleon, and immediately 
 he sent in the division of Dessaix, at the same 
 time riding along the lines of the fleeing col- 
 umns, whirling his sword, and crying, *' Sol- 
 diers, we have retired far enough. Let us now 
 advance. You know it is my custom to sleep 
 on the field of battle." 
 
 Dessaix's brave men rushed upon the proud 
 
 and victorious enemy and at the first fire the 
 
 heroic Dessaix fell dead. Napoleon, coming 
 
 up at this moment, embraced his dead friend 
 
 [128] 
 
THE CROSSING OF THE ALPS 
 
 and comrade of many battles and exclaimed, 
 as his tears fell, " Alas, I must not weep now! " 
 Then mounting his horse he pressed on with his 
 now reinspirited soldiers and, aided by a sudden 
 dash upon the enemy's flank by the splendid 
 cavalry of Kellerman, won a hard-earned vic- 
 tory. At ten at night, Melas, the aged com- 
 mander of the A'ustrians, after once winning 
 the battle but now suffering a disastrous defeat, 
 assembled with difficulty beyond the river the 
 remnant of his magnificent army, and the fol- 
 lowing day gave up to ISTapoleon all of Italy 
 that France had lost during the latter's absence 
 in Egypt. Before the smoke of the battle had 
 died away Napoleon dispatched a swift mes- 
 senger to the Emperor of Austria pleading for 
 a general peace. 
 
 On the seventeenth of June the victorious 
 Consul entered Milan and received a magnifi- 
 cent reception at the hands of the people. Then 
 leaving the command of the Army of Italy to 
 Massena, he returned to Paris, reaching there 
 July second, having been gone less than two 
 months. Paris, and all France, unprepared 
 for his victorious coming, for they had heard a 
 report of his defeat, were beside themselves 
 with joy. Bonfires blazed everjrwhere. Men 
 and v/omen shouted and sang in the streets, and 
 [129] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 in every corner of the Kepublic the name of 
 Napoleon was repeated with extravagant notes 
 of praise. Pitt, Prime Minister of England, on 
 hearing the news of Marengo, said, " Fold up 
 that map " (referring to the map of Europe) ; 
 " it will not be wanted for these twenty years." 
 On July fourteenth, now the great national 
 fete day in France, the heroes of Marengo, 
 dust-covered and bearing their bullet-torn ban- 
 ners, entered Paris. As they marched on to 
 the field of Mars the demonstrations of joy and 
 affection that greeted them were overpowering. 
 Napoleon declared that these were the happiest 
 days of his life. 
 
 [ 130 ] 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PEACE — REFORMS — CONSUL FOR LIFE — WAR 
 WITH ENGLAND — CONSPIRACIES 
 
 The Bourbons now sought by bribes in the 
 hands of priests and fair women to induce ISTa- 
 poleon to restore the monarchy. Faihng in 
 this, they determined to kill him, and in this 
 they were aided by many an ardent republican 
 who feared his ambitions; but plots were dis- 
 covered, bombs burst at the wrong moment, 
 and all came to naught. 
 
 The Austrians, though beaten at Marengo 
 and though invited by Napoleon to make peace, 
 encouraged by millions of money sent them by 
 England, determined to keep up the war. Na- 
 poleon sent three armies against them which, 
 winning victory after victory, marched nearly 
 to the gates of Vienna. Only then did Austria 
 break away from her alliance with England and 
 sign a treaty of peace (February ninth, 1801) 
 by which the Rhine was fixed as the boundary 
 [ 131 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 of France and by which France gained Tus- 
 cany, among other territory, and obtained Aus- 
 tria's acknowledgment of the Bavarian Re- 
 pubhc and the Cisalpine and Ligurian com- 
 monwealths. 
 
 Napoleon now at thirty-three, supreme in 
 France and powerful throughout Europe, held 
 the proudest position which any European 
 monarch had ever enjoyed. England alone 
 now standing out against him, he formed a 
 coalition against her of France, Russia, Prus- 
 sia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, and 
 Sweden. This was rendered comparatively 
 easy, for England had provoked nearly every 
 European country by claiming and exercising 
 the right of search of neutral vessels on the 
 high seas. But Lord Nelson, by his great naval 
 victory off Copenhagen, sunk a Danish fleet, 
 and Denmark suddenly lost her admiration for 
 Napoleon. Then followed the murder of Na- 
 poleon's friend Paul, the Czar of Russia, and 
 the coming to the throne of his son Alexander, 
 who was the friend of England. Thus the 
 friendship of Russia was lost. Then, Kleber, 
 whom Napoleon had left in command in 
 Egypt, having been assassinated, the English 
 and Turks, under General Abercrombie, recon- 
 quered Egypt. 
 
 [ 132] 
 
CONSUL FOR LIFE 
 
 ISTapoleon perceived the hand of his arch- 
 enemy — England — on every hand, puUing 
 down as fast as he builded. On learning the 
 news of the French defeat in Egypt, he ex- 
 claimed, " Well, there remains only the descent 
 on Britain." With him to think was to act; 
 in the course of a few weeks he had assembled 
 100,000 men on the northern coasts of France, 
 while at anchor in the channel rode an immense 
 fleet of flat-bottomed boats awaiting a favor- 
 able opportunity to transport the French army 
 to the shores of England. 
 
 The English sprang like one man to the 
 defense of their country. The old war dog, 
 Nelson, rode the seas watching, with practiced 
 eye, every manoeuvre. Then followed negotia- 
 tions for peace and the Treaty of Amiens 
 (March, 1802), by which each nation made 
 concessions, and universal peace, for the 
 first time in ten years, reigned. Englishmen 
 now flocked to Paris to see the workings of 
 a European republic. Napoleon was the centre 
 of interest. The palace of the Tuileries, under 
 the hand of Josephine, seemed only another 
 Court of Loliis XVI. Napoleon's labors at 
 this time were prodigious. He was more than 
 a peerless soldier ; he was a peerless statesman, 
 a peerless worker, and a peerless administrator 
 [133] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 of public aifairs. He wore out one secretary 
 after another and himself hardly took time for 
 sleep. 
 
 Among the many great projects planned 
 and executed was the establishment of a 
 a national system of education, which began 
 with the primary school and ended with the 
 polytechnic — a system which has remained to 
 this day and has done so much for France and 
 for the world. The codifying of a uniform 
 system of laws, a gigantic undertaking result- 
 ing in what is universally known as the Code 
 Napoleon, was accomplished. This system was 
 based upon the theory that all citizens were 
 equal before the law, and it remains to-day the 
 best fruit of the French Revolution and the 
 basis of the law of the State of Louisiana. Thus 
 did Napoleon become a second Justinian. He 
 planned innumerable public works — canals, 
 roads, bridges, aqueducts, museums. He fixed 
 a loftier moral standard for France. He doub- 
 led the products of the farm, cleaned and beau- 
 tified the market places, championed the cause 
 of liberty on the seas, encouraged manufac- 
 tures, and by direct subsidies to home industry 
 cut off foreign competition. No drone could 
 live in this hive. Government securities rose 
 to unheard of values, and when threatened with 
 [ 134 ] 
 
CONSUL FOR LIFE 
 
 a decline in price he went into the market and 
 fought the bears himself. He originated the 
 Legion of Honor, meeting the criticism of 
 those who declared that ribbons and crosses 
 were mere child's rattles by saying, " Child's 
 rattles — be it so; it is with such rattles that 
 men are led." By this means Napoleon sought 
 to distinguish the man, be he soldier or citizen, 
 private or officer, who was an honor to his 
 country and contributed to her prosperity and 
 glory. So strongly did the Legion of Honor 
 appeal to the people that even after the restora- 
 tion of the monarchy it remained. 
 
 Napoleon now made what he afterwards de- 
 clared with truth was a colossal mistake, and 
 that was the signing of the Concordat, by which 
 church and state were reunited as before the 
 Revolution. By it the Pope was given the 
 right to appoint to church positions, and France 
 required to pay from her treasury church sala- 
 ries to the amount of $10,000,000 a year. No 
 excuse can be found for this in the light of his- 
 tory save one: Napoleon would become a king, 
 an emperor, and this ambition led him to use 
 this means of winning the favor of the Pope 
 and of Catholic Europe; instead, he gained 
 little more than the suspicions of his friends 
 and the universal hatred of his enemies. There 
 [135] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 was nothing to gain, there was everything to 
 lose. He was already the idol of the people — a 
 people ready and delighted to do his bidding; 
 and by this one act he incurred hatreds and 
 suspicions that were a mighty factor in his final 
 undoing. 
 
 On January second, 1802, Napoleon re- 
 ceived the honor of election to the presidency 
 of the Cisalpine Republic. The French Senate 
 then, as a mark of national gratitude, offered 
 to extend his term as First Consul, which had 
 only fairly begun, to another ten years. Napo- 
 leon refused to accept it unless by the vote 
 of the people. At once the Senate proposed 
 that his term be extended for life, and this be- 
 ing put to vote throughout the nation received 
 an almost unanimous verdict of approval. On 
 May fifteenth, 1802, he was proclaimed First 
 Consul for life, and not three months later the 
 Senate by edict empowered him to appoint by 
 will his own successor. By these steps Napo- 
 leon was rapidly becoming absolute sovereign. 
 
 Then came further mistakes. He interfered 
 between contending factions of the Swiss Re- 
 public and virtually made himself the ruler of 
 that liberty-loving people. During the Revo- 
 lution the black inhabitants of San Domingo, 
 a French possession, had thrown off the French 
 [136] 
 
CONSUL FOR LIFE 
 
 rule, and under the heroic Toussaint L'Ouver- 
 ture had formed a Republic on the model of 
 France. Napoleon, urged on by the white 
 inhabitants of San Domingo, sent an army to 
 recover it, and with partial success, the brave 
 black leader dying in a French dungeon. Thus 
 was the champion of liberty himself becoming 
 the tyrant. 
 
 Much that Napoleon was doing in the 
 name of freedom was indeed contrary to the 
 Treaty of Amiens. Under that same treaty 
 England had agreed to give up the Island of 
 Malta to the Knights of St. John, but she had 
 failed to do so. Each nation, therefore, ac- 
 cused the other of not having kept the treaty, 
 and each with some just ground for its com- 
 plaint. Finally the English, urged on by an 
 abusive English press and misled by an exag- 
 gerated report made by her representative in 
 Paris, and stirred up by a French report 
 printed in a Paris newspaper and said to have 
 been authorized by Napoleon, that six thousand 
 French troops might reconquer Egypt, and by 
 the publication of a book presented publicly to 
 George III. representing Napoleon as the 
 murderer of prisoners at Jaffa and poisoner of 
 his own sick, declared war upon France, May 
 eighteenth, 1803, and before the news reached 
 [ 137 ] . 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 France — indeed before May eighteenth — two 
 hundred French vessels and $15,000,000 of 
 French property were seized by England. At 
 once Napoleon retaliated by arresting all Eng- 
 lishmen then in France, numbering more than 
 10,000 persons. 
 
 The act of England was inexcusable; that 
 of Napoleon, in the eyes of monarchical Eu- 
 rope, and especially of England, was intoler- 
 able. England then seized San Domingo and 
 other French possessions. Napoleon saved 
 Louisiana from the clutch of England only by 
 selling her to the young republic beyond the 
 seas — the United States. England then made 
 war on Spain because she refused to join with 
 her against Napoleon, but this drove Spain into 
 the arms of France and put at the disposal of 
 Napoleon the Spanish fleet and a million dol- 
 lars a month in money. Napoleon then marched 
 into Holland to threaten the English shores, 
 and, pouring his army into the south of Italy, 
 occupied Naples. 
 
 Again preparations were made in France to 
 invade England. Fleets were made ready and 
 160,000 men gathered on the northern coast. 
 Across the channel beacons blazed on every hill- 
 top, the English springing to the defense of 
 their country with over half a million men 
 [138] 
 
CONSUL FOR LIFE 
 
 under arms and five hundred ships of war 
 cleared for action. Fifty men-of-war were 
 being fitted out by Napoleon in various Euro- 
 pean ports which were to concentrate at a con- 
 venient point and sweep the channel, but the 
 watchfulness of Nelson prevented the carrying 
 out of the design and scarcely a ship was able 
 to leave port. 
 
 Suddenly Paris was surprised with the news 
 that a powerful conspiracy against the life of 
 the Chief Consul had been discovered, with 
 headquarters in London, in which one Georges 
 Cadoudal was the leading spirit, supported by 
 Moreau, the French commander of the Army 
 of the Rhine, and Pichegru and other royalists, 
 all aided and abetted by the foreign enemies 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 This news was speedily followed by the 
 announcement of the arrest of the chief con- 
 spirators, and by the startling intelligence still 
 later that a Bourbon prince, in many ways 
 a good fellow, but guilty of treason and in the 
 pay of the enimies of France, the Due d'En- 
 ghien by name, had been arrested near the 
 borders of France, hurried to Paris, tried in a 
 night and shot dead by the orders of Napoleon. 
 The blood of the victim was royal blood, and a 
 great horror spread throughout Europe. From 
 [ 139 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 this act Napoleon's name received a stain that 
 was never washed away, and gave some excuse 
 to posterity for caUing him tyrant. 
 
 On his death-bed at St. Helena Napoleon 
 declared that he did the deed because it was 
 necessary for the safety, the honor, and the 
 interest of the French people, at the time 
 when the Due d'Enghien and his co-conspira- 
 tors, by the admission of their chief, the Count 
 d'Artois, had sixty paid assassins in Paris. 
 A few days after the death of d'Enghien 
 Pichegru was found dead in prison, and 
 a little later Captain Wright, an English- 
 man, also lay lifeless in a French dungeon 
 — mysteries that have never been cleared 
 up, though the circumstances pointed to sui- 
 cide. Moreau was brought to trial and ban- 
 ished for two years. Cadoudal, wearing about 
 his neck a miniature of Louis XVI., and eigh- 
 teen others were brought into court and were 
 quickly adjudged guilty. All excepting seven 
 who were of gentle blood were executed, the 
 seven being banished. Th'us did the " man of 
 destiny " seek to confirm to himself the su- 
 preme power of France and to crush the hopes 
 of the Bourbons and of monarchical Europe. 
 
 Every important prince of Europe was now 
 his enemy at heart, if not openly, but France 
 [140] 
 
CONSUL FOR LIFE 
 
 was at his feet humble and submissive. He 
 was now Consul for life, President of the 
 Italian Republic, and virtually the ruler of 
 Switzerland and Holland. But who, asked the 
 people, shall rule when Napoleon is gone? 
 What endless confusion must follow his death! 
 
 [141] 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NAPOLEON EMPEROR DEATH OF NELSON — 
 
 AUSTERLITZ JENA — EYLAU TREATY 
 
 or TILSIT 
 
 The favorable opportunity had come, and 
 on the thirtieth of April, 1804, the Senate 
 adopted, with scarcely a dissenting voice, a 
 measure aftewards ratified by the people by 
 a vote of over 4,000,000 to 3,000 by which 
 Napoleon assumed the title of Emperor of the 
 French. On December second, 1804, by one 
 of the most imposing ceremonials ever enacted, 
 Napoleon was crowned in Notre Dame Cathe- 
 dral by Pope Pius VII., who had come all the 
 way from Rome to lend dignity and solemnity 
 to the event. On the following May twenty- 
 sixth, by the unanimous call of the Italian 
 Republic, he was crowned as their king at 
 Milan. At the coronation ceremonies Napo- 
 leon took the crown from the hands of the Pope 
 [142] 
 
NAPOLEON, EMPEROR 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 and placed it on his own head and then he 
 crowned the kneeUng Josephine, as if recog- 
 nizing no one, not even a Pope — the vice- 
 gerent of God on earth — as fitted to do him 
 honor. Likewise at Milan he placed the old 
 iron crown of Charlemagne on his own head, 
 repeating the words used by the Lombard kings 
 of times past — " God hath given it me ; be- 
 ware, who touches it." 
 
 We now hear only of empire, of emperor 
 and empress, of princes and princesses, of 
 high constables, grand admirals, grand mar- 
 shals, grand huntsmen, and masters of the 
 horse. The empire was to descend in the 
 male line of Napoleon's descendants, and 
 in case of his having no son he might adopt 
 a son or a grandson of his brother's. The 
 members of his family were declared princes 
 of the blood of France. The army received the 
 change with applause. Flattery and devotion 
 met the emperor on every hand. Every 
 crowned head in Europe, excepting those of 
 Russia, Sweden, and England, congratulated 
 him, and many princes came in person to pay 
 their respects. 
 
 Scarcely had Napoleon returned from his 
 coronation in Italy before he learned that a 
 new coalition had been formed against him by 
 [ 143 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE -^ 
 
 England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden, with 
 a half -million men ready to take the field. The 
 Czar Alexander of Russia was even then on his 
 way to Berlin in person to win Prussia over to 
 the alliance. Napoleon wished for peace, so on 
 January 27, 1805, he wrote to George III. of 
 England, who replied to the effect that it was 
 impossible for him to negotiate without the con- 
 sent of Russia. 
 
 Let us not make the mistake of thinking that 
 Napoleon's wars up to this time had been of his 
 own seeking. The honest reader of history 
 must see at the heart of all these struggles the 
 determination of England and the continent 
 outside of France to put down republicanism 
 and reestablish the Bourbons on the throne. 
 The kings of Etirope could never rest so long 
 as a plebeian without ancestry sat in one of 
 the high places reserved for the aristocracy. 
 
 What might have been the history of France 
 had Napoleon been left to carry out his gigantic 
 purposes and plans with reference to her in- 
 ternal prosperity, we can only dimly imagine. 
 Napoleon wanted peace that he might devote 
 his time and energy to building up France at 
 home, and his most bitter enemies tell us that 
 even when in the saddle during the most ardu- 
 ous campaigns he was planning and putting 
 [ 144 ] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 into execution great projects for the improve- 
 ment of the condition of his people. 
 
 In the war about to desolate Europe anew, 
 Napoleon's old antagonist, Austria, was to take 
 the lead. At once she marched her armies into 
 Bavaria, and though that comparatively feeble 
 country wanted to remain neutral, she was 
 treated by Austria like an enemy. The armies 
 of France were, as we have seen, scattered 
 along her northern coast. With incredible 
 celerity Napoleon marshaled them into six 
 great divisions and almost before his enemies 
 realized that he was on the move he had pushed 
 across the Rhine. Within two weeks twenty 
 thousand prisoners had fallen into his hands, 
 and within twenty days the Austrian army of 
 80,000 men was utterly destroyed. The ap- 
 proach of the invincible Napoleon at the head 
 of 186,000 men burning with enthusiasm was 
 too much for the Austrian General Mack, shut 
 up in Ulm, and, incredible as it may appear, 
 without waiting for reinforcements and with- 
 out striking a blow he surrendered the fortress 
 with 36,000 men. Napoleon, with his staiF, 
 stood for five hours and watched this great 
 army march out from the ramparts of Ulm and 
 thus he addressed their officers: " Gentlemen, 
 war has its chances. Often victorious, you 
 [ 145 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 must expect sometimes to be vanquished. Your 
 master wages against me an unjust war. I 
 say it candidly, I know not for what I am fight- 
 ing." 
 
 Massena, who had been sent by Napoleon to 
 fight his way into Austria by way of Italy, 
 was equally successful, driving, in a few weeks, 
 the Archduke Charles and 60,000 men out of 
 Italy and in full retreat toward the Austrian 
 capital. Marshal ISTey, at the head of another 
 division, was successful on the Upper Rhine 
 against the Archduke John, and now these 
 three great divisions of the French army were 
 rushing on to Vienna. The Austrian Emperor 
 and his household fled, and on November 13, 
 1805, Napoleon entered the capital of the Aus- 
 trian Caesars and took up his residence in the 
 palace of Emperor Francis. 
 
 For a moment we turn from this theatre of 
 warfare to another. Spain had declared war 
 on England and had put her fleet at Napo- 
 leon's disposal. A battle took place ofl" Cape 
 Finisterre with the allied fleets of France and 
 Spain, consisting of twenty sail of the line, 
 350 ships and four frigates on the one side, and 
 the English fleet, with fifteen sail of the line 
 and two frigates under Sir Robert Calder on 
 the other. The English gained a nominal vic- 
 [ 146] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 tory, though they captured but two of the 
 enemy's ships. The latter made at once for 
 Cadiz. Admiral Nelson, of whom we have 
 heard before, then took command of an Eng- 
 lish fleet composed of twenty-seven sail of the 
 line and three frigates. The combined fleets of 
 France and Spain now numbered thirty -three 
 ships of the line and seven frigates and carried 
 four thousand troops besides their regular 
 crews. 
 
 On October twenty-flrst, 1805, took place the 
 battle so famous in history known as the Battle 
 of Trafalgar, fought ofl" Trafalgar on the 
 coast of Spain. The ships of the allied forces 
 were drawn up in double line; those of Eng- 
 land came on in two columns, that of the ad- 
 miral displaying at her masthead the signal 
 that all the world has read, " England expects 
 every man to do his duty." When the smoke of 
 battle had died away nineteen ships of France 
 and Spain were in the hands of the English and 
 seven that had escaped had been rendered un- 
 serviceable ; but victory was at the tremendous 
 cost of the life of the brave Nelson, who fell 
 mortally wounded, exclaiming, " Thank God, 
 I have done my dtity." 
 
 Napoleon remained but a few days at 
 Vienna and then pushed on over the Danube 
 [147] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 into Moravia, fixing his headquarters at Brunn, 
 two miles from Austerlitz. At Brunn the 
 Austrian and Russian forces were concentrated 
 under the eyes of their two emperors, Alex- 
 ander and Francis, and on the second of De- 
 cember, 1805, were prepared for battle. At 
 midnight of the first Napoleon laid himself 
 down for much needed rest. In one hour he 
 arose, mounted his horse and set out to recon- 
 noitre. He strove to escape observation, but 
 the soldiers recognized him, and springing to 
 their feet they received him with shouts of 
 enthusiasm. Lighting fires of straw and fix- 
 ing them to their bayonets, the whole line 
 blazed in welcome, while shouts from 80,000 
 soldiers rent the air. Napoleon asking the 
 meaning of it was told that it was the anni- 
 versary of his coronation. He then retired to 
 his tent and issued a stirring proclamation to 
 his troops: " Soldiers," he said, " I will myself 
 direct all your battalions. I will keep myself 
 at a distance from the fire if, with your accus- 
 tomed valor, you carry disorder and confusion 
 into the enemy's ranks ; but should victory ap- 
 pear for a moment uncertain you shall see your 
 emperor expose himself to the first strokes. 
 Victory must not be doubtful on this occasion." 
 [ 148 ] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 With such an appeal the veterans of France 
 were roused to the highest pitch of frenzy. 
 
 By four o'clock the Russian columns were 
 in full march to surprise the French. Napo- 
 leon was at once on horseback, a bugle sounded, 
 and, as if by magic, the French army was in 
 battle array. At first a fog obscured the field, 
 then a ruddy glow appeared in the eastern 
 horizon and the sun rose with unaccustomed 
 brilliancy, producing a deep impression on the 
 imagination of all. This was known after- 
 wards as the " Sun of Austerlitz," and the vet- 
 erans of this campaign in after years when 
 beholding a brilliant sunrise recalled the one 
 of this momentous day. 
 
 Riding along the line on a fleet horse Napo- 
 leon cried: " Soldiers, we must end the cam- 
 paign to-day with a thunderbolt." The answer 
 he received was the universal shout, " Long live 
 the emperor." 
 
 The Russians, by the advance of one wing 
 of their army, had weakened their centre. 
 Napoleon on seeing it, declared: " In twenty- 
 four hours that army is mine." With the speed 
 of the wind the French force poured in upon 
 the weakened point in the Russian advance. 
 With stubborn bravery the Cossacks held their 
 positions. The battlefield looked like a prairie 
 [1491 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 on fire. Two such magnificent armies had 
 never met. Then Murat, the intrepid leader of 
 the French cavalry, galloped upon the field 
 with thousands of gleaming swords in air, and 
 before the eyes of the Emperors of Austria and 
 Russia the centre of their armies was broken. 
 Their right was surrounded and forced into a 
 hollow, whence they attempted to escape over 
 the ice that covered a few small lakes. The 
 French gunners poured a storm of shot upon 
 the ice and broke it, and here died 20,000 men. 
 The two alHed emperors, with the shattered 
 remnants of their armies, fled in terror from 
 the scene. 
 
 Thus ended the " Battle of the Emperors," 
 Napoleon taking 20,000 prisoners, forty 
 pieces of artilleiy, and all the standards of 
 the Imperial Guard of Russia. After the 
 battle the Emperor Francis of Austria called 
 on Napoleon, promised never to fight against 
 him again (a promise he did not keep) , and ob- 
 tained from him permission that Alexander of 
 Russia might withdraw to his own dominions. 
 
 Prussia at this time had 200,000 men ready 
 for the field. Alexander of Russia had in per- 
 son endeavored to persuade Frederick William 
 to join the coalition, but without entire success, 
 though the two emperors, before the tomb of 
 [150] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 Frederick the Great, took an oath to sustain 
 the cause of the alHed kings. There can be 
 little doubt that if Napoleon had been defeated 
 at Austerhtz Prussia would have thrown her 
 splendid army against him. As it was, she 
 intrigued and evaded month after month. 
 Frederick William's beautiful queen, Louise, 
 fanned the indignation and zeal of her people 
 and, dressed in the uniform of the regiment 
 that bore her name, she rode at its head; but 
 still Prussia held back. There can be little 
 doubt, too, that Napoleon bribed Frederick 
 William into an attitude of inaction by the 
 gift to him of Hanover. 
 
 We cannot name the results, momentous as 
 they are, of the Battle of Austerlitz. By it 
 Napoleon became virtually ruler of the greater 
 part of Germany. Austria gave up to the 
 kingdom of Italy her Venetian territories and 
 transferred to Bavaria her possessions of the 
 Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Eugene Bea'uharnais, 
 the son of Josephine, who had been made Vice- 
 roy of Italy, took in marriage the eldest daugh- 
 ter of the King of Hanover. Napoleon pro- 
 claimed that the royal house of Naples had 
 ceased to reign forever and proclaimed his 
 brother Joseph King of Naples. Principalities 
 were conferred on Napoleon's sisters, Eliza and 
 [ 151 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARiTE 
 Pauline. His brother Louis, who had married 
 Hortense, the fair daughter of Josephine, be- 
 came the King of Bavaria. A confederation 
 was formed by the Kings of Wurtemberg and 
 Bavaria, the Grand Duke of Berg, and other 
 sovereigns of West Germany under the name 
 *' The Federation of the Rhine," with Napo- 
 leon as " Protector." This confederation was 
 bound to place 60,000 soldiers at Napoleon's 
 command. Thus was the Germanic Empire 
 torn to pieces. Sweden, on the news of Auster- 
 litz, suddenly became quiet. Napoleon then 
 returned to Paris, signalizing his return by cre- 
 ating a new order of nobility known as princes, 
 dukes, and counts, and granting to his appoint- 
 ees extensive estates in the newly conquered 
 country. 
 
 Prussia was now to fall under the displeasure 
 of Napoleon and to reap the same reward that 
 Austria had reaped before her. The friendship 
 of Prussia had been a purchased friendship. 
 She now looked upon the Confederation of the 
 Rhine with suspicion and sought to bring about 
 such a coalition of the other Germanic states 
 as would offset that of the West. The Czar of 
 Russia was quick to take advantage of Prus- 
 sia's state of mind. Again he visited Berlin 
 and promised the assistance of his army. Eng- 
 [ 152 ] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 land was there with promises of money. Na- 
 poleon, with his usual farsightedness, knew 
 that war must come and determined to strike 
 a blow before Russia could march her armies 
 to the assistance of her ally. The Prussians 
 made the mistake of taking the field before re- 
 inforcements had come from their eastern 
 neighbor. 
 
 Advancing into Saxony, they compelled 
 the Elector of Saxony to ally himself with 
 Prussia, and then took up a position on the 
 Saale, in front of the French army which 
 came on in three great divisions. The Prus- 
 sians made the further mistake of extending 
 their line too far and of so placing it that their 
 stores and magazines were behind their ex- 
 treme right. Napoleon at once grasped the 
 situation and, sending in his forces upon the 
 enemy's right, turned it, took possession of the 
 stores and magazines and blew up the latter. 
 The Prussian king, finding himself about to 
 be surrounded, formed his army into two divi- 
 sions, and one, under his own leadership, re- 
 treated toward Nuremberg, the other, under 
 General Molendorf, toward Jena. 
 
 On the evening of the thirteenth of October 
 Napoleon arrived at Jena and found the enemy 
 ready to meet him. Napoleon's own heavy 
 [153] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 train of artillery was thirty-six hours' march in 
 the rear, but, nothing daunted, he ordered his 
 men to work all night in cutting a road through 
 the rocks and in drawing up their light guns 
 on the neighboring heights. Both armies were 
 closing in battle the next day before the sun 
 revealed to either commander the divisions of 
 his foe. As soon as the sun had risen Napoleon, 
 with his glass, saw where a bold charge would 
 decide the battle and ordered Murat to advance 
 with his cavalry. These brave horsemen leaped 
 to the contest, dashed through the enemy's lines, 
 spreading havoc on every side. Twenty thou- 
 sand Prussians were either killed or taken pris- 
 oners, and 300 cannon, sixty royal standards, 
 and twenty generals were the trophies of 
 French victory. Thus was defeated an army 
 that started out with 150,000 men, led by kings 
 and princes, and thus the Prussian monarchy 
 lay at the feet of Napoleon. One after another 
 her strong fortresses fell into the victor's hands, 
 and he himself, on October twenty-fifth, en- 
 tered Berlin, Frederick William of Prussia 
 having fled to Konigsberg. 
 
 While at Berlin Napoleon visited the tomb 
 of Frederick the Great, where Frederick Will- 
 iam and Alexander had sworn allegiance 
 against France. Napoleon, it is said, took 
 [154] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 from the mausoleum of Frederick the Great 
 the sword and orders of the Great Frederick 
 and sent them to Paris, saying, " These orders 
 and sword shall witness no other scene of per- 
 jtiry over the ashes of Frederick." He sent 
 to Paris also the best pictures and statues of 
 Berlin and Potsdam. Thus he laid the founda- 
 tion for the seemingly undying enmity that 
 has existed for generations between the Ger- 
 man and the French. 
 
 ISTapoleon was now the master of the whole 
 seacoast of continental Europe excepting only 
 that which bordered the territories of Russia 
 and Turkey. At Berlin he announced what 
 is known as the Decrees of Berlin, in which 
 he sought to punish England by way of her 
 commerce. In these decrees he declared the 
 British Islands to be in a state of blockade and 
 that any intercourse with that country would 
 be considered treason against himself. At this 
 time a deputation from Paris came to Berlin to 
 congratulate him. They carried back with 
 them the trophies of his victories and a demand 
 for a new levy of 80,000 men. 
 
 Napoleon now advanced to meet the Rtis- 
 
 sians, who were still unconquered and in the 
 
 field. Between Russia and Germany lay 
 
 stricken Poland. Napoleon allowed Poland to 
 
 [ 155 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 believe that her savior was at hand. Kosciusko 
 wrote a stirring appeal from Paris and the 
 Polish officers of the French army wrote glow- 
 ing accounts of the high character of Napoleon, 
 promising that the great conqueror would re- 
 store to them their ancient grandeur; thou- 
 sands of brave Poles therefore rushed to swell 
 the army of the conqueror. The French army 
 reached Warsaw, the capital of Poland, 
 November 28, 1806. Soon it encountered the 
 Riissian army under Bennigsen and drove it 
 back from post to post until it made a stand 
 at Pultusk. Here the French charged and met 
 with a repulse which was nothing less than a 
 disaster, 8,000 French, among them Lannes, 
 being either killed or wounded. Had the Rus- 
 sians followed up their advantage, defeat must 
 have come to Napoleon. As it was, the French 
 quietly retired into winter quarters, the emperor 
 taking up his residence in Warsaw and sta- 
 tioning his army in the towns round about. But 
 the Russian army was not idle. They were 
 better able to stand the severe cold of this lat- 
 itude, and in detachments they struck telling 
 blows here and there upon the French outposts. 
 Napoleon, therefore, determined to move be- 
 fore spring. His first attempt was to get in 
 the rear of the enemy and cut them off from a 
 [156] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 retreat toward Russia. In these manoeuvres 
 the French soldiers suffered terribly, living 
 part of the time on frozen roots. Finally the 
 soldiers demanded battle. Death was better 
 than the horrible suffering they were undergo- 
 ing. The Russian army numbered 100,000 men 
 and was located at Eylau. Napoleon reached 
 there February seventh, and on that day fight- 
 ing took place in and about the town with great 
 loss on both sides. On the eighth the French 
 charged at two points but were repulsed. A 
 fierce storm arose at midday, the snow blowing 
 into the eyes of the Russians. The neighbor- 
 ing village of Serpallen took fire and dense 
 smoke rolled over the battle-field. The con- 
 flict raged till ten at night and was the longest 
 and fiercest Napoleon had yet fought. After 
 fourteen hours' continuous fighting the two 
 armies held the same positions they held at the 
 beginning. Fifty thousand corpses lay upon 
 the frozen ground, fully one-half of whom were 
 •French, and twelve French standards were in 
 the hands of the Russians. The battle ended 
 without victory for either side, the Russians 
 retiring toward Konigsberg with their cap- 
 tured standards and the French not pursuing. 
 Five days later Napoleon offered to Frederick 
 William at Konigsberg a nearly complete res- 
 [157] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 toration of his dominions if he would accept a 
 separate peace ; but Frederick William refused 
 the offer. 
 
 On February nineteenth Napoleon retired 
 on the Vistula and summoned new forces from 
 France. Dantzic, which had held out up to 
 this time, was taken on May seventh, and then 
 Napoleon took the field again with 280,000 
 men. After a few smart engagements with the 
 Russian army of 90,000, Napoleon, on June 
 thirteenth, came upon the main body of his 
 enemies on the west bank of the AUer, opposite 
 Friedland. Napoleon deceived the Russian 
 general, who with his army was on the west 
 bank, into thinking that he was in the presence 
 of but a small body of French, whereupon the 
 Russians sent a small detachment across the 
 river to the attack. Napoleon, by a precon- 
 ceived plan, retreated, and by so doing drew 
 a greater and greater force across the bridge 
 until finally the whole Russian army had 
 crossed and had the river at their back. 
 
 At ten of the morning of the fourteenth 
 the battle of Friedland began, and at five 
 in the evening, after a general assault, the 
 French were victorious and the Russians 
 in retreat. On June twenty-first an armis- 
 tice was agreed upon and on the twenty- 
 [158] 
 
NAPOLEON EMPEROR 
 
 fifth Napoleon and the Emperor Alexander 
 met on a raft in the river, embraced, and 
 retiring under a canopy held a long con- 
 versation in secret. Then Tilsit was made a 
 nelitral town and here the two emperors lived 
 for a time on terms of intimacy. Frederick 
 William also came to take part in the negotia- 
 tions, but Napoleon received him with scant 
 courtesy. The treaty made at Tilsit gave up to 
 Frederick ancient Prussia and upper Saxony, 
 but Frederick was to remain the vassal of Na- 
 poleon. The Prussian dominions of lower Sax- 
 ony and on the Rhine, with Hanover and other 
 States, became Westphalia, with Jerome Bona- 
 parte as its king. This Jerome had been under 
 the displeasure of Napoleon by having married 
 a Miss Patterson, of Baltimore, in the United 
 States. Now he was reconciled, having con- 
 sented to marry a daughter of the King of 
 Wurtemberg. There could be little doubt but 
 what there were secret articles in the treaty at 
 Tilsit by which Europe was to be divided be- 
 tween Napoleon and Alexander. It was the 
 discovery of these that led England a little 
 later to fan again the flames of war. The fol- 
 lowing August Napoleon returned to Paris to 
 receive the homage of a people delirious from 
 oft-repeated victories. 
 
 [ 159 ] 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONQUEST or SPAIN AND PORTUGAL — WAR 
 WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 The Treaty of Tilsit was ratified July 7, 
 1807. With this treaty the sun of Napoleon 
 reached its meridian splendor; from that time 
 on its glory waned till its final setting forever 
 in Waterloo. Up to this time the sympathies of 
 every unbiased student of history must go to 
 the man and the people who among the nations 
 of Europe alone sought to maintain the 
 equality of all men before the law, to abohsh 
 caste and special privilege, and to promote 
 popular liberty and equal justice as between 
 man and man. From now on the friend and 
 admirer of Napoleon must excuse and palliate 
 and defend, and ofttimes must hide his head 
 in confusion. Eaten up by an ambition born of 
 success unprecedented in the history of the 
 world. Napoleon forgot France, forgot liberty, 
 forgot all but himself, until going from 
 [160] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 blunder to blunder he fell — never to rise 
 again. 
 
 For a few brief months after Napoleon's 
 return to Paris tranquillity reigned throughout 
 Europe, but the fires of hatred were smolder- 
 ing and required but a little breeze to fan them 
 into flame. Nominally, at least, the continent 
 was now united with Napoleon against Eng- 
 land, and the Decrees of Berlin promulgated 
 by him, by which English goods were to be kept 
 out of France, were made operative throughout 
 the continent, excepting Spain and Portugal. 
 England retorted with a declaration that she 
 would search all merchant vessels, and that 
 neutrals should not be allowed to trade unless 
 they had touched at a British port and paid 
 duties there. Napoleon then declared that any 
 ship submitting to England's demands should 
 be treated as an English ship. 
 
 England could not be expected to remain 
 quiet under such provocation. About the mid- 
 dle of August an English fleet, with a force 
 under Sir Arthur Wellesley, appeared before 
 Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, bom- 
 barded the city for three days and three nights, 
 destroying public buildings, churches, libraries, 
 and eight hundred of the homes of the citizens 
 as well as hundreds of men, women, and chil- 
 [161] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 dren, and received its surrender with that of 
 the Danish fleet. Napoleon was enraged. 
 Alexander of Russia dismissed the British 
 Ambassador from St. Petersburg, and Russia, 
 Austria, Prussia, and Denmark declared war 
 on the commerce of England. This would have 
 been greatly to the advantage of Napoleon 
 had he not thrown away the good fortune, 
 thus fallen in his lap, by a blunder almost 
 unexplainable. 
 
 English goods were finding their way into 
 Europe by way of Portugal. By a series of 
 intrigues it was agreed between Napoleon and 
 the imbecile King Charles IV. of Spain, in 
 the Treaty of Fontainebleau, that Spain was 
 to furnish 27,000 troops and France 28,000 for 
 the invasion of Portugal, while France was to 
 assemble 40,000 troops as a reserve at Bayonne 
 ready to take the field if England interfered. 
 In November, 1807, the allied armies under 
 Junot poured into Portugal ; it surrendered al- 
 most without the shedding of a drop of blood, 
 the prince-regent fleeing in an English ship to 
 the Brazils. 
 
 Napoleon's eye was now, if not from the very 
 
 first, on Spain itself, where a weak king, a 
 
 profligate queen and her paramour (Godoy), 
 
 and Prince Ferdinand, the heir-apparent, were 
 
 [162] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 intriguing against one another, each at the 
 head of a party of corrupt nobles. Napoleon 
 thought the fruit ripe for the plucking and 
 marched his army of reserves, under Murat, 
 into Spain, and another army of 12,000 
 through the eastern Pyrenees, and gained by 
 treachery or in the guise of friendship one 
 after another of the Spanish strongholds in 
 the north of Spain. 
 
 Each of the Spanish parties supplicated aid 
 from Xapoleon in his quarrel against the 
 others. Charles IV. asked protection against 
 his son, and Ferdinand asked the hand of a 
 Bonaparte princess in marriage. Napoleon lis- 
 tened and put off answering, meanwhile push- 
 ing his armies slowly but stirely into the heart 
 of the country. At last a panic seized the 
 Spanish capital, Charles IV. abdicated the 
 throne, and Ferdinand was proclaimed king. 
 Murat, now in command of the French armies 
 in Spain, surrounded the Spanish capital with 
 30,000 troops, and on March 23, 1808, with 
 10,000 men entered Madrid. Charles IV. and 
 Ferdinand now each appealed to Napoleon for 
 recognition. Each was led to believe that 
 something might be had by appearing before 
 Napoleon in person; so in April at about the 
 [ 163 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 same time each appeared at Bayonne and had 
 audience with the emperor. 
 
 The result was that Charles IV. resigned 
 his crown for himself and his heirs, accepting 
 in return a pension, as did also Ferdinand. 
 Godoy was exiled to Italy and pensioned. 
 Thus Spain and Portugal were added as gems 
 to the crown of the victor, but by means which 
 though comparatively bloodless will not bear 
 the light of enquiry. But, after all, he was but 
 following the precedent of his times as set 
 by Russia, England, and Prussia, whose em- 
 pires were bUilt after the same method. Napo- 
 leon himself seems to have apprehended the 
 danger of the step he was taking in usurping 
 the throne of an old and proud people, for in 
 cautioning Murat against going too fast he 
 says, " Remember, if war breaks out, all is 
 lost." 
 
 Soon all Spain was in insurrection. Mes- 
 sages were flying to England invoking aid 
 she was eager to lend, and in every court of 
 Europe there was ill-concealed satisfaction 
 over the fatal step that had thus been taken 
 by the hitherto shrewd conqueror. 
 
 With 80,000 troops in Spain NTapoleon soon 
 reestablished tranquillity in Madrid, and slim- 
 moning the Council of Castile commanded 
 [164] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 them to elect a new sovereign, which they did 
 by naming Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bona- 
 parte, then King of Naples. Joseph, pro- 
 tected by Napoleon's army, reached Madrid in 
 safety and was crowned king July 24, 1808. 
 Murat, who it is said was disappointed in not 
 being selected by Napoleon, was made King of 
 Naples. 
 
 Portugal burst into insurrection and allying 
 herself with the loj^al part of Spain concluded 
 a treaty of offense and defense with England. 
 The forces now opposed were gigantic. Napo- 
 leon could sumjnon one-half a million men com- 
 manded by the best generals of Europe, accus- 
 tomed only to victory. The name of Napoleon 
 was worth an army in itself. Great Britain had 
 a standing army of 200,000, and the largest 
 and best fighting navy in the world. France, 
 with 80,000 troops, held one-half of the for- 
 tresses of Spain. The credit of each nation was 
 unlimited and each believed in the justice of 
 its cause. 
 
 The first great battle between the French 
 and Spaniards was at Riosecco, July 14, 1808, 
 where 20,000 Spaniards fell. Elsewhere the 
 Spaniards were more successful; in a series 
 of combats divisions of the French army were 
 repulsed or driven back by loval Spaniards — 
 [ 165 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 men and women, who fought together in the 
 ranks headed often by their priests. At Bay- 
 len, 20,000 French troops surrendered after a 
 long and desperate battle. Within a few days 
 Joseph Bonaparte fled from Madrid to Vit- 
 toria. Then occurred the famous siege of 
 Saragossa by the French, in which the Span- 
 iards displayed wonderful bravery and almost 
 unparalleled heroism, resulting in the retreat 
 of the French after a vain effort to overcome 
 the town continuing through two months. 
 
 On August 8, 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley 
 landed in Portugal with 10,000 English troops 
 and immediately set out for Lisbon. Junot, 
 commander of the French army in Portugal, 
 had 24,000 troops. On August 21, the two 
 armies met, and the result was a defeat for 
 the French with a loss of thirteen cannon and 
 2,000 men. In a few days the French with- 
 drew from Portugal under the terms of an 
 armistice by which they surrendered their 
 magazines, stores, and armed vessels, on condi- 
 tion that the French soldiers be carried to a 
 French port and be permitted to take with 
 them their private property. , 
 
 Napoleon now saw that he himself was 
 needed in the field to retrieve the losses of his 
 generals, and determined to cross the Pyrenees 
 [166] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 with an army that would carry everything 
 before it. There were at this time 60,000 
 French troops in Spain, opposed by three inde- 
 pendent Spanish armies of a total strength of 
 about 125,000. Napoleon, with 200,000 fresh 
 troops, marched through France to the Pyre- 
 nees. " Comrades," he said, " let us bear our 
 triumphant eagles to the Pillars of Hercules! 
 . . . What you have done, and what you are 
 about to do, for the happiness of the French 
 people and for my glory, shall be eternal in 
 my heart! " 
 
 Leaving his army for the moment, Napoleon 
 met Alexander of Russia in a conference at 
 Erfurt, where the two sent a message to the 
 King of England proposing peace. His reply 
 was in the negative. Then giving orders to 
 strengthen his armies in Germany and Italy, 
 for fear of Austria, Napoleon hastened to 
 Paris, then to Bayonne, and then to Vittoria, 
 where in an inn he called for a map and in two 
 hours had planned his campaign and put the 
 forces in motion. In an incredibly short time 
 he opened the way to Madrid. 
 
 On November 30, 1808, Napoleon with 
 
 his guards reached the defile of the Som- 
 
 mosierra, ten miles from Madrid, and found 
 
 12,000 men defending the pass. Sixteen 
 
 [167] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 pieces of artillery completely swept the road. 
 Napoleon rode to the mouth of the pass, 
 and surveying the scene, ordered his Polish 
 lancers to charge up the road in face of the 
 battery. The brave fellows, led by General 
 Krazinski, fearlessly obeyed, with the result 
 that the Spaniards fled, leaving their cannon 
 and their dead on the field. Napoleon now 
 encamped about Madrid, which was in a terri- 
 ble state of confusion, bells ringing, ferocious 
 bands parading the streets, and scenes of vio- 
 lence occurring everywhere. On December 4 
 the city surrendered and the French army 
 marched in. 
 
 After issuing edicts abolishing the inquisi- 
 tion and feudal rights, and proclaiming an 
 almost general amnesty, Napoleon set out for 
 Portugal, where there existed a feeble Spanish 
 army in scattering detachments and an Eng- 
 lish army of 33,000 men under Sir John Moore 
 which was advancing into Spain. Napoleon 
 put himself at the head of 50,000 men and 
 started for Lisbon. The English heard of it 
 and at once turned about and began a disas- 
 trous retreat, reaching the seacoast at Corunna 
 just in time to embark and set sail — but with- 
 out their commander, who fell gallantly fight- 
 ing. 
 
 [168] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 Napoleon did not return to Madrid, as would 
 seem natural, there to complete the work of 
 conquest, but to Paris, where there was urgent 
 need of his presence, for Austria had again 
 declared war. Riding on post-horses, a part 
 of the time as fast as thirteen miles an hour, 
 he reached Paris January 22, 1809. Francis 
 of Austria had never recognized Joseph as 
 King of Spain, and had never forgotten his 
 losses through the battle of Austerlitz. A bribe 
 of $20,000,000 paid him by England helped 
 him to forget his treaties with Napoleon. Na- 
 poleon's keen eye had noted before he left for 
 Spain the warlike preparations of his old enemy 
 and was not unprepared when, on April 6, 
 Austria declared war. 
 
 A half million men were now under the ban- 
 ners of Francis of Austria, commanded by the 
 Archduke Charles, of whom we have before 
 heard. In a few days the Archduke Charles 
 crossed the Inn with 300,000 men, the Arch- 
 duke John with two divisions started for Italy, 
 and the Archduke Ferdinand stationed him- 
 self with a division where he could repel Rus- 
 sia in case Alexander took up the French cause. 
 Napoleon, accompanied by Josephine, at once 
 went to Strasburg, where on April 13 he 
 formed his plan of campaign. He ordered the 
 [ 169 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 two widely separated wings of his army, under 
 Massena and Davoust, to march forward and 
 converge to a centre; he himself advanced 
 between them ; in doing so the French hemmed 
 in two divisions of the Austrians, which on the 
 21st surrendered 9,000 men, thirty cannons, 
 and all their stores. By splendid generalship 
 Napoleon now by diiFerent routes led the divi- 
 sions of his army to a point where at the same 
 moment they converged on the divisions of 
 Archduke Charles and after a hard battle (at 
 Eckmuhl) the Austrians left in Napoleon's 
 hands 20,000 prisoners, fifteen colors, and 
 nearly all their artillery. The archduke made 
 another stand at Ratisbon, but was again 
 routed and fled into Bohemia, leaving Vienna 
 at NTapoleon's mercy. On May 10th the con- 
 queror, after a short bombardment of the city, 
 received its surrender and again took up his 
 residence in the palace of Francis. 
 
 The Archduke Charles, having recruited his 
 army in Bohemia, posted himself strongly on 
 the left bank of the Danube. Napoleon, com- 
 ing up on the right bank, found the river swol- 
 len and well-nigh impassable. On May 20th, 
 however, by means of a bridge of boats, he 
 succeeded in crossing at Ebersdorff. On the 
 21st the two armies met, the Austrians being 
 [170] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 splendidly posted on rising ground and pro- 
 tected by 200 pieces of artillery. The first day's 
 fighting brought partial success to the Aus- 
 trian arms after terrible carnage. The follow- 
 ing morning victory for the French seemed 
 secure, when it was found that fire-ships had 
 been sent down the river and that a part of the 
 bridge between the island of Lobau and the 
 right bank was destroyed and Napoleon's army 
 was cut off from the reserve which still re- 
 mained across the river. Napoleon at once 
 retreated across that part of the bridge that re- 
 mained on to Lobau and adjacent islands. Here 
 he was cooped up, separated by a raging flood 
 from his reserves, until, on July 4, 1809, he 
 established communications with the right 
 bank and arranged for crossing to the left 
 bank again at a point where the enemy did 
 not expect him. 
 
 When the Austrians perceived this move 
 they took up their position with the town of 
 Wagram as their centre. Here on July 6, a 
 great battle took place. Napoleon poured the 
 whole strength of his army upon the Austrian 
 centre, which had been weakened by being ex- 
 tended too far, and after a sanguinary con- 
 test Napoleon took 20,000 prisoners, and all 
 the enemy's baggage and artillery. At this 
 [ 171 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 battle fell Lannes, a general of magnificent 
 courage, both of his legs shot away by a cannon- 
 ball. Napoleon knelt by his side, his clothing 
 stained by the blood of the hero, and cried, 
 '* You will live, my friend, you will live " ; but 
 it was not to be so. Thus ended the war with 
 Austria. 
 
 To return for a moment to Spain: Sara- 
 gossa, again besieged, had surrendered to the 
 French. The French under Soult had been 
 defeated by Sir Arthur Wellesley at Oporto, as 
 had been Marshal Victor by this same able 
 English general at Talavera. Elsewhere in 
 Spain battles had raged with varied results. 
 Portugal was again in the hands of the Eng- 
 lish under command of Wellesley (after the 
 battle of Talavera created Lord Wellington) . 
 
 Napoleon remained in the palace at Schoen- 
 brunn, near Vienna, till October of this year, 
 1809. Here an assassin attempted to take his 
 life, but was caught just as his dagger was 
 about to enter the emperor's body. Napoleon 
 asked of the assassin, " What injury have I 
 done you? " 
 
 " To me, personally, none," he answered, 
 " but you are the oppressor of my country, the 
 tyrant of the world, and to have put you to 
 [172] 
 
WAR WITH AUSTRIA 
 
 death would have been the highest glory of a 
 man of honor." 
 
 That Napoleon should quarrel with the Pope 
 of Rome seemed inevitable, seeing that in 
 Spain the Catholic clergy were leading in the 
 insurrections and the Pope had refused to join 
 with him in his war with England. The quar- 
 rel culminated in a decree by Napoleon strip- 
 ping his Holiness of nearly all of his Italian 
 territory and annexing it to the kingdom of 
 Naples. In February, 1809, a French division 
 of the army took possession of Rome itself; 
 the Pope, however, was permitted to remain in 
 the Vatican, attended by his guards. On May 
 17th the emperor issued a decree that the tem- 
 poral sovereignty of the Pope was wholly at 
 an end, incorporating Rome with the French 
 empire, settling a pension on the Pope, and 
 appointing a committee for the civil govern- 
 ment of Rome. The Pope thereupon excom- 
 municated Napoleon. Then, under pretext 
 that the Pope's life was in danger, the French 
 general in command in Rome arrested the Pope 
 and for over three years he remained a prisoner 
 at Fontainebleau, though treated with great 
 courtesy. 
 
 The treaty of peace with Austria brought 
 many changes, chief of which was the giving up 
 [ 173 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 by Austria of territory to the amount of 45,- 
 000 square miles and a population of nearly 
 four million people, the losing of every one of 
 her seaports, and the payment of $20,000,000. 
 Napoleon's demands are generally conceded to 
 have been moderate, and a reason for his mod- 
 eration may be found in the following chapter. 
 Napoleon left Vienna October 16th, and on 
 the 14th of the following month the pubUc 
 bodies of Paris addressed him as " the greatest 
 of heroes, who never achieved victories but for 
 the happiness of the world." 
 
 [174] 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 JOSEPHINE DIVORCED — NAPOLEON MARRIES 
 MARIA LOUISA OF AUSTRIA — WAR WITH 
 RUSSIA — THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 
 
 Napoleon was now at the head of a magnifi- 
 cent empire of eighty miUion people. But 
 what if he should die? 
 
 Josephine had borne no children to Napo- 
 leon, and the matter of an heir to the imperial 
 title had for some time given great concern 
 to the emperor. Hortense, Josephine's daugh- 
 ter by her first husband, had borne to her 
 husband a son, Louis Bonaparte, who was for 
 a time regarded as the heir to France, but the 
 boy died of croup in infancy. It was thought, 
 too, by some that Napoleon would adopt Eu- 
 gene, Hortense's brother, but it was not to be. 
 
 There is no doubt but that, desiring a son 
 and heir. Napoleon had for some time contem- 
 plated divorcing Josephine and marrying a 
 princess from some one of the royal families of 
 [ 175 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 Europe. There is evidence that he made over- 
 tures at the Peace of Tilsit, and afterwards at 
 the conference at Erfurt, to the Czar of Russia 
 for the hand of the Czar's sister, and that his 
 overtures were received coldly. There is ample 
 proof that Napoleon loved Josephine; his 
 letters to her were full of ardent devotion. She 
 was easily the most brilliant woman in Europe 
 and lent a splendor to the court of Erance that 
 added immensely to its influence and renown. 
 Napoleon was not insensible to her queenly 
 qualities. There are historians who seek to 
 detract from the character of Josephine, but 
 the world has been slow to believe the stories, 
 many of which were no doubt inspired by her 
 enemies. 
 
 This chapter in the life of Napoleon is an 
 exceedingly sad one. How sincere Napoleon 
 was in his declarations that he set Josephine 
 aside for reasons of state, we shall never know. 
 The claim made by him and for him by his 
 friends, was that his love for France and his 
 interest in her welfare was so great that he 
 would break the dearest ties and sacrifice his 
 own happiness to serve her interests. 
 
 Josephine, while presenting to the world an 
 appearance of unalloyed happiness as the mis- 
 tress of the most splendid court in Europe, 
 [176] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 trembled at heart as she saw the dazzling 
 heights to which her imperial master had risen. 
 Hints more or less full of meaning had reached 
 her from various sources that the interests of 
 the state demanded that Napoleon should have 
 an heir, so that when Fouche, with studied 
 diplomacy, presented the subject to her and 
 asked her, for the good of France, that she 
 allovf herself to be divorced, she was not unpre- 
 pared for the blow. Still, unable to believe 
 that her loving spouse had taken this means 
 of gaining her consent, she hurried to Napo- 
 leon and demanded whether he had authorized 
 the proceeding of his minister. Napoleon de- 
 nied it, but on her demanding that Fouche be 
 dismissed he refused, and thus practically ad- 
 mitted that Fouche's procedure had not been 
 contrary to his wishes. 
 
 After several tearful interviews Josephine 
 accepted the inevitable. On December 15, 
 1809, Napoleo|i announced the dissolution of 
 his marriage to his Council, and Josephine, ap- 
 pearing before them, consented thereto. The 
 title of empress was to continue with her for 
 life, and she was to receive a pension of two 
 million francs, to which Napoleon added a 
 third million. The heartbroken queen left the 
 Tuileries for her villa of Malmaison. It has 
 [ 177 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 been said that when T^apoleon repudiated Jo- 
 sephine he repudiated Europe. 
 
 In a few weeks it was announced that Napo- 
 leon had demanded and received the hand in 
 marriage of Maria Louisa, daughter of Fran- 
 cis of Austria. On March 11th, 1810, they 
 were married by proxy in Vienna. On March 
 28, Napoleon met the young archduchess, as 
 in her carriage she was proceeding toward 
 Paris, and, brushing aside all ceremony, 
 pushed aside the curtains of her carriage and 
 introduced himself to his bride. On April 2, 
 the wedding was repeated with great splendor 
 in Paris. Then followed a tour of the prov- 
 inces. The royal bridegroom for a time de- 
 voted himself to his bride with every mark of 
 affection. " He made love," says one, " like 
 a Hussar," but letters at intervals passed be- 
 tween him and Josephine and his visits to Mal- 
 maison were not infrequent. 
 
 While Napoleon was thus engaged in affairs 
 of the heart, he did not forget that he still had a 
 stupendous task before him in subduing Spain 
 and Portugal, where the war, of which we read 
 in the preceding chapter, was still in progress. 
 To be sure, Joseph was on the throne propped 
 up by 300,000 soldiers, but the greater part of 
 the country was still in the possession of the 
 [178] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 enemy, the French holding btit a few districts, 
 and in these being shut up in their fortresses. 
 Massena, second only to Napoleon as a general, 
 was in command of 100,000 Frenchmen known 
 as the Army of Portugal. With these he 
 sought to drive the English, under the com- 
 mand of him who afterwards was known as the 
 Duke of Wellington, out of the peninsula. 
 Opposed to Massena were 20,000 British troops 
 and 30,000 Portuguese. Massena pushed 
 them little by little toward Lisbon and the sea. 
 At last Wellington halted in a strong position 
 protecting the port of Lisbon. Massena found 
 it impossible to advance, and for many months 
 lay exposed on every side to the attack of the 
 Portuguese peasants, threatened with famine 
 from having his communications in the rear 
 cut off and finding the country about him laid 
 waste b}^ the inhabitants. 
 
 At last Massena was forced to retreat. Lord 
 Wellington started in hot ptirsuit until the 
 French, crossing the Portuguese boundary, 
 were emboldened, by the receiving of reinforce- 
 ments, to return. A battle was fought on the 
 fifth of May, 1811, and the French once more 
 defeated. Massena was recalled and Marmont 
 sent to take his place. 
 
 Wellington now had full possession of Por- 
 [179] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 tugal. In rapid succession he took three impor- 
 tant fortresses. On the 21st of July, 1812, the 
 armies of Wellington and Marmont lay facing 
 each other near Salamanca. The following 
 day a great battle ensued in which the French 
 lost 7,000 men and were sent flying toward 
 Madrid. Welhngton then pushed on and soon 
 entered the capital of Spain, King Joseph 
 fleeing on his approach. 
 
 To go back a few months : A son was born to 
 Nai3oleon and the empress on the twentieth 
 of March, 1811, and Napoleon taking him in 
 his arms cried to his courtiers, " Gentlemen, 
 the King of Rome." The announcement of the 
 birth of the child in the royal palace was made 
 by signal rockets, and when immediately there- 
 after one hundred and one guns proclaimed 
 that the child was a boy, all Paris went into a 
 frenzy of enthusiasm, the people rushing into 
 the streets and squares, filling the air with 
 shouts of " Long live the Emperor," and many 
 shedding tears of joy. Napoleon was delirious 
 with joy. Secretly he hastened, a little later, 
 to show the child to Josephine, who caressed it 
 and cried over it as if it were her own. Never 
 had a child been ushered into the world with 
 such a magnificent welcome nor been born to so 
 magnificent a heritage. 
 
 [180] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 Many things now conspired to unsettle 
 France and dim the lustre of the great name 
 of Napoleon. The alliance with Austria on his 
 marriage to Maria Louisa was unpopular with 
 many of the republicans, who saw in it the last 
 fatal step toward a ruling dynasty. The put- 
 ting aside of Josephine had been far from 
 popular with another faction. The ill-success 
 of the French armies in Spain and Portugal 
 had brought abolit the suspicion that the tide 
 of military success had turned. Fouche, who 
 had dared, without authority from his master, 
 to send a delegation to London to ask on what 
 terms the English would make peace, was ban- 
 ished. Napoleon's quarrel with the Pope had 
 made him bitter enemies among the papal 
 party. New prisons were built throughout 
 France and filled with political prisoners. The 
 press had become enslaved. Russia had taken 
 offense at the Austrian alliance, for, should 
 Spain and Portugal be conquered, this alliance 
 would leave Russia as the only prize worth 
 fighting for that still remained on the conti- 
 nent to whet the insatiable ambition of the 
 French emperor. Everywhere could be heard 
 rumblings of an approaching storm that boded 
 ill to the " Man of Destiny." 
 
 Napoleon at this time had at his disposal 
 [181] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 over two million men. Eight hundred thou- 
 sand of them were at his immediate command 
 ready for the field. Not counting the 300,000 
 that were in the Spanish Peninsula, he could 
 bring an army of 650,000 against Alexander, 
 should war break out. Napoleon might have 
 come to honorable terms with him, but intoxi- 
 cated by his successes he helped to widen the 
 breach and precipitate war. Talleyrand ar- 
 gued and Fouche earnestly urged the emperor 
 against marching upon Russia, but both felt 
 at once of what little effect were their words. 
 Cardinal Fesch, Napoleon's uncle, appealed to 
 him on the ground that the war would be a 
 Heaven-provoking crusade. The emperor led 
 the cardinal to a window, and pointing up- 
 wards, said: " Do you see yonder star?" 
 
 " No, sire," replied the cardinal. 
 
 " But I see it," Napoleon answered, and the 
 interview was at an end. 
 
 On May 16, 1812, Napoleon met the Em- 
 peror of Austria and the Kings of Prussia, 
 Naples, and other inferior countries, at Dres- 
 den, and here, amid extravagant pomp, he laid 
 down the policy which they were to adopt in 
 case war should break out. On June 22, nego- 
 tiations between Napoleon and Alexander were 
 brought to a close in an address by the former 
 [ 182] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 to the army in which he declared that they 
 should now put an end forever to that haughty 
 influence which Russia had exercised for fifty 
 years over the affairs of Europe. Alexander 
 followed with an address to his troops in which 
 he said: " Soldiers, you fight for your religion, 
 your liberty, and your native land. Your em- 
 peror is among you ; and God is the enemy of 
 the aggressor." 
 
 The right wing of Napoleon's army con- 
 sisted of 30,000 Austrians commanded by 
 Schwartzenberg; the left wing of 30,000 by 
 Macdonald. Between these was a great army 
 of 250,000 under the coromand of Napoleon 
 himself, with such lieutenants as Davoust, 
 Ney, Junot, and Victor. The cavalry was under 
 command of Murat, King of Naples. Auge- 
 reau was to remain in the rear and protect com- 
 munications with France. This magnificent 
 army occupied a base of operations fully 300 
 miles in extent. 
 
 The greater part of the French army, before 
 taking its position, had been reviewed at Fried- 
 land. The Russians had 260,000 men in the 
 field with their centre at Wilna under the com- 
 mand of Barclay de Tolly. The plan of 
 Alexander was to draw Napoleon on, retreat- 
 ing slowly toward Moscow, and thus subject- 
 [183] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 ing the multitudinous army of the enemy to the 
 infinite difficulties of a campaign far from its 
 base of supplies and in a strange country 
 where the rigors of winter might accomplish 
 that which arms could not. On June 24, 1812, 
 Napoleon crossed the Niemen, near Kowno, 
 and the die was cast. Alexander moved back 
 slowly as Napoleon advanced. The French 
 reached Wilna on June 28 and found it de- 
 serted and everything that could be of use to 
 such a vast host destroyed; but with the fore- 
 sight for which he was always distinguished, 
 Napoleon had brought along great quantities 
 of provisions so that his soldiers were, for the 
 time being, at least, independent of the country 
 around them. 
 
 The moving of such an unwieldy force 
 of men, baggage, and provisions soon proved 
 to be a matter of immense difficulty, and 
 at the very beginning, while yet the French 
 were at Wilna, the question of putting off 
 the invasion for another year or pursuing it 
 amidst the most trying conditions presented 
 itself. At this time Alexander effected treaties 
 with England, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey, 
 with which last named country he had been at 
 war, and from every quarter the Russians 
 found reinforcements and supplies of money 
 [184] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 and provisions. The enthusiasm of the Rus- 
 sians was tremendous. A miUion Russians of- 
 fered themselves to their emperor. Moscow 
 alone offered to raise and equip 80,000 men; 
 a grand duchess of Russia (whom Napoleon 
 desired to marry) raised a regiment on her own 
 estate; a Cossack chief promised his only 
 daughter and 200,000 rubles to the man who 
 should kill Napoleon. 
 
 After remaining three weeks at Wilna the 
 French advanced with St. Petersburg as their 
 objective point, but on meeting with effective 
 resistance they turned toward Moscow. En- 
 gagement after engagement followed with 
 temporary advantages to the French, the Rus- 
 sians retreating, burning their fields and their 
 villages as they went, and lea\ang nothing to 
 the pursuing hosts but smoking ashes. On the 
 demand of his troops for a general engage- 
 ment the Russian commander-in-chief took up 
 a position between Borodino and Moscow, and 
 on September 7 the two armies stood face to 
 face, each having ready for battle about 100,- 
 000 men, with 500 guns. Napoleon addressed 
 his troops in his characteristic fashion, calling 
 upon them to behave themselves so that pos- 
 terity might say of each of them, "He was 
 in that great battle "beneath the walls of Mos- 
 [185] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 cow." The battle was a succession of charges 
 and slaughters. It was butchery on both sides 
 of the most horrible description. The result 
 of that awful day was the loss on each side 
 of nearly 50,000 men. " Death," says one his- 
 torian, " was the only victor." The Russians 
 withdrew and ISTapoleon pressed on. 
 
 On September 14 the cry of " Moscow! " 
 " Moscow! " arose from the ranks and NTapo- 
 leon looked down from " the Hill of Salva- 
 tion " on the splendid city. Murat, with his 
 cavalry, had pushed on to the very gates, where 
 he had received word from the Russian general 
 that unless two hours were granted for the safe 
 withdrawal of the Russian troops he would set 
 fire to the city. The two hours having expired, 
 the French entered and found the streets and 
 buildings deserted save for the rabble. On the 
 following midnight flames broke out, but were 
 soon extinguished. The next night the sky 
 was again lurid with flames bursting from 
 every quarter. During four days the con- 
 flagration raged till but one-fifth of the ancient 
 city remained. By the light of the flames Na- 
 poleon dictated a letter to Alexander propos- 
 ing peace, but an answer never came. In- 
 stead, rumors reached him that all Russia was 
 gathering about him. What should he do? 
 [186] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 To remain shut up in Moscow during the 
 approaching winter was to run the risk of his 
 aUies in middle and western Europe, disre- 
 garding their pledges and throwing off their 
 allegiance. To attempt to return at this late 
 hour, with winter fast closing in, was to sub- 
 ject his heroic army to incomparable dangers. 
 'News had reached him that two divisions of his 
 army that were advancing into Russia by other 
 routes had suffered defeat and that his army 
 in Spain had lost the great battle of Salamanca. 
 Following this, Murat was defeated in an en- 
 counter under the very walls of Moscow. Na- 
 poleon, then, quitting the ancient capital, with 
 his whole army went to the support of Murat. 
 No sooner had they left the city than the Rus- 
 sians again took possession and sent forth 
 bodies of troops to harass the French rear. 
 
 From this time calamity followed calamity. 
 A Russian winter was on and there was lack 
 of food. The Cossacks hung about them day 
 and night, advancing and retreating, burning 
 bridges and towns before them and killing the 
 stragglers. The annals of war fail to show a 
 more fearful chapter than that which narrates 
 the retreat from Moscow. We can not at- 
 tempt to describe it. There was no effective 
 discipline; except in case of scattering bands 
 [187] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 and small detachments the men pursued their 
 own way. Thousands sank by the wayside 
 starved and frozen. It was a chain of corpses 
 for a thousand miles. Men killed their horses, 
 wrapped themselves in the reeking skins of 
 these animals and drank their warm blood. The 
 army which, when it left Moscow, mustered 
 300,000 men, was soon reduced to a paltry 
 40,000 who could be brought together. These 
 Napoleon divided into four columns that were 
 to follow one another at intervals of a day, 
 Napoleon himself having command of the first 
 division. When the two leading divisions met 
 at Krasnoi, not much over three hundred miles 
 in a straight line west of Moscow, they mus- 
 tered a total of scarcely 15,000. Here Napo- 
 leon is reputed to have drawn his sword and 
 declared, " I have long enough played the 
 emperor — I must be the general once 
 more." 
 
 In the meantime the rear divisions were 
 meeting with continued misfortune, and Napo- 
 leon, hearing of it, despaired of ever seeing 
 them again, but on November 20 his despair 
 was changed into joy by their coming up with 
 him at Orcsa, where Napoleon hailed Marshal 
 Ney as the bravest of the brave, and declared 
 that he would have given all his treasure to be 
 [188] 
 
o 
 
 < 
 
 H 
 W 
 Pi 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 assured of his safety. Napoleon was now at 
 the head of the whole army, which consisted of 
 only 12,000 men, including 150 cavalry. Five 
 hundred officers still had possession of their 
 horses and these formed themselves into a 
 body-guard to the emperor. 
 
 In the forests along the River Beresina the 
 Httle army came suddenly upon 50,000 of their 
 countrymen, who under Victor and Oudinot 
 had entered Russia by another route. At 
 Mololodeczno Napoleon heard news from Paris 
 that caused him to quit the army and push on 
 ahead ; so giving the chief command to Murat, 
 he, with five companions, set off on the long 
 journey to Paris. On December 10 he reached 
 Warsaw. Here, on being congratulated on his 
 escape from dangers, he cried, "Dangers, 
 there were none — I have beat the Russians in 
 every battle — I live but in dangers — it is for 
 kings of Cockaigne to sit at home at ease. My 
 army is in a superb condition still — it will be 
 recruited at leisure at Wilna, and I go to bring 
 up 300,000 men more from France. I quit 
 my army with regret, but I must watch Aus- 
 tria and Prussia, and I have more weight on 
 my throne than at headquarters. The Rus- 
 sians will be rendered foolhardy by their suc- 
 cesses. I shall beat them in a battle or two on 
 [189] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 the Oder and be on the Niemen again within 
 a month." 
 
 On December 14, Napoleon and his few 
 companions reached Dresden, and on the 18th, 
 Paris. The retreating French, by the addition 
 of scattering bands, numbered 40,000 when 
 they reached Wilna. Murat had left them and 
 Eugene Beauharnais was in command. On 
 arriving at Wilna the broken columns found 
 rest and enough to eat. Strong men wept with 
 joy at the sight of a loaf of bread. But even 
 here they were attacked by the terrible Cos- 
 sacks and driven on toward the Niemen. 
 Crossing at Kowno they were on Prussian soil, 
 where the Russians ceased their pursuit. The 
 grand army of nearly one-half a million men 
 that in August assembled on the confines of 
 Russia was now reduced to scarcely 1,000 in 
 arms, and not over 20,000 more, broken and 
 disabled. It is pleasing to learn that the Prus- 
 sian people received these poor, travel-stained, 
 starved veterans with compassion and allowed 
 them to remain unmolested for a time near 
 Konigsberg. 
 
 Thus briefly told is the story of Napoleon's 
 
 disastrous campaign in Russia. The hitherto 
 
 invincible conqueror had lost in it 125,000 men 
 
 slain in battle, 130,000 by fatigtie, hunger, and 
 
 [190] 
 
WAR WITH RUSSIA 
 
 cold, 200,000 taken prisoners, including forty- 
 eight generals and 3,000 regimental officers — 
 a total loss of 450,000 men. One thousand 
 pieces of cannon and seventy-five proud eagles 
 and standards of France remained in the ene- 
 my's hands. 
 
 [191] 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 Within a few weeks after Napoleon's re- 
 turn to Paris from his disastrous campaign in 
 Russia, he found himself ready for the field 
 again with 350,000 men. Nothing more clearly 
 indicates the heroic national spirit of France 
 and the power of the name of Napoleon than 
 does this seemingly incredible statement, par- 
 ticularly when it is remembered that there was 
 scarcely a family in all France that had not lost 
 a member in the Russian campaign. The 
 rigorous winter of Russia had effected what 
 armies could not do — it had defeated Napo- 
 leon, but more than this, it had given birth to 
 the hope among the enemies of the emperor 
 that his star was at last in the descendant and 
 that a suitable time had come for a final and 
 successful effort to overthrow him. 
 
 The people of Prussia burned with the desire 
 [ 192 ] 
 
THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 to revenge themselves upon the victor of Jena, 
 and on the 31st of January, 1813, Frederick 
 WilKam called the nation to arms, with the 
 result that the people rose as one man. Women 
 contributed their jewelry and plate to be 
 melted into money, while England poured in 
 her gold. The Emperor of Russia hastened 
 to support the Prussians, and on the 15th of 
 March Alexander and Frederick William met 
 at Breslau, where Alexander, noting the tears 
 that rushed down the cheeks of the Prussian 
 Emperor, cried, "Wipe them; they are the 
 last that Napoleon shall ever cause you to 
 shed." 
 
 The command of the Prussian troops was 
 given to Blucher, a dissipated old man but a 
 catapult in battle, who hated the names of 
 France and Napoleon with his whole soul, and 
 when now again permitted to draw his sword, 
 after a period of retirement, swore never to 
 sheathe it again until the revenge of Prussia 
 was complete. 
 
 Lord Wellington, with a great and victori- 
 ous army, was steadily pushing the French 
 out of Spain, so that Napoleon found himself, 
 in the spring of 1813, between three great 
 armies led by the ablest captains that ever 
 drew sword against him. Quitting Paris, he 
 [193] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 reached, on April 18, the banks of the Saale, 
 where he was joined by Eugene Beauharnais 
 and the garrison that had been left at Magde- 
 burg. Here 200,000 men were ready for ac- 
 tion, with 200,000 more left as a reserve on 
 the Rhine. Frederick and Alexander, with an 
 immense army almost equal to that of Na- 
 poleon, were at Dresden. Nearly half of the 
 Russian forces yet remained east of the Vis- 
 tula. Frederick William desired to push on 
 to Leipsic, and Napoleon, seeking to intercept 
 the plan and strike a blow before the Russian 
 army could concentrate its two great divisions, 
 pushed east and, on the 1st of May, met the 
 enemy at Lutzen. Here a battle was fought 
 which resulted in a retreat of the allies to 
 Dresden and finally across the Elbe to Baut- 
 zen. 
 
 Marshal Ney now turned with a portion of 
 the French army toward Berlin, hoping to 
 draw the allied armies away from Bautzen 
 to the defense of the Prussian capital. The 
 attempt was a failure, however, as Frederick 
 William's purpose was to draw Napoleon into 
 the mountains. Napoleon at once moved on 
 Bautzen, reaching there May 21, and found 
 the enemy on the farther bank of the river 
 Spree, surrounded by fortified heights. Cross- 
 [ 194 ] 
 
THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 ing the river in the face of the enemy, the 
 French took up their quarters in the town. 
 The next day a fearful battle ensued, resulting 
 in the withdrawal of the French and the ad- 
 vance of Napoleon to Breslau. The Emperor 
 of Austria now offered to mediate between the 
 contending forces, and an armistice was agreed 
 upon to begin the first of June, Napoleon re- 
 turning to Dresden. 
 
 Napoleon was now urged on all sides to 
 make a treaty of peace that would end the 
 war and leave him in undisputed possession 
 of France. The arguments used were many 
 and powerful. There was an unsettled feeling 
 at home. Austria gave every appearance of 
 preparing for war; should she join the allies 
 there could be little doubt of the outcome. 
 Wellington was universally successful in 
 Spain, having driven the French into the 
 Pyrenees. 
 
 Nearly all of Napoleon's advisers in the field 
 and at home urged him to accede to reasonable 
 terms proposed by Austria, saying that should 
 he withdraw into France he could strengthen 
 his army, and behind the river Rhine and the 
 Pyrenees bid defiance to the world. Instead 
 of taking this advice, he declared, " Ten lost 
 battles would not sink me lower than you would 
 [195] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 have me place myself by my own voluntary 
 act," and announced to his advisers that he 
 did not wish for any plans of theirs, but did 
 wish their service in the execution of his. On 
 August 10, the armistice ended with nothing 
 accomplished by the peace negotiators, and 
 Austria alhed herself at once with Russia and 
 Prussia. 
 
 Napoleon now had 250,000 men, 100,000 of 
 whom were at Buntzlaw, 50,000 at Zittau, 
 20,000 at Pirna, 60,000 at Leipsic, and 25,000 
 at his side at Dresden. One hundred and 
 twenty thousand Austrians and 80,000 Rus- 
 sians and Prussians, under command of the 
 Austrian General Schwartzenberg, had their 
 headquarters at Prague. Eighty thousand 
 Russians and Prussians, commanded by 
 Blucher, lay before Breslau. The Crown 
 Prince of Sweden was at Berlin with an army 
 of 90,000. The commanders of the three al- 
 lied armies agreed that wherever the French 
 should attack, the part of the army attacked 
 should withdraw, the idea being to tempt 
 Napoleon to leave Dresden, where was located 
 the French magazines, at the mercy of some 
 other division of the army, and permit the 
 throwing of a large body of the allied troops 
 between the French and the Rhine. Blucher, 
 [ 196 ] 
 
THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 with his division at Breslau, began the move- 
 ment by attacking the French at Buntzlaw. 
 Napoleon quitted Dresden and hastened with 
 the Imperial Guard to the relief. Blucher, in 
 accordance with the general plan, retreated, 
 Napoleon pursuing. At once the division 
 of the enemy at Prague made a rush for 
 Dresden, driving before them the French at 
 Pirna. 
 
 The attack on Dresden was made on August 
 26, before Napoleon could retlirn to assist in 
 its defense, but during the day the Imperial 
 Guard made their appearance, crossing the 
 bridge over the Elbe and bearing with them 
 Napoleon, who, as Hoif man, a German writer, 
 says, " carried the eye of a tyrant and the voice 
 of a Hon as he urged on his breathless and eager 
 soldiers." An attack was made at once, but 
 night came on and the two armies remained in 
 the presence of each other till the follov/ing 
 morning, when the battle was renewed in a 
 storm of wind and rain. In but a few hours 
 200,000 men gathered about the French em- 
 peror and flung themselves upon the allied 
 troops, causing them to retreat with a loss of 
 15,000 to 20,000 prisoners and twenty-six can- 
 non, and the ablest of their leaders. Among 
 those of the enemy who were slain was Moreau, 
 [ 197 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 who had at one time fought under Napoleon. 
 Shot in both legs, he continued to smoke a 
 cigar while they were amputated, and died 
 shortly after. 
 
 Napoleon himself now retired to Dresden 
 while his soldiers continued the pursuit of the 
 enemy, but they went too far, for on the morn- 
 ing of August 30 they found themselves sur- 
 rounded by Prussian troops that appeared sud- 
 denly in the rear, and after a disastrous battle 
 surrendered to the number of 8,000 men, with 
 all their arms and many eagles, the remainder 
 of the army scattering among the hills. 
 When news of this loss reached Napoleon 
 at Dresden, it found him sick and weary, 
 for not only had this misfortune befallen him 
 but others. 
 
 As soon as he had retired from the pursuit 
 of Blucher, that general turned and swept 
 back over the field, winning a complete victory 
 on the 26th of August, causing a loss to the 
 French of 15,000 men and one hundred guns. 
 Other divisions of the French army had also 
 suffered defeat, notably in an action at Denne- 
 witz on September 7, in which the French lost 
 10,000 prisoners and forty-six guns. At 
 length the two divisions of the alhed armies, 
 namely, the one comprising 90,000 men about 
 [198] 
 
THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 Berlin and the other under Blucher, joined on 
 the west bank of the Elbe, and it became mani- 
 fest that Dresden must be given up by the 
 French and Leipsic taken as the base of opera- 
 tions. Here the emperor could number 136,- 
 000 men, while the allies mustered not less than 
 230,000. Scarcely had Napoleon reached Leip- 
 sic on the 15th of October than the enemy ap- 
 peared under the command of their General- 
 in-Chief Schwartzenberg, who had with him 
 the Emperors Alexander and Frederick Will- 
 iam. A battle began on October 16, lasting 
 till nightfall, with slight advantage to the allied 
 armies. 
 
 It was now evident to Napoleon that he must 
 retreat from Leipsic, but before doing so he 
 made an effort to obtain peace, through 
 the Emperor of Austria, promising to give 
 up Poland, Holland, Spain, Italy, and all 
 Germany under certain conditions, but the 
 oiFer was too late. Austria, Germany, Prus- 
 sia, and Russia had sworn to make no treaty 
 so long as a French soldier remained on the 
 eastern side of the Rhine. Napoleon, receiv- 
 ing no answer to his proposal, began the 
 retreat with his 100,000 men. They set 
 out at midnight of October 18, over two 
 bridges, one of which was a temporary 
 [ 199 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 structure and broke down before daylight. 
 Napoleon had ordered that the remaining 
 bridge be blown up if the advances of the 
 enemy should make it necessary, and the offi- 
 cer to whom the duty had been entrusted, deter- 
 mining that the time had come, set fire to his 
 train and blew up the bridge, cutting oif the 
 escape of 25,000 Frenchmen who laid down 
 their arms within the city. Napoleon lost in 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners at Leipsic over 
 50,000 men. 
 
 The retreat to France was a bitter and 
 sorrowful one. A halt was made at Erfurt, 
 but Napoleon, learning that his enemies were 
 attempting to place themselves between the 
 Rhine and his flying columns, pushed on. On 
 the morning of October 30, the French met a 
 body of Austro-Bavarians at Hanau, where, 
 with a loss of 6,000 of his men. Napoleon killed 
 or wounded 10,000 of the enemy and took 4,000 
 prisoners. The number of prisoners would 
 have been greater had it not been for a patri^ 
 otic miller who suddenly let the water into his 
 millstream and separated the French cavahy 
 from some German infantry whom they were 
 driving before them. At length the remnants 
 of the French army crossed the Rhine, and the 
 emperor, leaving them, reached Paris in person 
 [200] 
 
THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 
 
 on November 9. When the Austrians and 
 Prussians reached the Rhine in their pursuit, 
 so great was their affection for the stream that 
 they knelt upon its banks and shouted, " The 
 Rhine! The Rhine!" 
 
 [201] 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FRANCE INVADED — NAPOLEON OVERTHROWN 
 AND DEPOSED 
 
 The name of ISTapoleon had now ceased to 
 be a terror, and even in France there were those 
 who dared breathe a suspicion that its glory 
 was about to set. TsTow misfortune followed 
 misfortune with startling rapidity. The chap- 
 ter of l^^apoleon's fall is shorter than that of 
 his rise. By the campaign just concluded he 
 had lost Germany, Hanover, Brunswick, 
 Hesse. The Federation of the Rhine was dis- 
 solved. Denmark allied herself with his ene- 
 mies. The Prince of Orange returning from 
 England became again ruler of Holland. The 
 Austrians had sent an army into Italy and 
 defeated Eugene Beauharnais. All Italy was 
 rising against him. Not a single French sol- 
 dier remained in Spain to withstand the power- 
 ful army of Wellington. 
 
 His four most powerful enemies, England, 
 [202] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 Russia, Prussia, and Austria, were massing 
 themselves on his eastern borders preparing to 
 invade the sacred territory of France. 
 
 Not only this, but the royalists of France 
 were again becoming active and mustering 
 about their leaders. The radical republicans, 
 too, who had witnessed with dismay Napoleon's 
 usurpation of power, looked upon his misfor- 
 tunes with delight. His ablest leaders and 
 counsellors, whom he had repeatedly insulted, 
 now, when it appeared that his influence was 
 about to depart, prepared to take a hand in his 
 overthrow. " Ere I crossed the Rhine," said 
 Napoleon at St. Helena afterwards, " I felt 
 the reins slipping from my hands." 
 
 The allied pov/ers now issued a proclamation 
 declaring that it was for the interest of Europe 
 that France should continue to be a powerful 
 state and expressing their willingness to con- 
 cede to her greater territory than her kings 
 had ever claimed — the boundaries, namely, of 
 the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pja^enees. But 
 the indomitable spirit of Napoleon was not yet 
 crushed. He issued ringing calls for more 
 men, set the arsenals at work making guns, 
 doubled the taxes, and put into every branch 
 of the national service that prodigious energy 
 which he more than any man that has ever 
 [203] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 lived possessed. The Legislative Assembly 
 refusing to do his bidding, he dissolved it. 
 When his friends ventured to suggest that an 
 honorable peace could be made that would leave 
 him with a greater territory than that of which 
 even Louis XIV. had boasted, he cried, 
 " Shame on you! Wellington has entered the 
 south. The Russians menace the northern 
 frontier, the Prussians, Austrians, and Bava- 
 rians the eastern. Shame! Wellington is in 
 France and we have not risen en masse to drive 
 him back. All my allies have deserted — the 
 Bavarian has betrayed me. No peace till we 
 have burned Munich. I demand a levy of 300,- 
 
 000 men — with this and what I already have 
 
 1 shall see a million in arms. I will form a 
 camp of 100,000 at Bordeaux; another at 
 Metz; a third at Lyons. But I must have 
 grown men — these boys serve only to encum- 
 ber the hospitals and the roadsides. Abandon 
 Holland! Sooner yield it back to the sea! 
 Senators, an impulse must be given — All 
 must march — You are fathers of families 
 — the heads of the nation — you must set the 
 example. Peace ! I hear of nothing but peace, 
 when all around should echo to the cry of war." 
 
 He issued peremptory orders everywhere. 
 He executed whole bands of soldiers guilty of 
 [204] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 endeavoring to escape. Musicians paraded the 
 streets singing ballads in honor of the emperor. 
 Talleyrand said, "It is the beginning of the 
 end." 
 
 Napoleon dismissed the venerable Pope of 
 Rome, who had been his prisoner at Fontaine- 
 bleau, hoping that this might produce a good 
 effect in Italy, but already Napoleon's brother- 
 in-law, Mtirat, had withdrawn from his alliance 
 with the emperor and thrown in his fortunes 
 with Austria. He also released Ferdinand of 
 Spain, urging upon him to return to his king- 
 dom and, expelling the English, to re-establish 
 his relations with France, whereupon Ferdi- 
 nand re-entered Spain to the great joy of his 
 subjects. 
 
 On December 20, Schwartzenberg, at the 
 head of a great army, crossed the Rhine be- 
 tween Basle and SchafFhausen into Switzer- 
 land, which was then neutral territory, and 
 advancing through that territory unopposed 
 soon showed himself before the gates of Dijon. 
 On January 1, 1814, the army under Blucher 
 crossed the river between Rastadt and Coblentz. 
 A little later the army of the North, under 
 Witzengerode and Bulow, crossed the frontier 
 of the Netherlands. Wellington had already 
 crossed the Pyrenees. Thus, 300,000 men, 
 [ 205] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 making up four mighty armies, had invaded 
 the soil of France. The news carried terror 
 into every fireside. Nearer and nearer the hosts 
 swept on to Paris, conquering everything be- 
 fore them. On January 23, Napoleon sum- 
 moned the officers of the National Guard to his 
 palace. Nine hundred of them appeared before 
 him. With him as he stood in this notable 
 presence were the empress and the little King 
 of Rome, the latter being carried in the arms 
 of Countess Montesquiou. " Gentlemen," said 
 Napoleon, " France is invaded. I go to put 
 myself at the head of my troops, and with 
 God's help and their valor I hope soon to drive 
 the enemy beyond the frontier; but if they 
 should approach the capital, I confide to the 
 National Guard the empress and the King 
 of Rome — my wife and my child." 
 
 On January 24, Napoleon reviewed the 
 troops in the court -yard at the Tuilleries, and 
 on the next morning left his capital, appoint- 
 ing the empress as regent and placing his 
 brother Joseph at the head of her Council. At 
 midnight he arrived at Chalons and immedi- 
 ately resolved to attack Blucher, who was then 
 in the neighborhood. Blucher stationed himself 
 at Brienne — the town where Napoleon re- 
 ceived his military education. Napoleon ap- 
 [206] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 peared at Brienne with 70,000 men on the 29th. 
 In the fight that followed Brienne was burnt 
 to the ground and Blucher retired a little 
 farther up the Aube. Napoleon said after- 
 ward at St. Helena that during the charge 
 at Brienne he recognized a tree under which, 
 when a boy, he used to sit and read the " Jeru- 
 salem Delivered " of Tasso. 
 
 On February 1, Blucher attacked the French 
 and defeated them, taking 4,000 prisoners and 
 seventy-three guns. Napoleon then struck 
 across the country to Troyes. There he learned 
 that Blucher was advancing toward Paris. It 
 was now winter and the roads were in fearful 
 condition, but Napoleon set off with the main 
 body of his army to cut oiF the enemy's advance. 
 A part of Blucher's force was met and beaten, 
 and Blucher, advancing rapidly with the main 
 body of his troops, found himself suddenly in 
 the presence of vastly superior numbers. All 
 day he sustained the charges of the French, 
 and at last was forced to retreat. In five days 
 Napoleon had been three times successful, and 
 the hearts of the soldiers were encouraged to 
 believe that fortune would favor them in 
 the end. A column of 4,000 Prussian pris- 
 oners, with a large number of guns and stand- 
 ards, was sent into Paris, and the people again 
 [207] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 cried, " Vive Napoleon! " Another division of 
 the allied armies, however, had reached as near 
 the capital as Fontainebleau. NTapoleon in- 
 stantly committed to others the care of watch-* 
 ing Blucher and marched with the main body 
 on Meaux, where, on the fifteenth of February, 
 20,000 men joined him, commanded by 
 Grouchy. 
 
 Napoleon now sent a letter to the Emperor 
 of Austria once more endeavoring to win him 
 away from the enemies of France. Francis 
 replied that on no account could he abandon 
 the alliance, but urged Napoleon to make con- 
 cessions ere it was too late and save himself and 
 his house from ruin. Again he was urged on 
 all sides that, while he was fortunate in holding 
 in check one of the allied armies, others were 
 successful and approaching the capital by rapid 
 marches. His answer was that he had sworn at 
 his coronation to preserve the territory of the 
 republic entire and that he could not sign the 
 treaties proposed without violating his oath. 
 
 It is impossible for ns in our limited space 
 to follow the rapid movements of Napoleon in 
 his desperate eiForts to extricate himself from 
 his difficulties. In these days the genius of the 
 man shone with startling brilliancy. The fact 
 that he was obstinate and perfidious cannot 
 [208] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 weaken the admiration that we must have for 
 his undaunted courage and his marvellous 
 resolution and powers of invention. On the 
 26th of March, 1814, the roaring of the enemy's 
 cannon could he heard by the inhabitants of 
 Paris. On the 27th Joseph Bonaparte held a 
 review, and that same evening the allied armies 
 passed the Marne. At three on the morning of 
 the 28th they took Meaux, and the roads into 
 Paris were filled with the terrified population 
 fleeing to the capital, " with," says one, " their 
 aged, infirm, children, cats, dogs, live stock, 
 corn, hay, and household goods of every de- 
 scription." 
 
 On March 29, the empress, with her son and 
 many members of the Council of State, with 
 seven hundred soldiers and fifteen wagons 
 laden with plate and coin from the palace, set 
 off for Blois. Joseph Bonaparte issued a 
 proclamation calling on the citizens to defend 
 the city and encouraging them to believe that 
 Napoleon, who was following on the rear of the 
 enemy, would meet and overpower them tinder 
 the walls of the capital. On March 30 the allies 
 fought and won the final battle, and Alexander 
 and Frederick immediately declared that they 
 would spare the city provided the regular 
 troops would evacuate it. Shortly after four 
 [209] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 in the afternoon the cannon were turned on the 
 city itself and shot and shell began to spread 
 destruction within its walls. At five o'clock the 
 city capitulated, Joseph Bonaparte himself 
 having set off at one o'clock on a good horse 
 for Blois. 
 
 Napoleon reached Troyes on the night of the 
 29th. On the 30th his friends endeavored to 
 convince him that the fate of Paris was no 
 longer a question and advised him to cease the 
 pursuit and form a junction with another divi- 
 sion of the army. He, however, continued to 
 advance, refusing all counsel. In a post-chaise 
 he drove on before his army at full speed with 
 hardly an attendant. At one point he mounted 
 on horseback and galloped without a pause into 
 Fontainebleau late in the night. There he 
 ordered a carriage, and taking two officers with 
 him drove on towards Paris. But a few miles 
 from the city he learned from a body of French 
 cavalry that Paris had been given up. Even 
 then he refused to halt. Jumping from his 
 carriage he asked question after question, call- 
 ing for this general and that, asking where were 
 the enemy, where his wife and his boy. Again 
 he entered his carriage and ordered it driven 
 with all speed to Paris. " Come," said he, 
 " we must to Paris — Nothing goes right 
 [210] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 when I am away. They do nothing but blunder. 
 They should have held out longer. . . . This 
 comes of employing fools and cowards." 
 
 It was urged upon him that to go to Paris 
 was to rush on to death or captivity, and it 
 was not tintil within a mile of the city that he 
 was induced to abandon his design. Then, with 
 perfect composure, he turned and drove back to 
 Fontainebleau. At noon of March 31 the first 
 of the allied troops began to enter the city. 
 They made a splendid showing, 50,000 troops, 
 and in their midst the Czar of Russia and the 
 King of Prussia, with a great crowd of princes, 
 ambassadors and generals, filled the crowd 
 with wonder and delight, and shouts arose on 
 all sides, " Vive I'empereur Alexander! — Vive 
 le roi de Prusse! " while here and there arose 
 the cry, " Vive Louis XVIII! " 
 
 Alexander and Frederick William were 
 urged to re-establish the House of Bourbon, 
 but they hesitated. Alexander signed a procla- 
 mation asserting that the allies would treat no 
 more with Napoleon Bonaparte or any of his 
 family. The Municipal Council met and pro- 
 claimed that the throne was empty. On April 
 1 the Conservative Senate assembled and pro- 
 claimed a provisional government with Talley- 
 rand as its head. Napoleon was deposed, the 
 [211] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 vote in favor thereof being unanimous. The 
 aUied princes appointed mihtary governors of 
 Paris, and the populace busied itself in pulling 
 down statues and pictures and effacing the 
 arms and initials of Napoleon wherever they 
 appeared. On April 4 Napoleon reviewed his 
 troops at Fontainebleau and announced his 
 intention of instantly marching to Paris. Fifty 
 thousand men were all that he could marshal 
 about him. After the review his generals fol- 
 lowed him to his palace and there informed him 
 that they would not accompany him in an 
 attack on Paris if he refused to negotiate on 
 the basis of his abdication of the throne, wher- 
 upon he drew up and signed the following and 
 sent it to Paris, with instructions to those who 
 bore it that they should obtain the best terms 
 they could for France — for himself nothing. 
 The note read as follows : 
 
 " The allied powers having proclaimed that 
 the Emperor Napoleon is the sole obstacle to 
 the re-establishment of peace in Europe, he, 
 faithful to his oath, declares that he is ready 
 to descend from the throne, to quit France, and 
 even to relinquish life, for the good of his 
 country, which is inseparable from the rights 
 of his son, from those of the regency in the 
 [212] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 person of the empress, and from the mainte- 
 nance of the laws of the Empire. Done at our 
 palace of Fontainebleau April 4, 1814. 
 
 " Napoleon." 
 
 The generals who bore this note to Paris were 
 received by Alexander in person. The emperor 
 expressed his surprise that it should contain no 
 stipulations for Napoleon personally. Said he, 
 " But I have been his friend, and I will will- 
 ingly be his advocate. I propose that he retain 
 his imperial title with the sovereignty of Elba, 
 or some other island." 
 
 The final terms agreed upon in favor of 
 Napoleon and his house were these. First, the 
 imperial title to be preserved by Napoleon, 
 with the free sovereignty of Elba, guards, and 
 a navy suitable to the extent of that island, and 
 a pension from France of 6,000,000 of francs 
 annually. Second, the duchies of Parma, Pla- 
 centia, and GViastalla to be granted in sover- 
 eignty to Maria Louisa and her heirs; and 
 third, two milHons and a half of francs annu- 
 ally to be paid by the French government in 
 pensions to Josephine and the other members 
 of the Bonaparte family. 
 
 One by one his generals had deserted him, 
 and on the 11th of April, abandoning all hope 
 [213] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 of again leading an army, he executed the in- 
 strument which formally renounced for himself 
 and his heirs the thrones of France and of Italy. 
 On April 20, he called his officers about him 
 and told them that they had come to receive his 
 last adieux. In his interview with them he 
 bade them attach themselves to the new govern- 
 ment and serve it as faithfully as they had 
 served him. He asked that so much of his 
 Imperial Guard as still remained might be 
 drawn up in the courtyard of the Castle. He 
 rode up to them on horseback and, tears drop- 
 ping from his eyes, he dismounted in their 
 midst. To these he said, " Be faithful to the 
 new sovereign whom your country has chosen. 
 Do not lament my fate. I shall always be 
 happy while I know that you are so. I could 
 have died — nothing was easier — but I will 
 always follow the path of honor. I will record 
 with my pen the deeds we have done together. 
 I cannot embrace you all, but I embrace your 
 general. Bring hither the eagle. Beloved 
 eagle! May the kisses I bestow on you long 
 resound in the hearts of the brave! Farewell, 
 my children — farewell, my brave companions 
 — surround me once more — farewell! " 
 
 Josephine had fled from Paris on the ap- 
 proach of the allied armies, but on being sent 
 [ 214 ] 
 
NAPOLEON DEPOSED 
 word by Alexander that she would be pro- 
 tected she returned to Malmaison. Here the 
 Czar visited her frequently, endeavoring to 
 soothe her affliction, but even before the allied 
 armies had left France she sickened and died. 
 Maria Louisa and her son took up their journey 
 to Vienna under the personal protection of the 
 Emperor of Austria. 
 
 [215] 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ELBA — THE ONE HUNDRED DAYS — WATERLOO 
 — ST. HELENA — THE END 
 
 The little island of Elba, the sovereignty of 
 which the conquerors of Napoleon had decreed 
 to him with a show of generosity, lay off the 
 west coast of Italy two hundred miles from the 
 coast of France, and boasted of a circumfer- 
 ence of not over sixty miles and a population of 
 about thirteen thousand. It was on May 4th, 
 1814, that Napoleon set foot within this little 
 Idngdom. What a fall was there from the con- 
 queror of Europe to the master of a little rocky 
 island, not more than a prison at its best! 
 
 By permission of the allied powers the exiled 
 emperor took with him eight hundred and fifty 
 of the Imperial Guard, all picked men and all 
 volunteers. With him also went Bertrand, 
 Grand Master of the Palace, and some other 
 intimate friends and servants, and later his 
 mother, then seventy years old, and his sister 
 Pauline joined him. 
 
 [216] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 One reads with pathetic interest that while 
 Napoleon was thus drinking the dregs of the 
 cup of defeat, and turning his back upon his 
 beloved France to suffer an ignominious exile, 
 Josephine was dying at Malmaison with a 
 prayer for him on her lips, and Maria Louisa 
 and her son were enjoying the splendors of 
 the court of the Austrian emperor. By the 
 terms of the agreement between the powers, 
 Maria Louisa and her son were to be sent to 
 Elba to join Napoleon, but through the in- 
 trigues of Maria Louisa's father, the Emperor 
 of Austria, she was detained at Vienna, and 
 finally permitted herself to engage in a folly 
 that lost for her the reputation of a wife and 
 mother. Constant, the son, grew up a dissi- 
 pated youth and died at the age of twenty-one 
 of consumption. 
 
 Nor was this the only particular in which the 
 conquerors of Napoleon showed lack of faith 
 and disregarded their oaths. Napoleon was to 
 receive a pension of $400,000 a year from the 
 French Government, but not a dollar of it was 
 paid. 
 
 No sooner had Napoleon reached Elba than 
 
 he set about with his accustomed energy to 
 
 improve the condition of the people of his little 
 
 kingdom, projecting great public improve- 
 
 [217] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 ments, examining every nook and corner of the 
 rocky coast, studying the resources and capa- 
 bilities of the soil and encouraging the people 
 to work and to improve their condition. All 
 this took money, and when the promised pen- 
 sion failed, he lost courage and patience. We 
 may readily believe that this failure of the 
 allies to do what they had agreed was what 
 finally led Napoleon to formulate plans for a 
 return to France and an effort to regain what 
 he had lost. 
 
 The enemies of Napoleon, not being satisfied 
 with robbing him of his wife and child and his 
 pension, within a few months were found plot- 
 ting to remove him from the island of Elba, 
 which they suddenly decided was too near at 
 hand, to the rock-bound prison of St. Helena, 
 and hired assassins were sent to Elba and barely 
 thwarted in their efforts to take his hfe. 
 
 Leaving Napoleon for the moment, sur- 
 rounded by his seven hundred troops of the 
 " Old Guard," in the company of his mother 
 and his sister Pa\iline, trying as best he could 
 with the little money at his command to keep 
 up a show of dignity, and finding employment 
 in the affairs of his little kingdom, let us turn 
 again to France. Let us remember that it was 
 Louis XVI. whose head had fallen from the 
 [218] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 
 block at the beginning of the Revolution. 
 Louis XVII., as he is called, died as a mere 
 boy. On the overthrow of Napoleon the 
 Powers decreed that the brother of Louis XVL, 
 who was then sixty years of age and living in 
 England, should be King of France under 
 the title of Louis XVIII. 
 
 It was on May 3d, 1814, the day that Na- 
 poleon saw for the first time from the deck of 
 the British vessel, the " Undaunted," his little 
 island kingdom, that Louis XVIII. made his 
 triumphal entry into Paris. But a few months 
 passed ere the French, many of whom scarcely 
 remembered the days of the Bourbon kings, 
 got a taste of Bourbon rule. True, Louis 
 XVI 1 1., before taking the crown, had prom- 
 ised in writing certain reforms; but scarcely 
 was the ink dry upon the writing than he set 
 about breaking his promises. Coming to the. 
 throne with the idea of the divine right of 
 kings, and wishing to overthrow every sem- 
 blance of authority that the people had gained, 
 and to bring back the days of the old monarchy 
 when the people had no right which the nobles 
 were bound to respect, France soon awakened 
 to a realization that something had gone out 
 of its national life. 
 
 A congress of nations had been called to 
 [219] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 assemble at Vienna to settle matters of dispute 
 that had arisen out of the Napoleonic wars. 
 While this congress was in session Napoleon, 
 learning of the plot to remove him from Elba 
 to St. Helena, determined that the time was 
 ripe for him to return to France, rally about 
 him his supporters, and seek to recover that 
 which he had lost. It was a bold design, with 
 less than a thousand men at his command and 
 the armies of all Europe against him, but for 
 months he had been secretly plotting with his 
 friends throughout France and he knew that 
 the army was with him. He had given four 
 hundred of his soldiers furloughs and, sending 
 them to France, saw to it that they scattered 
 themselves among the soldiery and revived the 
 hope in the hearts of the heroes of Napoleon's 
 battles that their old commander would soon 
 return. 
 
 On the evening of February 25th, 1815, 
 Pauline gave a ball to which all the officers of 
 the Elbese army were invited. A brig and six 
 small boats had been made ready and at mid- 
 night of that night the soldiers were mustered 
 by beat of drum and found themselves on board 
 ship ere they could ask for what purpose. 
 When, far out at sea, they learned that they 
 were bound for France, their joy was uncon- 
 [220] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 strained, cries of " Vive Fempereur " arising on 
 all sides. On March 2d, after a perilous voy- 
 age during which the brig barely escaped cap- 
 ture, Napoleon and his men stood on the sacred 
 soil of France. So quietly had the expedition 
 been planned and so stealthily had it proceeded 
 that not a soul believed it possible that Napo- 
 leon was present when a handful of men started 
 on the road to Paris crying his name. Early 
 the morning of their arrival the Httle force 
 passed through the town of Grasse, where the 
 whole population was crowded out lipon the 
 road to receive him with every show of joy and 
 affection. Two days later they reached Gap 
 amid popular acclamations. Here he issued a 
 proclamation with these ringing words: 
 
 " Soldiers, we have not been beaten. In my 
 exile I have heard your voice. I have arrived 
 once more among you, past all obstacles and all 
 perils. . . . Take again the eagles which you 
 furled at Ulm, at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Mont- 
 mirail. Come and range yourselves under the 
 banners of your old chief. Victory shall march 
 at the charging steps. The eagle with the 
 national colors shall fly from steeple to steeple 
 — on to the towers of Notre Dame. In your 
 old age, surrounded and honored by your fel- 
 low citizens, you shall be heard with respect 
 [ 221 J 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 when you recount your high deeds. You then 
 shall say with pride : ' I also was one of that 
 great army which entered twice within the walls 
 of Vienna, which took Rome and Berhn and 
 Madrid and Moscow — and which delivered 
 Paris from the stain printed on it by domestic 
 treason and the occupation of strangers.' " 
 
 At one point Napoleon came upon a bat- 
 talion sent to arrest his advance. Dismounting 
 from his horse and followed by a hundred of 
 his guard with their arms reversed, he strode 
 forward to within a hundred paces of the 
 enemy. Throwing open his surtout and exhib- 
 iting the star of the Legion of Honor he cried : 
 
 " If there be among you a soldier who desires 
 to kill his general — his emperor — let him do 
 it now. Here I am." 
 
 The miraculous influence of that voice and 
 that presence drove every soldier in the oppos- 
 ing ranks into the arms of his old commander, 
 and together they marched on toward Paris. 
 Near Grenoble they came upon the Seventh 
 Regiment of the line, and this, though com- 
 manded by an officer of noble family promoted 
 by Louis XVIIL, broke ranks, and shouting, 
 " Long live Napoleon," joined themselves to 
 the advancing columns, their commander him- 
 self placing upon his cap the tricolor cockade. 
 [ 222 ] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 Grenoble, itself, threw open its gates and Na- 
 poleon found himself dragged from his horse 
 and borne aloft on men's shoulders to the centre 
 of the town. Now with 7,000 soldiers he ad- 
 vanced on Lyons, a city of 200,000 inhabitants, 
 but here, as elsewhere, opposition vanished at 
 his approach. Lyons was the second city of 
 France and he entered it in triumph. 
 
 An edict was sent out from Paris proclaim- 
 ing Napoleon an outlaw and offering rewards 
 for his capture. Then it began to dawn upon 
 Louis XVIII. that the army and the people 
 were with the " outlaw " and that nothing 
 could prevent his taking possession of Paris 
 itself. Indeed, at Lyons, Napoleon was issu- 
 ing decrees and proclamations as of old, as the 
 Emperor of the French. Marshal Ney, " the 
 bravest of the brave," volunteered his services 
 and that of his troops to Napoleon, and on 
 March 17th their forces were joined at 
 Auxerre. On March 19th Napoleon slept once 
 more at the chateau of Fontainebleau. On the 
 20th, in a carriage, Napoleon advanced toward 
 Paris, right into the face of a large force pre- 
 pared to defend the capital under Marshal 
 MacDonald. No sooner was the person of 
 Napoleon recognized by MacDonald's troops 
 than they burst from their ranks and sur- 
 [223] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 rounded their old emperor with cries of con- 
 gratulation and affection, MacDonald himself 
 fleeing to Paris. Already Louis XVIII. had 
 heard the news and was fleeing to the frontiers 
 of the Netherlands. On the evening of March 
 20th, barely twenty days since landing at 
 Cannes, Napoleon entered Paris and was car- 
 ried on the shoulders of his men up the great 
 staircase of the palace of the Tuileries. Never, 
 it is said, was such a scene witnessed in history. 
 
 The startling news that Napoleon was in 
 Paris and that the king had fled broke like a 
 bombshell on the congress at Vienna. At once 
 on recovering from its surprise it issued a 
 proclamation declaring that Napoleon Bona- 
 parte had placed himself without the pale of 
 civil and social relations, and that as an enemy 
 and disturber of the tranquillity of the world 
 he had rendered himself liable to public ven- 
 geance. Then Europe prepared once more for 
 war. 
 
 A treaty was entered into by which England, 
 Austria, Russia, and Prussia bound themselves 
 to each maintain 150,000 troops in arms until 
 Napoleon should be either dethroned or reduced 
 so low as no longer to endanger the peace of 
 Europe. But so eager were His enemies, that 
 before sixty days had passed Napoleon found 
 [224] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 himself confronted by a combined army of 
 over a million men, commanded by the Duke 
 of Wellington. 
 
 After fortifying Paris Napoleon left that 
 city on the 11th of June to measure himself 
 against Wellington. At Beaumont in Bel- 
 gium, just over the frontier from France, on 
 the 14th he reviewed his army of 135,000 men. 
 On the 16th of June he announced two vic- 
 tories, those of Quatre-Bras and Ligny, won 
 on the way to the Belgian capital. In the 
 former the English and the French each lost 
 about 5,000 men, and in the latter the Prussians 
 lost 20,000 and the French 15,000. In the 
 former Wellington commanded the allied 
 forces, and in the latter Blucher. 
 
 The allied forces now retired and took posi- 
 tion near the village of Waterloo. The position 
 of the Duke of Wellington was about a mile 
 and a half in advance of the town, on a rising 
 ground having a gentle slope before it, and still 
 farther on, a plain of about a mile in breadth. 
 Beyond the plain were the heights of La Belle 
 AUiance. The duke had with him 72,000 to 
 90,000 men. Blucher, with a like number of 
 men, was but a few hours' march distant. Well- 
 ington formed his army into three lines, the 
 first containing the best of his troops; the 
 [225] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 second such as had suffered in the battle at 
 Quatre-Bras, and the third, the cavalry. The 
 line was in convex form, dropping back toward 
 a forest at either extremity in which in case of 
 defeat it might find protection. Wellington had 
 sent to Blucher asking that two divisions of 
 Prussians be sent him, and Blucher had replied 
 that he would march at once to his support. 
 The roads were in horrible condition, the rain 
 falling in torrents. Napoleon's purpose was 
 to beat Wellington before Blucher could reach 
 the scene. His army consisted of 70,000 men. 
 Wellington's army had rested during the night ; 
 Napoleon's had been on the march. When 
 Napoleon, from the heights of La Belle Alli- 
 ance, saw the English army standing before 
 him he cried: 
 
 " At last, then, I have these English in mj'' 
 grasp." 
 
 At eleven o'clock Sunday morning, the 18th, 
 the French opened with their cannon, and Je- 
 rome Bonaparte, with 6,000 men, charged upon 
 Wellington's right, with the result that the 
 English withstood the onset and finally forced 
 back the assaulting columns. Another attempt 
 was made by a body of French infantry and 
 cavalry on the English centre, but without a 
 result favorable to either side. Then another 
 [226] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 assault was made on the English right by the 
 French cavalry. The English formed them- 
 selves in a double line of squares protected in 
 front by a battery of thirty cannon. The 
 French cavalry charged the artillerymen and 
 drove them from their guns and then rode 
 fiercely on the living squares, but they paid 
 dearly for their bravery, for the greater part 
 of the attacking column was destroyed. 
 
 By four o'clock the English had lost 
 10,000 and the French 15,000, five thousand 
 men for every hour. It was then Napoleon 
 saw that Blucher, at the head of his Prus- 
 sian columns, had arrived, and it became 
 evident that unless he could strike a deci- 
 sive blow at once he must be overpowered. 
 Forming his guard — the flower of his 
 army, the best fighting men in the world — 
 into two columns, and putting at their head 
 Marshal Ney, he sent them against the Eng- 
 lish, who presented an unbroken front four 
 deep, with the ends of the line moving forward. 
 Into this concave line of living fire the brave 
 heroes of Napoleon's army threw themselves 
 with reckless abandon. Four battalions of the 
 " Old Guard " had been left in the rear as a 
 reserve about Napoleon. The Duke of Well- 
 ington placing himself at the head of his line 
 [227] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 gave the order to advance. Nothing could 
 withstand the impetuous onset. Then Blucher, 
 with his Prussians, struck the flank of the 
 struggling guards and sent them flying in 
 every direction. Napoleon's last battle had 
 been fought and his star had gone down. 
 Forty thousand lay dead on the field of Water- 
 loo. 
 
 Napoleon watched the course of events 
 through his spy-glass, and noting that his 
 " Old Guard " had given way, shouted, " All 
 is lost for the present ! " and hurried off the 
 field, riding toward Charleroi. Within twenty- 
 four hours he was in Paris, alone, and on the 
 morning of June 22d the following proclama- 
 tion appeared, addressed to the French people : 
 
 " Frenchmen! In commencing war for the 
 upholding of national independence I relied on 
 the union of all eiForts, all wills, and all au- 
 thorities. I had every reason to hope for suc- 
 cess and I braved all the declarations of the 
 allies against me. Circumstances appear to be 
 changed. I offer myself as a sacrifice to the 
 hatred of the enemies of France. May they 
 prove sincere in their declarations, and to have 
 aimed only at me! My political life is ended, 
 and I proclaim my son, under the title of Na- 
 [228] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 poleon II., Emperor of the French. The pres- 
 ent ministers will provisionally form the coun- 
 cil of government. Unite for the public safety 
 if you would remain a nation. Done at the 
 palace Elysee, June 22d, 1815. 
 
 " Napoleon." 
 
 This terminates what is known as the second 
 reign — " the one hundred days " of Napo- 
 leon. On the 24th of June the fallen emperor 
 retired to Malmaison, where he found himself 
 watched by his enemies. On July 3d he went 
 to Rochef ort with the intention of taking ship 
 for America; but here he was informed that 
 a British battleship was lying off the coast 
 ready to intercept his passage. 
 
 He now placed himself under the pro- 
 tection of England, voluntarily going on 
 board the English ship " Bellerophon," and 
 on the 23d of July gazed for the last time 
 on the coast of France. On July 31st an 
 English officer appeared on board the "Bel- 
 lerophon " and announced the final resolution 
 of the British Government, namely: First, 
 that General Bonaparte should not be landed 
 in England but removed forthwith to St. 
 Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 
 as being the situation in which, more than 
 [229] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 any other at their command, the government 
 thought to secure no possibihty of escape, and 
 the indulgence to himself of personal freedom 
 and all exercises might be reconciled. Sec- 
 ondly, with the exception of Savary and 
 L'Allemand, he might take with him any three 
 officers he chose, as also his sUrgeon and twelve 
 domestics. 
 
 Napoleon at once protested against being 
 considered a prisoner of war, saying that he 
 had come on board an English vessel as he 
 would have entered an English village^ volun- 
 tarily, and not as a prisoner. He objected to 
 the title given him, General Bonaparte, say- 
 ing that he was as much the Emperor of Elba 
 as Louis was King of France, and that the 
 climate and confinement at St. Helena would 
 kill him, ending with a statement that he would 
 not go. Finally, however, he received with 
 equanimity the word from Admiral Sir George 
 Cockburn that he was ready to receive him on 
 board the " Northumberland " and convey him 
 to St. Helena, and he embarked, taking with 
 him Count and Countess Bertrand and their 
 three children who had been with him at Elba, 
 and four others, among them an Irish naval 
 surgeon. In addition, twelve upper domestics 
 of the imperial household followed their 
 [ 230 ] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 master, making twenty-four in all. The Brit- 
 ish Government took possession of some 
 $20,000 which he had with him, announcing 
 that they would provide for his establishment. 
 His plate, chiefly gold, and of mhch value, was 
 left to him to do with as he pleased. 
 
 On the 15th of October, 1815, after a voyage 
 of about seventy days, the " Northumberland " 
 reached St. Helena. Landing, Napoleon took 
 up his residence in a small cottage until a 
 suitable abode could be prepared for him. In 
 the course of two months a villa was made 
 ready and the fallen emperor took possession 
 of it December 10th. 
 
 In this villa he had for himself a suite of 
 rooms consisting of salon, eating room, library, 
 billiard room, small study, bedroom, and bath- 
 room. He had a good library, superior serv- 
 ants, and some $50,000 a year, with the under- 
 standing that if he required more it would be 
 forthcoming. With an officer in attendance, 
 he was permitted to go over any part of the 
 island to the extent of twelve miles, and with- 
 out an attendant he could go for a distance of 
 folir miles. All of his correspondence had to 
 pass through the hands of the governor of the 
 island. His person was required once in every 
 [231 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 twenty-four hours to be visible to some British 
 officer. 
 
 Napoleon's life at St. Helena in ordinary 
 times appears to have been as follows : He rose 
 early and at once either took a horseback ride 
 or dictated some part of the history of his hf e. 
 He breakfasted about ten or eleven, read or 
 dictated until between two and three, and then 
 received visitors. He afterwards rode for sev- 
 eral hours and then read or dictated until 
 nearly eight, at which time dinner was served. 
 A game of chess, a French tragedy read aloud, 
 or conversation closed the evening. All 
 through his life he had seemed to need httle 
 sleep, so that after he had retired he generally 
 had some one read to him until far into the 
 night. 
 
 Napoleon was very careful of his person; 
 his dress at St. Helena was that of an emperor 
 — a green uniform faced with red of the chas- 
 seurs of the Guard, with the star and cordon 
 of the Legion of Honor. 
 
 From the spring of 1817 Napoleon's health 
 gradually failed, and with the weakening of 
 his health his mind weakened also. Fits of 
 long silence and profound melancholy were 
 now frequent. He was accustomed to say, 
 " Now I am nothing — my strength and f acul- 
 [ 232 ] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 ties forsake me — I no longer live ; I only 
 exist." 
 
 During ten days in April, 1821, he occupied 
 himself with drawing up his last will, in which 
 he bequeathed his Orders and a specimen of 
 every article in. his wardrobe to his son. He 
 gave directions that his body should be opened 
 after death that information as to the cause of 
 his death might be sent to his son. He de- 
 scribed to the priests on the island the manner 
 in which he wished his body to be laid out, say- 
 ing: " I believe in God and am of the religion 
 of my father. I was born a Catholic and will 
 fulfil all the duties of that church and receive 
 the assistance which she administers." 
 
 On the 3d of May the last sacraments of the 
 church were administered to him. On the 4th 
 and 5th a tremendous storm swept over the 
 island, and at half past five in the evening 
 of the 6th he pronounced the words, " France, 
 the Army, Josephine," and passed away. 
 
 Napoleon's age at the time of his death was 
 fifty-two. The cause of his death was cancer 
 of the stomach. It was his desire that his body 
 should be buried on the banks of the Seine, 
 among the French people whom he had loved 
 so well, but this was impossible, so a grave was 
 prepared near the villa in which he had died, 
 [233] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 under weeping willows, where he had long had 
 his favorite evening seat. Prepared for hurial, 
 the body was clothed in the uniform of the 
 chasseurs of his Guard, and viewed by the 
 whole population of the island. Each officer, 
 pausing in turn before the body, pressed re- 
 spectfully the cold hand of his dead com- 
 mander. Over his feet was spread the military 
 cloak which he wore at Marengo. A party of 
 English Grenadiers bore the body to the tomb ; 
 the admiral's ship fired minute guns, while the 
 priest read the service of the church. Upon 
 the coffin when lowered into the grave was 
 placed a great stone. 
 
 Nearly twenty years after the death of Na- 
 poleon (October 15, 1840) his sepulchre was 
 opened, and the body of the illustrious dead 
 carried to the French ship, " Bellepoule," by the 
 son of Louis Philippe, and borne to the shores 
 of France. On December 9th the vessel 
 reached the mouth of the Seine, greeted by the 
 loving acclaim of a whole nation. Napoleon 
 had re-entered France in glory. On December 
 15th, amid unequalled pomp and ceremony, 
 the body of the dead emperor was borne to the 
 Invalides, where about it France gathered in 
 veneration and love. On the coffin lay the 
 chapeau the hero wore at Eylau, his sword and 
 [234] 
 
ELBA TO ST. HELENA 
 imperial crown; and over these waved the 
 standards taken at Austerhtz. The resting- 
 place of Napoleon was at last upon the banks 
 of the Seine among the people he loved. 
 
 Men will go on to the end of time discuss- 
 ing and disputing over the character of Napo- 
 leon. There was much in him that was admi- 
 rable; much that deserves our respect and 
 praise. How much of the errors of his life 
 were due to a sincere love of his country and a 
 desire to serve her, we shall never know. 
 " Fortune spoiled him " might well be written 
 as an epitaph on his monument. Before he was 
 thirty years old he was the master of great 
 power and the mover of great events. With- 
 otit condoning his faults we can at least express 
 a wonder that amid the glare of earthly glory 
 and temptation this man should remain so 
 strong, so brave, so resolute, so virtuous to the 
 end. No one who studies the changes wrought 
 in France and throughout Europe as a result 
 of his life can say that his career was an un- 
 mixed evil. He broke down everywhere the 
 barriers of custom and prejudice, and taught 
 the equality of men before the law as they had 
 never learned it before. Distinctions of caste 
 built upon hereditary right gave place to dis- 
 tinctions grounded upon merit. Napoleon was 
 [ 235 ] 
 
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 
 
 a despot and a tyrant, but, in the main, he used 
 his despotism and his tyranny to estabhsh law 
 and order, to spread the blessings of education 
 and to elevate true manhood and womanliood. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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