■<'i ^9* ilMO/?"! ofq' 4 p a" «5 o "S-D = " C ^ ^ CHAPTER XXV America's Answer (o British Doctrine of Right of Search Why the War of 18 12 Was Fought — The Principles Involved— Impressing American Sailors — Insults and Outrages Resented — The "Chesapeake" and "Leopard" — ■ Injury to Commerce — Blockades — Embargo as Retaliation — Naval Glory — Failure of Canadian Campaign — "Constitution" and the " Guerriere " — The "Wasp" and the "Frohc" — Other Sea Duels — Privateers — Perry's Great Victory — Land Opera- tions — The "Shannon" and the "Chesapeake" — Lundy's Lane and Plattsburg — The Burning of Washington — Baltimore Saved — Jackson's Victory at New Orleans — Treaty of Peace , .,6q CHAPTER XXVI The United States Sustains Its Dignity Abroad First Foreign Difficulty — The Barbary States — Buying Peace — Uncle Sam Aroused — Thrashes the Algerian Pirates — A Splendid Victory — King Bomba Brought to Terms — Austria and the Koszta Case — Captain Ingraham — His Bravery — " Dehver or I'll Sink You ' ' — Austria Yields — The Paraguayan Trouble — Lopez Comes to Terms — The Chihan Imbroglio — Balmaceda — The Insult to the United States — American Seamen Attacked — Matta's Impudent Letter — Backdown— Peace — All's Well That Ends Well, Etc ^82 CHAPTER XXVII Webster and Clay — The Preservation of the Union The Great Questions in American Pohtics in the First Half of the Century — The Great Orators to Which Thej Gave Rise— Daniel Webster— Henry Clay — John C. Calhoun LIS! OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS ri PAGB — Clay's Compromise Measure on the Tiriff Question — On Slavery Extension — Webster and Calhoun and the Tariff Question— Webster's Reply to Hayne — The Union Must and Shall be Preserved ^oS CHAPTER XXVIII The Annexation of Texas and the War With Mexico Texas as a Province of Mexico — RebelHon and War — The Alamo Massacre — Rout of Mexicans at San Jacinto — Freedom of Mexico — Annexation to the United States — The War With Mexico-r-Taylor and Buena Vista — Scott and Vera Cruz — Advance on and Capture of Mexico — Results of the War 413 CHAPTER XXIX The Negro In America and the Slavery Conflict The Negro in America — The First Cargo — Beginning of the Slave Traffic — As a Laborer - — Increase in Numbers — Slavery ; its Different Character in Different States — PoHti- cal Disturbances — Agitation and Agitators — John Brown — War and How it Emanci- pated the Slave — The Free Negro — His Rapid Progress 425 CHAPTER XXX Abraham Lincoln and the Work of Emancipation Lincoln's Increasing Fame — Comparison With Washington — The Slave Auction at New Orleans— " If I Ever Get a Chance to Hit Slavery, I Will Hit it Hard "—The Young Politician — Elected Representative to Congress — Hi? Opposition to Slavery — His Famous Debates With Douglas — The Cooper Institute Speech — The Campaign of i860 — The Surprise of Lincoln's Nomination — His Triumphant Election — Threats of Secession — Firing on Sumter — The Dark Days of the War — The Emancipation Question — The Great Proclamation — End of the War — The Great Tragedy — The Beauty and Greatness of His Character , 436 CHAPTER XXXI Grant and Lee and The Civil War Grant a Man for the Occasion — Lincoln's Opinion — "Wherever Grant is Things Move " — "Unconditional Surrender" — "Not a Retreating Man" — Lee a Man of Ac- knowledged Greatness — His Devotion to Virginia — Great Influence — Simplicity of Habits — Shares the Fare of His Soldiers — Lee's Superior Skill— Gratitude and Affec- tion of the South — Great Influence in Restoring Good Feeling— The War — Secession Not Exclusively a Southern Idea — An Irrepressible Conflict — Coming Events — Lin- coln — A Nation in Arms — Sumter — Anderson — McClellan — Victory and Defeat — '♦Monitor" and " Merrimac " — Antietam — Shiloh — Buell — Grant — George H. Thomas — Rosecrans — Porter — Sherman — Sheridan — Lee — Gettysburg —A Great Fight— Sherman's March — The Confederates Weakening — More Victories — Appo- mattox — Lee's Surrender — From War to Peace 449 1* LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS * CHAPTER XXXII The Indian \n the Nineteenth Century p^e^ Our Relations and Obligations to the Indian — Conflict between Two Civilizations — Indian Bureau — Government Policy — Treaties — Reservation Plan — Removals Under It — - Indian Wars — Plan of Concentration — Disturbance and Fighting — Plan of Education and Absorption — Its Commencement — Present Condition of Indians — Nature of Education and Results — Land in Severalty Law — Missionary Effort — Necessity and Duty of Absorption 463 CHAPTER XXXIII The Development of the American Navy The Origin of the American Navy — Sights on Guns and What They Did — Opening Japan — Port Royal — Passing the Forts — The "Monitor" and "Merrimac" — In Mobile Bay — The " Kearsarge " and the "Alabama" — Naval Architecture Revolutionized — The Samoan Hurricane — Building a New Navy — Great Ships of the Spanish Amer- ican War — ^The Modern Floating Iron Fortresses — New ' 'Alabama ' ' and * ' Kearsarge " 482 CHAPTER XXXIV America's Conflict With Spain A War of Humanity — Bombardment of Matanzas — Dewey's Wonderful Victory at Manila — Disaster to the ' ' Winslow ' ' at Cardenas Bay — The First American Loss of Life — Bombardment of San Juan, Porto Rico — The Elusive Spanish Fleet — Bottled-up in Santiago Harbor—Lieutenant Hobson's Daring Exploit — Second Bombardment of Santiago and Arrival of the Army — Gallant Work of the Rough Riders and the Regulars — Battles of San Juan and El Caney — Destruction of Cervera's Fleet — General Shafter Reinforced in Front of Santiago — Surrender of the City — General Miles in Porto Rico — An Easy Conquest — Conquest of the Philippines — Peace Nego- tiations and Signing of the Protocol — Its Terms — Members of the National Peace Commission — Return of the Troops from Cuba and Porto Rico — The Peace Com- mission in Paris — Conclusion of its Work — Terms of the Treaty — Ratified by the Senate , 496 CHAPTER XXXV The Dominion of Canada The Area and Population of Canada — Canada's Early History — Upper and Lower Canada — The War of 181 2 — John Strachan and the Family Compact — A Religious Quarrel — French Supremacy in Lower Canada — The Revolt of 1837 — Mackenzie's Rebellion — Growth of Population and Industry — Organization of the Dominion of Canada — The Riel Revolts — The Canadian Pacific Railway — The Fishery Difficulties — The Fur-Seal Question — The Gold of the Klondike — A Boundary Question — An International Commission — The Questions at Issue — The Failure of the Com- mission-Commerce of Canada with the United States — Railway Progress in Canada — Manufacturing Enterprise — Yield of Precious Metals — Extent and Resources of the Dominion — ^The Character of the Canadian Population 509 LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS 13 CHAPTER XXXVI ^ Livingstone, Stanley, Peary, Nansen and other Great Discoverers and Explorers page Ignorance of the Earth's Surface at the Beginning of the Century — Notable Fields of Nineteenth Century Travel — Famous African Travelers — Dr. Livingstone's Mission- ary Labors — Discovery of Lake Ngami — Livingstone's Journey from the Zambesi to the West Coast — The Great Victoria Falls — First Crossing of the Continent — Living- stone discovers Lake Nyassa — Stanley in Search of Livingstone — Other African Travelers — Stanley's Journeys — Stanley Rescues Emin Pasha — The Exploration of the Arctic Zone — The Greely Party — The Fatal " Jeanette " Expedition — Expedi- tions of Professor Nordenskjold — Peary Crosses North Greenland — Nansen arxd hi? Enterprise — Andrees Fatal Balloon Venture • . 523 CHAPTER XXXVII Robert Fulton, George Stephenson, and the Triumphs of Invention Anglo-Saxon Activity in Invention — James Watt and the Steam Engine — Labor-Saving Machinery of the Eighteenth Century — The Steamboat and the Locomotive — The First Steamboat Trip up the Hudson — Development of Ocean Steamers — George Stephen- son and the Locomotive — First American Railroads — Development of the Railroad — Great Railroad Bridges — The Electric Steel Railway — The Bicycle and the Auto- mobile — Marvels in Iron and Woodworking — Progress in Illumination and Heating — Howe and the Sewing Machine — Vulcanization of Rubber — Morse and th« Tele- graph — The Inventions of Edison — Marconi and Wireless Telegraphy — Increase of Working Power of the Farmer — The American Reapers and Mowers — Commerce of the United States , 535 CHAPTER XXXVIII The Evolution in Industry and the Revolt Against Capital Mediaeval Industry — Cause of Revolution in the Labor System — Present Aspect of th^ Labor Question — The Trade Union — The International Workingmen's Association — The System of the Strike — Arbitration and Profit Sharing — Experiments and Theories in Economies — Co-operative Associations — The Theories of Socialism and Anarchism — Secular Communistic Experiments — Development of Socialism — Growth of th^ Socialist Party — The Development of the Trust — An Industrial Revolution .... 554 CHAPTER XXXIX Charles Darwin and the Development of Science Scientific Activity of the Nineteenth Century — Wallace's "Wonderful Century" — Use- ful and Scientific Steps of Progress — Foster's Views of Recent Progress — Discoveries in Astronomy — The Spectroscope — The Advance of Chemistry — Light and its Phe- Bemena — Heat as a Mode of Motion — Applications of Electricity — The Principles of 14 LIST OF CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS PAG» Magnetism — Progress in Geology — The Nebular and Meteoric Hypotheses — Biolog- ical Sciences — Discoveries in Physiology — Pasteur and His Discoveries — Koch and the Comma Bacillus — ^The Science of Hygiene — Darwin and Natural Selection ... 569 CHAPTER XL Literature and Art in the Nineteenth Century literary Giants of Former Times — The Standing of the Fine Arts in the Past and the Present — Eari) American Writers — The Poets of the United States — American Novel- ists — American Historians and Orators — The Poets of Great Britain — Britisli Novelists and Historians — Other British Writers — French Novehsts and Historians — German Poets and Novelists — The Literature of Russia — The Authors of Sweden, Norway and Denmark — Writers of Italy — Other Celebrated Authors — The Novel and its Development — ^The Text-Book and Progress of Education — Wide-spread use of Books and Newspapers = . 59 t CHAPTER XLI The American Church and the Spirit of Human B'*otherhood Division of Labor — American Type of Christianity — -Distinguishing Feature of American Life — The Sunday-school System — The Value of Religion in Politics — Missionary Activity — New Religious Movements — -The Movement in Ethics — Child Labor in Factories — Prevention of Cruelty to Aminals — Prison Reform — Public Executions — The Spirit of Sympathy — The Growth of Charity — An Advanced Spirit of Benevolence 605 CHAPTER XLII The Dawn of the Twentieth Century The Century's Wonderful Stages — Progress in Education — The Education of Women- Occupation and Suffrage for Women — Peace Proposition of the Emperor of Russia^ The Peace Conference at The Hague — Progress in Science — Political Evolution — Territorial Progress of the Nations — -Probable Future of English Speech — A Telephone Newspaper — Among the Dull-Minded Peoples — Limitations to Progress — Probable Lines of Future Activity — Industry in the Twentieth Century — The King, the Priest and the Cash Box — The New Psychology ,...-,,,,«. 617 LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FACB Progress of the Nineteenth Century Frontispiece Duke of Chartres at the Battle of Jemappes 21 Battle of Chateau-Gontier 22 Death of Marat , , 31 Last Victims of the Reign of Terror 32 Marie Antoinette Led to Execution 37 The Battle of Rivoli , c 38 Napoleon Crossing the Alps , . . . , ,....,,. 47 Napoleon and the Mummy of Pharaoh 48 Napoleon Bonaparte 53 The Meeting of Two Sovereigns 54 The Death of Admiral Nelson 59 Murat at the Battle of Jena 60 The Battle of Eylau 69 The Battle of Friedland 70 The Order to Charge at Friedland = 79 Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia at Tilsit 80 Marshal Ney Retreating from Russia . . . • 89 General Bliicher's Fall at Ligny 90 The Battle of Dresden, August 26 and 27, 1813 . , , 94 Famous English Novelists , . 95 The Eve of Waterloo 99 Welhngton at Waterloo Giving the Word to Advance 100 Retreat of Napoleon from Waterloo , 109 The Remnant cf an Army no Illustrious Leaders of England's Navy and Army , 119 James Watt, the Father of the Steam Engine ,...,,.. 120 Great EngHsh Historians and Prose Writers 129 Famous Popes of the Century 130 Great English Statesmen (Plate I) 139 Britain's Sovereign and Heir Apparent to the Throne 140 Popular Writers of Fiction In England T49 (15) 1 6 LIST OF FULL- PA GE ILL USTRA TIONS 9KGB Great English Statesmen (Plate II) 150 Potentates of the East 159 Landing in the Crimea and the Battle of Alma 160 The Congress at Berlin, June 13, 187S , . 169 The Wounding of General Bosquet 17c The Battle of Champigny .,...,.. , , . 179 Noble Sons of Poland and Hungary 180 Noted French Authors 189 Napoleon III. at the Battle of Solferino , 190 Great Italian Patriots 199 The Zouaves Charging the Barricades at Mentana , . . , 200 Noted German Emperors 209 Renowned Sons of Germany 210 The Storming of Garsbergschlosschen 219 Crown Prince Frederick at the Battle of Froschwiller 220 Present Kings of Four Countries 229 Great Men of Modern France 230 Russia's Royal Family and Her Literary Leader 257 Four Champions of Ireland's Cause 258 Dreyfus, His Accusers and Defenders 281 The Dreyfus Trial 282 i'he Bombardment of Alexandria 291 Battle Between England and the Zulus, South Africa 292 The Battle of Majuba Hill, South Africa 301 Two Opponents in the Transvaal War , 302 Typical American Novelists , 307 Two Powerful Men of the Orient 308 Four American Presidents ....,.,.., 409 Great American Orators and Statesmen 410 The Battle of Resaca de la Palma 419 Great American Historians and Biographers , 420 Great Men of the Civil War in America . , 44c; The Attack on Fort Donelson 446 General Lee's Invasion of the North 455 The Sinking of the Alabama, etc 456 The Surrender of General Lee 465 The Electoral Commission Which Decided Upon Election of President Hayes 466 Prominent American Political Leaders 475 Noted American Journalists and Magazine Contributors 476 The U. S. Battleship "Oregon" 483 LIST OF FULL- PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 17 PAGB In the War-Room at Washington 484 Leading Commanders of the American Navy, Spanish-American War , . . 487 Leading Commanders of the American Army 488 Prominent Spaniards in 1898 497 Popular Heroes of the Spanish-American War 498 The Surrender of Santiago 501 United States Peace Commissioners of the Spanish-American War , 502, Illustrious Sons of Canada 521' Great Explorers in the Tropics ?^d Arctics 522 Inventors of the Locomotive and the Electric Telegraph 539 Edison Perfecting the First Phonograph 540 The Hero of the Strike, Coal Creek, Tenn 557 Arbitration 558 Illustrious Men of Science in the Nineteenth Century 575 Pasteur in His Laboratory 576 Great Poets of England 589 Great American Poets 590 Count Tolstoi at Literary Work 603 New Congressional Library at Washington, D. C 604 Famous Cardinals of the Century 615 Noted Preachers and Writers of Religious Classics 616 Greater New York 629 Delegates to the Universal Peace Conference at The Hague, 1899 630 Key to above 631 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PORTRAITS PAGB Abbott, Lyman , 476 Adams,- John Quincy , 409 Agassiz, Louis 575 Aguinaldo, Emilio 308 Albert Edward, (Prince of Wales) ... 140 Austin, Alfred 589 Balfour, A. J. . 150 Bancroft, George .......... 420 Barrie, James M 149 Beecher, Henry Ward , 410 Besant, Walter 149 Bismarck, Karl Otto Von 210 Black, William 149 Blaine, James G. . . 475 Blanco, Ramon 497 Bright, John 139 Browning, Robert 589 Bryan, William Jennings 475 Bryant, William Cullen 590 Bryce, James 150 Caine, T. Hall 149 Carlyle, Thomas 129 Cervera, (Admiral) . 497 Chamberlain, Joseph 302 Christian IX., (King of Denmark) . , 229 Clay, Henry 410 Cleveland, Grover = . 475 Cooper, James Fenimore 307 Dana, Charles A 476 Darwin, Charles 575 Davis, Cushman K 502 Davis, Richard Harding 476 Davitt, Michael 258 Day, WiUiam R 502 DeLesseps, Ferdinand 230 Depew, Chauncey M 410 Dewey, George 487 Dickens, Charles 95 Disraeh, Benjamin 139 Dreyfus, (Captain), Alfred 281 Doyle, A. Conan , , 149 Drummond, Henry ,,.616 PASB Dumas, Alexander 189 DuMaurier, George 149 Eggleston, Edward 307 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 590 Esterhazy, Count Ferdinand W. ... 281 Everett, Edward . . . , , 410 Farrar, Frederick W., (Canon) ... . 616 Francis Joseph, (Emperor of Austria) . 229 Froude, Richard H 129 Frye, William P . ... 502 Gambetta, Leon 230 Garibaldi, Guiseppe 199 Gibbon, Edward 129 Gladstone, William Ewart ...... 139 Gough, John B 410 Grady, Henry W 410 Grant, Ulysses S 445 Gray, George 502 Greeley, Horace 476 Hale, Edward Everett ........ 307 Halstead, Murat 476 Hawthorne, Nathaniel ........ 307 Hawthorne, Julian 476 Healy, T. M 258 Henry, Patrick 410 Henry, Lieutenant-Colonel 281 Hobson, Richmond Pearson 498 Holmes, Oliver Wendell 590 Howells, WiUiam Dean .....,, 307 Hugo, Victor 189 Humbert, (King of Italy) 229 Humboldt, F. H. Alexander von . . . 575 Huxley, Thomas H 575 Jackson, Andrew , 409 Jefferson, Thomas 409 Kipling, Rudyard 149 Kosciusko, Thaddeus 180 Kossuth, Louis -180 Kruger, Paul . , , 302 (19) 20 ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PORTRAITS PAGB Labori, Maitre 281 Laurier, Sir Wilfrid 521 Lee, Robert E 445 Lee, Fitzhugh 488 Leo XIIL, (Pope) 130 Li Hung Chang 308 Lincoln, Abraham 445 Livingstone, David 522 Longfellow, Henry W 590 Loubet (President of France) .... 230 Lowell, James Russell 590 Lytton, (Lord) Bulwer 95 McCarthy, Justin 150 Macaulay, Thomas B 129 MacDonald, Sir John A. ...... 521 MacDonald, George 149 McKinley, WiUiam 475 McMaster, John B 420 Manning, Henry Edward (Cardinal) . . 615 Mercier, (General of French Army) . . 281 Merritt, Wesley . 488 Miles, Nelson A 488 Moltke, H. Karl B. von 210 Morley, John 150 Morse, Samuel F. B 539 Motley, John L 420 Nansen, (Dr.) Frithiof 522 Napoleon Bonaparte 53 Nelson, (Lord) Horatio 119 Newman, John Henry (Cardinal) . . , 615 Nicholas H. and Family, (Czar of Russia) 257 O'Brien, WiUiam 258 Oscar IL, (King of Sweden and Norway) 229 Otis, Elwell S 498 Parnell, Charles Stewart 258 Parton, James 420 Pasteur, Louis, in his Laboratory . . . 576 Peary, Lieutenant R. E 522 PhiUips, Wendell 410 Pitt, William, (Earl of Chatham) ... 139 Pius IX., (Pope) 130 Prescott. WiUiam H 4.20 Raid, Whitelaw .... 476 Rios, Montero 497 Roosevelt, Theodore 498 Ruskin, John 129 Sagasta, Praxedes Mateo 497 Sampson, WiUiam T 487 Schiey, Winfield Scott ........ 487 Scott, Sir Walter . . . . „ 95 Shaffer, William R. 488 Shah of Persia 150 Shaw, Albert W 476 SheUey, Percy B 589 Sherman, WiUiam T 445 Spurgeon, Charles H 616 Stanley, Henry M 522 Stephenson, George 539 Stevenson, Robert Louis , . 149 Sultan of Turkey 159 Taylor, Zachary 409 Tennyson, Alfred , 589 Thackeray, WiUiam Makepeace .... 95 Thiers, Louis Adolphe 230 Thompson, Hon. J. S. D 521 Tolstoi, Count Lyof Nikolaievitch . . . 603 TroUope, Anthony 95 Tupper, Sir Charles 521 Victor Emmanuel (King of Italy) ... 199 Victoria (Queen of England) 140 Wallace, General Lew 307 Watson, John (Ian Maclaren) „ . , . 616 Watson, John Crittenden 487 Watt, James 120 Watterson, Henry W 476 Webster, Daniel .410 Wellington, Arthur WeUesley, (Duke) . 119 Wheeler, Joseph 498 Whittier, John G 590 WiUiam I., Emperor of Germany . . . 209 WiUiam II. , Emperor of Germany , . . 209 Wordsworth, WiUiam ..,,.... 589 T a £ » n S3 BATTLE OF C H ATEAU-GONTI ER (Reign of Terror, 1792) INTRODUCTION. IT is the story of a hundred years that we propose to give ; the record of the noblest and most marvelous century in the annals of mankind. Standing here, at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, as at the summit of a lofty peak of time, we may gaze far backward over the road we have traversed, losing sight of its minor incidents, but seeing its great events loom up in startling prominence before our eyes ; heedless of its thronging mil- lions, but proud of those mighty men who have made the history of the age and rise like giants above the common throng. History is made up of the deeds of great men and the movements of grand events, and there is no better or clearer way to tell the marvelous story of the Nineteenth Cen- tury than to put upon record the deeds of its heroes and to describe the events and achievements in which reside the true history of the age. First of all, in this review, it is important to show in what the great- ness of the century consists, to contrast its beginning and its ending, and point out the stages of the magnificent progress it has made. It is one thing to declare that the Nineteenth has been the greatest and most glorious of the centuries ; it is another and more arduous task to trace the develop- ment of this greatness and the culmination of this career of glory. This it is that we shall endeavor to do in the pages of this work. All of us have lived in the century here described, many of us through a great part of it, some of us, possibly, through the whole of it. It is in the fullest sense our own century, one of which we have a just right to feel proud, and in whose career all of us must take a deep and vital interest. Before entering upon the history of the age it is well to take a bird's-eye view of it, and briefly present its claims to Eye view greatness. They are many and mighty, and can only be glanced at in these introductory pages ; it would need volumes to show them in full. They cover every field of human effort. They have to do with political development, the relations of capital and labor, invention, science, literature, production, commerce, and a dozen other life interests, all of which will be considered in this work. The greatness of the world's progress .can be most clearly shown by pointing out the state of affairs in the several 23 24 INTRODUCTION branches of human effort at the opening and closing of the century and placing them in sharp contrast. This it is proposed to do in this introduc- tory sketch. A hundred years ago the political aspect of the world was remarkably different from what it is now. Kings, many of them, were tyrants ; peoples, as a rule, were slaves — in fact, if not in name. The absolute government of the Middle Ages had been in a measure set aside, but the throne had - . still immense power, and between the kinoes and the nobler Tyranny and , . Oppression in the people were crushed like grain between the upper and the Eighteenth nether millstones. Tyranny spread widely ; oppression was Century / / r j y^t:- rampant ; poverty was the common lot ; comiort was connned to the rich ; law was merciless ; punishment for trifling offences was swift and cruel ; the broad sentiment of human fellowship had just begun to develop ; the sun of civilization shone only on a narrow region of the earth, beyond which barbarism and savagery prevailed. In 1800, the government of the people had just fairly begun. Europe had two small republics, Switzerland and the United Netherlands, and in the West the republic of the United States was still in its feeble youth. The so-called republic of France was virtually the kingdom of Napoleon^ the autocratic First Consul, and those which he had founded elsewhere were the slaves of his imperious will. Government almost everywhere was autocratic and arbitrary. In Great Britain, the freest of the monarchies, the king's will could still set aside law and justice in many instances and parliament represented only a tithe of the people. Not only was universal suffrage unknown, but some of the orreatest cities of the kins'dom had no voice in makincj the laws. Qovernmentand ^^ 1900, a century later, vast changes had taken place the Rights of in the political world. The republic of the United States an m 1900 |^^^ grown from a feeble infant into a powerful giant, and its free system of government had spread over the whole great continent of, America. Every independent nation of the West had become a republic and Canada, still a British colony, was a republic in almost everything but the name. In Europe, France was added to the list of firmly-founded republics, and throughout that continent, except in Russia and Turkey, the power of the monarchs had declined, that of the people had advanced. In 1800, the kings almost everywhere seemed firmly seated on their thrones. In 1900, the thrones everywhere were shaking, and the whole moss-grown institution of kingship was trembling over the rising earthquake of the popular will. The influence of the people in the government had made a marvelous INTRODUCTION 25 advance. The right of suffrage, greatly restricted in 1800, had become universal in most of the civilized lands at the century's end. Throughout the American continent every male citizen had the right of voting. The same was the case in most of western Europe, and even in far-off Japan, which a century before had been held under a seemingly help- suffrage and less tyranny. Human slavery, which held captive millions Human upon millions of men and women in 1800, had vanished from Freedom the realms of civilization in 1900, and a vigorous effort was being made to banish it from every region of the earth. As will be seen from this hasty retrospect, the rights of man had made a wonderful advance during the century, far greater than in any other century of human history. In the feeling of human fellowship, the sentiment of sympathy and benevolence, the growth of altruism, or love for mankind, there had been an equal progress. At the beginning of the century law was stern, justice severe, punishment frightfully cruel. Small offences met with severe retri- bution. Men were hung for a dozen crimes which now call for only a light punishment. Thefts which are now thought severely punished ^. . .. \ . . , . , ^ Criminal Law by a year or two m prison then often led to the scaffold. and Prison Men are huno- now, in the most enlightened nations, only for Discipline in murder. Then they were hung for fifty crimes, some so slight as to seem petty. A father could not steal a loaf of bread for his starving children except at peril of a long term of imprisonment, or, possibly, of death on the scaffold. And imprisonment then was a different affair from what it is now. The prisons of that day were often horrible dens, noisome, filthy, swarming with vermin, their best rooms unfit for human residence, their worst duneeons a hell upon earth. This not only in the less advanced nations, but even in enlightened England. Newgate Prison, in London, for instance, was a sink of iniquity, its. inmates given over to the cruel hands of ruthless gaolers, forced to pay a high price for the least privilege, and treated worse than brute cattle if destitute of money and friends. And these were not alone felons who had broken some of the many criminal laws, but men whose guilt was not yet proved, and poor debtors whose only crime was their mis- fortune. And all this in England, with its boast of high civilization. The people were not ignorant of the condition of the prisons ; Parliament was appealed to a dozen times to remedy the horrors of the jails ; yet many years passed before it could be induced to act. Compare this state of criminal law and prison discipline with that of the present day. Then cruel punishments were inflicted for small offences ; now the lightest punishments compatible with the well-being of the com' 26 INTRODUCTION munity are the rule. The sentiment of human compassion has become strong and compelHng ; it is felt in the courts as well as among the people ; public opinion has grown powerful, and a punishment to-day too severe for the Prisons and crime would be visited with universal condemnation. The Punishment treatment of felons has been remarkably ameliorated. The in 1900 modern prison is a palace as compared with that of a century ago. The terrible jail fever which swept through the old-time prisons like a pestilence, and was more fatal to their inmates than the gallows, has been stamped out. The idea of sanitation has made its way into the cell and the dungeon, cleanliness is enforced, the frightful crowding of the past is not permitted, prisoners are given employment, they are not permitted to infect one another with vice or disease, kindness instead of cruelty is the rule, and in no direction has the world made a greater and more radical advance. A century ago labor was sadly oppressed. The factory system had recently begun. The independent hand and home work of the earlier cen- turies was being replaced by power and machine work. The SystemTndthe^^^^"^"^"§^^"^ ^"*^ ^'^^ labor-saving machine, while bringing Oppression of blessings to mankind, had brought curses also. Workmen theWorl > o ffq c S "^ P C NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS The renowned exploit of Hannibal leading an army across the lofty and frozen passes of the Alps was emulated by Napoleon in 1800, when he led his army across the St. Bernard Pass, descended like a torrent 011 the Austrians in Italy, and defeated them in the great battle of Marengo THE THRESHOLD OF THE CENTURY 39 royal heads fell into the fatal basket. The Revolution was consummated, the monarchy was at an end, France had fallen into the hands of the people, and from them it descended into the hands of a ruthless and blood- thirsty mob. At the head of this mob of revolutionists stood three men, Danton, Marat, and Robespierre, the triumvirate of the Reign of Terror, under which all safety ceased in France, and all those against whom the least breath of suspicion arose were crowded into Terror prison, from which hosts of them made their way to the dreadful knife of the guillotine. Multitudes of the rich and noble had fled from France, among them Lafayette, the friend and aid of Washington in the American Revolution, and Talleyrand, the acute statesman who was to play a prominent part in later French history. Marat, the most savage of the triumvirate, was slain m July, 1793, by the knife of Charlotte Corday, a young woman of pious training, who offered herself as the instrument of God for the removal of this infamous monster. His death rather added to than stayed the tide of blood, and in April, 1794, Danton, who sought to check its flow, fell a victim to his ferocious associate. But the Reign of Terror v/as nearing its end. In July the Assembly awoke from its stupor of fear, Robespierre was denounced, seized, and executed, and the frightful carnival of bloodshed came to an end. The work of the National Assembly had been fully consummated, Feudalism was at an end, monarchy in France had ceased and a republic had taken its place, and a new era for Europe had dawned. Meanwhile a foreign war was being waged. England had xheWarsof formed a coalition with most of the nations of Europe, and the French France was threatened by land with the troops of Holland, Revolution Prussia, Austria, Spain and Portugal, and by sea with the fleet of Great Britain. The incompetency of her assailants saved her from destruction. Her generals who lost battles were sent to prison or to the guillotine, the whole country rose as one man in defence, and a number of brilliant victor- ies drove her enemies from her borders and gfave the armies of France a position beyond the Rhine. These wars soon brought a great man to the front, Napoleon Bona- parte, a son of Corsica, with whose nineteenth century career we shall deal at length in the following chapters, but of whose earlier exploits some- thing must be said here. His career fairly began in 1794, when, under the orders of the National Convention — the successor of the National Assembly — he quelled the mob in the streets of Paris with load>ed cannon and put a final end to the Terror which had so long prevailed. 40 THE THRESHOLD OF THE CENTURY Placed at the head of the French army in Italy, he quickly astonished the world by a series of the most brilliant victories, defeating the Austrlans and the Sardinians wherever he met them, seizing Venice, the city of the lagoon, and forcing almost all Italy to submit to his arms. A republic was established here and a new one in Switzerland, while Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine were held by France. Napoleon in ^^^ wars here at an end. Napoleon's ambition led him to Italy and Egypt, inspired by great designs which he failed to realize. Egypt. jj^ j^jg absence anarchy arose in France. The five Directors then at the head of the Government, had lost all authority, and Napoleon, who had unexpectedly returned, did not hesitate to overthrow them and the Assembly which supported them. A new government, with three Consuls at its head, was formed, Napoleon as First Consul holding almost royal power. Thus France stood in 1 800, at the end of the Eighteenth Century. In the remainder of Europe there was nothing to compare with the momentous convulsion which had taken place in France. England had gone through its two revolutions more than a century before, and its people were the freest of any in Europe. Recently it had lost Its colonies In America, but it still held in that continent the broad domain of Canada, and was building for itself a new empire in India, while founding colonies In twenty other lands. In commerce and manufactures It entered the nine- . . teenth century as the sfJ'eatest nation on the earth. The F.ngiand as a 111 iir iri Centre of hammer and the loom resounded from end to end of the Industry and Island, mighty centres of Industry arose where cattle had Commerce. , , ^ 1 1 • i • ^ • grazed a century before, coal and iron were bemg torn m great quantities from the depths of the earth, and there seemed everywhere an endless bustle and whirr. The ships of England haunted all seas and visited the most remote ports, laden with the products of her workshops and bringing back raw material for her factories and looms. Wealth accumu- lated, London became the money market of the world, the riches and pros-, perity of th6 island kingdom were growing to be a parable among the nations of the earth. On the continent of Europe, Prussia, which has now grown so great, had recently emerged from its medlseval feebleness, mainly under the powerful hand of Frederick the Great, whose reign extended until 1786, and whose ambition, daring, and military genius made him a fitting predecessor of Napoleon the Great, who so soon succeeded him in the annals of war* Unscrupulous in his aims, this warrior king had torn Silesia from Austria, added to his kingdom a portion of unfortunate Poland, annexed the princi- THE THRESHOLD OF THE CENTURY 41 pality of East Friesland, and lifted Prussia into a leading position among the European states. Germany, now — with the exception of Austria — a compact -pj^^ condition empire, was" then a series of disconnected states, variously of the German 1 states known as kingdoms, principalities, margravates, electorates, and by other titles, the whole forming the so-called Holy Empire, though it was " neither holy nor an empire." It had drifted down in this fashion from the Middle Ages, and the work of consolidation had but just begun, in the conquests of Frederick the Great. A host of petty potentates ruled the land, whose states, aside from Prussia and Austria, were too weak to have a voice in the councils of Europe. Joseph II., the titular emperor of Germany, made an earnest and vigorous effort to combine its elements into a powerful unit; but he signally failed, and died in 1790, a disappointed and embittered man. Austria, then far the most powerful of the German states, was from 1740 to 1780 under the reign of a woman, Maria Theresa, who struggled in vain against her ambitious neighbor, Frederick the Great, his kingdom being extended ruthlessly at the expense of her imperial dominions. Austria remained a great country, however, including Bohemia and Hun- gary among its domains. It was lord of Lombardy and Venice in Italy, and was destined to play an important but unfortunate part in the coming Napoleonic wars. The peninsula of Italy, the central seat of the great Roman Empire, was, at the opening of the nineteenth century, as sadly broken up as Germany, a dozen weak states taking the place of the one strong one that the good of the people demanded. The independent cities of the mediaeval period no longer held sway, and we hear no more of wars between Florence, Genoa, Milan, Pisa and Rome ; but the country was still made up of minor states — Lombardy, Venice and Sardinia in the north, Naples pigggnsjon ;„ in the south, Rome in the centre, and various smaller king- Italy and doms and dukedoms between. The peninsula was a prey to Decay in turmoil and dissension. Germany and France had- made it their fighting ground for centuries, Spain had filled the south with her armies, and the country had been miserably torn and rent by these frequent wars and those between state and state, and was in a condition to welcome the coming of Napoleon, whose strong hand for the time promised the blessing of peace and union. Spain, not many centuries before the greatest nation in Europe, and, as such, the greatest nation on the globe, had miserably declined in power and place at the opening of the nineteenth century. Under the emperor Charles I. 42 THE THRESHOLD OF THE CENTURY it had been united with Germany, while its colonies embraced two-thirds of the great continent of America. Under Philip II. it continued power- ful in Europe, but with his death its decay set in. Intolerance checked its growth in civilization, the gold brought from America was swept away by more enterprising states, its strength was sapped by a succession of fee- ble monarchs, and from first place it fell into a low rank among the nations of Europe. It still held its vast colonial area, but this proved a source of v/eakness rather than of strength, and the people of the colonies, exasper- ated by injustice and oppression, were ready for the general revolt which was soon to take place. Spain presented the aspect of a great nation ruined by its innate vices, impoverished by official venality and the decline of industry, and fallen into the dry rot of advancing decay. Of the nations of Europe which had once played a prominent part, one Th P rtiti n f ^^^ °" ^^^ point of being swept from the map. The name of Poland by the Poland, which formerly stood for a great power, now stands Robber Na= only for a o^reat crime. The misrule of the kinefs, the turbu- tions. . . , lence of the nobility, and the enslavement of the people had brought that state into such a condition of decay that it lay like a rotten log amid the powers of Europe. The ambitious nations surrounding — Russia, Austria, and Prussia — took advantage of its weakness, and in 1772 each of them seized the portion of Poland that bordered on its own territories. In the remainder of the kine- o dom the influence of Russia grew so great that the Russian ambassador at Warsaw became the real ruler in Poland. A struo^Qfle aeainct Russia bcQfan in 1792, Kosciusko, a brave soldier who had fought under Washington in America, being at the head of the patriots. But the weakness of the king tied the hands of the soldiers, the Polish patriots left theii native land in despair, and in the following year Prussia and Russia made a further division of the state, Russia seizing a broad territory with mors than 3,000,- 000 inhabitants. In 1794 a new outbreak began. The patriots returned anc? a desperate struggle took place. But Poland was doomed. Suvoroff, the greatest of the Russian generals, swept the land with fire and sword. KoscJusko fell wounded, crying, " Poland's end has come," and Warsaw was taken and desolated by its assailants. The patriot was right ; the end had come. What remained of Poland was divided up between Austria, Prussfg^,. and Russia, and only a name remained. There are two others of the powers of Europe of which we must speak, Russia and Turkey. Until th i seventeenth century Russia had been a do- main of barbarians, weak and disunited, and for a long period the vassal of THE THRESHOLD OF THE CENTURY .43 the savage Mongol conquerors of Asia. Under Peter the Great (1689-- 1725) It rose into power and prominence, took its place among civilized states, and began that career of conquest and expan- Russiaand sion which is still croinof on. At the end of the eiorhteenth century it was under the rule of Catharine II., often miscalled Catharine the Great, who died in 1796, just as Napoleon was beginning his career. Her greatness lay in the ability of her generals, who defeated Turkey and con- quered the Crimea, and who added the greater part of Poland to her empire. Her strength of mind and decision of character were not shared by her successor, Paul I., and Russia entered the nineteenth century under the weakest sovereign of the Romanoff line. Turkey, once the terror of Europe, and sending its armies into the heart of Austria, was now confined within the boundaries it had long before won, and had begun its long struggle for existence with its powerful neighbor, Russia. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was still a powerful state, with a wide domain in Europe, and continued to defy the Christians who coveted its territory and sought its overthrow. But the canker-worm of a weak and barbarous government was at its heart, while its cruel treatment of its Christian subjects exasperated the strong powers of Europe and invited their armed interference. As regards the world outside of Europe and America, no part of it had yet entered the circle of modern civilization. Africa was an almost unknown continent; Asia was little better known ; and the islands of the Eastern seas were still in process of discovery. J;ipan, which was approaching its period of manumission from barbarism, was still closed to the world, and China lay like a huge and helpless bulk, fast in the fetters of conservatism and blind self-sufficiency. CHAPTER 11. Napoleon Bonaparte; The Man of Destiny. THE first fifteen years of the nineteenth century in Europe yield us the history of a man, rather than of a continent. France was the centre of Europe; Napoleon, the Corsican, was the centre of France. All the affairs of all the nations seemed to gather around this genius of war. He was respected, feared, hated ; he had risen with the suddenness of a thunder- cloud on a clear horizon, and flashed the lightnings of victory in the dazzled eyes of the nations. All the events of the period were concentrated into one great event, and the name of that event was Napoleon. He seemed incarnate war, organized destruction ; sword in hand he dominated the nations, and victory sat on his banners with folded wings. He was, in a full sense, the man of destiny, and Europe was his prey. Never has there been a more wonderful career. The earlier great ^ ^ , ^, conquerors bes^an life at the top : Napoleon beo-an his at the A Remarkable ^ ^ . . Man and a bottom. Alexander was a king ; Csesar was an aristocrat of Wonderful i\-^q Roman republic ; Napoleon rose from the people, and was not even a native of the land which became the scene of his exploits. Pure force of military genius lifted him from the lowest to the highest place among mankind, and for long "and terrible years Europe shuddered at his name and trembled beneath the tread of his marching legions. As for France, he brought it glory, and left it ruin and dismay. We have briefly epitomized Napoleon's early career, his doings in the Revolution, in Italy, and in Egypt, unto the time that France's worship of his military genius raised him to the rank of First Consul, and gave him in effect the power of a king. No one dared question his word, the army was at his beck and call, the nation lay prostrate at his feet — not in fear but in admiration. Such was the state of affairs in France in the closing year of the eighteenth century. The Revolution was at an end ; the Republic existed only as a name ; Napoleon was the autocrat of France and the terror of Europe. From this point we resume the story of his career. The' First Consul beran his reiofn with two enemies in the field, The Enemies England and Austria. Prussia was neutral, and he had won and Friends of the friendship of Paul, the emperor of Russia, by a shrewd move. While the other nations refused to exchange the Russian prisoners they held, Napoleon sent home 6,000 of these captives. (44) NAPOLEON BONAPARTE—THE MAN OF DESTINY 45 newly clad and armed, under their own leaders, and without demanding ransom. This was enough to win to his side the weak-minded Paul, whose delight in soldiers he well knew. Napoleon now had but two enemies in arms to deal with. He wrote letters to the king of England and the emperor of Austria, offering peace The answers were cold and insulting, asking France to take back her Bour- bon kinors and return to her old boundaries, Nothine remained but war. Napoleon prepared for it with his usual rapidity, secrecy, and keenness of judgment. There were two French armies in the field in the spring of 1800, Moreau commanding in Germany, Massena in Italy. Switzerland, which fvas occupied by the French, divided the armies of the enemy, and Napo- leon determined to take advantage of the separation of their forces, and strike an overwhelming blow. He sent word to Moreau and Massena to keep the enemy in check at any cost, and secretly gathered a third army, whose corps were dispersed here and there, while the powers of Europe were aware only of the army of reserve at Dijon, made up of conscripts and invalids. Meanwhile the armies in Italy and Germany were doing their best to obey orders. Massena was attacked by the Austrians before ., •^ ■' . Movements of he could concentrate his troops, his army was cut in two, and the Armies in he was forced to fall back upon Genoa, in which city he was Germany and closely besieged, with a fair prospect of being conquered by ^ starvation if not soon relieved. Moreau was more fortunate. He defeated the Austrians in a series of battles and drove them back on Ulm, where he blockaded them in their camp. All was ready for the great movement which Napoleon had in view. Twenty centuries before Hannibal had led his army across the great mountain barrier of the Alps, and poured down like an avalanche upon the fertile plains of Italy. The Corsican determined to repeat this brilliant achievement and emulate Hannibal's career. Several passes across the mountains seemed favorable to his purpose, especially those of the St. Bernard, the Simplon and Mont Cenls. Of these the first was the most difficult ; but It w^as much the shorter, and Napoleon determined to lead the main body of his army over this Ice-covered mountain pass, despite Its dangers and difficulties. The enterprise was one to deter any man less bold than Hannibal or Napoleon, but It was welcome to the hardihood and daring of these men, who rejoiced In the seemingly impossible and spurned at hardships and perils. The task of the Corsican was greater than that of the Carthaginian. 46 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY He had cannon to transport, while Hannibal's men carried only swords and spears. But the genius of Napoleon was equal to the task. Crosses the ^^^^ cannon were taken from their carriages and placed in the Alps at St. hollowed-out trunks of trees, which could be dragged with Bernard Pass j-Qpgg over the ice and snow. Mules were used to draw the gun-carriages and the wagon-loads of food and munitions of war. Stores of provisions had been placed at suitable points along the road. Thus prepared, Napoleon, on the i6th of May, 1800, began his remark able march, while smaller divisions of the army were sent over the Simplon, the St. Gothard and Mont Cenis passes. It was an arduous enterprise. The mules proved unequal to the task given to them ; the peasants refused to aid in this severe work ; the soldiers were obliged to harness themselves to the cannon, and drag them by main strength over the rocky and ice- covered mountain path. The First Consul rode on a mule at the head of the rear-guard, serene and cheerful, chatting with his guide as with a friend, and keeping up the courage of the soldiers by his own indomitable spirit. A few hours' rest at the hospice of St. Bernard, and the descent was begun, an enterprise even more difficult than the ascent. For five days the dread journey continued, division following division, corps succeeding corps. The point of greatest peril was reached at Aosta, where, on a precipitous rock, stood the little Austrian fort of Bard, its artillery commanding the narrow defile. It was night when the vanguard reached this threatening spot. It was passed in dead silence, tow being wrapped round the wheels of the carriages and a layer of straw and refuse, spread on the frozen ground, while the troops followed a narrow path over the neighboring mountains. By day- break the passage was made and the danger at an end. The sudden appearance of the French in Italy was an utter surprise to the Austrians. They descended like a torrent into the valley, seized Ivry, and five days after reaching Italy met and repulsed an Austrian force. The divisions which had crossed by other passes one by one joined The Situation Napoleon. Melas, the Austrian commander, was warned of in Italy ^ i- 1 • 1 the danger that impended, but refused to credit the seemmgly preposterous story. His men were scattered, some besieging Massena, in Genoa, some attacking Suchet on the Van His danger was imminent, for Napoleon, leaving Massena to starve in Genoa, had formed the design of annihilating the Austrian army at one tremendous blow. The people of Lombardy, weary of the Austrian yoke, and hoping for liberty under the rule of France, received the new-comers with transport, and lent them what aid they could. On June 9th, Marshall Lannes met s-^ V b go C'3 ni O =|J3 Tl ^ 0.0 > a X.2 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY 49 and defeated the Austrians at Montebello, after a hot engagement. "I heard the bones crackle Hke a hailstorm on the roofs." he said. On the 14th, the two armies met on the plain of Marengo, and one of the most famous of Napoleon's battles began. Napoleon was not ready for the coming battle, and was taken by sur- prise. He had been obliged to break up his army in order to guard all the passages open to the enemy. When he entered, on the 13th, the plain be- tween the Scrivia and the Bormida, near the little village of -phe Famous Mareneo, he was ignorant of the movements of the Austri- Field of ans, and was not expecting the onset of Melas, who, on the following morning, crossed the Bormida by three bridges, and made a fierce assault upon the divisions of generals Victor and Lannes. Victor was vigor- ously attacked and driven back, and Marengo was destroyed by the Aus- trian cannon. Lannes was surrounded by overwhelming numbers, and, fight- ing furiously, was forced to retreat. In the heat of the battle Bonaparte reached the field with his guard and his staff, and found himself in the thick of the terrific affray and his army virtually beaten. The retreat continued. It was impossible to check it. The enemy pressed enthusiastically forward. The army was in imminent danger of being cut in two. But Napoleon, with obstinate persistance, kept up the fight, hoping for some change in the perilous situation. Melas, on the con- trary,— an old man, weary of his labors, and confident in the seeming vic- tory, — withdrew to his headquarters at Alessandria, whence he sent off despatches to the effect that the terrible Corsican had at length met defeat. H.^ did not know his man. Napoleon sent an aide-de-camp in all haste Gfter Desaix, one of his most trusted generals, who had just returned from Egypt, and whose corps he had detached towards Novi. All depended upon his rapid return. Without Desaix the battle was lost. Fortunately the alert general did not wait for the messenger. His ears caught the sound of distant cannon and, scenting danger, he marched back with the utmost speed. Napoleon met his welcome officer with eyes of joy and hope. " You see the situation," he said, rapidly explaining the state of affairs. *' What is to be done ? " ** It is a lost battle," Desaix replied. " But there are some ^ Great Battle hours of daylight yet. We have time to win another." Lost and While he talked with the commander, his regiments had hastily formed, and now presented a threatening front to the Austrians. Their presence gave new spirit to the retreating troops. " Soldiers and friends," cried Napoleon to them, " remember that it is my custom to sleep upon the field of battle." 50 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY Back upon their foes turned the retreating troops, with new animation, and checked the victorious Austrians. Desaix hurried to his men and placed himself at their head. ** Go and tell the First Consul that I am about to charge," he said to an aide. " I need to be supported by cavalry." A few minutes afterwards, as he was leading his troops irresistibly for- ward, a ball struck him in the breast, inflicting a mortal wound. " I have been too long making war in Africa ; the bullets of Europe know me no more,*' he sadly said. "Conceal my death from the men ; it might rob them of spirit." The soldiers had seen him fall, but, instead of being dispirited, they were filled with fury, and rushed forward furiously to avenge their beloved leader. At the same time Kellermann arrived with his dragoons, impetuously hurled them upon the Austrian cavalry, broke through their columns, and fell upon the grenadiers who were wavering before the troops of Desaix. It was a death-stroke. The cavalry and infantry together swept them back in a disorderly retreat. One whole corps, hopeless of escape, threw down its arms and surrendered. The late victorious army was everywhere in retreat. The Austrians were crowded back upon the Bormida, here block* ing the bridges, there flinging themselves into the stream, on all sides flying from the victorious French. The cannon stuck in the muddy stream and were left to the victors. When Melas, apprised of the sudden change in the aspect of affairs, hurried back in dismay to the field, the battle was Irretriev- ably lost, and General Zach, his representative in command, was a prisoner in the hands of the French. The field was strewn with thousands of the dead. The slain Desaix and the living Kellermann had turned the Austrian victory into defeat and saved Napoleon. The Result of ^ ^^^ days afterwards, on the 19th, Moreau In Germany the Victory won a brilliant victory at Hochstadt, near Blenheim, took 5,000 o arengo prisoners and twenty pieces of cannon, and forced from the Austrians an armed truce which left him master of South Germany. A still more momentous armistice was signed by Melas In Italy, by which the Aus- trians surrendered Piedmont, Lombardy, and all their territory as far as the Mincio, leaving France master of Italy. Melas protested against these severe terms, but Napoleon was immovable. " I did not begin to make war yesterday," he said. *T know your situa- tion. You are out of provisions, encumbered with the dead, wounded, and sick, and surrounded on all sides. I could exact everything, I ask only what the situation of affairs demands. I have no other terms to offer." NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY 51 During the night of the 2d and 3d of July, Napoleon re-entered Paris, which he had left less than two months before. Brilliant ova- Napoleon tions met him on his route, and all France would have pros- Returns to trated itself at his feet had he permitted. He came crowned France with the kind of glory which is especially dear to the French, that gained on the field of battle. Five months afterwards, Austria having refused to make peace without the concurrence of England, and the truce being at an end, another famous victory was added to the list of those which were being inscribed upon the annals of France. On the 3d of December the veterans under Moreau mxet an Austrian army under the Archduke John, on the plain of Hohenlinden, across which ran the small river Iser. The Austrians marched through the forest of Hohen- ,, ,^^ '^ ^ Moreau and the linden, looking for no resistance, and unaware that Moreau's Great Battle army awaited their exit. As they left the shelter of the trees ^/ Hohen= and debouched upon the plain, they were attacked by the French in force. Two divisions had been despatched to take them in the rear, and Moreau held back his men to give them the necessary time. The snow was falling In great flakes, yet through it his keen eyes saw some signs of confusion in the hostile ranks. " Richepanse has struck them in the rear," he said, " the time has come to charge." Ney rushed forward at the head of his troops, driving the enemy in confusion before him. The centre of the Austrian army was hemmed in between the two forces. Decaen had struck their left wine in the rear and forced it back upon the Inn, Their right was driven into the valley. The day was lost to the Austrians, whose killed and wounded numbered 8,000, while the French had taken 12,000 prisoners and eighty-seven pieces of cannon. The victorious French advanced, sweeping back all opposition, until Vienna, the Austrian capital, lay before them, only a few leagues away. His staff officers urged Moreau to take possession of the city. ** That would be a fine thing to do, no doubt," he said ; " but to my fancy to dictate terms of peace will be a finer thing still," The Austrians were ready for peace at any price. On Christmas day, 1800, an armistice was signed which delivered to the French the valley of the Danube, the country of the Tyrol, a number LuneWHe** of fortresses, and immense magazines of war materials. The war continued in Italy till the end of December, when a truce was signed there and the conflict was at an end. 52 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY Thus the nineteenth century dawned with France at truce with all her foes except Great Britain, In February, 1801, a treaty of peace between Austria and France was signed at Luneville, in which the valley of the Etsch and the Rhine was acknowledged as the boundary of France. Austria was forced to relinquish all her possessions in Italy, except the city of Venice and a portion of Venetia ; all the remainder of North Italy falling into the hands of France, Europe was at peace with the exception of the hostile relations still existinof between Enofland and France. The war between these two countries was mainly confined to Egypt, where remained the arm)^ which Napoleon had left in his hasty return to France. As it became evident in time that neither the British land forces nor the Turkish troops could overcome the French veterans in the valley of the Nile, a treaty was arranored which stipulated that the The Peace of ' . . . Amiens French soldiers, 24,000 in all, should be taken home in English ships, with their arms and ammunition, Egypt being given back to the rule of the Sultan. This was followed by the peace of Amiens (March 27, 1802), between England and France, and the long war was, for the time, at an end. Napoleoi had conquered peace. During the period of peaceful relations that followed Napoleon was by no means at rest. His mind was too activ^e to yield him long intervals of leisure. There was much to be done in France in sweeping away the traces of the revolutionary insanity. One of the first cares of the Consul was to restore the Christian worship in the F'rench churches and to abolish the Republican festivals. But he had no intention of giving the church back its old power and placing another kingship beside his own. He insisted that the French church should lose its former supremacy and sink to the position of a servant of the Pope and of the temporal sovereign of France. Establishing his court as First Consul in the Tuileries, Napoleon began to bring back the old court fashions and etiquette, and attempted to restore the monarchical customs and usages. The elegance of royalty reappeared, and it seemed almost as if monarchy had been restored. A further step towards the restoration of the kingship was soon taken Napoleon, as yet Consul only for ten years, had himself appointed Consu' for life, with the power of naming his successor. He was king now in everything but the name. But he was not suffered to wear his new honor in safety. His ambition had aroused the anger of the republicans, conspi- racies rose around him, and more than once his life was in danger. On his way to the opera house an infernal machine was exploded, killing several persons but leaving him unhurt NAPOLEON BONAPARTE NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY 55 Other plots were organized, and Fouche, the pohce-agent of the time, was kept busy in seeking the plotters, for whom there was ^^ p^^. brief mercy when found. Even Moreau, the victor at ment of the Hohenlinden, accused of negotiating with the conspirators, Conspirators was disgraced, and exiled himself from France. Napoleon sassination dealt with his secret enemies with the sarne ruthless energy as of the Duke he did with his foes in the field of battle. d'Enghien His rage at the attempts upon his life, indeed, took a form that has been universally condemned. The Duke d'Enghien, a royalist French aobleman, grandson of the Prince of Conde, who was believed by Napoleon to be the soul of the royalist conspiracies, ventured too near the borders of France, and was seized in foreign territory, taken in haste to Paris, and shot without form of law or a moment's opportunity for defence. The outrage excited the deepest indignation throughout Europe. No name was given it but murder, and the historians of to-day speak of the act by no other title. The opinion of the world had little effect upon Napoleon. He was a law unto himself. The death of one man or of a thousand men weighed nothing to him where his safety or his ambition was concerned. Men were the pawns he used in the great game of empire, and he heeded not how many of them were sacrificed so that he won the game. The culmination of his ambition came in 1804, when the hope he had long secretly cherished, that of gaining the imperial dignity, was realized. He imitated the example of Caesar, the Roman conqueror, in ., , ^ ... T. ' Napoleon seeking the crown as a reward for his victories, and was elected Crowned emperor of the PVench by an almost unanimous vote'. That Emperor of the sanction of the church might be obtained for the new dignity, the Pope was constrained to come to Paris, and there anointed him emperor on December 2, 1804. The new emperor hastened to restore the old insignia of royalty. He surrounded himself with a brilliant court, brought back the discarded titles of nobility, named the members of his family princes and princesses, and sought to banish every vestige of republican simplicity. Ten years before he had begun his career in the streets of Paris by sweeping away with cannon-shot the mob that rose in support of the Reign of Terror. Now he had swept away the Republic of France and founded a French empire, with himself at its head as Napoleon I. But though royalty was restored, it was not a royalty of the old type. Feudalism was at an end. The revolution had destroyed the last relics of that effete and abominable system and it was an empire on new and modern 4 56 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE— THE MAN OF DESTINY lines which Napoleon had founded, a royalty voted into existence by a free people, not resting upon a nation of slaves. The new emperor did not seek to enjoy in leisure his new dignity. His restless mind impelled him to broad schemes of public improvement. He ^. ^ , sought olorv in peace as actively as in war. Important The Great c? & / i j i Works Devised changes were made in the management of the finances in order By the New j-q provide the great sums needed for the government, the EriirjGror army, and the state. Vast contracts were made for road and canal building, and ambitious architectural labors were set in train. Churches were erected, the Pantheon was completed, triumphal arches were built, two new bridges were thrown over the Seine, the Louvre was ordered to be finished, the Bourse to be constructed, and a temple consecrated to the exploits of the army (now the church of the Madeleine) to be built. Thousands of workmen were kept busy in erecting these monuments to his glory, and all France resounded with his fame. Among the most important of these evidences of his activity of intellect was the formation of the Code Napoleon, the first organized code of French law, and still the basis of jurisprudence in France. First promulgated in iSoi, as the Civil Code of France, its title was changed to the Code Napoleon in 1804, and as such it stands as one of the greatest monuments raised by Napoleon to his glory. Thus the Consul, and subsequently the Emperor, usefully occupied himself in the brief intervals between his almost incessant wars. CHAPTER III. • Europe in the Grasp of the Iron Hand. THE peace of Amiens, which for an interval left France without an open enemy in Europe, did not long continue. England failed to carry out one of the main provisions of this treaty, holding on to the island of Malta in despite of the French protests. The feeling between the two nations soon grew bitter, and in 1803 England again declared war against France. William Pitt, the unyielding foe of Napoleon, came again to the head of the ministry in 1804, and displayed all his old activity in organizing coalitions against the hated Corslcan. Declares War The war thus declared was to last, so far as England was con- cerned, until Napoleon was driven from his throne. It was conducted by the English mainly through the aid of money paid to their European allies and the activity of their fleet. The British Channel remained an insuper- able obstacle to Napoleon in his conflict with his island foe, and the utmost he could do in the way of revenge was to launch his armies against the allies of Great Britain, and to occupy Hanover, the domain of the English kinor on the continent. This he hastened to do. The immunity of his persistent enemy was more than the proud con- queror felt disposed to endure. Hitherto he had triumphed over all his foes in the field. Should these haughty islanders contemn his power and defy his armies? He determined to play the role of William of Normandy, centuries before, and attack them on their own shores. This design he had long entertained, and began actively to prepare for as soon as war was declared. An army was encamped at Bouloo-ne, and a ereat ^ ^ _ -' , ^ t> ' & Great Prepara= flotilla prepared to convey it across the narrow sea. The war tions for the material gathered was enormous in quantity; the army num- invasion of bered 120,000 men, with 10,000 horses; 1,800 gunboats of various kinds were ready ; only the support of the fleet was awaited to enable the crossing to be achieved in safety. We need not dwell further upon this great enterprise, since it failed to yield any result. The French admiral whose concurrence was depended upon took sick and died, and the great expedition was necessarily postponed. Before new plans could be laid the indefatigable Pitt had succeeded in organizing a fresh coalition in Europe, and Napoleon found full employ- ment for his army on the continent. (57) 58 EUROPE IN THE GRASPE OF THE IRON HAND In Apiil, 1805, a treaty of alliance was made between England and Russia. On the 9th of August, Austria joined this alliance. Sweden sub- sequently gave in her adhesion, and Prussia alone remained neutral among the great powers. But the allies were mistaken if they expected to take the astute Napoleon unawares. He had foreseen this combination, and, while keeping the eyes of all Europe fixed upon his great preparations at Boulogne, he was quietly but effectively laying his plans for the expected campaign. The Austrians had hastened to take the field, marching an army into Bavaria and forcing the Elector, the ally of Napoleon, to fly from his capital. The French emperor was seemingly taken by surprise, and apparently was in no haste, the Austrians having made much progress before he left his palace at Saint Cloud. But meanwhile his troops were quietly but Rapid March . , , . . • r n • 11 on Austria rapidly m motion, converging irom all points towards the Rhine, and by the end of September seven divisions of the army, commanded by Napoleon's ablest Generals, — Ney, Murat, Lannes, Soult and others, — were across that stream and inarching rapidly upon the enemy. Bernadotte led his troops across Prussian territory in disdain of the neutrality of that power, and thereby gave such offence to King Frederick William as to turn his mind decidedly in favor of joining the coalition. Early in October the French held both banks of the Danube, and before the month's end they had gained a notable triumph. Mack, one of the Austrian commanders, with remarkable lack of judgment, held his army in the fortress of Ulm while the swiftly advancing French were cutting off every avenue of retreat, and surrounding his troops. An extraordinary result followed. Ney, on the 14th, defeated the Austrians at Elchingen, cutting off Mack from the main army and shutting him up hopelessly in The Surrender Ulm. Five days afterwards the desparing and incapable of General general surrendered his army as prisoners of war. Twenty- ^^ three thousand soldiers laid their weapons and banners at Napoleon's feet and eighteen generals remained as prisoners in his hands. It was a triumph which in its way atoned for a great naval disaster whicli took place on the succeeding day, when Nelson, the English admiral, attacked and destroyed the whole French fleet at Trafalgar. The succeeding events, to the great battle that closed the campaign, may be epitomized. An Austrian army had been dispatched to Italy under the brave and able Archduke Charles. Here Marshal Massena commanded the French and a battle took place near Caldiero on October 30th. The Austrians fought stubbornly, but could not withstand the impetuosity of the French, and were forced to retreat and abandon northern Italy to Massena and his men. ^7 <=^ -n ^. a t!^ z S o Is- to -► 6 o "5-5 < -S"^ ^ ^ fc Ul f^ 3 •*• 9 ° U c3 ^ I- 3 •» < u a u „ > EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 61 In the north the king of Prussia, furious at the violation of his neutral territory by the French under Bernadotte, gave free passage to the Russian and Swedish troops, and formed a league of friendship with the Czar Alexander. He then dispatched his minister Haugwitz to Napoleon, with a demand that concealed a threat, requiring him, as a basis of peace, to restore the former treaties in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Holland. With utter disregard of this demand Napoleon advanced along the Danube towards the Austrian states, meeting and defeating the Austrians and Russians in a series of sanguinary conflicts. The Russian army was the most ably commanded, and its leader Kutusoff led it backward in slow but resolute retreat, fighting only when attacked. The French under Mortier were caught isolated on the left bank of the Danube, and fiercely assailed by the Russians, losing heavily before they could be reinforced. Despite all resistance, the French continued to advance, Tv/r 1 . 1 . ^j. 1 A • The Advance JNiurat soon reachmg and occupying Vienna, the Austrian on Vienna capital, from which the emperor had hastily withdrawn. Still the retreat and pursuit continued, the allies retiring to Moravia, whither the French, laden with an immense booty from their victories, rapidly followed. Futile negotiations for peace succeeded, and on the ist of December, the two armies, both concentrated in their fullest strength (92,000 of the allies to 70,000 French) came face to face on the field of Austerlitz, where on the following day was to be fought one of the memor- able battles in the history of the world. The Emperor Alexander had joined Francis of Austria, and the two monarchs, with their staff officers, occupied the castle and village of Auster lltz. Their troops hastened to occupy the plateau of Pratzen, which Napoleon had designedly left free. His plans of battle Th^ Eve Before was already fully made. He had, with the intuition of genius, foreseen the probable manoeuvers of the enemy, and had left open for them the position which he wished them to occupy. He even announced their movement in a proclamation to. his troops. "The positions that we occupy are formidable," he said, " and while the enemy march to turn my right they will present to me their flank." This movement to the right was indeed the one that had been decided upon by the allies, with the purpose of cutting off the road to Vienna by isolating numerous corps dispersed in Austria and Styria. It had been shrewdly divined by Napoleon In choosing his ground. The fact that the 2d of December was the anniversary of the corona- tion of their emperor filled the French troops with ardor. They celebrated it by makmg great torches of the straw which formed their beds and illumi 62 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND .^53 ting their camp. Early the next morning the allies began their projected movement. To the joy of Napoleon hi.s prediction was fulfilled, they were advancing towards his right He felt sure that the victory was in his hands. He held his own men in readiness while the line of the enemy deployed. The sun was rising, its rays gleaming through a mist, which dispersed as it I'he Greatest of ''^^^ higher. It now poured its brilliant beams across the NapoJeon's field, the afterward famous ''sun of Austerlitz." The move- Victones ment of the allies had the effect of partly withdrawing their troops from the plateau of Pratzen. At a signal from the emperor the strongly concentrated centre of the French army moved forward in a dense mass, directing their march towards the plateau, which they made all haste to occupy. They had reached the foot of the hill before the rising mist revealed them to the enemy. The two emperors v.'atched the movement without divining its intent. See how the French climb the height without staying to reply to our fire ' said Prince Czartoryski. who stood near them. The emperors were soon to learn why their fire was disdained. Their marching columns, thrown out one after another on the slope, found them- selves suddenly checked in their movement, and cut off from the two wings of the army. The aUied force had been pierced in its centre, which was (lung back in disorder, in spite of the efforts of Kutusoff to send it aid. At the same time Davout faced the Russians on the right, and Murat and Lannes attacked the Russian and Austrian squadrons on the left, while Kel- Sermann's light cavalry dispersed the squadrons of the Uhlans. The Russian guard, checked in its movement, turned towards Pratzen, in a desperate effort to retrieve the fortune of the day. It was incautiously pursued by a French battalion, which soon found itself isolated and in danger. Napoleon perceived its peril and hastily sent Rapp to its sup- port, with the Mamelukes and the chasseurs of the guard. They rushed forward with energy and quickly drove back the enemy, Prince Repnin remaining a prisoner in their hands. The day was lost to the allies. Everywhere disorder prevailed and their troops were in retreat. An isolated Russian division threw down its arms and surrendered. Two columns were forced back beyond the marshes. The soldiers rushed in their flight upon the ice of the lake, which the intense cold had made thick enough to bear their weight And now a terrible scene was witnessed. War is merci- lik^'liorr r ^^•''^ ■ death is its aim; the slaughter of an enemy by any means is looked upon as admissible. By Napoleon's order the French cannon were turned upon the lake Their plunging balls rent and EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 63 splintered the ice under the feet of the crowd of fugitives. Soon it broke with a crash, and the unhappy soldiers, with shrill cries of despair, sunk to death in the chilling waters beneath, thousands of them perishing. It was a frightful expedient — one that would be deemed a crime in any other code than the merciless one of war. A portion of the allied army made a perilous retreat along a narrow embankment which separated the two lakes of Melnitz and Falnitz, their exposed causeway swept by the fire of the French batteries. Of the whole army, the corps of Prince Bagration alone withdrew in order of battle. All that dreadful day the roar of battle had resounded. At its close the victorious French occupied the field ; the allied army was pouring back in disordered flight, the dismayed emperors in its midst ; thousands of dead covered the fatal field, the groans of thousands of wounded men filled the air. More than 30,000 prisoners, including twenty generals, remained in Napoleon's hands, and with them a hundred and twenty pieces of cannon and forty flags, including the standards of the Imperial Guard of Russia. The defeat was a crushing one. Napoleon had won the most famous of his battles. The Emperor Francis, in deep depression. Treaty of asked for an interview and an armistice. Two days afterward Peace with the emperors, — the conqueror and the conquered, — met and "^ "^ an armistice was granted. While the negotiations for peace continued Napoleon shrewdly disposed of the hostility of Prussia by offering the state of Hanover to that power and signing a treaty with the king. On Decem- ber 26th a treaty of peace between France and Austria was signed at Presburg. The Emperor Francis yielded all his remaining possessions in Italy, and also the Tyrol, the Black Forest, and other districts in Germany, which Napoleon presented to his allies, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden ; whose monarchs were still more closely united to Napoleon by marriages between their children and relatives of himself and his wife Josephine. Bavaria and Wurtembero- were made kin^jdoms, and Baden was raised in rank to a grand-duchy; The three months' war was at an end. Austria^ had paid dearly for her subserviency to England. Of the several late enemies of France, only two remained in arms, Russia and England. And in the latter Pitt, Napoleon's greatest enemy, died during the next month, leaving the power in the hands of Fox, an admirer of the Corsican. Napoleon was at the summit of his glory and success. Napoleon's political changes did not end with the partial dismember- ment of Austria. His ambition to become supreme in Europe and to rule everywhere lord paramount, inspired him to exalt his family, raising his rela- 64 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND tives to the rank of kings, but keeping- them the servants of his imperious will. Holland lost its independence, Louis Bonaparte being named its king. Joachim Murat, brother-in-law of the emperor, was o-iven a Napoleon i • i 11 t-»i • • 1 -r-w 1 1 r ... Awards King= l^^mgdom. on the lower Khme, with Uusseldorf as its capital. domstoHis A stroke of Napoleon's pen ended the Bourbon monarchy in Adherents Naples, and Joseph Bonaparte was sent thither as king, with a French army to support him. Italy was divided into duke idoms, ruled over by the marshals and adherents of the emperor, whose hand began to move the powers of Europe as a chess-player moves the pieces upon his board. The story of his political transformations extends farther still. By rais- ing the electors of Bavaria and Wurtemberg to the rank of kings, he had practically brought to an end the antique German Empire — which indeed had long been little more than a name. In July, 1806, he completed this work. The states of South and West Germany were organized into a league named the Confederation of the Rhine, under the protection of Napoleon. Many small principalities were suppressed and their territories added to the larger ones, increasing the power of the latter, and v/inning the gratitude of their rulers for their benefactor. The empire of France was in this manner practically extended over Italy, the Netherlands, and the west and south of Germany. Francis II., lord of the " Holy Roman Empire," now renounced the title which these radical changes had made a mockery, withdrew his states from the imperial confederation of Germany, and assumed the title of Francis I. of Austria. The Empire of Germany, once powerful, but long since reduced to a shadowy pretence, finally ceased to exist. These autocratic changes could not fail to arouse the indignation of the monarchs of Europe and imperil the prevailing peace. Austria was in no The Hostile condition to resume hostilities, but Prussia, which had main- Irritation of tained a doubtful neutrality during the recent wars, grew more and more exasperated as these high-handed proceedings went on. A league which the king of Prussia sought to form with Saxony and liesse-Cassel was thwarted by Napoleon ; who also, in negotiating for peace with England, offered to return Hanover to that country, without consulting the Prussian King, to whom this electorate had been ceded. Other causes of resentment existed, and finally Frederick William of Prussia, irritated beyond control, sent a so-called " ultimatum " to Napoleon, demanding the evacuation of South Germany by the French. As might have been expected, this proposal was rejected with scorn, whereupon Prussia broke off all communication with France and began preparations for war. EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 65 The Prussians did not know the man with whom they had to deal. It was an idle liope that this state could cope alone with the power of Napo- leon and his allies, and while Frederick William was slowly ^pi^^ Prussian preparing for the war which he had long sought to avoid, the Armies in French troops were on the march and rapidly approaching the * e Fie d borders of his kingdom. Saxony had allied itself with Prussia under com- pulsion, and had added 20,000 men to its armies. The elector of Hesse- Cassel had also joined the Prussians, and furnished them a contingent of troops. But this hastily levied army, composed of men few of whom had ever seen a battle, seemed hopeless as matched with the great army of war- worn veterans which Napoleon was marching with his accustomed rapidity against them. Austria, whom the Prussian King had failed to aid, now looked on passively at his peril. The Russians, who still maintained hostile relations with France, held their troops Immovable upon the Vistula. Frederick William was left to face the power of Napoleon alone. The fate of the campaign was quickly decided. Through ;viarch of the the mountain passes of Franconia Napoleon led his forces French upon against the Prussian army, which was divided Into two corps, *^''"ssia under the command of the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of Hohenlohe. The troops of the latter occupied the road from Weimar to Jena. The heights v/hich commanded the latter town were seized by Marshal Lannes on his arrival. A second French corps, under Marshals Davout and Bernadotte, marched against the Duke of Brunswick and established them- selves upon the left bank of the Saale. On the morning of the 4th of October, 1S06, the conflict at Jena, upon which hung the destiny of the Prussian Kingdom, began. The troops under the Prince of Hohenlohe surpassed in number those of Napoleon, but were unfitted to sustain the impetuosity of the French assault. Soult and Augereau, in command of the wings of the French army, advanced rapidly, enveloping the Prussian forces and driving them back by the vigor of their attack. Then on the Prussian center the g-uard and the reserves fell in a compact mass whose tremendous Impact the enemy found it impossible to endure. The retreat became a rout. The Prussian army broke Into a mob of fugitives, flying in terror before Napoleon's irresistible veterans. They v/ere met by Marshal Biechel with an army of 20,000 men advanc- inor in all haste to the aid of the Prince of Hohenlohe. ^ , ^ ^ ,, ^ , . . .. . . Defeat of the Throwing his men across the line of flight, he did his utmost Prussians at to rally tlie fuf:^itives. His effort was a vain one. His men -'^"^ ^^^ "" 1 , ... , 1111 Auerstadt were swept away by the panic-stricken mass and pushed back by the triumphant pursuers. Weimar was reached by the French and the S6 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND Germans simultaneosly, the former seizing prisoners in such numbers as seriously to hinder their pursuit. While this battle was going on. another was in progress near Auer* sradt, where Marshal Davout had encountered the forces of the Duke of Brunswick, with whom was Frederick William, the king. Bernadotte, ordered by the emperor to occupy Hamburg, had withdrawn his troops, leaving Davout much outnumbered by the foe. But heedless of this, he threw himself across their road in the defile of Koesen, and sustained alone the furious attack made upon him by the duke. Throwing his regiments into squares, he poured a murderous fire on the charging troops, hurling them back from his immovable lines. The old duke fell with a mortal wound. The king and his son led their troops to a second, but equally fruitless, attack. Davout, taking advantage of their repulse, advanced and seized the heiofhts of Eckartsbero-a. where he defended himself with his artillery. Frederick William, discouraged by this vigorous resistance, retired towards Weimar with the purpose of joining his forces with those of the Prince of Hohenlohe and renewing the attack. Davout's men were too exhausted to pursue, but Bernadotte was encountered and barred the way, and the disaster at Jena was soon made evident by the panic-stricken mass of fugitives, whose flying multitude, hotly pursued by the French, sought safety in the ranks of the king's corps, which they threw into confusion by their impact It was apparent that the battle was irretrievably lost Night was approaching. The king marched hastily away, the disorder in his ranks increasing as the darkness fell. In that one fatal day he had lost his army and placed his kingdom itself in jeopardy. "They can do nothing but gather up the debris" said Napoleon. The French lost no time in following up the defeated army, which had _ ^ ... broken into several divisions in its retreat. On the 17th, The Demorihza- r ttt 1 ■, t • 1 « tionofthe Duke Eugene of Wurtemberg and the reserves under his Prussian command were scattered in defeat. On the 28th. the Prince of Hohenlohe, with the 12,000 men whom he still held to- gether, was forced to surrender. Blucher, who had seized the free city of Llibeck. was obliged to follow his example. On all sides the scattered d'ekHs of the army was destroyed, and on October 27th Napoleon entered in triumph the city of Berlin, his first entry into an enemy's capital. The battle ended, the country occupied, the work of Napoleon ; V t t j • Divides the revenge ot the victor began. The Elector of Hesse was driven Spoils of from his throne and his country stricken from the list of the ^ ^*"^ powers of Europe. Hanover and the Hanseatic towns were occupied by the French- The English merchandise found ir ^-orts and EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 67 warehouses was seized and confiscated. A heavy war contribution was laid upon the defeated state. Severe taxes were laid upon Hamburg, Bremen and Leipzig", and from all the leading cities the treasures of art and science were carried away to enrich the museums and galleries of France. Saxony, whose alliance with Prussia had been a forced one, was alone spared. The Saxon prisoners were sent back free to their sovereign, and the elector was granted a favorable peace and honored with the title of king. In return for these favors he joined the Confederation of the Rhine,' and such was his gratitude to Napoleon that he remained his friend and ally in the trying days when he had no other friend among the powers of Europe. The harsh measures of which we have spoken were not the only ones taken by Napoleon against his enemies. England, the most implacable of his foes, remained beyond his reach, mistress of the seas as he was lord of the land. He could only meet the Islanders upon their favorite element, and in November 21, 1806, he sent from Berlin to Talleyrand, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, a decree establishing a continental embargo against Great Britain. 'The British Islanders," said this famous edict of reprisal, "are declared in a state of blockade. All commerce and all correspondence with them are forbidden." All letters or packets addressed to an Englishman or written in English were to be seized ; every English subject found In yj^g Embargo any country controlled by France was to be made a prisoner on British of war ; all commerce In English merchandise was forbidden, Commerce and all ships coming from England or her colonies were to be refused admittance to any port. It is hardly necessary to speak here of the distress caused, alike In Europe and elsewhere, by this war upon commerce. In which England did not fail to meet the harsh decrees of her opponent by others equally severe. The effect of these edicts upon American commerce is well known. The commerce of neutral nations was almost swept from the seas. One result was the American war of 1812, which for a time seemed as likely to be directed against France as Great Britain. Meanwhile Frederick William of Prussia was a fugitive king. He refused to accept the harsh terms of the armistice wiUiam a offered by Napoleon, and in despair resolved to seek, with the Fugitive in remnant of his army, some 2^,000 in number, the Russian the Russian ... . Camp camp, and join his forces with those of Alexander of Russia, still in arms against France. Napoleon, not content while an enemy remained in arms, with inflex- ible resolution resolved to make an end of all his adversaries, and meet In 68 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OE THE IRON HAND battle the great empire of the north. The Russian armies then occupied Poland, whose people, burning under the oppression and injustice to which they had been subjected, "gladly welcomed Napoleon's specious offers to brino- them back their lost liberties, and rose in his aid when he marched his armies into their country. Here the French found themselves exposed to unlooked-for privations. They had dreamed of abundant stores of food, but discovered that the country they had invaded was, in this wintry season, a desert ; a series of frozen solitudes incapable of feeding an army, and holding no reward for them, other than that of battle with and victory over the hardy Russians. Napoleon advanced to Warsaw, the Polish capital. The Russians were entrenched behind the Narew and the Ukra. The French continued to advance. The Russians were beaten and forced back in every battle, several furious encounters took place, and Alexander's army fell back upon the Pregel, intact and powerful still, despite the French successes. The wintry chill and the character of the country seriously interfered with Napoleon's plans, the troops being forced to make their way through thick and rain- soaked forests, and march over desolate and marshy plains. The winter of _,^ ^ , . the north fought arainst them like a stronir army and many The French in . akt i-t the Dreary of them fell dead without a battle. Warlike movements Plains of became almost impossible to the troops of the south, though the hardy northeners, accustomed to the climate, continued their military operations. B)' the end of January the Russian army was evidently approaching in force, and immediate action became necessary. The cold increased. The mud was converted into ice. On January 30, 1807, Napoleon left Warsaw and marched in search of the enemy. General Benningsen retreated, avoiding battle, and on the 7th of February entered the small town of Eylau, from which his troops were pushed by the approaching French. He encamped outside the town, the French in and about it ; it was evident that a crreat battle was at hand. The weather was cold. Snow lay thick upon the ground and still fell in great flakes. A sheet of ice covering some small lakes formed part of the country upon which the armies were encamped, but was thick enough to bear their weight. It was a chill, inhospitable country to which the demon of war had come. Before daybreak on the 8th Napoleon was in the streets of Eylau, forming his line of battle for the coming engagement. Soon the artillery of both armies opened, and a rain of cannon balls began to decimate the opposing ranks. The Russian fire was concentrated on the town, which 3 -> S 3 P-o n Z O 3^ -n H'3 e:z «■ o >T3.. ^ o o u biDC/3 •«^ g O o "• *j^ <-> u a e "^ 2 o ^v. « o o ui -as m o -e; «z "S.s S" _j O — ;j; -3 r- " D * > •*• rt -So bi 2 2 2 o -I H o-=-« I— 1) " ^ JJ b c - ^ Z o ^ o u O S|:^ X — .-Co Q a— g V u ^ 4J.2 " o. S " W p. C fi '^ V ■^.£^ S^2 •^>S EUROPE IN THE GRASP OE THE IRON HAND 71 was soon in flames. That of the French was directed against a hill which the emperor deemed it important to occupy. The two armies, -pj^^ Frightful nearly equal in numbers, — the French having 75,000 to the struggle at Russian 70,000, — were but a short distance apart, and the ^ ^" slaucrhter from the fierce cannonade was terrible. A series of movements on both sides began, Davout marching upon the Russian flank and Augereau upon the centre, while the Russians manoeuvred as if with a purpose to outflank the French on the left. At this interval an unlooked-for obstacle interfered with the French movements, a snow-fall beginning, which grew so dense that the armies lost sight of each other, and vision was restricted to a few feet. In this semi-darkness the French columns lost their way, and wandered about uncertainly. For half an hour the snow continued to fall. When it ceased the French army was in a critical position. Its cohesion was lost ; its columns were straggling about and incapable of supporting one another; many of its superior officers were wounded. The Russians, on the contrary, were on the point of executing a vigorous turning movement, with 20,000 infantry, supported by cavalry and artillery. " Are you going to let me be devoured by these people ?" cried Napo- leon to Murat, his eaofle eve discerninof the danger. He ordered a grand charge of all the cavalry of the army, consisting of eighty squadrons. With Murat at their head, they rushed Murat's like an avalanche on the Russian lines, breaking through the Mighty infantry and dispersing the cavalry who came to its support. ^^^^ The Russian infantry suffered severely from this charge, its two massive lines being rent asunder, while the third fell back upon a wood in the rear. Finally Davout, whose movement had been hindered by the weather, reached the Russian rear, and in an impetuous charge drove them from the hilly ground which Napoleon wished to occupy. The battle seemed lost to the Russians. They began a retreat, leaving the ground strewn thickly with their dead and wounded. But at this critical moment a Prussian force, some 8,000 strong, which was being pursued by Marshal Ney, arrived on the field and checked the French advance and the Russian retreat. Benningsen regained sufficient confidence to prepare for final attack, when he was advised of the approach of Ney, who was two or three hours behind the Prussians. At this discouraging news a final retreat was ordered. The French were left masters of the field, though little attempt was made to pursue the menacing columns of the enemy, who withdrew in mili- tary array. It was a victory that came near being a defeat, and which, 72 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND indeed, both sides claimed. Never before had Napoleon been so stub- bornly withstood. His success had been bought at a frightful cost, and The Cost of Konigsberg, the old Prussian capital, the goal of his march, Victory was Still covered by the compact columns of the allies. The Fright ui x^^w were in no condition to pursue. Food was wanting, and they were without shelter from the wintry chill. Ney surveyed the terrible scene with eyes of gloom. " What a massacre," he exclaimed ; " and with- out result." So severe was the exhaustion on both sides from this great battle that it was four months before hostilities were resumed. Meanwhile Danzig, which had been strongly besieged, surrendered, and more than 30,000 men were released to reinforce the French army. Negotiations for peace went slowly on, without result, and it was June before hostilities again became imminent. Eylau, which now became Napoleon's headquarters, presented a very different aspect at this season from that of four months before. Then all was wintry desolation ; now the country presented a beautiful scene of green woodland, shining lakes, and attractive villages. The light corps of the army were in motion in various directions, their object being to get between the Russians and their magazines and cut off retreat to Konigsberg. On June 13th Napoleon, with the main body of his army, marched towards Fried- land, a town on the River Alle, in the vicinity of Konigsberg, towards which the Russians were marching. Here, crossing the Alle, Benningsen drove from the town a regiment of French hussars which had occupied it, and fell with all his force on the corps of Marshal Lannes, which alone had reached the field. Lannes held his ground with his usual heroic fortitude, while sending Napoleon on successive messengers for aid to the emperor. Noon had the Field of passed when Napoleon and his staff reached the field at full Fnedland gallop, far in advance of the troops. He surveyed the field with eyes of hope. " It is the 14th of June, the anniversary of Marengo," he said ; *' it is a lucky day for us." ** Give me only a reinforcement," cried Oudinot, " and we will cast all the Russians into the water." This seemed possible. Benningsen's troops were perilously concen- trated within a bend of the river. Some of the French generals advised de- ferring the battle till the next day, as the hour was late, but Napoleon was too shrewd to let an advantage escape him. " No," he said, " one does not surprise the enemy twice in such a blun- der." He swept with his fi^ld-glass the masses of the enemy before him, EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 73 then seized the arm of Marshal Ney. " You see the Russians and the town of Friedland," he said. " March straight forward ; seize the town ; take the bridges, whatever it may cost. Do not trouble yourself with what is taking place around you. Leave that to me and the army." The troops were coming in rapidly, and marching to the places assigned them. The hours moved on. It was half-past five in the afternoon when the cannon sounded the signal of the coming fray. Meanwhile Ney's march upon Friedland had begun. A terrible fire from the Russians swept his ranks as he advanced. Aided by yj^^ Assault ot cavalry and artillery, he reached a stream defended by the the indom- Russian Imperial Guard. Before those picked troops the »tab!eNey French recoiled in temporary disorder , but the division of General Dupont marching briskly up. broke the Russian guard, and the pursuing French rushed into the town. In a short time it was in flames and the fugitive Russians were cut off from the bridges, which were seized and set on fire. The Russians made a vigorous effort to recover their lost ground, General Gortschakoff endeavoring to drive the French from the town, and other corps making repeated attacks on the French centre. All their efforts were in vain The French columns continued to advance. By ten o'clock the battle was at an end. Many of, the Russians had been drowned in the stream, and the field was covered with their dead, whose numbers were estimated by the boastful French bulletins at 15,000 or 18,000 men, while they made the improbable claim of having lost no more than -pj^g '^ot&X 500 dead. Konigsberg, the prize of victory, was quickly occu- Defeatof the pied by Marshal Soult, and yielded the French a vast quantity ^"ssjans of food, and a large store of m.llitary supplies which had been sent from England for Russian use. The King of Prussia had lost the whole of his possessions with the exception of the single town of Memel. Victorious as Napoleon had been, he had found the Russians no con- temptible foes. At Eylau he had come nearer defeat than ever before in his career. He was quite ready, therefore, to listen to overtures for peace, and early in July a notable interview took place between him and the Czar of Russia at Tilsit, on the Niemen, the two emperors meeting on a raft in the centre of the stream. What passed between them is not _^ ^ t c- 1-1 1 If !••. r * "® Emperors known, bome thmk that they arranged for a division of at Tilsit and Europe between their respective empires, Alexander taking the Fate of all the east and Napoleon all the west. However that was, the treaty of peace, signed July 8th, was a disastrous one for the defeated Prussian king, who was punished for his temerity in seeking to fight 74 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND Napoleon alone by the loss of more than half his kingdom, while in addi- tion a heavy war indemnity was laid upon his depleted realms. He was forced to yield all the countries between the Rhine and the Elbe, to consent to tlie establishment of a Dukedom of Warsaw, under the supremacy of the king of Saxony, and to the loss of Danzig and the surrounding territory, which were converted into a free State. A new kingdom, named Westphalia, was founded by Napoleon, made up of the territory taken from Prussia and the states of Hesse, Brunswick and South Hanover. His younger brother, Jerome Bonaparte, was made its king. It was a further step in his policy of founding a western empire. Louisa, the beautiful and charming queen of Frederick William, sought Tilsit, hoping by the seduction of her beauty and grace of address to induce Napoleon to mitigate his harsh terms. But in vain she brought to bear upon him all the resources of her intellect and her attractive charm of man- ner. He continued cold and obdurate, and she left Tilsit deeply mortified and humiliated. In northern Europe only one enemy of Napoleon remained. Sweden retained its hostility to France, under the fanatical enmity of Gustavus IV., who believed himself the instrument appointed by Providence to reinstate the Bourbon monarchs upon their thrones. Denmark, which refused to ally itself with England, was visited by a British fleet, which bom- Denmark and |3^j-jgj Copenhacren and carried off all the Daaish ships of Sweden i & ... . war, an outrage which brought this kingdom into close alliance with France. The war in Sweden must have ended in the conquest of that country, had not the people revolted and dethroned their obstinate king. Charles XIII., his uncle was placed on the throne, but was induced to adopt Napoleon's marshal Bernadotte as his son. The latter, as crown prince, practically succeeded the incapable king in iSio. Events follow^ed each other rapidly. Napoleon, in his desire to add kinedom after kinedom to his throne, invaded Portuo-al and interfered in the affairs of Spain, from whose throne he removed the last of the Bourbon kings, replacing him by his brother, Joseph Bonaparte. The result was a revolt of the Spanish people which all his efforts proved unable to quell, aided, as they were eventually, by the power of England. In Italy his intrigues continued. Marshal Murat succeeded Joseph Bonaparte on the throne of Naples. Eliza, Napoleon's sister, was made queen of Tuscany. The Pope a The temporal sovereignity of the Pope was seriously inter- Captive at fered with and finally, in 1800, the pontiff was forcibly Fontainebleau j-^j-Qoved from Rome and the states of the Church were added to the French territory, Pius VII., the pope, was eventually brought to EUROPE IN THE GRASP OP THE IRON HAND 75 France and obliged to reside at Fontainebleau, where he persistently refused to yield to Napoleon's wishes or perform any act of ecclesiastical authority while held in captivity. These various arbitrary acts had their natural result, that of active hostility. The Austrians beheld them with growing indignation, and at length grew so exasperated that, despite their many defeats, they decided again to dare the power and genius of thu conqueror. In April, 1809, the Vienna Cabinet once more declared war against France and made all haste to put its armies in the field. Stimulated by this, a revolt broke out in the Tyrol, the simple-minded but brave and sturdy mountaineers gathering under the leadership of Andreas Hofer, a man of authority among them, and wel- coming the Austrian troops sent to their aid. As regards this war in the Tyrol, there is no need here to go into details. It must suffice to say that the bold peasantry, aided Andreas Hofer by the natural advantages of their mountain land, for a time and the War freed themselves from French dominion, to the astonishment *" ® ^""^ and admiration of Europe. But their freedom was of brief duration, fresh troops were poured into the country, and though the mountaineers wori more than one victory, they proved no match for the power of their foes. Their country was conquered, and Hofer, their brave leader, was taken by the French and remorselessly put to death by the order of Napoleon. The struggle in the Tyrol was merely a side issue in the new war witL Austria, which was conducted on Napoleon's side with his usual celerity of movement. The days when soldiers are whisked forward at locomotive speed had not yet dawned, yet the French troops made extraordinary prog- ress on foot, and war was barely declared before the army of Napoleon covered Austria. This army was no longer made up solely of Frenchmen. The Confederation of the Rhine practically formed part of Napoleon's empire, and Germans now fought side by side with Frenchmen ; Marshal Lefebvre leadino- the Bavarians, Bernadotte the Saxons, Au- _, , ^ ' The Army of gereau the men of Baden, Wurtemberg, and Hesse. On the Napoleon other hand, the Austrians were early in motion, and by the loth Marches of April the Archduke Charles had crossed the Inn with his army and the King of Bavaria, Napoleon's ally, was in flight from his capital. The quick advance of the Austrians had placed the French army in danger. Spread out over an extent of twenty-five leagues, it ran serious risk of being cut in two by the rapidly marching troops of the Archduke. Napoleon, who reached the front on the 17th, was not slow to perceive the peril and to take steps of prevention. A hasty concentration of his forces was ordered and vigorously begun. 5 76 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND ' Never was there need for more rapidity of movement than now," he wrote to Massena. " Activity, activity, speed !" Speed was the order of the day. The French generals ably seconded the anxious activity of their chief. The soldiers fairly rushed together. A brief hesitation robbed the Austrians of the advantage Overcome which they had hoped to gain. The Archduke Charles, one of the ablest tacticians ever opposed to Napoleon, had the weakness of over-prudence, and caution robbed him of the opportunity given him by the wide dispersion of the French. He was soon and severely punished for his slowness. On the 19th Davout defeated the Austrians at Fangen and made a junction with the Bavarians. On the 20th and 21st Napoleon met and defeated them in a series of engagements. Meanwhile the Archduke Charles fell on Ratisbon, held by a single French regiment, occupied that important place, and attacked Davout at Eckmiihl. Here a furious battle took place. Davout. outnumbered, maintained his position for three days. Napoleon, warned of the peril of his marshal, bade him to hold on to the death, as he was hastening to his relief with 40,000 men. The day was well advanced when the emperor came up and fell with his fresh troops on the Austrians, who, still bravely fighting, were forced back upon Ratisbon. During the night the Archduke wisely withdrew and marched for Bohemia, where a large reinforcement awaited him. On the 23d Napoleon attacked the town, and ^.. w> X.L. .■ carried it in spite of a vigorous defence. His proclamation to The Battle of . . ^ ^ , . ^ . . Eckmiihl and his soldiers perhaps overestimated the prizes of this brief but the Capture active campaign, which he declared to be a hundred cannon, of Ratisbon r n n 1 > Ml • 1 forty nags, all the enemy s artillery, 50,000 prisoners, a large number of wagons, etc. Half this loss would have fully justified the Arch- duke's retreat. In Italy affairs went differently. Prince Eugene Beauharnais, for the first time in command of a French army, found himself opposed by the Archduke John, and met with a defeat. On April i6th, seeking In Italy ^^ retrieve his disaster, he attacked the Archduke, but the Austrians bravely held their positions, and the French were again obliged to retreat. General Macdonald, an officer of tried ability, now joined the prince, who took up a defensive position on the Adige, whither the Austrians marched. On the 1st of May Macdonald perceived among them indications of withdrawal from their position. ** Victory in Germany !" he shouted to the prince. ** Now is our time for a forward march !" EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 77 He was correct, the Archduke John had been recalled in haste to aid his brother in the defence of Vienna, on which the French were advancing in force. The campaign now became a race for the capital of Austria. During its progress several conflicts took place, in each of which the French won. The city was defended by the Archduke Maximilian with an army of over 15,000 men, but he found it expedient to withdraw, and on the 13th the troops of Napoleon occupied the place. Meanwhile Charles had concen- trated his troops and was marching hastily towards the opposite side of the Danube, whither his brother John was advancing from Italy. It was important for Napoleon to strike a blow before this junction could be made. He resolved to cross the Danube in the suburbs of the capital itself, and attack the Austrians before they were reinforced. In the vicinity of Vienna the channel of the river is broken by many islets. At the island of Lobau, the point chosen for the attempt, the river is broad and deep, but Lobau is separated from the opposite bank by only a narrow branch, while two smaller islets offered themselves as aids in the construc- tion of bridges, there being four channels, over each of which a bridge was thrown. The work was a difficult one. The Danube, swollen by 'y\\q Bridges the melting snows, imperilled the bridges, erected with diffi- over the culty and braced by insufficient cordage. But despite this Danube peril the crossing began, and on May 20th Marshal Massena reached the other side and posted his troops in the two villages of Aspern and Essling, and along a deep ditch that connected them. As yet only the vanguard of the Austrians had arrived. Other corps soon appeared, and by the afternoon of the 21st the entire army, from 70,000 to 80,000 strong, faced the French, still only half their number, and in a position of extreme peril, for the bridge over the main channel of the river had broken during the night, and the crossing was cut off in its midst. Napoleon, however, was straining every nerve to repair the bridge, and Massena and Lannes, in command of the advance, fought like men fio-htino- for their lives. The Archduke Charles, the ablest soldier Napoleon had yet encountered, hurled his troops in masses upon Aspern, which covered the bridge to Lobau. Several times it was taken and retaken, but the French held on with a death grip, all the strength of the Austrians seeming insuffi- cient to break the hold of Lannes upon Essling. An advance in force, which nearly cut the communication between the two villages, was checked by an impetuous cavalry charge, and night fell, leaving the situation unchanged. 7S EUROPE IN THE GRASP OP THE IRON HAND At dawn of the next day more than 70,000 French had crossed the stream ; Marshal Davout's corps, with part of the artillery and most of the ammunition, being still on the right bank. At this critical moment the large bridge, against which the Austrians had sent fireships, boats laden with stone and other floatinof missiles, broke for the third time, and the eno-in- eers of the French army were again forced to the most strenuous and hasty exertions for its repair. The struggle of the day that had just begun was one of extraordinary p, „ valor and obstinacy. Men went down in multitudes ; now Struggle of the Austrians, now the French, were repulsed ; the Austrians, Esslingand impetuously assailed, slowly fell back; and Lannes was pre- Aspern . - . -^ ..,.:. parmg tor a vigorous movement designed to pierce their centre, when word was brought Napoleon that the great bridge had again yielded to the floating debris, carrying with it a regiment of cuirassiers, and cutting off the supply of ammunition. Lannes was at once ordered to fall back upon the villages, and simultaneously the Austrians made a powerful assault on the French centre, which was checked with great difficulty. Five times the charge was renewed, and though the enemy was finally repelled, it became evident that Napoleon, for the first time in his career, had met with a decided check. Night fell at length, and reluctantly he gave the order to retreat. He had lost more than a battle, he had lost the brilliant soldier Lannes, who fell with a mortal wound. Back to the Napoleon Forced island of Lobau marched the French; Massena, in charge of the to his First rear-guard, bringing over the last regiments in safety^ More reat than 40,000 men lay dead and wounded on that fatal field, which remained in Austrian hands. Napoleon, at last, was obliged to acknowledge a repulse, if not a defeat, and the nations of Europe held up their heads with renewed hope. It had been proved that the Corsican was not invincible. Some of Napoleon's generals, deeply disheartened, advised an immedi- ate retreat, but the emperor had no thought of such a movement. It would have brought a thousand disasters in its train. On the contrary, he held the island of Lobau with a strono- force, and brought all his resources to bear on the construction of a bridge that would defy the current of the stream. At the same time reinforcements were hurried forward, until by the 1st of July, he had around Vienna an army of 150,000 men. The Austrians had probably from 135,000 to 140,000. The archduke had, morever, strongly fortified the positions of the recent battle, expecting the attack upon them to be resumed. a O n D. o3 •" -r _i •^^ o p o ^"^ I S"^ > o 3;S •T#- )^.^^ r.,; .•>-'^.- ;>"l**.'- -<^j'.,,. NAPOLEON AND THE QUEEN OF PRUSSIA AT TILSlT (from the painting by gros) Tflsit is a city ol about 25,000 inhabitants in Eastern Prussia. Here the Treaty of Peace between the French and Russian Emperors and also between prance and Prussia was signed in July, 1807 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND 8i Napoleon had no such intention. He had selected the heights ranging from Neusiedl to Wagram, strongly occupied by the Austrians, The Second but not fortified, as his point of attack, and on the night of Crossing of July 4th bridges were thrown from the island of Lobau to the ® Danube mainland, and the army which had been gathering for several days on the island began its advance. It moved as a whole against the heights of Wagram, occupying Aspern and Essling in its advance. The great battle began on the succeeding day. It was hotly contested at all points, but attention may be confined to the movement against the plateau of Wagram, which had been entrusted to Marshal Davout. The height was gained after a desperate struggle ; the key of the battlefield was held by the French ; the Austrians, impetuously t^"® Victory . -^ „ . -^ at Wagram assailed at every point, and driven from every point of vantage, began a retreat. The Archduke Charles had anxiously looked for the com- ing of his brother John, with the army under his command. He waited in vain, the laggard prince failed to appear, and retreat became inevitable. The battle had already lasted ten hours, and the French held all the strong points of the field ; but the Austrians withdrew slowly and in battle array, presenting a front that discouraged any effort to pursue. There was nothing resem- bling a rout. The Archduke Charles retreated to Bohemia. His forces were dis- persed during the march, but he had 70,000 men with him when Napoleon reached his front at Znaim, on the road to Prague, on the nth of July. Further hostilities were checked by a request for a truce, preliminary to a peace. The battle, already begun, was stopped, and during the night an armistice was signed. The vigor of the Austrian resistance and the doubt- ful attitude of the other powers made Napoleon willing enough to treat for terms. The peace, which was finally signed at Vienna, October 14, 1809, took from Austria 50,000 square miles of territory and 3,000,000 inhabitants, together with a war contribution of $8s, 000,000, The Peace of ^ , ^ j> ' ' Vienna while her army was restricted to 150,000 men. The overthrow of the several outbreaks which had taken jDlace in north Germany, the defeat of a British expedition against Antwerp, and the suppression of the revolt in the Tyrol, ended all organized opposition to Napoleon, who was once more master of the European situation. Raised by this signal success to the summit of his power, lord para- mount of Western Europe, only one thing remained to trouble the mind of the victorious emperor. His wife, Josephine, was childless ; his throne threatened to be left without an hein Much as he had seemed to love hi,s 82 EUROPE IN THE GRASP OF THE IRON HAND wife, the companion of his early days, when he was an unknown and uncon- sidered subaltern, seeking humbly enough for military employment In Paris, yet ambition and the thirst for glory were always the ruling passions In his nature, and had now grown so dominant as to throw love and wifely devo- tion utterly Into the shade. He resolved to set aside his wife and seek a new bride among the princesses of Europe, hoping In this way to leave an heir of his own blood as successor to his Imperial throne. Negotiations were entered Into with the courts of Europe to obtain a^ daughter of one of the proud royal houses as the spouse of the plebeian emperor of France. No maiden of less exalted rank than a princess of the Imperial families of Russia or Austria was high enough to meet the ambitious aims of this proud lord of battles, and negotiations were entered into with both, ending In the selection of Maria Louisa, daughter of the Emperor Francis of Austria, who did not venture to refuse a demand for his daughter's hand from the master of half his dominions. The Divorce of Napoleon was not long in finding a plea for setting aside Josephine and the wife of his days of poverty and obscurity. A defect in Marriage of ^h^ marriage was alleged, and the transparent farce went on. The divorce of Josephine has awakened the sympathy of a century. It was, indeed, a piteous example of state-craft, and there can be no doubt that Napoleon suffered in his heart while yielding to the dictates of his unbridled ambition. The marriage with Maria Louisa, on the 2d of April, 1 8 10, was conducted with all possible pomp and display, no less than five queens carrying the train of the bride in the august ceremony. The purpose of the marriage did not fail ; the next year a son was born to Napoleon. But this Imperial youth, who was dignified with the title of King of Rome, was destined to an inglorious ilfe, as an unconsidered teiant of the gilded halls of his Imperial grandfather of Austria. CHAPTER IV. The Decline and Fall of Napoleon's Empire. AMBITION, unrestrained by caution, uncontrolled by moderation, has its inevitable end. An empire built upon victory, trusting solely to military genius, prepares for itself the elements of its overthrow. Phis fact Napoleon was to learn. In the outset of his career he opposed a new art of war to the obsolete one of his enemies, and his path to empire was over the corpses of slaughtered, armies and the ruins of fallen king- doms. But year by year they learned his art, in war after war their resist- ance grew more stringent, each successive victory was won with more difficulty and at greater cost, and finally, at the crossing of the Danube, the energy and genius of Napoleon met their equal, ^j^g j^j^^ ^^^ and the standards of France went back in defeat. It was the Deciine of tocsin of fate. His career of victory had culminated. From apo eon s that day its decline began. It is interesting to find that the first effective check to Napoleon's victorious progress came from one of the weaker nations of Europe, a power which the conqueror contemned and thought to move as one of the minor pieces in his game of empire. Spain at that time had reached almost the lowest stage of its decline. Its king was an imbecile ; the heir to the throne a weakling ; Godoy, the " Prince of the Peace," the monarch's favorite, an ambitious intriguer. Napoleon's armies had invaded Portugal and forced its monarch to embark for Brazil, his American .. . , Aims ana ln» domain. A similar movement was attempted in Spain. This trigues In country the base Godoy betrayed to Napoleon, and then, Portugal and frightened by the consequences of his dishonorable intrigues, sought to escape with the king and court to the Spanish dominions in America. His scheme was prevented by an outbreak of the people of Madrid, and Napoleon, ambitiously designing to add the peninsula to his empire, induced both Charles IV. and his son Ferdinand to resign from the throne. He replaced them by his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who, on June 6, 1808, was named King of Spain, Hitherto Napoleon had dealt with emperors and kings, whose overthrow carried with it that of their people In Spain he had a new element, the (83) &4 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON S EMPIRE people Itself, to deal with. The very weakness of Spam proved Its strength Deprived of their native monarchs, and given a king not ot their own choice, The Bold Defi- ^^^^ whole people rose in rebellion and defied Napoleon and anceofthe his armies. An insurrection broke out in Madrid In which People of 1,200 French soldiers were slain. Juntas were formed In dif- Spain , , , i'i lerent cities, which assumed the control of afiairs and refused obedience to the new king. From end to end of Spain the people spran^r to arms and began a guerilla warfare which the troops of Napoleon sought in vain to quell. The bayonets of the French were able to sustain King Joseph and his court In Madrid, but proved powerless to put down the peo- ple. Each city, each district, became a separate centre of war, each had to be conquered separately, and the strength of the troops was consumed in petty contests with a people who avoided open warfare and dealt in surprises and scattered fights, in which victory counted for little and needed to be re- peated a thousand times. The Spanish did more than this. They put an army In the field which Spain's Bril= ^^^^ defeated by the French, but they revenged themselves Hant Victory brilliantly at Baylen, In Andalusia, where General Dupont, and King Jo> ^Jv\th a corps 20,000 stronc^, was surrounded In a position from seph's Flight 1 • 1 1 ^ r ^ which there was no escape, and forced to surrender himself and his men as prisoners of war. This undisciplined people had gained a victory over France which none of the great powers of Europe could match. The Spaniards were filled with enthusiasm ; King Joseph hastily abandoned Madrid ; the French armies retreated across the Ebro. Soon encouraging news came from Portugal. The English, hitherto mainly confining themselves to naval warfare and to aiding the enemies of Napoleon v/Ith money, had landed an army in that country under Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards Lord Wellington) and other generals, which would have captured the entire French army had it not capitulated on the terms of a free passage to France. For the time being the peninsula of Spain and Portugal was free from Napoleon's power. The humiliating reverse to his arms called Napoleon himself into the field. He marched at the head of an army into Spain, defeated the Insur- The Heroic gents wherever met, and reinstated his brother on the throne. Defence o? The city of Saragossa, which made one ot tne most heroic defences known iu history, was taken, and the advance of thf British armies was checked. And yet, though Spain was widely overrun, the people did not yield. The junta at Cadiz defied the French, the guerillas continued in the field, and the invaders found themselves bafified by an enemy who was felt oftener than seen. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE 85 The Austrian war called away the emperor and the bulk of his troops, but after it was over he filled Spain with his veterans, increasing the strength of the army there to 300,000 men, under his ablest generals, Soult, Massena, Ney, Marmont, Macdonald and others. They marched through Spain from end to end, yet, though they held all the salient points, the people refused to submit, but from their mountain fastnesses kept up a petty and annoying war. Massena, in 181 1, invaded Portugal, where Wellington with an English army awaited him behind the strong^ lines of Torres Vedras, „, „. ^ , / . ^ ^ ' Wellington's which the ever-victorious French sought in vain to carry by Career in assault. Massena was compelled to retreat, and Soult, by Portugal and whom the emperor replaced him, was no more successful against the shrewd English general. At length Spain won the reward of her patriotic defence. The Russian campaign of 181 2 compelled the emperor to deplete his army in that country, and Wellington came to the aid of the patriots, defeated Marmont at Salamanca, entered Madrid, and forced King Joseph once more to flee from his unquiet throne. For a brief interval he was restored by the French army under Soult and Suchet, but the disasters of the Russian campaign brought the reign of King Joseph to a final end, and forced him to give up the pretence of reigning over a people who were unflinchingly determined -^Xxq Reward to have no king but one of their own choice. The story of of Patriotic the Spanish war ends in 18 13, when Wellington defeated the V^'o»" French at Vittoria, pursued them across the Pyrenees, and set foot upon the soil of France. While these events were taking place in Spain the power of Napoleon Vv^as beincr shattered to fragments in the north. On the banks of the Nie- men, a river that flows between Prussia and Poland, there gath- ,.,,,. . , A Record of erecl near the end 01 June, ibi2, an immense army 01 more Disaster than 600,000 men, attended by an enormous multitude of non- combatants, their purpose being the invasion of the empire of Russia. Of this great army, made up of troops from half the nations of Europe, there reappeared six months later on that broad stream about 16,000 armed men, almost all that were left of that stupendous host. The remainder had per- ished on the desert soil or in the frozen rivers of Russia, few of them sur- viving as prisoners in Russian hands. Such was the character of the dread catastrophe that broke the power of the mighty conqueror and delivered Europe from his aut'ocratic grasp. The breach of relations between Napoleon and Alexander was largely due to the arbitrary and high-handed proceedings of the French emperor, 86 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE who was accustomed to deal with the map of Europe as if it represented his private domain. He offended Alexander by enlarging the duchy of Warsaw Napoleon and — ^^^ ^^ ^^^ or^n creations — and deeply incensed him by ex- the Czar at tending the French empire to the shores of the Baltic, thus Enmity robbing of his dominion the Duke of Oldenburg, a near rela- tive of Alexander. On the other hand the Czar declined to submit the com- mercial interests of his country to the rigor of Napoleon's "continental blockade," and made a new tariff, which interfered with the importation of French and favored that of Enelish o-oods. These and other acts in which Alexander chose to place his own interests in advance of those of Napoleon were as wormwood to the haughty soul of the latter, and he determined to punish the Russian autocrat as he had done the other monarchs of Europe who refused to submit to his dictation. For a year or two before war was declared Napoleon had been prepar- ing for the greatest struggle of his life, adding to his army by the most rig- orous methods of conscription and collecting great magazines of war mate- rial, though still professing friendship for Alexander. The latter, however, was not deceived. He prepared, on his part, for the threatened struggle, made peace with the Turks, and formed an alliance with Bernadotte, the crown prince of Sweden, who had good reason to be offended with his former lord and master. Napoleon, on his side, allied himself with Prussia and Austria, and added to his army large contingents of troops from the German states. At length the great conflict was ready to begin between the two autocrats, the Emperors of the East and the West, and Europe resounded with the tread of marchina feet. In the closing days of June the grand army crossed the Niemen, its last The Invasion of i"egiments reaching Russian soil by the opening of July. Na- Russiabythe poleon, with the advance, pressed on to Wilna, the capital of Grand Army Lithuania. On all sides the Poles rose in enthusiastic hope, and joined the ranks of the man whom they looked upon as their deliverer. Onward went the great army, marching with Napoleon's accustomed rapid- ity, seeking to prevent the concentration of the divided Russian forces, and advancing daily deeper into the dominions of the czar. The French emperor had his plans well laid. He proposed to meet the Russians in force on some interior field, win from them one of his accus- tomed brilliant victories, crush them with his enormous columns, and force the dismayed czar to sue for peace on his own terms. But plans need two bides for their consummation, and the Russian leaders did not propose to lose the advantage given them by nature. On and on went Napoleon, deeper and deeper into that desolate land, but the great army he was to THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE 87 crush failed to loom up before him, the broad plains still spread onward empty of soldiers, and disquiet began to assail his imperious soul as he founc/ the Russian hosts keeping constantly beyond his reach, luring ^. p ^ him ever deeper into their vast territory. In truth Barclay de Baffled by Tolly, the czar's chief in command, had adopted a policy theRussian which was sure to prove fatal to Napoleon's purpose, that of persistently avoiding battle and keeping the French In pursuit of a fleeting will-of-the-wisp. while their army wasted away from natural disintegration in that inhospitable clime. He was correct in his views. Desertion, illness, the death of young recruits who could not endure the hardships of a rapid march in the severe heat of midsummer, began their fatal work. Napoleon's plan of campaign proved a total failure. The Russians would not wait to be defeated, and each day's march opened a wider circle of operations before the advancing host, whom the interminable plain filled with a sense of hopelessness. The heat was overpowering, and men dropped from the ranks as rapidly as chough on a field of battle. At Vitebsk the army was inspected, and the emperor was alarmed at the rapid decrease in his forces. Some of the divi- sions had lost more than a fourth of their men, in every corps the ranks were depleted, and reinforcements already had to be set on the march. Onward they went, here and there bringing the Russians to bay in a minor engagement, but nowhere meeting them in numbers. Europe waited in vain for tidings of a great battle, and Napoleon began to look upon his proud army with a feeling akin to despair. He was not alone in his eager- ness for battle. Some of the high-spirited Russians, among them Prince Bagration, were as eager, but as yet the prudent policy of Barclay de Tolly prevailed. On the 14th of August, the army crossed the Dnieper, and marched, now 175,000 strong, upon Smolensk, which was reached on the i6th. This ancient and venerable town was dear to the Russians, and Smolensk Cap= they made their first determined stand in its defence, fighting tured and in behind its walls all day of the 17th. Finding that the assault ^'^'"es was likely to succeed, they set fire to the town at night and withdrew, leaving to the French a city in flames. The bridge was cut, the Russian army was beyond pursuit on the road to Moscow, nothing had been gained by the struggle but the ruins of a town. The situation was growing desperate. For two months the army had advanced without a battle of importance, and was soon in the heart of Russia, reduced to half its numbers, while the hoped-for victory seemed as fai off as ever. And the short summer of the north was nearing Its end 88 THE DECLINE AND FALL Of NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE The severe winter of that cHmate would soon begin. Discouragement everywhere prevailed. Efforts were made by Napoleon's marshals to induce him to give up the losing game and retreat, but he was not to be moved from his purpose. A march on Moscow, the old capital of the empire, he felt sure would bring the Russians to bay. Once within its walls he hoped to dictate terms of peace Napoleon was soon to have the battle for which his soul craved. Bar- clay's prudent and successful policy was not to the taste of many of the Russian leaders, and the czar was at length induced to replace him by fiery old Kutusoff, who had commanded the Russians at Austerlitz. A change in the situation was soon apparent. On the 5th of September the French army debouched upon the plain of Borodino, on the road to Moscow, and the emperor saw with joy the Russian army drawn up to dispute the way to the " Holy City" of the Muscovites. The dark columns of troops were strongly intrenched behind a small stream, frowning rows of guns threat- ened the advancing foe, and hope returned to the emperor's heart. Battle began early on the 7th, and continued all day The Battle of |ono- the Russians defendino; their around with unyielding Borodino * ,^ , ^ . . . . .. -i^ stubborness, the French attackmg their positions with all their old impetuous dash and energy. Murat and Ney were the heroes of the day. Again and again the emperor was implored to send the imperial guard and overwhelm the foe, but he persistently refused. '* If there is a second battle to-mxorrow," he said, "what troops shall I fight it with? It is not when one is eight hundred leagues from home that he risks his last resource." The guard was not needed. On the following day Kutusoff was obliged to withdraw, leaving no less than 40,000 dead or wounded on the field. Among the killed was the brave Prince Bagration. The retreat was an orderly one. Napoleon found it expedient not to pursue. His own losses aggregated over 30,000, among them an unusual number of generals, of whom ten were killed and thirty-nine wounded. Three days proved a brief time to attend to the burial of the dead and the needs of the wounded. Napoleon named the engagement the Battle of the Moskwa, from the river that crossed the plain, and honored Ney, as the hero of the day, with the title of Prince of Moskwa. «.. ^. . ^. ... On the 1 =;th the Holy City was reached. A shout of I nc First SiSTni of the Holy " Moscow ! Moscow ! " went up from the whole army as they City of gazed on the gilded cupolas and magnificent buildings of that famous city, brilliantly lit up by the afternoon sun. Twenty miles in circumference, dazzling with the greet- of its copper domes and c1 ^ rt 3 a 'V U il C C j3 1) rt •J ■" c s fc u ca o ^^ rt a; V ^■53 < b. CO cc u I o > o « t/l "U (J rt £?JJ "^ 2 = c E OT3 m - 3^ V a V "- -1 "-■ -J S « - «:> 2; ^^ t o rt u fes THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOI^EON'S EMPIRE 91 its minarets of yellow stone, the towers and walls of the famous Kremlin rising above its palaces and gardens, it seemed like some fabled city uf the Arabian Nio-hts. With re.iewed enthusiasm the troops rushed towards it. while whole regiments of Poles fell on their knees, thanking God for deliver- ing this stronghold of their oppressors Into their hands. It was an empty city Into which the French marched ; Its streets deserted, its dwellings silent, Its busy life had vanished like a morning mist. Kutusoff had marched his army through It and left 't to his foes. The Inhabitants were gone, with what they could Army in the carry of their treasures. The city, like the empire, seemed Old Russian likely to be a barren conquest, for here, as elsewhere, the policy of retreat, so fatal to Napoleon's hopes, was put into effect. The emperor took up his abode In the Kremlin, within whose ample precincts he found quarters for the whole Imperial guard. The remainder of the army was stationed at chosen points about the city. Provisions were abundant, the houses and stores of the city being amply supplied. The army enjoyed a luxury of which it had been long deprived, while Napoleon confidently awaited a triumphant result from his victorious progress. A terrible disenchantment awaited the invader. Early on the following morninor word was broug-ht him that Moscow was on fire. Flames arose from houses that had not been opened. It was evidently a premeditated conflagration. The fire burst out at once in a dozen quarters, and a high wind carried the flames from street to street, from house to house, from church to church. Russians were captured who boasted that they had fired the town under orders and who met death unflinchinorly. The ,_. „ . ^ ■' The Burning or governor had left them behind for this fell purpose. The the Great poorer people, many of whom had remained hidden In their ^'ty of . . . . rioscow. huts, now fled in terror, taking with them what cherished possessions they could carry. Soon the city was a seething mass of flames. The Kremlin did not escape. A tower burst into flames. In vain the imperial guard sought to check the fire. No fire-engines were to be found in the town. Napoleon hastily left the palace and sought shelter outside the city, where for three days the flames ran riot, feeding on ancient palaces and destroying untold treasures. Then the wind sank and rain poured upon the smouldering embers. The great city had become a desolate heap of smoking ruins, into which the soldiers daringly stole back in search of valuables that might have escaped the flames. This frightful conflagration was not due to the czar, but to Count Rostopchin, the governor of Moscow, who was subsequently driven from Russia by the execrations of those he had ruined. But it served asaprocla 92 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE mation to Europe of the implacable resolution of the Muscovites and their determination to resist to the bitter end. Napoleon, sadly troubled in soul, sent letters to Alexander, suggesting the advisability of peace. Alexander left his letters unanswered. Until October l8th the emperor waited, hoping against hope, willing to grant almost any terms for an opportunity to escape from ,he fatal trap into which his overweening ambition had led him. No answer came from the czar. He was inflexible in his determination not to treat with these invaders of his country. In deep dejection Napoleon at length gave the order to retreat — too late, as it was to prove, since the terrible Russian winter was ready to descend upon them in all its frightful strength. The army that left that ruined city was a sadly depleted one. It had The Grand been reduced to 103,000 men. The army followers had also Army Begins become greatly decreased in numbers, but still formed a host, s Re reat among them delicate ladies, thinly clad, who gazed with terri- fied eyes from their traveling carriages upon the dejected troops. Articles of plunder of all kinds were carried by the soldiers, even the wounded in the wagons lying amid the spoil they had gathered. The Kremlin was destroyed by the rear guard, under Napoleon's orders, and over the drear Russian plains the retreat began. It was no sooner under way than the Russian policy changed. From retreating, they everywhere advanced, seeking to annoy and cut off the enemy, and utterly to destroy the fugitive army if possible. A stand was made at the town of Maloi-Yaroslavltz, where a sanguinary combat took jjlace. The French captured the town, but ten thousand men lay dead or wounded on the field, while Napoleon was forced to abandon his projected line of march, and to return by the route he had followed in his advance on Moscow. From the bloody scene of contest the retreat continued, the battlefield of Borodino being crossed, and, by the middle of November, the ruins of Smolensk reached. Winter was now upon the French in all its fury. The food brought from Moscow had been exhausted. Famine, frost, and fatigue had proved more fatal than the bullets of the enemy. In fourteen days after reaching Th s d R Moscow the army lost 43,000 men, leaving it only 60,000 strong. nant of the On reaching Smolensk it numbered but 42,000, having lost Army of i8,ooo more within eight days. The unarmed followers are said to have still numbered 60,000. Worse still, the supply of arms and provisions ordered to be ready at Smolensk was in great part lacking, only rye-flour and rice being found. Starvation threatened to aid the winter cold in the destruction of the feeble remnant of the "Grand Army.** THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE 93 Onward went the despairing host, at every step harassed by the Russians, who followed like wolves on their path. Ney, in command of the rear- guard, was the hero of the retreat. Cut off by the Russians from the main column, and apparently lost beyond hope, he made a wonderful escape by crossing the Dnieper on the ice during the night and rejoining his compan- ions, who had given up the hope of ever seeing him again. On the 26th the ice-cold river Beresina was reached, destined to be the most terrible point on the whole dreadful march. Two bridges ^^^ Dreadful were thrown in all haste across the stream, and most of the Crossing of men under arms crossed, but 18,000 strao-p-lers fell into the the Beresina hands of the enemy. How many were trodden to death in the press or were crowded from the bridge into the icy river cannot be told. It is said that when spring thawed the ice 30,000 bodies were found and burned on the banks of the stream. A mere fragment of the great army remained alive. Ney was the last man to cross that frightful stream. On the 3d of December Napoleon issued a bulletin which has become famous, telling the anxious nations of Europe that the grand army was anni- hilated, but the emperor was safe. Two days afterwards he surrendered the command of the army to Murat and set out at all speed for Paris, where his presence was indispensibly necessary. On the 13th of December some 16,000 haofo^ard and staoro-erinor- men, almost too weak to hold the arms to which they still despairingly clung, recrossed the Niemen, which the grand army had passed in such magnificent strength and with such abounding resources less than six months before. It was the greatest and most astound- ing disaster in the military history of the world. This tale of terror may be fitly closed by a dramatic story told by General Mathieu Dumas, Vv'ho, while sitting at breakfast in Gumbinnen, saw enter a haggard man, with long beard, blackened face, and red and glaring eyes. " I am here at last," he exclaimed. " Don't you know me?" " No," said the general. " Who are you ?" " I am the rear-guard of the Grand Army. I have fired the last musket- shot on the bridge of Kowno. I have thrown the last of our arms into the Niemen, and came hither through the woods. I am Marshal Ney." " This is the beginning of the end," said the shrewd Talleyrand, when Napoleon set out on his Russian campaign. The remark proved true, the disaster in Russia had loosened the grasp of the Corsican on the throat of Europe, and the nations, which hated as much as they feared their ruthless enemy, made active preparations for his overthrow. While he was in France, actively gathering men and. materials for a renewed struggle, signs 94 THE DEC UN E AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE of an implacable hostility began to manifest themselves on all sides in the surrounding states. Belief in the invincibility of Napoleon had vanished, and little fear was entertained of the raw conscripts whom he was forcing Europe in Arms '^^^^ the ranks to replace his slaughtered veterans. Against Prussia was the first to break the bonds of alliance with apoieon France, to ally itself with Russia, and to call its people to arms against their oppressor. They responded with the utmost enthusiasm, men of all ranks and all professions hastened to their country's defence, and the noble and the peasant stood side by side as privates in the same regi- ment. In March, 1813, the French left Berlin, which was immediately occupied by the Russian and Prussian alli'es. The king of Saxony, how- ever, refused to desert Napoleon, to whom he owed many favors and whose anger he feared ; and his State, in consequence, became the theatre of the war. Across the opposite borders of this kingdom poured the hostile hosts. The Opening meeting in battle at Liitzen and Buntzen. Here the French of the held the field, driving their adversaries across the Oder, but ina trugge ^^^ j^ ^j^^ ^ll^ dismay seen at Jena. A new spirit had been aroused in the Prussian heart, and they left thousands of their enemies dead upon the field, among whom Napoleon saw with grief his especial friend and favorite Duroc. A truce followed, which the French emperor utilized in gathering fresh levies. Prince Metternich, the able chancellor of the Austrian empire, sought to make peace, but his demands upon Napoleon were much greater than the proud conqueror was prepared to grant, and he decisively refused to cede the territory held by him as the spoils of war. His refusal brought upon him another powerful foe, Austria allied itself with his enemies, formally declaring war on August 12, 181 3, and an active and terrible struggle began. Napoleon's army was rapidly concentrated at Dresden, upon whose ,. I works of defence the allied army precipitated itself in a vigor- Dresden, Na= ous assault on August 26th. Its strength was wasted against poleon's Last ^\-^q vigorously held fortifications of the city, and in the end the gates were flung open and the serried battalions of the Old Guard appeared in battle array. From every gate of the city these tried soldiers poured, and rushed upon the unprepared wings of the hostile host. Before this resistless charge the enemy recoiled, retreating with heavy loss to the heights beyond the city, and leaving Napoleon master of the field. On the next morning the battle was resumed. The allies, strongly posted, still outnumbered the French, and had abundant reason to expect (_ THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPLRE 95 victory. But Napoleon's eag-le eye quickly saw that their left wing lacked the strength of the remainder of the line, and upon this he poured the bulk of his forces, while keeping their centre and right actively engaged. The result justified the instinct of his genius, the enemy was driven back in disastrous defeat, and once again a glorious victory was inscribed upon the banners of France — the final one in Napoleon's career of fame. Yet the fruits of this victory were largely lost in the events of the remainder of the month. On the 26th Bliicher brilliantly defeated Marshal Macdonald on the Katzbach, in Silesia; on the 30th General a Series of Vandamme, with 10,000 French soldiers, was surrounded and French captured at Culm, in Bohemia; and on the 27th Hirschfeld, at Disasters Hagelsberg, with a corps of volunteers, defeated Girard. The Prussian- Swedish army similarly won victories on August 25th and September 6th, and a few weeks afterward the Prussian general, Count York, supported by the troops of General Horn, crossed the Elbe in the face of the enemy, and gained a brilliant victory at Wartenburg. Where Napoleon was present victory inclined to his banner. Where he was absent his lieute- nants suffered defeat. The struggle was everywhere fierce and desperate, but the end was at hand. The rulers of the Rhine Confederation now began to desert Napoleon and all Germany to join against him. The first to secede was Bavaria, which allied itself with Austria and joined its forces to those of the allies. During October the hostile armies concentrated in front of Leipzig, where was to be fought the decisive battle of the war. Meeting of The struororle- promised was the most o-ieantic one in which the Armies Napoleon had ever been engaged. Against his 100,000 men ^ eipzjg was gathered a host of 300,000 Austrians, Prussians, Russians, and Swedes. We have not space to describe the multitudinous details of this mighty struggle, which continued with unabated fury for three days, October i6th, 17th, and 1 8th. It need scarcely be said that the generalship shown by Na- poleon in this famous contest lacked nothing of his usual brilliancy, and that he was ably seconded by Ney, Murat, Augereau, and others of his famous generals, yet the overwhelming numbers of the enemy enabled them to defy all the valor of the French and the resources of their great leader, and at evening of the i8th the armies still faced each other in battle array, the fate of the field yet undecided. Napoleon was in no condition to renew the combat. Durino- the lono- affray the French had expended no less than 250,000 cannon balls. They had but 16,000 left, which two hours' firing would exhaust. Reluctantly he gave 6 96 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE the order to retreat, and all that night the wearied and disheartened troops filed through the gates of Leipzig, leaving a rear-guard in the city, who de- fended it bravely against the swarming multitude of the foe. A disastrous blunder terminated their stubborn defence. Orders had been left to blow up the bridge across the Elster, but the mine was, by mistake, set off too soon, and the gallant garrison, 12,000 in number, with a multitude of sick and wounded, was forced to surrender as prisoners of war. The end was drawing near. Vigorously pursued, the French reached the Rhine by forced marches, defeating with heavy loss the army of Austri- ans and Bavarians which sought to block their way. The stream was crossed and the French were once more upon their own soil. After years of contest, Germany was finally freed from Napoleon's long-victorious hosts. Marked results followed. The carefully organized work of Napoleon's policy quickly fell to pieces. The kingdom of Westphalia was dissolved. The Break=u '^^^^ elector of Hesse and the dukes of Brunswick and Olden- of Napoleon's burg returned to the thrones from which they had been driven. European T\-\Q Confederation of the Rhine ceased to exist, and its states allied themselves with Austria. Denmark, long faithful to France, renounced its alliance in January, 18 14. Austria regained posses- sion of Lombardy, the duke of Tuscany returned to his capital, and the Pope, Pius VII., long held captive by Napoleon, came back in triumph to Rome. A few months sufficed to break down the edifice of empire slowly reared through so many years, and almost all Europe outside of France united itself in hostility to its hated foe. Napoleon was offered peace if he would accept the Rhine as the French frontier, but his old infatuation and trust in his genius prevailed over the dic- tates of prudence, he treated the offer in his usual double-dealing way, and the allies, convinced that there could be no stable peace while he remained on the throne, decided to cross the Rhine and invade France. Bliicher led his columns across the stream on the first day of 1814, Schwarzenberg marched through Switzerland into France, and Wellington ^.^ „, . crossed the Pyrenees. Napoleon, like a wolf brouoht to bav, 1 he War in ' ^ 11. France and sought to dispose ot his scattered toes before they would unite, the Abdica- and began with Bliicher, whom he defeated five times within Emperor^ as many days. The allies, still in dread of their great opponent, once more offered him peace, but his success robbed him of wisdom, he demanded more than they were willing to give, and his enemies, encouraged by a success gained by Bliicher, broke off the negotiations and marched on Paris, now bent on the dethronement of their dreaded antagonist. THE FALL AND DECLINE OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE 97 A few words will bring the story of this contest to an end. France was exhausted, its army was incapable of coping with the serried battalions marshalled against it, Paris surrendered before Napoleon could come to Its defence, and in the end the emperor, vacillating and in despair, was obliged, on April 7, 1814, to sign an unconditional act of abdication. The powers of Europe awarded him as a kingdom the diminutive island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, with an annual income of 2,000,000 francs and an army composed of 400 of his famous guard. The next heir to the throne returned as Louis XVIII. France was given back its old frontier of 1492, the foreign armies withdrew from her soil, and the career of the gfreat Corsican seemed at an end. In spite of their long experience with Napoleon, the event proved that the powers of Europe knew not all the audacity and mental resources of the man with whom they had to deal. They had made what might have proved a fatal error In giving him an asylum so near the coast of France, whose people. Intoxicated with the dream of glory through which he had so long led them, would be sure to respond enthusiastically to an appeal to rally to his support. The powers were soon to learn their error. While the Congress of Vienna, convened to restore the old constitution of Europe, was deliber- ating and disputing, its members were startled by the news that the de- throned emperor was again upon the soil of France, and that Napoieon Louis XVIII, was in full flight for the frontier. Napoleon Returns had landed on March i, 1815, and set out on his return to f*"®*" Elba Paris, the army and the people rapidly gathering to his support. On the 30th he entered the Tuileries in a olaze of triumph, the citizens, thoroughly dissatisfied with their brief experience of Bourbon rule, going mad with enthusiasm in his welcome. Thus began the famous period of the " Hundred Days." The powers declared Napoleon to be the "enemy of nations," and armed a half million of men for his final overthrow. The fate of his desperate attempt was soon decided. For the first time he was to meet the British in battle, and in Wellington to encounter the only man who had definitely made head against his legions. A British army was dispatched In all haste to Belgium, Bliicher with his Prussians hastened to the same reofion, and the mipfhtv final struggle was at hand. The persistent and unrelenting enemies of the Corsican conqueror, the British Islanders, were destined to be the agents of his overthrow. The little kingdom of Belgium was the scene of the momentous contest that brought Napoleon's marvelous career to an end Thither he led his 98 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NAPOLEON'S EMPIRE army, largely made up of new conscripts ; and thither the English and the Prussians hastened to meet him. On June i6, 1815, the prelude to the The Gatherin<: 3 ■o c " 3 H "■ff I « M n 2. n "^ n ^S < ii,P n S-3 O TO 3) S| o P3 < "S Ji WELLINGTON AT WATERLOO GIVING THE WORD TO ADVANCE /lis spirited illustration figures the final event in the mighty struggle at Waterloo, when the French, after hurling themselves a doze times against the unyielding British ranks, like storm waves upon a rock-bound shore, staggered back in despair, and Welhngtun gave the magic word of command : " Let all the line advance ! " Those words signified the final downfall of Napoleon. CHAPTER V. Nelson and Wellington, the Champions of England. FOR nearly twenty years went on the stupendous struggle between Napoleon the Great and the powers of Europe, but in all that time, and among the multitude of men who met the forces of France in battle, only two names emerge which the world cares to remember, those of Horatio Nelson, the most famous of the admirals of England, and Lord Wellington, who alone seemed able to overthrow the greatest military genius of modern times. On land the efforts of Napoleon were seconded by the intrepidity of a galaxy of heroes, Ney, Murat, Moreau, Massena, and other men of fame. At sea the story reads differently. That era of stress and strain raised no great admiral in the service of France ; England and her ships were feebly commanded, and the fleet of Great France on Britain, under the daring Nelson, kept its proud place as " ^" ^* mistress of the sea. The first proof of this came before the opening of the century, when Napoleon, led by the ardor of his ambition, landed in Egypt, with vague hopes of rivaling in the East the far-famed exploits of Alexander the Great, The fleet which bore him thither remained moored A 1 1 • T~> 1 TVT 1 • 1 i\/r T • Nelson Dis= m Aboukir bay, where iNelson, scourmg the Mediterranean in covers the quest of it, first came in sight of its serried line of ships on French Fleet Auorust r, 1708. One alternative alone dwelt in his cour- «" Abou ir Bay ageous soul, that of a heroic death or a glorious victory. " Before this time to-morrow I shall have gained a victory or Westminster Abbey," he said. In the mighty contest that followed, the French had the advantage in numbers, alike of ships, guns, and men. They were drawn up in a strong and compact line of battle, moored in a manner that promised to bid defiance to a force double their own. They lay in an open roadstead, but had every advantage of situation, the British fleet beinof obliged to attack them in a position carefully chosen for defence. Only the genius of Nelson enabled him 10 overcome those advantages of the enemy. 'Tf we succeed, what will the world say ?" asked Captain Berry, on hearing the admiral's plan of battle. " There is no if in the case," answered the admiral. " That we shall succeed Is certain : who may live to tell the story, is a very different question." (»0 to2 NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND The story of the " Battle of the Nile " belongs to the record of The Glorious eighteenth century affairs. All we need say here is that it Battle of the ended in a glorious victory for the English fleet. Of thirteen '^''^* ships of the line in the French fleet, only two escaped. Of four frigates, one was sunk and one burned. The British loss was 895 men. Of the French, 5,225 perished in the terrible fray. Nelson sprang, in a moment, from the position of a man without fame into that of the naval hero of the world — as Dewey did in as famous a fray almost exactly a century later. Congratulations and honors were showered upon him, the Sultan of Turkey rewarded him with costly presents, valuable testimonials came from other quarters, and his own country honored him with the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile, and settled upon him for life a pension of ^2,000. The first great achievement of Nelson in the nineteenth century was the result of a daring resolution of the statesmen of England, in their desperate contest with the Corsican conqueror. By his exploit at the Nile the admiral had very seriously weakened the sea-power of France. But there were powers then in alliance with France — Russia, Sweden and Den- mark — which had formed a confederacy to make England respect their naval rights, and whose combined fleet, if it should come to the aid ol France, might prove sufficient to sweep the ships of England from the seas. The weakest of these powers, and the one most firmly allied to France, was Denmark, whose fleet, consisting of twenty-three ships of the line and about thirty-one frigates and smaller vessels, lay at Copenhagen. At any moment this powerful fleet might be put at the disposal of Napoleon. This possible danger the British cabinet resolved to avoid. A plan was laid to destroy the fleet of the Danes, and on the 12th of March, 1801, the British fleet sailed with the purpose of putting this resolution into effect. The Fleet Nelson, then bearing the rank of vice-admiral, went with Sails for the fleet, but only as second in command. To the disgust Copenhagen ^f ^^^ English people, Sir Hyde Parker, a brave and able seaman, but one whose name history has let sink into oblivion, was given chief command — a fact which would have insured the failure of the expedi- tion if Nelson had not set aside precedent, and put glory before duty. Parker, indeed, soon set Nelson chafing by long drawn-out negotiations, which proved useless, wasted time, and saved the Danes from being taken by surprise. When, on the morning of April 30th, the British fleet at lengrth advanced throuorh the Sound and came in siofht of the Danish line of defence, they beheld formidable preparations to meet them. Eighteen vessels, including full-rigged ships and hulks, were moored in a line nearly a mile and a half in length, flanked to the northward by two NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENLGaND ,.03 artificial islands mounted with sixty-eight heavy cannon and supplied with furnaces for heating shot. Near by lay two large block-ships, -phe Danish Across the harbor's mouth extended a massive chain, and Line of shore batteries commanded the channel. Outside the harbor's ^"*^^ mouth were moored two 74-gun ships, a 40-gun frigate, and some smaller vessels. In addition to these defences, which stretched for nearly four miles in length, was the difficulty of the channel, always hazardous from its shoals, and now beaconed with false buoys for the purpose of luring the British ships to destruction. With modern defences — rapid-fire guns and steel-clad batteries — the enterprise would have been hopeless, but the art of defence was then at a far lower level. Nelson, who led the van in the 74-gun ship Elephant, gazed on these preparations with admiration, but with no evidence of doubt as to the result. The British f^eet consisted of eighteen line of battle ships, with a laro^e number of friofates and other craft, and with this force, and his in- domitable spirit, he felt confident of breaking these formidable lines. At ten o'clock on the morning of April 2d the battle began, two of the British ships running aground almost before a gun was fired, xhe Attack on At sight of this disaster Nelson instantly changed his plan of the Danish sailing, starboarded his helm, and sailed in, dropping anchor ^^' within a cable's length of the Dannebrog, of 62 guns. The other ships fol- lowed his example, avoiding the shoals on which the B fl/oiia^-nd J^icsse// had grounded, and taking position at the close quarters of 100 fathoms from the Danish ships. A terrific cannonade followed, kept up by both sides with unrelenting fury for three hours, and with terrible effect on the contesting ships and their crews. At this juncture took place an event that has made Nelson's name immortal among naval heroes Admiral Parker, whose flag-ship lay at a distance from the hot fiofht, but who heard the incessant and furious fire and saw the grounded ships flying signals of distress, began to fear that Nel- son was in serious danger, from which it was his duty to withdraw him. At about one o'clock he reluctantly iioisted a signal for the action to cease. At this moment Nelson was pacing the quarter-deck of the EUpJiaiit, inspired with all the fury of the fight; ** It is a warm business," he said to Colonel Stewart, who was on the ship with him ; " and any moment may be the last of either of us ; but, mark you, I would not for thousands be any- where else." As he spoke the flag-lieutenant reported that the signal to cease action was shown on the mast-head of the flag-ship London, and asked if he should report it to the fleet I04 NELSON AM/J WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLaN/} '' No,'* was the stern answer , '' merely acknowledge it. Is our sigi>al for close action * still Hying i* ' "Yes," replied the officer. " Then see that you keep it so," said Nelson, the stump Answered the of his amputated arm working as it usually did when he was Signal to ^ agitated. "Do you know/' he asked Colonel Stewart, "the meaning of signal No. 39, shown by Parker's ships?" *' No. What does it m^ean ?" "To leave off action!" He was silent a moment, then burst out, ** Now damn me if I do !" Turning to Captain Foley, who stood near him, he said : " Foley, you know I have only one eye ; I have a right to be blind sometimes." He raised his telescope, applied it to his blind eye, and said : " I really do not see the signal." On roared the guns, overhead on the Elephant still streamed the signal for "close action," and still the torrent of British balls rent the Danish ships. In half an hour more the fire of the Danes was fast weakening. In an hour it had nearly ceased. They had suffered frightfully, in ships and lives, and only the continued fire of the shore batteries now kept the contest alive. It was impossible to take possession of the prizes, and Nelson sent a flag of truce ashore with a letter In which he threatened to burn the vessels, with all on board, unless the shore fire was stopped. This threat proved effec- tive, the fire ended, the great battle was at an end. At four o'clock Nelson went on board the London, to meet the admiral. He was depressed In spirit, and said : " I have fought contrary to orders, and may be hanged ; never mind, let them." There was no danoer of this ; Parker was not that kind of man. He had raised the signal through fear for Nelson's safety, and now gloried in his success, giving congratulations where his subordinate looked for blame. The Danes had fought bravely and stubbornly, but they had no commander of the spirit and genius of Nelson, and were forced to yield to British pluck and endurance. Until June 13th, Nelson remained in the Baltic, watching the Russian fleet which he miofht still have to fio-ht. Then came orders for his return home, and word reached him that he had been created Viscount Nelson for his services. There remains to describe the last and most famous of Nelson's exploits, that in which he put an end to the sea-power of France, by destroy- ing the remainder of her fleet at Trafalgar, and met death at the moment of victory. Four years had passed since the fight at Copenhagen. During mUQhof thattim.e Nelson had kept his fleet on guard o£f TquIob. impatiently NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND (05 waiting until the enemy should venture from that port of refuge. At length, the combined fleet of France and Spain, now in alliance, escaped his vigil- ance, and sailed to the West Indies to work havoc in the Nelson in Chase British colonies. He followed them thither in all haste ; and of the French subsequently, on their return to France, he chased them back f^®* across the seas, burning with eagerness to bring them to bay. On the 19th of October, 1805, the allied fleet put to sea from the harbor of Cadiz, confident that its great strength would enable it to meet any force the British had upon the waves. Admiral De Villeneuve, with thirty-three ships of the line and a considerable number of smaller craft, had orders to force the straits of Gibraltar, land troops at Naples, sweep British cruisers and commerce from the Mediterranean, and then seek the port of Toulon to refit. As it turned out, he never reached the straits, his fleet meeting its fate before it could leave the Atlantic waves. Nelson had reached the coast of Europe again, and was close at hand when the doomed ships of the allies appeared. Two swift ocean scouts saw xhe Allied the movements, and hastened to Lord Nelson with the wel- Fleet Leaves come news that the long-deferred moment was at hand. On *^ the 2 1st, the British fleet came within view, and the following signal was set on the mast-head of the flag-ship: *' The French and Spaniards are out at last ; they outnumber us in ships and guns and men ; we are on the eve of the greatest sea-fight in history." On came the ships, great lumbering craft, strangely unlike the war- vessels of to-day. Instead of the trim, grim, steel-clad, steam-driven modern battle-ship, with its revolving turret, and great frowning, breech- loading guns, sending their balls through miles of air, those were bluff- bowed, ungainly hulks, with bellying sides towering like black walls above the sea as if to make the largest mark possible for hostile shot, with a great show of muzzle-loading guns of small range, while overhead rose lofty spars and spreading sails. Ships they were that to-day would be sent to the bottom in five minutes of fight, but which, mated against others of the same build, were capable of giving a gallant account of themselves. It was off the shoals of Cape Trafalgar, near the southern extremity of Spain, that the two fleets met, and such a tornado J^^?^. -' ^ ' Trafalgar of fire as has rarely been seen upon the ocean waves was poured from their broad and lofty sides. As they came together there floated from the masthead of the Victory, Nelson's flagship, that signal which has become the watchword of the British isles ; " England expects that every man will do his dutv " io6 NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND We cannot follow the fortunes of all the vessels in that stupendous fray, the most famous sea-fight in history. It must serve to follow the Victory in her course, in which Nelson eagerly sought to thrust himself into The "Victory" ^^^^ heart of the fight and dare death in his quest for victory. and Her BriU He was not long in meeting his wish. Soon he found himself >g jj^ ^ ,-jgg|. q|- enemies, eight ships at once pouring their fire upon his devoted vessel, which could not bring a gun to bear in return, the wind having died away and the ship lying almost motionless upon the waves. Before the Victory was able to fire a shot fifty of her men had fallen killed or wounded, and her canvas was pierced and rent till it looked like a series of fishing nets. But the men stuck to their guns with unyielding tenacity, and at length their opportunity came. A 68-pounder carronade, loaded with a round shot and 500 musket balls, was fired into the cabin windows of the Biiceiitaitre^ with such terrible effect as to disable 400 men and 20 guns, and put the ship practically out of the fight. The Victory next turned upon the Neptune and the Redoubtable, of the enemy's fleet. The Neptune, not liking her looks, kept off, but she collided and locked spars with the Redoiibtable, and a terrific fight began. On the opposite side of the Redoubtable came the British ship Temeraire, and opposite it again a second ship of the enemy, the four vessels lying bow to bow, and rending one another's sides with an incessant hail of balls. On the Victory the gunners were ordered to depress their pieces, that the balls should not go through and wound the Temeraire beyond. The muzzles of their cannon fairly touched the enemy's side, and after each shot a bucket of water was dashed into the rent, that they may not set fire to the vessel which they confidently expected to take as a prize. In the midst of the hot contest came the disaster already spoken of. Brass swivels were mounted in the French ship's tops to sweep with their fire the deck of their foe, and as Nelson and Captain Hardy paced together their poop deck, regardless of danger, the admiral suddenly fell. A ball from one of these guns had reached the noblest mark on the fleet. The Great Battle "They have done for me at last, Hardy," the fallen and its Sad man said. " Don't say you are hit ! " cried Hardy In dismay. •'Yes, my backbone is shot through." His words were not far from the truth. He never arose from that fatal shot. Yet, dying as he was, his spirit survived. "I hope none of our ships have struck. Hardy," he feebly asked, In a later interval of the fight. NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND 107 " No, my lord. There is small fear of that," *' I'm a dead man, Hardy, but I'm glad of what you say. Whip them now vou've got them. Whip them as they've never been whipped before." Another hour passed. Hardy came below again to say that fourteen or fifteen of the enemy's ships had struck. " That's better, though I bargained for twenty," said the dying man. ''And now, anchor. Hardy — anchor." " I suppose, my lord, that Admiral Collingwood will now take the direc- tion of affairs." " Not while 1 live," exclaimed Nelson, with a momentary return of energy. " Do jj^^?/ anchor. Hardy." " Then shall we make the signal, my lord." "Yes, for if I live, I'll anchor." That was the end. Five minutes later Horatio Nelson, Victory for England's ereatest sea champion, was dead. He had won England and 00 i ' _ Death for Her — not "Victory and Westminster Abbey" — but victory and a Famous noble resting place in St. Paul's Cathedral. Admiral Collingwood did not anchor, but stood out to sea with the eighteen prizef of the hard fought fray. In the gale that followed many of the results of victory were lost, four of the ships being retaken, some wrecked on shore, some foundering at sea, only four reaching British waters in Gibraltar Bay. But whatever was lost. Nelson's fame was secure, and the victory at Trafalgar is treasured as one of the most famous triumphs of British arms. The naval battle at Copenhagen, won by Nelson, was followed, six years later, by a combined land and naval expedition in which Wellington, Eng- land's other champion, took part. Again inspired by the fear that Napoleon might use the Danish fleet for his own purposes, the British government, though at peace with Denmark, sent a fleet to Copenhagen, bombarded and captured the city, and seized the Danish ships. A battle took place on land in which Wellington (then Sir Arthur Wellesley) won an easy victory and, captured 10,000 men. The whole business was an inglorious one, a dishonorable incident in a struggle in which the defeat of Napaleon stood first, honor second. Among the English themselves some defended it on the plea of policy, some called it piracy and murder. Not long afterwards England prepared to take a serious part on land in the desperate contest with Napoleon, and sent The British m a British force to Portugal, then held by the French army of invasion under Marshal Junot. This force, 10,000 strong, was commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, and landed July 30, 1808, at Mondego Bay. He was soon joined by General Spencer from Cadiz, with 13,000 men. loS NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND The French, far from home and without support, were seriously alarmed at this invasion, and justly so, for they met with defeat in a sharp battle at Vimeira, and would probably have been forced to surrender as prisoners of war had not the troops been called off from pursuit by Sir Harry Burrard, who had been sent out to supersede Wellesley in command. The end of it all was a truce, and a convention under whose terms the French troops were permitted to evacuate Portugal with their arms and baggage and return to France. This release of Junot from a situation which precluded escape so disgusted Wellesley that he threw up his command and returned to The Death of England. Other troops sent out under Sir John Moore and Sir John Sir David Baird met a superior force of French in Spain, and Moore their expedition ended in disaster. Moore was killed while the troops were embarking to return home, and the memory of this affair has been preserved in the famous ode, " The burial of Sir John Moore," from which we quote : ** We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sod with our bayonets turning, By the glimmering moonbeams' misty light And the lanterns dimly burning. " In April, 1809, Wellesley returned to Portugal, now chief in command, to begin a struggle which was to continue until the fall of Napoleon. There were at that time about 20,000 British soldiers at Lisbon, while the French had in Spain more than 300,000 men, under such generals as Ney, Soult, and Victor. The British, indeed, were aided by a large number of natives in arms. But these, though of service as guerillas, were almost useless in reg- ular warfare. Wellesley was at Lisbon. Oporto, 170 miles north, was held by Mar- shal Soult, who had recently taken it. Without delay Wellington marched The Gallant thither, and drove the French outposts across the river Douro. Crossing of But in their retreat they burned the bridge of boats across t e ouro ^i^g river, seized every boat they could find, and rested in security, defying their foes to cross. Soult, veteran officer though he was, fancied that he had disposed of Wellesley, and massed his forces on the sea- coast side of the town, in which quarter alone he looked for an attack. He did not know his antagonist. A few skiffs were secured, and a small party of British was sent across the stream. The French attacked them, but they held their ground till some others joined them, and by the time Soult was informed of the danger Wellesley had landed a large force and controlled a good supply of boats. A battle followed in which the French were routed and forced to retreat. But the only road by which theif QC "73 < § >. ■;: bfl Z rt c < 11 li. bo's o o u H S-a Z < Z u '3 s 6 o O jj LJ o5 I "1 in H (3-2 NELSON AND WELLINGTON, THE CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND iii artillery or baggage could be moved had been seized by General Beresford, and was strongly held. In consequence Soult was forced to abandon all his wagons and cannon and make his escape by bye-roads into Spain. This signal victory was followed by another on July 27, 1809, when Wellesley, with 20,000 British soldiers and about 40,000 Span- ^. ,,. ^ ■" . « lie Victory at ish allies, met a French army of 60,000 men at Talavera in Talavera and Spain. The battle that succeeded lasted two days. The brunt the Victor's of it fell upon the British, the Spaniards proving of little use, yet it ended in the defeat of the French, who retired unmolested, the British being too exhausted to pursue. The tidings of this victory were received with the utmost enthusiasm in England. It was shown by it that British valor could win battles against Napoleon's on land as well as on sea. Wellesley received the warmest thanks of the king, and, like Nelson, was rewarded by being raised to the peerage, being given the titles of Baron Douro of Wellesley and Viscount Wellington of Talavera. In future we shall call him by his historic title of Wellinofton. Men and supplies just then would have served Wellington better than titles. With strong support he could have marched on and taken Madrid. As it was, he felt obliged to retire upon the fortress of Badajoz, near the frontier of Portugal. Spain was swarming with French soldiers, who were gradually collected there until they exceeded 350,000 men. Of these 80,000, under the command of Massena, were sent to act against the British. Before this strong force Wellington found it necessary to draw back, and the frontier fortresses of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo were taken by the French. Well- ington's first stand was on the heights of Busaco, September, 18 10. Here, with 30,000 men, he withstood all the attacks of the French, who in the end were forced to withdraw. Massena then tried to o-ain the road between Lisbon and Oporto, whereupon Wellington quickly retreated towards Lisbon. The British general had during the winter been very usefully employed. The road by which Lisbon must be approached passes the village of Torres Vedras, and here two stronir lines of earthworks were con- „, „. ^ , ' * , , , Weilington's structed, some twenty-five miles in length, stretching from impregnable the sea to the Taofus, and effectually securingf Lisbon against Lines at ... Torres Vedras attack. These works had been built with such secrecy and despatch that the French were quite ignorant of their existence, and Massena, marching in confidence upon thfe Portuguese capital, was amazed and chao^rined on findin